每日一翻：Better Barley Let People Settle Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan Plateau, at an altitude of some 3000 meters above sea level, is often called the ‘roof of the world.’ Some prehistoric people tried living there starting about 20,000 years ago. Remains of cooked animals and small-scale hearths show that a few hardy souls did give the harsh region a go, at least temporarily. But they did not stick around.海拔3000米高的青藏高原常常被叫做“世界屋脊”。在大约2000年前史前人类就试着在这里生活。煮熟的动物和小型灶台残骸表明，一些勇敢的人曾经到过这个恶劣的地区，或者至少暂时在那里呆过。但是没有一直在那呆着。

Permanent human settlements in the area began about 5,200 years ago. So scientists wanted to know. What changed?

这个地方的永久人类定居点可以追溯到5200年前。所以科学家们想知道到底发生了什么变化？

Researchers collected artifacts, animal bones and plant remains from 53 sites. The oldest camps only reached altitudes of about 2,500 meters. And at these sites, millet makes up 98 percent of dietary grain.

科学家们从53个遗址中收集史前古物、动物骨骼和植物。最古老的营地仅仅到了海拔2500米的高度。在这些遗址中，小米占了日常饮食的98%。

But about 3,600 years a new kind of barley arrived in the region, after being domesticated in the Fertile Crescent that spread from the Persian Gulf to the Nile. The new barley tolerated frost and had a longer growing season. Which means it grew above the 3000 meter mark—and that people could settle there. Diets at those heights became dominated by the new, hardy barley.

但是大约3600年钱，一种新的大麦在从波斯湾到尼罗河的新月沃土被人类种植后，传播到了这个地区。新的大麦可以承受霜冻，并且有较长的生长季节。这意味着它可以生长在海拔3000的地方，人们就可以在那里定居了。在那些山庄，耐寒的大麦就在饮食中占据了主导地位,。The findings are in the journal Science. [F.H. Chen et al, Agriculture facilitated permanent human occupation of the Tibetan Plateau after 3600 BP]

The researchers say that the cross-cultural grain exchange from the Fertile Crescent thus appears to be what allowed humans to finally reach the roof of the world.

研究人员说，似乎是来自新月沃土的跨文化谷物交易使得人类最终能够生活在世界屋脊。

—Cynthia Graber