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進入中英對照讀新聞》Scientists find massive Mayan society under Guatemala jungle 科學家在瓜地馬拉叢林下發現大型馬雅社會
科學家利用光達技術探測到的瓜地馬拉馬雅文明遺跡。（歐新社檔案照）
◎魏國金
Researchers using a high-tech aerial mapping technique have found tens of thousands of previously undetected Mayan houses, buildings, defense works and pyramids in the dense jungle of Guatemala’s Peten region, suggesting that millions more people lived there than previously thought.
研究人員利用高科技的空中測繪技術，在瓜地馬拉貝登區的濃密叢林中，發現成千上萬先前未被探測到的馬雅房舍、建築物、防禦工事及金字塔，顯示有比之前認為還多上數百萬的人生活在該處。
The discoveries, which included industrial-sized agricultural fields and irrigation canals, were announced by an alliance of U.S., European and Guatemalan archaeologists working with Guatemala’s Mayan Heritage and Nature Foundation. The study estimates that roughly 10 million people may have lived within the Maya Lowlands, meaning that kind of massive food production might have been needed.
這項包括產業規模的農田與灌溉水路的發現，是由與瓜地馬拉「馬雅遺產與自然基金會」合作的歐美及瓜國考古學家團隊共同發表。該研究估計，可能有約1000萬人生活在馬雅低地區，意味著那種大規模食物生產有其必要。
Researchers used a mapping technique called LiDAR. It bounces pulsed laser light off the ground, revealing contours hidden by dense foliage. The images revealed that the Mayans altered the landscape in a much broader way than previously thought; in some areas, 95 percent of available land was cultivated.
研究人員運用稱為「光達」的測繪技術。這項技術從地面彈回脈衝雷射光，揭示隱匿在茂密林葉中的輪廓。相關影像顯示，馬雅人以相較於此前認定更廣泛的方式改變地貌；在部分地區，95％的可耕地都被耕作。
The 2,100 square kilometers of mapping done vastly expands the area that was intensively occupied by the Maya, whose culture flourished between roughly 1,000 BC and 900 AD. The mapping detected about 60,000 individual structures, including four major Mayan ceremonial centers with plazas and pyramids.
已完成的2100平方公里測繪，大幅擴大馬雅人密集佔據的地區，他們的文化約在公元前1000年至公元900年繁榮發展。該繪測測得約6萬個獨立結構，包括4個含有廣場與金字塔的大型馬雅儀典中心。
新聞辭典
map：繪製....地圖。例句：Sorrow was mapped on his face.（他面露愁容。）
contour：輪廓。例如：the contour of a coastline（海岸線的輪廓）。
flourish：繁榮、茂盛。例句：Their business is flourishing.（他們的生意興隆。）
