This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Susanne Bard.
这里是《科学美国人》的60秒科学，我是苏珊娜·巴德。
Thousands of years ago, in what’s now the Kimberley region of Western Australia, Aboriginal artists created elaborate rock paintings. Much of the artwork still exists today.
数千年前，在现在西澳大利亚的金伯利地区，土著艺术家创作了精美的岩画。大部分艺术品至今仍然存在。
“If you’re walking beside the rivers and creeks and go up into the escarpments, into rock shelters, there are just thousands of rock art sites.”
“如果你沿着河流和小溪，爬上悬崖，进入岩石掩体，会发现成千上万的岩石艺术遗址。”
University of Melbourne geochronologist Damien Finch. The oldest paintings depict plants and animals. But later works show human figures in ceremonial attire and ornate headdresses.
墨尔本大学地质年代学家达米安·芬奇说。最古老的绘画描绘的是植物和动物。但后来的作品描绘了着礼服、戴华丽头饰的人类形像。
“And then, around the arms and the elbows and the knees, there’s decorations. And sometimes they’ll be holding a clutch of boomerangs. And very often, they’re very finely executed, using quite long and elegant-looking brushstrokes.”
“在手臂、肘部和膝盖周围，还有装饰。有时他们会拿着一堆回旋镖。通常，绘画者都会使用绵长而优雅的笔触。”
The human-centered paintings represent what’s known as the Gwion style. How old the artwork is has remained a mystery, however. That’s because the typical method for estimating the age of ancient objects—radiocarbon dating—relies on the presence of organic carbon. But the artists used ocher pigments that had no organic carbon.
以人类为中心的绘画是Gwion风格。然而，这些艺术品的年龄仍然是个谜。这是因为，估算古代物品年龄的典型方法——放射性碳测年法——依赖于有机碳的存在。但眼前这些岩画艺术家们使用的是不含有机碳的赭石颜料。
“There is nothing organic that we can apply carbon dating to. So the only thing that we can do is look for stuff that’s either been constructed on top of or underneath the paintings.”
“我们没有可供放射性碳定年法使用的有机物。因此，我们唯一能做的就是寻找建在岩画上面或下面的东西。”
That’s where mud wasps come in. The insects often incorporated organic matter into their nests, which they built on the same rock faces where artists painted. The artists would sometimes paint right on top of old nests. Finch and his colleagues were thus able to date the artwork by sampling the remains of those nests.
这就是泥黄蜂的用武之地。这些昆虫经常把有机物质放进它们的巢里，它们把巢建在艺术家们画画的岩壁上。艺术家们有时会直接在老鸟巢上作画。因此，芬奇和他的同事们能够通过取样这些巢穴的剩余物样本，来确定艺术品的年代。
“If it was over the top of the painting, that tells us that the painting has to be older than that nest. But if the nest was underneath paint, the painting must be younger than the age that we determined for that nest. And in that way, we can help to build up an idea of when these paintings were created.”
“如果蜂巢位于岩画上方，说明岩石比蜂巢更古老;但如果蜂巢在岩画下方，那岩画的年代肯定早于我们判定的蜂巢的年代。通过这种方法，我们可以帮助树立一种观念，大致确定岩画绘制的时间。”
The analysis revealed that most of the Gwion style paintings sampled were about 12,000 years old.
分析结果显示，大多数Gwion风格岩画样本都有大约1.2万年的历史。
“So now we can place that in the context of all the other archaeological and environmental information that we’ve got for the Kimberley region at that time.”
“所以，现在我们可以把它放在当时金伯利地区所有其他考古和环境信息的背景下。”
The study is in the journal Science Advances. [Damien Finch et al., 12,000-year-old Aboriginal rock art from the Kimberley region, Western Australia]
这项研究发表在《科学进展》杂志上。[达米安·芬奇等人，西澳大利亚金伯利地区12,000年前的土著岩石艺术]
The results provide support for the hypothesis that Aboriginal artists may have switched from painting plants and animals to depicting humans in ceremonial dress around 12,000 years ago in response to the ecological changes and rapidly rising sea levels as the last ice age ended.
这一结果支持了一种假设，即大约1.2万年前，土著艺术家可能已经从画植物和动物，转向描绘穿着仪式服装的人类，以应对最后一个冰河时代结束时的生态变化和海平面的迅速上升。
Finch is now working out the age of other styles of Aboriginal rock art—with a little help from materials that ancient insects once called home.
芬奇现在正在借助古代昆虫曾当作家的材料，计算土著岩画其他风格的年代。
Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Susanne Bard.
感谢收听《科学美国人》的60秒科学。我是苏珊娜·巴德。
This is Scientific American's 60-second Science, I'm Susanne Bard.
Thousands of years ago, in what’s now the Kimberley region of Western Australia, Aboriginal artists created elaborate rock paintings. Much of the artwork still exists today.
“If you’re walking beside the rivers and creeks and go up into the escarpments, into rock shelters, there are just thousands of rock art sites.”
University of Melbourne geochronologist Damien Finch. The oldest paintings depict plants and animals. But later works show human figures in ceremonial attire and ornate headdresses.
“And then, around the arms and the elbows and the knees, there’s decorations. And sometimes they’ll be holding a clutch of boomerangs. And very often, they’re very finely executed, using quite long and elegant-looking brushstrokes.”
The human-centered paintings represent what’s known as the Gwion style. How old the artwork is has remained a mystery, however. That’s because the typical method for estimating the age of ancient objects—radiocarbon dating—relies on the presence of organic carbon. But the artists used ocher pigments that had no organic carbon.
“There is nothing organic that we can apply carbon dating to. So the only thing that we can do is look for stuff that’s either been constructed on top of or underneath the paintings.”
That’s where mud wasps come in. The insects often incorporated organic matter into their nests, which they built on the same rock faces where artists painted. The artists would sometimes paint right on top of old nests. Finch and his colleagues were thus able to date the artwork by sampling the remains of those nests.
“If it was over the top of the painting, that tells us that the painting has to be older than that nest. But if the nest was underneath paint, the painting must be younger than the age that we determined for that nest. And in that way, we can help to build up an idea of when these paintings were created.”
The analysis revealed that most of the Gwion style paintings sampled were about 12,000 years old.
“So now we can place that in the context of all the other archaeological and environmental information that we’ve got for the Kimberley region at that time.”
The study is in the journal Science Advances. [Damien Finch et al., 12,000-year-old Aboriginal rock art from the Kimberley region, Western Australia]
The results provide support for the hypothesis that Aboriginal artists may have switched from painting plants and animals to depicting humans in ceremonial dress around 12,000 years ago in response to the ecological changes and rapidly rising sea levels as the last ice age ended.
Finch is now working out the age of other styles of Aboriginal rock art—with a little help from materials that ancient insects once called home.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Susanne Bard.
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