How Art Made The World 人、艺术、世界 -14

Here, for the first time, we've got a theory, which seems to solve many of the puzzles that've mystified experts in the past. It's a theory based not just on an investigation¹ of the cave art itself, but a scientific understanding, what was going on inside the heads of those who made it.

It explains how we went from a world with no images to one with cave paintings. But it doesn't explain how we got from there to today, the modern world where images dominate² our lives. Because about 12,000 years ago, something strange happened. People stopped painting in caves. Archaeologists don't know exactly why it happened. But throughout Europe, wherever they looked, they found little evidence of images being created for many thousands of years.

The prehistoric³ people who discovered how to create images and then reproduce⁴ them for countless⁵ generations, seemed to have lost interest in them. It was almost as if rather than being an essential part of human existence, images had been just an optional extra. Imagery seemed to have lost its hold over the human mind. So how did we get from there to today? How did the power of the picture recapture our imaginations and lead to a world so full of images we can't imagine life without them. Well, it's only recently that we've begun to discover the answer.

We've come to Southern Turkey, to the foot of a large hill called Gobekli Tepe. At the top lies something which reveals just what happened to imagery all those thousands of years ago.

Researchers first visited Gobekli Tepe in the 1960s. What they found was a hillside that was carpeted with remains⁶ of flint stoneworking. Little pieces like this. But then they assumed that the site itself had no special archaeological significance.

words to remember:

flint:燧石,打火石

stoneworking:The technique or process of working in stone.石艺

1 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

2 dominate   

v.支配，统治，高出，俯视，在...中占首地位

参考例句：

• They had the ambition to dominate this small country.他们有控制这个小国的野心。
• The strong usually dominate over the weak.强者常常支配弱者。

3 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

4 reproduce   

v.生育，繁殖，复制，重做

参考例句：

• The machine can reproduce a key in two minutes.这机器能在两分钟内复制一把钥匙。
• The picture will reproduce well.这照片会印得很清楚。

5 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

6 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。