挖掘珍稀猛犸象化石 美国考古学家寻求资助

摘要：
    一只死于数万年前的猛犸象正在现今美国华盛顿州的雅基马城附近向考古学家们慢慢揭开它的神秘面纱。由于项目资金短缺，考古学家们欢迎那些对此感兴趣的有识之士和愿意为此慷慨解囊的人们前来助一臂之力。
    A mammoth that died thousands of years ago near what is now Yakima is slowly revealing its secrets to scientists, and they're putting out the welcome mat for people interested in pitching in — and helping to cover the project costs.

    一只死于数万年前的猛犸象正在现今美国华盛顿州的雅基马城附近向考古学家们慢慢揭开它的神秘面纱。由于项目资金短缺，考古学家们欢迎那些对此感兴趣的有识之士和愿意为此慷慨解囊的人们前来助一臂之力。

    伟大发现 猛犸象化石初现

    据美联社4月3日报道，从事“韦纳斯溪谷猛犸象项目”（Wenas Creek Mammoth project）的主要科学家、美国中央华盛顿大学的考古学家帕特里克·鲁宾斯基日前在西雅图举行的一个会议上表示：“这是一个非常棒的发现。”

    报道说，这个项目是从2005年3月份人们在一项道路工程中偶然发现了猛犸象的一个肱骨化石后开始的。这个骨骼化石属于更新世时期的一只猛犸象。那时，这些现今大象的亲属们正游荡在这一地区。但是，考古学家表示，很多此前发现的猛犸象骨骼化石中含有史前洪水冲击下来的碎片。冰河时代末期的哥伦比亚盆地曾屡次受到史前大洪水的冲击。

    鲁宾斯基说，而这只猛犸象则是在受史前洪水袭击的区域之外。它是在华盛顿州西拉小镇外面的一个农场被发现的。他说：“我们知道它不是被洪水冲来的，它是一只当地的猛犸象。”

    美国华盛顿大学的古生物学家拜克斯·巴顿也对此表示：“如果事情确实如此，那它就非常珍稀了。”巴顿和鲁宾斯基一起对猛犸象化石周围的泥土进行了分析研究，这些泥土可能会向人们透露此地史前的环境和气候变化情况。

    化石年龄 距今大约1.6万年

    去年夏天，考古学家们和9名考古专业的学生对这具猛犸象化石进行了挖掘。他们发现了这只猛犸象的左右前肢化石和一块腕骨化石。中央华盛顿大学的地质学家卡尔·利尔奎斯特认为，这些骨骼化石曾被堆积在溪流沙砾层的顶部，后来又被一场泥流所淹没。

    不同的实验室正在对这些猛犸象骨骼进行放射性碳测定，以更加精确地得知这些化石的年龄。对此，鲁宾斯基说这些骨骼化石的大概年龄为1.6万年。另外，利用相对更为先进的科技手段，土壤鉴定也能帮助研究人员了解确切的时间。

    资金紧缺 研究人员寻求资助

    尽管，此项研究具有非常重要的意义，但该项目的科学家们长期以来一直面临着一个非常现实的问题——资金短缺。目前，研究所花费用已经超出预算6万美元，而且研究人员很可能还需要至少30万美元的资金才能完成这项工作。

    因此，从6月19日至8月11日期间，凡是愿意向中央华盛顿大学支付2300美元的人，就能帮研究小组挖掘出这具猛犸象的其它骨骼化石，而且他们还能亲眼见识科学家是如何破解另一个时代遗留下来的谜题的。除此之外，这些参与者还能尝试绘图、实验室工作、骨骼解剖研究以及有关古生物学、地质学和考古学其它很多方面的研究。

    A mammoth that died thousands of years ago near what is now Yakima is slowly revealing its secrets to scientists, and they're putting out the welcome mat for people interested in pitching in — and helping to cover the project costs.

    "It's a pretty cool find," said Patrick Lubinski, a Central Washington University archaeologist and lead scientist of the Wenas Creek Mammoth project, during a Seattle meeting Friday.

    The adventure began with the discovery of an upper foreleg bone, or humerus, at a road project in March 2005. The skeleton is one of several from the Pleistocene period, when these relatives of today's elephants roamed the region.

    But most prior discoveries of mammoth bones have involved fragments washed down during the prehistoric floods that repeatedly swept across the Columbia Basin at the end of the Ice Age.

    This mammoth, found on a ranch outside the small community of Selah, is outside the prehistoric flood zones, Lubinski said.

    "We know it wasn't washed in, that it was a local mammoth," he said, adding that he hopes to discover that the skeleton is intact.

    "If it is, that would be pretty rare," said University of Washington paleontologist Bax Barton. He's working with Lubinski, studying the soil found around the bones for what it might reveal about the prehistoric environment or climate changes.

    At the first dig last summer, the scientists and nine students recovered both the right and left forelegs along with a wrist bone. CWU geologist Karl Lillquist helped establish that the bones were deposited on top of creek gravel and then buried by a mudslide.

    Various labs are doing radiocarbon-dating of the bones to more precisely date them. They're probably about 16,000 years old, Lubinski said, but not all the data are in.

    Soil analysis will also help date the remains, using a relatively new technique that measures the quantity of trapped electrons in soil atoms.

    But lack of funding is a chronic problem. The team is $60,000 over budget and likely needs at least $300,000 more to finish its work.

    From June 19 to Aug. 11, anyone interested in paying the $2,300 CWU tuition can help the team dig out the remaining bones — and see how scientists unearth the mysteries of another age.

    Participants will also engage in mapping, lab work, skeletal anatomy studies and many other aspects of paleontology, geology and archaeology.

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