英语新闻丨50年来，周口店首次发现！

China successfully identified a fragment of a skull that belongs to an ancient human being who lived about 200,000 years ago, scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences said, adding that the discovery will significantly contribute to human evolution studies at the renowned Zhoukoudian site.中国科学院科研团队表示，中国成功鉴定了一个大约生活在20万年前的古人类的头骨碎片，这一发现将对著名的周口店遗址的人类进化研究做出重大贡献。Researchers from the CAS' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology said in a statement on Monday that the fragment of a parietal bone was among fossils found at Location 15 of the Zhoukoudian site in suburban Beijing.7月17日，中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所科研团队在一份声明中表示，从北京郊区的周口店第15地点的化石中成功识别出一块顶骨碎片。Using new technology, including CT scans and 3D reconstructions, researchers at the institute recently identified the fragment among mammal fossils unearthed at the location more than 80 years ago. It has become the first hominin fossil found at Zhoukoudian over the past 50 years that belonged to the Pleistocene Epoch, which lasted from about 2.6 million to 12,000 years ago.该研究所的研究人员近期利用CT扫描和3D重建等新技术，在80多年前出土的哺乳动物化石中发现了这块碎片。该顶骨化石是过去50年来在周口店首次发现的更新世（大约为260万年前至1.2万年前）的古人类化石。The yellow-brownish fragment's thickness, curvature and size roughly matched those of a skull fossil previously found at Zhoukoudian, scientists said.研究人员表示，此次发现的标本呈黄褐色，其骨壁厚度、曲度和尺寸，可与之前在周口店发现的头骨化石大致重叠。Zhoukoudian has been a significant site in paleoanthropology, as it has yielded abundant evidence of ancient hominin activities.周口店是古人类学研究的重要遗址，在这里发现了大量古人类活动的证据。At various parts of the site over the past century, scientists unearthed the remains of early human lineage member Homo erectus "Peking Man" that date back more than 500,000 years, as well as of Homo sapiens "Shandingdong Man", identified as a primitive modern human, who lived just 30,000 years ago.在过去的一个世纪里，科学家们在该遗址的不同位置挖掘出50多万年前的直立人“北京人”的化石，还有3万年前的智人“山东人”的化石，属于原始现代人。Unfortunately, important fossils, including the invaluable Peking Man skulls, were lost during World War II when the Japanese Army invaded China and scientists tried to send the fossils to the United States. The skulls remain unaccounted for to this day.不幸的是，包括北京人头骨在内的重要化石，在第二次世界大战日军侵华期间丢失，科学家们试图将这些化石送到美国，但是这些头骨至今仍下落不明。All that remain are four fossilized teeth that were found during trial excavations in 1921 and 1923 and are being preserved in Uppsala, Sweden, as well as eight other teeth and a few fragmented limbs, frontal and occipital bones found after the war, the institute said. Scientists can only study those materials that were missing through plaster casts.该研究所表示，只剩下保存在瑞典乌普萨拉大学进化博物馆的1921年和1923年试掘获得的4枚牙齿，以及二战后发现的屈指可数的8枚牙齿和一些残缺的肢骨、额骨和枕骨碎片。科学家们只能通过石膏模型研究缺失的材料。For a long time, there was a lack of hominin fossils at Zhoukoudian that belonged to a period between Peking Man and Shandingdong Man. Before the recent discovery, a mere fossilized tooth found at Location 4 was the only fossil that had been dated to this period of time.长期以来，周口店地区缺乏属于北京人与山东人中间时期的古人类化石。在最近的发现之前，在第4地点发现的一枚牙齿化石是唯一可以追溯到这一时期的化石。Discovered in 1932, a systematic excavation at Location 15 between 1934 and 1937 unearthed many stone tools and fossils of various mammals that date back some 200,000 years.周口店第15地点发现于1932年，1934-1937年进行了系统性发掘，出土了大量的石器和各种哺乳动物的化石，这些化石距今约20万年左右。The hominin parietal bone fragment fossil found at Location 15 will greatly contribute to research on human evolution in the area through comparative anatomy and molecular biology, the institute said, adding that the discovery provides an essential sample for the study of ancient hominin in China.该研究所表示，周口店第15地点人类化石的发现，将有助于通过比较解剖学和分子生物学深入研究这个区域的人类演化，为探讨中国古人类的演化提供了重要的标本材料。Skull英 /skʌl/美 /skʌl/n.头骨Fragment英 /ˈfræɡmənt/美 /ˈfræɡmənt/n.碎片Fossil英 /ˈfɒsl/美 /ˈfɑːsl/n.化石