Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Incredibly these trumpets survived over 3,000 years - more incredibly; some madmen decided to play them to hear what they sound like.
"Tutankhamun's trumpets are a pair of trumpets found in the burial chamber of the Eighteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The trumpets, one of sterling silver and one of bronze or copper, are considered to be the oldest operational trumpets in the world, and the only known surviving examples from ancient Egypt.
The trumpets were found in 1922 by Howard Carter during the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb. The bronze trumpet was discovered in the tomb's antechamber in a large chest containing various military objects and walking sticks. The silver trumpet was subsequently found in the burial chamber. Both are finely engraved, with decorative images of the gods Ra-Horakhty, Ptah, and Amun. The silver trumpet's bell is engraved with a whorl of sepals and calices representing a lotus flower and the praenomen and nomen of the king. The bronze trumpet may be made of copper; the metal has not yet been analysed. Similar looking trumpets feature in Egyptian wall paintings that are usually, though not always, associated with military scenes.
Silent for over 3,000 years, the trumpets were sounded before a live audience of an estimated 150 million listeners through an international BBC broadcast aired on 16 April 1939. The trumpets were played by bandsman James Tappern of Prince Albert's Own 11th Royal Hussars regiment. The recording has been replayed on BBC Radio since, most recently (on 17 July 2023) on Breakfast. Rex Keating, who presented the 1939 broadcast, later claimed that during a rehearsal, the silver trumpet shattered, and Alfred Lucas, a member of Carter's team who had restored the finds, was so distressed he needed to go to the hospital. Due to their fragility, it is unlikely the trumpets will be played again in any official musical reconstructions.
The instruments were likely played on a single note for military signaling; of three notes that modern trumpeters got out of the instrument, one was poor quality, one was the normally used tone, and the last put so much pressure on the instrument as to destroy it."
More on Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun's_trumpets
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Incredibly these trumpets survived over 3,000 years - more incredibly; some madmen decided to play them to hear what they sound like.
"Tutankhamun's trumpets are a pair of trumpets found in the burial chamber of the Eighteenth Dynasty Pharaoh Tutankhamun. The trumpets, one of sterling silver and one of bronze or copper, are considered to be the oldest operational trumpets in the world, and the only known surviving examples from ancient Egypt.
The trumpets were found in 1922 by Howard Carter during the excavation of Tutankhamun's tomb. The bronze trumpet was discovered in the tomb's antechamber in a large chest containing various military objects and walking sticks. The silver trumpet was subsequently found in the burial chamber. Both are finely engraved, with decorative images of the gods Ra-Horakhty, Ptah, and Amun. The silver trumpet's bell is engraved with a whorl of sepals and calices representing a lotus flower and the praenomen and nomen of the king. The bronze trumpet may be made of copper; the metal has not yet been analysed. Similar looking trumpets feature in Egyptian wall paintings that are usually, though not always, associated with military scenes.
Silent for over 3,000 years, the trumpets were sounded before a live audience of an estimated 150 million listeners through an international BBC broadcast aired on 16 April 1939. The trumpets were played by bandsman James Tappern of Prince Albert's Own 11th Royal Hussars regiment. The recording has been replayed on BBC Radio since, most recently (on 17 July 2023) on Breakfast. Rex Keating, who presented the 1939 broadcast, later claimed that during a rehearsal, the silver trumpet shattered, and Alfred Lucas, a member of Carter's team who had restored the finds, was so distressed he needed to go to the hospital. Due to their fragility, it is unlikely the trumpets will be played again in any official musical reconstructions.
The instruments were likely played on a single note for military signaling; of three notes that modern trumpeters got out of the instrument, one was poor quality, one was the normally used tone, and the last put so much pressure on the instrument as to destroy it."
More on Wikipedia:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tutankhamun's_trumpets
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