In today's class I'm going to talk about marine archaeology, the branch of archaeology focusing on human interaction with the sea, lakes and rivers.

在今天的课堂上，我将讲述的是海洋考古学，它是考古学的一个分支，侧重于人类与海洋、湖泊和河流的相互作用。

It's the study of ships, cargoes, shipping facilities, and other physical remains.

它是对船舶、货物、运输设施和其他实物遗骸的研究。

I'll give you an example, then go on to show how this type of research is being transformed by the use of the latest technology.

我将举一个例子，然后继续展示如何通过使用最新技术改进这种类型的研究。

Atlit-Yam was a village on the coast of the eastern Mediterranean, which seems to have been thriving until around 7,000 BC.

亚特利特雅姆是地中海东部沿海的一个村庄，它看起来一直十分繁荣，直到公元前7000年左右。

The residents kept cattle, caught fish and stored grain.

居民养牛，抓鱼和储粮。

They had wells for fresh water, many of their houses were built around a courtyard and were constructed of stone.

他们有淡水井，他们的房子大多围绕一个庭院，并由石头建造。

The village contained an impressive monument: seven half-tonne stones standing in a semicircle around a spring, that might have been used for ceremonial purposes.

这个村庄里有一座令人印象深刻的纪念碑：七个重达半吨的石头围绕着一个温泉摆成半圆形，可能是用于仪式的目的。

Atlit-Yam may have been destroyed swiftly by a tsunami, or climate change may have caused glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise, flooding the village gradually.

亚特利特雅姆可能是被海啸迅速摧毁的，或者气候变化可能导致冰川融化，海平面上升，逐渐淹没村庄。

Whatever the cause, it now lies ten metres below the surface of the Mediterranean, buried under sand at the bottom of the sea.

不管是什么原因，它现在位于地中海表面以下10米处，埋在海底的沙子下面。

It's been described as the largest and best preserved prehistoric settlement ever found on the seabed.

它被描述为有史以来在海底发现的最大的、保存最完好的史前定居点。

For marine archaeologists, Atlit-Yam is a treasure trove.

对于海洋考古学家来说，亚特利特雅姆是一个宝库。

Research on the buildings, tools and the human remains has revealed how the bustling village once functioned, and even what diseases some of its residents suffered from.

对建筑物、工具和人类遗骸的研究揭示了繁华的村庄曾经如何运作，甚至一些居民遭受的疾病。

But of course this is only one small village, one window into a lost world.

但当然这只是一个小村庄，一个进入迷失世界的窗口。

For a fuller picture, researchers need more sunken settlements, but the hard part is finding them.

为了更全面地了解，研究人员需要更多沉没的定居点，但困难的部分是找到它们。

Underwater research used to require divers to find shipwrecks or artefacts, but in the second half of the twentieth century, various types of underwater vehicles were developed, some controlled from a ship on the surface, and some of them autonomous, which means they don't need to be operated by a person.

水下研究曾经需要潜水员找到沉船或人工制品，但在二十世纪下半叶，各种类型的水下航行器被开发出来，其中一些是由水面上的船来控制的，还有一些是自动的，这意味着他们不需要人工操作。

Autonomous underwater vehicles, or AUVs, are used in the oil industry, for instance, to create maps of the seabed before rigs and pipelines are installed.

例如，在石油工业中使用自主水下航行器即AUV，用来在安装钻机和管道之前绘制海床地图。

To navigate they use sensors, such as compasses and sonar.

它们使用传感器来导航，例如指南针和声呐。

Until relatively recently they were very expensive, and so heavy that they had to be launched from a large vessel with a winch.

直到比较近期，它们依然非常昂贵，并且沉重到必须从带绞盘的大型船只发射。

But the latest AUVs are much easier to manoeuvre - they can be launched from the shore or a small ship.

但是最新的自主水下航行器更容易控制——它们可以从岸上或小型船只上发射。

And they're much cheaper, which makes them more accessible to research teams.

而且它们便宜得多，这使研究团队更容易获得。

They're also very sophisticated.

它们也很精密。

They can communicate with each other and, for example, workout the most efficient way to survey a site, or to find particular objects on the seabed.

它们可以相互沟通，还可以找出调查一个地点的最有效的方式，或找到海床上的特定物体。

Field tests show the approach can work.

现场测试表明该方法可行。

For example, in a trial in 2015, three AUVs searched for wrecks at Marzamemi, off the coast of Sicily.

例如，在2015年的一次试验中，三个自主水下航行器在西西里岛海岸的马尔扎梅米寻找残骸。

The site is the final resting place of an ancient Roman ship, which sank in the sixth century AD while ferrying prefabricated marble elements for the construction of an early church.

该位置是一艘古罗马船的最后安息地，该船于公元六世纪沉没，当时它正运送预制的用于建造早期教堂的大理石部件。

The AUVs mapped the area in detail, finding other ships carrying columns of the same material.

自主水下航行器详细绘制了该区域的地图，发现了其他载有相同材料的柱状物的船只。

Creating an internet in the sea for AUVs to communicate is no easy matter.

在海上创建互联网，让自主水下航行器进行通信并非易事。

Wifi networks on land use electromagnetic waves, but in water these will only travel a few centimetres.

陆地上的无线网络使用的是电磁波，但在水中这些电磁波只能传播几厘米。

Instead, a more complex mix of technologies is required.

相反，它们需要更复杂的技术组合。

For short distances, AUVs can share data using light, while acoustic waves are used to communicate over long distances.

对于短距离，自主水下航行器可以使用光来共享数据，而声波被用于长距离通信。

But more creative solutions are also being developed, where an AUV working on the seabed offloads data to a second AUV, which then surfaces and beams the data home to the research team using a satellite.

但是，人们正在开发更具创造性的解决方案，其中在海床上工作的自主水下航行器将数据卸载到第二个自主水下航行器。然后第二个自主水下航行器浮出水面并通过卫星将数据传输到研究团队。

There's also a system that enables AUVs to share information from seabed scans, and other data.

还有一个系统使自主水下航行器之间能够共享来自扫描海床的信息和其他数据的信息。

So if an AUV surveying the seabed finds an intriguing object, it can share the coordinates of the object - that is, its position - with a nearby AUV that carries superior cameras, and arrange for that AUV to make a closer inspection of the object.

因此，如果测量海底的自主水下航行器发现一个奇妙的物体，它可以与附近携带高级相机的自主水下航行器共享物体的坐标——即它的位置——并安排该自主水下航行器对物体进行更仔细的检查。

Marine archaeologists are excited about the huge potential of these AUVs for their discipline.

海洋考古学家对这些自主水下航行器在海洋考古学科的巨大潜力感到兴奋。

One site where they're going to be deployed is the Gulf of Baratti, off the Italian coast.

其中一个要部署自主水下航行器的地方将在巴拉荻海湾，位于意大利海岸附近。

In 1974, a 2,000-year-old Roman vessel was discovered here, in 18 metres of water.

在1974年，人们在那儿18米深处的水下发现了一艘有2000年历史的罗马船。

When it sank, it was carrying medical goods, in wooden or tin receptacles.

它沉没的时候，船上载着用木制或锡纸容器装着的医疗用品。

Its cargo gives us insight into the treatments available all those years ago, including tablets that are thought to have been dissolved to form a cleansing liquid for the eyes.

船上的货物让我们深入了解了多年前的治疗方法，包括一种药片，人们认为它可以溶解形成眼部清洁液。

Other Roman ships went down nearby, taking their cargoes with them.

其他载着货物的罗马船也在附近沉没。

Some held huge pots made of terracotta.

有些船只载着巨大的赤土陶器罐。

Some were used for transporting cargoes of olive oil, and others held wine.

有些船只用于运输橄榄油，还有些船只运输葡萄酒。

In many cases it's only these containers that remain, while the wooden ships have been buried under silt on the seabed.

在许多情况下，只有这些容器还在，而木制船只被埋在海底的淤泥下。

Another project that's about to ...

另一个项目是关于……