15000年前的猛犸象陷阱，是古代獵人的第一個(gè)證據(jù)

15000年前的猛犸象陷阱，是古代獵人的第一個(gè)證據(jù)

The first discovery of human-made woolly mammoth traps has shattered myths about how prehistoric humans hunted.

人類制造的猛犸象陷阱的首次發(fā)現(xiàn)，打破了史前人類狩獵的神話。

Archaeologists unearthed the 5-foot-deep, 82-foot-wide pits in Tultepec, outside of Mexico City — in an area that was going to be used as a dump, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.

據(jù)墨西哥國家人類學(xué)和歷史研究所介紹，考古學(xué)家們在墨西哥城郊外的圖爾特佩克發(fā)掘出了這些深5英尺、寬82英尺的坑，這些坑本來要用作當(dāng)垃圾場。

Good thing they didn’t. The holes housed hundreds of 15,000-year-old mammoth bones, leading scientists to deduce that they were purposefully ensnared in the quarry.

幸好他們沒有。洞里有數(shù)以百計(jì)的15000年前的猛犸象骨頭，這使得科學(xué)家推斷他們是故意在采石場設(shè)圈套的。

The discovery “represents a watershed, a turning point in what we until now imagined to be the interaction between hunter-gatherers with these huge herbivores,” Diego Prieto Hernández, director of the institute, said in a statement.

該研究所所長迭戈·普里托·埃爾南德斯在一份聲明中說，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)“代表了一個(gè)分水嶺，是我們迄今為止想象的狩獵采集者與這些巨大食草動(dòng)物之間相互作用的轉(zhuǎn)折點(diǎn)”。

Scientists previously thought humans “randomly” targeted mammoths trapped by environmental obstacles such as swamps. However, the ancient graveyard demonstrates “social organization by the first settlers of the Basin of Mexico to undertake this hunting activity.”

科學(xué)家此前認(rèn)為，人類“隨機(jī)”瞄準(zhǔn)被沼澤等環(huán)境障礙物困住的猛犸象。然而，古代墓地以“墨西哥盆地的第一批殖民者”進(jìn)行“社會(huì)組織”來從事這一狩獵活動(dòng)。

Specifically, scientists hypothesized that groups of 20 to 30 hunters would “herd” the mammoths into the holes with torches and branches.

具體地說，科學(xué)家們假設(shè)由20到30名獵人組成的小組，會(huì)用火把和樹枝把猛犸象“趕”進(jìn)洞里。

The revelation didn’t happen overnight. Over 10 months, archaeologists exhumed 824 bones — corresponding to 14 animals — from the two tusker traps. They then used their boneyard blueprint to paint a picture of how the hunt went down.

這個(gè)發(fā)現(xiàn)不是一夜之間發(fā)生的。在10個(gè)多月的時(shí)間里，考古學(xué)家從兩個(gè)塔斯克陷阱中挖掘出824塊骨頭，相當(dāng)于14種動(dòng)物。然后他們用他們的墓地藍(lán)圖描繪了一幅狩獵過程的畫面。

Scientists hope to continue their fossil forensics at three other sites, where they expect to discover how mammoth hunters employed a row of traps to “reduce their margin of error,” Hernández said.

埃爾南德斯說，科學(xué)家們希望繼續(xù)在另外三個(gè)地點(diǎn)進(jìn)行化石取證，他們希望在那里發(fā)現(xiàn)猛犸象獵人是如何利用一排陷阱來“減少誤差幅度”的。

(INAH/AFP via Getty Images)