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科学美国人60秒 SSS 古代奇才开启考古之窗

时间:2019-09-30 00:34:45

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(单词翻译)

Ancient Whiz Opens Archaeology1 Window

古代奇才开启考古之窗

A 10,000-year-old archaeological site in central Turkey is helping2 scientists unlock the region’s PEE-historic past. That’s right: the salty residue3 of ancient urine can reveal how and when humans went from hunter-gatherers to herder-farmers, who kept and raised animals in their settlements.

土耳其中部一处有10000年历史的考古遗址,正在帮助科学家解开该地区过去的小便历史。没错:远古尿液中的盐分残留物可以揭示出人类是如何以及何时从狩猎采集者转变为牧民的,牧民在他们的居住地饲养动物。

“And so we thought, okay, what’s a process that an animal would go through if it was being kept at the site, whether it’s corralled between buildings or kept in other specific areas…”Archaeologist Jordan Abell, from Columbia’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory4. He’s been studying the settlement of A??kl? H?yük, located on a 16-meter high mound5 near Turkey’s Melendiz River.“… we thought, okay, well, these animals would be urinating all the time that they were on the mound.”

哥伦比亚大学拉蒙特-多尔蒂地球观测站的考古学家乔丹·阿贝尔说:“所以我们想,好吧,如果动物被保存在这个地方,不管是被圈在建筑物之间还是被保存在其他特定的地方,它们会经历怎样的过程呢?”他一直在研究解决A??kl?Hoyuk,位于土耳其Melendiz河附近的一个16米高丘。“……我们想,好吧,这些动物在土堆上一直在小便。”

In the dry climate of central Turkey, the sodium6, chloride and nitrates from all that animal excretion would be trapped in the layers of earth onto which they were originally peed. Excavating7 those salts, layer by layer, should provide a timeline of animal populations at the site.“And so we calculated, using a simple mass balance approach, an estimate of the number of organisms that it would take to produce these large quantities of salt.”

在土耳其中部干燥的气候中,所有动物排泄出来的钠、氯和硝酸盐都会被困在最初用来撒尿的土层中。一层一层地挖掘这些盐,应该可以提供该遗址动物种群的时间表。“因此,我们用一种简单的质量平衡方法计算出了生产这些大量盐所需的生物体数量。”

Abell and his colleagues found that from 10,000 years ago to about 9,700 years ago, the site jumped from having just a few large organisms’ worth of whiz to more than 1,800.Of course, people pee, too. So the researchers had to figure out which salts were from humans and which were from their animals. Luckily, the location of the salts provided clues. For example, high concentrations in narrow alleyways too small for animals.

Abell和他的同事们发现,从一万年前到大约9700年前,这个遗址的生物数量从仅有几个大型生物的数量跃升到了1800多个。当然,人们也会尿尿。所以研究人员必须弄清楚哪些盐来自人类,哪些来自动物。幸运的是,盐的位置提供了线索。例如,在狭窄的小巷中高浓度的水对动物来说太小了。

“The general thought is that they might have been standing8 on their roofs, and just peeing into these alleyways.”Something that goats and sheep do rarely, if ever. By subtracting contributions from humans, the researchers calculated that there had to be between 800 and 1,300 sheep and goats to account for the remaining pee. The study appears in the journal Science Advances. [J.T. Abell et al, Urine salts elucidate9 Early Neolithic10 animal management at A??kl? H?yük, Turkey]

“一般的想法是,他们可能站在屋顶上,只是在这些小巷里小便。这是山羊和绵羊很少做的事情。通过减去人类的贡献,研究人员计算出必须有800到1300只绵羊和山羊才能解释剩余的尿液。这项研究发表在《科学进展》杂志上。

If true, it means that animal domestication11 didn’t originate solely12 in the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia, as many of us learned in history class.“Our technique has been able to support that idea, that somewhere outside the Fertile Crescent, in this case in Central Turkey, was developing this process at near the same time as has been shown elsewhere within the Fertile Crescent.”

如果这是真的,那就意味着动物驯化并不仅仅起源于美索不达米亚的新月沃土,正如我们许多人在历史课上学到的那样。“我们的技术已经能够支持这样一种观点,即在新月沃土之外的某个地方,比如土耳其中部,正在发展这一过程,与新月沃土其他地方的情况几乎同时发生。”

An important discovery, since the advent13 of herding14 and farming was a turning point for human civilization, leading to cities and modern society.Abell points out that many archaeological sites have little in the way of physical evidence, like bones and artifacts, but presumably all of them have pee. So his advice for other archaeologists who want to track animal and human populations? Look out for number one.

这是一个重要的发现,自从畜牧业和农业出现以来,这是人类文明的一个转折点,导致了城市和现代社会的出现。阿贝尔指出,许多考古遗址几乎没有实物证据,比如骨头和手工艺品,但据推测,它们都有尿液。那么他对其他想要追踪动物和人类种群的考古学家的建议是什么呢?注意第一。


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1 archaeology 0v2zi     
n.考古学
参考例句:
  • She teaches archaeology at the university.她在大学里教考古学。
  • He displayed interest in archaeology.他对考古学有兴趣。
2 helping 2rGzDc     
n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的,辅助的
参考例句:
  • The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
  • By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。
3 residue 6B0z1     
n.残余,剩余,残渣
参考例句:
  • Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
  • Pesticide persistence beyond the critical period for control leads to residue problems.农药一旦超过控制的临界期,就会导致残留问题。
4 observatory hRgzP     
n.天文台,气象台,瞭望台,观测台
参考例句:
  • Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
  • Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。
5 mound unCzhy     
n.土墩,堤,小山;v.筑堤,用土堆防卫
参考例句:
  • The explorers climbed a mound to survey the land around them.勘探者爬上土丘去勘测周围的土地。
  • The mound can be used as our screen.这个土丘可做我们的掩蔽物。
6 sodium Hrpyc     
n.(化)钠
参考例句:
  • Out over the town the sodium lights were lit.在外面,全城的钠光灯都亮了。
  • Common salt is a compound of sodium and chlorine.食盐是钠和氯的复合物。
7 excavating 5d793b033d109ef3f1f026bd95b1d9f5     
v.挖掘( excavate的现在分词 );开凿;挖出;发掘
参考例句:
  • A bulldozer was employed for excavating the foundations of the building. 推土机用来给楼房挖地基。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs. 一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。 来自辞典例句
8 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
9 elucidate GjSzd     
v.阐明,说明
参考例句:
  • The note help to elucidate the most difficult parts of the text.这些注释有助于弄清文中最难懂的部分。
  • This guide will elucidate these differences and how to exploit them.这篇指导将会阐述这些不同点以及如何正确利用它们。
10 neolithic 9Gmx7     
adj.新石器时代的
参考例句:
  • Cattle were first domesticated in Neolithic times.新石器时代有人开始驯养牛。
  • The monument was Stone Age or Neolithic.该纪念碑是属于石器时代或新石器时代的。
11 domestication a412c94ddc4dddbce0e57281001e9ede     
n.驯养,驯化
参考例句:
  • The first was the domestication of animals. 第一个阶段是驯养动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • In northwestern China, there is no evidence for endemic domestication of any animals. 在中国西北,没有任何当地动物驯化的迹象。 来自辞典例句
12 solely FwGwe     
adv.仅仅,唯一地
参考例句:
  • Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
  • The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。
13 advent iKKyo     
n.(重要事件等的)到来,来临
参考例句:
  • Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
  • The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。
14 herding herding     
中畜群
参考例句:
  • The little boy is herding the cattle. 这个小男孩在放牛。
  • They have been herding cattle on the tableland for generations. 他们世世代代在这高原上放牧。

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