(单词翻译:单击)
You might picture Neanderthals as cavemen gnawing on bones around a campfire. Which wouldn't be inaccurate. But Neanderthals may have also dined on roasted vegetables and known a bit about medicinal plants too. So says a study in the journal Naturwissenschaften (The Science of Nature).
谈到尼安德塔人，也许你会描绘出这样的画面：一位穴居人在篝火前啃骨头。这种看法并不准确。尼安德塔人可能也吃烤蔬菜，可能也懂一点草药知识。一项发表在《自然科学》上的研究如此说到。
Researchers analyzed hardened dental plaque from five Neanderthals found in El Sidrón cave, in northern Spain. Yes, 50,000-year-old dental plaque. And they found a lot lurking between the teeth. Like evidence of nuts, grasses and green veggies, chemical traces of wood smoke, and tiny, intact starch granules, proof Neanderthals ate their carbs.
研究人员分析了五名尼安德塔人硬化的牙菌斑，这五名尼安德塔人遗体在西班牙北部的El Sidrón cave被发现。这些牙菌斑已存在5万年了。他们发现牙齿间潜伏了许多物质，比如说坚果、青草和绿色蔬菜的残留物、炊烟的化学踪迹，还有微小的，完好无损的淀粉颗粒，都证明尼安德塔人也以碳水化合物为食。
And in one individual, they detected compounds found in the medicinal herbs chamomile and yarrow. The herbs have no nutritional value, and since Neanderthals did have the gene to detect the herbs' bitter taste, the researchers speculate that the cave dwellers were munching on them not as food—but to self-medicate. Not too far-fetched, they say, because primates like chimps also use medicinal plants.
在其中一具遗体上，研究人员探测出一种化合物，这种化合物也出现在洋甘菊和蓍草等草药内。这些草药没有营养价值，并且尼安德塔人也能识别草药的苦味，因此研究人员推断这些穴居人并不是把草药当做食物而大嚼特嚼，而是用它来自我治疗。据他们说，这并不牵强赴会，因为像黑猩猩这样的灵长类动物也食用草药。
Luckily for the scientists doing this detective work, Neanderthals may have known a thing or two about medicine, but they didn't get regular check-ups at the dentist.
对于从事这次侦探工作的科学家们来说很幸运，尼安德塔人虽然知道一点药物知识，但他们没有牙医为他们定期进行牙齿检查。
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