美国大学生发掘出6500万年前的三角龙头骨

美国大学生发掘出6500万年前的三角龙头骨

A US college student made an incredible discovery on a paleontology dig when he unearthed an ancient dinosaur skull.

一位美国大学生在古生物学挖掘中发现了一个恐龙头骨，这是一个不可思议的发现。

Harrison Duran, a fifth-year at the University of California, discovered the 65-million-year-old partial skull on June 5.

6月5日，加利福尼亚大学五年级学生哈里森·杜兰发现了这具6500万年前的部分头骨。

The remains were identified as a Triceratops. Duran named them Alice, after the woman who owns the land on which they were found.

尸体被确认为三角龙。杜兰以他们被发现时所在土地的主人的名字给他们取名为爱丽丝。

"I can't quite express my excitement in that moment when we uncovered the skull," said Duran in a news release from the university on Wednesday.

“当我们发现头骨的那一刻，我无法表达我的激动之情，”杜兰在周三大学的新闻发布会上说。

"I've been obsessed with dinosaurs ever since I was a little kid, so it was a pretty big deal."

“我从小就对恐龙着迷，所以这是件大事。”

Duran's obsession with dinosaurs led him to accompany experienced excavator and biology professor Michael Kjelland on the two-week dig in the Badlands of North Dakota.

杜兰对恐龙的痴迷，让他跟随经验丰富的挖掘机兼生物学教授迈克尔·凯兰(Michael Kjelland)，在北达科他州的荒地上进行了为期两周的挖掘。

Duran found the skull four days into the dig.

杜兰在挖掘四天之后发现了这个头骨。

Along with Alice's remains, they found fossilised wood and tree leaves.

除了爱丽丝的遗骸，他们还发现了木头和树叶的化石。

It took a week to excavate Alice completely. The fragile skull was stabilised with glue and then coated in foil and plaster.

整整花了一个星期才把爱丽丝挖出来。这个脆弱的头骨用胶水固定住，然后涂上箔纸和石膏。

The remains were then put in a box, wrapped in a memory foam mattress and driven to a secret location before they can be moved to Kjelland's lab.

遗体随后被放进一个盒子里，用记忆泡沫床垫包裹起来，被送往一个秘密地点，然后才被转移到凯兰的实验室。

Secrecy was necessary as Kjelland explained the bones could be very valuable.

保密是必要的，Kjelland解释说，这些骨头可能非常有价值。

"There have been people in the past who have stolen dinosaur bones," he said.

“过去有人偷过恐龙的骨头，”他说。

Duran and Kjelland intend to make a cast of Alice. Duran hopes to display the cast at the university. One day he hopes to bring the real bones to the campus.

杜兰和凯兰打算把爱丽丝塑造成一个角色。杜兰希望在大学里扮演这一角色。有一天，他希望把真正的骨头带到校园。

"It's such a rare opportunity to showcase something like this, and I'd like to share it with the campus community."

“这是展示它的难得的机会，我想与各大校园分享。”