日本出土世界最古老魚鉤 距今2.3萬年

Archaeologists have found the world's oldest fish hooks in a cave on the Japanese island of Okinawa.

近日，在日本沖繩島上的一個山洞裏，考古學家們發現了目前全球最古老的魚鉤。

The pair, dating from about 23,000 years ago, were carved from sea snail shells and found with other ancient relics, according to a paper.

根據一篇論文顯示，這對魚鉤可以追溯到大約23000年前，由海螺貝殼雕刻而成，同時發現的還有其他古代遺蹟。

It is thought humans inhabited the island from at least 30,000 years ago, surviving despite scarce resources.

人們認爲至少三萬年前就有人類定居在沖繩島上，儘管資源稀少，但是還是頑強存活了下來。

The findings suggest a wider use of advanced maritime technology in that era than previously thought.

和之前的看法相比較，這些發現表明那個時期人們更加廣泛地使用先進的海事技術。

Modern humans first moved to offshore islands some 50,000 years ago.

大約在五萬年前，現代人類第一次搬遷到沿海島嶼上居住。

While fishing has been essential for early humans to spread around the planet, it is unclear how the technology evolved, with evidence limited to sites in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea.

儘管捕漁在早期人類全球遷徙時發揮了十分重要的作用，但是卻並不清楚這種技術到底是如何改進發展的，僅在印尼和巴布亞新幾內亞的一些遺蹟中發現了考古證據。

"The new evidence demonstrates a geographically wider distribution of early maritime technology that extended north to the mid-latitude areas along the western Pacific coast," according to the National Academy of Sciences.

據美國科學院表示：“這一新證據表明，早期海事技術的地理分佈範圍更廣，順着西太平洋沿岸傳播到了中緯度地區。”

The fish hooks predate ones found in Timor, thought to be at least 16,000 years old, and Papua New Guinea, from at least 18,000 years ago.

此前東帝汶曾發現過古代的魚鉤，距今至少16000年，巴布亞新幾內亞也發現過距今至少18000年的魚鉤。

Also found in the cave were two partially carved fish hooks, tools, beads and food debris.

考古學家們在這個山洞裏同時發現了兩枚部分雕刻打磨的魚鉤，工具、珠子、以及食物殘骸。