史上十大发明
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Modern human beings are the result of millions of years of evolution[进化]. But not just physical evolution: we are also the result of a series of innovations[创新] and inventions of technology that make our lives livable today. But I’m not talking about the latest iPhone. My pick for the top ten human inventions begins 1.7 million years ago.
现代人是经过数百万年进化的结果，这不仅仅在于生理上的进化，也包括今天一系列便利我们生活的技术创新与发明——我说的并不是最新的iPhone哦。我心目中的人类十大发明始于170万年前。
10. Acheulean Handaxe[手斧](~1,700,000 Years Ago)
Pointy pieces of stone or bone fixed to the end of a long stick, to be used by humans to hunt animals or fight frequent battles with one another, are known to archaeologists[考古学家] as projectile[抛掷的] points. The earliest of them are some bone ones dating to about 60,000 years ago in Sibudu Cave, South Africa. But before we could get to projectile points, first we hominids[原始人] had to invent a whole range of stone butchering[屠宰] tools.
The Acheulean Handaxe is arguably the first tool we hominids made, a triangular, leaf-shaped rock, probably used for butchering animals. The oldest discovered are from Kenya, about 1.7 million years old. The handaxe remained unchanged until around 450,000 years ago. Try that with an iPhone.
10.阿舍利手斧（约170万年前）
人类把尖利的石块或骨头捆绑在长棍末端，用来猎杀动物或者应付频繁发生的互相搏斗，考古学家称之为“矛镞”——其中最早的是发现于南非斯布度洞的一些骨制矛镞，历史可追溯到约6万年前。但在创造出矛镞之前，我们的原始人必须先发明出各种石制屠宰工具。
阿舍利手斧也许是原始人制造的第一种工具。它是一块三角形、树叶状的石块，可能用于宰杀动物。已发现最古老的阿舍利手斧来自肯尼亚，约有170万年历史。直至45万年前，这种手斧从未发生改变。换成iPhone试试看吧。
阿舍利文化
阿舍利文化是考古学上对于一类史前人族石器工艺技术的称呼。此文化横跨旧石器时代早期的非洲、亚洲及欧洲，因最早发现于法国亚眠（Amiens）市郊的圣阿舍尔而得名。已知最早的阿舍利文化遗存在非洲，年代距今约170万年；最晚的遗存距今约20万年。一般认为该文化的石制品是由直立人制造的。但较晚的阿舍利文化已与早期智人共存。阿舍利文化的代表性石器为手斧，用软锤（骨棒或木棒）技术打制而成。特点是器身薄，制作时留下的石片疤痕较浅，刃缘规整，左右对称，器形有扁桃形、卵圆形、心形等。
9. Control of Fire (800,000-400,000 Years Ago)
The ability to start a fire, or at least keep it lit,allowed people to stay warm, fend off[挡开]animals at night, cook food, and eventually bake ceramic[陶器的] pots. Although scholars are pretty well divided on the issues, it is likely that we humans—or at least our ancient human ancestors[祖先]—figured out how to control fire sometime during the Lower Paleolithic, and to start fires by no later than the beginning of the Middle Paleolithic, about 300,000 years ago.
The earliest possible human-made fires are in evidence some 790,000 years ago, on an open-air site in what is today the Jordan Valley of Israel.
9.火的可控使用（80万至40万年前）
生火——或者至少是让火焰持续燃烧的能力，使人类得以保暖，晚上阻挡动物，烹煮食物，并且最终可以烧制陶器。尽管学者在这个问题上颇有分歧，但我们人类——或者至少是我们远古的人类祖先——很可能在旧石器时代早期就知道如何控制火焰；而在不晚于旧石器时代中期的30万年前，人类已经知道怎样生火。
最早的人类生火证据位于今天以色列约旦峡谷的一处野外，时间约为79万年前。
旧石器时代
旧石器时代在古地理学上是指人类开始以石器为主要劳动工具的文明发展阶段，是石器时代的早期阶段。地质时代属于上新世晚期至更新世，从距今约260万年前开始，延续到距今1万年左右。其时期划分一般采用三分法，即旧石器时代早期（Lower Paleolithic）、中期（Middle Paleolithic）和晚期（Upper Paleolithic）。旧石器时代之后为中石器时代和新石器时代。
8. Art (~100,000 Years Ago)
What is art? As hard as it is to define art, it’s even more difficult to define when it began, but there are several possible avenues[途径] of discovery.
The earliest forms of what I’d call art consist of[由……组成] perforated[穿孔的] shell beads[珠子] from several sites in Africa and the Near East such as Skhul Cave in what is today Israel (100,000-135,000 years ago); the Taforalt Caves in Morocco (82,000 years ago); and the Blombos Cave in South Africa(75,000 years ago). Red ochre[赭石] paint pots made from seashells, dated to 100,000 years ago, were found in Blombos. Although we don’t know what these early modern humans were painting, we know there was something arty[艺术气息的] going on!
The first art illustrated[举例说明] in most art history classes, of course, is cave paintings, such as those marvelous images from Lascaux and Chauvet caves. The earliest known cave paintings date to about 40,000 years ago, from Upper Paleolithic Europe.
8. 艺术（约10万年前）
什么是艺术？正如很难定义“艺术”一样，“艺术是何时开始的”这个问题更难得出结论。不过仍有几条可能的途径让我们看出端倪。
我所说的艺术，其最早形式包括一些穿孔的贝壳珠子，它们的发现地分别是非洲和近东的几处地点，如位于今天以色列的斯胡尔洞穴（100000-135000年前）、摩洛哥的塔弗拉尔特洞穴（82000年前）以及南非的布隆伯斯洞窟（75000年前）。人们在布隆伯斯洞窟发现了用海贝制成、以红色赭石上色的罐子，年代可追溯到10万年前。尽管我们不知道这些早期的现代人类画的是什么，但我们知道它们确实挺有艺术的！
当然，在大多数艺术史课堂上讲解的最早的艺术形式是洞穴壁画，比如拉斯科洞窟和肖维岩洞里那些绝妙的图案。人类所知最早的洞穴壁画可追溯到约4万年前旧石器时代晚期的欧洲。
拉斯科洞窟壁画
拉斯科洞窟位于法国韦泽尔峡谷。1940年9月，四名少年在法国多尔多涅的拉斯科山坡偶然发现了该洞。洞穴中的壁画为旧石器时期所作，至今已有1.5万到1.7万年历史，其精美程度有“史前西斯廷”之称。1979年，拉斯科洞窟同韦泽尔峡谷内的许多洞穴壁画一起被选为世界遗产。
肖维岩洞
肖维岩洞位于法国南部阿尔代什省，于1994年被发现，因洞壁上拥有丰富的史前绘画而闻名。部分历史学家认为洞内岩画可以追溯至32000年前。这些画经由红赭石和黑色颜料作雕刻及绘画，绘画主题有马、犀牛、狮子、水牛、猛犸象或是打猎归来的人类。出于保护需要，该洞穴不提供参观游览。
7. Textiles (~40,000 Years Ago)
Clothing, bags, sandals[凉鞋], fishing nets, baskets: the origins of all of these and lots of other useful things require the invention of textiles.
As you might imagine, textiles are difficult to find archaeologically, and sometimes we have to base our suppositions[推测] on circumstantial[间接的] evidence: net impressions[压痕] in a ceramic pot, net sinkers[（鱼网上的）铅坠] from a fishing village, spindle whorls[锭盘] from a weaver’s workshop. The earliest evidence for twisted, cut and dyed[染色] fibers are flax[亚麻] fibers from the Georgian site of Dzuduzana Cave, between 36,000 and 30,000 years ago.
7.纺织品（约4万年前）
衣服、袋子、凉鞋、渔网、篮子——所有这些以及其他许多用品的起源都离不开纺织品的发明。
也许你也会想到，在考古上很难发现纺织品，我们有时不得不根据间接的证据进行推测：比如陶罐上的网纹、在渔村发现的网坠，或是纺织作坊的锭盘。人类对纤维进行捻、裁、染等处理的最早证据是发现于格鲁吉亚朱杜扎拉洞穴的亚麻纤维，年代为36000至30000年前。
6. Shoes (~40,000 Years Ago)
Let’s face it: having something protect your bare feet from sharp rocks, biting animals and stinging[刺痛] plants is of vital[生死攸关的] importance to day-to-day living. The earliest actual shoes we have, come from American caves dated to about 12,000 years ago: but scholars believe that wearing shoes changes the morphology[形态，结构] of your feet and toes: and evidence for that is first apparent some 40,000 years ago, from Tianyuan Cave in what is today China.
6.鞋（约4万年前）
面对事实吧：用一些东西保护你的赤脚，让它们免受锋利岩石、叮咬动物和带刺植物的伤害，这对于日常生活确实是举足轻重的事情。我们最早的、真正意义上的鞋出自美洲的洞穴，可追溯至约12000年前。然而学者相信穿鞋会改变脚部和脚趾的形态，这个观点最早的证据来自今天中国境内的田园洞，距今约有4万年。
5. Ceramic Containers (~20,000 Years Ago)
The invention of ceramic containers, also called pottery[陶器] vessels[器皿], involves the collecting of clay and a tempering agent[回火介质] (sand, quartz[石英], fiber, shell fragments), mixing the material together and forming a bowl or jar. The vessel is then placed into a fire or other heat source for a period of time, to produce a long-lived, stable container for carrying water or cooking stews [炖肉或菜].
Although fired clay figurines[粗糙的] are known from several Upper Paleolithic contexts, the earliest evidence for clay vessels is from the Chinese site of Xianrendong, where primitive[粗糙的] red items with patterns on their outside appear in levels dated to 20,000 years ago.
5.陶制容器（约2万年前）
陶制容器（也称陶制器皿）的发明需要采集粘土和回火介质（砂、石英、纤维、碎贝），然后把这些材料混合起来，塑成碗或者罐。成品会被放入火或其他热源中烧制一段时间，造出稳定耐用的器皿，用于装水或炖煮食物。
尽管在几处旧石器时代晚期的环境中人们发现了经过烧制的泥塑，但最早的陶器证据发现于中国的仙人洞，在那里出土了一些表面印有图案的粗制红色器皿，可追溯到2万年前。
4. Agriculture (~11,000 Years Ago)
Agriculture is the human control of plants and animals: well, to be completely scientific, the going theory is that the plants and animals also control us, but nevertheless, the partnership between plants and humans began about 11,000 years ago in what is today southwest Asia, with the fig[无花果] tree, and about 500 years later, in the same general location, with barley and wheat.
Animal domestication[驯养] was much earlier—our partnership with the dog began perhaps 30,000 years ago. That’s clearly a hunting relationship, not agricultural, and the earliest farm animal domestication was the sheep, about 11,000 years ago, in southwest Asia.
4.农业（约11000年前）
农业就是对植物和动物的人为控制——好吧，更科学的说法应该是这样：现行的理论是动植物也会影响我们。不管怎样，人类与植物之间的关系早在11000年前就出现在今天的西南亚，当时是种植无花果树；而在大约500年后，同一片地区的人开始种植大麦和小麦。
人类驯服动物的时间则要早得多——我们与狗的合作关系大概始于3万年前，当时显然是一种捕猎关系，而非农业关系。人类最早驯化的农场动物是羊，大约在11000年前的西南亚。
3. Wine (~9,000 Years Ago)
Some scholars suggest we human types have been consuming[吃，喝] some sort of fermented[使发酵] fruit for at least 100,000 years, but the earliest clear evidence of alcohol production is that of the grape. The fermentation of the fruit of grapes producing wine is yet another important invention arising from what is today China. The earliest evidence for wine production comes from the Jiahu site, where a concoction[调合物] of rice, honey and fruit was made in a ceramic jar some 9,000 years ago.
3.酒（约9000年前）
一些学者认为我们人类至少在10万年前已经开始食用经过发酵的水果，但酒精生产最早的明确证据是葡萄的发酵。用葡萄发酵酿酒是又一个起源于今日中国境内的重大发明。其最早证据来自大约9000年前的贾湖遗址，人们在那里发现了装有米、蜂蜜和水果混合物的陶罐。
2. Wheeled Vehicles[交通工具](~5,500 Years Ago)
The invention of the wheel is often cited as one of the top ten inventions in history: I think it should be the invention of the wheeled vehicle, assisted[帮助] by draft animals. The ability to move abundant[大量的] goods across a landscape quickly allows widespread trade. A bigger market promotes craft specialization, so artisans[工匠] could find and connect with customers over a broader area, swap[交换] technologies with their distant competitors and concentrate on improving their craft.
News travels faster on wheels, and ideas associated with[联合] new technologies could be moved more quickly. So could diseases, and let’s not forget imperialistic[帝国主义的] kings and rulers who could use wheeled vehicles to spread their notions of war and control a wider area more efficiently.
I didn’t say all these inventions necessarily always brought good things!
2.有轮车（约5500年前）
车轮的发明经常被称为史上十大发明之一，但我认为应该是由役畜拉动的有轮车才对。跨地域运输大量物资的能力，使广泛的贸易迅速成为可能。更大的市场促进了工艺的专业化，因此工匠们能够在一个更大的区域找到并联系顾客，与他们远在异地的同行交流技术，专心改良自己的工艺。
消息在车轮上传播得更快，与新技术相关的理念也能得到更快的传播。疾病也是如此。不要忘了历代帝王及统治者是如何利用有轮车扩大战争，开拓疆土哦。
我可没有说过所有这些发明带来的都是好处！
1. Chocolate (~4,000 Years Ago)
Oh, come on—how could human history be what it is today, if we were unable to get this delicious treat[使人愉快的事] made from the cacao bean? Chocolate was an invention of the Americas, originating in the Amazon basin[盆地] at least 4,000 years ago, and brought to some Mexican sites in Veracruz around 3,600 years ago.
1.巧克力（约4000年前）
噢，想想看吧——假如我们无法享用这种由可可豆制作的美食，人类历史又怎能成为今日的模样呢？巧克力是来自美洲的发明，起源于至少4000年前的亚马孙盆地，随后在3600年前传至墨西哥韦拉克鲁斯州的一些地方。