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

旁白：听一段人类学的讲座。

Professor: So now that we've discussed how people in ancient societies tamed animals like cows and chickens for food and other uses.

教授：既然我们已经讨论过古代社会，人们是怎么为了食物或其他一些用途，去驯养牛和鸡这样的动物。

I'd like to talk about an ancient culture that domesticated horses.

我打算说一个驯养马匹的古代文明。

It's the Botai people.

它就是波泰民族。

The Botai culture thrived over 5,000 years ago in central Asia, in what is now northern Kazakhstan.

在5000年前的中亚，也就是现在的北哈萨克斯坦，波泰文明繁荣着。

Pretty much all of what we know about the Botai comes from three archaeological sites.

我们所知道的和波泰相关的一些东西都来自于三个考古遗址。

And we learned that the Botai were able to build large perennial villages, sometimes with hundreds of homes.

并且，我们知道波泰人可以建造大型永久的村庄，有的时候有几百户人家。

We also found horse bones at these sites and these can be traced back to the time of the Botai settlements.

我们在这些遗址还发现了马的骨头，而这些可以被追溯到波泰人定居的那个时期。

The climate that the Botai culture lived in…it was harsh.

博泰文明时期的气候非常糟糕。

And the Botai people…they didn't really seem to have much in the way of agriculture going on.

并且，波泰人貌似并没有开展什么农业活动。

So their whole economy was really based on horses.

所以他们整个经济都建立在马匹上。

And because horses can withstand the tough climate, they can survive ice storms and they don't need heated barns, the Botai people could settle in one place and rely on the horses for food, clothing and transportation.

而且，马匹可以承受恶劣的天气，他们可以在冰暴天存活下来，也不需要加热的马厩。这样波泰人就可以在一个地方定居，并且依赖马匹去获得食物、衣物和运输。

Student: So the Botai were the first to domesticate horses?

学生：所以，波泰人是最先驯养马匹的人吗？

Professor: Well, we are pretty sure that horses were first domesticated a bit earlier, to the north-west, in the area that is now Ukraine and western Russia.

教授：我们可以肯定的是马匹再稍早一点的时候就被驯养了，在西北部，也就是现在的乌克兰和俄罗斯西部。

It's quite possible that some of those people later migrated east to Kazakhstan.

后来，这些人当中的一部分人，很可能向东迁徙到了哈萨克斯坦。

Student: But what exactly tells us that these Botai people, that the horses in their area were really domesticated?

学生：但是，到底是什么让我们得知，这些在波泰人的地方的马匹是家养的？

Professor: As with most ancient history, there is not much that we can be certain about.

教授：就像对于大部分的古代历史一样，其中没有多少我们是可以很肯定的。

But we know there was a significant population of wild horses in that area.

但是，我们知道在那个地方是有很多数量的野马的。

So there were plenty of opportunities for the Botai people to find horses to domesticate.

所以波泰人有很多机会去发现马匹，去驯养他们。

We also know that horse milk was an important source of food for the Botai people.

我们也知道，对于波泰人来说，马奶也是重要的食物来源。

What? Milking a wild horse?

什么？从野马身上挤奶？

Well, now, that would be impossible…to milk a wild horse.

从野马上挤奶是不可能的。

And then… there's the…Oh. Yes? Eric.

然后，那里……好的，Eric?

Student: So you said last week that for some animals, like for dogs, there were physical changes taking place over the course of generations of dogs because of domestication.

学生：就像你上星期说的，对于某些动物来说，比如狗，经历了数代的驯养后，狗的身体上会发变化。

So can we tell from those horse bones if it was sort of the same for horses?

所以我们可不可以从马的骨头上推断出是不是同一种马？

Professor: Actually, it wasn't.

教授：事实上，并不行。

We know that horses have not changed a lot physically as a result of domestication.

马匹并没有因为家养而产生太多的身体上的变化。

So those ancient horse bones don't tell us much about domestication.

所以，那些古代马匹的骨头并不能提供我们驯养的信息。

But…we've found that…um…we've found what maybe pens or corrals in the Botai settlements.

但是，我们发现……我们发现了可能是波泰人定居时的围栏。

And not too long ago, a new approach was used to find out if the Botai people were keeping horses.

在不久之前，有一个新的方法被用来确定波泰人是否驯养马匹。

Soil samples from these pens or corrals show ten times the concentration of phosphorus.

在这些围栏中的土壤样品中有着10倍的磷元素。

Student: Um…phosphorus?

学生：磷？

Professor: Yes. Phosphorus is a very significant indicator that horses, large numbers of horses were being kept in the settlements.

教授：是的。磷元素是定居地中有大量马匹存在的重要指示。

You see, horse manure, horse waste is rich in phosphorus and also nitrogen compared to normal soil.

你们知道的，比起普通的土壤来说，马匹排泄物种有大量的磷和氮。

But nitrogen is an unstable element.

但是，氮是非常不稳定的元素。

It can be washed out when it rains or it can be released to the atmosphere, whereas phosphorus combines with calcium and iron, and can be preserved in the soil for thousands of years.

下雨的时候它会被冲走，或者也会被释放到大气中去，而磷可以和钙和铁结合，并且可以被保存在土壤中达上千年。

The soil from the Botai settlement sites was found to have high concentrations of phosphorus and low nitrogen concentrations, which is important since it suggests that what we've got is really old, not something added to the soil more recently.

在波泰人定居的遗址的土壤中发现了高浓度的磷和低浓度的氮。这个是非常重要的发现，因为它意味着我们所获得的是非常老的东西，而不是最近才添加到土壤中去的。

Student: Wait. So if horses have been there recently, there'd still be lots of nitrogen in the soil.

学生：等等。所以如果最近那里有很多马匹的话，那里的土壤中会有大量的氮。

Professor: That's right. Yes. Karen.

教授：是的。好的，Karen?

Student: I just read an article.

学生：我刚读过一篇文章。

It said that one way to determine if there was an ancient fireplace at an archaeological site was to check the soil for phosphorus.

这篇文章说的是确定一个遗址中是否有古代壁炉的一个方法就是去检查土壤中是否含有磷。

So couldn't the phosphorus at the Botai sites just be from the frequent use of fireplaces?

那么，在波泰遗址中发现的磷会不会是频繁使用壁炉造成的呢？

Professor: You are absolutely right.

教授：你说的非常正确。

However, when a fireplace leaves behind a lot of phosphorus in the soil, we'd also find an unusually high concentration of potassium.

但是，壁炉将大量磷留在土壤中的同时，我们也会发现高含量的钾。

But the soil at the Botai settlements, it was found with relatively little potassium, which makes it far more likely that the phosphorus came from horses. OK?

但是在波泰定居的土壤中，只发现非常少的钾。所以这些磷更有可能是来自于马匹的，对不对？

Now, later on, people of the same region, northern Kazakhstan, started raising sheep and cattle.

随后，哈萨克斯坦北部，同一地区的人，开始圈养羊和牛了。

And that led to a more nomadic culture.

这个更加促进了游牧文化。

Since sheep and cattle can't survive harsh climates, they needed to be taken south every winter.

由于牛和羊不能在严苛的气候下生存，他们每年冬天必须被带到南方。

Moving around meant working harder but the trade-off was far richer, fattier milk year round and warm clothing from the sheep.

到处游走意味着更加辛苦的劳作，但是这样所换来的就是全年更加丰厚多脂的牛奶和从羊身上获得的温暖的衣物。