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  3. An ancient horse was found in Pompeii’s ashes, another testament to cataclysm

An ancient horse was found in Pompeii’s ashes, another testament to cataclysm

游客2024-01-02  17
问题    An ancient horse was found in Pompeii’s ashes, another testament to cataclysmic eruption. The horse’s big buck teeth were still faintly white, despite being buried beneath volcanic ash for nearly 2,000 years. In the stable where it died, the horse lay on its side, its legs bent slightly at the knee, its jaw open and jutting into the ground. Like the roughly 2,000 people and countless animals in Pompeii in 79 AD, the horse probably died instantly when an enormous plume of ash engulfed the ancient Roman city after one of the most cataclysmic volcano eruptions in history. But had it not been for pesky tomb raiders, the horse — and various relics and age-old structures — might never have been found. Over the last week, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii has unveiled some recent discoveries at the site of Civita Giuliana outside the city walls stemming from its latest excavation. The excavation began last August after authorities discovered illegal tunnels surrounding the ancient community, creating an urgency to preserve whatever was left before more looters gained access, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii said on its website. Along with the horse, whose skeletal remains were preserved intact, archaeologists found four rooms and the horse stable, a tomb containing the remains of an adult man, a wooden bed and an entire street of grand houses with large balconies, which was revealed in photos Thursday. The horse, however, was described as an "extraordinary find", because for the first time in Pompeii, archaeologists were able to completely reconstruct a horse using a plaster casting technique. The horse is just under 5 feet tall, measured from its shoulders to the ground, but is believed to be an adult, according to the archaeologists’ summary of the discovery. The exact species of the horse is unknown, the report says, but will be studied later. Despite its height, the horse was probably large for that time period, according to the report. "One must bear in mind that ancient horses were probably much smaller compared to those alive today," the Archaeological Park of Pompeii wrote.
   To reconstruct the horse, archaeologists used the same process invented by 19th-century Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Fiorelli, one of the pioneering Pompeii preservationists. Fiorelli was the first to realize that he could capture the last moments of the victims of Mount Vesuvius’s monstrous eruption. The bodies appeared to be frozen in time, still cowering fearfully as the volcanic rocks and suffocating ash enveloped their homes and streets. Fiorelli identified cavities in the volcanic material that encased them, then filled the cavities with liquid plaster, thus creating a cast of the victims’ last movements and expressions. The archaeologists did the same thing to the horse, which, according to Italian press, joins a pig and a dog as the third animal to undergo the plaster casting technique for preservation. This horse, the archaeologists note, appears to have belonged to a "noblest breed". Around the horse’s skull was an iron harness with small bronze studs, which "could attest to the value and role of this animal". It could have even been a circus or racehorse, the archaeologists say. The Archaeological Park of Pompeii says a second animal appears to be in the stable, but only its legs are intact. This is an extraordinary find in Pompeii. For the first time a plaster cast of a horse has been made in the villa of Civita Giuliana, in the suburbs north of the main site at Pompeii.
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答案     庞贝古城遗址中发现了马匹的化石，这给庞贝古城因火山喷发而遭到毁灭的说法又提供了一项有力证明。尽管这匹马已经在火山灰下埋藏了近2000年，其龅牙却仍旧泛着微白。这匹马死亡时侧卧在马厩里，膝盖微屈，嘴巴张开，下巴戳向地面。公元79年，古罗马庞贝城发生了史上最具灾难性的火山喷发，滚滚浓烟充斥着整座城市。约2000名居民和无数动物都因此丧命，而这匹马很可能也是在灾难发生的瞬间毙命。不过，要不是另有所图的盗墓者，这匹马——以及丰富的文物和古老的建筑——可能永远都不为人们所知。上周，庞贝考古公园(the Archaeological Park of Pompeii)在城外的奇维塔朱莉亚娜(Civita Giuliana)新挖掘出土了一批文物。该公园在官方网站上表示，政府发现古城周围非法地下隧道遍布各处，这让遗存文物的保护工作更添紧迫感。为提防更多的盗贼，这项挖掘工作从去年八月就开始了。除了这匹骸骨完整的马，考古学家还发现了四间房屋和一间马厩、一名成年男性的坟墓、一张木床，以及一整条都是带有宽敞阳台的气派住宅的街道，其照片均已在周四公布。但是，这匹马的发现被视作“非凡的发现”，因为考古学家能够使用石膏铸造法完整还原这匹马的外形，这在庞贝城的考古史上还是第一次。这匹马的身高从肩胛处量起不到5英尺高，不过，根据考古学家对此次考古发现的综合判断，他们认为这是一匹成年马。报道称，这匹马的品种尚未可知，但相关研究仍将继续。虽然其身高并不高大，但在那个时期，它或许已经算是体型较大的了。“我们必须明白，古代马的体型很可能比现如今的马要小得多。”庞贝考古公园的网站上这样写道。
    该公园的考古学家们，使用了19世纪的意大利考古学家、庞贝古城遗址保护先驱之一朱赛佩-奥雷利(Giuseppe Fiorelli)的方法，来还原这匹马。奥雷利首创通过定格庞贝古城的生命在维苏威火山喷发瞬间的最后时刻，来还原历史真相。那些生命似乎在瞬间被冻住，他们恐惧地蜷缩在一起，滚滚翻涌的火山岩和令人窒息的火山灰吞噬了房屋和街道。奥雷利分辨出当时被火山岩困住的那些生命所形成的空腔，然后将其中注满液体石膏，从而还原当时受难者最后一刻的动作与神情。据一家意大利刊物的报道，考古学家用同样的方法还原了这匹马，作为对照，还给一只猪和一只狗做了相同的还原，来检验石膏铸造法的保护作用。考古学家指出，这匹马似乎属于“高贵血统”。因为其头部围着一圈带有铜质饰钉的坚固马具，“证明了这匹马的重要价值和身份”。不过考古学家还说，它也有可能是马戏团里的马或是赛马。庞贝考古公园表示，该马厩里还发现了另一只动物的骸骨，不过只有腿形是完整的。这匹马的发现，是庞贝考古工作的非凡收获。在庞贝主城北部的郊区——奇维塔朱莉亚娜的一间别墅里，人们第一次还原了一匹马的石膏像。
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