Many people today think of the pyramids of Giza as the defining icon of ancient Egyptian culture.（今天，许多人将吉萨金字塔视为古埃及文明最具标志性的精神图腾。） But who actually built them? For years, we did not know for sure.（但究竟是谁建造了这些庞然巨筑？多年来，人们始终无法确凿知晓。） Now, however, archeologists have discovered an ancient city near the pyramids.（然而现在，考古学家在金字塔附近发掘出了一座古代城镇遗址。） Close by, there is a cemetery where the pyramid builders were buried.（在城镇近旁，还坐落着一片埋葬金字塔建造者的墓地。） From studying these places, archeologists can now confirm that the pyramids were not built by slaves or foreigners (or space aliens!). Ordinary Egyptians built them.（通过对这些遗迹的深入考察，考古学家如今可以确切证实：金字塔绝非由奴隶、外国战俘（或是外星人！）所建，而是由千千万万普通的古埃及劳动人民亲手修筑的。）

It took about 80 years to build the pyramids.（建造这些宏伟的金字塔历经了大约80年光阴。） Archeologists believe that about 20,000–30,000 people were involved in the construction.（考古学家认为，当年有大约2万至3万人参与了这项浩大工程。） The workers had different roles. Some dug up the rock, some moved it, and some shaped it into blocks.（工人们各司其职，分工明确：有人开采石料，有人负责长途运送，有人则精雕细琢将其切磨成巨型石块。） People also worked on different teams, each with its own name.（劳动者还组编为不同的班组工队，每个工队都有响亮的专属名称。） Workers often competed to see whose team could do a job faster.（各个工队之间常常开展劳动竞赛，比拼谁能更快、更出色地完成建造任务。）

Life for these workers was hard. “We can see that in their skeletons,” says Azza Mohamed Sarry El-Din, a scientist studying bones found in the cemetery.（工人们的生活异常艰辛。“这清晰地反映在他们的骨骼化石上，”研究墓地人骨的科学家阿扎·穆罕默德·萨里·丁（Azza Mohamed Sarry El-Din）说道。） According to her research, the bones show signs of arthritis. This probably developed from carrying heavy things for a long time.（根据她的研究，许多遗骨呈现出明显的关节炎病变，这很可能是长期背负极重石料重压所导致的职业病。） Archeologists have also found many female skeletons in the ancient city and cemetery. The damage to their bones is similar to that of the men.（考古学家在古城和墓地中也发掘出大量女性骨骸，她们骨骼所受的劳损创伤与男性劳工几乎无异。） In fact, their lives may have been even tougher: Male workers generally lived to age 40–45, but women to only 30–35.（事实上，女性的生活可能更加残酷：男性劳工普遍寿命为40至45岁，而女性往往仅能活到30至35岁。） However, workers usually had enough food, and they also received medical care if they got sick or hurt.（不过，工人们通常能获得充足的粮食配给，而且在生病或受伤时也能享受到专业的医疗医治照料。）

The task was challenging, but laborers were proud of their work.（这项使命艰巨无比，但劳动者们对自己的付出深感自豪。） On a wall in Khufu’s Great Pyramid, for example, a group of workers wrote Friends of Khufu.（例如在胡夫大金字塔的一面石壁上，一组工人挥笔题写了“胡夫之友”的团队字样。） “It’s because they were not just building the tomb of their king,” says Egyptian archeologist Zahi Hawass.（“因为他们深知，自己不仅仅是在为法老修筑陵寝，”著名埃及考古学家扎希·哈瓦斯（Zahi Hawass）指出。） “They were building Egypt. It was a national project, and everyone was a participant.”（“他们是在亲手铸就整个埃及的辉煌！这是一项举国荣耀的宏图工程，每个人都是不可磨灭的参与者。”）