化為六月息

-----【原文】-----

INTRO: Fossil of 3.3 million-year-old fossil girl unveiled in Ethiopa. 

STORY: Ethiopian scientists unveiled on Wednesday (September 20) a 3.3 million-year-old fossil of a girl, which they believe is the most complete skeleton ever found.


The fossil including an entire skull, torso, shoulder blade and various limbs was discovered at Dikaka, some 400 kilometers northeast of the capital Addis Ababa near the Awash river in the Rift Valley.

The fossil has been named "Selam," which means peace in Ethiopia's official Amharic language."Selam was older than the 3.2 million year old remains of "Lucy" discovered in 1974, and described by scientists as one of the world's greatest archaeological finds. 

"Selam" lived 3.3 million years ago, 150,000 years before Lucy.

Chris Sloan, a Senior Editor at National Geographic who took part in the expedition told Reuters "It's just so rare that you find a fossil that's so well preserved"...adding "Things like this are very very rare in the fossil record." 

Zeresenay Alemseged of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany led the team that discovered the fossil. 

Carefully carving away sandstone with a dentist's drill, Zeresenay navigated between tiny vertebrae and ribs so that anatomical details could be seen. The task has taken five years so far. 

Over the last 50 years, Ethiopia has been a hotbed for archaeological discoveries. 

About 40 individuals, including seven researchers, have worked to uncover the remains of the baby and interpret the many aspects of the find, including geology and environment. 

On the shores of what was formerly a lake in 1967, two Homo sapiens skulls dating back 195,000 years were unearthed. The find pushed back the known date of mankind, suggesting that modern man and his older precursor existed side by side.



-----【初譯】-----

【主播】埃赛俄比亚的科學家，於本週三將一具三百三十萬年前的女童化石公諸於眾。

【配音】本週三 ( 九月二十日 )，埃赛俄比亚的科學家們將一具330萬年前的女童化石公諸於眾，並認為這具人體骨骼化石是目前所發現保存最完整的。

這具包括了完整頭骨、身軀、肩胛骨與四肢的女童化石，是在離埃赛俄比亚首府斯亞貝巴 (Addis Ababa ) 四百公里遠的東北方，靠近大裂谷( Rift Valley )中阿瓦什河 ( Awash river ) 旁，名為狄卡卡 ( Dikaka ) 的地方，被人挖掘出來的。

 這具女童化石被命名為「斯蘭( Selam )」，取自埃赛俄比亚的官方語言，意為和平。斯蘭這具女童化石的生存年代，是三百三十萬年前，比1947年被人發現的露西化石，早了十五萬年，同時被科學家們諭為全球考古學界最重要的發現之一。

服務於德國萊比錫 ( Leipzig ) 瑪普協會進化人類學研究所 ( the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology ) 的 德籍 列瑞錫奈‧亞倫錫瞿 ( Zeresenay Alemseged ) 博士，率領研究團隊進行這次的化石挖掘行動。

國家地理雜誌的資深編輯 克里斯‧斯隆 (Chris Sloan ) 參與了這次的挖掘行動，並向記者表示：「在目前被發掘出來的人體遺骸化石中，能被保存的如此完整，是非常罕見的」。

亞倫錫瞿 ( Zeresenay Alemseged ) 博士小心地使用牙醫專用的鑽子，來回穿梭於女童化石的椎骨與肋骨間，以磨去其間的砂岩，如此一來，化石的整體結構清晰可見。他已經進行這項工作長達五年之久了。

大約四十位的工作人員，持續挖掘這具女童化石尚未挖出的部分，並從地質、環境等角度，解釋這項重大發現，其中有七位是研究人員。在過去的五十年裡，埃塞俄比亞一直有重大的考古學發現。

在1967年時，兩個十九萬五千年前的智人頭骨，在曾經為湖泊岸邊的地方被挖掘出土。而這次330萬年前女童化石的發現，使得人類的起源可以回溯至更早的時期，同時也意味著現代人類與原始人種曾經同時存在過。