Humans have been slurping liquids through drinking tubes or straws for a very long time. In fact, it is an incredibly ancient practice. Archaeologists have unearthed millennia-old artifacts that contain artistic depictions of people from past civilizations using drinking straws in their daily lives. For example, the Metropolitan Museum of Art (commonly called the MET) possesses a Sumerian cylinder seal—dated between 2600–2350 BCE—that displays an ancient banquet scene with seated people sipping beverages from drinking tubes. Although the shapes of straws, and the materials used to make them, have drastically changed over the course of human history, the simple straw remains a pipeline to the practices of the ancient past.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Picture Attribution: (Sumerian cylinder seal impression with seated figures drinking a liquid through straws, [Public Domain] via Creative Commons and the MET).
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