研究稱埃及人3500年前開始魚類養殖

Egyptians practised fish farming more than 3,500 years ago, the earliest evidence of such activity worldwide according to a study released last Tuesday.

據上週二發表的一項研究稱，埃及人早在3500多年前就開始魚類養殖了，是全世界進行這類活動的最早跡象。

Scientists studied 100 fish teeth found at archaeological sites across modern-day Israel to conclude they had been plucked from a lagoon in Egypt's Sinai thousands of years ago.

科學家們對在現代以色列多個考古地點發現的100顆魚類牙齒進行了研究，推斷這些魚是幾千年前從埃及西奈半島的一個瀉湖裏撈上來的。

"The sample of teeth covered a chronological period extending over 10,000 years, from the early Neolithic period through to the early Islamic period," said a statement from Israel's Haifa University, one of the participants in the study.

參與這一研究的以色列海法大學，日前發表一則聲明稱：“這些牙齒樣本的年代範圍長達1萬多年，從新石器時代早期一直到伊斯蘭時代早期。”

Of those samples, some were from about 3,500 years ago.

其中一些樣本甚至有約3500年的歷史。

Farmers at the time found a lagoon which fish were entering and barricaded it for a few months, Guy Bar-Oz, one of the authors of the report and archaeology professor at the University of Haifa.

該研究報告作者之一、海法大學考古學教授蓋伊·巴爾·奧茲稱，當時的農民發現了一個瀉湖，魚游進去後在裏面被困了幾個月。

Afterwards "you can easily harvest them," the academic explained of a method still used in the same Sinai lagoon.

然後“就能很容易地捕獲它們了”，這位學者解釋了在西奈瀉湖仍在沿用的這種方法。

The Haifa academics worked alongside those from German universities in Mainz and Gottingen to deduce their findings from the teeth of gilthead sea bream.

海法大學的學者與來自德國美因茨和格丁根的大學的學者共同進行了這一研究，他們從金頭鯛的牙齒推斷出了結論。

Through studying the different types of oxygen isotopes in the teeth, scientists deduced that they were "spending at least four months in the closed lagoon".

通過研究牙齒中不同類型的氧同位素，科學家們推斷出，這些魚“在封閉的瀉湖裏至少待了4個月”。

The majority of the fish found by the researchers came from aquaculture and not local fishing.

研究人員發現的大多數魚都來自水產養殖而不是從當地釣上來的。

Irit Zohar, from the University of Haifa and co-author of the study, said the size of fish standardised around 3,500 years ago and those imported from Egypt were all "the size of a plate".

研究報告作者之一、海法大學的伊裏特·措哈爾稱，在3500年前，魚的大小就已經標準化了，那些從埃及進口的魚都是“盤子大小”。

"Exactly what we observe of the fish bred in modern aquaculture," she said.

她說：“和我們在現代水產養殖中看到的魚一樣。”

Scientists believe fish farming was practised in China 4,000 years ago, although Bar-Oz said no evidence has yet been produced to prove the theory.

科學家們認爲，中國早在4000年前就開始水產養殖了，不過巴爾·奧茲稱目前尚沒有證據證實這一理論。