雙語 | 跟著Laura一起走進100件文物中的世界史（1）

這兩天，大英博物館的「100件文物看世界史」展覽來到了上海博物館，門票全免費，吸引了大批參觀者，據說排隊要等兩三個小時，真的是太火爆了！其實，這個展覽初到北京時，我就非常想去看，到目前還沒去成。倒是找到了網上的書和節目資料，對這些展品有一個大致的了解。也許，在還未來到展館之前，細細研讀一下這一個個展品的故事，再去親眼見證一下實物，會更對歷史肅然起敬。

2010年，BBC播出了一檔節目，通過介紹大英博物館的100件藏品，將人類200萬年的歷史娓娓道來。此後，大英博物館和BBC聯合推出了紙質版《大英博物館世界簡史》（A History of the World in 100 Objects），將一個個生動故事整理成冊，配上精美的文物圖片，可以讓讀者反覆回味。

第一單元 開端

（公元前2百萬年——前2500年）

001. 奧杜威砍砸器

Olduvai Stone Chopping Tool

Tool found in Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

1.8–2 MILLION YEARS OLD

這是一塊看上去極不起眼的石頭，但它居然作為此次歷史之旅的起點。你能想到，它已經距今有200萬年的歷史了嗎？考古學家表示，這把砍砸器,是人類最早有意識製造的物品之一。握著它，彷彿能直接接觸到它的製造者。

1931年，在大英博物館的資助下，年輕的考古學家Louis Leakey踏上了非洲探險之旅，來到了坦尚尼亞。在坦尚尼亞北部大草原的奧杜威峽谷，它發現一個岩層，這裡的石頭非天然形成，而是有人類加工的跡象。

As Leakey studied the rocks shaped by the sun, the wind and the rain on the savannahs, he reached a layer where the rocks were also shaped by something else – human hands. They were found next to bones, and it was clear that these stones had been shaped into butchering tools to strip meat and break into the bones of animals killed on the savannah.

這一岩層距今已有200萬年的歷史了。因此，利基的發現是世界上已知最古老的一批人類手工製品。它不僅證明了人類的起源地，更證明了人類文明的發源地在非洲。

Leakey』s excavations produced the oldest known humanly made things anywhere in the world at that time, and they demonstrated that not only human beings but also human culture had begun in Africa.

很多動物都能使用其他物品道具，但讓人類與它們區別開來的地方就在於：我們可以自己製作所需要的道具，而且可以保留下來備下次使用。這塊砍砸器就是人類工具箱的開始。

Lots of animals, particularly apes, use objects; but what sets us apart from them is that we make tools before we need them, and once we have used them we keep them to use again. This chipped stone from Olduvai Gorge is the beginning of the toolbox.

2

最早使用這些砍砸工具的人類，並非獵人，而是非常聰明的機會主義者。他們等到獅子、獵豹或其他野獸已經殺死了獵物，美美地吃完一頓，然後來到吃剩的殘渣，用工具敲開骨髓，享用豐盛的蛋白質大餐。可能現在吃骨髓聽起來並不吸引人胃口，但是它是非常有營養的食物，不僅能提供體力，也可以為巨大的大腦供養。

The early humans who used chopping tools like this were probably not hunters themselves, but they were brilliant opportunists – they waited until lions, leopards or other beasts had killed their prey and then they moved in with their chopping tools, secured the meat and themarrow, and hit the protein jackpot. Marrow fat doesn』t sound tremendously appetising, but it is hugely nutritious – fuel not just for physical strength but also for a large brain.

大腦是一個高耗能器官。僅占體重的2%，卻消耗全身20%的能量，需要不斷的養分供給。我們的祖先大約在200萬年前已經通過工具鎖定了未來很長所需的食物供給。當其他一些更為強壯、跑得更快、更兇猛的捕食者殺死了獵物，因為天氣炎熱在一旁休息時，聰明的人類已經能夠出來覓食了。

The brain is an extremely power-hungry mechanism. Although it accounts for only 2 per cent of our body weight, it consumes 20 per cent of our entire energy intake, and it requires constant nourishment. Our ancestors of nearly two million years ago secured their future by giving it the food it needed to grow. When stronger, faster, fiercer predators had killed their prey and were at rest out of the heat, early humans were able to look for food.

通過使用這樣的工具，人類能夠獲得骨髓，這一富含營養的食物，從而開啟了一個古老的良性循環。

Using tools like this one to obtain bone marrow, the most nutritious part of a carcass, they set in train an ancient virtuous circle. This food for body and mind meant that the more cunning, larger-brained individuals would survive to breed larger-brained children「, capable in their turn of making ever more complex tools.

因此，我們都是這些聰明的投機主義者的後裔。

You and I are just the latest product of this continuing process.

這與赫拉利在《人類簡史》中講述的歷史不謀而合：

「早期石器最常見的一種用途，就是把骨頭敲開，人類才能吃到裡面的骨髓。有些研究人員認為，這正是人類最原始的專長……骨髓有什麼特別的？假設我們現在看著一群獅子大口吃著一隻長頸鹿。我們只能耐心等著，等它們吃飽再說。但還別急，就算獅子吃完了，旁邊還有鬣狗和豺在等著，而且它們也不是好惹的；於是它們又把剩下的肉再吃干抹凈。最後才輪到我們這群原始人，我們走近長頸鹿的屍體，左看看右瞧瞧，最後只能想辦法去挖出唯一還能吃的組織。」

One of the most common uses of early stone tools was to crack open bones in order to get to the marrow. Some researchers believe this was our original niche… Why marrow? Well, suppose you observe a pride of lions take down and devour a giraffe. You wait patiently until they』re done. But it』s still not your turn because first the hyenas and jackals – and you don』t dare interfere with them scavenge the leftovers. Only then would you and your band dare approach the carcass, look cautiously left and right – and dig into the edible tissue that remained.

所以，我們的祖先憑藉著機會主義的情懷，苟且地活著，尋找機會保全自己，最終以智慧戰勝了一個有一個強大的對手，生存了下來。

3

人類的大腦在接下來的數百萬年繼續進化。其中最重要的進化步驟之一就是大腦的左右分工。左右大腦分別掌管語言、邏輯、協調動作、以及想像力、創造性思維等不同的技能。

The human brain carried on evolving over millions of years. One of the most important developments was that it started to become asymmetrical as it got to grips with a whole range of different functions – logic, language, the coordinated movement needed for tool-making, imagination and creative thought.

正因如此，我們表現出比其他的動物更為聰明，能更好地製作和使用工具。

在砍砸器邊緣多敲的那幾下告訴大家：人類，和其他動物不同，一直有一種錦上添花的衝動。

物件總是承載著關於主人的豐富訊息。而這塊砍砸器，就標誌著人類與物品之間從此開啟了一段無法割捨的依戀關係。

Those extra chips on the edge of the chopping tool tell us that right from the beginning, we – unlike other animals – have felt the urge to make things more sophisticated than they need to be.

Objects carry powerful messages about their makers, and the chopping tool is the beginning of a relationship between humans and the things they create which is both a love affair and a dependency.

4

聽完了故事，原來，它不再是那塊普普通通的小石頭了。它被賦予了生命，賦予了價值。

如果你走到展櫃前，輕輕一瞥，請對這塊其貌不揚的石頭保持心底的敬意。