本篇文章共分 A-H 8 大段 (為配合題目出題，有些大段中包含 2-3 個小段)，從最近的氣候暖化因而產生高山融冰而暴露出許多古代挪威維京人的文物開始，逐步說明文物的種類、特徵所代表的文化與社會上意義，並展望未來的可能進一步發現。

本篇考題英文原文與對應之中文翻譯整理如下。練習作答解題時若有對語意不清楚之處，請仔細查閱對照，以提升閱讀理解能力。

Climate change reveals ancient artefacts in Norway's glaciers 氣候變化揭示了挪威冰川中的古代文物

1. 暖化揭露古物

   Well above the treeline in Norway’s highest mountains, ancient fields of ice are shrinking as Earth’s climate warms. As the ice has vanished, it has been giving up the treasures it has preserved in cold storage for the last 6,000 years – items such as ancient arrows and skis from Viking Age* traders. And those artefacts have provided archaeologists with some surprising insights into how ancient Norwegians made their livings.

   *Viking Age: a period of European history from around 700 CE to around 1050 CE when Scandinavian Vikings migrated throughout Europe by means of trade and warfare

   隨著地球氣候變暖，遠在挪威最高山脈林線之上的古老冰原正在縮小。隨著冰層的消失，它正逐步顯露出過去 6,000 年裡保存在冰凍儲存空間中的寶物—諸如維京時代*商人的古代箭矢和雪屐等物品。而這些文物為考古學家提供了一些關於古代挪威人如何謀生的驚人內幕。

   *維京時代：歐洲歷史上的一個時期，從西元 700 年左右到西元 1050 年左右，斯堪地納維亞的維京人通過貿易和戰爭的方式遷移到整個歐洲。

2. 考古研究爭分奪秒

   Organic materials like textiles and hides are relatively rare finds at archaeological sites. This is because unless they’re protected from the microorganisms that cause decay, they tend no to last long. Extreme cold is one reliable way to keep artefacts relatively fresh for a few thousand years, but once thawed out, these materials experience degradation relatively swiftly.

   With climate change shrinking ice cover around the world, glacial archaeologists need to race the clock to find newly revealed artefacts, preserve them, and study them. If something fragile dries and is windblown it might very soon be lost to science, or an arrow might be exposed and then covered again by the next snow and remain well-preserved. The unpredictability means that glacial archaeologists have to be systematic in their approach to fieldwork.

   像紡織品和皮革這樣的有機材料在考古地點是比較罕見的發現。這是因為除非它們受到保護，不受導致腐爛的微生物的影響，否則它們往往不會持續很長時間。極端寒冷是幾千年下來維持文物相對新鮮的一個可靠方法，但一旦解凍，這些材料就會相對迅速地發生退化。

   隨著氣候變化使世界各地的冰蓋縮小，冰川考古學家需要爭分奪秒地尋找新發現的文物，保存它們，並研究它們。如果一些脆弱的東西受到風吹，那科學界可能很快就會失去它們，或者是一支箭矢可能暴露出來，然後又被下一場雪覆蓋，仍然保存完好。這種不可預測性意味著冰川考古學家必須系統地進行實地調查。

3. 研究地區與困難

   Over a nine-year period, a team of archaeologists, which included Lars Pilø of Oppland County Council, Norway, and James Barrett of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, surveyed patches of ice in Oppland, an area of south-central Norway that is home to some of the country’s highest mountains. Reindeer once congregated on these ice patches in the later summer months to escape biting insects, and from the late Stone Age**, hunters followed. In addition, trade routes threaded through the mountain passes of Oppland, linking settlements in Norway to the rest of Europe.

   The slow but steady movement of glaciers tends to destroy anything at their bases, so the team focused on stationary patches of ice, mostly above 1,400 metres. That ice is found amid fields of frost-weathered boulders, fallen rocks, and exposed bedrock that for nine months of the year is buried beneath snow.

   ‘Fieldwork is hard work – hiking with all our equipment, often camping on permafrost – but very rewarding. You’re rescuing the archaeology, bringing the melting ice to wider attention, discovering a unique environmental history and really connecting with the natural environment,’ says Barrett.

   **The Stone Age: a period in early history that began about 3.4 million years ago

   在九年的時間裡，包括挪威奧普蘭郡議會的拉斯．皮洛和麥克唐納考古研究所的詹姆斯．巴雷特在內的一個考古小組對奧普蘭的一片片冰原進行了調查，該地區位於挪威中南部，是該國一些最高山脈的所在地。馴鹿曾經在夏末聚集在這些流冰區，以躲避會叮咬的昆蟲，從石器時代**晚期開始，獵人也隨之而來。此外，貿易路線穿過奧普蘭的山隘，將挪威的村落與歐洲其他地區聯繫起來。

   冰川緩慢而穩定的運動往往會破壞其底部的任何東西，因此該團隊專注於固定的冰凍地區，大部分在 1,400 米以上。這些冰雪的周圍是經霜凍風化的巨石、掉落的岩石和一年中有九個月被埋在雪下裸露的基岩。

   「田野研究是艱苦的工作—帶著我們所有的設備徒步旅行，經常在永久凍土上露營—但是非常有意義。你在搶救考古學，使融化的冰層得到更廣泛的關注，發現獨特的環境歷史，並真正與自然環境相聯繫。」巴雷特說。

   **石器時代：大約 340 萬年前開始的一個早期歷史時期

4. 古文物解封

   At the edges of the contracting ice patches, archaeologists found more than 2,000 artefacts, which formed a material record that ran from 4,000 BCE to the beginnings of the Renaissance in the 14th century. Many of the artefacts are associated with hunting. Hunters would have easily misplaced arrows and they often discarded broken bows rather than take them all the way home. Other items could have been used by hunters traversing the high mountain passes of Oppland: all-purpose items like tools, skis, and horse tack.

   在逐步縮小的流冰區邊緣，考古學家發現了 2,000 多件手工藝品，它們形成了從西元前 4,000 年到 14 世紀文藝復興開始的物質記錄。許多手工藝品都與狩獵有關。獵人很容易把箭矢隨手亂放，他們經常把破損的弓丟棄，而非將其一路帶回家。其他物品可能是獵人在穿越奧普蘭的高山時使用的：像是工具、雪屐和馬具等多用途物品。

5. 測定古文物時間

   Barrett’s team radiocarbon-dated 153 of the artefacts and compared those dates to the timing of major environmental changes in the region – such as periods of cooling or warming – and major social and economic shifts – such as the growth of farming settlements and the spread of international trade networks leading up to the Viking Age. They found that some periods had produced lots of artefacts, which indicates that people had been pretty active in the mountains during those times. But there were few or no signs of activity during other periods.

   巴雷特的團隊對 153 件手工藝品進行了放射性碳時間測定反應，並將這些日期與該地區的主要環境變化時間（如冷卻或暖化期）以及主要的社會和經濟轉變（如農業村落的增長和導致維京時代的國際貿易網路的傳播）進行了比較。他們發現，有些時期產生了大量的文物，這表明在這些時期人們在山區相當活躍。但是在其他時期卻很少或沒有活動的跡象。

6. 意外發現與原因

   What was surprising, according to Barrett, was the timing of these periods. Oppland’s mountains present daunting terrain and in periods of extreme cold, glaciers could block the higher mountain passes and make travel in the upper reaches of the mountains extremely difficult. Archaeologists assumed people would stick to lower elevations during a time like the Late Antique Little Ice Age, a short period of deeper-than-usual cold from about 536-600 CE. But it turned out that hunters kept regularly venturing into the mountains even when the climate turned cold, based on the amount of stuff they had apparently dropped there.

   ‘Remarkably, though, the finds from the ice may have continued through this period, perhaps suggesting that the importance of mountain hunting increased to supplement failing agricultural harvests in times of low temperatures,’ says Barrett. A colder turn in the Scandinavian climate would likely have meant widespread crop failures, so more people would have depended on hunting to make up for those losses.

   巴雷特說，令人驚訝的是這些時期的時間。奧普蘭的山脈呈現出令人生畏的地形，在極度寒冷的時期，冰川可能會阻擋較高的山路，使在山脈高處的旅行變得極為困難。考古學家原本假定，在像是晚期小冰河時期，人們會堅守在低海拔地區，也就是在西元 536-600 年期間的一個短暫的比平常更冷的時期。但事實證明，即使在氣候變冷的時候，根據他們在那裡明顯丟棄的物品數量，獵人仍然經常冒險進入山區。

   巴雷特說：「但值得注意的是，從冰上發現的東西可能貫穿此一時期，這也許表示，在低溫時期，山地狩獵的重要性有所增加，以補充農業收成的不足。」斯堪地納維亞氣候的轉冷可能意味著廣泛的作物歉收，因此更多的人將依靠狩獵來彌補這些損失。

7. 貿易增加開拓路線

   Many of the artefacts Barrett’s team recovered date from the beginning of the Viking Age, the 700s through to the 900s CE. Trade networks connecting Scandinavia with Europe and the Middle East were expanding around this time. Although we usually think of ships when we think of Scandinavian expansion, these recent discoveries show that plenty of goods travelled on overland routes, like the mountain passes of Oppland. And growing Norwegian towns, along with export markets, would have created a booming demand for hides to fight off the cold, as well as antlers to make useful things like combs. Business must have been good for hunters.

   巴雷特的團隊找到的許多文物可以追溯到維京時代的初期，即西元 700 年代到 900 年間。連接斯堪地納維亞與歐洲和中東的貿易網路在這一時期不斷擴大。儘管當我們想到斯堪地納維亞的擴張時，我們通常會想到船隻，但這些最新的發現表明，大量的貨物在陸路上運輸，如奧普蘭的山路。不斷發展的挪威城鎮和出口市場對抵禦嚴寒的獸皮以及用於製作梳子等有用物品的鹿角產生了暢旺的需求。獵人的生意一定很好。

8. 未來展望

   Norway’s mountains are probably still hiding a lot of history – and prehistory – in remote ice patches. When Barrett’s team looked at the dates for their sample of 153 artefacts, they noticed a gap with almost no artefacts from about 3,800 to 2,200 BCE. In fact, archaeological finds from that period are rare all over Norway. The researchers say that could be because many of those artefacts have already disintegrated or are still frozen in the ice. That means archaeologists could be extracting some of those artefacts from retreating ice in years to come.

   挪威的群山可能仍然在偏遠的流冰區中隱藏著大量的歷史—以及史前史。當巴雷特的團隊查看他們的 153 件文物樣本的日期時，他們注意到一個空白，即從西元前 3,800 年到 2,200 年幾乎沒有文物。事實上，這一時期的考古發現在整個挪威都很罕見。研究人員說，這可能是因為許多此時文物已經解體或仍然凍結在冰中。這意味著考古學家可能會在未來幾年從退縮的冰層中獲取一些此類文物。