老撾發(fā)現(xiàn)“死亡石罐“

Unknown to many travellers in southeast Asia, the 'jars of the dead' in Laos are a 2,000-year-old mystery that has never been solved.

許多來東南亞的旅行者并不知道，老撾有一個2000年來的未解之謎：死亡之罐。

Speckled across thousands of square kilometres of the Xieng Khouang plateau - now known as the 'Plain of Jars' for that very reason - these empty megalithic structures from the Iron Age number in the thousands, with some reaching nearly three metres in height (10 feet).

幾千平方公里的川壙高原(現(xiàn)在因為某些原因被稱作是石罐平原the Plain of Jars)上散落著大量中空的巨石結構，它們來自于數(shù)千年前的鐵器時代，其中一部分高達3米。

(ANU)

No one knows for certain where they came from or even why. Local legend has it that they were once used as chalices by a bunch of drunk giants. Others think they were used for body decomposition in local funerary rites. The leading theory among archaeologists is that these jars were actually tombs for an ancient civilisation.

沒人確切知道這些石罐來自于哪里，以及為什么要制作這些石罐。當?shù)貍髡f這些石罐被一群喝醉酒的巨人拿來當杯子，也有人認為它們是被用來存放葬禮之后腐爛的尸體。考古學家們比較主流的理論是，這些石罐是古代某種文明的墓葬方式。

In 2016, tiptoeing around unexploded bomb parts from Vietnam in what is considered one of the most dangerous archaeological sites in the world, researchers at the Australian National University found several pits full of human bones dating back approximately 2,500 years.

2016年，Australian National University的研究人員在某個危險的考古遺址(四周都是爆炸的啞彈)里小心行進，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了幾個裝滿了人類尸骨的土坑，這些人骨的年份可以追溯到2500年前。

Today, those same archaeologists are still leading the hunt. Just recently, the team discovered hundreds more of these stone urns in an area where few humans have been.

今天，這些考古學家們?nèi)匀辉陬I導著搜索工作。就在最近，一個小組在人跡罕至的一個地區(qū)發(fā)現(xiàn)了類似的石罐。

"These new sites have really only been visited by the occasional tiger hunter," says Nicholas Skopal, "Now we've rediscovered them, we're hoping to build a clear picture about this culture and how it disposed of its dead."

考古學博士Nicholas Skopal說：“這些新地點實際上只有一些老虎偷獵者才會造訪。現(xiàn)在我們重新發(fā)現(xiàn)了這些罐子，我們希望能夠對這種文化以及死亡崇拜方式有清晰的認識。“

Alongside the huge jars, which were roughly 1,000 years old according to the university, the team also found typical Iron Age artefacts, including decorative ceramics, glass beads, iron tools, discs worn in the ears and spindle whorls for cloth making.

在這些約有1000年歷史的罐子的邊上，小組還發(fā)現(xiàn)了典型的鐵器時代的文物，包括玻璃珠，裝飾用瓷片，鐵制工具，戴在耳朵上的圓形飾物等。

Around the jars, they noticed a collection of beautifully carved discs, which they think are burial markers, although strangely enough they were found buried with the intricate side face down.

在罐子周圍，他們還注意到了一些雕刻精美的圓片，他們認為這是墓葬記號，奇怪的是他們發(fā)現(xiàn)這些圓片都是復雜花紋的那面朝下被埋藏。

"Curiously we also found many miniature jars, which look just like the giant jars themselves but made of clay," says one of the team, archaeologist Dougald O'Reilly.

“奇怪的是我們還發(fā)現(xiàn)了許多微型陶罐，它們的長相和大罐子一樣，卻是用粘土制成。“團隊成員表示。

"We'd love to know why these people represented the same jars in which they placed their dead, in miniature to be buried with their dead."

“我們感興趣的是這些人為什么用長相相同的小型復制品來標記他們的尸體，他們的遺體被放入大石罐中并被埋起來。”

With the nearest quarry several kilometres away, all 137 of these heavy objects, weighing several tonnes, must have somehow been transported to their new locations. Still, O'Reilly says they don't know why the remote region was chosen, especially since there is no evidence of anyone ever having lived here.

由于最近的采石場在幾公里之外，這些重達幾噸的物體一定是通過某種方式被運到這里。不過考古學家們也表示，他們不知道為什么會選擇這個偏僻的地區(qū)，特別是沒有證據(jù)證明有人在這里居住過。

The team's work has not yet been detailed in a peer-reviewed study, but the archaeologists are hopeful that their work will eventually help us solve the mystery of these jars.Or maybe it will leave us with even more questions than before.

考古學家們希望他們的工作能幫我們解開這些石罐的謎題，抑或者會給我們留下更多的疑問。