Sun, Mar 04, 2007 page14

• Mystery of Stonehenge unraveled? 巨石陣之謎破解?

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  Archaeologists have uncovered what may have been a village for workers near the mysterious stone circle Stonehenge in England.

  The village was located at Durrington Walls, about 3.2km from Stonehenge, and is also the location of a wooden version of the stone circle.

  Eight houses have been excavated and the researchers believe there were at least 25 of them, archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson said at a briefing held by the National Geographic Society.

  

  Visitors are dwarfed by Stonehenge, England. 站在英格蘭巨石陣旁，遊客相形矮小。 (照片：美聯社)

  PHOTO: AP

  The village was carbon-dated to about 2600BC, about the same time Stonehenge was built. The Great Pyramid in Egypt was built at about the same time, said Parker Pearson of Sheffield University. "We think we are looking at the village of the actual builders of Stonehenge."

  The small wooden houses had a central hearth, he said, and are almost identical to stone houses built at about the same time in the Orkney Islands, Scotland.

  The researchers speculated that Durrington Walls was a place for the living and Stonehenge — where several cremated remains have been found — was a cemetery and memorial.

  Parker Pearson said remains of stone tools, animal bones, arrowheads and other artifacts were uncovered in the village. Remains of pigs indicated they were about nine months old when killed, which would mark a midwinter festival, he said.

  Parker Pearson said Stonehenge was oriented to face the midsummer sunrise and midwinter sunset, while the wooden circle at Durrington Walls faced the midwinter sunrise and midsummer sunset.

  Thousands of tourists flock to Stonehenge for the summer solstice on June 21 each year. Druids also perform ceremonies to mark both the summer and winter solstices. The excavation is expected to continue until 2010.

  (Catherine Thomas, staff writer with agencies)

  考古學家已在神秘的英格蘭巨石陣附近發現一處村落遺址，當時的住戶可能就是巨石陣的建造者。這個村落遺址位在離巨石陣約三點二公里遠的杜靈頓垣牆，此地還有一個類似巨石陣的木陣。

  考古學家麥克?帕克?皮爾森在美國國家地理學會舉辦的簡報會上表示，已有八間房屋被挖掘出來，而且研究人員相信這樣的房屋至少有二十五間。

  經過碳元素檢測，確定這些村落大約建於西元前２６００年，與巨石陣豎立的年代相當。雪菲爾大學的帕克?皮爾森表示，埃及金字塔差不多也建於這個時期。「我們認為，我們發現的是巨石陣真正建造者所居住的村落。」

  這些木造小屋的中央設有壁爐，皮爾森表示，其格局與蘇格蘭奧克尼島上大約同一時期興建的石造屋幾乎相同。

  人員推測，杜靈頓垣牆是人們生活的地方，而發現了好幾具火化遺體的巨石陣則是墓園及紀念碑的所在。

  帕克?皮爾森表示，在這個遺址中還發現了石器、動物骸骨、箭頭及其他手工藝品。他說，遺址中挖出的豬骨骸顯示，這些可能被當作冬至祭典祭品的豬隻，被宰殺時都只有九個月大左右。

  帕克?皮爾森說，巨石陣是對準夏至日出及冬至日落的方向修建，而杜靈頓垣牆木陣則是對準冬至日出及夏至日落的方向。

  每年六月二十一日總有成千上萬名遊客湧到巨石陣欣賞夏至奇觀。督伊德教徒也會舉行慶祝夏至與冬至的儀式。整個遺址挖掘工作預計將持續到二０一０年。

  （綜合外電／翻譯：林倩如）

  For your information

  Today's Words 今天單字

  1.excavate v.i. /v.t. 挖掘 (wa1 jue2) 例: The judge ruled that the construction work must be put on hold until archaeologists had fully excavated the site. (法官裁定，在考古學家完全開挖之前，此地的工程必須暫停。) 2. artifact n. 手工藝品 (shou3 gong1 yi4 pin3) 例: The National Palace Museum houses some amazing artifacts. (故宮博物院收藏了好些令人讚嘆的手工藝品。) 3. solstice n. 至 (zhi4) 例: The summer solstice falls on June 21. (夏至是在六月二十一日。) 4. druid n. 督伊德教徒 (du1 yi1 de2 jiao4 tu2) 例: The druid wore a white cloak. (那位督伊德教徒穿著一件白色斗篷。)
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