Gold and silver tubes found 125 years ago in the northern Caucasus appear to contain stalks, not a staff, according to a re-examination of archeology.
Russian archaeologist Nikolai Veselovsky found them in 1897 on the hill of Maikop Kurgan in the northern Caucasus. This is a very important Bronze Age site, as it was found to have three bones and hundreds of bones. items, including beads of precious stones and gold, ceramic vessels, metal cups, and tools. Millennium 4 BCE pile originated in Maikop Early Bronze Age Culture (3700 to 2900 BCE)), who was named after the place where he was buried.
It was among the many items that Veselovsky found that were long lasting. thin tubes – carefully buried material and deliberately placed to the right of the upper parta responsible person found buried in fancy clothes. Tubes, made of gold and silver, weigh more than 3 feet (1 meter) in length, four of which were ornamented with a small ornament of gold or silver. The material was moved to the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, where it is still preserved.
In his analysis of the fossils, Veselovsky called the tubes a “scepter” —that is, a logical, logical concept. given the apparent responsibility of the person being buried and the oh-careful-burial of the objects. The fact that these 5,000-year-old items were used as rods (for example, sticks held by ruling kings) seemed plausible, but new. research published in Antiquity is now questioning the translation, arguing instead that the material was drinking feces. If this translation were accurate, “the paraphernalia would be a very old fossil,” says Viktor Trifonov, archaeologist at the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. to release.
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A key factor in the analysis was the identification of barley granules inside the grass, in addition to porridge phytoliths (tiny particles of plant tissue) and pollen from the lemon tree. This was taken as direct evidence that the tubes were used to drink alcohol. And because of the discovery of barley, scientists say that the beverage may have been alcohol.
It is no exaggeration to say that the Bronze Age Maikop people ate fermented barley. The practice dates back to 13,000 years during the Natufian period, when large breweries began to appear in Asia in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE The fact that the Maikop families drink herbs mixed with herbs and lemons is understandable., but as the researchers point out, they “could not be definitively confirming the existence of a fermented beverage,” so that “the result should be carefully considered, when further analysis is needed.”
Significantly, the tops of Maikop’s stalks were filtered, which may have served to remove impurities — a common staple of ancient beer. Scientists think that the drinking tubes, which contain straw filters, were “designed to drink a liquid that needed to be filtered while drinking,” and that this was done as a public service. A large vessel found in Maikop Kurgan could carry seven pints to eight drinkers, scientists say.
The grass filters found in Maikop Kurgan are very similar to those found in Sumerian drinking jars. The ancient Sumerians of the third century BCE are known for their drinking from the general public, as evidence of archeology and excavations. artwork depicting the practice. Referring to the earliest evidence of drinking straw, dating to 5 and 4 BCE, as evidence of art. is found in northern Iraq and western Iran.
Maikop grass – if so what they are — is unique in that they are the oldest grass-growing people in the history of archeology, but they seem to have originated in the Middle East, hundreds of miles away in the northern Caucasus. The presence of remote drinking grandchildren indicates that the practice has spread to surrounding areas.
“The findings help to better understand the early party traditions and drinking culture in the leading classes,” Trifonov said. “Such actions must have been important and well-known to spread between the two regions.”
Indeed, the presence of drinking weed in Maikop Kurgan reflects the cultural and economic relationship between the regions. In addition, scientists claim that the “taste of Sumerian treasures” originated in the Caucasus in the fifth century BCE, and that drinking straws will be symbolic because they are used as funerals for the elite.
As this is name Archaeological excavations have shown that drinking is fun, but it is also beneficial — and even more so when socializing — with others.
More: How Alcohol and Drugs Affected the Ancient Andes Empire.
