本篇文章共分 4 段，從距今一萬餘年前生活在中東黎凡特地區的納圖菲亞文化的生活方式開始，分別說明這批早期文明人類的飲食、勞動、商業、工藝等各方面的特徵，並且以目前尚未有明確答案的研究課題作終。

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。

Natufian Culture 納圖菲亞文化

1. 納圖菲亞文化的生活方式

   In the archaeological record of the Natufian period, from about 12,500 to 10,200 years ago, in the part of the Middle East known as the Levant–roughly east of the Mediterranean and north of the Arabian Peninsula–we see clear evidence of agricultural origins. The stone tools of the Natufians included many sickle-shaped cutting blades that show a pattern of wear characteristic of cereal harvesting. Also, querns (hand mills) and other stone tools used for processing grain occur in abundance at Natufian sites, and many such tools show signs of long, intensive use. Along with the sickle blades are many grinding stones, primarily mortars and pestles of limestone or basalt. There is also evidence that these heavy grinding stones were transported over long distances, more than 30 kilometers in some cases, and this is not something known to have been done by people of preceding periods. Fishhooks and weights for sinking fishing nets attest to the growing importance of fish in the diet in some areas. Stone vessels indicate an increased need for containers, but there is no evidence of Natufian clay working or pottery. Studies of the teeth of Natufians also strongly suggest that these people specialized in collecting cereals and may have been cultivating them and in the process of domesticating them, but they were also still hunter-foragers who intensively hunted gazelle and deer in more lush areas and wild goats and equids in more arid zones.

   在納圖菲亞時期的考古記錄中，從大約 12,500 年到 10,200 年前，在被稱為黎凡特的中東地區—大致在地中海以東和阿拉伯半島以北—我們看到了農業起源的明確證據。納圖菲亞人的石器包括許多鐮刀狀的切割刀片，這些刀片顯示出穀物收穫時特有的磨損模式。此外，在納圖菲亞人的遺址中還出現了大量用於加工穀物的 querns（手磨）和其他石製工具，而且許多這類工具都有長期密集使用的痕跡。與鐮刀刃一起出現的還有許多磨石，主要是石灰石或玄武岩的臼和杵。還有證據顯示，這些沉重的磨石被長途運輸，在某些情況下超過 30 公里，而這並不是以前的人們所知道的。魚鉤和用於沉沒漁網的重物證明了魚類在某些地區的飲食中越來越重要。石器表明對容器的需求增加了，但沒有證據表明納圖菲亞的粘土加工或陶器。對納圖菲亞人牙齒的研究也強烈地表明，這些人專門收集穀物，可能已經在栽培穀物，並在馴化穀物的過程中，但他們也仍然是狩獵者，在比較茂盛的地區密集地狩獵羚羊和鹿，在比較乾旱的地區狩獵野山羊和馬。

2. 居住空間與商業

   The Natufians had a different settlement pattern from that of their predecessors. Some of their base camps were far larger (over 1,000 square meters) than any of those belonging to earlier periods, and they may have lived in some of these camps for half the year or even more. In some of the camps, people made foundations and other architectural elements out of limestone blocks. Trade in shell, obsidian, and other commodities seems to have been on the rise, and anthropologists suspect that the exchange of perishables (such as skins, foodstuffs) and salt was also on the increase. With the growing importance of wild cereals in the diet, salt probably became for the first time a near necessity: people who eat a lot of meat get many essential salts from this diet, but diets based on cereals can be deficient in salts. Salt was probably also important as a food preservative in early villages.

   納圖菲人的定居模式與他們的前輩不同。他們的一些大本營比屬於早期的任何一個大本營都要大得多（超過 1,000 平方米），而且他們可能在其中一些大本營中生活了半年甚至更長時間。在一些營地中，人們用石灰石塊製作地基和其他建築元素。貝殼、黑曜石和其他商品的貿易似乎一直在增加，人類學家懷疑易腐物品（如皮毛、食品）和鹽的交換也在增加。隨著野生穀物在飲食中的重要性日益增加，鹽可能第一次成為一種近乎必需品：吃很多肉的人從這種飲食中獲得許多必需的鹽，但以穀物為主的飲食可能缺乏鹽。在早期的村莊，鹽可能也是重要的食品防腐劑。

3. 工藝品與墓葬

   As always, there is more to a major cultural change than simply a shift in economics. The Natufians made (and presumably wore) beads and pendants in many materials, including gemstones and marine shells that had to be imported, and it is possible that this ornamentation actually reflects a growing sense of ethnic identity and perhaps some differences in personal and group status. Cleverly carved figurines of animals, women, and other subjects occur in many sites, and Natufian period cave paintings have been found in Anatolia, Syria, and Iran. More than 400 Natufian burials have been found, most of them simple graves set in house floors. As archaeologist Belfer-Cohen notes, these burials may reflect an ancestor cult and a growing sense of community emotional ties and attachment to a particular place, and toward the end of the Natufian period, people in this area were making a strict separation between living quarters and burial grounds. In contrast with the Pleistocene cultures of the Levant, Natufian culture appears to have experienced considerable social change.

   像往常一樣，一個重大的文化變化不僅僅是經濟上的轉變。納圖菲亞人用許多材料製作（並可能佩戴）珠子和吊墜，包括必須進口的寶石和海洋貝殼，這種裝飾品可能實際上反映了日益增長的種族認同感，也許還有個人和群體地位的一些差異。巧妙地雕刻動物、婦女和其他主題的小雕像出現在許多遺址中，在安納托利亞、敘利亞和伊朗都發現了納圖菲亞時期的洞穴壁畫。已經發現了 400 多座納圖菲亞時期的墓葬，其中大部分是鑲嵌在房屋地板上的簡單墳墓。正如考古學家貝爾弗．科恩所指出的，這些墓葬可能反映了一種祖先崇拜和日益增長的社區情感紐帶以及對某一特定地點的依戀，在納圖菲亞時期的末期，這一地區的人們正在將生活區和墓地嚴格分開。與黎凡特的更新世文化相比，納圖菲亞文化似乎經歷了相當大的社會變化。

4. 未知的研究課題

   The question of why the Natufians differed from their predecessors in these and other ways and why they made these first steps toward farming as a way of life remains unclear. There were climate changes, of course, and growing aridity and rising population densities may have forced them to intensify the exploitation of cereals, which in turn might have stimulated the development of sickles and other tools and the permanent communities that make agriculture efficient. But precisely how these factors interacted with others at play is poorly understood.

   為什麼納圖菲安人在這些方面和其他方面與他們的前輩不同，為什麼他們向農業這種生活方式邁出了第一步，這些問題仍然不清楚。當然，還有氣候的變化，日益乾旱和人口密度的增加可能迫使他們加強對穀物的開發，而這又可能刺激了鐮刀和其他工具的發展，以及使農業高效的永久性社區。但是，這些因素如何與其他因素相互作用，人們對此瞭解甚少。