1. Archaeologists determine humans have feasted for thousands of years (Level C)

考古学家确定人类已有数千年宴饮的历史

Families everywhere will get together for the 2018 holiday season. 译世界各地的家庭将在 2018 年的节日期间相聚。They will celebrate by perhaps giving gifts and singing songs. 译他们可能会通过送礼物和唱歌来庆祝。Many will also celebrate by preparing and eating a holiday feast. 译许多人也会通过准备和享用节日宴会来庆祝。

Archaeological evidence shows that such communally shared meals have long been important parts of human traditions. 译考古证据表明，这种共同分享的餐食长期以来一直是人类传统的重要组成部分。Leore Grosman, a fellow archaeologist, and I studied a 12,000-year-old archaeological site in northern Israel. 译我和考古学家莱奥雷·格罗斯曼研究了以色列北部一个有 12000 年历史的考古遗址。Over the years, we found proof of important ritual feasts at the site. 译多年来，我们在该遗址找到了重要仪式宴会的证据。We learned how feasts came to be such an important part of modern-day ritual practice. 译我们了解到宴会是如何成为现代仪式实践的重要部分的。

First, What Are Rituals? 译首先，什么是仪式？

Rituals are meaningful, often repeated actions. 译仪式是有意义的、经常重复的行为。Modern-day examples are birthdays and weddings, decorating a Christmas tree or lighting Hanukkah candles. 译现代的例子有生日和婚礼、装饰圣诞树或点燃光明节蜡烛。

Ritual practice might have begun over 100,000 years ago. 译仪式实践可能在 10 万多年前就开始了。However, archaeologists have had a hard time proving this with physical evidence. 译然而，考古学家很难用实物证据来证明这一点。For example, researchers have found that both Neanderthals and early modern humans buried their dead. 译例如，研究人员发现尼安德特人和早期现代人都会埋葬他们的死者。Scholars, though, did not know if this was for spiritual or symbolic reasons. 译但学者们不知道这是出于精神或象征的原因。The burial practice could also have been for something more practical, like keeping the community clean. 译埋葬行为也可能是出于更实际的原因，比如保持社区清洁。Experts did not know if it was part of a ritual until they began finding special objects in graves going back 20,000 to 40,000 years. 译直到专家们开始在 20000 到 40000 年前的坟墓中发现特殊物品，他们才知道这是否是仪式的一部分。

The First Feasts 译最初的宴会

When Leore Grosman and I first began digging Hilazon Tachtit in the late 1990s, we were planning to study what we thought was a small campsite. 译当我和莱奥雷·格罗斯曼在 20 世纪 90 年代末首次挖掘希拉宗·塔奇特时，我们计划研究我们认为是一个小营地的地方。Over the years, though, we realized the area was not just a place where people lived but was actually a site for rituals. 译然而，多年来，我们意识到这个区域不仅是人们居住的地方，实际上还是一个举行仪式的场所。

No houses, fireplaces, or cooking areas were found. 译没有发现房屋、壁炉或烹饪区。Instead, the cave yielded the skeletal remains of at least 28 individuals buried in three pits and two small structures. 译相反，这个洞穴出土了至少 28 个人的骨骼遗骸，他们被埋在三个坑和两个小结构中。

One of these structures contained the complete skeleton of an older woman. 译其中一个结构中包含了一位老年妇女的完整骨骼。We decided she was a spiritual leader or healer based on her special treatment at death. 译根据她死后的特殊待遇，我们认为她是一位精神领袖或治疗师。Her grave was beautifully made, and the walls were plastered with clay and decorated with flat stone slabs. 译她的坟墓建造得很漂亮，墙壁用粘土涂抹并装饰着扁平的石板。A strange group of unusual animal body parts had been buried with her, including the remains of 90 tortoises. 译一组奇怪的不寻常的动物身体部位与她一起被埋葬，包括 90 只乌龟的遗骸。A second site in the cave floor revealed the leftovers of at least three wild cattle. 译洞穴地面的第二个地点发现了至少三头野牛的剩余部分。We believe these are the remains of a funeral feast. 译我们认为这些是葬礼宴会的遗迹。

The grave had been preserved well, and we found evidence of many phases to the funeral. 译坟墓保存得很好，我们发现了葬礼的许多阶段的证据。The stages included eating during the feast, the burial of the woman, and the filling of the grave in several stages. 译这些阶段包括宴会期间的用餐、妇女的埋葬以及分几个阶段填满坟墓。

Feasting At The Beginning Of Agriculture 译农业开端时的宴会

Archaeologists have found other sites that show evidence of ritual feasting. 译考古学家发现了其他显示仪式宴会证据的遗址。Many of these date to the time when humans were first beginning to farm. 译其中许多可以追溯到人类刚开始耕种的时候。

One of the most striking examples is the site of Göbekli Tepe in southeastern Turkey. 译最引人注目的例子之一是土耳其东南部的哥贝克力石阵遗址。The site is not quite as old as Hilazon Tachtit. 译这个遗址没有希拉宗·塔奇特那么古老。Archaeologists in Turkey found large, decorated structures and stone slabs painted with beautiful animal images dating to 11,000 to 12,000 years ago. 译在土耳其的考古学家发现了大型的、装饰过的建筑和绘有美丽动物图像的石板，其历史可以追溯到 11000 到 12000 年前。The structures could be very early public buildings. 译这些建筑可能是非常早期的公共建筑。The archaeologists who studied Göbekli Tepe argue that massive quantities of animal bones associated with the structures represent the remains of feasts. 译研究哥贝克力石阵的考古学家认为，与这些建筑相关的大量动物骨骼代表了宴会的遗迹。

Twelve thousand years ago, humans were still hunter-gatherers. 译12000 年前，人类仍然是狩猎采集者。They lived entirely on wild foods. 译他们完全依靠野生食物为生。Nevertheless, these people were different. 译然而，这些人是不同的。They were around for the beginning of agriculture, one of the most significant economic, social and ideological transformations in human history. 译他们处于农业开端的时期，这是人类历史上最重要的经济、社会和意识形态变革之一。

Farming tools such as sickle blades and grinding stones are found at Hilazon Tachtit and other archaeological sites from the same time. 译在希拉宗·塔奇特和同时期的其他考古遗址中发现了农业工具，如镰刀刀片和磨石。Ritual feasts then, seem to have started around the time that people adopted agriculture. 译然后，仪式宴会似乎在人们采用农业的时候开始了。When people moved toward farming, they became increasingly tied to landscapes. 译当人们转向农业时，他们与土地的联系越来越紧密。Areas became more crowded as people began to settle into more permanent communities. 译随着人们开始定居在更永久性的社区，地区变得更加拥挤。In other words, feasting became important as people moved away from a life of traveling. 译换句话说，当人们不再过迁徙生活时，宴会变得重要起来。

Rituals That Bind 译具有凝聚力的仪式

These feasts had an important role to play. 译这些宴会发挥了重要作用。Adapting to village life after hundreds of millennia on the move was no simple act. 译在迁徙了数十万年之后适应乡村生活并非易事。Research on modern hunter-gatherer societies shows that closer contact between neighbors dramatically increased social tensions and new solutions to avoid and repair conflict became critical. 译对现代狩猎采集社会的研究表明，邻居之间更密切的接触极大地增加了社会紧张局势，避免和修复冲突的新解决方案变得至关重要。Feasting and ritual, then, appears to be one key solution to the problems of group living. 译因此，宴会和仪式似乎是群体生活问题的一个关键解决方案。

One of the central purposes of ritual in these communities was to provide a kind of social glue that bound community members. 译在这些社区中，仪式的一个核心目的是提供一种将社区成员凝聚在一起的社会胶水。Feasts generate loyalty and commitment to the community's success. 译宴会培养了对社区成功的忠诚和承诺。Sharing food brings people closer together and builds trust. 译分享食物使人们更加亲近并建立信任。

Group rituals would have provided a shared sense of identity as social circles grew and became more permanent. 译随着社交圈子的扩大和变得更加永久性，群体仪式会提供一种共同的认同感。They reinforced new ways of thinking that emerged out of a dramatic reorganization of economic and social life. 译它们强化了经济和社会生活的重大重组中出现的新思维方式。

Role Of Feasts Today 译如今宴会的作用

Feasting plays the same essential role today. 译如今宴会仍发挥着同样的基本作用。Like the earliest feasts, our holiday celebrations are full of actions that are repeated year after year. 译像最早的宴会一样，我们的节日庆祝活动充满了年复一年重复的行为。

Today's holiday feast builds family traditions and gives extended families a shared identity. 译如今的节日宴会建立了家庭传统，并为大家庭提供了共同的身份认同。By cooking and sharing food together, telling stories of past holidays, and exchanging wisdom, holiday rituals often bring families and friends closer together. 译通过一起烹饪和分享食物、讲述过去节日的故事以及交流智慧，节日仪式常常使家人和朋友更加亲密。