Ancient Beer Straws

In a paper aptly titled “Party Like a Sumerian” published Wednesday in the journal Antiquity, archaeologists present a meticulous re-examination of these objects and argue they are likely more ancient beer bongs than scepters.

The problem with the old theory, these researchers note, is that the past analyses didn’t account for the tube’s complete design, such as its intricate configuration and hollow center.

“The idea of reinterpreting the ‘scepters’ first came to me about a decade ago, and I even shared it with my colleagues, but I didn’t get any support,” the paper’s first author, Viktor Trifonov wrote to Inverse. To prove his argument, Trifonov, an archaeology researcher at St. Petersburg’s Russian Academy of Sciences, knew he needed more substantial evidence.

The kurgan in which the straws were discovered comprised of a large chamber divided into three compartments, each containing the body of an adult in the fetal position. The body in the largest section was adorned with rich fabric and precious stones, as well as eight long, thin, hollow tubes. Since their discovery, they have been preserved at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

The breakthrough came when researchers found the supposed scepter’s inner filter curiously contained barley starch residue. The clue suggested something containing barley, such as beer, may have passed through these metal tubes.

This was the turning point for Trifonov.  “I decided to check if there was any residue left from the beverage inside the Maikop tubes in the Hermitage,” he wrote to Inverse. “Everything else fell into place when my teammates found the starch, phytoliths, and pollen grains inside the filter.”  READ MORE...