俄羅斯神秘地下城堡，可能是最古老的基督教教堂

科學(xué)家可能發(fā)現(xiàn)了世界上最古老的基督教教堂之一

Scientists may have discovered one of the oldest Christian churches in the world by using muon radiography to scan a mysterious subterranean building located in the ancient Russian city of Derbent, on the Caspian Sea’s coast.

科學(xué)家們可能已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了世界上最古老的基督教教堂之一，他們利用μ介子射線掃描了位于里海沿岸，俄羅斯古城德爾本特的一座神秘地下建筑。

Archeologists have long wondered exactly the purpose the building served and one hypothesis is that it was some type of Christian temple.

長期以來，考古學(xué)家一直想知道這座建筑的確切用途，其中一個假設(shè)是，它是某種類型的基督教寺廟。

Other possible theories for the building’s function: a reservoir or a Zoroastrian fire temple.

建筑物功能的其他可能推論：水庫或瑣羅亞斯德火神廟。

The 39-foot building, located in the northwest sector of the medieval fortress of Naryn-Kala, is almost completely hidden underground and built of local-shell limestone; it dates to about 300 A.D.

這座39英尺高的建筑位于中世紀(jì)要塞納林卡拉的西北部，幾乎完全隱藏在地下，由當(dāng)?shù)氐氖規(guī)r建造它可以追溯到公元300年左右。

Excavating could endanger the UNESCO site, so archeologists have not been able to fully access the structure.

挖掘可能會危及聯(lián)合國教科文組織的遺址，所以考古學(xué)家還不能完全進(jìn)入該建筑。

Instead, researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics Lomonosov Moscow State University, and Dagestan State University harnessed a non-invasive technique — muon radiography — to produce an image of the buried building.

相反，來自俄羅斯科學(xué)院、斯科伯特辛核物理研究所、莫斯科州立大學(xué)洛莫諾索夫分校和達(dá)吉斯坦州立大學(xué)的研究人員利用非侵入性技術(shù)——μ介子射線照相術(shù)——來制作掩埋建筑的圖像。

If they can fully understand its structure, perhaps they could determine its use.

如果他們能夠完全理解它的結(jié)構(gòu)，也許他們就可以知道它的用途。

The results showed that the building is in the shape of a cross, furthering the belief that it could be a church. The space was found to be 36 feet high, 50 feet long and 44 feet wide.

結(jié)果顯示，該建筑呈十字形，進(jìn)一步證明它可能是一座教堂。該空間高36英尺，長50英尺，寬44英尺。

“It seems very strange to me to interpret this building as a water tank. In the same fortress of Naryn-Kala, there is an equal underground structure of 10 meters depth, and it really is a tank. This is just a rectangular building,” said Natalia Polukhina, head of the scientific group and the study’s author, in a statement.

“對我來說，把這座建筑理解為一個水箱似乎很奇怪。在納林卡拉的同一座堡壘里，有一個同樣深10米的地下結(jié)構(gòu)，它實(shí)際上是一個坦克。而這兒只是一個長方形的建筑。”科學(xué)小組負(fù)責(zé)人、該研究的作者娜塔莉亞·波盧基納在一份聲明中說。

“The unusual building, in which we have put our detectors, has the shape of a cross, oriented strictly to the sides of the world, one side is 2 meters longer than the others.”

“我們在這座不尋常的建筑里放置了探測器，發(fā)現(xiàn)它的形狀像一個十字架，嚴(yán)格地指向世界的各個方向，其中一邊比另一邊長2米。”

“As the archaeologists who began excavations say, during construction, the building was entirely on the surface and it stands on the highest point of the Naryn-Kala. What is the sense to put the tank on the surface, and even on the highest mountain? It is strange. Currently, there are more questions than answers,” Polukhina added.

“正如開始挖掘的考古學(xué)家所說，在建造起初，這座建筑完全是在地面上的，它坐落在納林卡拉的最高點(diǎn)上。把坦克放在水面上，甚至是最高的山上，有什么意義?這很奇怪。目前，問題比答案多。”Polukhina補(bǔ)充道。

The study’s authors also emphasize that more muon detectors will need to be installed, in particular on the western slope of the fortress, in order to obtain a full-size underground picture.

該研究的作者還強(qiáng)調(diào)，目前還需要安裝更多的μ介子探測器，特別是在堡壘的西邊斜坡上，以便獲得完整的地下圖像。

Their work was published in the journal Applied Sciences.

該研究成果將發(fā)表在《應(yīng)用科學(xué)》雜志上。

(NUT MISIS)