CELTIBERIA · NUMANCIA · PIECE N8234

Trumpet from Numantia

The wolf's head that may have sounded a signal across the field

This Numancia trumpet could have served to give signals, although we do not know its exact sound.

Museum documentation · free public access, no account required.

Image of Numancia Trumpet — **DECLARED VISUAL RECONSTRUCTION · AI-GENERATED IMAGE · TRACEKEEPERS**
Generated reconstruction · Declared visual hypothesis
Declared visual reconstruction, created for museographic contextualisation; not a photograph of the original nor does it constitute documentary evidence.

History and context

The ceramic trumpet with zoomorphic termination comes from Numancia and is associated with collective signalling. Its wolf's head transforms the sounding mouth into an image, perhaps intimidatory or identificatory.

It is Celtiberian, not Phoenician nor Mediterranean Iberian. We include it as a peninsular comparison and keep the exact exhibition attribution blocked until a stable public record for N8234 is available.

Evidence and interpretation

Provenance, material and form are known. Military function is probable; ritual, interpreter and repertoire are not demonstrated. N8235 is another trumpet and must not be silently substituted.

Catalogue facts

Location: Numancia · Soria
Culture: Celtiberian · comparison, not Mediterranean Iberian piece
Cited Inventory: N8234
Documentary State: Individual Public Record Pending

A SHARED TOPIC, DIFFERENT MOMENTS

Objects connected through time

Follow a topic across the collections. A shared tag is a way to compare objects, not proof that one culture influenced another.

The order uses the midpoint of each approximate date range; ranges can overlap. Spacing does not represent elapsed time. Swipe, scroll or use the arrows. With the sequence focused, use ← / →, Home or End.

THE CURRENT OBJECT

Its date is not sufficiently established to place it on the timeline. We keep it here, separate from the dated objects.

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No individual dating published on this record

Trumpet from Numantia

Iberians

The file does not publish an individual dating of the instrument.

Current record

Ceramics39 dated objects

1 / 39In the centre: Dolní Věstonice I

Also connected, without a comparable date (16)

These objects are not placed after the others: an unknown date does not mean a more recent object.

A Kerma vessel deposited at AbydosAncient Egypt · Second Intermediate Period
A tradition that inventsBatwa / Twa histories · collected in 1993 or 1995
A vase travels; the rite changesIberians · No individual dating published on this record
AkrotiriGreek worlds · c. 1700–1500 BCE
Dia’s strataMande Worlds · 9th century BCE–2nd millennium CE
Early potteryMande Worlds · before ca. 9400 cal BCE
Jenne-jeno contextsMande Worlds · ca. 250 BCE–1400 CE
Liédena FlaskEtruscans and Rome · Roman period · individual chronology not published in the entry
LothalIndus civilisation · ca. 2400–1600 BCE
Made in GaramaGaramantes · I millennium BCE–I millennium CE
Nile towards NubiaAncient Egypt · ca. 3300–2800 BCE
The unfinished gestureBatwa / Twa histories · 1947
Three hundred lives in the sandYayoi Japan · Mainly 4th century BCE–3rd century CE
Travelling objectsGaramantes · Mainly Roman period
Urns from AdichanallurVedic and later Indian worlds · Iron Age · samples towards 665 and 467 BCE
Vessels without a languageBantu-speaking worlds · Urewe, broad regional range ca. 800 BCE–650 CE

You can scroll the first group without JavaScript. The other topics are also available below.

Musical instruments

Current object, without a comparable date: Trumpet from Numantia.

Hohle Fels flute · ≈35,000–40,000 years · Prehistory
Queen's Lyre · ca. 2600–2500 BCE · Sumer
The Gallery of the Conch Shells · Main use c. 800–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Eight voices in one hand · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Thirty-nine buried bells · Buried towards the 1st century BCE–1st century CE · Yayoi Japan
19th-century kora · 19th century · Mande Worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Daegok-ri grave goods · from c. 5th century BCE · Gojoseon and early Korea
Living m’bolon · The present with historical memory · Mande Worlds
Musical bows · Twentieth-century ethnomusicological documentation · San histories
Sosso-Bala · Tradition linked through narrative to the 13th century; the present instrument and its custodianship have their own chronology · Mande Worlds

Music

Current object, without a comparable date: Trumpet from Numantia.

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Dance with weapons · Towards 400 BCE. Xenophon's story · Thracians
Healing dance · Recordings 1968–1972 · San histories
Living m’bolon · The present with historical memory · Mande Worlds
Musical bows · Twentieth-century ethnomusicological documentation · San histories
Sosso-Bala · Tradition linked through narrative to the 13th century; the present instrument and its custodianship have their own chronology · Mande Worlds

Animal imagery

Current object, without a comparable date: Trumpet from Numantia.

Lion-man · ≈40,000 years · Aurignacian · Prehistory
Before the San · ≈25.500–23.500 BCE · San histories
Before the name San · ≈25.500–23.500 BCE · San histories
Altamira · Assemblage ≈36,000–13,000 BP · bison ≈18,400–15,300 cal BP · Prehistory
Lascaux · ≈23,500–21,000 cal BP · debated contextual estimate · Prehistory
Zaraysk Bison · ≈23,000–21,000 years · Prehistory
Rondelle de Mas-d'Azil · ≈18,000–16,000 years · Prehistory
Lamp from La Mouthe · ≈20,500–13,000 years · Magdalenian framework · Prehistory
Engraved stone from Çakmaktepe · PPNA · site proposal: ≈9600–8800 BCE, provisional · Prehistory
Cueva de las Manos · Sequence ≈9300–1300 BP · Prehistory
Cylinder seal · c. 3500–3100 BCE · Sumer
Queen's Lyre · ca. 2600–2500 BCE · Sumer
The goat from PG 1237 · ca. 2600–2400 BCE · Sumer
Indus seals · ca. 2600–1900 BCE · Indus civilisation
Queen of the Night · 19th–18th centuries BCE · Sumer
Bull-leaping · c. 1600–1450 BCE · Greek worlds
Stag Vessel · 14th–13th centuries BCE · Hittites
Before the Scythians and Sakas · Final Bronze–Initial Iron, ca. 1200–600 BCE · Scythians and Saka
Ivory in Nimrud · 9th–8th centuries BCE · Phoenicians
Lamassu of Khorsabad · Reign of Sargon II · 721–705 BCE · Sumer
The Tello Obelisk · c. 800–500 BCE · Pre-Inca cultures
Ashurbanipal Hunt · 645–635 BCE · Sumer
Banquet under leopards · Around 480–470 BCE · Etruscans and Rome
The oldest knotted carpet · 5th–4th centuries BCE · Scythians and Saka
The silver amphora of Chertomlyk · 4th century BCE · Greek worlds
Thoth in the form of a baboon · 664–30 BCE · Ancient Egypt
Poroina Mare Rhyton · Second half of the 4th century BCE · Thracians
Borovo · 4th century BC C.; 350–300 BCE in the ISAW catalog. · Thracians
Leipzig Fish Plate · Last third 4th–early 3rd century BCE · Greek worlds
Dove of the Amarejo · 3rd century BCE · Iberians
Chão de Lamas pectoral · 3rd–2nd centuries BCE · concealed in the early 1st century BCE · Iberians
Fibula from Lancia · ≈300–100 BCE · Iberians
Horse fibula · 2nd century BCE · disputed chronology · Iberians
The dismantled cauldron · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Celtic worlds
Kalathos of Alcorisa · 2nd–1st centuries BCE · Iberians
Egyptian oil lamp with a fish, held in Laon · 3rd–4th centuries CE · Ancient Egypt
Laon lamp with fish · 3rd–4th centuries CE · Etruscans and Rome
Gold rhinoceros · ca. 1220–1290; found in 1933 · Bantu-speaking worlds
Zimbabwe birds · main period of Great Zimbabwe, c. 12th–15th centuries · Bantu-speaking worlds

Without a comparable date (not part of the chronological order):

Bhimbetka · Mesolithic–historical and medieval period · Prehistory
Eland Cave · Regional tradition of ≈4,000 years · up to historical period · Prehistory
Fawn spear-thrower · Middle Magdalenian · Prehistory
Game Pass Shelter · Regional rock art chronology · panel not dated in isolation · San histories
Kakadu · Regional corpus ≈20,000 BP–contemporary era · Prehistory
Leang Karampuang · Minimum 51,200 years · dating published in 2024 · Prehistory
Sierra de San Francisco · Broad tradition with direct dates ≈5290–295 BP · Prehistory
Tassili n’Ajjer · Corpus ≈6000 BCE–first centuries CE · Prehistory
The Thracian Horseman · Roman era · diffusion especially in the 2nd–3rd centuries CE · Thracians

A closer look

About 1 min to read · 1 section. Further reading and sources · free access. Editorial review recorded: September 5, 2026.

The Shape of the Tube Also Produced the Sound

Experimental archaeology studies the Numantian trumpets by reconstructing their ceramic parts: tube, bell and mouthpiece. The length and thickness of the conduit condition the air column; the pieces could be modelled separately and joined before firing. That is why two instruments of similar appearance do not necessarily have the same acoustic response. Published experiments work with concrete forms and allow exploration of sound possibilities, but do not recover an ancient melody nor prove how this specimen sounded exactly. Numancia belongs to the Celtiberian sphere: its comparison with the Iberians does not erase that difference.

Research · The Numantian Trumpets: Acoustic Approach · Experimentation in Archaeology. Study and Dissemination of the PastAccess recorded: September 5, 2026.

Location and territory

LOCATED SITE

Numancia · SoriaMarker of the Celtiberian Site.

Where it is held

Numantino Museum of Soria

Item or group in the record · Documented collection

The institutional publication situates the zoomorphic trumpet N-8234 in the Numantino Museum; the CER.ES N-8235 record linked in the file corresponds to another trumpet and is not used to identify this piece.

The holding institution is documented; public display may change. Check its official record before visiting.

Sources and references

Open the Official Record of This Piece

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History and context

Evidence and interpretation

Catalogue facts

Trumpet from Numantia

Dolní Věstonice I

Before Sumer

Twin-chambered vessel from Cova de l’Or

Before Egypt

Before Nubia

Before Gojoseon

Bevel-rimmed bowl

Before Yayoi

Vasiliki

Before the Greeks

Cemetery R-37

Before Ancient China

Longshan

Kerma vessel

Burial at K IV

Before Vedic India

Osmankayası and Ilıca

Grey bowl from Hastinapura

Before Etruscans and Rome

The urn under the helmet

Ceramic stand 1010

Ishtar Gate

Glazed brick guards

Orpheus among the Thracians

The Attic krater that took on a new life in Cástulo

Thoth in the form of a baboon

Leipzig Fish Plate

Dove of the Amarejo

Vas dels Guerrers

Warriors' Vase

Northern mound

Kalathos of Alcorisa

Urewe vessel

Two rows of coffins

Ceramics that continued

Egyptian oil lamp with a fish, held in Laon

Laon lamp with fish

Kabusanza, ca. 400

Missing grave goods

A closer look

The Shape of the Tube Also Produced the Sound

Location and territory

Where it is held

Numantino Museum of Soria

Sources and references

Did you enjoy this exhibit?