Bone Harp Pegs from Oxford, 15th century

In the back yard of a timber-framed late Medieval building on the west side of St Aldates were found a large group of bone instrument-pegs in various stages of completion. Waste fragments of horse metapodials (long bones) showed what the pegs were being made of. Some of the pegs are suitable for a "psaltery", a shallow box-shaped instrument with wire strings running over a soundboard (a spool of fine bronze wire was also found on the property) and played with a plectrum, a small, flat oval striker. The other pegs were possibly harp-pegs.

A remarkable number of Oxford documents mention the craft of ‘harpmaker’. Perhaps the apparently high proportion of English harpmakers working in Oxford is related to the University, which could have provided as large a market for music in the 15th century as it does today.