Exploring Australia’s Forgotten Aboriginal Rock Art

by Diane Selkirk

Exploring Australia’s Forgotten Aboriginal Rock Art

by Diane Selkirk

Track 7

童鞋们是否听说过澳大利亚土著居民的岩画呢？澳大利亚是大洋洲众多岩画点的集中地，在上世纪七十年代，人们已经承认，这里是世界上最丰富、最庞大的岩画艺术画廊之一。在本期的“世界风情馆”，我们将和笔者一起探索洞穴里那神秘的岩画艺术！你，准备好了吗？

Away from the sunshine, my eyes needed a moment to adjust. I heard my daughter and husband making their way up the1：凯恩斯（Cairns）是澳大利亚北昆士兰的首府，拥有世界最大的活体珊瑚礁群景观、迷人的海岸线、宝石般的岛屿、银色的沙滩及蓝色的海洋。)rocky2)trail behind me through the3)oppressive heat.“This better be worth it!” my daughter Maia called out. I looked through the dark light of a cave and discovered a lot of very old paintings. There was a red fish with white dots4)overlapping a crocodile.

Why wasn’t anyone here to keep an eye on the artwork? I thought part of the answer had to do with the5)remote location. We were in a small island group 340km north of Cairns1：凯恩斯（Cairns）是澳大利亚北昆士兰的首府，拥有世界最大的活体珊瑚礁群景观、迷人的海岸线、宝石般的岛屿、银色的沙滩及蓝色的海洋。. Getting to Stanley Island wasn’t easy. While some visitors arrived here on small6)cruise ships, we traveled up the coast on our own boat and stopped near the place where we thought the rock art might be.

When we finally reached a beach on the other side of the island, I searched for the trail leading to the rock art. “There might be7)salties!” my husband Evan called to Maia each time she walked close to the water’s edge. He was8)referring to9)saltwater crocodiles, of course—the kind which eat humans. Fortunately, we didn’t see any.

After I found the trail, we10)trudged into the bush to find the artwork. The wind wasn’t as strong as before and the11)humidity increased gradually. I began to wonder if the park had been forgotten or not. Then I moved under the12)overhangs and entered the cave.

1) rocky ['rɒkɪ] adj. 多岩石的，由岩石形成的

2) trail [treɪl] n. 小径，小路

3) oppressive [ə'presɪv] adj. 压抑的，闷热的

4) overlap [əʊvə'læp] v. 与……重叠

5) remote location 边远位置

6) cruise ship 游轮，游艇

7) saltie ['sɔːltiː] n. 湾鳄

8) refer to 指的是

9) saltwater ['sɔːlt'wɔːtə] adj. 盐水的，海产的

10) trudge [trʌdʒ] v. 跋涉

11) humidity [hjuː'mɪdɪtɪ] n. 湿气，湿度

12) overhang [əʊvə'hæŋ] n. 垂悬物

I couldn’t believe what I saw. There must be hundreds of paintings on the rock face: images of ships, canoes, birds and turtles. Each time I turned my head, looking up to the13)ceiling or deeper into the14)shelter, I discovered something new. The cave, which was almost big enough to hold any of the ships painted on its walls, was like a window into the past. Looking at the white and15)ochre paintings, I was filled with wonder.

We know that some ships landed on the island and carried people away. Even before the first European ship sailed past in 1606, a number of fit young men were forced to board Indonesian boats to fish for16)sea cucumbers in the rough local17)waters. In the 1880s, still more young men were18)recruited to work on fishing boats, in the highly19)lethal fishing industries. Records show that some local women were even2：即儒艮，一种海生哺乳动物，也被称为海牛。0)traded for goods with those passing boats.

As Evan and I studied the ships, Maia searched the walls and overhangs for the last image that was reportedly painted here—a dugong2：即儒艮，一种海生哺乳动物，也被称为海牛。. It was an endangered sea cow that was once central to this21)aboriginal culture. It was painted about 60 years ago by the last aboriginal man born on the island. “They’re almost all gone now, aren’t they?” she asked.

After an hour or so of studying the rock art, we went deeper into the island. We saw the cooking sites, sleeping places and other places filled with more art.

Noelene Cole, an22)archaeologist and rock-art23)specialist, points out that many sites in northern Australia are endangered because rock art24)concentrations tend to be found in regions with25)mineral deposits, making people target for mine developments. Until now, officials have focused more on26)promoting economic development than protecting cultural treasures, she said. But she hopes that will change.

13) ceiling ['siːlɪŋ] n. 天花板，顶篷

14) shelter ['ʃeltə] n. 隐藏所

15) ochre ['əʊkə] adj. 赭色的

16) sea cucumber 海参

17) waters 水域，海域

18) recruit [rɪ'kruːt] v. 招募

19) lethal ['liːθəl] adj. 致命的

20) trade for 以……换得

21) aboriginal [æbə'rɪdʒɪnəl] adj. 原始的，土著的

22) archaeologist [ˌɑːkɪ'ɒlədʒɪst] n. 考古学家

23) specialist ['speʃəlɪst] n. 专家，行家

24) concentration [ˌkɒnsən'treɪʃən] n. 集合

25) mineral deposit 矿床，矿产资源

26) promote [prə'məʊt] v. 促进

离开阳光后，我的双眼需要一点时间来适应。我听见我的丈夫和女儿正在酷热下沿着我身后的岩石小径往上爬的声音。“这一切努力一定不能白费！”我的女儿玛雅喊道。我透过山洞幽暗的光线望去，发现了许多十分古老的壁画。墙壁上有一条带着白色斑点的红色鱼儿叠画在了一条鳄鱼上面。

为什么没有人在这里照看这些艺术品呢？我想部分原因是这里太过偏僻了。我们在位于凯恩斯北部340公里远的小群岛上，要登上斯坦利岛并非易事。有些游客是乘坐小型游艇来到这里，而我们则是坐着自己的小船沿着海岸线向上行进，并停靠在一个我们认为会有岩画的地方附近。

当我们最终来到小岛另外一头的沙滩时，我四处找寻着通往岩画遗址的小径。“这里可能有湾鳄！”每次玛雅走近水边时，我的丈夫埃文总是这样冲她喊着。当然，他指的是咸水鳄—那种会食人的鳄鱼。幸好，我们并没有遇到。

当我找到了那条小径后，为了寻找这些艺术品，我们艰难地进入到丛林里。风没有之前那么猛烈了，湿度也在逐渐升高。我开始怀疑这个公园是否已经被世人遗忘了。接着我在悬岩下移动着身子，进入了山洞。

我真不敢相信眼前所见。岩壁上定有数百幅壁画：满眼尽是船只、独木舟、鸟儿和乌龟的图画。每一次转头、抬头望向山洞顶部又或是洞穴深处，我总能发现一些新的岩画。这个洞穴大得足以容下墙上所画的任意一艘船，它就像是一扇通往过去的窗户。凝视着这些白色与红赭色的岩画，我满心惊叹。

我们知道有些船只曾在这座岛上靠岸，载走了这里的人。甚至在1606年第一艘欧洲船只驶过这里以前，许多健壮的年轻人就被迫登上了印度尼西亚的船只，在当地条件极差的水域中捕捞海参。到了19世纪80年代，甚至有更多的年轻人被招募到渔船上工作，从事着有高度致命危险的水产捕捞业。有记载表明，一些当地妇女甚至被用来与那些途经的船只做商品交换。

当我和埃文在仔细研究着这些船只图画时，玛雅则在墙壁和悬岩上寻找着那个据说是最后一个被画在这里的图画—儒艮。它是一种濒临灭绝的海牛，曾经是这个土著文明的核心。60年前，最后一个出生在这座岛上的土著居民亲手画下了它。“他们几乎全都离世了，是吧？”玛雅问道。

在研究了大约一个小时的岩画后，我们便往岛的深处走去。我们看到了土著烹煮食物的地方、睡觉的场所以及其他画有更多岩画的地方。

考古学家及岩画专家诺琳·科尔指出，许多位于澳洲北部的岩画遗址正面临被毁的危险，因为岩画群主要分布在矿床地区，这使得人们把目标聚焦在了矿物开采上。直至今日，官方仍把更多的焦点放在了促进经济发展而非保护文化瑰宝上，科尔如是说。但是她希望这种情况能有所改善。

探寻被遗忘的艺术——澳大利亚土著岩画

翻译：寒星