Crotales are a tuned percussion instrument that consists of small bronze or brass disks that are usually played by striking with hard plastic or metal mallets. However, they are also sometimes played by striking two of the disks together as with finger cymbals and by bowing. Their sound resembles a glockenspiel or small tuned bells but is brighter and has a longer resonance. The maximum range is two octaves. Crotales-like instruments are among the oldest of musical instruments, having been mentioned in the Hebrew Bible and also having been excavated as part of a collection of late Bronze Age objects in Ireland.