CNN 2012-01-13

 We`re talking about anything from stone tools to complex machines. A lot of times archeologists have to dig in order to find those artifacts. Not the researchers features in our next report from Nick Glass.They`re using modern technology to try to learn about ancient cultures, and they`re making discoveries without ever disturbing the ground. Watch this.

 

This is obviously a visible Roman monument. But our story is about the invisible, what`s below ground, and a new form of archeology, which reveals it in sensational¹ detail.

 

Austrian farmland lying fallow half a kilometer square, a small tractor heads towards the horizon and trundles back again. Up and down, up and down it goes. The white box at the front is ground- penetrating² radar³. The whole system costs $300,000.

 

There are 16 separate antennae⁴ in there, collecting data, enough data for a 3-D image to a depth of two meters. This is instant bone-shaking archeology without the need to excavate⁵.

 

I was -- I was just looking on this animation⁶ of the radar data, going up and down in the subsurface, when this circular feature came up. I said, wow, this is a sensation.

 

This perfect circle was crucial. What we are looking at is a gladiator training ring circa 100 A.D. And the tiny dot in the center was a clinching⁷ detail, a posthole.

 

So this was the main feature of a training arena⁸.

 

And what do they use there? They slash⁹ their swords against it or --

 

Yes, they draped it like an enemy, and then they trained with the different -- with the different weapons.

 

It`s not a question of just imagining what the amphitheater and the gladiator school looked like, but of rebuilding them in virtual reality. The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute in Vienna, or LBI for short, exists, in its words, for archeological prospection and virtual archeology. And its work seems surgically¹⁰ precise.

 

The gladiator school was 2,800 square meters. It served 50 gladiators and their indoor training hall had underfloor heating. All this technology was first developed in the 1950s and `60s by the military, by the oil industry. But archeologists have adapted it and refined it -- without breaking ground, they`re finding new ways of investigating the story of man.

 

Before we go, when is a penny saved not a penny earned?

 

When someone`s willing to pay more than 100 million pennies for it. That`s how much this one-cent piece went for at an auction¹¹ recently, more than a million dollars.

 

It came from a collection that included one example of every coin ever produced by the U.S. Two reasons this coin was so valuable. First, it was from 1793, the first year the United States started minting its own currency.

 

Second, it was in great shape with almost no sign of wear.

1 sensational   

adj.使人感动的，非常好的，轰动的，耸人听闻的

参考例句：

• Papers of this kind are full of sensational news reports.这类报纸满是耸人听闻的新闻报道。
• Their performance was sensational.他们的演出妙极了。

2 penetrating   

adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的

参考例句：

• He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
• He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。

3 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

4 antennae   

n.天线；触角

参考例句：

• Sometimes a creature uses a pair of antennae to swim.有时某些动物使用其一对触须来游泳。
• Cuba's government said that Cubans found watching American television on clandestine antennae would face three years in jail.古巴政府说那些用秘密天线收看美国电视的古巴人将面临三年监禁。

5 excavate   

vt.挖掘，挖出

参考例句：

• They plan to excavate a large hole.他们计划挖个大洞。
• A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs.一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。

6 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

7 clinching   

v.（尤指两人）互相紧紧抱[扭]住( clinch的现在分词 )；解决（争端、交易），达成（协议）

参考例句：

• Joe gets clinching evidence of the brains role when he dreams. 乔做梦时得到了大脑发生作用的决定性依据。 来自辞典例句
• Clinching, wrestling, pushing, or seizing, without attempting a throw or other technique. 抱，扭摔，推或抓而没有摔或其它的技术。 来自互联网

8 arena   

n.竞技场，运动场所；竞争场所，舞台

参考例句：

• She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
• He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。

9 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。

10 surgically   

adv. 外科手术上, 外科手术一般地

参考例句：

• Unsightly moles can be removed surgically. 不雅观的痣可以手术去除。
• To bypass this impediment an almost mature egg cell is removed surgically. 为了克服这一障碍，通过手术，取出一个差不多成熟的卵细胞。

11 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。