Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in an archaeology class.

旁白：听一段考古学的演讲。

Professor: It's every archaeologist's dream to find a lost civilization, to make some huge discovery, to find artifacts no one else has laid a hand on in millennia.

教授：发现一个遗失的文明、有一个巨大的发现、发现在千年中没人找到过的史前古器是每一个考古学家的梦想。

You might think that this never happens any more, given all the research in archaeology that's been done.

考虑到考古学中所做的所有研究，你可能认为这个再也不会发生了。

But in the late twentieth century, archaeologists discovered the remains of a sophisticated people whose settlement might have been the hub of a civilization few people even thought existed.

但是在20世纪末，考古学家发现了一个成熟的民族的遗骸，他们的定居点可能是一个文明的中心，几乎没有人认为存在的文明。

They found this site at the edge of a desert in Turkmenistan, in central Asia, where a series of mounds rise up from the plains.

他们在中亚的土库曼斯坦沙漠边缘发现了这个遗址，在这里有一系列的土丘从平原上升起。

Now, you might remember because we've talked about this, archaeologists know that mounds such as these are the kinds of geological features that indicate the presence of ancient settlements. Jim?

现在，你们可能记得我们上课说过，考古学家们知道像那样的土堆是暗示古代定居存在的地质特征。Jim?

Student: Um…mounds can be different things, right?

学生：嗯……土堆可能是不一样的东西，不是吗？

Some are burial places…

有些是安葬地点……

Professor: Exactly. And some are the remains of cities.

教授：正是如此。有些是城市的遗址。

The inhabitants would build houses and temples you know, what have you.

居民们会建造房子、寺庙等等。

And over time, those buildings would fall down or be torn down and then be built over.

随着时间的流逝，这些建筑会倒下或者被拆毁，然后重建。

Over time, generations of building and rebuilding in the same area would result in a large hill the size of a city.

随着时间的流逝，数代人在同一个地方的建造和重建会导致一个像城池那么大的山丘的形成。

Careful excavation and documentation of layers in a mound can reveal a wealth of information about the everyday life of a people in a settlement over many periods of occupation.

对土堆层面的仔细的挖掘和记录，可以揭示在很长时间的占有期中，一个民族在一个定居地每天的生活信息。

Now, this particular site is called Gonur-depe.

这个特别的地点被称之为Gonur-depe。

What was found at Gonur-depe was amazing: the ruins of a huge palace complex, the foundations of shops and houses, the remains of thick walls and towers that fortified the city.

在Gonur-depe发现的东西是很惊人的：一个巨大的宫殿群的废墟，房屋和商店的地基，城市设防的厚墙和塔的遗迹。

There was even an elaborate canal system and a lot of very intricate jewelry.

那里甚至还有一个精心制作的渠道系统以及一些复杂的珠宝。

All these findings seem to indicate that they are the remains of an ancient civilization that was every bit as advanced as other more famous civilizations of the time.

所有的这些发现似乎都指出了他们是一个古代文明的遗迹，和同时期的其它著名的文明完全一样。

Like those in Egypt, or, or China.

就像在埃及的那些，或者中国。

And the site dates back to 3,000 B.C.E.

并且这个遗迹始于公元前3000年。

Student: Did they trade with those other civilizations?

学生：他们和其它那些文明做贸易吗？

Because if they did, wouldn't there've been some evidence of that?

因为如果做贸易的话，那里是不是应该就会有那样的证据？

You know, an artifact found in the ruins of other civilizations?

你知道的，在其它文明的古迹发现一个古器？

Professor: That's a good question.

教授：这是一个好问题。

I mentioned Jewelry, well, Jewelry have been found in Mesopotamia and at archaeological sites in modern-day Pakistan.

我提到过珠宝,在美索不达米亚以及当今的巴基斯坦的遗址已经发现了珠宝。

But archaeologists didn't know where it came from.

但是考古学家们不知道它们来自哪里。

Only after the site at Gonur-depe was excavated were archaeologists able to identify it as coming from Gonur-depe. Uh, Sheryl?

只有当 Gonur-depe的遗址被发掘了以后，考古学家们才将它们鉴定为来自Gonur-depe。Sheryl?

Student: I wonder why nobody have found this site before.

学生：我在想，为什么从前没人发现过这个地方。

Professor: Well, before the discovery of this site, it was commonly believed that central Asia had always been occupied by mostly nomadic people.

教授：在发现这个遗址之前，人们通常都认为中亚一直都被游牧民族所占据。

So there would be no record of major settlements.

因此那里没有主要定居的记录。

A couple of small finds have been made in the area, but really, no one had looked very hard.

这个地区有一些小的发现，但是，没有人认真地研究过。

Now, one mystery regarding this site is that archaeological records show it was inhabited for only a few centuries.

现在，关于这个遗址有一个神秘的地方，考古记录显示出这个地方只被居住了几个世纪。

Student: But what happened to the people who lived there?

学生：那里居住的人发生了什么事情？

Professor: Well, the site was close to the Murgab River, which they would have depended on for their water.

教授：这个地方离穆尔加布河很近，他们依靠这条河获得水资源。

And the Murgab River, which runs toward the west, is the kind of river that shifts its course over time.

而向西流动的穆尔加布河，是那种随着时间会改变它路线的河流。

So one theory is that the river's course shifted toward the South, and they simply followed it and built new towns to the South.

所以，有一个理论说河流的路径朝南改变，然后他们跟着河流，然后向南方建造新的城镇。

Another theory is that they were involved in wars with neighboring settlements.

另外一个理论就是，他们和相邻的定居者发生了战争。

But we might never know the truth.

但是我们可能永远无法得知真相。

One thing we do know is that in the decades since Gonur-depe was discovered, the site has deteriorated significantly.

我们知道的一件事情就是，从Gonur-depe被发现的数十年内，这个地方已经遭受了严重的破坏。

I mean, it's been disturbed for the first time in millennia.

我的意思是，在千年中，它第一次被打扰了。

And being exposed to the Sun and wind has taken its toll on the ancient city.

被暴露在太阳和风之下已经造成了古城的损害。

So now the question is, do we partially restore and rebuild the site before the entire thing disintegrates?

那么现在的问题是，我们要在整个地方瓦解之前修复并重建它吗？

It will take a lot of funding to restore it and I am not sure it'll be made available, which would be a pity.

这需要很多资金去修复，并且我不是很肯定可以得到资金，这个太遗憾了。

Even a partly altered site can provide valuable information, which would be lost otherwise.

即使是部分被改变的遗址也可以提供有价值的信息，否则，这些信息就会遗失。