[ti:Scientists Race to Document Puerto Rico’s Coastal Heritage] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]A group of scientists is hurrying to document ancient ruins on the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. [00:09.12]The sites, along Puerto Rico's coast, date back a few thousand years. [00:16.40]The scientists are working as fast as they can [00:20.32]before rising sea levels destroy a large part of the island's history. [00:28.04]Scientists hope to use the three-dimensional (3D) images they have taken [00:33.72]to help identify which sites are most at-risk to natural disasters and other dangers. [00:43.12]Falko Kuester is director of the Cultural Heritage Engineering Initiative [00:48.76]at the University of California, San Diego. [00:53.76]He said, "A big part of what we're working on is to make the invisible visible [00:59.92]and make sure it stays in our memory." [01:04.68]The university, known as UCSD, is involved in the research project. [01:12.36]Also involved are its Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Para la Naturaleza, [01:19.48]an environmental group based in Puerto Rico. [01:24.28]The work started in August 2017. [01:29.24]Scientists first explored a large stretch of land along Puerto Rico's north coast. [01:37.76]That area includes a ceremonial center used by the Taino Indians [01:43.80]about 2,000 years ago, said Isabel Rivera Collazo. [01:49.72]Rivera is an environmental archaeologist at UCSD and directing the project. [01:57.76]She said the scientists found what appears to be a large settlement just east of the ceremonial site. [02:07.12]It was discovered with help from drone aircraft and other technology, including 3D images. [02:16.72]She added that scientists were also able to map out the shape of the ceremonial site. [02:25.16]The Tainos once lived on many islands in the Caribbean Sea. [02:31.52]But after the arrival of Christopher Columbus and other Europeans, [02:36.60]the indigenous people were nearly all killed. [02:41.24]Rivera said, "Up to today, there is still a lot we don't know about indigenous culture along our coasts. [02:50.20]It's not in our history books...we want to recover that information before it disappears." [02:58.48]Puerto Rico's Department of Natural Resources has said the sea level around the island [03:04.76]is rising by more than 3 millimeters every year. [03:10.20]However, climate change has more immediate effects. [03:15.00]These include the destruction of the island's coastline and natural habitats. [03:22.68]Some scientists say that warmer temperatures in the Caribbean increase the number and strength of storms. [03:32.20]Puerto Rico faces the possibility of storms every year for six months during the Atlantic hurricane season. [03:41.88]Scientists noted that large amounts of water caused by Hurricane Maria [03:47.88]washed away part of the area they are studying. [03:53.04]Eric Lo is an engineer with UCSD's cultural heritage initiative. [04:00.16]He flew to Puerto Rico in August 2017 to launch the project one month before Maria struck the island. [04:10.44]Lo was surprised at what he saw when he returned to the U.S. territory months later. [04:18.76]He said, "Pieces of land where I had stood and flown the drone didn't exist anymore. They were underwater." [04:29.20]Scientists are now trying to find out how badly the hurricane and loss of land [04:35.88]have affected the archaeological site they are studying. [04:40.96]The scientists are using 3-D models based on drone images to measure areas and explore other details. [04:51.16]I'm Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM