In 1897, archaeologists excavating an ancient burial mound near Maikop, Russia, unearthed eight tubes made of gold and silver. Each object measured more than three feet long and about a half-inch in diameter.
For decades, researchers were unable to determine the purpose of the artifacts. They suspected that the items may have been used as scepters, or possibly as poles to support canopies during festivals.
This week, however, after further study, archaeologists from the Russian Academy of Sciences determined that ancient people likely used these tubes to sip on a communal pot of beer.
That means that the 5,500-year-old items could be the oldest-known drinking straws in the world, the archaeologists claim in their study, which published Tuesday in Antiquity.
