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Leakey's goal was Olduvai Gorge, a deep crack in the flat savannah of northern Tanzania, not far from the border with Kenya. It's part of the East African Rift Valley, a massive tear in the earth's surface, thousands of miles long. It was here that time had been frozen within exposed layers of geology where, as Leakey examined the rocks shaped by the sun, the wind and the rain on the savannahs, he reached a layer where the rocks were also shaped by something else - human hands.
李基(Leakey)的目的地是北坦桑尼亞與肯尼亞交界附近的奧杜瓦伊(Olduvai)峽谷——平坦大草原上一道幽深的裂痕。它所隸屬的東非大裂谷是地球表面長達幾千英里的巨大縫隙，在這里，時光凝結在那些飽經大草原風吹日曬雨淋的裸露的地質層中。考古過程中，李基(Leakey)檢測到其中一個巖層由某種非自然力塑造而成——那是人類的雙手。
They were found next to bones, and it was clear that these stones had been shaped into butchering tools to strip meat and break into the bones of animals killed on the savannah. The layer where the tools were found was roughly two million years old. This was archaeological dynamite
這些石器發現于散落的骨骼周圍，顯然是用于剔骨剜肉的屠宰工具。該地質層粗略估計約200萬年歷史。這一發現在當時的考古學界可謂爆炸性的新聞。
Leakey's excavations produced the oldest humanly made things anywhere in the world, and they demonstrated that not only human beings, but human culture, had begun in Africa. Our stone chopping tool was one of the ones that Leakey found.
李基(Leakey)發掘出的是全世界最古老的人造物，它們表明，不僅是人類，甚至于人類文明，皆發端于非洲。我們要介紹的打制石器就是李基(Leakey)挖掘的文物之一。
"Picking it up, your first reaction is it's very heavy, and if it's heavy of course it gives power behind your blow. The second is that it fits without any compromise into the palm of the hand, and in a position where there is a sharp edge running from my forefinger to my wrist.
“你拿起它，第一反應就是它沉甸甸的，這樣它的重力為擊打提供沖力。其次它恰到好處地符合你的手掌，鋒利的刀刃正好位于食指和手腕之間。那
So I have in my hand now a sharp knife. And what is more, it's got a bulge on it so I can get a firm grip on the edge which has been chipped specially, which is sharp ... I could perfectly effectively cut meat with this. That's the sensation I have that links me with the man who actually laboriously chipped it once, twice, three times, four times, five times on one side. One, two, three ... three times at the other ... so eight specific actions by him, knocking it with another stone, to take off a flake, and to leave this almost straight line, which is a sharp edge." (David Attenborough)
現在我手里握著一把鋒利的刀。此外，特別制作的凸起部分有助于我穩穩地握住利刃兩端……我能用它非常有效地切肉。這種感覺讓我和它的制作者息息相通，他費力地在一邊敲擊了一，二，三，四，五……五次，另一邊一，二，三……三次。他用另一塊石頭總共敲擊了八次來剝落多余的部分，打制出這道近于筆直的利刃。”——大衛?阿滕伯勒(David Attenborough)
In the British Museum, we've recently made a new chopping tool using the same techniques as would have been used in Olduvai Gorge. If I now hold that new one in my hand, and it becomes very clear how well you can use it to strike meat off an animal. We don't have any African wildebeests to hand, so I can try it using a bit of roast chicken.
最近，大英博物館仿奧杜瓦伊(olduvai)峽谷工藝制作了一個新的切割工具。我現在拿著它剃肉，切身感受其操作方式。我們手頭沒有非洲牛羚，所以我用一塊兒燒雞來小試牛刀。
But these chopping tools are marvellous and quick at getting the meat off the bone and then, with one sharp blow, I could break the bone and we'd be able to get to the marrow. But you can of course use a tool like this also to strip bark off trees or roots, so that you could eat them as well.
這些工具剃起肉來非常輕松，而且我只要重重一擊，就能打斷骨頭得到骨髓。當然，你還可以用它剝掉樹皮和根皮食用。
This is, in fact, a very very versatile kitchen implement. The early humans who used chopping tools like this were probably not hunters themselves, but they were brilliant opportunists - they waited until lions, leopards or other beasts had killed their prey and then they moved in with their chopping tools, secured the meat and the marrow, and hit the protein jackpot.
它可真是一個多功能廚房用具呢！使用諸如此類工具的早期人類也許本身并非狩獵者，而是聰明的機會主義者：他們靜候獅子、豹子以及其他野獸殺死獵物時，便帶著切割工具緊隨其上，護住肉和骨髓，然后享用這筆富含蛋白質的飛來橫財。
