Drum

7th century B.C.E.

This waisted drum is one of the earliest examples of a musical instrument from the Eurasian steppes in northeastern China. The decorated end was originally covered with a membrane of thin animal skin that served as a resonator. The three bands of running triangles and raised lines reflect the original stitching that would have affixed the membrane to the drum. Waisted drums of similar form, but sometimes of different materials, have been excavated from tombs at Pazyrk, in Siberia, and in northern China. Waisted drums fell out of favor in China in the Zhou dynasty (circa 1050–256 B.C.E.) but were reintroduced after the first millennium C.E., by foreign orchestras associated with Buddhism on the ancient Silk Roads.