Lur is a name given to two distinct types of wind musical instrument. The more recent type is made of wood and was in use in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages. The older type, were made of bronze and dating to the European Bronze Age. They were often found in pairs, and buried in peat bogs - mainly in Denmark (note resemblance to Mammoth tusks in sidebar photo).

A total of 56 lurs have been discovered: 35 (including fragmentary ones) in Denmark, 4 in Norway, 11 in Sweden, 5 in northern Germany, and a single one in Latvia.

The handsome fellow playing the bronze LUR replica (bottom photo) is Joe Peknik, technical curator at the musical instrument collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.   Joe was kind enough to give us a behind the scene tour of the collection where we saw many such weird and wonderful horns!.  This replica was made by Mahilllion of Brussels after the original located in a musum in Copenhagen Denmark.