科學家探祕不完整的動物木乃伊
Scientists Ponder Over The Mystery Of The Missing Egyptian Animal Mummies
科學家探祕不完整的動物木乃伊
When researchers from the University of Manchester and Manchester Museum decided to take a peek inside some ancient Egyptian animal mummies using CT scans they expected to discover perfectly preserved remains. To their surprise, only one-third of the 800 specimens they examined actually contained complete skeletons. The rest housed partial animal remains, or even worse, just some mud, sticks, and eggshells.
曼徹斯特博物館和曼徹斯特大學對一些古埃及動物木乃伊進行了CT掃描，期待找到完整的遺體。但令人震驚的是，掃描的800多個標本中只有1/3有完整的骨骼，剩下的僅有部分遺骸，有些更糟——全由泥土，木棍和蛋殼填充而成
Though surprised at how prevalent the practice was, the researchers were not completely taken aback by the missing remains. That's because, over the years, numerous archeologists have come across similar empty mummy shells. So did ancient embalmers regularly scam their customers? While that had been the consensus thus far, the Manchester researchers think otherwise.
科學家們雖然對當時這種做法的廣泛流行感到驚訝，但並沒有因此大驚小怪。因爲過去幾年也有很多考古學家頻頻發現類似的空木乃伊。難道是因爲當時的木乃伊製作師投機取巧，欺騙顧客？雖然許多人認爲如此，曼徹斯特的研究者卻持相反意見。
To understand a plausible reason for the fake mummies, one first has to understand ancient Egyptian culture. While human mummies were meant to preserve bodies for the afterlife, animals were mummified for numerous reasons. Some were preserved because they had been beloved pets, others as a source of food for humans. Then there were the cult animals that were worshiped in life that had to be mummified. However, the most common reason was as an offering to the gods in return for answering a prayer.
爲了給空木乃伊一個合理的解釋，我們先要去了解一下古埃及文化。製作人類木乃伊是爲來世保存好身體，但製作動物木乃伊就有許多其他原因了。動物木乃伊中有些生前是深受主人喜愛的寵物，有些是人死後供奉的食物，還有的是人們崇拜的神獸，但做爲宗教貢品的佔大多數。
According to University of Manchester researcher Lidija McKnight, who led the latest study, herein may lie the explanation for the 'fake' tombs. The Egyptologist thinks that as people ran out of animals to offer the gods, they began mummifying objects that the animals were closely associated with during their lifetime - things like nest material or eggshells. The researcher says that though forgery cannot be entirely ruled out, given how carefully the objects were wrapped, it is very likely that customers knew exactly what they were burying. Fortunately, the same is not true for the mummies that house human remains.
該實驗的帶頭人——曼徹斯特大學的科學家Lidija McKnight說，該問題的答案也許還能解釋那些“假墓穴”的存在。埃及古物學家認爲，當祭祀用的動物供不應求時，古埃及人就用與這些動物的生活息息相關的物件來製作動物木乃伊，比如建巢穴的原料或者蛋殼。雖不能完全排除造假的可能，但考慮到這些物體均包裹認真，很可能顧客本身就清楚自己埋下來的是什麼。不過幸運的是，這種情況並沒有在人類木乃伊遺體上發生過。
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