Glossary entry (derived from question below)
French term or phrase:
'-'40,000
English translation:
40,000 years ago
Added to glossary by
Richard Flight
May 14, 2005 08:39
19 yrs ago
French term
France
Over 4000 web pages translated
Native in: English
Works in: Spanish to English, French to English
'-'40,000
French to English
Social Sciences
Archaeology
Phrase:
Cette couche, datée de -40,000 ans, est caracterisée par l'industrie mousterienne - des outils traditionnellement associés avec l'homme de Neandertal.
My question is whether '-40,000' means '40,000 BC', '40,000 years ago', or something else (as elsewhere I found that Neanderthals had lived about 150,000 years ago).
Thanks.
Cette couche, datée de -40,000 ans, est caracterisée par l'industrie mousterienne - des outils traditionnellement associés avec l'homme de Neandertal.
My question is whether '-40,000' means '40,000 BC', '40,000 years ago', or something else (as elsewhere I found that Neanderthals had lived about 150,000 years ago).
Thanks.
Proposed translations
(English)
| 4 +5 | 40,000 years ago |
Valentin Alupoaie
|
| 5 +1 | 40,000 B.P. |
Christopher Crockett
|
Proposed translations
+5
5 mins
Valentin Alupoaie
Romania
Romania
Romania
Catch phrase under construction
Native in: Romanian 
Works in: English to Romanian, Romanian
Related KudoZ points
:
4
Selected
40,000 years ago
as to the Neanderthal period: The Neandertal1 or Neanderthal was a species of genus Homo (Homo neanderthalensis4) that inhabited Europe and parts of Western Asia from about 230,000 to 29,000 years ago.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Neandertal
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Neandertal
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer.
Comment: "Thanks, both of you. I liked 'BP' too, but things like "dated back 30,000-odd years" just seemed to suit my particular text a little better. I sent the translation in on Tuesday so I'll let you know if I get any feedback from the client on this issue. "
+1
6 hrs
Christopher Crockett
Native in English
Specializes in field
M.A., Ph.D. Historian/Art Historian
Native in: English 
Works in: French to English, English
Related KudoZ points
:
131
40,000 B.P.
Valentin is right, it's definitely before the present, *not* B.C.
More often expressed in anglophone archeological (and palaeological/geological) literature as "40,000 BP., i.e., "40,000 Before the Present".
As opposed to, say, "38,000 B.C." or "38,000 B.C.E." ("Before the Common Era"), which doesn't make too much sense when dealing with such a long period of time before the relatively recent moment from which we count our years.
I don't think i've ever seen "-40,000" before, but I don't read French archeological literature concerning prehistoric periods.
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Note added at 7 hrs 1 min (2005-05-14 15:40:44 GMT)
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On \"B.P.\" see also :
http://www.answers.com/topic/bp-1 --definition 4
http://archaeology.about.com/od/bterms/g/bp.htm --makes an interesting point about the problem with using B.P. \"the Present, of course, changes every year.\"
However, this \"B.P.\" usage is usually reserved for periods of time which are so large (tens of thousands to millions of years) that +/- a few years makes no difference, since the dates are not precise in the first place.
And, on dating systems generally:
http://anthro.palomar.edu/time/time_2.htm
Radio carbon dating, of course, depends upon this \"B.P.\" concept to begin with, though the dates arrived at via this method are generally converted into \"A.D.\" or \"B.C.\" dates, unless they are from many thousand years in the past : http://www.religioustolerance.org/c14dats.htm
More often expressed in anglophone archeological (and palaeological/geological) literature as "40,000 BP., i.e., "40,000 Before the Present".
As opposed to, say, "38,000 B.C." or "38,000 B.C.E." ("Before the Common Era"), which doesn't make too much sense when dealing with such a long period of time before the relatively recent moment from which we count our years.
I don't think i've ever seen "-40,000" before, but I don't read French archeological literature concerning prehistoric periods.
--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 7 hrs 1 min (2005-05-14 15:40:44 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------
On \"B.P.\" see also :
http://www.answers.com/topic/bp-1 --definition 4
http://archaeology.about.com/od/bterms/g/bp.htm --makes an interesting point about the problem with using B.P. \"the Present, of course, changes every year.\"
However, this \"B.P.\" usage is usually reserved for periods of time which are so large (tens of thousands to millions of years) that +/- a few years makes no difference, since the dates are not precise in the first place.
And, on dating systems generally:
http://anthro.palomar.edu/time/time_2.htm
Radio carbon dating, of course, depends upon this \"B.P.\" concept to begin with, though the dates arrived at via this method are generally converted into \"A.D.\" or \"B.C.\" dates, unless they are from many thousand years in the past : http://www.religioustolerance.org/c14dats.htm
Peer comment(s):
| agree |
Bourth (X)
: Given that between BC and BP there is only 2000 yrs, it hardly makes any difference in geological time!
20 hrs
|
|
Geologically speaking, all of human history --and prehistory-- is just an eyeblink. Thanks, Bourth.
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