VOA常速英语:Archaeologist Tests 20,000-Year-Old Campfire Technique

These bones at the Denver Science Museum come from ancient bison.
丹佛科学博物馆的这些骨头来自古代的野牛。
20,000 years ago,ice age people built fires using bones like these,from the animals they hunted in cold dry prairies.
两万年前，冰河时代的人们用在寒冷干燥的草原上狩猎的动物的骨头生火。
They had only grass and twigs from bushes, but no trees.
他们只有草和灌木丛中的树枝，没有树。
So campfire wood was scarce.
所以营火的木头很是稀缺。
Their alternative fuel clearly was bone,because bone ash shows up in many of the archaeological sites that I have worked at.
他们选择的替代燃料显然是骨头，因为在我工作过的许多考古遗址中都出现了骨灰。
Now a team of volunteers helps Hoffecker make an Ice Age bone fire,starting with a paleolithic fire drill.
现在，一组志愿者帮助霍菲克从旧石器时代的取火行动开始，试图重现冰河时代用骨头来取火。
I am not dreaming that its gonna happen.
我没指望着真的能成功。
We tried a bone drill.
我们试过钻骨取火。
Thats a lot of work.
非常耗费精力。
So we went to our methods with a Bic lighter.
所以我们还是采用了我们的方法，用比克打火机将之引燃。
Volunteers feed the fire not big logs, but sticks,similar to the twiggy bushes that Ice Age hunters added to their fires.
志愿者投入火中的不是大木头，而是木棍，类似于冰河时代的猎人在火中添加的树枝。
Then Hoffecker adds the main fuel the bones of a deer carcass cut just hours earlier.
然后，霍菲克添加了主要燃料，即几个小时前刚刚切割的鹿尸体的骨头。
The sizzling sound is mostly that fat burning off which is appearing to be very flammable.
嘶嘶的声音主要是由于油脂的燃烧，这种物质看起来非常易燃。
See if we can reach the ignition temperature of a bone which is high.
看看我们能不能使其达到燃点，骨头的燃点很高。
Its over 350 degrees centigrade.
其燃点超过三百五十摄氏度。
Its much higher than wood.
比木头的燃点要高得多。
So it looks like maybe were getting there.
看起来我们好像要成功了。
Ice Age hunters used mostly bones,but when Hoffecker adds more bones,flames turn to smoke.
冰河时代的猎人主要使用骨头，但当霍菲克添加更多的骨头时，火焰变成了烟雾。
They saved the fire by going back to sticks.
于是他们又开始用木棍来使之恢复正常。
Some of the bone is burning, yes.
有些骨头已经在燃烧了。
Hoffecker plans to try more bone fires,to better understand the Ice Age humans who lived in cold dry places 20,000 years ago.
霍菲克计划更多尝试用骨头去生活，以更好地了解两万年前生活在寒冷干燥地区的冰河时代人类。
Shelley Slender VOA news Longmont Colorado
美国之音记者Shelley Slender科罗拉多州朗蒙特报道