(单词翻译:单击)
Scientists often use the phrase "anatomically modern humans"
科学家们经常用“解剖学上的现代人”
to describe the point when our ancient ancestors looked like us large skull, high forehead, small-ish jaw.
来形容远古祖先长得像我们的大头骨、高额头、小下巴的时期。
And they think that happened roughly , 200,000 years ago.
他们认为那大概发生在20万年前。
But the shape of their skulls doesn't necessarily tell us how those people thought.
但头骨的形状并不一定能告诉我们那些人是怎么想的。
So, when did our ancestors' brains become capable of symbolic thinking, advanced problem solving, and writing song lyrics?
那么，我们祖先的大脑是什么时候开始具备象征性思维、高级问题解决能力，还能写歌词的呢？
In other words, when did Homo sapiens become behaviorally modern?
换句话说，智人是什么时候在行为方面变得现代的呢？
Well, it's pretty hard to tell that from the fossil record.
好吧，从化石记录中很难分辨。
It's not like singing — or other behaviors — can be fossilized!
唱歌或者其他行为很难有化石记录！
Plus, there was no eureka moment when we became behaviorally modern.
另外，当我们的行为变得现代化时，并未出现顿悟时刻。
Skills like planning, creativity, and speech evolved slowly over millions of years.
像计划、创造力和言语这样的技能在数百万年中慢慢发展。
So, to figure this out, scientists look at migration patterns, stone tools, carved shells, cave art, and other artifacts.
因此，为了弄清这一点，科学家们研究了迁徙模式、石器、雕刻贝壳、洞穴艺术和人造制品。
And they speculate whether those things required basic brain power or more advanced smarts.
他们推测这些东西是否需要基本的脑力或更高级的智能。
And that's been enough to give us a rough idea of what happened when.
这足以让我们大致了解当时发生了什么。
For example, one thing they study is hafted weapons — spears made by mounting a sharpened stone or bone onto a stick.
例如，他们研究的一件物品是用斧头武器——把锋利的石头或骨头装在棍子上制成的长矛。
Because while making basic stone tools requires some foresight and imagination,
因为虽然制作基本的石器需要一些远见和想象力，
you don't need what scientists consider modern levels of problem-solving.
但并不需要科学家所认为的现代水平的解决问题方式。
The oldest hafted spears date from about , 500,000 years ago, but they're more common starting around 300,000 years ago.
最古老的斧状矛可以追溯到大约50万年前，但在30万年前更为常见。
To make them, our ancestors sharpened stone or bone tips and whittled sticks into a shaft.
为了制作它们，我们的祖先把石头或骨头尖削尖，把棍子削成一个轴。
Then, by about 70,000 years ago, they had developed an especially complex version of this process. They'd invented glue.
随后在大约7万年前，他们发明了一种特别复杂的工艺，即胶水。
They mixed together things like sticky tree gum, crushed ochre rocks, and fat, and cooked them over a fire to attach the spearhead to the stick.
他们把粘糊糊的树胶、碾碎的赭石和脂肪混合在一起，放在火上煮，把矛头固定在棍子上。
They experimented with different ingredients, temperatures, and cooking times to manufacture the sturdiest weapons.
他们用不同的原料、温度和煮制时间来制造最坚固的武器。
Archeologists have recreated this process, and they found that the innovation, trial-and-error,
考古学家重新创造了这一过程，他们发现，创新、反复试验
and mental flexibility required was a challenge even for them.
和心理灵活性对他们来说也是一个挑战。
And they can, like, ask a chemist for help.
他们可以向化学家求助。
Speaking of which, the ancient hominins who made these tools would have had to ask each other
说到这一点，制造这些工具的古人类就不得不互相请教，
for tips on how to make the strongest glue and the sharpest stones.
如何制造最坚固的胶水和最锋利的石头。
They also needed to communicate effectively to migrate long distances to new territories.
他们还需要进行有效的沟通，以便长途跋涉到新地域。
Which gives us a clue to when language entered the picture.
这为我们提供了语言出现的线索。
Based on migration patterns, anatomy, and tool-making, most scientists estimate that our ancestors could produce well-formed, meaningful sentences by around 200,000 years ago --
根据迁移模式、解剖学和工具制造，大多数科学家估计，我们的祖先在大约20万年前就可以组织出结构良好、有意义的句子，
though some argue truly modern language is only 50,000 years old.
尽管有人认为真正的现代语言只有5万年的历史。
So, by a couple hundred thousand years ago, our ancestors probably had fairly sophisticated language and planning skills.
所以，在几十万年前，我们的祖先可能已经有了相当复杂的语言和计划技能。
But what about the most defining characteristics of behaviorally modern humans abstract thought and creativity?
但是，现代人抽象思维和创造力的行为特征是什么呢？
Scientists see evidence of that in a special kind of rock ochre.
科学家在一种特殊的赭石上看到了有关这点的证据。
Ochre refers to any rock rich in iron oxide that yields red, yellow, or brown pigments.
赭石是指任何富含氧化铁的岩石，能产生红色、黄色或棕色颜料。
Our ancestors made these pigments by scraping or crushing ochre with a stone tool,
我们的祖先用石制工具刮削或压碎赭石，
mixing the powder with water, and sometimes heating it to transform it from yellow to red.
将粉末与水混合，有时加热使其从黄色变为红色。
They then used these pigments — especially red — to paint tools, beads, shells, and possibly their bodies.
然后他们用这些颜料，尤其是红色，来给工具、珠子、贝壳，甚至可能还有他们的身体上色。
Scientists think this indicates that the colorful decoration symbolized something to these communities.
科学家们认为，这表明五颜六色的装饰对这些群落具有象征意义。
The oldest evidence of our ancestors using these pigments are a couple of scraped ochre rocks from Kenya dating to about 300,000 years ago.
我们祖先使用这些颜料的最古老证据，来自肯尼亚的几块距今约30万年前的赭石。
But archaeologists have uncovered more advanced uses of ochre dating to around 100,000 years ago.
但是考古学家发现了更多赭石的高级用途，可以追溯到10万年前。
At a site known as Blombos Cave in South Africa, they found ochre-processing toolkits made of shells, stones and bones.
在南非的布隆伯斯洞穴，他们发现了用贝壳、石头和骨头制作的一套赭石工具。
They also unearthed an engraved piece of ochre that is considered the oldest piece of abstract art in the world.
他们还出土了一块赭石雕刻品，被认为是世界上最古老的抽象艺术作品。
In a 2020 study, scientists used the Blombos Cave ochres to investigate how symbolic behavior may have evolved.
在2020年的一项研究中，科学家们利用布隆伯斯洞穴的赭石来研究象征行为可能的演变方式。
Researchers took ochre and ostrich shells that our ancestors had engraved with lines and hashtag patterns between 110,000 and 52,000 years ago.
研究人员采集了我们的祖先在11万至5.2万年前，刻上线条和标签图案的赭石和鸵鸟壳。
The scientists showed these ancient carvings to modern humans and asked them to remember and reproduce them.
科学家们向现代人类展示了这些古代雕刻品，并要求他们记住并复制出来。
They found that, as the engravings became more recent, participants paid more attention to them,
他们发现，雕刻品时间越接近现代，参与者们对它们的关注度就越高，
remembered them better, and drew them more accurately.
能够更清楚的记住，画得也更准确。
The scientists concluded that, as the engravings evolved, they became more effective at provoking a cognitive response in the viewer.
科学家们得出的结论是，随雕刻品的演变，它们能够更有效地激发观看者的认知反应。
We don't know whether the engravers intended to inspire aesthetic pleasure, or convey group identity, or something else.
我们不知道雕刻工是想激发审美愉悦，还是传达群体认同，或是其他什么。
Whatever it was, the researchers don't think the lines represented anything, like trees or people or cheeseburgers.
不管是什么，研究人员认为这些线条代表不了树、人或奶酪汉堡等物品。
In other words, this doesn't provide evidence that these ancient hashtaggers were yet fully capable of symbolic, abstract thought.
换言之，这并不能证明这些古老的标签图案创作者完全有能力进行符号化、抽象化的思考。
But it does suggest they were at least on their way to a more modern way of thinking.
但这确实表明，他们至少正在朝着更现代的思维方式迈进。
The first examples of clearly symbolic, representational art that we know of are animal drawings from a cave in Borneo.
我们所知道的第一批具有明显象征意义的具象艺术，是婆罗洲一个洞穴中的动物画。
One of these images dates to at least 40,000 years ago.
其中一个图像至少可以追溯到4万年前。
And the first evidence of musical instruments dates to around the same time two 42,000 -year-old flutes unearthed in Germany.
第一批乐器方面的证据，可以追溯到大约同一时期在德国出土的两支42000年前的长笛。
So the consensus is that humans were only definitely behaviorally modern 40,000 to 50,000 years ago,
因此，人们的共识是，人类在4万到5万年前时，
when symbolic art and artifacts start to appear more consistently.
行为表现才具有现代性，那时象征性艺术和人工制品开始更加一致地出现。
But it's really hard to know for sure.
但很难确定。
Understanding how we became behaviorally modern can help us understand how, when, and why our ancestors migrated across the earth.
了解我们的行为如何演变成具有现代性，能帮我们理解祖先是如何、何时以及为什么在地球上迁移的。
It can tell us what cultures and skills they brought with them, and whether those abilities helped them outcompete other species of hominins.
它可以告诉我们他们带来了什么样的文化和技能，以及这些能力是否帮助他们战胜其他人类物种。
It can teach us how we developed the cognitive qualities that distinguish us from our ancestors and other creatures.
它可以教会我们如何发展出区别于祖先和其他生物的认知能力。
Ultimately, it reveals more about what it means to be human.
最终，它揭示了作为人类意味着什么。
And hey, I know of some especially great humans who are definitely capable of symbolic thought.
嘿，我知道有些特别出色的人，他们绝对有符号思维的能力。
It's our patrons.
他们就是我们的赞助人。
We are pretty sure hundreds of thousands of years of behavioral evolution were leading up to you specifically.
我们非常确定，几十万年的行为进化成就了你。
Patrons make it possible for us to make videos like these every single week, and to put them up for free.
赞助人使我们能够每周制作这样的视频，并免费发布。
If you would like to help us do that, check out patreon.com/scishow.
如果你愿意帮助我们，请登录patreon.com/scishow查看。
