A recent study found what could be the earliest known evidence of ancient cooking: the leftovers of a fish dinner from 780,000 years ago.
最近的一项研究发现了可能是已知最早的古代烹饪证据：780,000 年前鱼晚餐的剩菜。

Cooking helped change our ancestors. It helped fuel our evolution and gave us bigger brains. Later, cooking would become central to the eating celebrations that brought communities together.
烹饪帮助改变我们的祖先。它帮助推动了我们的进化，并给了我们更大的大脑。后来，烹饪将成为将社区聚集在一起的饮食庆祝活动的核心。
 
The new study, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution, is based on material from Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in Israel — a watery place near an ancient lake.
这项发表在《自然生态学与进化》杂志上的新研究基于以色列 Gesher Benot Ya'aqov 的材料——一个靠近古老湖泊的水域。
 
Ancient objects from the area suggest it was home to a community of Homo erectus, a kind of early human that walked upright, explained study lead writer Irit Zohar of Tel Aviv University.
该地区的古代物品表明它是特拉维夫大学的研究主要作者 Irit Zohar 解释说，直立人是一种直立行走的早期人类。
 
Naama Goren-Inbar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem led the research digs. She said researchers found fish remains, especially teeth. Many of the teeth were from two different kinds of fish known as carp.
耶路撒冷希伯来大学的 Naama Goren-Inbar 领导了这项研究挖掘。她说研究人员发现了鱼的遗骸，尤其是牙齿。许多牙齿来自两种不同的鱼类，即鲤鱼。
 
The remains were found near places where researchers also found signs of fire. Testing showed the teeth had been exposed to temperatures that were hot, but not super-hot. This suggests the fish were cooked low and slow, rather than being put right onto a fire, Zohar explained.
这些遗骸是在研究人员还发现火灾迹象的地方附近发现的。测试表明，牙齿暴露在高温但不至于过热的温度下。 Zohar 解释说，这表明这些鱼是用低温慢火烹制的，而不是直接放在火上。

With all the evidence together, researchers concluded that these ancient human relatives had used fire for cooking some 780,000 years ago. That is much earlier than the next oldest evidence for cooking, about 170,000 years ago, which showed Stone Age humans ate cooked roots in South Africa.
根据所有证据，研究人员得出结论，这些远古人类亲属曾用火烹调过大约 780,000 条鱼几年前。这比大约 170,000 年前的下一个最古老的烹饪证据要早得多，后者表明石器时代的人类在南非吃煮熟的根。
 
Cooking might have started even earlier
烹饪可能开始得更早

The researchers — like many other experts — believe cooking started long before this, though physical evidence has been hard to find.
研究人员——和许多其他专家一样——相信烹饪早在这之前就开始了，尽管很难找到物证。

"I am sure that in the near future an earlier case will be reported," study writer Israel Hershkovitz of Tel Aviv University said in an email.
“我敢肯定特拉维夫大学的研究作者 Israel Hershkovitz 在一封电子邮件中说，在不久的将来会报告一个更早的病例。
 
That is in part because using fire for cooking was an important step in human evolution.
这在一定程度上是因为用火做饭是人类进化的重要一步。
 
Cooking food makes it easier for the body to digest and get nutrients, explained David Braun of George Washington University. Braun was not involved with the study. When early humans figured out how to cook, they were able to get more energy, which they could use to fuel bigger brains.
乔治华盛顿大学的大卫布劳恩解释说，烹饪食物使身体更容易消化和获取营养。布劳恩没有参与这项研究。当早期人类学会做饭时，他们能够获得更多的能量，可以用来为更大的大脑提供燃料。
 
Based on how human ancestors' brains and bodies developed, scientists estimate that cooking skills appeared nearly 2 million years ago.
根据人类祖先大脑和身体的发育方式，科学家估计烹饪技能出现在将近200万年前。
 
"If we're out there eating raw items, it is very difficult to make it as a large-bodied primate," Braun said.
布劳恩说：“如果我们在外面吃生食，就很难将其变成体型庞大的灵长类动物。”
Those first cooked meals were far different from today's food. And in the many, many years in between, humans started not just eating for fuel, but for community.
那些最初的熟食与今天的食物大不相同。在其间的很多很多年里，人类开始不仅仅是为了燃料，而是为了社区。
 
Cooking food to build community
通过烹饪食物来建立社区
 
In a 2010 study, led by Natalie Munro of the University of Connecticut, researchers described the earliest evidence of a feast. The feast was a specially prepared meal that brought people together for an event 12,000 years ago in a cave in Israel.
在 2010 年由康涅狄格大学的 Natalie Munro 领导的一项研究中，研究人员描述了盛宴的最早证据。这场盛宴是为 12,000 年前在以色列的一个洞穴中举行的一次活动而特别准备的一顿饭。
 
The cave, which served as a burial place, included the remains of one special woman who seemed to be a religious leader for her community, Munro said.
作为墓地的洞穴包括一位特殊女性的遗体，她似乎成为她社区的宗教领袖，Munro 说。
 
This "first feast" came at an important turning point in human history, right as hunter-gatherers were starting to settle into more permanent living situations, Munro said. Gathering for special meals may have been a way to build community and reduce tensions now that people lived closer to each other, she said.
芒罗说，这场“第一场盛宴”发生在人类历史的一个重要转折点，当时狩猎采集者开始适应更永久的生活环境。她说，现在人们住得更近了，聚在一起吃特别的饭菜可能是建立社区和缓解紧张局势的一种方式。
 
Munro said she believes ancient feasts served a lot of the same social uses that modern gatherings serve: People exchange information, make connections, or try to improve their position.
Munro 说，她相信古代的盛宴有很多相同的社会用途现代聚会的目的是：人们交换信息、建立联系或试图改善他们的地位。
 
"This is something that's just quintessentially human," Munro said. "And to see the first evidence of it is exciting."
“这是典型的人类行为，”蒙罗说。 “看到它的第一个证据是令人兴奋的。”