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5. Missing Mother
5. 消失的母亲
A Viking mystery was solved when researchers recently examined the tooth pulp from two royals. Sven Estridsen was the last Danish Viking ruler and died in AD 1074. Roskilde Cathedral holds both his tomb and that of his mother, Estrid. Her remains were placed in a pillar near the cathedral's altar.
近来，研究者对两个王室贵族的牙髓的新发现解开了古老维京的一个秘密。斯文二世，最后一任统治丹麦的维京君王，逝于公元1074年。他与他的母亲厄斯特里德都葬于罗斯基勒大教堂。厄斯特里德的遗体被放置在教堂祭坛的一个柱子中。
Nobody doubts the identity of the man in Sven's grave. But throughout history, several experts have doubted that the woman in the pillar was really the king's mother.
没有人怀疑过墓穴里保存的是否是斯文真身，但在漫长历史当中，不少专家学者质疑墓中女人的真实身份。
Luckily, there is a straightforward way to establish a direct mother-to-child link. Only women pass on their mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to their offspring, and the sequence remains identical.
幸运的是，有一种直接的方法来证实直系母子关系。只有母亲会将线粒体DNA传递给后代，且基因的的排列顺序与母体保持一致。
Sven and Estrid's mtDNA differed in two places. Not only is she not his parent, but she was also too young. Records give Estrid's age as 70, but the woman in the pillar was around 35.
斯文和厄斯特里德的的线粒体DNA有两处不同。并且她不但不是他的母亲，而且很年轻。据记载，厄斯特里德的年龄是70岁，但是这个在柱子中的女人才35岁左右。
Interestingly, the king had a pair of daughters-in-law who were both named Estrid and also became queens. Considering their younger age, name, and royal status, it's plausible that one of them was interred at Roskilde.
值得注意的是，国王有两个儿媳，她们的名字都是厄斯特里德，并在后来成为了王后。考虑到她们较小的年纪、名字和王室关系，我们有理由推测是她们中的一个被埋葬在了罗斯基勒大教堂。
4. London's Diversity
4.伦敦多样性
The original Londoners settled the city nearly 2,000 years ago. Four skeletons from the Museum of London allowed researchers to learn more about their origins and appearance.
伦敦人的祖先在将近2000年前就在这座城市定居了下来。伦敦博物馆的四具人体骨架使得研究人员对他们的祖先及其样貌有了更深一步的认识。
The most complete skeleton was the "Lant Street teenager." The 14-year-old's DNA indicated that she was raised in North Africa. Her mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) came from southern and Eastern Europe. She had blue eyes but skeletal traits matching sub-Saharan people.
四具骨架中保存最完整的一具骨架是“兰特街少女”。这个十四岁少女的DNA说明了她在北非地区长大，但她的线粒体DNA来自于南欧和东欧地区。她有着蓝色的眼睛，但是她的骨架特征却和撒哈拉以南地区的人相符合。
The "Mansell Street man" was 45, and his dark eyes and hair fit his maternal DNA from North Africa. He grew up in London and had a diabetes-related bone disease, which was unexpected. Today, the disease is more prevalent in white Western men.
“曼塞尔街的男子”是一具45岁男子的骨架，他的黑眼睛和黑发是和他母亲的北非血统相统一。他从小生活在伦敦，并且患有与糖尿病相关的骨科疾病。研究结果之所以出人意料，是因为当今社会，这种疾病在西方人中较为常见。
An individual from a pit of mangled men was possibly a gladiator. Aged 36–45, he led a physically violent existence, was born elsewhere, and carried mtDNA from Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
在一个埋葬着许多面目全非的人体残骸的深坑里，研究者发现了可能属于一位角斗士的遗骸。他出生在伦敦以外的地方，携带着来自西欧和中东的线粒体DNA，在这里度过了靠体力生活的36至45年。
The "Harper Road woman" (pictured above) was a Briton who embraced Roman life. (Her grave was filled with Roman relics.) Her DNA revealed a surprise—she was physically a woman but genetically a male.
“哈珀道的女人”（上图）是一个拥抱罗马文化的英国人。（她的墓室装饰着大量的罗马文物。）她的DNA展现了一个令人意想不到的事——她从外貌上看是女性，而从基因看，竟是一个男性。
3. When Europeans Vanished
3.欧洲人的消失
Australian scientists attempted to answer one migration riddle—and found another. To determine if farmers from Turkey had settled in Europe around 7,500 years ago, researchers looked at skeletons from Germany and Italy. The ancient bones belonged to various cultures from 7,500–2,500 years ago.
澳大利亚的科学家试图解释一个移民之谜——结果却发现了另一个——为了判断土耳其农耕者是否曾在大约7500年前定居欧洲，研究人员着手研究了德国和意大利出土的人体骨架，发现这些古老的骨头来自于7500至2500年起各种不同的文明。
The study found that the first pan-European people were indeed from Turkey and that they flourished. Then, for some mysterious reason, their genetic markers disappeared about 4,500 years ago.
这项研究发现，第一批泛欧人的确是从土耳其迁移过来并且繁衍生息。接着，因为一些神秘原因，他们的基因印记在约4500年前消失了。
Whatever the reason was, it wasn't a gradual change. Around that time, an unidentified historical event caused a sudden and massive migration. It was so big that it changed Europe's population and genetic lineage forever.
不论是因为什么原因，这都不是一个逐渐变化的过程。大约在那个时期，一件未知的历史事件的发生导致了大规模突然的人口迁移的爆发。这场迁移意义十分重大，永久性地改变了欧洲的人口和基因宗谱。
Nobody knows who this mysterious group was or what drew them toward new pastures in such large numbers that they replaced the genes of entire cultures. A distant suspect is the Bell Beaker people from the Iberian Peninsula who also left their mark on the Celtic languages.
没有人知道这个神秘群体是谁或什么因素使他们大规模迁徙，以至于替代了整个地区的基因。一个关联较小的猜测是他们是伊比利亚半岛钟杯战斧文化的农耕者，在凯尔特语言中也留下了独特印记。
2. Powerful Greek Women
2.强大的希腊女人
In the past, archaeologists were convinced that ancient Greek women were treated like chattel. New DNA evidence could prove them wrong.
过去，考古学家认为古希腊女人就像私有财产一样，而新的DNA证据可以证明这个观点是错误的。
Researchers from the University of Manchester headed to the archaeological site of Mycenae, Greece. They wanted to find out more about the founders of the citadel, which had been the first city-state in Europe.
曼彻斯特大学的研究人员前往希腊的考古遗址迈锡尼实地勘探，想要发现有关于欧洲第一个城邦的建立者的更多信息。
The graves of Mycenae's rulers yielded 35 skeletons, but just four had enough DNA to analyze. Only one was a woman, but she was enough to rock the boat. Thought to be the wife of a particular man, also one of the four fully sequenced individuals, her luxurious grave was assumed to be a reflection of her husband's powerful position.
迈锡尼统治者的墓穴出土了35具骨架，但是只有4架保留了足够分析的DNA。其中仅有的一个女人骨架令人大跌眼镜。她只是某一个男人的妻子、四具保存完整的骨架中的一个个体，因而她的豪华墓室被很自然地推断是其丈夫的强大势力的反映。
However, DNA tests and facial reconstruction revealed that they were siblings. Experts believe she had equal status and influence, indicating that women could hold powerful positions. The archaeologists who discovered this groundbreaking shift in perception feel that the distortion occurred when earlier archaeologists, all male, made the mistake of looking at the ancient world in a male-oriented way.
然而，DNA试验和面部结构重现说明这四具骨架是有亲缘关系的兄弟姐妹。专家认为，她和他们有着相同的地位和影响力，这足以说明女人也可以拥有强大的统治力。提出了这个全新的观点的考古学家认为，过去的结论之所以会失真，是因为早前的考古学家几乎都是男性，基于偏见，他们始终以男性主导的视角来看待远古社会。
1. Blue-Eyed Caveman
1. 蓝眼山洞人
In 2006, two skeletons were found deep inside a cave in northwest Spain. Both were Mesolithic men who lived over 7,000 years ago. The thirtysomethings were in a good state, but viable DNA could only be extracted from one man's molar. The results switched one evolutionary belief around.
2006年，西班牙西北部的一个山洞深处发掘了两具人体骨架。这两具骨架的主人都是生活在7000年以前中石器时代的男人，年龄约莫三十岁。他们的骨架保持了较为完整的形态，但是仅能从其中一种的臼齿中提取出有效DNA。研究结果动摇了一个长期以来的进化观点。
The man's genome painted a picture of his looks, and it was surprising. He had swarthy skin, dark hair, and blue eyes. It was unusual because he's considered a modern European and this group is popularly seen as having light skin. The unexpected eye color suggests that the mutation for blue occurred before the mutations for light skin. Previously, it was thought to be the other way around.
这个男人的基因组展现了他惊人的样貌。他有着黝黑的皮肤，乌黑的头发和蓝色的眼睛。之所以说他不同寻常，是因为研究人员认为他是一个现代欧洲人，而这类人群被普遍认为是浅色人种。出人意料的眼睛颜色说明蓝眼的基因突变早于浅肤色的基因突变。而在从前，这个结论是反过来的。
He also busted another myth. Scientists had credited a sudden boost in the human immune system to a later time when men became farmers and needed protection from animal pathogens. However, the Mesolithic man, who lived a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, already had that protection. His closest genetic cousins today are the people from Sweden and Finland.
这具男子骨架同样给另一个观点以重击。起初，科学家认为人体免疫系统的突然增强，主要是因为后来成为农耕者的人们需要抵御动物病菌的侵扰的能力。但是中石器时代的人们过着采猎生活，早已有了抵抗力。当今，与他基因最接近的亲属是瑞典人和芬兰人。
