纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 008埃及彩绘陶牛（2）（在线收听）

'They were a very important part of the Egyptian economy. It became essentially a symbol for life.'

“它们是古埃及经济相当重要的一部分，牛在本质上已经成为一种生命的象征。”

'It's not that easy for archaeologists to pin down how food processing worked in these early stages, but some of these artefacts can give us a good insight into it.'

“对于考古学家来说，精确地找出在这些人类早期阶段食品加工究竟是怎么样的，可不是一件轻松活；不过有些文物可以给我们提供一向很好的启示。”

Our history of the world in 100 objects

100件藏品中的世界史

A painted clay medel of four cattle, approximately 5 and a half thousand years old.

四牛模型，彩绘泥塑，距今约五千五百年前。

Four horned cows stand side by side upon fertile land. And indeed they've been grazing on their little patch of grass for about five and a half thousand years. They're ancient Egyptian, more ancient even than the pharaohs or the pyramids.

这四只带角的牛肩并肩站成在肥沃的土地上，它们就在那块小草地上吃草，渡过了五千五百年的漫长岁月。它们来自古埃及，甚至比古法老金字塔的年代还要久

These cows are miniatures - small models, hand-moulded out of a single lump of Nile river clay. And on them you can still see very faint traces of black-and-white paint applied after the clay had been lightly baked.

这四只牛是实物小缩影，或者说是小模型，一次性手工造模成型，材料是一小块尼罗河粘土。在它们身上，当初粘土微火烘培后所涂上的黑白涂料仍旧留有隐隐约约的痕迹。

Like toy farm-animals of the sort most of us played with as children, they stand only a few inches high, and the clay base that they share is roughly the size of a dinner plate. These cows were buried with a man in a cemetery near a small village near El Amra in southern Egypt.

就像我们当小孩时玩的玩具农场动物一样，这些陶牛模型站着有几英寸高，托着它们的粘土盘也就餐盘大小。这些陶牛是一个男性的随葬品，地置大概在南部埃及靠近El Amra地区的小村落附近。