Bullroarers used by kids of Friuli, northern Italy (from Battaglia, 1921).
The bullroarer is a small wooden board, shaped flat, of various size, often decorated with abstract marks, with a hole to which a short rope (made of vegetable fibres or animal hairs) is fastened. The whirling movement that the hand, through the rope, transmits to the bullroarer, produces a deep, dull and intermittent sound. In the primitive cultures this instrument has a magical and initiatory function. For this reason it is not accessible to women or young boys until the moment of the initiation rites. The Maori bullroarer (purerehua) is traditionally used during the healing rituals or with the aim of getting rain and to direct the evil spirits towards other worlds. So it is the “most ancient, most widespread and most sacred known religious instrument” (Haddon).
In 1893 Giuseppe Pitrè, in his essay on Sicilian games, describes a toy shaped like a rhomb called lapuni (big bee). A study of 1921 carried out by Battaglia points out the presence of the bullroarer among the ancient games of Friulan children. Its presence is attested in the Alpine culture through the late ’60s. In many parts of Scotland the bullroarer was thought to protect from spells and from lightning.
The rotation produced by the arm on the rope that holds the bullroarer, makes it circle around itself until it makes a very grave humming.
Any source on the bullroarer being widespread in Egypt and Mesopotamia?
Dear Andrew, to be honest, I did not consider the presence of such sound instruments in the areas you mentioned. The comparative comparison of cultures that are so distant that they have no common points of reference renders any juxtaposition ineffective. If you read the post dedicated to the Archaeology of Knowledge, you will be able to evaluate the arguments that led me to certain methodological conclusions. Therefore, the juxtaposition of the Palaeolithic European bullroarer is not possible, nor is it necessary to look for similar tools in Egyptian and Mesopotamian cultures. Thank you for your question.
>The bullroarer is widespread in ancient Egypt and in Mesopotamia.
What was meant by this line?