2,800-year-old bone flute found at Troy, the first in 160 years

ÇANAKKALE

This photo shows the bone flute (top), the site’s first musical instrument, and a 4,500-year-old idol head.

In a historic breakthrough at the UNESCO World Heritage site of ancient Troy, archaeologists have discovered a 2,800-year-old bone flute, the site’s first musical instrument in more than 160 years of digs, together with a 4,500-year-old idol head.

Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy announced the discoveries from the 2026 excavation season, saying the flute provided direct archaeological evidence of musical culture at Troy.

Discovered in deposits dating to the Archaic Period, the bone flute is the only musical instrument ever found in over 160 years of excavations at Troy. Dating to approximately 750-480 B.C., the instrument provides evidence of music in a period when it played an important role in religious rituals as well as social and public life.

The preservation of the flute’s head section, attached to its body, will help researchers assess its structure and function. The survival of instruments made from organic materials is particularly rare, further increasing the significance of the discovery.

Wind instruments, including panpipes known as the syrinx, were used in the ancient world, with some associated with the cult of Dionysus and related rituals.

The human-shaped idol head was discovered near the city gate of Troy II and dates to around 2500 B.C. The find offers new evidence for research into Early Bronze Age culture and the symbolic traditions of western Anatolia.

Small human-shaped idols are characteristic archaeological finds from the third millennium B.C. in western Anatolia. Similar examples discovered at Troy and other regional settlements help researchers investigate production and use traditions as well as cultural interactions.