Ancient metal tubes unearthed in 1897 could be oldest surviving drinking straws

The design of the ‘sceptre’ components from the Maykop tombA set of ancient gold and silver tubes dating to about 5,500 years ago and unearthed in North Caucasus inThe eight thin-walled tubes, each more than a metre in length with a narrow perforated tip, were found in the largest of three compartments containing human remains, discovered during the excavation of a mound near Maykop in the summer of 1897.

“If correct, these objects represent the earliest material evidence of drinking through long tubes – a practice that became common during feasts in the third and second millennia BC in the ancient near east,” the researchers wrote., the team suggest the items are drinking straws “designed for sipping a type of beverage that required filtration during consumption”.

The tubes’ perforated tip is consistent with detachable metal straw tip-strainers used on the ends of reed straws in the Levant and Mesopotamia in the second millennium BC. “The position of the tubes alongside the body emphasises both the importance of the feast in the funerary rite and the high social rank for someone who throws a banquet,” said Viktor Trifonov, first author of the research from the Russian Academy of Sciences.

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Does 1897 qualify as “ancient”?

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