來自於古代DNA的10項驚人的發現(下)

5. Missing Mother

5. 消失的母親

A Viking mystery was solved when researchers recently examined the tooth pulp from two royals. Sven Estridsen was the last Danish Viking ruler and died in AD 1074. Roskilde Cathedral holds both his tomb and that of his mother, Estrid. Her remains were placed in a pillar near the cathedral's altar.

近來，研究者對兩個王室貴族的牙髓的新發現解開了古老維京的一個祕密。斯文二世，最後一任統治丹麥的維京君王，逝於公元1074年。他與他的母親厄斯特里德都葬於羅斯基勒大教堂。厄斯特里德的遺體被放置在教堂祭壇的一個柱子中。

Nobody doubts the identity of the man in Sven's grave. But throughout history, several experts have doubted that the woman in the pillar was really the king's mother.

沒有人懷疑過墓穴裏保存的是否是斯文真身，但在漫長曆史當中，不少專家學者質疑墓中女人的真實身份。

Luckily, there is a straightforward way to establish a direct mother-to-child link. Only women pass on their mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to their offspring, and the sequence remains identical.

幸運的是，有一種直接的方法來證實直系母子關係。只有母親會將線粒體DNA傳遞給後代，且基因的的排列順序與母體保持一致。

Sven and Estrid's mtDNA differed in two places. Not only is she not his parent, but she was also too young. Records give Estrid's age as 70, but the woman in the pillar was around 35.

斯文和厄斯特里德的的線粒體DNA有兩處不同。並且她不但不是他的母親，而且很年輕。據記載，厄斯特里德的年齡是70歲，但是這個在柱子中的女人才35歲左右。

Interestingly, the king had a pair of daughters-in-law who were both named Estrid and also became queens. Considering their younger age, name, and royal status, it's plausible that one of them was interred at Roskilde.

值得注意的是，國王有兩個兒媳，她們的名字都是厄斯特里德，並在後來成爲了王后。考慮到她們較小的年紀、名字和王室關係，我們有理由推測是她們中的一個被埋葬在了羅斯基勒大教堂。

4. London's Diversity

4.倫敦多樣性

The original Londoners settled the city nearly 2,000 years ago. Four skeletons from the Museum of London allowed researchers to learn more about their origins and appearance.

倫敦人的祖先在將近2000年前就在這座城市定居了下來。倫敦博物館的四具人體骨架使得研究人員對他們的祖先及其樣貌有了更深一步的認識。

The most complete skeleton was the "Lant Street teenager." The 14-year-old's DNA indicated that she was raised in North Africa. Her mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) came from southern and Eastern Europe. She had blue eyes but skeletal traits matching sub-Saharan people.

四具骨架中保存最完整的一具骨架是“蘭特街少女”。這個十四歲少女的DNA說明了她在北非地區長大，但她的線粒體DNA來自於南歐和東歐地區。她有着藍色的眼睛，但是她的骨架特徵卻和撒哈拉以南地區的人相符合。

The "Mansell Street man" was 45, and his dark eyes and hair fit his maternal DNA from North Africa. He grew up in London and had a diabetes-related bone disease, which was unexpected. Today, the disease is more prevalent in white Western men.

“曼塞爾街的男子”是一具45歲男子的骨架，他的黑眼睛和黑髮是和他母親的北非血統相統一。他從小生活在倫敦，並且患有與糖尿病相關的骨科疾病。研究結果之所以出人意料，是因爲當今社會，這種疾病在西方人中較爲常見。

An individual from a pit of mangled men was possibly a gladiator. Aged 36–45, he led a physically violent existence, was born elsewhere, and carried mtDNA from Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

在一個埋葬着許多面目全非的人體殘骸的深坑裏，研究者發現了可能屬於一位角鬥士的遺骸。他出生在倫敦以外的地方，攜帶着來自西歐和中東的線粒體DNA，在這裏度過了靠體力生活的36至45年。

The "Harper Road woman" (pictured above) was a Briton who embraced Roman life. (Her grave was filled with Roman relics.) Her DNA revealed a surprise—she was physically a woman but genetically a male.

“哈珀道的女人”（上圖）是一個擁抱羅馬文化的英國人。（她的墓室裝飾着大量的羅馬文物。）她的DNA展現了一個令人意想不到的事——她從外貌上看是女性，而從基因看，竟是一個男性。

3. When Europeans Vanished

3.歐洲人的消失

Australian scientists attempted to answer one migration riddle—and found another. To determine if farmers from Turkey had settled in Europe around 7,500 years ago, researchers looked at skeletons from Germany and Italy. The ancient bones belonged to various cultures from 7,500–2,500 years ago.

澳大利亞的科學家試圖解釋一個移民之謎——結果卻發現了另一個——爲了判斷土耳其農耕者是否曾在大約7500年前定居歐洲，研究人員着手研究了德國和意大利出土的人體骨架，發現這些古老的骨頭來自於7500至2500年起各種不同的文明。

The study found that the first pan-European people were indeed from Turkey and that they flourished. Then, for some mysterious reason, their genetic markers disappeared about 4,500 years ago.

這項研究發現，第一批泛歐人的確是從土耳其遷移過來並且繁衍生息。接着，因爲一些神祕原因，他們的基因印記在約4500年前消失了。

Whatever the reason was, it wasn't a gradual change. Around that time, an unidentified historical event caused a sudden and massive migration. It was so big that it changed Europe's population and genetic lineage forever.

不論是因爲什麼原因，這都不是一個逐漸變化的過程。大約在那個時期，一件未知的歷史事件的發生導致了大規模突然的人口遷移的爆發。這場遷移意義十分重大，永久性地改變了歐洲的人口和基因宗譜。

Nobody knows who this mysterious group was or what drew them toward new pastures in such large numbers that they replaced the genes of entire cultures. A distant suspect is the Bell Beaker people from the Iberian Peninsula who also left their mark on the Celtic languages.

沒有人知道這個神祕羣體是誰或什麼因素使他們大規模遷徙，以至於替代了整個地區的基因。一個關聯較小的猜測是他們是伊比利亞半島鍾杯戰斧文化的農耕者，在凱爾特語言中也留下了獨特印記。

2. Powerful Greek Women

2.強大的希臘女人

In the past, archaeologists were convinced that ancient Greek women were treated like chattel. New DNA evidence could prove them wrong.

過去，考古學家認爲古希臘女人就像私有財產一樣，而新的DNA證據可以證明這個觀點是錯誤的。

Researchers from the University of Manchester headed to the archaeological site of Mycenae, Greece. They wanted to find out more about the founders of the citadel, which had been the first city-state in Europe.

曼徹斯特大學的研究人員前往希臘的考古遺址邁錫尼實地勘探，想要發現有關於歐洲第一個城邦的建立者的更多信息。

The graves of Mycenae's rulers yielded 35 skeletons, but just four had enough DNA to analyze. Only one was a woman, but she was enough to rock the boat. Thought to be the wife of a particular man, also one of the four fully sequenced individuals, her luxurious grave was assumed to be a reflection of her husband's powerful position.

邁錫尼統治者的墓穴出土了35具骨架，但是隻有4架保留了足夠分析的DNA。其中僅有的一個女人骨架令人大跌眼鏡。她只是某一個男人的妻子、四具保存完整的骨架中的一個個體，因而她的豪華墓室被很自然地推斷是其丈夫的強大勢力的反映。

However, DNA tests and facial reconstruction revealed that they were siblings. Experts believe she had equal status and influence, indicating that women could hold powerful positions. The archaeologists who discovered this groundbreaking shift in perception feel that the distortion occurred when earlier archaeologists, all male, made the mistake of looking at the ancient world in a male-oriented way.

然而，DNA試驗和麪部結構重現說明這四具骨架是有親緣關係的兄弟姐妹。專家認爲，她和他們有着相同的地位和影響力，這足以說明女人也可以擁有強大的統治力。提出了這個全新的觀點的考古學家認爲，過去的結論之所以會失真，是因爲早前的考古學家幾乎都是男性，基於偏見，他們始終以男性主導的視角來看待遠古社會。

1. Blue-Eyed Caveman

1. 藍眼山洞人

In 2006, two skeletons were found deep inside a cave in northwest Spain. Both were Mesolithic men who lived over 7,000 years ago. The thirtysomethings were in a good state, but viable DNA could only be extracted from one man's molar. The results switched one evolutionary belief around.

2006年，西班牙西北部的一個山洞深處發掘了兩具人體骨架。這兩具骨架的主人都是生活在7000年以前中石器時代的男人，年齡約莫三十歲。他們的骨架保持了較爲完整的形態，但是僅能從其中一種的臼齒中提取出有效DNA。研究結果動搖了一個長期以來的進化觀點。

The man's genome painted a picture of his looks, and it was surprising. He had swarthy skin, dark hair, and blue eyes. It was unusual because he's considered a modern European and this group is popularly seen as having light skin. The unexpected eye color suggests that the mutation for blue occurred before the mutations for light skin. Previously, it was thought to be the other way around.

這個男人的基因組展現了他驚人的樣貌。他有着黝黑的皮膚，烏黑的頭髮和藍色的眼睛。之所以說他不同尋常，是因爲研究人員認爲他是一個現代歐洲人，而這類人羣被普遍認爲是淺色人種。出人意料的眼睛顏色說明藍眼的基因突變早於淺膚色的基因突變。而在從前，這個結論是反過來的。

He also busted another myth. Scientists had credited a sudden boost in the human immune system to a later time when men became farmers and needed protection from animal pathogens. However, the Mesolithic man, who lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, already had that protection. His closest genetic cousins today are the people from Sweden and Finland.

這具男子骨架同樣給另一個觀點以重擊。起初，科學家認爲人體免疫系統的突然增強，主要是因爲後來成爲農耕者的人們需要抵禦動物病菌的侵擾的能力。但是中石器時代的人們過着採獵生活，早已有了抵抗力。當今，與他基因最接近的親屬是瑞典人和芬蘭人。