世界上第一件衣服：又潮又有現代感(雙語)

It doesn』t look like much, but this tattered piece of clothing found buried in an ancient Egyptian cemetery has been confirmed as the world』s oldest dress as well as the oldest woven garment known to archaeologists.

　　雖然看上去其貌不揚，然而這件發現於古代埃及墓穴中的襤褸衣裳已經被考古學家確認為世界上最古老的裙裝，也是最古老的紡織工藝成衣。

　　Called the Tarkhan dress, the remarkable garment has now officially been dated by University College London researchers to between 5,100 and 5,500 years old. That places it way back to the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt, and possibly even earlier.

　　這條裙子被稱作達拉罕裙。據倫敦大學學院的研究者測定並公布，這件令人驚嘆的裙衫製造於公元前5100年到5500年之間，即古代埃及的第一王朝，可能甚至更早。

　　The Tarkhan dress was originally discovered in 1912 in an ancient Egyptian cemetery just south of Cairo. Archaeologists didn』t think much of it at the time, letting it languish in a 「great pile of linen cloth.」 Then, upon its rediscovery in 1977, it was sent to the Victoria and Albert Museum for conservation. Scientists knew it was old, but its exact date has been a matter of controversy. But new radiocarbon analysis, performed by UCL』s Alice Stevenson and Michael W. Dee, finally confirm the item』s antiquity.

　　達拉罕裙最初是在1912年開羅南部的一座古代埃及墓地中發現的。考古學家們當時並沒有在意它，直接把它扔進了「一大堆亞麻布」之中。然後在1977年，它又重見天日了，於是被送到維多利亞和阿爾伯特博物館以作保存。科學家們知道它歷史悠久，但是具體悠久到什麼年代一直是個存在爭議的問題。倫敦大學學院的Alice Stevenson和Michael W. Dee通過放射性碳素分析，最終確定了這件物品的年代。

　　「The survival of highly perishable textiles in the archaeological record is exceptional,」 write the researchers，「The survival of complete, or almost complete, articles of clothing even more so.」

　　「在考古發現中，纖維織物是極易損壞的，能夠留存下來的少之又少。」研究人員在文章中寫道，「留存下來的完整或近乎完整的服飾更加是鳳毛麟角。

　　Indeed, the Tarkhan dress is offering unique insights into the fashion of the times. Though it looks like a shirt, similar clothing from a few centuries later suggest the garment was once a floor-length dress; the original garment was likely much longer. It features tailored sleeves, a V-neck, and narrow pleats. The dress also exhibits signs of wear, which means it was used in real life and was not some sort of fancy ornamentation. 」

　　事實上，達拉罕裙的出土讓我們得以洞見古代各時期的流行時尚。雖然它看起來像一件上衣，然而稍晚幾世紀出土的服飾證明，這件衣服曾是一件修長及地的長裙。所以說完好的衣服可能比現在要長許多，它的典型特徵是剪裁講究的袖子，V字領，窄小的褶子。這件衣服上還有被人穿過的痕迹，這意味著它曾在人們的生活中發揮過實際作用，而非無實際價值的裝飾品。