How Art Made The World 人、艺术、世界 -15

Then around ten years ago, German archeologists began excavating¹ here. What they found astonished them, because under their feet were colossal² structures-- stone circles built from huge T-shaped megaliths. The site is vast; at least 20 stone circles remain buried containing hundreds of pillars. In Britain, Stonehenge was built four and a half thousand years ago, but this site is almost 3 times older. It dates back nearly 12, 000 years to the time when people stopped painting in caves.

It is pretty obvious that Gobekli Tepe was some kind of ritual center, a meeting place in the mountains with great religious power for the people who created it. So how does this help to explain what happened to our ability to create images? Well, the best time to see that is at night. Because it's what's on these pillars that's essential for our story. They're not just megaliths, big stones . They're decorated, covered with carvings³ of dozens of wild animals. You see these best at night time, by the light of a naked flame just as their creators once saw them.

Lions, cranes, boars, foxes... 12, 000 years ago, it is exactly the time images were abandoned in the caves of Europe. Here on a Turkish hillside they completely gripped people's imaginations. It means images were never an optional extra. Once humans discovered how to create them, they didn't stop. They have been engraved⁴ onto the human mind. But this place may contain an even bigger secret, because remarkably⁵ it seems to reveal that it was images which created the world we live in today. It's all done to the immense effort that lies behind these images.


words to remeber:

1. megalith:巨大的石头（建筑用）

2. Stonehenge: 英国的著名巨石阵（见下图）

3.boar:公猪, 野猪, 野猪肉

1 excavating   

v.挖掘( excavate的现在分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• A bulldozer was employed for excavating the foundations of the building. 推土机用来给楼房挖地基。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs. 一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。 来自辞典例句

2 colossal   

adj.异常的，庞大的

参考例句：

• There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。
• Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

3 carvings   

n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物

参考例句：

• The desk was ornamented with many carvings. 这桌子装饰有很多雕刻物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town. 贝雕是该城的特产。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 engraved   

v.在（硬物）上雕刻（字，画等）( engrave的过去式和过去分词 )；将某事物深深印在（记忆或头脑中）

参考例句：

• The silver cup was engraved with his name. 银杯上刻有他的名字。
• It was prettily engraved with flowers on the back. 此件雕刻精美，背面有花饰图案。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。