Lithophone

As Lithophone (from Greek λιθος "stone" and φωνή " sound " ) refers to Idiophone whose sound bodies are made of stone, such as hanging sound stones in China ( bianqing ), South Asia and Southeast Asia, which are widely used there.

In contrast to the xylophone and xylophone that use toner to produce metallic or wooden rods, use lithopone to rod-shaped stones.

The oldest lithophone with 20 sound stones were in India at Sankarjang the 2nd millennium BC and the remains of 16 elongated sound stones in China associated with the second half of the 2nd century, suggesting an early human use of these instruments.

In the province of Sumatera Barat Sumatra on a prehistoric Lithophone ( talempong batu ) was found. It consists of six stone blocks of different size and sound level. A Lithophone from Ndut Lieng Krak in South Vietnam is attributed to the Iron Age Sa Huynh - culture.

A well-known Lithophone is also the Musical Stones of Skiddaw, which was constructed from 1827 to 1840 by the Englishman Joseph Richardson. It is located in Keswick Museum and Art Gallery in Keswick and is likely to be the oldest in Europe.