Archaeology (考古学) originated from man's desire to uncover buried wealth.Today, it has developed into a discipline, leading to an unprecedented era of discovery that influenced the understanding of our species’ rich diversity, as well as our common humanity.
As far back as the last king of Babylon, more than 2,500 years ago, rulers and the rich loved collecting antiques,reflecting the beauty and glory of previous times. Roman emperors transported Egyptian pillars across the Mediterranean to their capital. During the Renaissance Venetians erected (竖立) many monuments in memory of the Ancient Civilization. Throughout the 18th century,on both sides of the Atlantic, ancient sites were frequently dug out. However, few of these diggers were dedicated scholars. More often than not, they were diplomats or wealthy businessmen intimately tied to colonial expansion. It was not until the mid-twentieth century that the educated professionals realized that the most valuable materials lay not in the gold retrieved(重新获取), but in the data locked within broken pottery and discarded bones.
New methods of recording fine layers of soil provided new ways to reconstruct day-to-day life. Starting in the 1950s, measuring the radioactive decay of organic matter enabled researchers to date artifacts (人工制品). Nowadays, archeology is done much less in the fields than in the lab Revolutionary technology in DNA analysis,satellite images and X-ray fluorescence (荧光)allow scientists to probe sites and artifacts without putting a spade into soil or cutting a sample from a valued museum object.
Nowadays, however, the destructed ancient sites across the Middle East and Central Asia are all the more terrible because impoverished (贫穷的) villagers have little resources to protect them Threats to the heritage come from terrorists, as well as buyers and sellers of the artifacts.Even peace and prosperity may pose dangers, when new construction destroys ancient remains.
Nevertheless,the increasing number of professional researchers is revitalizing the field.In addition,archaeologists are now working more closely with their colleagues in other disciplines They are charting global change through the ages with climatologists,collaborating with chemists to trace the ancient spread of drugs,and investigating more precise dating methods with physicists.
The task of archaeologists is not to find buried treasure but to resurrect (使复活) the long dead, turning them back into individuals who, like us, struggled and loved, created and destroyed and who,in the end, left behind something of themselves.
【小题1】Why did the rich in Babylon gohect ancient antiques?
| A．To improve taste |
| B．To accumulate wealth. |
| C．To understand themselves. |
| D．To reflect ancient glory. |
| A．By listing examples. |
| B．By offering statistics. |
| C．By raising assumptions. |
| D．By making comparisons. |
| A．Professional archaeologists. |
| B．Ambitious colonialists. |
| C．Dealers of the antiques. |
| D．Poor local villagers. |
| A．A research paper. |
| B．A travel brochure. |
| C．A history textbook. |
| D．A science magazine. |
