澳大利亚现"活颜料"为万年岩画着色

A particular type of ancient rock art in Western Australia maintains its vivid colors because it is alive, researchers have found。

研究人员最近发现，澳大利亚西部一种特殊的古岩石画依然色泽鲜艳，原因是它们是"活的"。

澳大利亚现“活颜料”为万年岩画着色

Jack Pettigrew and his colleagues of the University of Queensland in Australia studied 80 of these Bradshaw rock artworks - named for the 19th-Century naturalist who first identified them - in 16 locations within Western Australia's Kimberley region and found that a vast majority of them showed signs of life。

澳大利亚昆士兰大学的杰克 佩蒂格鲁和他的同事们选取澳大利亚金伯利地区16处地点共80幅古代岩画—“布拉德肖岩画”作为研究对象，这些岩画据说是以首次发现它们的19世纪博物学家布拉德肖的名字命名的。研究人员发现岩画有生长的迹象。

The team dubbed the phenomenon "living pigments". "living pigments" is a metaphorical device to refer to the fact that the pigments of the original paint have been replaced by pigmented micro-organisms。

研究人员把这种现象称为"活颜料"。“活颜料”是个比喻，意味着绘制岩画最初使用的颜料已被画作表面微生物取代。

Professor Pettigrew told BBC News, "These organisms are alive and could have replenished themselves over endless millennia to explain the freshness of the paintings' appearance."

杰克 佩蒂格鲁教授告诉英国广播公司，“这些微生物是活的，几万年以来它们不断繁衍，这解释了这些岩画何以历久弥新”。