印度尼西亚马罗斯-庞凯普，10月23日电 —— 研究人员表示，印度尼西亚苏拉威西岛上世界最古老的洞穴壁画正面临威胁，该国十多年来最严重的野火产生的高温和烟雾，有可能加速这些距今6.7万多年的艺术作品的退化。
MAROS-PANGKEP, Indonesia, Oct 23 - The world's oldest cave paintings on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi are under threat as heat and smoke from the country's worst wildfires in more than a decade risk accelerating the deterioration of the more than 67,000-year-old works of art, researchers said.
由于强烈的厄尔尼诺现象推高气温并减少降雨，使森林和泥炭地极易起火，印度尼西亚正在应对自2015年以来最严重的森林和土地火灾。
Indonesia is battling its most intense forest and land fires since 2015 as a severe El Niño drives up temperatures and reduces rainfall, leaving its forest and peatland vulnerable to fire.
虽然苏门答腊岛和婆罗洲受灾最重，但火灾也已蔓延至苏拉威西岛，包括南苏拉威西省，那里的石灰岩洞穴收藏着世界上最古老的史前艺术。
While the islands of Sumatra and Borneo are the worst affected by the disaster, fires have also spread on the island of Sulawesi, including in South Sulawesi where limestone caves house the world's oldest prehistoric art.
澳大利亚格里菲斯大学的研究人员测定，南苏拉威西省马罗斯-庞凯普一个洞穴中、描绘类人形象与猪互动的画作，距今至少51200年。在苏拉威西岛外的穆纳岛一个洞穴中，一幅红褐色的手部模版画距今至少67800年。
In a cave in South Sulawesi's Maros-Pangkep, an artwork depicting human-like figures interacting with a pig was dated by researchers from Australia's Griffith University to be at least 51,200 years old. In a cave on Muna island, off Sulawesi, a reddish-coloured hand stencil was dated to at least 67,800 years.
在马罗斯-庞凯普洞穴附近，消防员努力扑灭大火，烟雾飘过环绕洞穴的国家公园和联合国教科文组织世界地质公园标志性的喀斯特壮丽景观。
Near the Maros-Pangkep cave, firefighters worked to put out fires as smoke drifted over the dramatic karst landscape that is a defining feature of the national park and UNESCO Global Geopark surrounding the cave.
消防员穆罕默德·伊克法尔表示，本月初大火在遗址附近燃烧了一个多周，曾逼近距洞穴800米（2625英尺）处。
Firefighter Muhammad Ikfar said fires burned near the site for more than a week earlier this month and came within 800 metres (2,625 feet) of the cave.
伊克法尔说，9月30日至10月18日期间，国家公园内有超过270公顷（667英亩）被烧毁。
More than 270 hectares (667 acres) of the national park burned between September 30 and October 18, Ikfar said.
格里菲斯大学考古学家巴斯兰·布尔汉说：“第一个也是破坏性最大的影响是高温。即使大火没有直接接触壁画，也可能毁坏它们，因为高温会改变壁画周围的温度，加速腐蚀过程。”烟雾也会产生烟灰。
"The first and most destructive effect is the heat. Even without direct fire touching the paintings, it could ruin them because it changes the temperature around the paintings and accelerates the process of corrosion," said Griffith University archaeologist Basran Burhan. The smoke also creates soot.
“它们在壁画上形成烟灰并覆盖壁画，导致壁画变得模糊、难以辨认，”他说。
"They create soot on the paintings and cover them, so that the paintings will become blurred and difficult to identify," he said.
周四和周五，消防员一直在公园其他区域扑灭火灾，消防员伊克法尔说，并补充说天气干燥，尚未下雨。
On Thursday and Friday, firefighters were working to put out fires in other parts of the park, firefighter Ikfar said, adding that the conditions were dry with no rain yet.
布尔汉说：“如果我们不迅速采取行动，如果没有针对这一事件的战术减灾措施，我们将失去马罗斯-庞凯普最令人惊叹的人类历史证据之一。那将是巨大的耻辱。”
"If we don't do something about this quick, if there isn't any tactical mitigation efforts for this incident we will lose one of the most amazing evidence of human history in Maros-Pangkep," Burhan said. "And that is a great shame."