Indonesian cave art said to be earliest known record of“storytelling”

题材文章词数考古340 难度 ★★★体裁建议用时新闻6 min

难词探意

1. buffalo /ɪbʌfələʊ/ n. 水牛；野牛

2. warty /ɪwɔːti/ adj. 长疣的

A cave painting found on an Indonesian island appears to be the earliest known record of storytelling through pictures. A team of Indonesian and Australian researchers say the workdates backnearly 44，000 years. That is several thousand years older than European examples of cave art that appear to tell a story.

The painting was found in a limestone cave on the island of Sulawesi in 2017. It shows eight human-like beings hunting six animals. Among the animals are native species such asbuffaloesandwartypigs. The researchers say the painting suggests a “game drive， a communal hunt”. The human-like creatures appear to be carrying ropes and spears. This， the researchers say，shows that the Sulawesi huntersat that timemay have attempted to capture live adult pigs and buffaloes.

The Indonesian cave painting also provides some of the earliest evidence of human spirituality， said Adam Brumm. He is an archaeologist at Australia's Griffith University， whichcarried outthe research. Brumm was a co-writer of a report on the study. The report said the eight creatures seen carrying out the hunt have some human-like qualities and some qualities of animals. Researchers call these creatures “therianthropes”. Brumm said that therianthropes appear in stories and myths across cultures. “Theyare seen asgods， spirits， or ancestral beings in many religions worldwide，” he added.

The Griffith researchers said cave art on Sulawesi was first discovered in the 1950s.At least242 caves and shelters containing such imagery have been found in the years since. The islandwasonceknown asCelebes.

Some of the caves have seen damaged. This could threaten the art， said Adhi Agus Oktaviana， an Indonesian expert on rock art. He is a Griffith University doctoral student whowas involvedin the research. He pointed to threats

Reading Check

1. What does paragraph 2 mainly talk about?

A. The origin of the painting.

B. The contents of the painting.

C. The category of the painting.

D. The exploration of the painting.

2. What can be inferred from paragraph 3?

A. Hunting is the everlasting theme of the painting.

B. Adam Brumm alone finished a report on the study.

C. Therianthropes might be a symbol of religion beliefs.

D. The painting reflects the whole evidence of human spirituality.

3. What does the underlined phrase “a tragedy”in paragraph 5 mean?

A. A very slow change.

B. A very important factor.

C. A very sad event or situation.

D. A very far-reaching influence.

4. From which column can this article be most easily found in a magazine?

A. Science. B. Discovery.

D. Amusement. B. Technology.

Language Study

Memorize the following phrases andfrom salt， dust， smoke and microorganisms.Oktaviana added that， “It would be a tragedy if these exceptional old artworks should disappear in our own lifetime， but it is happening.”

A paper on the research appeared this month in the scientific publication Nature.complete the sentences below with them.

date back 追溯到；回溯到

at that time 在那时

carry out 执行；实现；贯彻

be seen as 被看成……

at least 至少

be known as... 以……而著名

be involved in... 参与；涉及；介入

1. I spent ________two hours walking around the interior and the surrounding piazza， taking in the visual and historical feast before me.

2. Lanterns， which ________thousands of years， can be seen all over the world wherever Chinese exist.

3. Einstein was to ________the genius who discovered many useful scientific theories.

4. As we did not have the money to________the project， we had to put it aside.

5. Past performance should not ________an indication of future performance.

6. It was exciting to ________a game like this and that has been the biggest game of my career so far.

7. However， ________， Rob was fearful that he would not be able to live up to the “perfection” expected from the character Edward Cullen.