Carnyx found in Norfolk (Celtic war trumpet)

Subject: Carnyx found in Norfolk
From: Jack Campin
Date: 07 Jan 26 - 05:32 AM

This is not something I would have expected to find in Norfolk. Maybe a morris side might take it up?

Iron Age archaeological find

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk
From: DaveRo
Date: 07 Jan 26 - 07:56 AM

This Guardian piece has a picture of the Gundestrup cauldron, which shows how they were held aloft to play:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jan/07/iron-age-war-trumpet-find-britain-norfolk-boudicca-links

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 07 Jan 26 - 10:06 AM

From the first article:

Dr Fraser Hunter, a leading authority on carnyces from the National Museums of Scotland says, “this extraordinary find will add enormously to our understanding of the Iron Age world.

“I’ve looked at carnyces from around Europe, and the full research and conservation of these incredibly fragile remains will reshape our view of sound and music in the Iron Age.

“The carnyces and the boar-headed standard are styles well known on the continent and remind us that communities in Britain were well-connected to a wider European world at this time.”

A possible symbol to use if the UK ever reconnects with the wider European world. :)

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Jan 26 - 03:06 PM

It’s mine and I want it back!

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk
From: Paul Burke
Date: 07 Jan 26 - 04:07 PM

"full research and conservation of these incredibly fragile remains will reshape our view of sound and music in the Iron Age"

Let's hope they don't ask a Guards trumpeter to test it out - like they did with one from Tutenkhamun's tomb. One great blast, and it shattered completely.

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Jan 26 - 04:16 PM

oops ...

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 07 Jan 26 - 06:59 PM

There was one played at Celtic Connections in Glasgow a few years back, in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, by the principal trumpeter from one of the Scottish orchestras. He didn’t shatter the instrument, but maybe a few nerves and eardrums!

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk
From: Jack Campin
Date: 07 Jan 26 - 08:06 PM

The carnyx pioneer in Scotland is John Kenny. I've been right next to him playing it indoors in a small hall - it isn't as loud as you might think. And just missed a concert he did with it in Mostar, Bosnia. I think it was intended as a statement about peace, just as you'd expect from an instrument designed to look like a furious drooling bellowing bug-eyed pig.

If you want one there's a maker in France.

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 08 Jan 26 - 07:35 PM

That’s the guy who played it at the concert I mentioned, Jack.
Don’t think my husband would allow me to get one: already too many instruments in our non-dining room!

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 09 Jan 26 - 11:17 AM

> already too many instruments in our non-dining room

I mentioned this to Herself, and she nodded sympathetically: unkind words like "clutter" are sometimes heard when she's dusting the dining room.* But if I don't have the instruments to hand when said hands are idle, how will I practice :-) ? As it is, both the banjolele and the bouzouki stay in their cases for lack of floor stands, which makes them less likely to casually get picked up and played.

I really must agitate for modern houses to have picture rails, so instruments can be hooked from them, and we'd get the floorspace back.

* I maintain a tactful silence on the subject of jigsaws.

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk
From: Ernest
Date: 12 Jan 26 - 01:51 PM

If you haven`t expected one to be found in Norfolk:

Have you considered that it was used as a vuvuzela in a prehistoric soccer match?

Getting my coat....

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 13 Jan 26 - 09:55 PM

"Musician John Kenny, performed with the Carnyx, at the opening of the European Association of Archaeologists' (EAA) Annual Meeting at the Hunterian museum in Glasgow yesterday (Wed).

The Carnyx, is a wind instrument of the Iron Age Celts, used in warfare between 200 BC and 200 AD.

It was a type of bronze trumpet with an elongated S shape and the bell is styled in the shape of an open-mouthed boar's head.

John, a pioneer in the field of music archaeology, is a Professor at both the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.   "
https://youtu.be/-DIIaCUJ1yQ

---

Another BBC article on the recent discovery
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr7jvj8d39eo

The discovery will be featured in the second episode of the new series of Digging for Britain,,,
Series 13: 2
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002pl59
> 4:30
replica played by Letty Stott > 17:15

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk (Celtic war trumpet)
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 14 Jan 26 - 04:21 AM

If you are in London this week

Carnyx, Animal Horns & Shells!
By New School of the Anthropocene

Jan 16[2026] from 7pm to 9:30pm GMT

A concert & talk by musical archaeologist & trombonist, John Kenny, with soprano Adaya Peled. Giant Celtic horns will feature prominently!

The Art Workers' Guild
6 Queen Square
London WC1N 3AT
https://maps.app.goo.gl/cGdudwgDSkMZxD2v6

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk (Celtic war trumpet)
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Jan 26 - 06:24 AM

Was the carnyx displaced by the war bagpipes? What would win in a head to head across the line of battle?

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk (Celtic war trumpet)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 14 Jan 26 - 05:16 PM

We don't have any evidence that the carnyx was ever used in war. It was such an impractical thing to carry around that it may have been purely an instrument for religious ritual like the large Tibetan trumpet or the Romanian bucium/tulnic.

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk (Celtic war trumpet)
From: The Sandman
Date: 14 Jan 26 - 05:38 PM

Perhaps, it was used by Bernard Matthews[ bootiful Turkeys]he liked to blow his own trumpet,
could it have been bought there by invading vikings or danes, or Bouddica

Subject: RE: Carnyx found in Norfolk (Celtic war trumpet)
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 15 Jan 26 - 08:53 AM

MajoC's €0.02:

> It was such an impractical thing to carry around

So is a battle standard; and in battle, a carnyx might be heard farther off than a flag could be seen. That doesn't mean there weren't *ceremonial* carnyxes (carnyces?) as well, of course, which would probably feature in burials alongside equally-ceremonial weapons.