Party like a Sumerian: reinterpreting the ‘sceptres’ from the Maikop kurgan

Abstract

The Bronze Age Maikop kurgan is one of the most richly furnished prehistoric burial mounds in the northern Caucasus. Its excavation in 1897 yielded a set of gold and silver tubes with elaborate tips and decorative bull figurines. Interpretations of these tubes include their use as sceptres and as poles to support a canopy. Re-examination of these objects, however, suggests they were used as tubes for the communal drinking of beer, with integral filters to remove impurities. 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.

Curated cauldrons: Preserved proteins from early copper-alloy vessels illuminate feasting practices in the Caucasian steppe

“…If past vessels were used in the preparation or serving of alcohol or other intoxicants, the evidence might well be more elusive, but there would be the potential to recover residues dominated by plant or fermented milk proteins, and perhaps the enzymes or microbial proteins from bacteria and yeasts used to jump start fermentation. The provisional identification of cereal starch grains (see Trifonov 50 ) in association with “drinking straws” from the Maykop kurgan itself adds another dimension to the possible range of vessel uses. Evidence of widespread plant cultivation within Maykop society is limited, but cereal grains (principally Triticum aestivum and Hordeum vulgare) have been recovered from contemporaneous sites on both sides of the Greater Caucasus 51 , 52 and found in direct association with Maykop ceramics at the Sereginskoe settlement.…”

Archaeological evidence for initial migration of Neolithic Proto Sino-Tibetan speakers from Yellow River valley to Tibetan Plateau

“…People worldwide have practiced such a communal drinking method since Neolithic times 82 – 84 . In China, drinking alcohol in groups through straws, referred to as zajiu 咂酒 in Chinese, was first documented in Huayang Guo Zhi (Chronicles of Huayang; AD 348–354), has been described in many later texts, and still exists among many Sino-Tibetan ethnic groups in southwest China today, such as Qiang, Tibetan, Miao, Gelao, Tu, and Yugu 85 .…”

Hospitals Should Offer Straws Only on Demand to the Public and Patients—An Environmental and Patient Care Imperative

“…A brief history of straws clarifies how they have evolved and why we continue using them. The first descriptions of devices resembling straws were 5000-7000 years ago when Sumerians of Mesopotamia drank beer by placing long, hollow sticks into large vats that were too heavy to lift and to avoid the solid byproducts of fermentation [15][16][17]. The straws were mostly made of precious metals and hence restricted to the elite.…”