carnyx

In Iron Age Britain, animal symbolism deliberately conveys aggression and ferocity, with examples including a boar on the Witham Shield, the snouted Deskford carnyx in Scotland and the dragon pair sword scabbard from the River Thames.{{Cite book |last=Garrow |first=Duncan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lZj9AwAAQBAJ&dq=deskford+carnyx+dragon&pg=PA65 |title=Rethinking Celtic Art |date=2008-10-01 |publisher=Oxbow Books |isbn=978-1-84217-318-3 |pages=65 |language=en}}

There is evidence to suggest that the carnyx would be held by a chieftain, as shown by a potential Gaulish king Bituitos figure.{{Cite book |last=Megaw |first=J. V. S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ibGfAAAAMAAJ&q=carnyx+chief |title=Art of the European Iron Age: A Study of the Elusive Image |date=1970 |publisher=Adams & Dart |isbn=978-0-239-00019-4 |pages=177 |language=en}}

In 2004, archaeologists discovered a first-century-BCE Gallic pit at Tintignac in Corrèze, France. The deposit contained more than 500 fragments of metal objects, including seven carnyces, one of which was nearly complete. Prior to this discovery, fragments of only five carnyces had been found, in modern-day Scotland, France, Germany, Romania, and Switzerland.{{Cite web |last=Administrator |title=The Carnyx from Tintignac |url=http://www.emaproject.eu/content/instruments/the-carnyx-from-tintignac.html |access-date=2022-05-09 |website=www.emaproject.eu |language=en-gb}} Four of the carnyces had boar's heads, the fifth appears to be a serpent-like monster; they appear to represent a ritual deposit dating to soon after the Roman conquest of Gaul.{{Cite web |url=http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/local_news/france-trumpets-discovery-of-gallic-war-trophies-14434.html |title=Press report |access-date=20 August 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120901175824/http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/local_news/france-trumpets-discovery-of-gallic-war-trophies-14434.html |archive-date=1 September 2012 |url-status=dead }} The Tintignac finds enabled some fragments found in northern Italy decades before to be identified in 2012 as coming from a carnyx.[http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/11/15/Ancient-Celtic-war-horn-found-in-Italy/UPI-43251353006605/ UPI.com] Carnyx identified in Italy

File:Replica of the Deskford Carnyx (9487528587).jpg

The only example from the British Isles is the Deskford Carnyx, found at the farm of Leitchestown, Deskford, Banffshire, Scotland in 1816. Only the boar's head bell survives, also apparently placed as a ritual deposit. It was donated to Banff Museum, and is now on loan from Aberdeenshire Museums Service to the Museum of Scotland. The location and age of the Deskford Carnyx in the Pictish heartland suggests the instrument may have had a ceremonial use and was not used only in warfare. Before 2004 this was the best surviving example, and generally copied in earlier reconstructions.Hunter The Deskford find was made almost entirely of brass, a metal used almost exclusively by the Romans after their conquest of Southern Britannia and strictly controlled by them, so just as with the vast majority of Iron Age and Roman-era Celtic brass found in Britain, the carnyx may have been made "with some care" from recycled metal.{{Cite web|url=https://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue2/dungworth_index.html|title=Internet Archaeol 2. Dungworth. Home Page|date=April 1997}} Based in part on the metallurgy, the Museum of Scotland give a date of 80—250 CE for its construction, noting that it was a locally-produced piece, "a specifically Scottish variant" distinct in design from known continental carnyces and that its "decoration is typical of metalwork in north-east Scotland at the time, where there was a flourishing tradition of fine bronze-working."{{Cite web |last1=History |first1=Scottish |last2=read |first2=Archaeology 3 min |title=Deskford carnyx |url=https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/scottish-history-and-archaeology/deskford-carnyx/ |access-date=2023-12-08 |website=National Museums Scotland |language=en |archive-date=19 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119182349/https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/scottish-history-and-archaeology/deskford-carnyx/ |url-status=dead }}

Roman-struck coins suggest that a war trumpet was used by the Celts, which they called a carnyx. These celtic trumpets are dissimilar to Roman trumpets that are not described as having a "monster headed extremity".{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0VwUAAAAYAAJ |title=The Numismatic Chronicle, and Journal of the Numismatic Society |date=1865 |publisher=Tayor & Walton |pages=11 |language=en}} The Celtic or Gaulic carnyx was used by the Celts in a similar way to how a standard functioned for the Romans and there is an example of a Dragon-headed carnyx in the base of Trajan's Column.{{Cite book |last=Kinnee |first=Lauren |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=skpnDwAAQBAJ&dq=carnyx+dragon&pg=PT181 |title=The Greek and Roman Trophy: From Battlefield Marker to Icon of Power |date=2018-03-12 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-84657-8 |language=en}} The carnyx has been described as identical to a Dacian trumpet. There is a clear similarity between Celtic carnyx and the Dacian La Tene dragon standard and jewellery with dragons and serpents.{{Cite book |last=Pârvan |first=Vasile |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ynk6AAAAIAAJ&dq=carnyx+draco&pg=PA126 |title=Dacia: An Outline of the Early Civilizations of the Carpatho-Danubian Countries |date=1928 |publisher=CUP Archive |language=en}} A dragon-headed carnyx also appears to be held by a Gaulic woman on the breastplate of Augustus.{{Cite book |last1=Penner |first1=Todd C. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2udV9fAz1UkC&dq=carnyx+dragon&pg=PA132 |title=Mapping Gender in Ancient Religious Discourses |last2=Stichele |first2=Caroline Vander |date=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-15447-6 |language=en}}

• The carnyx also appears on the side of the Gundestrup cauldron.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f899xH_quaMC&dq=gundestrup+carnyx&pg=PA345 |title=Celtic Culture: A-Celti |date=2006 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-1-85109-440-0 |pages=345 |language=en}}
• A small bronze boar carnyx dating from the Iron Age was found in Suffolk, England in 2021.{{Cite news |date=2021-12-03 |title=Rare Bardwell Iron Age trumpet sells for more than £4k |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-59492296 |access-date=2023-02-07}}

The name is known from textual sources, carnyces are reported from the Celtic attack on the Delphi in 279 BCE, as well as from Julius Caesar's campaign in Gaul and the Claudian invasion of Britannia in 43 CE by Aulus Plautius. Around 60—30 BCE, Diodorus Siculus wrote:

:Their trumpets again are of a peculiar barbarian kind; they blow into them and produce a harsh sound which suits the tumult of war.Diodorus Siculus, Histories: 5.30

Objects found at Tintignac were exhibited at the 2012 exhibition "Les Gaulois, une expo renversante" (The Gauls, a stunning exhibition).

File:CarnyxDeTintignac1.jpg|The carnyx of Tintignac, discovered in Corrèze, France

Image:CarnyxDeTintignac2.jpg|A carnyx found at Tintignac

Image:CarnyxDeTintignac3.jpg|A carnyx found at Tintignac

Image:CasqueCygneDeTintignac.jpg|A casque in the shape of the head of a bird, found at Tintignac

File:Museum of ScotlandDSCF6322.jpg|The Leichestown Deskford carnyx and reconstruction, Museum of Scotland

File:Laténium-oreille-carnyx.jpg|Piece from a carnyx, Switzerland

{{Listen

|filename = carnyx.ogg

|title = "Carnyx Trumpet Call"

|description = Recording of a reconstruction of the Deskford carnyx

|pos=right}}

The reconstruction of the Deskford Carnyx was initiated by Dr. John Purser, and commenced in 1991 funded jointly by the Glenfiddich Living Scotland award and the National Museums of Scotland. In addition to John Purser as musicologist, the team consisted of the archaeologist Fraser Hunter, silversmith John Creed, and trombonist John Kenny. After 2,000 years of silence the reconstructed Deskford Carnyx was unveiled at the National Museum of Scotland in April 1993.{{cite web |url=https://sound-scotland.co.uk/site/2007/artists/KennyJohn.htm |title = Details - Sound Scotland}}

In 1993 Kenny became the first person to play the carnyx in 2,000 years, and has since lectured and performed on the instrument internationally, in the concert hall, on radio, television, and film. There are numerous compositions for the carnyx and it is featured on seven CDs. On 15 March 2003 he performed solo to an audience of 65,000 in the Stade De France in Paris.

{{cite web |url=https://sound-scotland.co.uk/site/2007/artists/KennyJohn.htm |title = Details - Sound Scotland}}

On 15 June 2017 "The Music of the Forest", a specially commissioned work by Lakeland composer, Christopher Gibbs, featuring a reconstructed carnyx, received its world premiere at Slaidburn Village Hall. The four-part song cycle evoked the landscape and history of the Forest of Bowland and was performed by the Renaissance Singers of Blackburn Cathedral under the direction of Samuel Hudson. The carnyx was played by John Kenny.{{cite web |url=https://www.lancashire.gov.uk/news/details.aspx?Id=PR17/0137 |title = Details - Lancashire County Council}}

Bibracte Dumnorix.jpg|French museum display

NMoS Carnyx war-horn at museum's reopening 02.jpg|The Deskford reconstruction at the Museum of Scotland

Hallein Keltenmuseum - Lure.jpg|German reconstructions

Carnyx bagad arduina12200.jpg|French reconstruction

The carnyx is featured in the opening battle scene of Gladiator (2000); and is used as both a musical instrument and a fear-inducing weapon.Gladiator II (2024){{citation needed|date=October 2016}} It appears in several battle scenes of the French film, Druids (2001).{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} A carnyx appears near the beginning of the 2012 Pixar computer-animated film Brave.{{citation needed|date=October 2016}} The carnyx is used in the Gallic soundtrack in Sid Meier's Civilization VI.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

• Dord (musical instrument), another type of Celtic trumpet that has been revived
• Lur
• Dacian Draco
• Draco (military standard)
• Kabura-ya

{{Reflist}}

• Delmarre, Xavier (2003) Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise (2nd ed.) Paris: Editions Errance. {{ISBN|2-87772-237-6}}
• Hunter, Fraser (of Museum of Scotland), [https://web.archive.org/web/20051226184509/http://www.carnyx.musicscotland.com/carnyx/carnyx.htm Carnyx and Co]- piece by Hunter on the carnyx

{{Sister project links|commonscat=yes|q=no|s=|b=no|v=no}}

• [http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Ancient_Celtic_music Ancient Celtic music] in the Citizendium
• [http://www.carnyxscotland.co.uk/ Carnyx and co. Carnyx music].
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20120217060708/http://www.limousin.culture.gouv.fr/spip.php?article122&var_recherche=tintignac Tintignac discoveries] (in French, with photos)
• Carnyx on a [http://www.kernunnos.com/culture/warriors/trophiesAV.jpe gold stater] of Caesar and on a [http://www.kernunnos.com/culture/warriors/gallia.jpe silver denarius], both from 48 BC
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-suffolk-59492296 Rare Bardwell Iron Age trumpet sells for more than £4k]

{{Brass instruments}}

{{Natural horns}}

{{Celts}}

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Category:Brass instruments

Category:Ancient Celtic metalwork

Category:Celtic musical instruments

Category:Pre-Norman Invasion musical instruments

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