20 October 2025 The Future is the Product of the Past

Mysterious Rods Found in 5,500-year-old Tomb identified to Be Earliest Drinking Straws

Russian archaeologists argue that the rods unearthed in an early bronze age tomb in the Caucasus are the oldest known drinking straws.

The artifacts, which date back roughly 5,500 years, were most likely used to drink beer or other liquids from a communal jar at banquets, according to the researchers.

The practice of sharing drinks using straws is thought to have started in Mesopotamia, and the revelation that it had extended as far as the Caucasus is yet another illustration of how the globe experienced an early kind of globalization during the Bronze Age.

Straws were initially found in 1897 in the Maikop Kurgan in the Caucuses. They were among the luxurious funerary offerings. This large burial mound is one of the most famous Bronze Age elite graves from the region, containing three individuals and hundreds of precious objects.  For a long time, the objects mystified their finders.

The straws were discovered in a kurgan that had a vast chamber separated into three sections, each containing the body of an adult in the fetal position. The main piece of the body was embellished with expensive fabric and valuable stones, as well as eight long, thin, hollow tubes.



📣 Our WhatsApp channel is now LIVE! Stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates, just click here to follow us on WhatsApp and never miss a thing!!



Components of the ornate tubes, originally identified as scepters, found at Maikop kurgan.Viktor Trifonov
Components of the ornate tubes, originally identified as scepters, found at Maikop kurgan. Photo: Viktor Trifonov

Earlier research identified them as scepters or perhaps poles for a canopy. They are on display in the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, but their purpose remained unknown.

These eight tubes with tapered points were made of rolled silver and gold stripes, and some were additionally decorated with a small, detachable bull figurine.

The entire set of straws consists of eight composite gold and silver tubes that are more than a meter long and 10 millimeters in diameter. The ends and centers are hollow, resulting in a five-millimeter-diameter tube through which a liquid might readily move. Despite their length, these objects weigh just approximately 200 grams (less than half a pound).

As a result, a recent study published in Antiquity by a Russian team re-investigated them.

The discovery occurred when researchers discovered barley starch residue in the supposed scepter’s inner filter. The clue suggested something containing barley, such as beer, may have passed through these metal tubes.

Drawing of the rods found in the Maikop kurganCredit: V. Trifonov
Drawing of the rods found in the Maikop kurgan. Photo: V. Trifonov

“A turning point was the discovery of the barley starch granules in the residue from the inner surface of one of the straws. This provided direct material evidence of the tubes from the Maikop kurgan being used for drinking,” said the lead author Dr. Viktor Trifonov from the Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg.

Although the researchers were unable to prove that the barley had been fermented, this indicates that these straws were used for drinking beer.

In the paper, Trifonov posits the set of eight hollow tubes could represent feasting tools for eight people. In life, these people would all sit around one large vessel and guzzle beer with their straws. Skillfully forged from precious metals, the straws demonstrated one’s wealth and elite status. Aside from jewelry, the tubes were the objects placed closest to the deceased in the tomb.

Drinking beer with long straws was a common practice in the early Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer. Seal impressions from Mesopotamia and Iran from around 4,000 B.C.E. – predating the Maikop artifacts by centuries – already show scenes of communal drinking using similarly long straws.

The custom therefore probably started in the Near East, and we simply haven’t found the earliest straws, also because they were probably made from reeds, a highly perishable material, Dr. Trifonov says.

During their investigation, Dr. Trifonov and his colleagues discovered similarities with Sumerian straws. Notably, most of them feature metal strainers to filter out the impurities common in ancient beer, something that is also seen in the Maikop straws.

Sumerians long drinking straws
Drinking beer with long straws was a common practice in the early Mesopotamian civilization of Sumer.

The researchers concluded that the Maikop tubes are also drinking straws because of the parallels with Sumerian findings. “If the interpretation is correct, these fancy devices would be the earliest surviving drinking straws to date,” said Dr. Trifonov, as they are over 5,000 years old.

In some Mesopotamian examples, archaeologists have found standalone metal tip-strainers, suggesting that it was also common to make the filter out of more expensive materials and attach it to plain reed straws, he adds.

These new straws are found hundreds of kilometers away from the other early evidence of drinking straw use in Mesopotamia and the surrounding region.

The Northern Caucasian steppes occupied by the illiterate Maikop culture were more than 1,000 kilometers from the sophisticated urban centers of the Sumerians. Yet the Maikop, or at least their elites, knew enough to develop a taste for the luxury and spectacle of Sumerian drinking ceremonies and funerary rites, Trifonov says.

On a larger level, the Maikop straws research is merely the most recent piece of evidence demonstrating how, throughout the Bronze Age (3500-1200 B.C.E. ), human civilizations were increasingly sophisticated and linked through vast trade networks.

Cover photo: Artist’s impression of a communal quaff in ancient Maikop, using meter-long metal straws, some of which may have been decorated with detachable bulls Credit: Kevin Wilson

Related Articles

Two Durham Archaeology Students, One from Türkiye, Earn Prestigious Awards for Research on Ancient Lycia

26 July 2025

26 July 2025

In a remarkable achievement for Anatolian studies, two Durham University-affiliated archaeology students have received prestigious awards for their research on...

Norwegian Boy in Search of Granddad’s Wedding Ring Finds 1500-year-old Roman Jewellery

11 August 2021

11 August 2021

Sander Magnus Vang (12) needed to find his grandfather’s lost wedding ring. Instead, he found a 1500-year-old ring. The golden...

2,500-Year-Old Tombs Uncovered Of Unknown Persons With Gold Tongues in Egypt

6 December 2021

6 December 2021

The remains of two unknown persons with golden tongues were found inside tombs, dating back to the Saite Dynasty (664...

Medieval Hub of Arts & Crafts Center discovered in Nola: The discovery could rewrite the history of early medieval Nola

23 August 2023

23 August 2023

On the outskirts of Nola, a district from the early Middle Ages has been discovered. According to the Soprintendenza Archeologia,...

A Sunken Land of Life and Intelligence: The Lost World of Homo Erectus Resurfaces After 140,000 Years

25 May 2025

25 May 2025

Archaeologists discover ancient human fossils and extinct megafauna on the seafloor of the Madura Strait, revealing that Homo erectus once...

Archaeologists Discover Complete 13th-Century Rare Benahoarit Vase in Tijarafe Funerary Cave on La Palma

30 August 2025

30 August 2025

A remarkable archaeological discovery in Tijarafe, a municipality on the northwestern coast of La Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands, has...

Experts say that the Stone of Destiny was a doorstep

2 May 2024

2 May 2024

The Stone of Destiny’s recorded links to Scottish royalty date back almost 1000 years, and its origins are shrouded in...

Prehistoric Settlement Unearthed in Ogovo: Remarkable New Archaeological Discoveries in Belarus

14 August 2025

14 August 2025

Recent archaeological research in Belarus has unveiled insights into the country’s prehistoric past. A series of excavations and underwater studies,...

Archaeologists may have discovered lost settlement of Apancalecan in Mexico

3 August 2023

3 August 2023

Archaeologists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Guerrero discovered a prehistoric settlement spread across 29 hectares...

Shetland Discoveries Seem Close to Uncovering Ancient Viking Capital

4 July 2021

4 July 2021

Important discoveries were made on the last day of excavations to find the ancient Viking capital of Shetland, through the...

Saxon ‘London’ was Bigger Than Previously Believed

23 February 2024

23 February 2024

Archaeologists digging at the northern end of Trafalgar Square found evidence that Saxon London’s center was bigger and extended further...

Scotland’s Giant Neolithic Timber Hall Discovered—Built 1,000 Years Before Stonehenge

8 July 2025

8 July 2025

Archaeologists uncover one of the largest Neolithic timber halls in Scotland, revealing a long-lost site of prehistoric gatherings, rituals, and...

Sensational Discovery: Miniature Gold Box Lock from Roman Era Found

29 January 2025

29 January 2025

The detectorist Constantin Fried has unearthed a miniature gold box lock dating back to the Roman era in Petershagen, located...

The Roman Imperial period, There was Less Waste in the Production of Marble Slabs than Today

17 May 2021

17 May 2021

When talking about the architecture of the ancient Roman Empire, most people usually think of the mental image of white...

Archaeologists Reveal First Settlement of Cimmerians in Anatolia

23 June 2023

23 June 2023

Continuing excavations in Türkiye’s central Kırıkkale province have revealed new findings indicating that Büklükale village was the first settlement of...