Sumerian Tubes First Thought as Scepters Confirmed as Ancient Straws for Drinking Beer

A new archeological study revealed that the silver and gold tubes excavated from an ancient Russian tomb were made purposely for drinking straws. Experts first thought that the elongated artifacts were some kind of staff that were used in ceremonies. However, examinations showed that the material was indeed a party straw that was used to sip beverages from a communal jar.

The 5,000-year-old straws were excavated as practice mirrors, which are objects that were utilized by Sumerian people in ancient Mesopotamia. The staff-like tubes serve as a support for drinking the ceremonial beverage, potentially a beer, as part of their culture.

Sumerian Party Straw Discovered in Maikop, Russia

The ancient Sumerian straws were unearthed just a few kilometers south of Mesopotamia, in the northwestern Caucasus. According to the authors of the study, the region is well-known for its hidden artifacts that date back to the early bronze age.

The experts noted that through the discovery, there could be other clues that could point to several commodities of the ancient people aside from major historical finds. Due to the excavation of the massive straws, experts theorized that beer is indeed an important part of ancient Sumerian culture.

The straws were first discovered over 100 years ago as part of the archeological expedition that was conducted at the site in Maikop, Russia. The region was filled with numerous artifacts possibly due to its ancient function as a burial place for ancient people. The findings baffled the scientists at first, suggesting that it may be a ceremonial staff for ritual occasions.

Russian Academy of Sciences Institute for the History of Material Culture expert and lead author of the study Viktor Trifonov said in a Yahoo News report that the idea of the artifacts being a straw has never occurred to anyone until today.

In 1897, the straws were extracted from a vast burial mound known as 'kurgan.' Some of the tubes had a bull miniature embedded on its lower end. Along with the beer straws, the remains of a man, potentially an ancient king, were found buried in the same place.

The kurgan spilled with ancient riches such as previous metal cups, tools, weapons, and garments designed with a combination of gold and high-value stones. In the chambers of the tomb, the remains of two women were also discovered.

Ancient Tubes Not a Scepter But Straws for Drinking Beer

The tubes were discovered lying beside the remains of the man, while the other artifacts were properly aligned against the chamber walls and away from the body. The first archeologists to conduct the 19th-century excavation speculated that the tubes are scepters, which are objects that are notably found in images, statues, and coffins of powerful ancient individuals.

After the initial examination, the suspected scepters were safely kept and displayed at St. Petersburg's State Hermitage Museum, along with the other artifacts collected from the Maikop kurgan.

Later examinations theorized that the straws were funeral canopies or arrows that serve as bull kill counts. But because of the overlooked details such as the narrow slits at each end of the tubes, Trifonov's team immediately had the idea. Combined with the ancient barley starch trapped in one of the tubes, pollen grains, and microscopic fragments of plant cells called phytoliths, the authors concluded that the tubes were straws used for drinking beers.

The aristocratic practice of communal beer consumption is evident in most of the Sumerian seals that date back to over 1,000 years. The study was published in the journal Antiquity, titled "Party like a Sumerian: reinterpreting the 'sceptres' from the Maikop kurgan."

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