Scientists may have discovered one of the oldest Christian churches in the world
科学家可能发现了世界上最古老的基督教教堂之一
Scientists may have discovered one of the oldest Christian churches in the world by using muon radiography to scan a mysterious subterranean building located in the ancient Russian city of Derbent, on the Caspian Sea’s coast.
科学家们可能已经发现了世界上最古老的基督教教堂之一，他们利用μ介子射线扫描了位于里海沿岸，俄罗斯古城德尔本特的一座神秘地下建筑。
Archeologists have long wondered exactly the purpose the building served and one hypothesis is that it was some type of Christian temple.
长期以来，考古学家一直想知道这座建筑的确切用途，其中一个假设是，它是某种类型的基督教寺庙。
Other possible theories for the building’s function: a reservoir or a Zoroastrian fire temple.
建筑物功能的其他可能推论：水库或琐罗亚斯德火神庙。
The 39-foot building, located in the northwest sector of the medieval fortress of Naryn-Kala, is almost completely hidden underground and built of local-shell limestone; it dates to about 300 A.D.
这座39英尺高的建筑位于中世纪要塞纳林卡拉的西北部，几乎完全隐藏在地下，由当地的石灰岩建造它可以追溯到公元300年左右。
Excavating could endanger the UNESCO site, so archeologists have not been able to fully access the structure.
挖掘可能会危及联合国教科文组织的遗址，所以考古学家还不能完全进入该建筑。
Instead, researchers from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics Lomonosov Moscow State University, and Dagestan State University harnessed a non-invasive technique — muon radiography — to produce an image of the buried building.
相反，来自俄罗斯科学院、斯科伯特辛核物理研究所、莫斯科州立大学洛莫诺索夫分校和达吉斯坦州立大学的研究人员利用非侵入性技术——μ介子射线照相术——来制作掩埋建筑的图像。
If they can fully understand its structure, perhaps they could determine its use.
如果他们能够完全理解它的结构，也许他们就可以知道它的用途。
The results showed that the building is in the shape of a cross, furthering the belief that it could be a church. The space was found to be 36 feet high, 50 feet long and 44 feet wide.
结果显示，该建筑呈十字形，进一步证明它可能是一座教堂。该空间高36英尺，长50英尺，宽44英尺。
“It seems very strange to me to interpret this building as a water tank. In the same fortress of Naryn-Kala, there is an equal underground structure of 10 meters depth, and it really is a tank. This is just a rectangular building,” said Natalia Polukhina, head of the scientific group and the study’s author, in a statement.
“对我来说，把这座建筑理解为一个水箱似乎很奇怪。在纳林卡拉的同一座堡垒里，有一个同样深10米的地下结构，它实际上是一个坦克。而这儿只是一个长方形的建筑。”科学小组负责人、该研究的作者娜塔莉亚·波卢基纳在一份声明中说。
“The unusual building, in which we have put our detectors, has the shape of a cross, oriented strictly to the sides of the world, one side is 2 meters longer than the others.”
“我们在这座不寻常的建筑里放置了探测器，发现它的形状像一个十字架，严格地指向世界的各个方向，其中一边比另一边长2米。”
“As the archaeologists who began excavations say, during construction, the building was entirely on the surface and it stands on the highest point of the Naryn-Kala. What is the sense to put the tank on the surface, and even on the highest mountain? It is strange. Currently, there are more questions than answers,” Polukhina added.
“正如开始挖掘的考古学家所说，在建造起初，这座建筑完全是在地面上的，它坐落在纳林卡拉的最高点上。把坦克放在水面上，甚至是最高的山上，有什么意义?这很奇怪。目前，问题比答案多。”Polukhina补充道。
The study’s authors also emphasize that more muon detectors will need to be installed, in particular on the western slope of the fortress, in order to obtain a full-size underground picture.
该研究的作者还强调，目前还需要安装更多的μ介子探测器，特别是在堡垒的西边斜坡上，以便获得完整的地下图像。
Their work was published in the journal Applied Sciences.
该研究成果将发表在《应用科学》杂志上。
(NUT MISIS)
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