编者按：
说起来你可能不信，古代人竟然把吸管当作身份地位的象征。不过，在看到这一米多长、装饰精美、由金银制成的吸管之后，也难怪考古人员把它们当成“权杖”了。
# 01 #
古代人的吸管是金银做的？！
A set of ancient gold and silver tubes dating to about 5,500 years ago and unearthed in North Caucasus in Russia could be the world’s oldest surviving drinking straws,experts have claimed.And they were a far cry from the paper ones you get to slurp up your McDonald's milkshake.
专家宣称，在俄罗斯北高加索地区出土的一组距今约有5500年历史的金银吸管，可能是世界上现存最古老的吸管。它们和你在麦当劳喝奶昔时用的纸吸管有着天壤云泥之别。
The eight thin-walled tubes,each measuring about 3.6 feet (1.1 meters) long with a narrow perforated tip,were found in the largest of three compartments containing human remains,discovered during the excavation of a mound near Maykop in the summer of 1897.
这八根薄壁管子每根长约3.6英尺(1.1米)，顶端有一个狭窄的穿孔。这些吸管是在1897年夏天挖掘迈科普附近的一个小山岗时被发现的，它们位于三个存放人类遗骸的隔间中最大的那一个。
The tubes,now in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg,date to the fourth millennium BC,and were made of segments joined together.Four of the tubes were additionally decorated with a small,detachable gold or silver bull figurine.
这些吸管现存于圣彼得堡的冬宫博物馆，可以追溯到公元前四世纪。它们由一段一段的管子连接而成，其中四根管子还装饰了一个小的、可拆卸的金或银制的公牛雕像。
Writing in the journal Antiquity,the team suggest the items are drinking straws “designed for sipping a type of beverage that required filtration during consumption”.
这个专家小组在《古物》杂志上写道，这些吸管“专为饮用需要过滤的饮料而设计”。
# 02 #
从“权杖”到吸管，破案过程大揭秘
Experts have previously suggested the tubes may have been used to support a canopy used in the funeral procession,or that they were sceptres.A team of experts in Russia,however,said they were likely to be straws for drinking beer from communal vessels during banquets.
此前专家曾推断，这些管子可能被用来支撑葬礼队伍中使用的华盖，或者它们是权杖。然而，俄罗斯的一个专家小组表示，这些管子很可能是葬礼宴会上用来从公共容器里饮用啤酒的吸管。
“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.
“一个转折点是在其中一根管子内表面的残渣中发现了大麦淀粉颗粒。”该研究的主要作者、俄罗斯圣彼得堡科学院物质文化史研究所的维克托·特里福诺夫博士表示，“这为迈科普墓穴中的管子被用于饮酒这一猜测提供了直接的物证。”
“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,”the researchers wrote.
研究人员写道：“如果正确的话，这些物品就是最早的用长管饮水的物质证据——这种习惯在公元前三世纪到公元前二世纪左右的古代近东的宴会上变得普遍。”
# 03 #
是邻居就“一起哈啤”
Furthermore,the team said,the study shines new light on the culture of Maikop,showing that it may have had deep ties with its southerly neighbours in Sumeria and,perhaps,a shared taste for the luxury and spectacle of drinking ceremonies.
此外，研究小组说，这项研究为迈科普文化提供了新的线索，表明迈科普文化可能与它南部的邻居苏美尔有着深厚的联系，也许，是对奢华和壮观的饮酒仪式有着共同的品味。
Using straws to drink beer was common in the early Mesopotamian civilisation of Sumeria from the 3rd millennium BC,with art depicting people standing or sitting around a communal vessel and long straws placed in.Dr.Trifonov and the team identified several key similarities with such Sumerian straws,notably,most of them feature metal strainers to help filter impurities which corresponds with the Maikop tubes.
从公元前三世纪开始，在苏美尔的早期美索不达米亚文明中，使用吸管喝啤酒很常见，艺术中描绘了放置在公共容器中的长吸管。有艺术品中描绘过人们在一个放有长吸管的公共容器周围或站或坐。维克托教授和他的研究小组找到了此次发现的吸管与这些苏美尔吸管的几个关键的相似之处。值得注意的是，在史料中，大多数吸管具有金属过滤器，用以过滤杂质，这与在迈科普发现的吸管相对应。
“Beer in the past was probably ‘chunky’ with sediment,and filter straws were a necessary implement,”Prof Augusta McMahon of the University of Cambridge said,adding they were well known in Mesopotamia during the third to second millennia BC.
剑桥大学的奥古斯塔·麦克马洪教授说：“过去的啤酒可能含有大量沉淀物，而过滤吸管是不可或缺的工具。”她补充道，“在公元前三世纪至公元前二世纪的美索不达米亚，过滤吸管非常有名。”
Among the other artefacts recovered from the Maikop Kurgan was a large vessel which the team believe was used with the straws.This container was large enough that,when completely filled,it could have held enough beer for eight people to share——and each drink seven pints.
在迈科普墓穴里发现的其他文物中，有一个大型的容器，该团队认为它是与这些吸管配合使用的。这个容器很大，当完全装满的时候，它可以装下足够8个人分享的啤酒，每人能喝到7品脱。
“The set of eight drinking tubes in the Maykop tomb may therefore represent the feasting equipment for eight individuals,who could have sat to drink beer from the single,large jar found in the tomb,”the authors wrote.
作者写道：“因此，在迈科普墓穴中发现的8个饮酒吸管可能代表了8个人的宴席设备，他们可以坐下来，从这个在墓穴中发现大罐子里喝啤酒。”
# 04 #
从吸管看古代饮酒文化
“The finds contribute to a better understanding of the ritual banquets' early beginnings——and drinking culture in hierarchical societies,”said Dr Trifonov.“The position of the tubes alongside the body emphasises both the importance of the feast in the funerary rite and the high social rank for someone who throws a banquet.”
特里福诺夫博士表示：“这些发现有助于人们更好地理解礼仪宴会的早期起源与等级社会中的饮酒文化。吸管在遗体旁边的位置既强调了葬礼仪式中盛宴的重要性，也强调了举办宴会的人具有较高的社会地位。”
“Before having done this study, I would never have believed that in the most famous elite burial of the Early Bronze Age Caucasus,the main item would be neither weapons nor jewellery,but a set of precious beer-drinking straws,” he added.
他补充说：在做这项研究之前，我从未相信，在最著名的高加索青铜器时代早期的精英墓葬中，主要物品既不是武器，也不是珠宝，而是一套珍贵的啤酒吸管。”
重点词汇：
filtration：n.过滤；筛选
例句：This enzyme would make the filtration of beer easier.
这种酶会使啤酒更容易过滤。
kurgan：n. （俄罗斯、乌克兰的）史前古冢；（Kurgan）史前古冢的建造者；（东欧或西伯利亚的）坟墩，坟头
strainers：n. 过滤器；松紧扣；用力拉的人，拉紧者
例句：We need to put potatoes into the small dish by the strainer.
我们需要用漏勺把土豆放到碟子里去。
原文链接：
https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiECXZfg1BQO3cD8hzqpbP-LoqGQgEKhAIACoHCAowvfmRCzCeoqcDMJb_ugY?hl=en-GB&gl=GB&ceid=GB%3Aen
https://news.google.com/articles/CAIiEOYnhSHBhcExI4hy2nkNrh4qFggEKg4IACoGCAowl6p7MN-zCTDlkko?hl=en-GB&gl=GB&ceid=GB%3Aen
编译｜王瑞菁
排版｜王瑞菁
