比古希腊起重机更早的起重证据

Fundamentally, the cranes that dot city skylines today aren't hugely different from the ones that the Greeks invented sometime around the late sixth century BCE – a remarkable effort of engineering. But new research argues that the Greeks may have used a clever lifting mechanism more than a century before they even invented cranes.

从根本上说，如今遍布城市天际线的起重机，与希腊人在公元前6世纪末发明的起重机没有太大的不同——这是一项非凡的工程。但新的研究表明，希腊人可能在发明起重机之前一个多世纪，就已经使用了一种聪明的起重机制。

There's some debate over how the Greeks constructed their huge stone buildings before the crane arrived on the scene, and when lifting mechanisms might have started to overtake the traditional use of ramps to get huge stones in place.

关于希腊人是如何在起重机出现之前，建造他们巨大的石头建筑的，以及起重机制何时开始替代传统的坡道放置巨大石头的问题，存在着一些争论。

Architectural historian Alessandro Pierattini, from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana has now presented a new analysis of stone from the earliest Greek temples. He claims that blocks were being lifted and dropped into position around 150 years before the crane.

来自印第安纳州圣母大学的建筑历史学家亚历山德罗·皮耶拉蒂尼(alessandro pierattini)，对最早的希腊神庙中的石头进行了新的分析。他声称，大约在起重机出现150年前，石块就已经被提升并下落到位了。

Some of the stone blocks studied. (Pierattini, Annual of the British School at Athens, 2019)

"The foremost discovery of the Greeks in building technology is the crane," says Pierattini. "No previous civilisations are known to have used it, and it has remained central to building construction without remarkable changes for nearly 25 centuries – because it was perfect."

“希腊人在建筑技术上最重要的发现是起重机。”皮耶拉蒂尼说。“在此之前，没有任何文明使用过它。近25个世纪以来，它一直是建筑的核心，没有发生显著的变化——因为它是完美的。”

Central to Pierattini's study are the rope grooves found in blocks from the period, used in temples including those at Isthmia and Corinth. There's been some debate over whether ropes were used to lift blocks into their final resting place, or to pull them out of the quarry – and Pierattini says the former is most likely.

皮耶拉蒂尼研究的中心，是从那个时期开始的石块中发现的绳槽，这些绳槽被用于包括伊斯特米亚(Isthmia)和科林斯(Corinth)在内的寺庙。关于绳子是用来把石块抬到它们最后的安身之处，还是用来把它们拉出采石场，一直存在一些争论。皮耶拉蒂尼说，绳子最有可能是用来把石块拉出采石场的。

By analysing the grooves on ancient stones and running experiments with ropes made as they would've been made at this point in history, Pierattini put forward a new hypothesis on the logistics of construction, coming to the conclusion that a rope lifting system would be enough to raise these 200-400 kilogram (441-882 pound) blocks.

皮耶拉蒂尼通过分析古代石头上的凹槽，并在历史上的这一点上进行了绳索的运行试验，提出了一个关于建筑物流的新假设，得出这样一个结论：一个绳索提升系统足以提升200-400公斤(441-882磅)的滑轮。

Pierattini also found evidence of blocks moved from a quarry site without any grooves having been added, further backing up the hypothesis that the grooves weren't needed until it was time to put the stones in place.

皮耶拉蒂尼还发现了从采石场移走的石块没有任何凹槽的证据，进一步支持了这样一种假设，即在将石块放置到位之前，不需要这些凹槽。

On top of that, the researcher noted other cuttings and grooves in several stone blocks that suggested the blocks were rolled into place after being lifted, using a clever combination of levers and rollers that laid the basis for more sophisticated techniques.

除此之外，研究人员还注意到一些石块中的其他岩屑和凹槽，这些岩屑和凹槽表明石块在提升后被滚压到位，使用了巧妙的杠杆和滚轴组合，为更复杂的技术奠定了基础。

How the lifting might have worked. (Alessandro Pierattini)

 

"While examining the blocks, I found evidence that after being lifted, the blocks were manoeuvred into place with a method anticipating the Classical period's sophisticated lever technique," says Pierattini.

皮耶拉蒂尼说：“在检查这些石块时，我发现有证据表明，在被拉起后，石块被一种可预料的、传统的、复杂杠杆技术的方法移动到位。”

"The placement involved a combination of levers and ropes that allowed for lowering each block tight up against its neighbour already in place in the wall. This is the earliest documented use of the lever in Greek construction in historical times."

“布置包括杠杆和绳索的组合，可以将每个石块紧紧地放在墙上已经就位的相邻石块上。这是历史时期希腊建筑中最早使用杠杆的记录。”

Pierattini suggests this pushes back the use of lifting machines earlier than was previously thought, by about a century and a half. The use of proper cranes however – with winches and hoists – didn't come until later, as previous research has already indicated.

皮耶拉蒂尼认为，这将提升机的使用时间提前了大约一个半世纪。然而，正如先前的研究所表明的那样，使用适当的起重机——包括绞车和起重机——直到后来才出现。

It's a fascinating piece of research that suggests Ancient Greek construction methods were even more innovative than we suspected. Their structures may have been constructed thousands of years ago, but it's fun to think that with a bit of detective work, we can trace back the techniques that were used.

这是一项引人入胜的研究，表明古希腊的建筑方法比我们想象的更具创新性。它们的结构可能是几千年前建造的，但是想到通过一些侦探工作，我们可以追溯到使用的技术是很有趣的。

"Study of groove depth, maximum block weight and rope strength shows that the original thesis that the grooves were used in lifting is technically plausible," concludes Pierattini in his published paper.

皮耶拉蒂尼在他发表的论文中总结道:“对沟槽深度、最大滑车重量和绳索强度的研究表明，最初关于沟槽用于提升的理论在技术上是可信的。”

"Moreover, this thesis seems more compelling in explaining the grooves' peculiar dispositions than the alternative theory that they were used in quarrying."

“此外，这一理论在解释凹槽的特殊构造方面，似乎比用于采石的理论更有说服力。”

The research has been published in the Annual of the British School at Athens.

这项研究已经发表在雅典英国学校的年报上。