Liang Jinzhi, a music professor with the Qinghai Teachers' University who found the drum, confirmed that this is the first time a drum of this kind has been found in China.

In the past, archaeologists in musical circles believed that pottery drums had pottery frames but a leather drumhead.

Professor Liang said that the newly-discovered drum is 11 centimeters high, with its upper drumhead having a diameter of 24 centimeters and lower drumhead a diameter of 12.5 centimeters.

On the beveled edge of the drum are four elliptical holes and the drumhead is arched. The drum can produce clear and melodious sounds when beaten with wooden chopsticks.

The drum is said to have been unearthed in Jijiabao Village in Minhe County in 1999 and was kept by the villagers.

Lu Yaoguang, an archaeological researcher, believed that the drum was made during the Banshan-Machang cultural period, which dates back 4,000 to 4,500 years.

Previously, relics depicting 15 people dancing in three groups on a pottery basin and 24 people dancing in two groups on a pottery basin were excavated in Datong County and Tongde County, respectively.

Based on these discoveries, archaeologists deduced that there may be a series of pottery drums.

Experts with the Qinghai Archaeological Research Institute said that discovery of the pottery drum suggest a possible transition from pottery drumhead to leather drumhead, or two kinds of drums being used for different purposes in ancient times.

(China Daily December 13, 2001)