一匹3000年前被厚葬的馬
N E W A R R I V A L
資訊信息
來源：Live Science
日期：2018年4月26日
作者：Mindy Weisberger
翻譯：嚴小呆
校對：京晶
整理：聰爺
鏈接：https://www.livescience.com/62419-ancient-horse-burial-tombos.html
正文
011年，在一座地下5英尺多深的墓穴里，出土了一具拉雙輪敞篷戰車的戰馬的骸骨。（圖片來源：施拉德等人，《古物》雜誌，DOI：doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.239）
3000多年前，在尼羅河谷，一具經過仔細處理的屍體正在等待葬禮。壽衣包裹的屍體被放入墓穴，周圍擺上貴重物件，展示了它崇高的地位。
也許，送葬的人們都滿面哀戚，把心愛的它送入永遠的安息。
但臉拉得最長的還是這位墓主——一匹拉雙輪敞篷戰車的戰馬。它地位崇高，足以在死後得到王公貴族才能享有的奢華葬禮。
科學家們於2011年首次在Tombos發掘了這匹馬。該墓位於尼羅河谷今蘇丹國境內。據《古物》雜誌在4月25日線上發表的最新研究成果，這具骸骨可追溯至公元前949年前後，而且被認為是迄今發現的那個年代保存最完整的馬骨。
古埃及人於公元前1450年前後建立了Tombos，作為針對敵國努比亞的境外前哨基地。之後，這座城邦擺脫了埃及的統治，漸漸成為了一個重要的努比亞城市。從Tombos考古遺址出土的文物能夠看到埃及文化的影子，也展示了努比亞人的日常生活，科學家在研究成果中寫道。
在首次發掘該遺址時，考古學家發現了一座結構複雜的墓葬，其地面建有一座小教堂和一座金字塔，還有一個豎井通向多間地下墓室。研究顯示，這種墓葬設計屬典型的「精英」金字塔墓葬。四間墓室出土了約200具不同年齡的人骨，還隨葬了陶器、工具和飾品。
然而，墓里幾乎沒有什麼動物骸骨，卻在小教堂下方的豎井中（約1.6米深處）出土了一具相當完整的馬的骸骨，讓科學家們感到驚訝，普渡大學考古學系的生物考古學家、論文的共同作者之一的Michelle Buzon寫道。
布松說：「很明顯，這匹馬享受的是特別策劃的葬禮，這太令人著迷了。」
這匹馬的墓葬有數間墓室，隨葬了各種物品，還有約200具人骨。（圖片來源：施拉德等人，《古物》雜誌，DOI：doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.239）
在馬的後腿偏下的部位仍可見到些許帶白色斑點的栗色皮毛。研究人員在論文中寫道，根據發現的腐爛的裹屍布碎片推測，墓葬應屬於公元前1005年到公元前893年之間。在馬骨四周的墓室豎井出土的隨葬品，包括一隻聖甲蟲雕刻和一塊鐵——疑是馬轡頭的一部分（這是非洲出土最早的鐵製品），也昭示了這匹馬的地位。
對馬的牙齒及骨骼進行檢查後，科學家們斷定這是匹母馬，死於12歲至15歲之間。對骸骨的進一步分析發現，這匹馬生前十分活躍，其肋骨和脊柱上的壓痕說明它曾套著馬具，拉著戰車。然而，從其死亡年齡看，它生前得到了主人很好的照顧並受到珍視，研究報告中寫道。
據研究，這座馬葬墓說明它在主人家中的地位非常重要，而不僅僅是負重的牲畜。墓中出土的鐵轡頭碎片既昂貴又少見，很可能是專為這匹馬製作的，也進一步顯示了它崇高的地位。
在當時，為馬匹舉行正式葬禮的情況很少，後來，在大約公元前728年至公元前657年，馬葬逐漸在努比亞和埃及流行起來。但這個墓葬對細節的重視和表現出來的崇敬說明馬匹可能已經成為努比亞人財富和權利的象徵，而且在努比亞文化中的意義——無論是生前還是死後——可能比之前推測的還要重要。
原文
This 3,000-Year-Old Horse Got a Human-Style Burial
Discovered in 2011, the ancient remains of a chariot-pulling horse were found in a tomb more than five feet underground. Credit: Schrader et al./Antiquity Journal, doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.239
More than 3,000 years ago in the Nile River Valley, a body was carefully prepared for ceremonial burial. It was wrapped in a shroud and placed in a tomb, surrounded by important objects that demonstrated its elevated status.
The mourners probably had long faces as they sent their loved one to an eternal rest.
But the longest face of all likely belonged to the grave』s occupant — a chariot-pulling horse, who was important enough to merit an ornate burial typically reserved for high-ranking people.
Scientists first unearthed the horse in 2011 in Tombos, a site located in the Nile Valley in what is now Sudan. The skeleton dates to around 949 B.C., and it is thought to be the most compete horse skeleton from that period ever found, according to a new study describing the grave and its contents, published online April 25 in Antiquity Journal.
The ancient Egyptians established Tombos around 1450 B.C. as a foreign outpost in the rival kingdom of Nubia. The city later emerged as an important Nubian community after withdrawing from Egyptian rule. Artifacts unearthed from archaeological sites in Tombos reveal much about the influence of Egyptian culture, as well as serve to illuminate aspects of daily life that were distinctly Nubian, the scientists wrote in the study.
When the site was first excavated, archaeologists found a tomb complex with a chapel and pyramid aboveground, and a shaft leading to multiple chambers underground — a design typically associated with "elite" pyramid tombs, according to the study. The four burial chambers contained human remains from around 200 people representing several generations, along with pottery, tools and decorative objects.
However, the tomb held very few animal remains, and finding such a well-preserved horse — in the shaft underneath the chapel, at a depth of about 5 feet (1.6 meters) — surprised the scientists, study co-author Michelle Buzon, a bioarchaeologist in the Department of Anthropology at Purdue University, said in a statement.
"It was clear that the horse was an intentional burial, which was super fascinating," Buzon said.
The tomb holding the horse"s skeleton had multiple chambers containing artifacts and additional remains belonging to 200 people. Credit: Schrader et al./Antiquity Journal, doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.239
Bits of chestnut fur with white markings still clung to the animal"s lower hind legs, and the researchers found decayed remnants of a shroud that helped them to date the burial to between 1,005 and 893 B.C., they wrote in the study. The tomb shaft around the skeleton also revealed other artifacts that hinted at the horse"s status, including a carved scarab beetle and a piece of iron — likely once part of the animal"s bridle — that is the oldest example of iron unearthed in Africa.
After examining the horse"s teeth and bones, the scientists determined that the animal was a mare that died when it was between 12 and 15 years old. Further analysis of the skeleton showed that it led an active life, and signs of stress in its ribs and spine hinted that it wore a harness for pulling a chariot. However, its age at the time of death indicates that the animal was cared for and valued by its owner during its lifetime, the study authors reported.
A tomb burial for the horse suggests that the animal probably played a significant role in its owner"s household, and was more than a mere beast of burden, while the iron bridle piece found in the tomb — an expensive and rare item that would have been made specifically for the horse — further helps to establish its elevated status, according to the study.
While formal burials for horses were rare at the time, they later became more commonplace in Nubian and Egyptian society, around 728 to 657 B.C. But the attention to detail in this burial and the reverence shown suggest that horses may have already achieved a symbolic representation of wealth and power for Nubian people, and could have played a more important role in Nubian culture — in life and in death — than has been previously suspected, the researchers reported.
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