英語聽力文摘 偶爾的“山頂洞人”

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偶爾的山頂洞人

From the bestselling novel “Clan of the Cave Bear” to the 1981 movie “Caveman“, pop-culture tends to misrepresent prehistoric people as cave dwelling brutes. But even the most speculative recreations of early human society are based on a few essential facts. For instance, cavemen made their homes in caves, right?

Well, not exactly. According to archeological evidence, prehistoric human ancestors such as Homo habilis, Homo erectus, and Homo ergaster were nomadic rather than settle in one place for long periods of time, they were constantly on the move in search of food and shelter. In other words, the term “caveman” is a bit misleading, since our stone age ancestors did not set up permanent homes in caves.

Then why are prehistoric people so often referred to as cavemen? There are several reasons. First, much evidence of prehistoric civilization is found in caves because the natural shelter helps preserve artifacts.

The earliest cave dwellers date to the Paleolithic period, around 2.5 million years ago, and evidence suggests that these ancient nomads used caves as temporary shelters during their seasonal wanderings. The caves often lay on valley slopes and provided excellent views of animal migration routes.

But there is no evidence that Stone Age peoples set up shop in caves for very long. Even Neanderthals, who lived in relatively cold regions of ancient Europe, used caves only for temporary shelter.

Our more immediate ancestors did, of course, eventually move indoors. But permanent dwellings came about only with the invention of agriculture and animal husbandry. Before those world-changing inventions, prehistoric people were forced to follow their food away from the warmth and shelter of the cave.

從暢銷小說《洞熊家族》到1981年的電影“山洞人”，流行文化在趨于誤將史前時期的人看做是穴居的動物。然而即便是在早期人類社會，投機娛樂也是基于一些重要的事實。例如，山頂洞人是自己將家安在山洞里的，對吧?

然而，也不完全是這樣。根據(jù)考古證據(jù)，史前的人類祖先，比如說巧手人、直立人以及東非直立人，他們都是游牧的,而并非是在一個地方定居很長一段時間，他們一直都在遷移，以求尋找食物和居所。換句話說，“山洞人”這一說法有一點誤導人們。因為我們石器時代的祖先并沒有在洞穴建立永久的住所。

然而為何史前時期的人通常都被看成是山頂洞人?有幾個方面的原因。首先，由于洞穴這個天然避難所就有助于保護物件，所以很多有關史前文明的證據(jù)都是在洞穴中發(fā)現(xiàn)的，

最早的穴居者可以追索到大約250萬年前的舊石器時代，有證據(jù)顯示這些遠古的游牧民在他們季節(jié)性遷移的時候有將洞穴作為臨時居住地。這些洞穴通常都是位于山谷的斜坡，它是個觀察動物移動路線的絕佳地方。

但是，并沒有證據(jù)表明石器時代的人有長時間在洞穴中建立商店。即使是在古歐洲居住在相對來說較冷地區(qū)的尼安德特人，他們也只是將洞穴當作短暫的居住地。

當然，與我們更接近的祖先最終還是搬進了室內。但是直到農(nóng)業(yè)和畜牧業(yè)出現(xiàn)后人們才形成永久的住所。在這些改變世界的發(fā)明出現(xiàn)之前，史前時期的人類被迫要遠離溫暖的避難所——洞穴，去尋找食物。