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The mainland too, of course, had its burial chambers,like the long barrow at West Kennet.
當然 在大陸上同樣建有墓穴 諸如西坎奈特長墓
There were also the great stone circles,the largest at Avebury.
其他地方同樣也有巨石圈 其中最大的在埃夫伯里
But the most spectacular of all at Stonehenge.
而最為壯麗的 當數史前巨石陣
By 1,000 BC,things were changing fast.
公元前1000年前后 這里發生著天翻地覆的變化
All over the British landscape,a protracted struggle for good land was taking place.
不列顛全境 進行著一場良田之爭
Forests were cleared so that Iron Age Britain was not,
森林被夷為耕地 所以鐵器時代的不列顛
as was once romantically imagined, an unbroken forest kingdom stretching from Cornwall to Inverness.
已并非曾經那個堅不可摧的森林帝國 領土自康奈爾綿延至因弗內斯
It was rather a patchwork of open fields,
更多的 是一片片廣闊的田野
dotted here and there with woodland copses giving cover for game, especially wild pigs.
星羅棋布的叢林穿插其間 為像野豬一樣的動物們提供了一片樂土
And it was a crowded island.
這還是一個擁擠的島國
We now think that as many people lived on this land
現今普遍認為 當時這片土地上的人口
as during the reign of Elizabeth I, 2500 years later.
與2500年后伊麗莎白一世時期一樣多
Some archaeologists believe that almost as much land was being farmed in the Iron Age as in 1914.
部分考古學家認為 鐵器時代的耕地面積幾乎與1914年一樣多
So it's no surprise to see one spectacular difference from the little world of Skara Brae.
因此也就不必驚異于 斯卡拉布雷的這一奇特之處
Great windowless towers.
巨大的無窗石塔
They were built in the centuries before the Roman invasions,
羅馬入侵數世紀前 它們就被筑造于此
when population pressure was most intense and farmers had growing need of protection,
因為當時正是人口壓力最重之時 而農民也日益需要加強自我保護
first from the elements, but later from each other.
之前是為對抗自然 后來則是互相防范
