| Musical instruments are perhaps as old as the | | | | instruments were more "ancient". |
| history of human civilization itself. Historians agree | | | | Categorizing instruments in respect of geography |
| that no one has ever come up with an entirely | | | | is as well partially unreliable, since you cannot |
| reliable procedure for deducing the precise | | | | decide exactly when or how cultures interacted |
| chronology of numerous musical instruments | | | | with each other to share knowledge. |
| within various cultures. | | | | The science that lets you mark the chronology of |
| And most experts suggest that you do not | | | | melodic instruments and their development |
| compare and categorize musical instruments on | | | | depends completely on archaeological works of |
| the basis of their complexity. As for an instance, | | | | art, or artistic depictions, along with literary |
| creation of the very first slit drums featured | | | | references. As data in a research path might be |
| felling or hollowing out of large trees. But after | | | | inconclusive, there might be multiple paths |
| that, people learned to make slit drums by prying | | | | providing a much better chronological picture. |
| open bamboo stalks. This was a way simpler task. | | | | Till the 19th century, music histories found in |
| Another wrong idea, according to historians, would | | | | Europe began with mythological descriptions of |
| be to categorize musical instruments on the basis | | | | the way melodic instruments had been invented. |
| of workmanship. This is because all cultures go | | | | Some of these descriptions comprised of Jubal, |
| forward at different pace and levels. And they | | | | Pan, and Mercury. The latter one is said to have |
| have admittance to dissimilar materials. | | | | successfully made a lyre (for the first time ever) |
| As for an instance, anthropologists trying to | | | | out of a simple dried out tortoise shell. However, |
| compare among instruments of 2 different yet | | | | modern historians disagree with such mythology |
| contemporary cultures (differing in union, | | | | and provide reliable anthropological speculations. |
| traditions, and handicraft) failed to deduce which | | | | |