Here in this remote valley is the world's oldest known paintings of animals. The discovery, made by Basran Burhan, a doctoral student at Australia's Griffith University.

在这个偏远的山谷里，有世界上已知最古老的动物绘画。它是由澳大利亚格里菲斯大学的博士生巴斯兰·伯翰发现的。

 

Basran Burhan, archaeologist

On a map, we found this unique location. The area is surrounded by mountains, and in the middle, there is this valley. So, we were curious and decided¹ to explore. The name means ‘buffalo cave'. During the monsoon², this area easily floods. So, in the past, our ancestors kept their buffaloes³ inside the cave, to protect them.

巴斯兰·伯翰       考古学家

“我们在地图上找到了这个独特的地点。这一带群山环绕，山谷坐落在中央。所以我们很好奇，决定前去一探究竟。这个名字的意思是‘水牛洞'。季风时节，这一带易发洪水。所以在远古时代，我们的祖先为了保护水牛，会把它们赶到洞里。”

 

Fifty metres inside the cave, they found this panel that appears to tell the story of wild pigs fighting.

在洞穴内50米处，他们发现了这处壁画，似乎讲述了野猪搏斗的故事。

 

Basran Burha, archaeologist

The panel expresses quite a complex narrative⁴. Two boars are painted on top of each other. If we look closely at [the] pigs, it looks like the artist has used a brush dipped into paint to make the strokes on the cave wall. We see a different style with the hands. It appears as if a spray technique was used. They put their hands on the wall and then sprayed the pigment⁵ on.

巴斯兰·伯翰       考古学家

“这处壁画讲述了一个相当复杂的故事。有两只野猪，一只被画在了另一只上方。如果我们仔细观察这些猪，会发现作画者是用刷子蘸着颜料，一笔笔画在洞壁上的。这边，手印的绘画风格有所不同。看上去像是用了喷涂技术，先把手按在墙上，然后将颜料喷了上去。”

 

Using a uranium series isotope⁶ dating technique, it's been revealed that it was made more than 45,000 years ago.

利用铀系同位素测年技术，人们发现这是4万千多年前被画出来的。

 

The team of archaeologists behind the discovery say even older paintings may be found in nearby caves.

发现这个洞穴的考古学家团队表示，在附近其它洞穴内甚至可能会发现更古老的绘画。

 

This ancient art, a source of great national pride.

这项古老的艺术是民族自豪感的源泉。

 

Researchers are warning that the art is decaying at an alarming rate due to the effects of climate change, rising temperatures causing these ancient paintings to crumble⁷.

研究人员警告说，由于气候变化的影响，这些壁画正以惊人的速度消退，气温上升导致了这些古老的画作支离破碎。

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