英語聽力：自然百科 伊斯坦堡地下古跡

Construction of a railway tunnel under the Istanbul or Bosporus Strait in Turkey has uncovered ancient ruins older than historians believed existed. The Marmaray Project aims to upgrade about 47 miles of commuter rail that includes connecting either side of Istanbul. The archeologist responsible for the digging area says they have found evidence of the first settlement in the area dating back 8,000 years.

"We found the settlement dating back to 6,000 B.C. or 8,000 years ago. We found thecremated men, and their ashes and bones had been put into these jars and buried like this. These belonged to the first settlement in the area which is inside the city walls."

Researchers have also linked the findings to the remains of a Neolithic site in southern Anatolia. The similarity between the sites suggests settlers in the Anatolian plains migrated to Istanbul’s shores some 8,000 years ago. The urns are first in Anatolian history, which proves human tribes lived in Istanbul before the reigns of Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires.

After cremation, ashes were usually put in ceramic urns or small stone containers known as larnax. Other forms of cremation in Anatolian archeology were seen in the early Bronze Age. But this type of burial was uncommon.

The Marmaray Project was delayed when excavation teams came across the Byzantine harbor in 2006. The archeologists call it the port of Theodosius, after the Emperor of Rome and Byzantium, who died in 395 AD. 32 Byzantine shipwrecks have been found in the area. Scholars say this is the first time the cultural, geological and climate history of the region have been linked.

"First time it gives us indication to correlate archaeological knowledge with geological resource of this region, which is very critical, this opening of the Bosporus, maritime connections, and the tectonic source of this region. For the first time, we have a clue where we can combine the cultural history with the geological and climatical history of this region."

The archeological discoveries can now be seen in a private gallery of the Istanbul Museum of Archeology.