一万年前的石刻，可能是世界上最古老的月历

一万年前的石刻，可能是世界上最古老的月历

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

一块大约一万年前雕刻的石头，可能是世界上最古老的月历。

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

专家称，这块稀有的鹅卵石——在意大利罗马附近的山上发现的——可以追溯到石器时代。

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

考古学家于2007年首次在阿尔班山阿尔塔山上发现了这颗锤石。

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

多亏了现代微观和宏观分析技术，直到如今，卵石的秘密才被揭开。

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.

据说，早在我们可以依赖iPhone日历应用程序之前，我们的早期祖先就已经使用这块石头来记录月球的周期了。

“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.

罗马萨皮恩扎大学的弗拉维奥·阿尔塔穆拉在《考古科学杂志》上说:“调查显示，这些刻痕是用多种锋利的石器随着时间的推移而刻出来的。”

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

弗拉维奥补充说，这些刻痕“好像是用来计数、计算或存储某种信息的记录”。

The long pebble has three separate series of notches.

长卵石有三个独立的系列缺口。

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

这些部分分别有7、9、10和11个切口。

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

这些总共有27或28个凹槽的凹槽表明，这块石头的雕刻家使用这块鹅卵石来追踪月球周期。

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

弗拉维奥说：“分析使重建人类对卵石的干预类型和年代成为可能。”

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.”

这位考古学家解释说，“它们是随着时间的推移，使用了不止一种尖端技术制造出来的”，而这颗鹅卵石是“世界史前记录中为数不多的已知的这种情况之一”。

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

弗拉维奥写道：“此外，它还展示了文献中为验证月历而提出的所有理论特征。”

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

“这对史前人类认知和数学能力的重建具有重要意义。”

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.

据信，月历可以追溯到上古石器时代(或旧石器时代)，大约在10000年前结束。

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

月历是用来记录月相周期的。

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

这与今天普遍使用的太阳历形成了对比，后者是以365天的太阳年为基础的。

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

月历在月初各不相同，但每个月的“月历”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.

它们在古代传统上被用来确定节日和节日，以及更普遍地用来跟踪时间的推移。

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

那么，从年代上看，石刻与其他古代农历有什么不同呢?

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，最古老的月历是在苏格兰的沃伦菲尔德发现的，可以追溯到中石器时代——大约公元前8000年。

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

一些考古学家认为，早在公元前15000年和公元前25000年就有这样的例子存在，但这些发现存在争议。