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科学美国人60秒 SSS 古代尿液开启考古之窗

时间:2020-02-25 03:00:00

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(单词翻译)

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Bob Hirshon.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列,我是鲍勃·赫尔尚。

A 10,000-year-old archaeological site in central Turkey is helping1 scientists unlock the region's pee-historic past. That's right: the salty residue2 of ancient urine can reveal how and when humans went from hunter-gatherers to herder-farmers who kept and raised animals in their settlements.

土耳其中部地区一处有10000年历史的考古遗址,正在帮助科学家解开该地区的小便历史。没错:古代尿液中的盐分残留能揭示出人类如何以及何时从狩猎采集者转变为在定居地留住和饲养动物的放牧种植者。

"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?"

“所以我们想,好吧,如果动物被保留在这个地点,无论是被圈在建筑物之间还是被放到其他特定地方,它们会经历什么过程?”

Archaeologist Jordan Abell from Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory3. He's been studying the settlement of A??kl? H?yük, located on a 16-meter-high mound4 near Turkey's Melendiz River.

哥伦比亚大学拉蒙特-多尔蒂地球观测站的考古学家乔丹·艾贝尔说到。他一直在研究位于土耳其孟雷迪兹河附近16米高土堆上的 A??kl? H?yük定居点。

"We thought, okay, well, these animals would be urinating all the time that they were on the mound."

“我们想,嗯,这些动物在土堆上生活时一直都会小便。”

In the dry climate of central Turkey, the sodium5, chloride and nitrates from all that animal excretion would be trapped in the layers of earth onto which they were originally peed. Excavating6 those salts, layer by layer, should provide a timeline of animal populations at the site.

在土耳其中部干燥的气候中,所有动物排泄物中的钠、氯和硝酸盐都会留在它们原来小便地点之上的土层上。一层一层地挖掘这些盐,应该可以提供该地点的动物种群时间表。

"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."

“因此,利用简单的质量平衡方法,我们推算出产生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.

艾贝尔和同事发现,从10,000年前到大约9700年前,这个地点的大型生物数量从仅有几只跃升至了1800多只。

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.

当然,人类也会小便,因此研究人员必须弄清楚哪些盐来自人类,哪些盐来自动物。幸运的是,这些盐的位置提供了线索——比如,在对动物来说过于狭窄的小巷,盐浓度很高。

"The general thought is that they might have been standing7 on their roofs and just peeing into these alleyways."

“普遍想法是,他们可能一直站在顶上,向着这些小巷小便。”

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.

如果山羊和绵羊这样做过的话,那也是极少的情况。通过减去人类小便的情况,研究人员计算出必须有800到1300只绵羊和山羊才能产生剩余尿液。这项研究发表在《科学进展》期刊上。

If true, it means that animal domestication8 didn't originate solely9 in the Fertile Crescent of Mesopotamia, as many of us learned in history class.

如果属实,那就意味着动物驯养并非像我们大多数人从历史课上学到的那样,仅仅起源于美索不达米亚的新月沃土。

"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."

“我们的技术已经能够支持这一观点,即在新月沃土之外的其他地方,比如这项研究中的土耳其中部地区,几乎在同一时间发展着新月沃土内出现的这一过程。”

An important discovery, since the advent10 of herding11 and farming was a turning point for human civilization, leading to cities and modern society.

这是一项重要发现,因为畜牧业和农业的出现是人类文明的转折点,继而催生了城市和现代社会。

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.

艾贝尔指出,许多考古遗址几乎没有骨骼和器物等实物证据,但大概所有遗址上都有尿液存在。那他对其他想追踪动物和人类种群的考古学家有何建议?留意尿液。

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Bob Hirshon.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是鲍勃·赫尔尚。


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 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。
2 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。
3 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。
4 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。
5 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。
6 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
7 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。
8 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
9 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。
10 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。
11 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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