How Art Made The World 人、艺术、世界 -16

On one side of the hill, archeologists discovered an area that had been used as a quarry¹. This is where the huge pillars that dominated Gobekli Tepe were cut from the limestone² bedrock.

Here's a pillar that never made it. This is the oblong of a head and here it narrows to the shaft³. For some reason we'll never know it was abandoned while still half finished in the bedrock. And here, we've got the space where another pillar was successfully extracted. It really is amazing to think that these stones were cut out of the rock and carved with images using only flint tools. Metal didn't exist. And what's also remarkable⁴ is their size. Each one of them is about 20 feet long and weighs an estimated 50 tons. That means it would have taken about 500 people just to shift them up the hill.

Even the hill itself is man-made, but what's so important about this huge effort is the effect it had on the society that built Gobekli Tepe. 12 thousand years ago, hundreds of people traveled long distances to work and worship here. And they all had to eat. Back then, people throughout the world led the lives of hunter-gatherers, hunting wild animals, gathering⁵ wild plants. This way of life had successfully supported small groups of people since human first evolved. Today though, we feed large numbers of people by farming. We grow crops and keep domesticated⁶ animals. Agriculture is the cornerstone of our modern world. Archeologists had always wondered what made us give up our hunter-gatherer existence, what caused the agricultural revolution, the greatest change in human history. Gobekli Tepe got them thinking because it was in this area that farming first started and it happened at the same time this place was being built.

Could it have been the need to feed all the people building Gobekli Tepe and worshiping there that first compelled people to start farming? There is some convincing evidence. Scientists recently sought to discover where our modern cultivated wheat came from.

words to remember:

1. quarry: An open excavation⁷ or pit from which stone is obtained by digging, cutting, or blasting.采石场
a huge resource资源 : The book is an indispensable quarry of information
to extract by long-time careful searching采集 : quarry out genology from hundreds of sources

2. bedrock:岩床

1 quarry   

n.采石场；v.采石；费力地找

参考例句：

• Michelangelo obtained his marble from a quarry.米开朗基罗从采石场获得他的大理石。
• This mountain was the site for a quarry.这座山曾经有一个采石场。

2 limestone   

n.石灰石

参考例句：

• Limestone is often used in building construction.石灰岩常用于建筑。
• Cement is made from limestone.水泥是由石灰石制成的。

3 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。

4 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

5 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

6 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 excavation   

n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地

参考例句：

• The bad weather has hung up the work of excavation.天气不好耽误了挖掘工作。
• The excavation exposed some ancient ruins.这次挖掘暴露出一些古遗迹。