The earliest depiction of somebody playing what seems to be a Jew's harp is a Chinese drawing from the 3rd Century BC, and curved bones discovered in the Shimao fortifications in Shaanxi, China are believed to be the earliest evidence of the instrument, dating back to before 1800 B.C.E.[4][5] Archaeological finds of surviving examples in Europe have been claimed to be almost as old, but those dates have been challenged both on the grounds of excavation techniques, and the lack of contemporary writing or pictures mentioning the instrument.[6]
