我国史上第一座雕塑是——一只鸟？
This is an Inside Science story.
这是一个关乎科学的故事。
An ancient bird statuette recovered from a refuse heap is the oldest known figurine discovered yet in China, shedding new light on how our ancestors created 3D art, a new study finds.
一项新的研究发现，从垃圾堆中发现的一尊古代鸟类雕像是迄今为止在中国发现的已知的最古老的雕像，为我们的祖先如何创造3D艺术提供了新的线索。
Scientists unearthed the miniature carving at the site of Lingjing in China, where previous excavations uncovered 11 layers each of distinct ages, ranging from 120,000 years ago to the Bronze Age.
科学家们在中国的灵井遗址发掘出了这尊微型雕塑，之前的挖掘工作在那里发现了11层不同年代的土层，从12万年前一直到青铜器时代。
They discovered the artifact in a refuse heap left over from well diggers who removed most of the fifth layer in 1958.
他们在1958年挖井工人清除了第五层的大部分后留下的一堆垃圾中发现了这个人工制品。
The location possesses a spring, which "may have attracted prehistoric populations at different times," said study co-author Francesco d’Errico, an archaeologist at the University of Bordeaux in France.
法国波尔多大学的考古学家弗兰克·德·艾瑞克是这项研究的合著者，他说，这个地方有一汪泉水，“可能在不同的时期吸引了史前人口”。
The figurine depicts a songbird on a rectangular pedestal.
这个小雕像描绘了一个矩形基座上的一只鸣禽。
The artist deliberately added weight to the sculpture by oversizing the tail to prevent the bird from falling forward, d'Errico said.
艾瑞克说，艺术家故意通过使鸟尾巴变大来增加雕塑的重量，以防止鸟向前倒下。
"The artist knew that making a sculpture is a matter of finding the right balance."
“这位艺术家知道，制作雕塑就是要找到正确的平衡。”
The sculpture is made of bone that likely came from the limb of an adult medium-size mammal such as a deer, boar, gazelle or wolf and was burned before carving.
制作该雕塑的骨头可能来自成年中型哺乳动物，如鹿、野猪、瞪羚或狼的四肢，在雕刻之前曾被焚烧过。
At only 1.9 centimeters (about .75 inches) long and 1.25 centimeters high, the statuette "is so small that it is possible similar carvings were not recognized in previous excavations in which the sediment was not systematically sieved," d'Errico said.
艾瑞克说，这座雕像只有1.9厘米(约0.75英寸)长，1.25厘米高，“如此之小，可能在之前的挖掘中没有系统地对沉积物进行筛选，所以没有发现类似的雕刻。
Other artifacts uncovered from the refuse heap include ceramic potsherds, stone blades and a pendant made from ostrich eggshell.
从垃圾堆中发现的其他文物包括陶片、石刀和鸵鸟蛋壳做的吊坠。
Radiocarbon dating of unearthed burned animal remains from the fifth layer, including a bone fragment with gouging marks also seen on the statuette, suggested the artifact is about 13,500 years old, meaning it originated during the Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, when the first human art appeared.
从第五层挖掘出来的烧焦的动物遗骸，包括一块在小雕像上也可以看到的凿痕的骨头碎片，表明这个人工制品大约有13500年的历史，这意味着它起源于旧石器时代，也就是第一件人类艺术品出现的时候。
Until now, the oldest known Chinese figurine was a jade songbird about 5,000 years old found near Beijing.
迄今为止，已知的最古老的中国雕像是在北京附近发现的一只约有5000年历史的玉鸣鸟。
This new discovery pushes back the origins of animal sculpture in East Asia by roughly 8,500 years.
这一新发现将东亚动物雕塑的起源前推了大约8500年。
Markings on the figurine suggest it was carried around for some time in a leather bag, the researchers said.
研究人员说，雕像上的标记表明，它曾被放在一个皮包里随身携带了一段时间。
"Was it a toy? A gaming piece? A religious effigy? Is it art for art's sake? Something deeper? It’s fascinating to speculate," said Adam Brumm, an archaeologist at Griffith University in Australia, who did not take part in this research.
“是玩具吗?一个游戏?一个宗教雕像?是为了艺术而艺术吗?还是更深层的原因?”澳大利亚格里菲斯大学的考古学家亚当·布鲁姆说道，他没有参与这项研究。
Until recently, the earliest human art was found in Europe.
直到最近，人们都一直以为最早的人类艺术品发现于欧洲。
However, increasingly scientists have discovered similarly old artwork elsewhere in the world, such as roughly 44,000-year-old cave paintings found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.
然而，越来越多的科学家在世界其他地方发现了类似的古老艺术品，比如在印度尼西亚苏拉威西岛发现的大约4.4万年的洞穴壁画。
These new findings suggest that prehistoric humans living in China might have independently developed the concept of three-dimensionally representing the world around them -- for instance, the bird figurine has a number of features not seen in other Paleolithic sculptures, such as how it was carved from burnt bone, and how it depicts a bird on a pedestal, the researchers noted.
这次的新发现表明,史前人类居住在中国可能有独立开发三维雕刻来代表他们周围的世界的概念,例如,鸟雕像有很多功能未见于其他旧石器时代的雕塑,比如它是如何从烧焦的骨头雕刻,以及它是在一个基座上雕刻了一只鸟座,研究人员指出。
The scientists detailed their findings online June 10 in the journal PLOS ONE.
科学家们在6月10日的《公共科学图书馆期刊》杂志上详细介绍了他们的发现。
问题
文中提到的雕塑是多少年以前的？
留言回复正确答案，前十名朋友可以获得红包奖励哦，赶快来试试吧！