中国古代文明消失之谜得到解释

An earthquake nearly 3,000 years ago may be the culprit in the mysterious disappearance of one of China's ancient civilizations, new research suggests.
最新研究发现，3000年前的一场地震可能是导致中国一个古文明被毁灭的原因。

The massive temblor may have caused catastrophic landslides, damming up the Sanxingdui culture's main water source and diverting it to a new location.
这次巨大的震动可能引起了灾难性的滑坡和山崩，挡住了三星堆文明的主要水源，并将水引到了一个新的地点去。

That, in turn, may have spurred the ancient Chinese culture to move closer to the new river flow, study co-author Niannian Fan, a river sciences researcher at Tsinghua University in Chengdu,China, said Dec. 18 at the 47th annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
所以中国的这个古老文明不得不随着新的水流方向搬迁到新的地方去，成都清华大学的河流科学研究员兼这份研究的合著者范年年在12月18号于旧金山举行的第47届美国地球物理学会年会上说。

Ancient civilization
古老文明

In 1929, a peasant in Sichuan province uncovered jade and stone artifacts while repairing a sewage ditch located about 24 miles (40 kilometers) from Chengdu. But their significance wasn't understood until 1986, when archaeologists unearthed two pits of Bronze Age treasures, such as jades, about 100 elephant tusks and stunning8-feet-high (2.4 meters) bronze sculptures that suggest an impressive technicalability that was present nowhere else in the world at the time, said PeterKeller, a geologist and president of the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana,California, which is currently hosting an exhibit of some of these treasures.
1929年，四川一个农民在距离成都40公里处发现了一些玉石工艺品。但是直到1986年人们才发现了这些东西的重要性，当时考古学家们出土了两处青铜时期的宝藏，比如玉器，大约100个象牙，以及2.4米高的青铜雕塑，这表明中国当时所拥有的高超工艺技术是世界上其他地方所没有的，加州圣安娜鲍尔斯博物馆的地质学家兼主席Peter Keller如是说，该馆目前正在展览这其中的一些宝藏。

The treasures, which had been broken and buried as if they were sacrificed, came from a lost civilization, now known as the Sanxingdui, a walledcity on the banks of the Minjiang River.
这些宝藏——在埋葬之前先被弄破，好像作为一种牺牲品似的——来自一个迷失的文明，即现在所谓的三星堆文明，这是岷江岸边上的一座城市。

"It's a big mystery," said Keller,who was not involved in the current study.
“这是一个巨大的未解之谜，”PeterKeller说，他并没有参与目前的这项研究。

Archaeologists now believe that the culture willfully dismantled itself sometime between 3,000 and 2,800 years ago, Fansaid.
考古学家现在认为这个文化在大约3000年到2800年间自行消失，范年年说。

"The current explanations for why it disappeared are war and flood, but both are not very convincing," Fan toldLive Science.
“目前对该文明失落的解释是战争和洪灾，但是这两个理由都不是很让人信服，”范年年对Live Science说。

But about 14 years ago, archaeologists found the remains of another ancient city called Jinsha near Chengdu. TheJinsha site, though it contained none of the impressive bronzes of Sanxingdui,did have a gold crown with a similar engraved motif of fish, arrows and birdsas a golden staff found at Sanxingdui, Keller said. That has led some scholars to believe that the people from Sanxingdui may have relocated to Jinsha.
但是在14年前，考古学家在成都附近找到了另一座古老城市金沙的遗址。这个金沙遗址虽然不包含有三星堆遗址中出土的青铜器，但是在里面发现了一个金皇冠，上面雕刻有鱼，弓箭和鸟，这与三星堆中发现的金物体相似，Keller说。所以有些学者就认为三星堆的人民后来可能迁移到了金沙。

But why has remained a mystery.
但为何依然是个迷。

Geological and historical clues
地质和历史方面的线索。

Fan and his colleagues wondered whether an earthquake may have caused landslides that dammed the river high up in the mountains and rerouted it to Jinsha. That catastrophe may have reduced Sanxingdui's watersupply, spurring its inhabitants to move.
范和他的同事怀疑是否曾今发生过一次地震，导致滑坡，从而将高山上的河流堵塞，迫使河流改道到金沙。那将导致三星堆的水供给减少，所以促使其居民搬迁。

The valley where Sanxingdui sits has alarge flood plain, with 4.3 miles (7 kilometers) of high terraced walls that were unlikely to have been cut by the small river that now flows through it,Fan said.
三星堆所坐落的山谷上有一个巨型的泛滥平原，其高高的阶梯状墙体长达7公里，不太可能被现在流经这里的小河流所阻断，范说。

And some historical records support their hypothesis. In 1099 B.C., ancient writers recorded an earthquake in the capitalof the Zhoudynasty, in Shaanxi province, Fan said. Though that spot is roughly 250miles (400 kilometers) from the historic site of Sanxingdui, the latter culture didn't have writing at the time, so it's possible the earthquake epicenter was actually close to Sanxingdui — but it just wasn't recorded there, Fan said.Geological evidence also suggests that an earthquake occurred in the generalregion between 3,330 and 2,200 years ago, he added.
而一些历史记录也支持了他们的假设。在公元前1099年，古代作家记录了在陕西省的周朝首都所发生的一次地震，范说。虽然这个地点距离三星堆遗址有400公里远，但是由于三星堆当时还没有书写文化，所以极有可能这次的地震就发生在三星堆附近，但是没有书面记录，范说。地质学上的证据也表明大约在3330年到2200年之间这个大区域发生过一次地震，他说。

Around the same time, geological sediment ssuggest massive flooding occurred, and the later-Han dynasty document "The Chronicles of the Kings of Shu" records ancient floods pouring from amountain in a spot that suggests the flow being rerouted, Fan said. (Around 800 years later, Jinsha residents built a wall to preventflooding.)
大约同时，地质沉积物表明发生了大规模的洪灾，在后汉时期的文献《蜀王编年史》记录了来自一处山头的洪水，表明河流被改道了，范说。（大约800年后，金沙居民建了一座墙用来防洪）。

A river rerouted?
一条河流被改道了？

Together, the findings hint that a major earthquake triggered a landslide that dammed the river, rerouting its flow and reducing water flow to Sanxingdui, Fan said.
总之，这些发现向人们暗示了一个大地震引发了滑坡并堵塞了河流，河流从而改道，三星堆所获得水资源从而减少，范说。

But if so, where did the river getrerouted? The team found clues high up in the mountains in the deep and wideYanmen Ravine, at about 12,460 feet (3,800 meters) above sea level.
如果真是这样，那河流被改道到哪里去了呢？科研团队在又深又宽的雁门峡谷的高山上发现了线索，在海平面3800米上。

The modern-day river cuts through theravine, which was carved by glaciers about 12,000 years ago. Yet the telltalesigns of that glacial erosion — bowl-shaped basins known as cirques — are mysteriously absent for a long stretch of the ravine. The team hypothesizes that an earthquake spurred an avalanche that then wiped out some of the cirquesabout 3,000 years ago.
如今的河流穿过了这条峡谷，而这座峡谷是在12000年前由冰川雕琢而成。然而冰川侵蚀的迹象——碗状的盆地，即盆地谷——在峡谷的很长一段距离里都神秘消失了。该研究团队推断3000年前的一次地震引起了大崩塌，所以导致盆地谷的一部分消失。

At this point, the theory is still very speculative, and additional geological data is needed to buttress it, Fan said.
尽管如此，这样的理论依然是推测性的，需要额外的地质数据来支持这样的推测，范说。

And while the geological story is possible,Keller said, it doesn't answer the basic question: "What would motivate people to destroy their entire culture and bury it in two pits? And why didn't the culture reemerge at Jinsha?"
虽然从地质学的角度讲得通，但是基本的问题依然没有得到解答：“是什么促使人们摧毁自己的文化并将其埋葬在两个大坑里？为什么这样的文化没有在金沙重新出现？