一座婴儿古墓中发现驱邪用的“发声玩具” [美国媒体]

Evil-Thwarting 'Rattles' Found in Prehistoric Infant's Grave

一座史前时期的婴儿墓中发现驱邪用的“发声玩具”



This infant lived around 4,500 years ago and was buried in a birchbark cradle with eight intricately carved figurines. The infant also wears headgear made from 11 copper plaques sewn together.
Credit: Image courtesy Yury Esin

墓中的婴儿生活在大约4500年前，下葬时被放在桦树皮制成的摇篮里，陪葬品为八个精细雕刻的小玩偶。该婴儿的头饰由11块铜片缝制成而成。
来源：Image courtesy Yury Esin

Tiny figurines that may have been used as rattling toys or charms to ward off evil spirits were discovered in the grave of an infant dating back 4,500 years, archaeologists say.

在这座已有4500年历史的婴儿墓中发现的小玩偶，应该是用来驱魔的发声玩具或者装饰品，考古学家说。

The burial was discovered on the northwest shore of Lake Itkul in the Minusinsk basinin Russia. The infant's remains, which were found in what appears to be a birchbark cradle, suggest he or she was less than a year old at death. On the infant's chest, archaeologists found "eight miniature horn figurines representing humanlike characters and heads of birds, elk, boar and a carnivore,"wrote archaeologists Andrey Polyakov and Yury Esin, in an article published recently in the journal Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia.

这座墓位于俄罗斯境内Minusinsk盆地的Itkul湖西北岸。出土的婴儿遗物包括一个看起来像是桦树皮做的摇篮，说明他或者她去世时不到一岁。在婴儿的胸部，考古学家发现了“八个小巧的角质小玩偶，有人形的，还有鸟头、麋鹿、野猪和食肉动物形状的，”考古学家Andrey Polyakov和Yury Esin在最近发表在《Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia》杂志上的文中写到。

The intricately carved figurines were likely made from deer antlers and have traces of red paint on them. "Some of [the figurines] have internal cavities and, upon coming in contact with each other, could produce noisy sounds like modern rattles," wrote Polyakov, of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Esin, of the Khakassian Research Institute of Language, Literature and History. 

这些雕刻精美的玩偶应该是用鹿角制成的，并且上面还绘有红色的图案。“一些（玩偶）是中空的，内有多个相连的空洞，可以像现代婴儿发声玩具那样产生声响，”俄罗斯科学院的Polyakov和Khakassian语言文字历史研究所的Esin写道。

The figurines would have been attached in some way to the cradle, the researchers say. They could have functioned as toys and may also have protected the infant from evil powers. "Various apotropaic charms are a necessary element of cradle decoration in the traditional cultures," Polyakov and Esin wrote.

研究者说，这些玩偶应该是用某种方式与摇篮连在一起的，作为玩具的同时也有祈福辟邪的作用。“在传统文化中，多种多样的辟邪饰物是摇篮的一种必要组成部分，”Polyakov和Esin写道。

Archaeologists cannot rule out the possibility that the figurines have "no relation to the cradle, and [were] placed into the burial to ensure successful transition of the deceased child to the next world," they wrote.

考古学家也无法排除另一种可能性，即这些玩偶“与摇篮无关，（被）置于墓中是为了确保逝去的婴儿能够成功达到下一个世界，”他们写道。

Headgear

头饰

The infant also had some interesting headgear. The infant's head was turned toward the southwest, and, on the skull, archaeologists found 11 small copper plaques, 10 of which were made from a thin oval copper plate no more than a half inch (1.5 centimeters) across, the archaeologists said.
Each of the plaques had two fastening holes, where thin leather laces would've been threaded through to attach them to one another. The cap could then be placed on the infant's head. Remains of those laces were also found in the burial.

墓中的婴儿还戴着有趣的头饰。婴儿的头被转向西南方，并且考古学家们在颅骨上发现了11片小铜板，其中10片是由椭圆形的薄铜片制成，铜片直径不超过半英寸（1.5厘米），考古学家如是说。每个铜板上都有两个系扣用的洞，应该是有细皮带穿过以将它们依次连接在一起。制成帽子，戴在婴儿头上。在墓中亦发现了那些细皮带的遗骸。

One of the plaques, located at the top of the infant's headgear, was made of two metallic cones that would have been sewn together. "Probably these were adornments of the child's cap," Polyakov and Esin wrote. They note that an earring was also found to the left of the infant's skull.

其中一块铜板位于婴儿头饰的顶上，是由两个金属筒缝在一起制成的。“可能是儿童帽上的装饰物，”Polyakov和Esin写道。 他们还注明，在婴儿颅骨左侧找到了一件耳饰。

The infant's people

婴儿的族人

The infant was buried along with several other people in a burial mound called a kurgan. The people buried in the mound were part of what modern-day archaeologists call the Okunev culture.

这名婴儿和另外一些人葬在一起，他们的坟墓垒成一个土丘，称作坟墩（kurgan）。这些人所属的文明，被现代考古学家称为Okunev文明。

Although writing had not yet spread to this part of the world, "the Okunev people had mastered processing of copper and bronze manufacture from which they cast blades, daggers, axes and spear-heads, fishing hooks and other tools and ornaments," Esin told Live Science in an email. In addition to metal, these people continued to use tools made of stone and bone, Esin added.

尽管该文明并未发明、使用文字，“Okunev人却有着发达的铜器和青铜器制造业，他们锻造刀刃、匕首、斧子以及矛尖、鱼钩等工具和装饰品，” Esin在写给Live Science的电子邮件中称。作为金属的补充，这些人也继续使用石器和骨器，Esin补充说。

"People who were buried in this kurgan were early herders. We have images of domesticated animals (especially bulls), carts and wagons in Okunev rock art,"  Esin wrote.

“葬在这个坟墩中的是早期的牧民。我们在Okunev岩画中看到了家畜（特别是公牛）、推车和马车，”Esin写道。

The Okunev people may have venerated anthropomorphic [part-human and part-animal] deities. "In my view the anthropomorphic images in Okunev art could represent deities. In this period here in Minusinsk basin people have quite complicated mythology and rituals," Esin told Live Science.

Okunev人可能崇拜拟人神（半人半动物）。“以我的理解，Okunev岩画中的拟人图案是在表现神明。此时期生活在Minusinsk盆地的人有着非常复杂的神话体系和宗教仪式，”Esin告诉Live Science说。

The work was supported by the Russian Foundation for the Humanities.

这项考古工作由俄罗斯人文基金资助。