Drum

This enormous bronze drum was probably used in rituals. Great numbers of similar bronze drums have been found scattered throughout an area stretching from what is now southern China along the coastline of mainland Southeast Asia and into the islands of Indonesia.

They range in size from only five inches (thirteen centimeters) tall to much larger than this one. Many such drums are adorned with depictions of ceremonial scenes (difficult to see here), including boats, feather-decked human figures, and even drums like themselves. The meaning of these scenes is far from clear: Heralding a chieftain’s arrival? Simulating thunder to produce rain? Transporting the dead to the nether world? Drums similar to this two-thousand-year-old example continue to be produced and used in northern Myanmar (Burma) and southwestern China.