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264the monophonic singing traditions have the polyphony of string instruments (but not thepolyphony of double blown instruments).This specific closeness of blown instruments with the vocal traditions is mostlikely to have the physiological-psychological basis and be connected to the process ofthe breathing, paramount for the physiology of both singing and playing blowninstruments (Jordania, 1989:224-227, 1985; Nikoladze, 1986). Because of the breathingthe musical phrasing on vocal and blown instrumental music is also very similar.I was thrilled to discover, that very deep connection between singing and blowninstruments had been noted by Ancient Egyptians. The same hieroglyph (showing thebird – another very symbolic sign) was used by Egyptian writers to depict both (1)singing, and (2) playing the flute (Gruber, 1941:172).General closeness of blown instrumental polyphony and vocal forms ofpolyphony has potentially revolutionary implications for the study of the history of vocalpolyphony. As the musical instruments are among the best-preserved artifacts in thearchaeological records (particularly when they are made of the materials like bone, orfired clay), they can provide quite accurate information about the monophonic orpolyphonic types of music, including the type of polyphony and scales. If the closenessbetween the polyphonic singing and polyphonic blown instruments is taken into accountby ethnomusicologists (and particularly by music archaeologists), the informationprovided by ancient musical instruments could considerably widen our scope of theknowledge about the singing practices of the past epochs.Two examples of the ancient civilizations that might have known vocalpolyphony will be discussed below.Polyphony in Ancient Mesopotamia. According to Kurt Sachs,double oboe appears in very early written Sumerian documents (Sachs, 1937:100). Thisinstrument from the Ancient Mesopotamia was generally of drone type (“Both reeds weresounding together, one of them playing the melody and the other holding the same note”,Sachs, 1937b:85). Does this mean that Sumerians were acquainted with the tradition ofpolyphony? There are few other sources of information (besides of their use of doubleblown instruments) that could shed a light on this matter.Maybe the most importantly, or at least most famously, there are written examplesof music from the Ancient Mesopotamia. Ancient Sumerians, most likely the inventors ofthe writing system, wheel, the system of the time units from 60 seconds to twelvemonths,intensive agriculture, legal civil and administrative systems and schools, arecredited with the invention of the music writing system as well. The same Curt Sachs,one of the best experts of the music of Ancient civilizations, wrote in the 1930s:”Relatively recently an important discovery was made. This discovery enrichesour meager knowledge on the ancient Babylonian music. This discovery is particularlyimportant, as it is the only example of Babylonian musical culture that is available to us.In the Berlin Museum of the Front Asia there is a tablet with writings from the Sumerianepoch. Writings represent a poem in Sumerian language about the creation of humans.Next to it there is a translation of this text into Assyrian language. Scholars investigatedthe writings in Sumerian on the margins of the tablet. These writings represent the usualSumerian syllables, but they are arranged the way that they do not make any sense. Theauthor of this article managed to decipher this writing, which turned to be a system of