懶惰——最終將人類推向滅亡

原來(lái)早在沙發(fā)和外賣出現(xiàn)之前就已經(jīng)有懶惰了。“何必麻煩呢?”這種態(tài)度不僅在幾十萬(wàn)年前就存在了，而且可能還導(dǎo)致了一種古代人類祖先的衰亡。

Homo erectus first appeared 2 million years ago and went extinct some 50,000 to 100,000 years ago. But compared with other hominins, like Neanderthals, this species may have been quite lazy and more reluctant to adapt to a changing environment, according to new study published July 27 in the Journal PLOS One.

直立人首次出現(xiàn)于200萬(wàn)年前，之后在大約5-10萬(wàn)年前滅絕。但根據(jù)7月27日發(fā)表于PLOS One雜志上的一篇新研究報(bào)告，相較于其他古人類，比如尼安德特人，直立人可能相當(dāng)懶惰而且更不愿意適應(yīng)變更的環(huán)境。

Archaeologists from Australian National University analyzed thousands of newfound and previously unearthed artifacts from an excavation site in the Arabian Peninsula in modern-day Saffaqah, Saudi Arabia, in 2014. Their findings suggested that the Homo erectus species in that area exerted the minimal effort necessary to make tools and find supplies.

來(lái)自澳大利亞國(guó)立大學(xué)的考古學(xué)家分析了數(shù)千個(gè)新發(fā)現(xiàn)的和之前發(fā)掘出的手工藝品，這些手工藝品出土于2014年沙特阿拉伯位于現(xiàn)今Saffaqah的阿拉伯半島上一處考古地點(diǎn)。他們的發(fā)現(xiàn)暗示在這個(gè)區(qū)域的直立人在制作工具和尋找補(bǔ)給上只投入了最小的努力。

Instead, these early humans lived in places that had easy access to stones and water, the study found.

研究還發(fā)現(xiàn)，這些早期人類生活的地區(qū)很容易就能獲取到石材和水。

"To make their stone tools, they would use whatever rocks they could find lying around their camp, which were mostly of comparatively low quality to what later stone-tool makers used," lead author Ceri Shipton, an archaeologist at Australian National University, said in a statement. Such tools included cores, flakes, hand axes and cleavers.

“為了制作他們的石質(zhì)工具，他們會(huì)使用他們營(yíng)地附近能找到的石料，而這些石質(zhì)工具和后來(lái)的石質(zhì)工具比起來(lái)質(zhì)量相對(duì)較差，”論文的第一作者，澳大利亞國(guó)立大學(xué)的考古學(xué)家Ceri Shipton在聲明中說(shuō)。這些石器包括石核、石片、手斧和劈刀。

A little way away from the Homo erectus camps was a rocky outcrop that had higher-quality rock but required a trek up a hill. "But rather than walk up the hill, they would just use whatever bits had rolled down and were lying at the bottom," Shipton said.

離這個(gè)直立人營(yíng)地沒(méi)多遠(yuǎn)的地方就是一塊質(zhì)量更高的露出地面的巖層，但是需要爬山。“與其費(fèi)力爬山，他們寧可使用那些從山上滾落的石頭和那些散落在地面的石頭，”Shipton說(shuō)。

When the researchers examined the rocky outcrop, they found that it was untouched by Homo erectus — no traces of activity, no artifacts and no quarrying of the stone, Shipton said in the statement. By contrast Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens climbed mountains for high-quality stones and transported them over long distances, according to the statement.

當(dāng)研究人員檢查了這塊露出地面的巖層，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)直立人根本都沒(méi)碰過(guò)它——沒(méi)有活動(dòng)的痕跡，沒(méi)有人工制品的痕跡，也沒(méi)有采石的痕跡，Shipton在聲明中說(shuō)。作為對(duì)比，根據(jù)聲明，尼安德特人和早期的智人會(huì)為了更高品質(zhì)的石材翻山越嶺，并進(jìn)行長(zhǎng)途運(yùn)輸。

These early humans were strong and skillful, and they thrived in the region for some time. But once the riverbeds dried out, as sediment samples from the area reveal happened, these people's lack of initiative doomed them.

這些早期人類很強(qiáng)壯并且很熟練，在這個(gè)區(qū)域他們興盛過(guò)一段時(shí)間。但是當(dāng)河床干涸了，正如這個(gè)區(qū)域的沉積物樣本所揭示的那樣，這些人類因?yàn)槿狈Ψe極性最終走向了滅亡。

"Not only were they lazy, but they were also very conservative," Shipton said. Their tools stayed the same in both size and composition as the environment around them changed.

“他們不僅很懶惰，而且他們還非常保守，”Shipton表示。無(wú)論身邊的環(huán)境怎么變，他們的器具的形狀和構(gòu)成都沒(méi)變過(guò)。

"There was no progression at all, and their tools are never very far from these now-dry river beds," Shipton said. "I think, in the end, the environment just got too dry for them."

“完全沒(méi)有任何進(jìn)步，并且他們的石器從未遠(yuǎn)離過(guò)這片現(xiàn)已干涸的河床，”Shipton說(shuō)，“我想，最終環(huán)境變得太過(guò)于干旱了，以至于他們無(wú)法生存。”