The northern segment of the Great Wall of China was built not to block invading armies but rather to monitor civilian movement, an Israeli archaeologist said Tuesday.

周二，一位以色列考古學家說，中國長城北段的建造并不是為了阻擋軍隊入侵，而是為了監(jiān)視平民行動。

When researchers fully mapped the Great Wall's 740-kilometre (460-mile) Northern Line for the first time, their findings challenged previous assumptions.

研究人員首次繪制了長城北段總長740千米(460英里)的地圖，他們的發(fā)現與之前的假設不符。

"Prior to our research, most people thought the wall's purpose was to stop Genghis Khan's army," said Gideon Shelach-Lavi from Jerusalem's Hebrew University, who led the two-year study.

耶路撒冷希伯來大學的Gideon Shelach-Lavi領導進行了這項持續(xù)兩年的研究，他說：“在我們的研究之前，大多數人以為建造城墻的目的是要阻擋成吉思汗的軍隊�！�

But the Northern Line, lying mostly in Mongolia, winds through valleys, is relatively low in height and close to paths, pointing to non-military functions.

但北段主要位于蒙古，穿越山谷，高度相對較低，靠近小路，這一切都指向非軍事功能。

"Our conclusion is that it was more about monitoring or blocking the movement of people and livestock, maybe to tax them," Shelach-Lavi said.

Shelach-Lavi說：“我們的結論是，北段更多地是用來監(jiān)視或阻礙人和牲畜的移動的，可能是為了征稅。”

He suggested people may have been seeking warmer southern pastures during a medieval cold spell.

他表示，人們可能是在中世紀的寒冷時期想要去尋找南方更溫暖的牧場。

Construction of the Great Wall, which is split into sections that in total stretch for thousands of kilometres, first began in the third century BC and continued for centuries.

長城的建造分幾段，總長數千千米，初建于公元前3世紀，工程持續(xù)了數百年。

The Northern Line, also known as "Genghis Khan's Wall" in reference to the legendary Mongolian conqueror, was built between the 11th and 13th centuries with pounded earth and dotted with 72 structures in small clusters.

北段也被稱為“成吉思汗長城”，和這位蒙古族傳奇征服者有關。這段長城建于11-13世紀，在夯土上散落著72個小型建筑群。

Shelach-Lavi and his team of Israeli, Mongolian and American researchers used drones, high-resolution satellite images and traditional archaeological tools to map out the wall and find artefacts that helped pin down dates.

Shelach-Lavi和以色列、蒙古以及美國研究員組成的團隊利用無人機、高分辨率衛(wèi)星圖像和傳統考古工具繪制出了城墻地圖，還找到了幫助他們確定日期的手工藝品。

According to Shelach-Lavi, whose findings from the ongoing study were published in the journal Antiquity, the Northern Line has been largely overlooked by contemporary scientists.

Shelach-Lavi通過正在進行的這項研究所獲得的研究成果發(fā)表在了《Antiquity》期刊上，他說長城北段在很大程度上被當代科學家忽視了。

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