国家地理-2008-03-22 Ancient Little People 古代侏儒的骸骨

Scientists from a South African university have found evidence of a population of what they say were small-bodied modern humans on an island of Palau, east of the Philippines.

Lee Berger has spent his professional life searching for evidence of mankind's past. He is a paleo-anthropologist who with some help from National Geographic¹ has been studying and searching for the fossil remains² of our ancestors for nearly 20 years.

He has done most of his work in Africa, but it was during a vacation stop in Palau, and a walk through one of the many caves in this area that he literally³ stumbled upon what could be a history-making find.

''You see that, this is just packed full of buff, I mean you can actually see there are still some naturally exposed here. But what was cool here is we had a whole skull⁴ here.''

Berger thinks these bones may be the remains of some of the earliest humans ever to populate these islands. Previous estimates date the earliest human habitation to about 29 hundred years ago, but all these bones existed above something called a flowstone. A flowstone is a common occurrence in caves where mineral-rich water flowing over the ground hardens in the stone. All of Berger’s previous digging was another flowstone that dated back about 29 hundred years. Today he's returned and is going to break through the flowstone to see if there are bones underneath⁵. ''We are hoping that flowstone and consolidated⁶ sandstone took at least a few hundred years to form maybe longer than that. Hope is that these dates are gonna come out over the three-thousand-year mark.''

He finds no shortage of bone underneath the flowstone including a tooth and a piece of cranium. But what these bones begin to tell Berger has far-reaching implications beyond the dating. The bones that Berger has found has some very unusual characteristics, a reduced chin, large teeth and what might be a small brain-size, leading Berger to reconsider his notion of what humans can look like. 

''That’s nice. We have found this small island population with all of these characters and that appears to be human that is pushing the published boundaries of human variation.''

It might also have some implications for another set of bones found in the region, those of the tiny human that researchers dubbed⁷ ''the hobbit''. Its scientific name is Homo Floresiensis. And the researchers including Dean Falk from the University of Florida say it is so unique, it should be a separate species of human. The controversy⁸ of the hobbit is ongoing⁹, but Berger’s finding let him to believe that Flores might not be a separate species.

''...and also making me personally consider my understanding of what is normal even variation.

Berger’s published a paper suggesting the bones are amazing because they show the incredible range of humans, in regards to size and shape. This new understanding of the potential of human variation might make us reconsider just how different the hobbits really are. The controversies¹⁰ will continue, but in the meantime, Berger will return.

''What has struck me on this second scientific visit is how phenomenally little research has been done on these islands. ''

But Berger hopes to personally change that in the coming years, as he makes his way back to Palau, to continue his search for answers to our past.

paleo-anthropologist 古人类学家
 
paleo- relating to very ancient times

stumble upon  stumble on/across/upon [stumble on/across/upon sth] phr v

to find or discover something by chance and unexpectedly

populate

(a) [Tn esp passive 尤用於被动语态] (a) live in (an area) and form its population居住於（某地区）（而构成其人口成分）: deserts populated by nomadic¹¹ tribesmen 游牧部落居住的沙漠地区
 
(b) move to (an area) and fill it with people 落户於, 移居於（某地区）; 向（某地区）移民: The islands were gradually populated by settlers from Europe. 岛上逐渐迁入很多欧洲移民.

flowstone

[地]流石
 
cranium 

bony part of the head enclosing the brain; skull 头盖骨; 颅骨.

hobbit

An imaginary creature resembling a diminutive¹² human being, having some rabbitlike characteristics, and being naturally peace-loving, domestic, and sociable¹³.

小矮人：一种类似于矮人的想象中的动物，有一些兔子的特征，生性酷爱和平、驯服及易于交往

1 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

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 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

5 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

6 consolidated   

a.联合的

参考例句：

• With this new movie he has consolidated his position as the country's leading director. 他新执导的影片巩固了他作为全国最佳导演的地位。
• Those two banks have consolidated and formed a single large bank. 那两家银行已合并成一家大银行。

7 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

9 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

10 controversies   

争论

参考例句：

• We offer no comment on these controversies here. 对于这些争议，我们在这里不作任何评论。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
• The controversies surrounding population growth are unlikely to subside soon. 围绕着人口增长问题的争论看来不会很快平息。 来自辞典例句

11 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。

12 diminutive   

adj.小巧可爱的，小的

参考例句：

• Despite its diminutive size,the car is quite comfortable.尽管这辆车很小，但相当舒服。
• She has diminutive hands for an adult.作为一个成年人，她的手显得非常小。

13 sociable   

adj.好交际的，友好的，合群的

参考例句：

• Roger is a very sociable person.罗杰是个非常好交际的人。
• Some children have more sociable personalities than others.有些孩子比其他孩子更善于交际。