VOA标准英语2011--st Known Human Hand-Ax Found in Kenya

Earliest Known Human Hand-Ax Found in Kenya

Archaeologists working in northwestern Kenya have found a skillfully hand-crafted stone ax which appears to have been made nearly 1.75 million years ago, making it the oldest such tool ever discovered.
The find suggests modern humans got an earlier start at sophisticated tool-making than previously¹ believed.
The collection of tools and other artifacts that includes the hand-ax was discovered by a French team in the 1990s at a site near Kenya’s Lake Turkana. That is less than 10 kilometers from where archaeologists found the earliest complete skeleton of Homo erectus in 1984.
Geologist² Christopher Lepre, of Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory³, was part of the team that dated the hand-ax using a high tech method called magnetic stratigraphy.
He says that Homo erectus – who lived between 1.8 and 1.3 million years ago - had a larger brain than Homo habilis, his evolutionary⁴ predecessor⁵.
“So the inference we make is that Homo erectus was a smarter critter as compared to Homo habilis,” says Lepre.
According to Lepre, the tools Homo erectus made, called Acheulean tools, were far more sophisticated than those devised by Homo habilis. Those so-called “Oldewan” tools were stone flakes⁶ and chippers, that had been bashed together to create a fairly sharp edge, but had no style.
“I would argue that once you have the Acheulean hand-ax come on the scene it is definitely indicative of a human ancestor who had the ability to imagine the shape and size of an object in their head and reproduce that object with esthetic⁷ qualities," Lepre says. "Hence you get this hand-ax, this symmetrical, beautifully made type of stone tool which is in stark⁸ contrast to the more haphazardly⁹ made Oldewan, for example.”
Lepre says this hand-ax could be at least 300,000 years older than any other known Acheulean tools. That suggests that the human skill and foresight¹⁰ necessary to make such a tool is more ancient than previously believed.
For many archaeologists, that implies that other human developments, such as nuclear families, the division of labor¹¹ into hunting and gathering¹², and the telling of stories around a campfire may also be more ancient. All these activities could be called “culture.” But Lepre warns that doing so is controversial.
“Because those lines of evidence we don’t have directly from the archeological record. But there is a group of archaeologists who would argue those sorts of things, and would say that once you start having the formation of these very stylistic hand-axes, you are probably getting into culture proper - that is, ideas, beliefs, wisdom, if you will, that are handed down from one generation to the next.”
While technology can pinpoint¹³ the age of this hand-ax, there is no way to be certain how it was actually used. Lepre says the ax is too heavy to throw far with much force, and not sharp enough to pierce an animal’s skin, so it probably was not used for killing¹⁴ prey¹⁵. He says the hand-ax may have been a scavenging tool.
“Meaning that when you find a carcass on the landscape, let’s say a zebra carcass or a gazelle or a giraffe or something like that that’s been already been hunted by a lion or a group of hyenas¹⁶, and you have a band of Homo erectus come along and they scare it off, they scare the lion or the hyenas off, and they grab pieces of the carcass there. So they might grab a limb bone or they might grab some ribs¹⁷. Or perhaps they take one of these hand-axes and they hack¹⁸ off a limb and then they truck that limb to this campfire scene and they begin using the hand-ax to scrape the flesh off, or perhaps bash open the bones to get at the nutritious¹⁹ marrow²⁰ inside.”
The hand-ax and other tools now reside with other Acheulean artifacts at the National Museum of Kenya. Meanwhile, researchers continue to excavate²¹ in the Lake Turkana area.
They are especially interested in sites whose soil layers date back at least two million years. That's where they hope to find more Oldewan tools and learn more about the relationship between Homo habilis and Homo erectus.

1 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

2 geologist   

n.地质学家

参考例句：

• The geologist found many uncovered fossils in the valley.在那山谷里，地质学家发现了许多裸露的化石。
• He was a geologist,rated by his cronies as the best in the business.他是一位地质学家，被他的老朋友们看做是这门行当中最好的一位。

3 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。

4 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。

5 predecessor   

n.前辈，前任

参考例句：

• It will share the fate of its predecessor.它将遭受与前者同样的命运。
• The new ambassador is more mature than his predecessor.新大使比他的前任更成熟一些。

6 flakes   

小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人

参考例句：

• It's snowing in great flakes. 天下着鹅毛大雪。
• It is snowing in great flakes. 正值大雪纷飞。

7 esthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的；悦目的，雅致的

参考例句：

• That armchair is comfortable but not very esthetic.那张扶手椅坐起来舒服，但不太美观。
• There are physical distance and esthetic distance between the esthetic subject and the object.审美的主客体之间有物理距离和心理距离。

8 stark   

adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地

参考例句：

• The young man is faced with a stark choice.这位年轻人面临严峻的抉择。
• He gave a stark denial to the rumor.他对谣言加以完全的否认。

9 haphazardly   

adv.偶然地，随意地，杂乱地

参考例句：

• The books were placed haphazardly on the shelf. 书籍乱七八糟地堆放在书架上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It is foolish to haphazardly adventure. 随便冒险是愚蠢的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 foresight   

n.先见之明，深谋远虑

参考例句：

• The failure is the result of our lack of foresight.这次失败是由于我们缺乏远虑而造成的。
• It required a statesman's foresight and sagacity to make the decision.作出这个决定需要政治家的远见卓识。

11 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

12 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

13 pinpoint   

vt.准确地确定；用针标出…的精确位置

参考例句：

• It is difficult to pinpoint when water problems of the modern age began.很难准确地指出，现代用水的问题是什么时候出现的。
• I could pinpoint his precise location on a map.我能在地图上指明他的准确位置。

14 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

15 prey   

n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨

参考例句：

• Stronger animals prey on weaker ones.弱肉强食。
• The lion was hunting for its prey.狮子在寻找猎物。

16 hyenas   

n.鬣狗( hyena的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• These animals were the prey of hyenas. 这些动物是鬣狗的猎物。 来自辞典例句
• We detest with horror the duplicity and villainy of the murderous hyenas of Bukharinite wreckers. 我们非常憎恨布哈林那帮两面三刀、杀人破坏，干尽坏事的豺狼。 来自辞典例句

17 ribs   

n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹

参考例句：

• He suffered cracked ribs and bruising. 他断了肋骨还有挫伤。
• Make a small incision below the ribs. 在肋骨下方切开一个小口。

18 hack   

n.劈，砍，出租马车；v.劈，砍，干咳

参考例句：

• He made a hack at the log.他朝圆木上砍了一下。
• Early settlers had to hack out a clearing in the forest where they could grow crops.早期移民不得不在森林里劈出空地种庄稼。

19 nutritious   

adj.有营养的，营养价值高的

参考例句：

• Fresh vegetables are very nutritious.新鲜蔬菜富于营养。
• Hummingbirds have discovered that nectar and pollen are very nutritious.蜂鸟发现花蜜和花粉是很有营养的。

20 marrow   

n.骨髓；精华；活力

参考例句：

• It was so cold that he felt frozen to the marrow. 天气太冷了，他感到寒冷刺骨。
• He was tired to the marrow of his bones.他真是累得筋疲力尽了。

21 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。