Fragments of a wooden artefact were found in 1973 during the archaeological excavations at the settlement of Bidayik-asar near the Aral Sea (Kazakhstan), dated 4th c. CE. The artefact was published as a fragment of an unknown wooden object in 1996.
In 2018 the object was re-examined by Dr.Tazhekeyev and was interpreted as a musical instrument, possibly an ancient form of dombra, a Central Asian musical string instrument. In 2019 Dr. Tazhekeyev published his findings and the publication attracted attention of Dr. Gjermund Kolltveit, a Norwegian music archaeologist, ethnomusicologist, and musician.
Dr. Kolltveit's hypothesis is that with its overall rectangular shape, hollow soundbox and hollow parallel arms, the instrument could be mistaken for a Germanic or Anglo-Saxon lyre, such as the one found in the early seventh century ship burial at Sutton Hoo. The find from Bidayik-asar extends the distribution map of lyres eastwards and challenges our view of this instrument type. Despite an apparent isolation of the Central Asian find, some 4000 km apart from the lyres in Western Europe, there are indeed relevant iconographic and ethnographic parallels from closer regions. One example is a lyre depicted on a Scythian diadem (4th century BC), another is the traditional lyre (narex-jux or sangultap) among the Siberian Khanty and Mansi peoples. Only an open and wide approach will help us to understand the instrument from Bidayik-asar, and its place—chronologically and geographically—in the lyre family.
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Link to a video recording of playing the reconstructed kossaz instrument
