Editing String instrument (section)

== Earliest string instruments ==
{{multiple image|caption_align=center|header_align=center
 | align = right
 | image2 = MusicalBow.gif
 | width2 = 145
 | alt2 = Musical bow
 | caption2 = [[Musical bow]]s have survived in some parts  of Africa.

 | image1 = COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Harp-luit TMnr A-11006.jpg
 | width1 = 150
 | alt1 = Harp lute, from West Africa
 | caption1  = Bow Harp or Harp Lute, West Africa
}}
Dating to around {{Circa|13,000 BC}}, a cave painting in the [[Trois Frères]] cave in France depicts what some believe is a [[musical bow]], a hunting bow used as a single-stringed musical instrument.<ref name=vanCampen>{{cite web | last1= Campen | first1= Ank van | title= The music-bow from prehistory till today | url= http://www.harphistory.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=65&Itemid=17&lang=en | website= HarpHistory.info | access-date= March 26, 2015 | quote= A cave-painting in the "Trois Frères" cave in France dating from about 15,000 years ago. The magician-hunter plays the musical bow. | url-status= live | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150402103518/http://www.harphistory.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=65&Itemid=17&lang=en | archive-date= April 2, 2015 }}</ref><ref name=frerescavedate>{{cite web|url= http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/trois-freres-cave.htm|title= Trois Freres Cave|access-date= March 27, 2015|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150318091929/http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/prehistoric/trois-freres-cave.htm|archive-date= March 18, 2015}}</ref> From the musical bow, families of stringed instruments developed; since each string played a single note, adding strings added new notes, creating [[African harp|bow harps]], [[harp]]s and [[lyres]].{{sfn|Dumbrill|2005|pp=179, 231, 235–236, 308–310}} In turn, this led to being able to play [[Dyad (music)|dyads]] and [[chord (music)|chords]]. Another innovation occurred when the bow harp was straightened out and a [[Bridge (instrument)|bridge]] used to lift the strings off the [[Neck (music)|stick-neck]], creating the lute.{{sfn|Dumbrill|2005|pp=308–310}}

This picture of musical bow to harp bow is theory and has been contested. In 1965 Franz Jahnel wrote his criticism stating that the early ancestors of plucked instruments are not currently known.<ref name=Jahnel>{{cite book |last=Jahnel |first=Franz |date=1965 |title=Manual of Guitar Technology: The History and Technology of Plucked String Instruments|series=Fachbuchreihe "Das Musikinstrument", vol. 37|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4QTfTINjQtUC&q=balkan%20mandolin&pg=PA15 |page=15 |isbn=0-933224-99-0|quote=There have been some uncertain presumptions concerning the "invention" of the bowed harp...The "musical bow" conjectured by many music scholars is not definitely recognizable in any cave paintings. The fact that some African negroes held the end of their bow-shaped harp in their mouths in order to improve the tone...should not be taken as proof that the first European bowmen were also conversant with the musical bow. }}</ref> He felt that the harp bow was a long cry from the sophistication of the civilizations of western Asia in 4000 BC that took the primitive technology and created "technically and artistically well-made harps, lyres, citharas, and lutes."<ref name=Jahnel/>
 
Archaeological digs have identified some of the earliest stringed instruments in  [[Ancient Mesopotamia]]n sites, like the [[lyres of Ur]], which include artifacts over three thousand years old. The development of [[lyre]] instruments required the [[music technology (mechanical)|technology]] to create a tuning mechanism to tighten and loosen the string tension. Lyres with wooden bodies and strings used for plucking or playing with a bow represent key instruments that point towards later harps and violin-type instruments; moreover, Indian instruments from 500 BC have been discovered with anything from 7 to 21 strings. In Vietnam, a 2,000 year old, singularly stringed instrument made of deer antler was also discovered.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Campos |first1=Fredeliza Z. |last2=Hull |first2=Jennifer R. |last3=Hồng |first3=Vương Thu |title=In search of a musical past: evidence for early chordophones from Vietnam |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/in-search-of-a-musical-past-evidence-for-early-chordophones-from-vietnam/7A195B3ACFA44E291A9DF2B8EDFFD03A |journal=Antiquity |date=2023 |language=en |volume=97 |issue=391 |pages=141–157 |doi=10.15184/aqy.2022.170 |s2cid=257039609 |issn=0003-598X |via=Cambridge Core}}</ref>