When were bells first made?

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Bells are a percussion instrument, which means we obtain a musical note by means of striking them. And since the earliest instrument in music were those of percussion, "bells" of one sort or another may be considered one of man's first musical instrument. they go back so far in history that it is impossible to trace them. More than 4,000 years ago, for eaxmple, the chinese had an instrument that considered of 16 flat stones suspended in a frame, and this gave forth a scale of exotic notes when struck by a wooden mallet, of course we think of bells as being made of metals. Yet bells for horses are mentioned in the bible. And king solomon is supposed to have had large gold bells on his roof of his temple to keep the birds away. the ancient greeks and romans had bells of all kinds, including hand bells. they were used in athens by priests. when a kind died is sparta, women walked in the streets striking small bells. Bronze bells have been found in excavations at ninevah, which was destroyed about 612 BC. and small bells like our modern sleigh bells have been found in ancient tombs in peru about 1500 years old. As the bell developed from its most primitive form, it went in two directions. One was the eastern and the other was the western. In the Orient, the bell was developed into forms that are "pot" and "bowl". the bowls became the gong, which is distinctively oriental instrument. the pot developed into chinese and japanese "barrel-formed" bells. In western civilization the bell developed in a "cup" form, and later it had a clapper so it could be struck from the inside. the large copper or bronze kettle mounted upside down atop a church was develped about year 400. the bronze bells used today have about 80 percent copper and 20 percent tin.