TREE-RING DATING OF TURKISH MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS

Turkey has a rich music culture and different kinds of musical instruments. Production of musical instruments in Turkey involved different cultural influences and evolved over time through a master-journeyman relationship until the mid-20th Century. Despite the rich Turkish music culture, studies on the technical properties and dendrochronological dating of traditional musical instruments are still almost completely absent. Sixteen instruments typical of traditional Turkish music were included in the study: five kemenche, two violins and nine ouds. All investigated musical instruments except one are part of the collection of Zeki Bulent Ağcabay from Istanbul. Nine of the sixteen instruments were successfully dated and permitted verification of the cultural influences between different European regions, and also provided interesting insights, such as the existence of a “global” market for wood used in the production of violin soundboards.