俄羅斯神秘地下城堡，可能是最古老的基督教教堂

科學家可能發(fā)現(xiàn)了世界上最古老的基督教教堂之一

Scientists may have discovered one of the oldest Christian churches in the world by using muon radiography to scan a mysterious subterranean building located in the ancient Russian city of Derbent, on the Caspian Sea’s coast.

科學家們可能已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了世界上最古老的基督教教堂之一，他們利用μ介子射線掃描了位于里海沿岸，俄羅斯古城德爾本特的一座神秘地下建筑。

Archeologists have long wondered exactly the purpose the building served and one hypothesis is that it was some type of Christian temple.

長期以來，考古學家一直想知道這座建筑的確切用途，其中一個假設(shè)是，它是某種類型的基督教寺廟。

Other possible theories for the building’s function: a reservoir or a Zoroastrian fire temple.

建筑物功能的其他可能推論：水庫或瑣羅亞斯德火神廟。

The 39-foot building, located in the northwest sector of the medieval fortress of Naryn-Kala, is almost completely hidden underground and built of local-shell limestone; it dates to about 300 A.D.

這座39英尺高的建筑位于中世紀要塞納林卡拉的西北部，幾乎完全隱藏在地下，由當?shù)氐氖規(guī)r建造它可以追溯到公元300年左右。

Excavating could endanger the UNESCO site, so archeologists have not been able to fully access the structure.

挖掘可能會危及聯(lián)合國教科文組織的遺址，所以考古學家還不能完全進入該建筑。

Instead, researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics Lomonosov Moscow State University, and Dagestan State University harnessed a non-invasive technique — muon radiography — to produce an image of the buried building.

相反，來自俄羅斯科學院、斯科伯特辛核物理研究所、莫斯科州立大學洛莫諾索夫分校和達吉斯坦州立大學的研究人員利用非侵入性技術(shù)——μ介子射線照相術(shù)——來制作掩埋建筑的圖像。

If they can fully understand its structure, perhaps they could determine its use.

如果他們能夠完全理解它的結(jié)構(gòu)，也許他們就可以知道它的用途。

The results showed that the building is in the shape of a cross, furthering the belief that it could be a church. The space was found to be 36 feet high, 50 feet long and 44 feet wide.

結(jié)果顯示，該建筑呈十字形，進一步證明它可能是一座教堂。該空間高36英尺，長50英尺，寬44英尺。

“It seems very strange to me to interpret this building as a water tank. In the same fortress of Naryn-Kala, there is an equal underground structure of 10 meters depth, and it really is a tank. This is just a rectangular building,” said Natalia Polukhina, head of the scientific group and the study’s author, in a statement.

“對我來說，把這座建筑理解為一個水箱似乎很奇怪。在納林卡拉的同一座堡壘里，有一個同樣深10米的地下結(jié)構(gòu)，它實際上是一個坦克。而這兒只是一個長方形的建筑。”科學小組負責人、該研究的作者娜塔莉亞·波盧基納在一份聲明中說。

“The unusual building, in which we have put our detectors, has the shape of a cross, oriented strictly to the sides of the world, one side is 2 meters longer than the others.”

“我們在這座不尋常的建筑里放置了探測器，發(fā)現(xiàn)它的形狀像一個十字架，嚴格地指向世界的各個方向，其中一邊比另一邊長2米。”

“As the archaeologists who began excavations say, during construction, the building was entirely on the surface and it stands on the highest point of the Naryn-Kala. What is the sense to put the tank on the surface, and even on the highest mountain? It is strange. Currently, there are more questions than answers,” Polukhina added.

“正如開始挖掘的考古學家所說，在建造起初，這座建筑完全是在地面上的，它坐落在納林卡拉的最高點上。把坦克放在水面上，甚至是最高的山上，有什么意義?這很奇怪。目前，問題比答案多。”Polukhina補充道。

The study’s authors also emphasize that more muon detectors will need to be installed, in particular on the western slope of the fortress, in order to obtain a full-size underground picture.

該研究的作者還強調(diào)，目前還需要安裝更多的μ介子探測器，特別是在堡壘的西邊斜坡上，以便獲得完整的地下圖像。

Their work was published in the journal Applied Sciences.

該研究成果將發(fā)表在《應(yīng)用科學》雜志上。

(NUT MISIS)