Why are scientists obsessed with the Black Sea? - Helen Farr and Jon Adams

翻译人员: Zizhuo Liang 校对人员: Helen Chang

It's midnight on September 16th, 2017,

2017年9月16日午夜,

60 kilometers off the Bulgarian coast

距离保加利亚海岸60公里的

and 2 kilometers beneath the Black Sea’s surface.

黑海海平面下2公里处，

A remotely operated vehicle surveys the seabed,

一个远程操作的 探测器正在探测海床，

transmitting video to researchers above as it goes.

向在地表的研究人员传送视频。

Suddenly, it discerns another ghostly vessel in the gloom.

忽然，它在黑暗中发现了 另一个幽灵般的容器。

But this is a relic from another age.

但这是另一个时代的遗物。

It's an undoubtedly ancient shipwreck,

这无疑是一艘古老的沉船，

but its mast, rowing benches, and some of its upper deck remain eerily intact.

但它的桅杆、划艇凳和一些 上层甲板完好地令人惊悚。

It might be an ancient Roman ship, but its appearance doesn’t quite match.

这可能是一艘古罗马时期的船， 但它的外观并不完全匹配。

Notably, its splayed rudder blade more closely resembles

值得注意的是，它的八字舵叶片更像

those depicted on an even older Greek vase.

那些画在更古老的 希腊花瓶上的图案。

To get a definitive answer, the research team takes three samples from the wreck

为了得到明确的答案， 研究小组从沉船上采集了三个样本

and radiocarbon dating confirms its ancient origins.

放射性碳年代测定 证实了它的古老起源。

The ship is dated to between 350 and 410 BCE.

这艘船的年代 在公元前350年到410年之间。

It is, in fact, the oldest intact shipwreck ever found.

事实上，这是迄今为止发现的 最古老且完整的沉船。

This ancient Greek vessel traversed the Black Sea’s coasts

这艘古希腊船只曾在 亚里士多德时期横穿黑海海岸。

during the time of Aristotle and has since rested in its depths,

从那时起， 它就永远的栖息在了深处，

unseen and undisturbed, for almost 2,500 years.

从未发现，从未被干扰， 将近2500年了。

This was just one of 65 shipwrecks a research team discovered

这只是一个研究小组发现的 在2015年至2017年间

at the bottom of the Black Sea between 2015 and 2017.

在黑海海底发现的 65起沉船中的一艘。

Others date from the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman empires.

另一些沉船起源于罗马、 拜占庭和奥斯曼帝国。

And despite the centuries, they’ve all survived in remarkable condition.

尽管经历了几个世纪，它们都在 非凡的条件下生存了下来。

So, why does the Black Sea contain so many well-preserved shipwrecks?

那么，为什么黑海有这么多 保存完好的沉船？

In prehistoric times,

在史前时代，

the land surrounding the Black Sea hosted early human settlements.

黑海周围的土地是 早期人类住区的所在地。

Eventually, it became a hub for trade, battle, and empire-building

最终，它成为了贸易、 战争和帝国建设的中心，

because of its strategic position

因为它的战略地位

between eastern and western Eurasian civilizations.

位于欧亚大陆东西方文明之间。

For thousands of years, it was traversed by merchants, pirates, and warriors.

几千年来，商人、 海盗和战士们一直横穿此地。

And with sustained seafaring activity came inevitable losses.

持续的航海活动 带来了不可避免的损失。

But unlike other bodies of water in the region,

但与该地区的其他水体不同，

the Black Sea is a particularly deep, semi-enclosed basin.

黑海是一个特别深的半封闭盆地。

Seasonal changes usually cause the layers within a contained body of water

季节性变化通常会导致 水体中的分层混合，

to mix together, oxygenating the water.

并与氧气结合。

But because the Black Sea is fed with fresh water from European rivers,

但由于黑海是由欧洲河流的淡水 和地中海的盐水组成的，

and saltwater from the Mediterranean Sea, it contains two distinct layers.

因此它包含两个不同的层。

The denser saltwater flows beneath the freshwater,

密度更高的盐水在淡水下流动，

where it remains permanently,

并在淡水下永久存在，

making the Black Sea the world’s largest meromictic— or un-mixing— basin.

这使黑海成为世界上最大的 半冰期或非混合盆地。

Oxygen doesn’t reach its lower, saltier zone,

氧气没有到达较低的含盐区域，

which creates the ideal environment for preservation,

为船只的保护创造了理想的环境，

and is why the Black Sea has been called “the world’s biggest pickle jar.”

这也是黑海被称为 “世界上最大的泡菜罐”的原因。

In other bodies of water, marine organisms decompose materials over time.

在其他水体中，海洋生物会 随着时间的推移分解物质。

Had the ancient Greek ship sunk in the Mediterranean, for example,

例如，如果古希腊船只 沉没在地中海里，

there would likely be no organic material left today.

可能今天就没有剩余的有机物质了。

But in the depths of the Black Sea,

但在黑海深处，

only anaerobic bacteria— those that don’t require oxygen— can survive.

只有不需要氧气的 厌氧细菌才能生存。

This is why ancient ships can still be found carrying their original cargo,

这就是为什么人们仍然可以发现 古代船只所携带的原始货物，

with carvings in their wood, and their rigging still assembled.

木头上的雕刻， 和仍然组装在一起的索具。

Among the recent findings was a medieval Italian merchant ship,

在最近的发现中， 有一艘中世纪的意大利商船，

likely from around the time Italy had a virtual monopoly over Black Sea trade.

很可能来自于在意大利 几乎垄断黑海贸易的时期。

Venetian traveler Marco Polo would’ve probably been familiar

威尼斯旅行者马可波罗

可能对这种船很熟悉。

with this kind of ship.

Although vessels like this one helped to modernize Europe,

虽然像这样的船只 曾帮助欧洲走向现代化，

contemporary scholars had never before seen such a complete example.

当代学者从未见过 保存如此完好的例子。

And it was largely intact—

它基本上完好无损—

a ship’s boat still lying on its deck,

一艘船的小艇仍躺在它的甲板上，

even though some seven centuries had passed.

尽管已经过去了大约七个世纪。

Many of the 65 ships that were recently uncovered

最近被发现的65艘船中有很多

have retained their original forms.

保留了原有的形式。

But while there are far fewer degradative forces at play in the Black Sea’s depths,

但尽管黑海深处 起降解作用的力量极少，

anaerobic bacteria do gradually weaken organic materials.

厌氧菌也确实会逐渐削弱有机物质。

When researchers lifted a plank from the ancient Greek wreck for dating,

当研究人员从古希腊残骸中 取出一块木板进行年代测定时，

it broke under its own weight.

它因承受不了 自己的重量而破碎了。

While the ships are exceptionally well-preserved, they're also fragile.

虽然这些船只保存得非常完好， 但同时它们也很脆弱。

This makes it impossible to bring them to the surface intact.

这使得它们不可能 被完好无损地打捞上岸。

Scientists may carefully remove and study select objects from the wreckages.

科学家们可能会小心地从残骸中 移除并研究选定的物体。

But the sunken ships will remain protected where they are,

但沉船会继续留在 它受保护的海底，

perhaps among thousands of others—

也许与上千只沉船一起 —

deep beneath us, suspended in time, at the bottom of the Black Sea.

在我们脚下的深处，在黑海海底， 继续被时间所冻结。