本集內容

World’s oldest known cave art 世界上已知最古老的洞穴壁畫

學習要點

有關 “old things and the past（古物古事）” 的詞匯

邊看邊答

What could be damaging the paintings?

文字稿

Here in this remote valley is the world’s oldest known paintings of animals. The discovery, made by Basran Burhan, a doctoral student at Australia’s Griffith University.

在這個偏遠的山谷里，有世界上已知最古老的動物繪畫。它是由澳大利亞格里菲斯大學的博士生巴斯蘭·伯翰發現的。

Basran Burhan, archaeologist
On a map, we found this unique location. The area is surrounded by mountains, and in the middle, there is this valley. So, we were curious and decided to explore. The name means ‘buffalo cave’. During the monsoon, this area easily floods. So, in the past, our ancestors kept their buffaloes inside the cave, to protect them.

巴斯蘭·伯翰       考古學家
“我們在地圖上找到了這個獨特的地點。這一帶群山環繞，山谷坐落在中央。所以我們很好奇，決定前去一探究竟。這個名字的意思是‘水牛洞’。季風時節，這一帶易發洪水。所以在遠古時代，我們的祖先為了保護水牛，會把它們趕到洞里。”

Fifty metres inside the cave, they found this panel that appears to tell the story of wild pigs fighting.

在洞穴內50米處，他們發現了這處壁畫，似乎講述了野豬搏斗的故事。

Basran Burha, archaeologist
The panel expresses quite a complex narrative. Two boars are painted on top of each other. If we look closely at [the] pigs, it looks like the artist has used a brush dipped into paint to make the strokes on the cave wall. We see a different style with the hands. It appears as if a spray technique was used. They put their hands on the wall and then sprayed the pigment on.

巴斯蘭·伯翰       考古學家
“這處壁畫講述了一個相當復雜的故事。有兩只野豬，一只被畫在了另一只上方。如果我們仔細觀察這些豬，會發現作畫者是用刷子蘸著顏料，一筆筆畫在洞壁上的。這邊，手印的繪畫風格有所不同。看上去像是用了噴涂技術，先把手按在墻上，然后將顏料噴了上去。”

Using a uranium series isotope dating technique, it’s been revealed that it was made more than 45,000 years ago.

利用鈾系同位素測年技術，人們發現這是4萬千多年前被畫出來的。

The team of archaeologists behind the discovery say even older paintings may be found in nearby caves.

發現這個洞穴的考古學家團隊表示，在附近其它洞穴內甚至可能會發現更古老的繪畫。

This ancient art, a source of great national pride.

這項古老的藝術是民族自豪感的源泉。

Researchers are warning that the art is decaying at an alarming rate due to the effects of climate change, rising temperatures causing these ancient paintings to crumble.

研究人員警告說，由于氣候變化的影響，這些壁畫正以驚人的速度消退，氣溫上升導致了這些古老的畫作支離破碎。

詞匯

ancestors 祖先

archaeologists 考古學家

ancient 古老的

decaying 破敗，消退

crumble 破碎，粉碎

問題答案

Climate change, with rising temperatures, is believed to be damaging the paintings.