Under the gaze of today’s super-tall wind turbines transitioning us from fossil fuels, in Jiangsu there has been discovered evidence of our first polluting efforts 7,000 years ago; a friction-based, fire-making device from the now earliest known Neolithic site in eastern China.
在今天超高的风力涡轮机使我们摆脱化石燃料的注视下，在江苏，我们发现了7000年前我们第一次污染的证据；一种基于摩擦的生火装置，来自中国东部目前已知最早的新石器时代遗址。
The discovery site is being called Caoyan Port, located on the north side of Dongyan Jiawei of Caowang Village in Jiangsu’s Xinghua City that falls under the administration of Taizhou.
发现地点名为曹堰港，位于泰州市辖的江苏兴化市曹王村东堰家围北侧。
With an elevation of less than 2 metres, the sodden area was originally populated by reeds and water plants. In the 1980s and 1990s, the lake was reclaimed to be farmland, forming a large area of fish ponds.
海拔不到2米的湿地，原本长满了芦苇和水生植物。 20世纪80年代和90年代，该湖被围垦为农田，形成了大面积的鱼塘。
One of those ponds were excavated in 2021, leading to the discovery of the site. After an investigation by the Nanjing Museum Archaeology Institute, it was confirmed to date back 7,200 years and be over 80,000 square metres in area.
其中一个池塘于 2021 年被挖掘，导致该地点的发现。经南京博物院考古研究所考证，距今7200多年，面积8万多平方米。
With the approval of the National Cutural Heritage Administration, the Nanjing Museum and the Jiangsu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, a thorough archaeological excavation of the site began in December of last year, and now the results of those efforts are beginning to be presented to the public.
经国家文物局、南京博物院、江苏省文物考古研究院批准，去年12月开始对该遗址进行全面考古发掘，目前考古发掘成果已开始向公众展示。
As per a report by The Paper on 23 August, an enormous variety of relics have been unearthed to date. According to Gan Huiyuan, Deputy Research Librarian of the Nanjing Museum and Archaeological Excavation Team Leader of the Caoyan Port Site, the large number of bone and wooden artefacts unearthed are not commonly seen in Neolithic sites of the same period.
据澎湃新闻8月23日报道，迄今为止，已出土文物种类繁多。南京博物院研究馆副馆长、曹堰港遗址考古发掘队队长甘慧源介绍，出土的大量骨木文物在同时期新石器时代遗址中并不多见。
Among them, there are various types of tools made of bone, including arrowheads, darts, daggers, plates, hairpins and needles, most of which exquisitely crafted. There is even a Bansuri (six-holed) bone flute in a semi-finished condition. Experts say that these unearthed relics not only showcase the lifestyles of our ancestors, but also their aesthetic tastes.
其中，骨制工具种类繁多，有箭头、飞镖、匕首、盘、簪、针等，大多制作精美。甚至还有半成品的 Bansuri（六孔）骨笛。专家表示，这些出土文物不仅展示了我们祖先的生活方式，也展示了他们的审美趣味。
Then there is all the wooden ware; spinning wheels, floats and that most remarkable of finds; the friction-based, fire-making hand drill on which are evident drill holes and burn marks.
然后是所有的木器；旋转的轮子、漂浮物和最引人注目的发现；基于摩擦的生火手钻，其上有明显的钻孔和烧痕。
That those can still be seen clearly some 7 millennia later indicates our ancestors must have really put their back into it. As the now somewhat politically incorrect website, artofmanliness.com, put it in 2008, “The hand drill method is the most primeval, and the most difficult to do. All you need is wood, tireless hands and some gritty determination”.
大约七千年后，这些仍然可以清晰地看到，这表明我们的祖先一定是真正付出了努力。正如现在有些政治不正确的网站 artofmaniness.com 在 2008 年所说的那样，“手钻方法是最原始的，也是最难做的。你需要的只是木头、不知疲倦的双手和坚韧不拔的决心”。
With fire now to hand, something to cook with would be next for Jiangsu’s neolithic inhabitants. Unearthed at the Caoyan Port Site were also a number of cauldrons, together with the remains of that likely cooked in them; deer, pigs, cows, dogs and various types of birds.
现在有了火，对于江苏新石器时代的居民来说，接下来就是做饭的东西了。曹堰港遗址还出土了一些鼎，以及可能在其中煮过的东西的残骸；鹿、猪、牛、狗和各种鸟类。
Also somewhat tellingly is the abundance of water-based life forms; gorgonian fruits, water chestnuts and rice, reflecting a rich-dietary structure and a relatively-advanced hunter/gather-oriented economic model.
水基生命形式的丰富也颇能说明问题。柳果、荸荠、稻米等，体现了丰富的饮食结构和较为先进的狩猎采集经济模式。
Lastly, long-lost remains of clams, snails and oysters were discovered. As the crow flies today, it is well over 100 kilometres to the sea. The finds at the Caoyan Port Site are therefore also highly suggestive that 7,000 years ago, this was not the case.
最后，人们发现了失传已久的蛤蜊、蜗牛和牡蛎的遗骸。按照今天的乌鸦飞行距离，距离大海已经有100多公里了。 因此，曹堰港遗址的发现也强烈表明，7000 年前，情况并非如此。
