It is very rare to find an ancient musical instrument in Mongolian territory since the archeological science has been developing in the country. In 1989, a fiddle was found in a place named “Morin Tolgoi” in Tov aimag’s Altanbulag soum, and that musical instrument belonged to Hun Empire was the very first item found in Mongolia.
Many years later, in 2008, a thing like musical instrument was discovered in a tomb near Mount Jargalant Khairkhan in Khovd aimag’s Mankhan soum, and it was a bow-shaped zither after conducting a research. Apart of the musical instrument, the tomb had some ten kinds of things such as horse saddle and its accessories, a bunch of arrows in a case and a piece of silk., and they are belonged to the 7th century.
It has been estimated that the tomb is belonged to a warrior aged about 24-25 years old, and his zither was inherited through 3 generations. The finding is expected to be classified as “very rare unique” historical item. In addition to this, runic scripts as well as an image of hunting are carved on the zither, making it invaluable in terms of cultural and scientific importance.
The ancient findings have been restored in the Lands Museum in Bonn city of Germany, and they already have been mounted in Mannheim and Amsterdam cities.
In January of 2014, the findings were returned home, and the money of about 500 thousand euros for the restoration has been fully sponsored by the German side under the support of the Germany’s Embassy in Mongolia. It was one of the largest amounts of investment for Mongolia within the 40-year history of the bilateral relations.
Mongolian scholars suggest that the historical finding might be most ancient origin of the harp.