VOA慢速英语--远古人类可能比以前认为的更早进入欧洲

Human bones from Bulgaria suggest human beings first arrived in Europe thousands of years earlier than previous studies have shown. This means humans shared the continent with Neanderthals, our closest relative, much longer than experts had believed.

Scientists studied four pieces of bone and a tooth. Detailed¹ radiocarbon and genetic² testing show they came from four Homo sapiens, the oldest of which is dated to about 46,000 years ago.

Two separate reports on the study appear in the scientific publications Nature and Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Helen Fewlass was a lead author of one of the reports. She is with the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary³ Anthropology⁴ in Germany.

Fewlass told The Associated Press the previous oldest European human bone pieces were found in Romania. Efforts to date these bone pieces resulted in problems, she added. But they were likely from sometime around 40,000 years ago, give or take a few thousand years. And that bone material had Neanderthal genes⁵ in it, suggesting that Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had mated about 200 or so years earlier.

The researchers said they now think Europe's ancestors came from Africa about 47,000 years ago during a short warming period.

This means that for about 7,000 years or so, humans and Neanderthals lived on the same continent, interacting a little, but probably not so often. So says Jean-Jacques Hublin, another study lead author and the director of the Max Planck Institute.

Hublin said Neanderthals completely died out about 40,000 years ago. "We know that when ... (humans) arrived, there were Neanderthals," he noted⁶. "The Danube Valley might have been a way for modern humans — by the way, at different periods — to move into this part of Europe."

This early group of humans probably never made it west over the mountains known as the Alps, Hublin added. It was likely only a few hundred people and they may have died off. Modern Europeans came from a second later wave of humans out of Africa, he said .

The remains⁷ were found in Bulgaria's Bacho Kiro cave, which has been open to scientists and the public since 1930. The cave is hard to reach and contains animal bones, including those of a rhinoceros⁸ and lions, Fewlass said.

"How would they get into that cave ... unless humans brought parts of the animal, the body, into the cave?" she asked.

Researchers have recovered a large amount of bones from cave bears. These early Europeans made jewelry⁹ out of cave bear bones, not other animals, showing a connection to the bears, Hublin said.

He added that the discovery suggests Neanderthals, who until this time period had not shown jewelry making skills, learned the skill from human beings.

The study makes a very strong argument and "greatly strengthens the hypothesis that modern humans dispersed¹⁰ into Europe before 45,000 years ago from Western Asia," said Katerina Harvati. She is a paleoanthropologist at the University of Tuebingen. She was not involved in the study.

Harvati agreed with Hublin that it is likely that Neanderthal jewelry found in Western Europe was something that species somehow learned from humans. Other researchers praised the dating of the newly found bones. But they said they were unsure about whether the teaching of skills did happen.

I'm Pete Musto.

Words in This Story

previous – adj. earlier in time or order

radiocarbon – n. the scientific way of finding the age of something that is very old by measuring the amount of radioactivity in certain forms of carbon in it

author – n. a person who has written something

interact(ing) – v. to talk or do things with other people

cave – n. a large hole that was formed by natural processes in the side of a cliff or hill or under the ground

jewelry – n. decorative¹¹ objects, such as rings, necklaces, and earrings¹², that people wear on their body

hypothesis – n. an idea or theory that is not proven but that leads to further study or discussion

disperse(d) – v. to go or move in different directions : to spread apart

1 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

2 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

3 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

4 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

5 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 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。

8 rhinoceros   

n.犀牛

参考例句：

• The rhinoceros has one horn on its nose.犀牛鼻子上有一个角。
• The body of the rhinoceros likes a cattle and the head likes a triangle.犀牛的形体像牛，头呈三角形。

9 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

10 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

11 decorative   

adj.装饰的，可作装饰的

参考例句：

• This ware is suitable for decorative purpose but unsuitable for utility.这种器皿中看不中用。
• The style is ornate and highly decorative.这种风格很华丽，而且装饰效果很好。

12 earrings   

n.耳环( earring的名词复数 )；耳坠子

参考例句：

• a pair of earrings 一对耳环
• These earrings snap on with special fastener. 这付耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。 来自《简明英汉词典》