纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 008埃及彩绘陶牛（6）

These people had farming villages, and I happen to have excavated¹ sites in the Naqada region. And we found remains² of animal enclosures, as well as evidence for the consumption of cattle. We found the bones of these animals. And these items, these models of cattle, were probably produced a millennium³ or more after cattle were introduced into Egypt.'

“这些人类生存在农耕村落里，我碰巧发掘过Naqada地区附近的考古遗址。我们发现了一些动物外壳遗骸，以及人类食用牛的证据。我们发掘了这些动物的骨头。这些物品，这些陶牛模型，可能大概出现在驯化牛被引进埃及的千年之后。”

Study of the bones of these cattle from ancient times shows the ages at which the animals were killed. Surprisingly, many of them were old, at least too old if they were being kept only for food. So unless the early Egyptians enjoyed very tough steak, these are not in our sense beef cattle.

对于这些远古时期驯化牛骨骼的研究结果告诉了我们这些家畜宰杀时的年龄。令人惊讶的是，其中大部分已经是老牛了，至少对于肉用牛而言，真是太过老了。因此除非三埃及人真的相当享受啃着又干又硬的老牛排，这些牛绝对不是我们印象中的肉用牛。

And they must have been kept alive for other reasons - perhaps to carry water or possessions on journeys. But it seems more likely they were tapped for blood which, if you drink it or add it to stews⁴, gives you essential extra protein - it's something we find in many parts of the world, and it's still done today by the nomadic⁵ peoples in Kenya.

那么，它们肯定是人类为了其他目的而养育起来的。有可能是在人类迁徙过程中做些挑水或负重之类的工作吧。不过看上去似乎还有另一种可能性——人类的目的是牛血，例如直接饮用，或者添加到炖菜里头，可以补充额外的蛋白质。这种用途我们已经在世界上很多地区都发现了，而且如今肯尼亚的游牧人民仍旧这么做。

So are our four cows a walking blood bank? The more obvious answer, that they were dairy cows, we can probably rule out, because for several reasons milk was unfortunately off the menu. Not only did these early domesticated⁶ cows produce very little milk but, more importantly for humans, drinking cows' milk is very much an acquired skill. Martin Jones again:

这样说来我们那四只陶牛岂不是四只活动血库的缩影？奶牛这种更明显的答案我们大概已经可以排除，因为很不巧的基于若干原因，牛奶是上不了当时人类菜谱的了。首先这些早期驯化牛根本就产生不了多少牛奶，但最重要的仍是，对人类而言，喝牛奶其实是一种获得性的技能。马丁·琼斯再次说道：

1 excavated   

v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• The site has been excavated by archaeologists. 这个遗址已被考古学家发掘出来。
• The archaeologists excavated an ancient fortress. 考古学家们发掘出一个古堡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 millennium   

n.一千年，千禧年；太平盛世

参考例句：

• The whole world was counting down to the new millennium.全世界都在倒计时迎接新千年的到来。
• We waited as the clock ticked away the last few seconds of the old millennium.我们静候着时钟滴答走过千年的最后几秒钟。

4 stews   

n.炖煮的菜肴( stew的名词复数 )；烦恼，焦虑v.炖( stew的第三人称单数 )；煨；思考；担忧

参考例句：

• Corn starch is used as a thickener in stews. 玉米淀粉在炖煮菜肴中被用作增稠剂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Most stews contain meat and vegetables. 炖的食物大多是肉类和蔬菜。 来自辞典例句

5 nomadic   

adj.流浪的；游牧的

参考例句：

• This tribe still live a nomadic life.这个民族仍然过着游牧生活。
• The plowing culture and the nomadic culture are two traditional principal cultures in China.农耕文化与游牧文化是我国传统的两大主体文化。

6 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》