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For the first time in Troya’s 160-year excavation history, a musical instrument has been unearthed. Two significant artifacts were uncovered. In the 2026 excavations carried out within the scope of the Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı’s (Ministry of Culture and Tourism) Geleceğe Miras Projesi (Heritage for the Future Project), a bone flute approximately 2 thousand 800 years old dating to the Arkaik Dönem (Archaic Period) and a 4 thousand 500-year-old human-shaped idol head belonging to the Erken Tunç Çağı (Early Bronze Age) were found.
The announcement was published on social media.
Nuri Ersoy’s figures
In a statement he made on social media, Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy noted that the bone flute is the first and only musical instrument found in the excavations that have been continuing in Troya for more than 160 years, and emphasized that the find provides direct archaeological evidence of the musical culture in the ancient city.
The flute, found in the Archaic Period settlement fill, dates to approximately 750-480 BC. Music was important in that period. In that period, music held an important place in social and public life as well as in religious rituals.
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The head part was also preserved. The preservation of the flute’s head part together with its body allows its structure and function to be examined, while the fact that instruments made of organic material rarely survive to the present day increases the importance of the find.
The idol head was found here. The idol head, meanwhile, was found around the Troya II city gate and constitutes an archaeological artifact dating to approximately 2500 BC.
Western Anatolia measurements
The artifact is valuable for the study of the period’s world of belief and of cultural relations in Western Anatolia. In Troya, which contains ten main layers in a settlement history extending from the 3rd millennium BC to the 13th century MS, the new finds are expected to contribute to the understanding of the city’s history beyond the Homeric epics.