Testemunhos de instrumentos musicais islâmicos (séculos VIII-XIII),

nos contextos arqueológicos de Portugal

Abstract

Fragments of Muslim musical instruments have been found in archaeological excavations carried out in current Portuguese territory. However, they constitute a small number, if we compare them to other contemporary materials. This evidence is related to the fact that many were built with perishable materials, such as wood, skins, textiles, and bone. We also have some testimonies, which, as they are fragmentary, prevent their functional identification, and it is possible that others have not been duly recognised. The surviving evidences fall into the categories of aerophones, chordophones, idiophones, and membranophones or bimembranophones, having been identified in both urban and rural areas. The remains that have survived, with chronologies located between the 8th and 13th centuries, were produced in bone, shell, ceramic, or metal.