双语阅读｜女性可能是古代世界强有力的统治者

A discovery in Spain has experts wondering whether women were once powerful rulers in ancient Europe.

西班牙的一项发现让专家们怀疑古代欧洲的女性是否曾经是强有力的统治者。

A treasure trove of jewelry, including a silver diadem – a jeweled headband worn as a symbol of sovereignty – was uncovered by archaeologists at La Almoloya, a site in Murcia, southeastern Spain that is the cradle of the El Argar civilization, which lived in the region during the Bronze Age.

考古学家在西班牙东南部穆尔西亚(Murcia)的La Almoloya遗址发现了一批珍贵的珠宝，其中包括一顶银王冠——一种作为主权象征佩戴的珠宝头饰。这里是青铜时代生活在该地区的El Argar文明的摇篮。

La Almoloya was a primary center of politics and wealth in the El Argar territory, and although the discovery was made in 2014, experts are now taking a closer look at the sociological and political context of the unearthed treasure.

La Almoloya是El Argar领土上主要的政治和财富中心，尽管这一发现是在2014年发现的，但专家们现在正在更仔细地研究出土宝藏的社会和政治背景。

The remains of a woman, along with a man who may have been her consort, were discovered in the forested hills of the area. Radiocarbon dating suggests the burial happened around 1700 BC, and researchers believe that the woman had a prominent role in her community.

在该地区森林茂密的山上发现了一具女子的遗骸，以及一具可能是她配偶的男子。放射性碳定年法表明，这场葬礼发生在公元前1700年左右，研究人员认为这位妇女在她的社区中扮演着重要角色。

The pair were found with 30 objects containing precious metals and semi-precious stones, including the silver diadem with a disc-shaped appendix that would have been worn pointing downwards, which encircled the skull of the woman.

在这对珠宝中发现了30件含有贵金属和半宝石的物品，其中包括银王冠，上面有一个盘状的附件，可能是向下佩戴的，它环绕着这名女子的头骨。

Experts believe that the man in the grave was probably a warrior; wear and tear on his bones indicate he spent a lot of time on horseback, and his skull had deep scars from a facial injury, while gold plugs through his earlobes indicated he was someone of distinction.

专家们认为，墓穴中的男子可能是一名战士;他的骨头上的磨损和撕裂表明他在马背上度过了很长时间，他的头骨上有面部受伤留下的深深的疤痕，而耳垂上的金栓表明他是一个杰出的人。

The woman, dubbed the “Princess of La Almoloya”, was buried a short time after the man, with particular grandiosity: bracelets, earlobe plugs, rings, and spirals of silver wires, to name a few. The grave goods of the woman were worth tens of thousands of dollars in today’s money.

这位被称为“拉·阿尔莫洛亚公主”的女子被埋葬在男子之后不久，陪葬物特别奢华:手镯、耳垂塞、戒指和螺旋状的银线，等等。这个女人的陪葬品按今天的货币价值数万美元。

“We have two ways of interpreting this,” says archaeologist Roberto Risch of the Autonomous University of Barcelona. “Either you say, it's just the wife of the king; or you say, no, she’s a political personality by herself.”

“我们有两种解释方法，”巴塞罗那自治大学的考古学家罗伯托·里什说。“要么你说，这只是国王的妻子;或者你会说，不，她本身就是一个政治人物。”

Risch is a co-author of a study that was recently published about the important findings, that noted the building under which the grave was found was of equal importance – possibly being one of the first Bronze Age palaces identified in Western Europe.

Risch是最近发表的一项关于重要发现的研究的合著者，该研究指出，墓穴被发现的建筑也同样重要——可能是西欧发现的最早的青铜时代宫殿之一。

The original excavation was conducted by researchers at the University of Barcelona’s Department of Prehistory. Archaeologists also found an urban plan made up of fully equipped buildings, dozens of tombs, and evidence that there were several residential complexes, with eight to 10 rooms in each building. It was also the first time a building specifically dedicated to governing purposes had been discovered in Western Europe– a wide hall was excavated, with high ceilings, a podium, and a capacity for 64 people to sit on benches that lined the walls.

最初的挖掘工作是由巴塞罗那大学史前学系的研究人员进行的。考古学家还发现了一份由设备齐全的建筑、数十座坟墓和若干住宅建筑群组成的城市平面图，每栋建筑有8至10个房间。这也是第一次在西欧发现专门用于治理目的的建筑——一个宽阔的大厅被挖掘出来，有高高的天花板，一个讲台，可以容纳64人坐在靠墙排列的长凳上。

The discovery at La Almoloya shed new light on the politics and gender relations in one of the first urban societies of the West. Previous findings have revealed that women were considered adults at a much younger age than boys were. Excavated grave goods have highlighted that girls as young as six were buried with knives and tools, but boys would be in their teens by the time they would be buried alongside such ornaments.

在La Almoloya的发现为西方最早的城市社会之一的政治和性别关系提供了新的视角。此前的研究表明，女性被认为是成年人的年龄要比男孩小得多。出土的墓葬物品表明，只有6岁的女孩陪葬的是刀具和工具，但男孩在十几岁时就会陪葬在这些饰品旁边。

Additionally, the graves of some women from El Argar were reopened generations later to inter other men and women, an unusual practice that experts believe would have been a very high honor.

此外，El Argar的一些女性的坟墓在几代人之后重新开放，埋葬其他男性和女性，专家认为这是一种非同寻常的做法，是一种非常崇高的荣誉。

“What exactly their political power was, we don't know,” Risch adds. “But this burial at La Almoloya questions the role of women in [Bronze Age] politics… it questions a lot of conventional wisdom.”.“

我们不知道他们的政治权力到底是什么，”里什补充道。“但在La Almoloya的这场葬礼质疑了女性在(青铜时代)政治中所扮演的角色……它质疑了许多传统智慧。”