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科学美国人60秒 SSS 尼安德特人的长矛相当致命

时间:2019-12-10 07:41:15

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(单词翻译)

 

This is Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.

The time: 300,000 years ago. The scene: a herd1 of horses, struggling in mud. A short five meters away, a group of early Neandertal hunters, throwing a volley of wooden spears towards the animals. "And then probably coming in to an injured horse and then perhaps f???inishing it off with a thrusting spear." Annamieke Milks, a paleolithic archaeologist at University College London.

But there's something not quite right about that classic scene, she says. Specifically: the Neandertal's spears may have been more sophisticated—and more lethal2—than we've gi???ven them credit for. Which would alter that ancient tableau3.

"We believe that Neandertals could have thrown them from farther away; that would have allowed them to approach animals that weren't disadvantaged. And that they wouldn't necessarily have needed to come right up close to the animal and kill it with a thrust. Some of these shots with the throwing spear could be lethal to an animal if they hit in the right way."

This revised assessment4 of Neandertal weaponry began with the crafting of spruce timber into replicas5 of an actual 300,000-year-old spear. The surface was finished with the same kinds of stone tools used to make the original.

Milks then recruited six male javelin6 throwers to chuck the replicas at a hay bale. At five meters, they struck the target more than half the time. At 10 to 15 meters, a quarter of the time. But from 20 meters, just one in six throws hit the hay.

"It's still not amazing accuracy, I have to say, I was hoping for better." Though she points out that the javelin throwers aren't trained to hit targets—something Neandertals may have been more skilled at—and the experiment suggests the weapons were at least capable of sailing much farther than had been thought. And high-speed video of the throws proved the spears could strike with deadly force. The research is in the journal Scientific Reports.

The crafting of these ancient spears also suggests some degree of intelligence—a concept of, or intuition about, balance, mass and design. For example, whoever crafted these ancient spears used the denser7, lower part of the tree trunk for the spear tips, intended to strike prey8. But we still don't know which Neandertals used the spears in battle.

"I wanted to emphasize that we chose male athletes, rather than female athletes, not because we didn't think women were playing a role in hunting, but because we needed a homogenous9 sample. But I'd be very curious to know how women did in terms of accuracy." Perhaps another round of tests, with women throwers, can address that...point.

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata.


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1 herd Pd8zb     
n.兽群,牧群;vt.使集中,把…赶在一起
参考例句:
  • She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
  • He had no opinions of his own but simply follow the herd.他从无主见,只是人云亦云。
2 lethal D3LyB     
adj.致死的;毁灭性的
参考例句:
  • A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
  • She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。
3 tableau nq0wi     
n.画面,活人画(舞台上活人扮的静态画面)
参考例句:
  • The movie was a tableau of a soldier's life.这部电影的画面生动地描绘了军人的生活。
  • History is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.历史不过是由罪恶和灾难构成的静止舞台造型罢了。
4 assessment vO7yu     
n.评价;评估;对财产的估价,被估定的金额
参考例句:
  • This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
  • What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何?
5 replicas 3b4024e8d65041c460d20d6a2065f3bd     
n.复制品( replica的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • His hobby is building replicas of cars. 他的爱好是制作汽车的复制品。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The replicas are made by using a thin film of fusible alloy on a stiffening platen. 复制是用附着在加强托板上的可熔合金薄膜实现的。 来自辞典例句
6 javelin hqVzZG     
n.标枪,投枪
参考例句:
  • She achieved a throw of sixty metres in the javelin event.在掷标枪项目中,她掷了60米远。
  • The coach taught us how to launch a javelin.教练教我们投标枪。
7 denser denser     
adj. 不易看透的, 密集的, 浓厚的, 愚钝的
参考例句:
  • The denser population necessitates closer consolidation both for internal and external action. 住得日益稠密的居民,对内和对外都不得不更紧密地团结起来。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
  • As Tito entered the neighbourhood of San Martino, he found the throng rather denser. 蒂托走近圣马丁教堂附近一带时,发现人群相当密集。
8 prey g1czH     
n.被掠食者,牺牲者,掠食;v.捕食,掠夺,折磨
参考例句:
  • Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
  • The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。
9 homogenous NrkzVM     
adj.同类的,同质的,纯系的
参考例句:
  • Japan is a wealthy,homogenous,developed nation with a stable political system.日本是一个富裕的同质型发达国家,政治体制稳定。
  • My family is very homogenous and happy.我们这个家庭很和睦很幸福。

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