融化的冰揭示了失落的維京公路的秘密

融化的冰揭示了失落的維京公路的秘密

Vikings may have captured our imagination with their larger-than-life exploits, but it's easy to forget they were also a practical people. They built sensible settlements, engaged in trade and only occasionally indulged in psychoactive drugs before battle.

維京人的傳奇壯舉也許曾抓住了我們的想象力，但人們很容易忘記他們也是務(wù)實的人。他們建立了合理的定居點，從事貿(mào)易，在戰(zhàn)爭前只是偶爾沉迷于精神藥物。

They also traveled, sometimes in iconic langskips, sometimes by road.

他們也旅行，有時在標志性的朗斯基普，有時走公路。

Researchers survey the edge of the melting ice in the pass area at Lendbreen. (Photo: Johan Wildhagen, Palookaville.)

Back in 2011, archaeologists first discovered a lost highway littered with Viking artifacts — sleds, horseshoes, walking sticks, a 1,700-year old sweater and heap after heap of fossilized horse dung.

早在2011年，考古學家首次發(fā)現(xiàn)了一條遺失的公路，路上散落著維京人的手工藝品——雪橇、馬蹄鐵、手杖、一件有1700年歷史的毛衣，還有一堆又一堆的馬糞化石。

But now archaeologists have discovered so much more. They've published new research describing hundreds of items that have since been found along the mountain pass: mittens, shoes, parts of sleds, bones from packhorses.

但現(xiàn)在考古學家發(fā)現(xiàn)了更多。他們發(fā)表了一項新的研究，描述了數(shù)百件在山口發(fā)現(xiàn)的物品:手套、鞋子、雪橇的部分、馱馬的骨頭。

This mitten made from different pieces of woven fabric was found in the pass area at Lendbreen. It's radiocarbon-dated to the 9th century. (Photo: Johan Wildhagen, Palookaville)

It likely would have remained hidden forever had the ice not rapidly begun melting, revealing all that roadside Viking litter.

如果不是冰開始迅速融化，它可能會永遠隱藏起來，露出路邊維京人的垃圾。

It paints a picture of a well-trodden highway that skirted the Lomseggen mountain ridge, connecting travelers to trading hubs at higher altitudes — and those all-important summer pastures.

它描繪了一幅沿著隆塞根山脊的人跡斑斑的高速公路的畫面，這條公路將旅客與海拔較高的貿(mào)易中心以及那些至關(guān)重要的夏季牧場連接起來。

The highway wends its way over the Lendbreen ice patch in Norway's Jotunheim Mountains, about 200 miles north of Oslo.

這條高速公路穿過挪威約坦海姆山脈的倫德布林冰原，距離奧斯陸大約200英里。

A small iron knife with a birchwood handle was found just below the pass area at Lendbreen. It has been radiocarbon-dated to the 11th century. (Photo: Espen Finstad/secretsoftheice.com)

"The pass was at its busiest during the Viking Age around 1000 A.D., a time of high mobility and growing trade across Scandinavia and Europe," study co-author James Barrett, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge, tells Smithsonian magazine. "This remarkable peak in use shows just how connected even a very remote location was to wider economic and demographic happenings."

在公元1000年左右的維京時代，這條通道最繁忙研究報告的合著者、劍橋大學的考古學家詹姆斯·巴雷特在接受《史密森尼雜志》采訪時表示:“這是一個橫跨斯堪的納維亞半島和歐洲的高度流動性和貿(mào)易增長的時代。這一驚人的使用高峰表明，即使是一個非常偏遠的地方，也與更廣泛的經(jīng)濟和人口事件有多么緊密的聯(lián)系。”

Researcher Elling Utvik Wammer holds a skull from an unlucky packhorse that did not make it across the ice. The skull was radiocarbon-dated to c.1700, making it the earliest-dated find from the pass. (Photo: Espen Finstad/secretsoftheice.com)

Today, it's essentially a highway to nowhere. The Lendbreen ice patch towers over the tree line, only accessible by helicopter. But that too may be changing, as a warming climate melts away the once impenetrable shield.

今天，它基本上是一條通向任何地方的高速公路。倫德布林冰原高聳在林木線之上，只有直升機才能到達。但隨著氣候變暖，這個曾經(jīng)堅不可摧的屏障逐漸融化，情況也可能發(fā)生變化。

A road 'lost to memory'

迷失在記憶中的路

Using radiocarbon dating, researchers peg the highway's origins to about the year 300. At the time, heavy snow cover would have padded the sharp rocks underfoot, they note. Trading posts likely sprang up along the nearby Otta River. The road likely thrived for many more centuries.

利用放射性碳年代測定法，研究人員將這條公路的起源確定為大約300年。他們注意到，當時，厚厚的積雪覆蓋著腳下尖銳的巖石。附近的奧塔河沿岸可能出現(xiàn)了許多貿(mào)易站。這條路可能繁榮了許多世紀。

"The decline of the Lendbreen pass was probably caused by a combination of economic changes, climate change and late medieval pandemics, including the Black Death," study co-author Lars Pilø explains in a press statement. "When the local area recovered, things had changed, and the Lendbreen pass was lost to memory."

倫德布林山口的衰落可能是由經(jīng)濟變化、氣候變化和中世紀晚期包括黑死病在內(nèi)的流行病共同造成的。研究的合著者Lars Pilø在一份媒體聲明中解釋說。“當該地恢復后，一切都變了，倫布林山口也消失在記憶中了。”

A beautifully preserved horseshoe that melted out of the ice in the lower part of Lendbreen in 2018. The shape dates it to the 11th to the mid-13th century. A small part of the hoof was still attached to the other side of the shoe. (Photo: Espen Finstad/secretsoftheice.com)

At some point, the highway may have been consumed by ice and snow, an event that was likely pivotal in preserving those artifacts.

在某一時刻，高速公路可能已經(jīng)被冰雪吞噬，這一事件可能是保護這些文物的關(guān)鍵。

"The preservation of the objects emerging from the ice is just stunning," study co-author Espen Finstad of the Glacier Archaeology program, tells Heritage Daily. "It is like they were lost a short time ago, not centuries or millennia ago."

“冰川考古項目的研究合著者埃斯彭·芬斯塔德在接受《遺產(chǎn)日報》采訪時表示:“冰川出土文物的保存令人震驚。這就好像它們是在很短的時間前丟失的，而不是幾百年前或幾千年前。”

The upper part of the Lendbreen ice patch after the big melt in 2019. The surface of the ice is covered with horse dung. (Photo: Espen Finstad/secretsoftheice.com)

For archaeologists, the Lendbreen ice patch seems like a gift from the ancient past. But it's alarming that it's unwrapping itself so rapidly.

對考古學家來說，倫德布林冰原似乎是來自遠古時代的禮物。但令人擔憂的是，它正在如此迅速地展開。

"Global warming is leading to the melting of mountain ice worldwide, and the finds melting out of the ice are a result of this," Pilø tells Gizmodo. "Trying to save the remains of a melting world is a very exciting job — the finds are just an archaeologist's dream — but at the same time, it is also a job you cannot do without a deep sense of foreboding."

“全球變暖導致全球山地冰川的融化,和發(fā)現(xiàn)融化的冰是一個結(jié)果,“Pilø告訴Gizmodo。“試圖拯救一個正在融化的世界的遺跡是一項非常令人興奮的工作——這些發(fā)現(xiàn)只是考古學家的夢想——但與此同時，這也是一項如果沒有深刻的預(yù)感就無法完成的工作。”