最新研究揭示了南非失落的世界

最新研究揭示了南非失落的世界

Scientists have discovered the earliest evidence for human behavior, projectile weapons and much more at an amazing archaeological site in South Africa, a previously lost world revealed in new research.

科學(xué)家們在南非一處令人驚嘆的考古遺址，發(fā)現(xiàn)了人類行為的最早證據(jù)、拋射武器以及更多的證據(jù)，這是先前在新研究中發(fā)現(xiàn)的失落的世界。

Researchers in the area have always faced a challenge in understanding the context of these evolutionary milestones since most of the landscape used by the ancient people who lived there is submerged underwater. The archaeological remnants are from caves and other areas that now look out on to the sea.

該地區(qū)的研究人員在理解這些進(jìn)化里程碑的背景方面一直面臨著挑戰(zhàn)，因為居住在那里的古人所使用的大部分景觀都被淹沒在水下。考古遺跡來自洞穴和其他現(xiàn)在可以眺望大海的地區(qū)。

Now, the publication of 22 articles in Quaternary Science Reviews examines this “lost world” in a profound new way, thanks to the efforts of Arizona State University Institute of Human Origins Director Curtis Marean, who began assembling a team to build the ancient landscape’s ecology a decade ago.

如今，在《第四紀(jì)科學(xué)評論》上發(fā)表的22篇文章以一種全新的方式審視了這個“失落的世界”，這要歸功于亞利桑那州立大學(xué)人類起源研究所所長柯蒂斯·馬雷恩(Curtis Marean)的努力，他十年前就開始組建團(tuán)隊來構(gòu)建古代景觀的生態(tài)。

The work started by using the high-resolution South African regional climate model — running on US and South African supercomputers as a way to simulate glacial climate conditions. That climate output then fed into a vegetation model that allowed scientists to recreate the vegetation landscape.

這項工作首先使用了高分辨率的南非區(qū)域氣候模型——在美國和南非的超級計算機(jī)上運行，以此來模擬冰川氣候條件。然后，這種氣候輸出被輸入到一個植被模型中，使科學(xué)家能夠重現(xiàn)植被景觀。

Scientists then harnessed things like marine geophysics and deep-water diving for sample collection to validate the model and adjust its output.

然后，科學(xué)家們利用海洋地球物理學(xué)和深海潛水等方法采集樣本，用來驗證模型并調(diào)整其輸出。

“Pulling the threads of all this research into one special issue illustrates all of this science,” said Marean in a statement. “It represents a unique example of a truly transdisciplinary paleoscience effort and a new model for going forward with our search to recreate the nature of past ecosystems. Importantly, our results help us understand why the archaeological records from these South African sites consistently reveal early and complex levels of human behavior and culture.”

馬雷恩Marean在一份聲明中說：“把所有這些研究的線索放在一個特殊問題上說明了所有的科學(xué)道理。”“它代表了一個真正跨學(xué)科的古科學(xué)研究的獨特例子，也為我們繼續(xù)重建過去生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的研究提供了一個新的模式。”重要的是，我們的研究結(jié)果幫助我們理解為什么來自這些南非遺址的考古記錄一貫揭示了早期和復(fù)雜的人類行為和文化水平。”

The Arizona State University IHO’s field study site of Pinnacle Point sits at the center of diverse and rich ancient record, both geographically and scientifically, having contributed much of the evidence for different milestones on the road to humanity’s modern evolution.

亞利桑那州立大學(xué)IHO的Pinnacle Point野外研究遺址位于地理和科學(xué)上豐富多樣的古代記錄的中心，為人類現(xiàn)代進(jìn)化道路上的不同里程碑提供了大量證據(jù)。

“This unique confluence of food from the land and sea cultivated the complex cultures revealed by the archaeology and provided safe harbor for humans during the glacial cycles that revealed that plain and made much of the rest of the world unwelcoming to human life,” Marean said.

Marean說：“這種來自陸地和海洋的食物的獨特匯合培育了考古學(xué)所揭示的復(fù)雜文化，并在冰川循環(huán)期間為人類提供了安全的港灣。冰川循環(huán)揭示了平原和世界其他大部分地區(qū)不歡迎人類生活。”