新奇事件簿 早期人类不擅绘画（在线收听）

An early species of humans who lived between 120,000 and 35,000 years ago were not as good at drawing as early modern humans. The species is called Neanderthal man. They became extinct tens of thousands of years ago. They had large brains and made complex tools to hunt, but they never showed the ability to draw recognizable images. This is unlike early modern humans who drew animals and other figures on rocks and cave walls. Professor Richard Coss, an expert on pre-historic drawings, studied ancient photos and video film of early art. He studied charcoal drawings and engravings of animals made by human artists from 28,000 to 32,000 years ago in southern France.

生活在12,000到35,000年前间的一支早期人类并不像早期现代人那样擅长绘画。该支早期人类被称为尼安德特人。他们早在上万年前就灭绝了。他们的脑袋很大且能够制作复杂的捕猎工具，但是他们却没有绘制可识别图像的技能。这一点就和早期现代人类不同，早期现代人类能够在岩石和洞穴墙壁上绘画动物和其他画像。理查德·科斯（Richard Coss）教授是一名史前图画专家，从事古代照片以及早期艺术电视影片的研究。他对28,000到32,000年间法国南部人类艺术家的素描和动物雕刻作品进行研究。

A professor said the difference in artistic skills could be because of the way they hunted. Neanderthal man hunted tamer animals that were easier to kill. However, early modern humans hunted more dangerous animals. This needed better hand-eye coordination. Professor Coss said: "Neanderthals could mentally visualize previously seen animals from working memory, but they were unable to translate those mental images effectively into the coordinated hand-movement patterns required for drawing." Professor Coss said early modern humans used drawings to plan hunts and to focus on and discuss which parts of an animal's body to target.

一位教授表示艺术手法的差异可能是由于他们狩猎的方式所致。尼安德特人会追捕更为温顺的动物，因为它们更容易猎杀。而早期现代人类则捕获更加危险的动物。这就需要更好的手眼协调能力。科斯教授说道：“尼安德特人能够从工作记忆中将先前看到过的动物形象化，但是他们无法将这些意象有效地转化成绘画所需的协调性手动模式。”科斯教授表示早期现代人类利用绘画对狩猎进行规划并对专注于动物身体的哪个部分为目标而进行讨论。