Rare 16th-Century Trumpets Unearthed from Shipwreck

The trumpets, which were found in a Dutch vessel off the coast of Croatia, outnumber comparable instruments currently held in museums

Archaeologists have recently unearthed a sixteenth-century shipwreck near Cape Kamenjak, in Croatia's Istria region. Led by Croatia's International Centre for Underwater Archaeology, the investigation found that the ship was armed with English cannons, and carrying a cargo of pottery vessels, colorful glass beads, and red glass bowls.

However, it was also carrying an exceptionally valuable set of period trumpets, of which there are very few surviving examples. Engravings on the instruments indicate that they were made in Strasbourg, France, and Leiden, the Netherlands. The trumpets from Leiden are especially precious, as there are no other surviving examples.

In addition, the collection of trumpets from this ship alone is already larger than the number of comparable extant trumpets that are held in museums. Therefore, the discovery may have much to tell early-music specialists about brass playing during this period.

Once the trumpets have been restored, the archaeological team hopes they will be exhibited in the nearby town of Pula. The remains of the ship, as well as three of its guns, will be left on the seabed, protected by a modern method that has been implemented for the first time in this project.

"They were transported in pieces, so we can say by the number of these parts that there were more than 10 of them," said Professor Luka Bekić of the International Center for Underwater Archaeology. "There are fewer than 10 trumpets from the 16th century in known museums in the world."

"Today, with the help of a digital method, a photogrammetric model can be made, thus shortening the diving and we can precisely document that segment that we explored and finally get the whole picture of the site at the end," said Roko Surić of the International Center for Underwater Archaeology.