埋藏地下2500年的中国面条

原作者：
来源【Discovery News】Chinese Noodle Dinner Buried for 2,500 Years
译者Liz Xi

Noodles, cakes, porridge, and meat bones dating to around 2,500 years ago were recently unearthed at a Chinese cemetery, according to a paper that will appear in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

根据《考古科学杂志》即将刊登的一篇文章表明，最近，在一个中国墓地中发觉了迄今为止2500年的面条、糕点、粥和肉骨。

Since the cakes were cooked in an oven-like hearth, the findings suggest that the Chinese may have been among the world's first bakers. Prior research determined the ancient Egyptians were also baking bread at around the same time, but this latest discovery indicates that individuals in northern China were skillful bakers who likely learned baking and other more complex cooking techniques much earlier.

因为糕点是在烤箱一类的炉灶中烘焙出来的，考古成果表明，中国人也许是世界上最早会制作糕点的人。以前有研究推断，古代埃及人大约也在同一时期会制作面包。但是这个最新发现表明，中国北方人是技术高超的烘焙者，可能在更早的时候就学会了烘焙和其他更复杂的烹调技术。

"With the use of fire and grindstones, large amounts of cereals were consumed and transformed into staple foods," lead author Yiwen Gong and his team wrote in the paper.

“古人使用磨石取火，用了大量谷物制作成常食用的食物。”作为发起人的龚易文和他的团队在文章中写道。

Gong, a researcher at the Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his team dug up the foods at the Subeixi Cemeteries in the Turpan District of Xinjiang, China. This important cultural communication center between East and Central China has a desert climate.

龚易文毕业于中国科学院，现在是中国科学院的研究员。他和他的团队在中国新疆吐鲁番地区的苏贝希墓地发掘了古代的食物。这个位于华东、华中之间的文化交流中心，属于沙漠气候。

"As a result, the climate is so dry that many mummies and plant remains have been well preserved without decaying," according to the scientists, who added that the human remains they unearthed at the site looked more European than Asian.

“所以，气候干燥，导致许多干尸和植被都保存得完好，没有腐蚀。”根据科学家补充说道，在考古遗址发掘的人类食物的遗迹看起来更像是欧洲人吃的食物，而不是亚洲人吃的食物。

"Judging from the preserved mummies, most of them resemble typical Europeans, with light-colored hair, deep-set eyes, and protruding noses," the researchers wrote. "Of the 19 mummies examined, only three are Mongolian."

“根据保留下来的干尸发现，大多数干尸像典型的欧洲人的特征，浅色的头发，深邃的眼睛，高高的鼻梁”研究员这样写道。“检验的19个干尸中，只有三个是蒙古人。”

The individuals may have been living in a semi agricultural, pastoral artists' community, since a pottery workshop was found nearby, and each person was buried with pottery. The archaeologists also found bows, arrows, saddles, leather chest-protectors, boots, woodenwares, knives, an iron aw, a leather scabbard, and a sweater in the graves. But the scientists focused this particular study on the excavated food.

由于考古人员在附近发现了一处陶器作坊，挖掘出的每具干尸都带有陪葬的陶器，所以推断人们当时可能还生活在半农业、半放牧社会。考古学家在坟墓中还发现了金属杯、箭、鞍具、皮革护胸、靴子、木制餐具、刀具、一副刀鞘和一件汗衫。但是科学家把此次特殊研究工作的重点放在被挖掘的食物上。

The food included noodles mounded in an earthenware bowl, sheep's heads (which may have held symbolic meaning), another earthenware bowl full of porridge, and elliptical-shaped cakes as well as round baked goods that resembled modern Chinese moon cakes.

被挖掘的食物包括在陶碗中被泥土包裹的面条，羊头（可能有象征性意义），另一陶碗中装满了麦片粥，椭圆形糕点，还有圆形的烘焙食物，和现在中国的月饼相似。

Chemical analysis of the starches revealed that both the noodles and cakes were made of common millet.

这些淀粉类食物的化学分析显示面条和糕点都由普通的小米磨制烹制而成的。

The scientists next put new millet through a barrage of cooking experiments to see if they could duplicate the micro-structure of the ancient foods, which would then reveal how the prehistoric chefs cooked the millet.

科学家们下一步用这种新发现的小米做了一系列烹调实验，看看是否能复制这些古代食物的微型结构，从而以后就可以揭示史前厨师是怎样烘焙由小米制作的食物了。

The researchers determined that boiling damages the appearance of individual millet grains, while baking leaves them more intact. The scientists therefore believe the millet grains in one bowl were once boiled into porridge, the noodles were boiled, and the cakes were baked.

研究员推断，烹煮会破坏由小米制作而成的食物的特殊外观，而烘烤谷物会使其外观保留完整。科学家们因此相信其中一个碗里的由小米制作的食物曾经在粥里烹煮过，面条也被烹煮过，糕点则是烘烤制作出来的。

"Baking technology was not a traditional cooking method in the ancient Chinese cuisine, and has been seldom reported to date," according to the authors, who nevertheless believe these latest food discoveries indicate baking must have been a widespread cooking practice in northwest China 2,500 years ago.

“在古代中国的烹饪方法中，烘焙技术并不是一种传统的烹饪方法。”根据作者所言，他相信这些最新的古代食物发掘，表明在2500年前，烘焙技术一定在中国的西北地区广泛传播使用。

The discoveries add to the growing body of evidence that millet was the grain of choice for this part of China. Houyuan Lu of the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Geology and Physics, along with other researchers, unearthed millet-made noodles dating to 4,000 years ago at the Laija archaeological site, also in northwest China.

考古挖掘提供了新的证据，小米是中国西北地区人们食用粮食的主要选择。中国科学院地质与物理研究所研究员侯原庐和其他几名研究员，在莱加考古遗址发掘的迄今为止4000年的由小米制作而成的面条，也是位于中国的西北地区。

In that case, "the noodles were thin, delicate, more than 19.7 inches in length and yellow in color," according to Lu and his colleagues. "They resemble the La-Mian noodle, a traditional Chinese noodle that is made by repeatedly pulling and stretching the dough by hand."

既然这样，”面条是细长的，长度超过19.7英寸，呈黄色“根据研究员侯原庐和他的同事所描述，”它们类似拉面，一种中国传统面条，用手工反复地拉伸面团制作而成。

Gong and his team point out that millet was domesticated about 10,000 years ago in northwest China and was probably a food staple because of its drought resistance and ability to grow in poor soils.

龚易文和他的团队指出，在一万年前，小米从中国西北地区引进而来，可能是当时此地区的主要粮食，原因是小米具有良好的抗旱性和在贫瘠土壤的强大生存能力。