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In fact, some of the very early ones, some of those ones that are now dated to about 14,000 years ago-there's black incrustations, and its that carbonised material that has been dated-we think they were probably used for cooking up some vegetable materials?
事实上有些器皿中的黑色陈淀物差不多了一万四千年历史了。这些黑色碳化物已经被科学家年代定位了，我们在猜想也许当初绳纹人是在烹饪一些蔬菜汤？
Perhaps they were cooking up fish broths? And it's possible they were cooking up nuts, using a wide range of nuts-including acorns-that you need to cook and boil for a long time before you can actually eat them.'
或者是鲜鱼汤？也有可能是在炖坚果，像橡子之类的，那种东西可真是要熬很久时间可以吃。”
I think that this is a really interesting point-that pots change your diet. New foods become available and useable only once they can be boiled. Heating shellfish in water forces the shells to open, making it easier to get at the contents, but also, and no less importantly, it sorts out which ones are bad-bad ones stay closed. It's alarming to think of the trial-and-error involved in discovering which foods are in fact edible-there must have been plenty of horrible accidents along the way-but it's a process that was going on all over the world.
说起来真是有趣，这种罐头钵头可以改变你的饮食。通过煮沸，就出现了很多可食用的新食物了。把贝壳类水煮一下，壳就打开了，吃里头的肉就轻而易举。而且，同样重要的是，人类是摸着石头过河，一路试吃试过来的。历史上不乏第一个吃螃蟹的人的例子。不过在这过程中，这种盲目性很强的冒险行为肯定导致了相当多的意外事件；然而这在全世界各地都是一种不可避免的过程。
The Jomon hunter-gatherer way of life, enriched and transformed by the making of Jomon pottery, didn't radically change for over 14,000 years.
绳纹陶器的制作，丰富与改造了绳纹人这种狩猎与采集的生活方式；而后在一万四千年的漫漫岁月中，一切没有多大的改变。
Although the oldest pots in the world were made in Japan, the technique didn't spread from there.
虽说日本人制造出世界上最古老的陶罐陶钵，这种技术并不能从那里蔓延开来。
Pottery seems to have been invented in different places at different times right across the world. The first pots known from the Middle East and North Africa were made a few thousand years after the earliest Jomon pots, and in the Americas it was a few thousands of years after that.
制陶似乎是在世界各地不同时期、不同地区独立发明的。比最早期绳纹盆晚了几千年，在中东与北非出现了当地第一批陶器，而在美洲，那是还要再晚几千年的事。
But almost everywhere in the world, the invention of the pot was connected with new cuisines and a more varied menu.
然而在全世界各地，锅碗瓢盆的出现，毫无例外地促成了新烹饪与人类更加丰富多样的菜谱。
Nowadays Jomon pots are used as cultural ambassadors for Japan in major exhibitions around the world. Most nations look back to imperial glories or invading armies-and I think it's extraordinary that a technologically, economically powerful nation like Japan proudly places the very origins of its identity in the early hunter-gatherers.
如今绳纹陶器已经充当起日本文化大使的角色，在世界各地的大型展览与人们见面。大多数国家都以自己帝国时代的辉煌或军队的入侵略扩张为荣，我认为像日本这种技术领先、经济实力强大的民族可以很自豪地向世人展示最早期的狩猎采集者身份，无疑是件了不起的事。
As an outsider, I find the meticulous attention to detail and the patterning of the surface, and the long continuity of Jomon traditions, already very Japanese. Professor Takashi Doi again:
作为一个局外人，我发现绳纹陶品上那种对细节一丝不苟还有精致的表面图案，再加上长期连续的绳纹传统，真是相当的日本。隆土井教授说道：
'Japan has the longest pottery-making tradition in the world. The fine porcelains made by Japan's top craftsmen and women today have an inheritance lasting over 17,000 years. Jomon pots and culture have great resonance for many Japanese people today, perhaps because it speaks of the distinctive nature of Japanese culture that often stresses continuity through change.'
“日本拥有世界上最长的制陶传统。由日本顶尖工匠与妇女们制造出精细瓷器是一种长达一万七千年的传统。绳纹陶器与文化在许多当今的日本人民心头仍然可以产生强烈的共鸣，也许是因为它叙说了日本文化的独特性质，强调改变需要在传承性与连续性中进行。”
But the story of our small Jomon pot doesn't end here, because I haven't yet described to you what is perhaps the most extraordinary thing of all about it-that the inside is, when you look, carefully lined with lacquered gold leaf.
但是我们这小小绳纹钵的故事并不是就这么结束了。因为我还没开始告诉你这件物品中最不寻常的事情呢。来瞧瞧这钵的里头，仔细瞧瞧这精心贴上的漆金箔内衬。
