The scholars who discovered the note coding need to get together with those who discovered that grooves in ancient pottery were actually recordings.   Then we could have some real old time music.

I am not up on my hammered dulcimer history but the "dulcimer" is mentioned in one of the earliest English translations of the Bible. Present day commentary asserts that is because the instrument was one familiar to 16th and 17th century citizens. On the other hand some estimates are that some form of the hammered dulcimer was known in Asia over 4000 years ago.