Peru
Inca

Lobatus galeatus Conch
ca. 1300-1500 CE
Length: 9 in
Aerophones – Wind Instruments Proper – Lip Vibrated

This pre-Columbian end-blown conch trumpet is attributed to the Inca culture, circa 1300-1500 CE, Central Peru.  It is a Lobatus galeatus, with a well-worn emboucher.  The end flange/rim has a drilled hole, possibly for a hanging rope.  Karl Gustav Izikowitz gives the main use for these conch trumpets was for signaling in war but says that conchs were used also for general purposes, including by travelers to show their peaceful intent and their distinction when passing strange villages.  According to Olsen, Dale A., Music of El Dorado (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2001). these may have also been used by shamans, or curanderos as they are called in northern coastal Peru.

According to my good friend and world renown ethnomusicologist Jeremy Montagu, “The word ‘conch’ means shell and derives from the Greek konche or konchos, and Sanskrit cankhua, and thus the commonly used term ‘conch-shell’ is a tautology.

This conch was collected in the 1930s by Dr. Lewis Hilton, Professor Emeritus at Washington University, and teacher/advisor to Aurelia Hartenberger at WU.

Reference: ‘The Conch Horn – Shell Trumpets of the World from Prehistory to Today.” Jeremy Montagu