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The tantalizing mysteries of Stonehenge may have come one step closer toward being solved.
或許人類距離揭開巨石陣之謎又近了一步。
New radiocarbon dates of human cremation burials there indicate that
人類火葬新碳同位素年齡測定表明
Stonehenge was used as a cemetery from its inception just after 3,000 BC
公元前3000年，巨石陣從一開始就被用作公墓
until well after the large sarsen stones went up around 2,500 BC.
直到公元前2500左右，羊背石得以建造。
Archeologist Mike Parker Pearson has a new theory that Stonehenge was just half of a large religious complex and also functioned as a huge cemetery.
考古學家邁克·帕克·皮爾森提出一種新理論—巨石陣只是一種大型宗教體系的一部分，同樣也被當做大型公墓使用。
"Stonehenge is full of burials. It's our biggest cremation cemetery from that time."
“巨石陣里都是墳墓。這是自那時起人類最大的火化墓地。”
With National Geographic's support, Mike Parker Pearson leads the Stonehenge Riverside Project.
在《國家地理》的支持下，邁克·帕克·皮爾森帶頭領導巨石陣調查計劃。
Parker Pearson's teams excavating the plain surrounding Stonehenge have discovered the largest Stone Age settlement found in northern Europe.
帕克·皮爾森的團隊挖掘了巨石陣周圍的平地，他們發現最大的石器時代居所在歐洲北部。
"We knew this was a big village, and I was thinking maybe a few hundred houses.
“我們知道這曾是一個很大的村莊，我認為這里或許有數百座房屋。
But what we found out this year is that it was really big. We are looking at well over a thousand houses."
但是我們今年發現這個村莊真的很大。我們所看到的是遠超一千座的房屋。”
Parker Pearson suspects this was the lost city of the builders of Stonehenge.
帕克·皮爾森猜想這是巨石陣建造者的失落之城。
"I think what we are seeing is a community that are bringing all their stock with them coming here for short parts of the year.
"我認為在我們眼前的是一個社區，短期內他們帶著所有的儲備來到這里。
This isn't a full-time permanent settlement."
這里并不是一個全時期永久的定居之所。”
He has found evidence that people came here to celebrate an important event in their calendar,
他發現證據證明人們來到這里是為了慶祝他們自己的一個重要節日。
the longest day of the year, the midsummer solstice. He believes they used Stonehenge as a monument to the death.
這是一年中最長的一天—夏至。他認為他們將巨石陣當做對死亡的紀念碑。
Perhaps on the same day, less than two miles away at Durrington Walls the ancient Britons celebrated life.
或許在同一天，距離杜靈頓垣墻不到兩英里的地方，古不列顛人也在慶祝生命。
Here a vast circular earthwork known as a henge dominates the landscape.
這里圓形石結構的廣闊圓形土方工程掌控著這片天地。
It's 20 times larger than Stonehenge and was surrounded by a ditch and bank 18 feet deep and 30 feet wide.
它是巨石陣的20倍大，并且被溝渠和一個18英尺深、30英尺寬的堤岸所環繞。
In new excavations outside the henge of Durrington walls, archeologists found remains of houses from the third millennium BC.
在杜靈頓垣墻外的挖掘中，考古學家發現房屋的殘骸源自公元前第三個千禧年。
Among the most remarkable discoveries are the remains of an oval-shaped hearth with two thick grooves visible in the floor
在最引人注目的發現中有一個團圓形殘骸，其地板上有兩個厚厚的凹槽可見
where the person who did the cooking kneeled.
這里是人們跪著做飯的地方。
"The thing that really got my imagination going was the, the knee holes that you get by the hearth over there. "
真正讓我放飛想象的是那里發現的做飯時雙膝跪出的洞。”
And that, that just triggers the imagination of someone everyday sitting by the fire to cook or tend to the hearth,
這個發現觸發了我們的想象，讓我們想象著人們每天坐在火爐旁生火做飯的情形。
and little things out there really get your imagination going."
一點點的發現都能放飛你的想象。”
Parker Pearson hopes to find more clues to the Stonehenge mystery over the final three years of the excavation project.
帕克·皮爾森希望在這個挖掘項目的最后三年中發現更多關于巨石陣之謎的線索。
His findings are featured in the June issue of National Geographic Magazine
他的發現被刊登在六月出版的《國家地理》雜志中
and revealed in a National Geographic Channel special Stonehenge Decoded premiering Sunday June 1st. Check local listings.
并于6月1日周天首次登陸國家地理頻道《解密巨石陣》欄目。
