VOA慢速英语：骑马的最早证据可以追溯到5000年前

Researchers have found the earliest direct evidence for horseback riding. The evidence comes from 5,000-year-old human skeletons in central Europe.

研究人员发现了骑马的最早直接证据。证据来自中欧5000年前的人类骨骼。

The research study was published last week in the publication Science Advances.

上周，这项研究发表在《科学进展》杂志上。

Horseback riding was a development that changed history. It was “the fastest a human could go before the railroads,” said David Anthony. He is a co-writer of the study and an archaeologist at New York’s Hartwick College.

骑马的发展改变了历史。大卫·安东尼说，这是“在铁路出现之前，人类能跑得最快的方式”。他是这项研究的合著者，也是纽约哈特威克学院的考古学家。

The researchers examined the bones of more than 200 ancient people in museum collections in Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The bones came from the period known as the Bronze Age between 3,000 and 5,000 years ago. The researchers looked for signs of “horse rider syndrome.”

研究人员调查了保加利亚、波兰、罗马尼亚、匈牙利和捷克共和国博物馆收藏的200多具古人的骨骼。这些骨头来自3000到5000年前的青铜时代。从中寻找“骑马综合症”的迹象。

Martin Trautmann, another writer of the study, explained the condition. He said there are six markers that show whether a person rode an animal. They include wear marks on the hips, thigh bone and pelvis, said Trautmann, an anthropologist at the University of Helsinki in Finland.

该研究的另一位作者马丁·特劳特曼对此进行了解释。他说，有六种迹象可以表明一个人是否骑过动物，包括臀部、大腿骨和骨盆上的磨损痕迹，特劳特曼是芬兰赫尔辛基大学的人类学家。

The researchers identified five humans who likely rode horses. They are estimated to have lived between 4,500 and 5,000 years ago. They belonged to a Bronze Age people called the Yamnaya.

研究人员锁定了五名可能骑过马的人。据估计，他们生活在4500到5000年前。属于青铜时代一个叫做亚姆纳亚的民族。

Alan Outram is an archaeologist at Britain’s University of Exeter. He was not involved in the research, but he praised the methods the scientists used. He said, “There is earlier evidence for harnessing and milking of horses, but this is the earliest direct evidence so far for horseback riding.”

艾伦·奥特姆是英国埃克塞特大学的考古学家。他没有参与这项研究，但他对科学家们使用的方法表示了赞扬。他说:“套马具和挤马奶早有证据支撑，但这是迄今为止最早的人类骑马的直接证据。”

Domesticating wild horses on the plains of Eurasia was a process, not a single event, the researchers said. Archaeologists have previously found evidence of people drinking horse milk. There have also been signs of horses controlled by harnesses dating back more than 5,000 years. But that does not mean humans rode the horses.

研究人员说，在欧亚大陆平原上驯化野马是一个过程，而不是一个单一的事件。考古学家此前发现了人们喝马奶的证据。也有迹象表明，马匹被马具控制的时间，可以追溯到5000多年前。但这并不意味着人类会骑马。

The Yamnaya culture developed in what is now part of Ukraine and western Russia. The Yamnaya are important because of their expansion across Eurasia in only a few generations. They moved west to Hungary and east to Mongolia, said University of Helsinki archaeologist and study co-writer Volker Heyd. “The spread of Indo-European languages is linked to their movement, and they reshaped the genetic make-up of Europe,” Heyd said.

亚姆纳亚文化起源于现代的乌克兰和俄罗斯西部地区。亚姆纳亚人之所以重要，是因为他们在短短几代人的时间里就扩张到了欧亚大陆。赫尔辛基大学考古学家、研究报告的合著者沃尔克·海德说，他们向西迁移到匈牙利，向东迁移到蒙古。并表示，“印欧语言的传播与他们的迁徙有关，他们重塑了欧洲的基因构成。”

Their relationship with horses may have partly made this movement possible, the researchers suggested.

研究人员认为，他们与马的关系，可能在一定程度上促使了迁徙的可能。

David Anthony, the Hartwick College archaeologist, said, “Horses expand the concept of distance – you begin to think about places previously out of reach as being reachable.”

哈特威克学院的考古学家大卫·安东尼说:“骑马扩大了距离的概念——以前认为遥不可及的地方，也变成了触手可及。”

That does not mean the Yamnaya people were warriors on horseback. The horses they rode were likely not used in battlefield situations, Anthony said. But horses may have helped the Yamnaya more effectively send communications, build alliances and control the herds of cattle that were important to their economy.

这并不意味着亚姆纳亚人是骑马的战士。安东尼说，他们所骑的马可能没有在战场上使用过。但马可能帮助亚姆纳亚人更有效地进行通信、建立联盟和控制对他们的经济至关重要的牛群。

I’m Ashley Thompson.

阿什利·汤普森报道。