一萬年前的石刻，可能是世界上最古老的月歷

一萬年前的石刻，可能是世界上最古老的月歷

An engraved stone carved around 10,000 years ago may be the world’s oldest example of a lunar calendar.

一塊大約一萬年前雕刻的石頭，可能是世界上最古老的月歷。

The rare pebble — found high up in the mountains near Rome, Italy — dates back to the Stone Age, experts claim.

專家稱，這塊稀有的鵝卵石——在意大利羅馬附近的山上發(fā)現(xiàn)的——可以追溯到石器時代。

Archaeologists first discovered the hammer-stone on top of Monte Alta in the Alban Hills in 2007.

考古學家于2007年首次在阿爾班山阿爾塔山上發(fā)現(xiàn)了這顆錘石。

But only now have the pebble’s secrets been unlocked, thanks to modern microscopic and macroscopic analysis techniques.

多虧了現(xiàn)代微觀和宏觀分析技術，直到如今，卵石的秘密才被揭開。

It’s believed that our early ancestors would’ve used the stone to keep track of the moon’s cycles — long before we could rely on an iPhone calendar app.

據(jù)說，早在我們可以依賴iPhone日歷應用程序之前，我們的早期祖先就已經使用這塊石頭來記錄月球的周期了。

“The investigations have revealed that the notches have been inscribed over time using multiple sharp stone tools,” said Flavio Altamura, of Sapienza University of Rome, in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

羅馬薩皮恩扎大學的弗拉維奧·阿爾塔穆拉在《考古科學雜志》上說:“調查顯示，這些刻痕是用多種鋒利的石器隨著時間的推移而刻出來的。”

These notches were engraved “as if they were being used to count, calculate or store the record of some kind of information,” Flavio added.

弗拉維奧補充說，這些刻痕“好像是用來計數(shù)、計算或存儲某種信息的記錄”。

The long pebble has three separate series of notches.

長卵石有三個獨立的系列缺口。

And the sections have seven, nine or ten and eleven notches respectively.

這些部分分別有7、9、10和11個切口。

These notches — which total either 27 or 28 — suggest the stone’s engraver used the pebble to track lunar cycles.

這些總共有27或28個凹槽的凹槽表明，這塊石頭的雕刻家使用這塊鵝卵石來追蹤月球周期。

“Analyses made it possible to reconstruct the types and chronology of human intervention on the pebble,” said Flavio.

弗拉維奧說：“分析使重建人類對卵石的干預類型和年代成為可能。”

The archaeologist explained that “they were made over time using more than one kind of cutting edge” and that the pebble is “one of the few known cases of this kind in the world prehistoric record.”

這位考古學家解釋說，“它們是隨著時間的推移，使用了不止一種尖端技術制造出來的”，而這顆鵝卵石是“世界史前記錄中為數(shù)不多的已知的這種情況之一”。

“Moreover, it displays all the features theorized in literature for the validation of lunar calendars,” Flavio wrote.

弗拉維奧寫道：“此外，它還展示了文獻中為驗證月歷而提出的所有理論特征。”

“This could have significant implications for the reconstruction of the cognitive and mathematical ability of Homo sapiens in prehistoric times.”

“這對史前人類認知和數(shù)學能力的重建具有重要意義。”

It’s believed that the lunar calendar dates back to the Upper Paleolithic (or Old Stone Age) period, which ended around 10,000 years ago.

據(jù)信，月歷可以追溯到上古石器時代(或舊石器時代)，大約在10000年前結束。

A lunar calendar is used to keep track of the monthly cycles of the moon’s phases.

月歷是用來記錄月相周期的。

That’s in contrast to solar calendars that are common today, which are based on the solar year of 365 days.

這與今天普遍使用的太陽歷形成了對比，后者是以365天的太陽年為基礎的。

Lunar calendars vary on when the month begins, but each “lunation” period is consistent at around 29.5 days.

月歷在月初各不相同，但每個月的“月歷”周期都在29.5天左右。

They were traditionally used in ancient times to determine festivals and holidays, as well as more generally to track the passage of time.

它們在古代傳統(tǒng)上被用來確定節(jié)日和節(jié)日，以及更普遍地用來跟蹤時間的推移。

So how does the carved stone compare to other ancient lunar calendars in terms of age?

那么，從年代上看，石刻與其他古代農歷有什么不同呢?

The previous oldest lunar calendar was found at Warren Field in Scotland and dates back to the Mesolithic period — around 8,000 BC.

此前，最古老的月歷是在蘇格蘭的沃倫菲爾德發(fā)現(xiàn)的，可以追溯到中石器時代——大約公元前8000年。

Some archaeologists have suggested that earlier examples exist — from 15,000 BC and 25,000 BC — but the findings are controversial.

一些考古學家認為，早在公元前15000年和公元前25000年就有這樣的例子存在，但這些發(fā)現(xiàn)存在爭議。