纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 005克洛维斯石矛头（2）

I'm in the North American gallery of the British Museum, among the magnificent feather headdresses, and in a case beside the totem poles, is a very interesting bit of rubbish indeed. It is the business end of a deadly weapon; a spear - the shaft¹, of course, is long gone.

在大英博物馆的北美洲展馆部分，众多五彩缤纷的羽毛头饰与华丽壮观的图腾柱中间，一颗不起眼却很有趣的小“垃圾”静静地躺在一个小展台上。它便是一件致命武器的最尖端。这根长矛的矛杆当然早就腐朽在漫漫岁月中了。

It's made of stone and it was lost by a person like you or me in Arizona over 13,000 years ago.

一万三千年前，这石制矛头被某个像你我一样的人类遗弃在亚利桑那州。

The spearhead is made of hard flint and it's about the size of a small, slim mobile phone, but it's in the shape of a long thin leaf. The point is still intact and still very sharp. The surface of both sides has beautiful ripples² and, when you look closely, you can see that these are the scars from its making, where the flakes³ of the flint have been carefully chipped off.

这矛头是由一颗坚硬的燧石制成的，大概一部超薄手机大小，细细长长的叶子状。它的矛锋完好无损，仍然相当的尖锐。表面的两侧有美丽的涟漪痕迹。细细观察下来，就可以看出那是打磨过程中留下来的。当年工匠精工细磨，慢慢地在这燧石片上敲下片片碎石，就留下了道道的痕迹。

It's a lovely thing to touch and it's very well adapted to its lethal⁴ purpose - a thing of beauty and a kill forever!

它把弄起来玲珑可爱，但却十足胜任了它生来赋于的致命使命——永恒的美丽、永恒的凶器！

This spearhead raises many questions. But perhaps the most surprising fact is that it was found in America. After all, for most of our history we humans have been a resolutely⁵ land-locked African, Asian and European species. So how did the people who made spears like this get to America, and who were they?

这矛头引出了许多问题。但也许其中最让人吃惊的一点是它出土于美洲。毕竟在我们历史的绝大部分时期，人类这物种总是生存繁衍在非洲、亚洲及欧洲等内陆地区。当然，当初这些制造类似这种长矛的人类，是如此到达美洲的？他们又是谁呢？

This stone spearhead is by no means unique; it is just one of thousands that have been found across North America, from Alaska to Mexico. They're known as Clovis points, after the small town in the US State of New Mexico where they were first discovered in 1936, alongside the bones of the animals they'd killed. And so the makers⁶ of these stone points, the people who hunted with them, are known as Clovis people.

这石矛头决不是独一无二的，仅仅是几千件之一；出土的大量石矛头遍布了从阿拉斯加到墨西哥的北美各地。它们被称为克洛维斯尖矛头，根据它们首次出土地的那个美国新墨西哥州小镇命名；当时随之出土的还有被这些矛头杀害的动物骨头残骸。因此，这些石制矛头工匠们及其他们的同伴，那些一起狩猎的人类，被称之为克洛维斯人。

The discovery at Clovis was one of the most dramatic leaps forward in our understanding of the history of the Americas. These spearheads are the firmest evidence yet found for the first human beings to inhabit America.

克洛维斯大发现在对我们美洲历史的认知上，可谓是一个最戏剧性的飞跃。这些矛头是有史以来证明美洲首批人类定居踪迹的最有力证物。

Almost identical Clovis points have been found in clusters from Alaska to Mexico, and from California to Florida, and what they show is that these people were able to establish small communities right across this immense area as the last Ice Age was coming to an end, about 13,000 years ago.

从阿拉斯加到墨西哥，从加利福尼亚到佛罗里达州，成批成批的克洛维斯矛头相继出土，几近相同。它们向我们说明了，大概在最后一次冰河时期即将结束的一万三千年前左右，这些人类已经能够在北美这广宽无垠的土地上建立起一处处小聚居的部落。

Are the Clovis people really the first Americans? The leading expert in this period is Professor Gary Haynes:

这些克洛维斯人是否是真正的北美人呢？这时期的领头学者加里·海恩斯教授说道：

1 shaft   

n.(工具的)柄，杆状物

参考例句：

• He was wounded by a shaft.他被箭击中受伤。
• This is the shaft of a steam engine.这是一个蒸汽机主轴。

2 ripples   

逐渐扩散的感觉( ripple的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The moon danced on the ripples. 月亮在涟漪上舞动。
• The sea leaves ripples on the sand. 海水在沙滩上留下了波痕。

3 flakes   

小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人

参考例句：

• It's snowing in great flakes. 天下着鹅毛大雪。
• It is snowing in great flakes. 正值大雪纷飞。

4 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

5 resolutely   

adj.坚决地，果断地

参考例句：

• He resolutely adhered to what he had said at the meeting. 他坚持他在会上所说的话。
• He grumbles at his lot instead of resolutely facing his difficulties. 他不是果敢地去面对困难，而是抱怨自己运气不佳。

6 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》