The earliest of these primordial trumpets were adapted from animal horns and sea shells, and were common throughout Europe, Africa, India and, to a lesser extent, the Middle East.

Primitive trumpets eventually found their way to most parts of the globe, though even today indigenous varieties are quite rare in the Americas, the Far East and South-East Asia.

The simplest – and presumably the earliest – type of trumpet was made from the hollowed-out horn or shell of an animal, into the end of which a hole was bored for the mouth.

The strident sound and distinct forms afforded to them by the animal origins of these early trumpets made them suitable as audio-visual instruments for warfare and the chase with which they are often associated.

The following examples may be briefly noted: Conch shells have also been used as primitive instruments since Neolithic times, and must be numbered among the antecedents of the natural trumpet.

In the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu, local fishermen use conch-shell trumpets known as tapáe to call for assistance when they are drawing in their nets.

They were – and in some parts of the world are still – made from a variety of perishable and non-perishable materials, including bark, wood, gourds, bamboo, horn, bone, ivory, clay and, of course, metal.

The trumpets depicted by the artists of the Eighteenth Dynasty were short straight instruments made of wood, bronze, copper or silver.

[3] For the most part the trumpeters depicted in Egyptian art are engaged in military activities – the sheneb was probably used on the battlefield both to encourage (and possibly also to direct) the Pharaoh's troops and to intimidate the enemy.

In some murals from the Eighteenth Dynasty, the sheneb appears to be accompanying dancers; if this is the case, it is possibly the earliest depiction of a trumpet in a truly "musical" setting.

It was composed of a narrow tube, somewhat thicker than a flute, but with so much breadth as was sufficient for admission of the breath of a man's mouth: it ended in the form of a bell, like common trumpets.

(Antiquities of the Jews, 3.291)The hasoserah is depicted on the Arch of Titus among the spoils taken by the Romans in the sack of Jerusalem in 70 CE (though these particular trumpets appear to be at least 1 metre (3 ft) long).

There is a fine example on display in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts; the tube of this particular salpinx is 157 cm (62 in) long and consists of thirteen cylindrical parts made of ivory; the instrument's bell and mouthpiece are both made of bronze, as are the rings used to hold the ivory sections together; the instrument is thought to date from the second half of the 5th century BCE.

Another famous contestant was Herodorus of Megas, a man of immense stature, whose playing was so loud that audiences were allegedly concussed by his performances.

On a painted ceramic knee guard dating from around 500 BCE, a salpinx call is recorded using the Greek syllables TOTH TOTOTE.

Since the early days of the Republic, two centuriates of troops (about 160 men) were composed entirely of trumpeters; these musicians, called aeneatores, employed a variety of instruments.

The ordinary guards and outposts are always mounted and relieved by the sound of the tubicen, who also directs the motions of the soldiers on working parties and on field days.

These rules must be punctually observed in all exercises and reviews so that the soldiers may be ready to obey them in action without hesitation according to the general's orders either to charge or halt, to pursue the enemy or to retire.

Elsewhere the art of bending long metal tubes was lost, for the trumpets of the succeeding era lacked the characteristic G-like curve of the cornu and buccina.

The Saracens, whose long metal trumpets greatly impressed the Christian armies at the time of the Crusades, were ultimately responsible for reintroducing the instrument to Europe after a lapse of six hundred years.

[13] From this, undoubtedly, derives the generic term būq, which first occurs after 800; this was the name used by the Arabs to describe a variety of both trumpet-like and horn-like instruments.

Other Arabic words for trumpets of various sizes and shapes include qarnā and sūr; the latter is the name used in the Qur'an for the Last Trump that will announce Judgment Day.

Known as kakaki (among the Hausa of Nigeria) or gashi (in Chad), these trumpets consist of narrow cylindrical tubes, sometimes over 2 metres (7 ft) in length, with flared metal bells.

The length and weight of thunchen make it extremely unwieldy; so the flared end is rested on the ground or a special stand, or is supported on the shoulders of another monk.

Usually a pair of these long, slender instruments are blown together; until a few decades ago it was standard practice for one musician to play both of them simultaneously, which seems to have been the case also in Nepal.

The tirucinnam is about 75 cm (30 in) long and has a wide cylindrical bore; it has a narrow conical bell but no mouthpiece (to facilitate the simultaneous blowing of two instruments).