VOA慢速英语--新研究表明,人类在12000年前就已使用烟草

New Evidence Suggests Humans Used Tobacco 12,000 Years Ago

Scientists have discovered new evidence that humans used tobacco at least 12,000 years ago.

The evidence was found by an archaeological team at a site in a desert in the western American state of Utah. The dig centered on an ancient fireplace built by a group of hunter-gatherers. The scientists found four burned seeds of a wild tobacco plant along with other objects.

The discovery is reported to be the oldest evidence of tobacco use. Among other objects found at the Utah site were stone tools and bird bones. The scientists believe the birds had been food for the community.

Until now, the earliest documented use of tobacco was from a finding of the drug nicotine¹ inside an ancient pipe in Alabama, a southern state. The pipe, used for smoking, dated back 3,300 years ago.

The new find was reported in a study that appeared in the scientific publication Nature Human Behavior.

The researchers believe the group may have smoked the tobacco or possibly put pieces of the plant in their mouths. They think the users were seeking the pleasant effects nicotine produces in the body.

The first known tobacco use is linked to native communities in North and South America. Its use spread worldwide following the arrival of Europeans more than five centuries ago.

Today, tobacco represents a worldwide public health crisis. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates there are 1.3 billion tobacco users across the world. The WHO blames tobacco use for more than 8 million deaths each year.

Daron Duke is an archaeologist with the Far Western Anthropological² Research Group in Nevada. He was the lead writer of the study. Duke told Reuters news agency that worldwide, he considers tobacco "the king of intoxicant plants."

"And now we can directly trace its cultural roots to the Ice Age," he added.

The seeds belonged to a wild kind of desert tobacco called Nicotiana attenuata, which still grows in the area. "This species was never domesticated⁴ but is used by indigenous⁵ people in the (area) to this day," Duke said.

Scientists say the area was likely marshland at the time the fireplace was used. The area had a cool climate during the Ice Age period.

The remains⁶ of the fire were found in areas where wind has been blowing surface material away since the marshland fully⁷ dried up about 9,500 years ago.

"We know very little about their culture," Duke said of the hunter-gatherers. The most interesting part of the find, he said, is the "social window it gives to a simple activity in an undocumented past."

"My imagination runs wild," he added.

Duke said tobacco domestication⁸ happened thousands of years later elsewhere on the continent, for example in the Southwestern and Southeastern United States and in Mexico.

Some researchers have theorized that tobacco may have been the first plant domesticated in North America. They believe this happened because of the substance's sociocultural effects rather than for food purposes.

Duke said he thinks the find provides clear evidence that the hunter-gatherers were experienced growers of tobacco long before food requirements later drove investments in agriculture.

Words in This Story

archaeological – adj. of, or related to, archaeology⁹, a science that deals with the history of human life and activities.

intoxicant – n. a substance, such as alcohol, that produces feelings of pleasure or happiness

domesticate³ – v. to bring animals or plants under human control in order to provide food, power or company

marshland – n. an area of soft and wet land

indigenous – adj. relating to the people who originally lived in a

1 nicotine   

n.(化)尼古丁，烟碱

参考例句：

• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。
• Many smokers who are chemically addicted to nicotine cannot cut down easily.许多有尼古丁瘾的抽烟人不容易把烟戒掉。

2 anthropological   

adj.人类学的

参考例句：

• These facts of responsibility are an anthropological datums- varied and multiform. 这些道德事实是一种人类学资料——性质不同，形式各异。 来自哲学部分
• It is the most difficult of all anthropological data on which to "draw" the old Negro. 在所有的人类学资料中，最困难的事莫过于“刻划”古代的黑人。 来自辞典例句

3 domesticate   

vt.驯养；使归化，使专注于家务

参考例句：

• Many thousand years ago people learned how to domesticate animals.数千年以前人们就学会了饲养动物。
• If you domesticate this raccoon,it will have trouble living in the wild.如果你驯养这只浣熊，它生活在野外将会有困难。

4 domesticated   

adj.喜欢家庭生活的；（指动物）被驯养了的v.驯化( domesticate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He is thoroughly domesticated and cooks a delicious chicken casserole. 他精于家务，烹制的砂锅炖小鸡非常可口。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The donkey is a domesticated form of the African wild ass. 驴是非洲野驴的一种已驯化的品种。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

8 domestication   

n.驯养，驯化

参考例句：

• The first was the domestication of animals. 第一个阶段是驯养动物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In northwestern China, there is no evidence for endemic domestication of any animals. 在中国西北，没有任何当地动物驯化的迹象。 来自辞典例句

9 archaeology   

n.考古学

参考例句：

• She teaches archaeology at the university.她在大学里教考古学。
• He displayed interest in archaeology.他对考古学有兴趣。