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Oldest surviving straws hint at ancient culture of communal beer drinking
newatlas.com ^ | January 19, 2022 | Nick Lavars

Posted on 01/20/2022 9:25:28 AM PST by BenLurkin

A set of lengthy silver and gold tubes dug up from a famous grave in the the Caucuses have been found to represent the oldest surviving drinking straws, with the scientists behind the discovery believing they were used for communal beer consumption. The specimens are 5,000 years old and help deepen our understanding of drinking culture in ancient hierarchical societies.

The set of eight tubes was unearthed back in 1987 in the Maikop Kurgan burial mound, a famous grave for Bronze Age elites in the Northern Caucasus. Researchers had since concluded the meter-plus-long tubes to be poles for a canopy, or, with bull figurines featuring on some, scepters. Researchers at the Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences decided to dig a little further into their history, hoping to flesh out the details around their use.

"A turning point was the discovery of the barley starch granules in the residue from the inner surface of one of the straws," said lead author Dr. Viktor Trifonov. "This provided direct material evidence of the tubes from the Maikop Kurgan being used for drinking."

The presence of these granules suggests the straws were used for drinking beer, which ties in with other evidence of such practices among the early Mesopotamian civilization of Sumeria from the third millennium BCE, hundreds of kilometers away. Artwork from this era shows people gathering around communal vessels using multiple long straws, which feature metal strainers to filter out impurities in ancient beer.

These metal strainers were also discovered in the Maikop straws, along with some other key similarities.

Seals from the fifth and fourth millennium BCE in Iran and Iraq show people using straws to drink from communal vessels, suggesting the practice stretches even further back in history.

(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...


TOPICS: History
KEYWORDS: beer; drinking; ggg; godsgravesglyphs; maikopkurgan; oenology; straws; sucks; zymurgy
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1 posted on 01/20/2022 9:25:28 AM PST by BenLurkin
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To: SunkenCiv

ping


2 posted on 01/20/2022 9:25:52 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

could just as easily be proof that ancient cultures got high on cocaine


3 posted on 01/20/2022 9:27:01 AM PST by C210N (Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.)
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To: C210N

after all, they clearly did not have $100 bills.


4 posted on 01/20/2022 9:27:40 AM PST by C210N (Everything will be okay in the end. If it’s not okay, it’s not the end.)
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Credit: Viktor Trifonov


Credit: Viktor Trifonov

5 posted on 01/20/2022 9:27:55 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: C210N

I guess if they had found cocaine residue in there instead of barley, then sure.


6 posted on 01/20/2022 9:28:46 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: C210N; All

7 posted on 01/20/2022 9:30:07 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion, or satire. Or both.)
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To: BenLurkin

Beer with straws? What was it, ladies night?


8 posted on 01/20/2022 9:32:10 AM PST by Fido969 (45 is Superman!)
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To: BenLurkin

Beer thru a straw?.........................yuck!...........


9 posted on 01/20/2022 9:32:59 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: BenLurkin

As long as they weren’t plastic eh?


10 posted on 01/20/2022 9:35:19 AM PST by xp38
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To: BenLurkin

Recently found the world’s second oldest straws in the back of the kitchen junk drawer. The plastic disintegrated upon touch. Very disappointing, as we needed straws for the takeout milkshakes because the new shop didn’t have any straws yet. So, we used spoons, which do not result in the same milkshake satisfaction. Alas, I digress...


11 posted on 01/20/2022 9:36:58 AM PST by NautiNurse (Who will portray Alec Baldwin in the SNL skit? )
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To: Red Badger

I don’t know if these are like that, but some of those straws had rough filters in them, to filter the beer as you drank it, as the beer itself was unfiltered.


12 posted on 01/20/2022 9:44:34 AM PST by ferret_airlift
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To: BenLurkin
I thought only pirates drink beer through a straw?


13 posted on 01/20/2022 9:46:30 AM PST by Magnum44 (...against all enemies, foreign and domestic...)
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To: BenLurkin

That was the straw that broke the Camelback Beer.


14 posted on 01/20/2022 9:48:20 AM PST by bunkerhill7 (That`s 464 people per square foot! Is this corrrect..it was NYC.)
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To: BenLurkin

Evidence of straws completely disappeared after 3,000 BC due to the ban.


15 posted on 01/20/2022 9:51:30 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (81 million votes...and NOT ONE "Build Back Better" hat)
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To: BenLurkin

Straw #1 in the first photo was a prototype that didn’t work out and was abandoned.


16 posted on 01/20/2022 9:52:02 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom (81 million votes...and NOT ONE "Build Back Better" hat)
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17 posted on 01/20/2022 10:02:06 AM PST by csvset (tolerance becomes a crime when attached to evil)
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To: Fido969; BenLurkin
You are doing it wrong.


18 posted on 01/20/2022 10:07:02 AM PST by Daffynition (*This admin tells us *A* story; but they don't tell us *THE* story* & :) ~ D Bongino)
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To: BenLurkin

Looks like vacuum cleaner attachments.


19 posted on 01/20/2022 10:14:25 AM PST by dynachrome ("I will not be reconstructed, and I do not give a damn.")
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To: StayAt HomeMother; Ernest_at_the_Beach; 1ofmanyfree; 21twelve; 24Karet; 2ndDivisionVet; 31R1O; ...
Thanks BL.

20 posted on 01/20/2022 10:36:34 AM PST by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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