Nevada's mysterious cave of the red-haired giantsby Terrence Aym
Translation by Autumnson Blog
Many Native American tribes from the Northeast and Southwest still relate the legends of the red-haired giants and how their ancestors fought terrible, protracted wars against the giants when they first encountered them in North America almost 15,000 years ago.
許多來自東北和西南的美洲土著部落，仍然敘述傳說中的紅發巨人和他們的祖先如何在可怕、曠日持久的戰爭戰鬥巨人，當他們首次在1.5萬年前於北美遇到他們時。
Others, like the Aztecs and Mayans recorded their encounters with a race of giants to the north when they ventured out on exploratory expeditions.
其他人像阿茲特克人與瑪雅人記錄他們在北方遭遇一族的巨人，當他們出外冒險作探索性考察。
Who were these red-haired giants that history books have ignored? Their burial sites and remains have been discovered on almost every continent.
誰是這些歷史書已忽略的紅髮巨人呢？他們的埋葬地點和遺體已被發現在幾乎每一個大陸上。
In the United States they have been unearthed in Virginia and New York state, Michigan, Illinois and Tennessee, Arizona and Nevada.
在美國，他們已在弗吉尼亞州和紐約州、密歇根州、伊利諾伊州和田納西州、亞利桑那州和內華達州被出土。
And it's the state of Nevada that the story of the native Paiute's wars against the giant red-haired men transformed from a local myth to a scientific reality during 1924 when the Lovelock Caves were excavated.
和它是內華達州的土著尤特族對巨大紅髮人的戰爭故事，在1924年從一個地方神話轉化成一宗科學的現實，當洛夫洛克石窟出土。
At one time the Lovelock Cave was known as Horseshoe cave because of its U-shaped interior. The cavern—located about 20 miles south of modern day Lovelock, Nevada, is approximately 40-feet deep and 60-feet wide.
洛夫洛克洞穴因為它的U形內部一度被稱為馬蹄洞穴，山洞 - 位於內華達州現代的洛夫洛克以南大約 20英里 - 是大約40英尺深和60英尺寬。
It's a very old cave that pre-dates humans on this continent. In prehistoric times it lay underneath a giant inland lake called Lahontan that covered much of western Nevada. Geologists have determined the cavern was formed by the lake's currents and wave action.
它是一個非常古老的洞穴，早於這塊大陸上的人類。在史前時代它在一個巨大的內陸湖叫拉翁唐之下，那覆蓋內華達州西部的大部分。地質學家們已確定山洞是由湖的水流和波浪活動形成。
內華達州吃人巨人的洞口傳說
The legendThe Paiutes, a Native-American tribe indigenous to parts of Nevada, Utah and Arizona, told early white settlers about their ancestors' battles with a ferocious race of white, red-haired giants. According to the Paiutes, the giants were already living in the area.
尤特族是一個美洲本地的土著部落植根於內華達州、猶他州和亞利桑那州，告訴早期白人殖民者關於他們祖先，與兇猛的白、紅頭髮的巨人種族的戰爭。據尤特族，巨人曾在該地區生活。
The Paiutes named the giants "Si-Te-Cah" that literally means “tule-eaters.” The tule is a fibrous water plant the giants wove into rafts to escape the Paiutes continuous attacks. They used the rafts to navigate across what remained of Lake Lahontan.
尤特族命名巨人為“四特卡”，字面的意思是“圖利食客。”圖萊是一種纖維狀水產植物，巨人用以織成木筏逃避尤特族的連續攻擊，他們用木伐航越拉翁唐湖的剩餘地方。
According to the Paiutes, the red-haired giants stood as tall as 12-feet and were a vicious, unapproachable people that killed and ate captured Paiutes as food.
據尤特族，紅髮巨人站立高至12英尺和是一種邪惡、不可接近的人種，他們殺死並吃掉抓獲的尤特族作為食物。
The Paiutes told the early settlers that after many years of warfare, all the tribes in the area finally joined together to rid themselves of the giants.
尤特族告訴早期的遷徙者，經過多年的戰爭，在該地區的所有部落最後聯合起來清除巨人。
One day as they chased down the few remaining red-haired enemy, the fleeing giants took refuge in a cave. The tribal warriors demanded their enemy come out and fight, but the giants steadfastly refused to leave their sanctuary.
一天當他們追趕僅存的紅髮敵人，逃走的巨人在一個山洞裡避難。部落的勇士要求他們的敵人出來作一死戰，但巨人堅決地拒絕離開他們的庇護所。
Frustrated at not defeating their enemy with honor, the tribal chiefs had warriors fill the entrance to the cavern with brush and then set it on fire in a bid to force the giants out of the cave.
沮喪於不是榮譽地戰勝他們的敵人，部落酋長令戰士用刷子塞滿洞穴的入口，及後點火企圖迫使巨人出洞。
The few that did emerge were instantly slain with volleys of arrows. The giants that remained inside the cavern were asphyxiated.
確出現的幾個瞬間被齊發的箭射死，剩下仍留在洞穴內的巨人都被窒息而死。
Later, an earthquake rocked the region and the cave entrance collapsed leaving only enough room for bats to enter it and make it their home.
後來，地震搖動該區和洞穴入口坍塌，只留下足夠的空間給蝙蝠進入，和成為它們的家園。
挖掘
The excavation
Thousands of years later the cave was rediscovered and found to be loaded with bat guano almost 6-feet deep. Decaying bat guano becomes saltpeter, the chief ingredient of gunpowder, and was very valuable.
數千年後，洞穴被重新發現，和被發現載滿蝙蝠糞深近6英尺。腐爛的蝙蝠糞變成硝石 - 火藥的主要成分 - 而且是非常有價值的。
Therefore, in 1911 a company was created specifically to mine the guano. As the mining operation progressed, skeletons and fossils were found.
因此，在1911年一間公司被建立專為開採鳥糞。當採礦的運作在進行，骨骼和化石被發現。
The guano was mined for almost 13 years before archaeologists were notified about the findings. Unfortunately, by then many of the artifacts had been accidentally destroyed or simply discarded.
鳥糞被開採將近 13年，考古學家才被通知有關發現。不幸的是，那時許多的文物已被意外地銷毀或乾脆丟棄。
Nevertheless, what the scientific researchers did recover was staggering: over 10,000 artifacts were unearthed including the mummified remains of two red-haired giants—one, a female 6.5-feet tall, the other male, over 8-feet tall.
不過，科研人員恢復的東西確是驚人：超過 10,000件文物出土，仍然包括兩個紅髮巨人的乾屍遺骸，一6.5英尺高的女性，另外的男性超過8英尺高。
Many of the artifacts (but not the giants) can be viewed at the small natural history museum located in Winnemucca, Nevada.
神話的證實
Confirmation of the myth
As the excavation of the cave progressed, the archaeologists came to the inescapable conclusion that the Paiutes myth was no myth; it was true.
What led them to this realization was the discovery of many broken arrows that had been shot into the cave and a dark layer of burned material under sections of the overlaying guano.
Among the thousands of artifacts recovered from this site of an unknown people is what some scientists are convinced is a calendar: a donut-shaped stone with exactly 365 notches carved along its outside rim and 52 corresponding notches along the inside.
But that was not to be the final chapter of red-haired giants in Nevada.
In February and June of 1931, two very large skeletons were found in the Humboldt dry lake bed near Lovelock, Nevada.
One of the skeletons measured 8.5-feet tall and was later described as having been wrapped in a gum-covered fabric similar to Egyptian mummies. The other was nearly 10-feet long. [Nevada Review-Miner newspaper, June 19, 1931.]
Links
Info on Lovelock Caves from Nevada tourist website
http://www.helium.com/items/1814848-nevadas-mysterious-cave-of-the-red-haired-giants?page=2
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