A huge monument has been discovered buried under the sands at the Petra World Heritage site in southern Jordan.
在约旦南部佩特拉古城发现了埋藏在沙丘下在巨型纪念碑。
Archaeologists used satellite images, drone photography and ground surveys to locate the find, according to the study published in the American Schools of Oriental Research.
据《美国东方研究学院通报》(Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research )报导称，
The large platform is about as long as an Olympic swimming pool and twice as wide.
其长度与奥运会的游泳池相当，宽度是其两倍。
Researchers say it is unlike any other structure at the ancient site.
研究者称该纪念碑的结构与已发现的任何古代遗迹都不同。
The study, by Sarah Parcak of the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and Christopher Tuttle, executive director of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, describes the find as "hiding in plain sight".
伯明翰亚拉巴马州立大学的Sarah Parcak与美国海外研究中心理事会的执行理事Christopher Tuttle在研究中把这次发现描述为“藏在眼皮地下” 。
Petra dates back to the fourth century BC, when it was founded by the Nabataean civilization, who inhabited parts of what is now Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
佩特拉古城的历史可以追溯到公元前4世纪，由纳巴泰文明建造，其居住地位于现约旦、伊拉克、叙利亚和黎巴嫩的部分地区。
Surface pottery suggests the platform was built in the mid-second century BC, when Petra was at its peak.
地表发现的陶器表明平台建造于公元前2世纪中期，佩特拉古城的鼎盛时期。
It is thought the structure may have had a ceremonial purpose.
从该遗迹构造来看，该纪念碑可能具有仪式性功能。
The survey also revealed a smaller platform was contained inside the larger one, which was once lined with columns on one side with a vast staircase on the other.
调查还表明一个较小的展台被包含在外侧更大的展台中，其中一侧是柱子，另一侧有巨大的楼梯。
Mr Tuttle told National Geographic that someone in decades of excavation "had to know" the structure was there yet it had not been written up.
Mr Tuttle告诉国家地理的记者他相信在对佩特拉古城的两个世纪的研究过程中，一定有人知道这座遗迹的存在，只是没有进行过系统性研究或详细记载。
"I’ve worked in Petra for 20 years, and I knew that something was there, but it’s certainly legitimate to call this a discovery."
“我已经在佩特拉古城研究了20年，我知道古城中一定存在许多古老的遗迹，但这个遗迹完全称得上是一项发现。”
Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit Petra each year, although numbers have been hit by the conflict against so-called Islamic State.
尽管受到对所谓伊斯兰国家的抵触的冲击，每年仍有成千上万的游客前往佩特拉古城。
The site is best-known for the Treasury Building, which is carved from sandstone and featured in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.
神殿，从当地的红砂岩中雕凿出来的标志性建筑广为人知，还出现在了电影夺宝奇兵之圣战骑兵中。
