PBS高端访谈:从仿品中窥探制作工艺（在线收听）

JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally in our NewsHour Shares tonight: One scientist smashes, burns and hammers artifacts. But don't worry, they're replicas. And as science producer Nsikan Akpan explains, it's the key to understanding ancient human technology.

NSIKAN AKPAN: On the campus of Kent State University, you can literally hear the future of studying our past. This innovation is being made by Metin Eren, a rising star in the field of experimental archaeology.

METIN EREN, Director of Archaeology, Kent State University: Experimental archaeology is a way of studying ancient technologies by creating really accurate replicas. And because those replicas are worthless, we can throw them and break them and shoot them to figure out how they work, and reverse-engineer them.

NSIKAN AKPAN: The first human technology emerged three million years ago, and our tech became more and more complex as our ancestors spread across the globe and into North America.

METIN EREN: The Clovis point is North America's first invention that were made by the very first Stone Age Americans about 13,500 years ago. Clovis points are arguably the pinnacle of stone technology. There's nothing that's been made quite like it either before or after. But what's really unique about Clovis points is that they have got these channels, what are called flutes, that come from the base.

NSIKAN AKPAN: An Ice Age toolmaker would have needed hours to make a Clovis point, and Metin has found that creating the flutes is delicate work. The point can snap during the crucial last step, and a snapped point meant starvation for a Clovis hunter. The reason for the flutes, and their function, was an archaeological mystery for almost a century.

METIN EREN: It really was experimental archaeology that allowed us to crack the case. Clovis people, for all intents and purposes, actually invented shock absorption technology 13,500 years ago. These channels actually thinned the point so much that, upon impact, the base of the point would crumple, like the front end of a car, protecting the point from breaking in half. You have a much better chance of killing those animals for food or resources.

NSIKAN AKPAN: It's not just artifacts that Metin and his students are recreating. The sounds made by early stone tools may be important too.

METIN EREN: We made stone tools for three million years. There might be a link there between the sounds that we're hearing as we make stone tools every day and the types of language that eventually emerged in the human lineage. These observations that these ancient people made about their technology and their surroundings allowed them to create technologies that are just astounding. And you figure out how they work through experimental archaeology. So, really, experimental archaeology is the future of the field.

NSIKAN AKPAN: A future with echoes of the past. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm Nsikan Akpan in Kent, Ohio.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And it is astounding. Thank you, Nsikan.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：欢迎收听今晚的《新闻一小时》分享。如果科学家摔坏、烧坏或者敲坏了工艺品，别担心，它们一定是仿品。正如科学家阿克潘所说的那样，这是理解古代人类技术的关键。

阿克潘：在肯特州立大学的校园里，可以听到研究过去的这门学科，未来发展的趋势。梅廷·埃伦是这项创新的发明人，他是实验考古学领域的新秀。

梅廷·埃伦，肯特州立大学考古学院院长：实验考古学是一种方式，可以用它来研究古代的技术，方式就是创造出一模一样的仿品。由于仿品无足轻重，所以我们可以扔、可以打破、可以用对它进行射击，从而了解他们的工作机理，可以做逆向工程。

阿克潘：人类的第一项技术产生于300万年前，自那以后，人类的技术越来越复杂，因为我们的祖先们遍布世界各地，也流入了北美洲。

梅廷·埃伦：克洛维斯矛尖是北美洲的第一项发明，它是大概1.35万年前石器时代美洲人的作品。克洛维斯矛尖是石器时期的巅峰之作。可谓前无古人，后无来者。但它的真正独特之处是：上面有这些通道，也就是出屑槽，它从底座延伸而出。

阿克潘：冰河时代的匠人需要很多个小时才能制作出一个克洛维斯矛尖，梅廷发现，制作出屑槽需要精细的工作。做最后关键的一步时，可能出现断裂。而如果断了，猎人就要饿肚子了。为什么要有出屑槽以及出屑槽的作用，这个问题在近一个世纪的时间里一直困惑着考古学家。

梅廷·埃伦：真的是实验考古学帮助我们解开了这个谜题。克洛维斯人在1.35万年前就发明了减震技术。这些出屑槽实际上可以收窄矛尖，这样，在冲击力的作用下，矛尖的底座就会变弯，就像车的前部一样，这样可以保护矛尖不发生断裂。这样就有更大的机会能捕捉到动物或者资源。

阿克潘：梅廷和学生们创作的不只是工艺品。早期的石器工具发出的声响可能也很重要。

梅廷·埃伦：石器工具，我们做了300万年。制造石器时听到的声音，以及人类的各种语言，这两者之间可能存在关联。这些古代人对于技术及其周围环境所做的观察让他们创造出惊人的技术。然后我们可以通过实验考古学弄清楚其中的原理。所以，实验考古学是该领域的未来。

阿克潘：一个能映照过去的未来。感谢收听阿克潘从俄亥俄州肯特发回的《新闻一小时》。

朱迪·伍德拉夫：真地让人叹为观止，谢谢您，阿克潘。