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1、人类的古老文明:被历史遗忘的十个文明古国Much like Isaac Newton imagined when he gave hisfamous “shoulders of giants” quote, our moderncivilizations owe a great deal to those which camebefore us. While examples like the Sumerians orEgyptians are deeply ingrained innearly everyonesminds, there are a number of other civil
2、izations whichhave been largely forgotten. Here are 10 of them.正如艾萨克牛顿在提出其“巨人的肩膀” 名言时所设想的一样，我们的现代文明也从先前的诸文明中获益良多。虽然诸如苏美尔或者埃及文明的例子已经深入人心，但仍有为数不少的文明基本上是被忘却了的。这里列举 10 个如下。Photo credit: Bhushan Kotakar图片引自： Bhushan Kotakar10、Hattian Civilization赫蒂文明The Hattians were a civilization which inhabited the ar
3、ea of present-day Anatolia, Turkey fromthe 26th century to around the 18th century B.C. Believed to be the earliest urban settlers ofthe area, their existence can be traced to 24th-century Akkadian cuneiform tablets. Mostarchaeologists believe that they were indigenous to the area preceding the more
4、 famous Hittitecivilization, whicharrived in the 23rd century B.C. The two cultures slowly merged together, withthe Hittites adopting a variety of Hatti religious beliefs and practices. Manyof the largest Hittitesettlements, such as Alaca Hoyuk and Hattusa, are believed to have originally been Hatti
5、an.赫蒂文明位于今土耳其安纳托利亚地区，存在于公元前 26 世纪至约 18 世纪。他们是该地区最早的城市居民，其存在的证据可追溯至公元前 24 世纪的阿卡德楔形文字石碑中。大多数考古学家认为，赫蒂人比更为闻名的赫梯人更早存在于这一地区，后者于公元前 23世纪来到这里。随着赫蒂人采纳了许多来自赫梯的宗教信仰和实践习惯，两大文明慢慢地融合在了一起。赫梯人的许多大型定居点，诸如阿拉卡郝予克（Alaca Hoyuk）以及哈兹萨（Hattusa ），确信最初曾是赫蒂人的。While they had their own spoken language, no evidence of a written
6、 form of the Hatti languagehas ever been found. Its likely that they were multilingual,perhaps to facilitate trade with theirAssyrian partners. In fact, most of whatwe know about the Hattians comes from thewidespread adoption of their culture by the Hittites. Their population probably existed as ama
7、jority for decadesif not centurieswhile they were under the aristocratic rule of theHittites, before they eventually faded away into obscurity.虽然他们有自己的口头语言，但并未发现过有关其文字语言的证据。他们有可能是多语言的，或许是为了促进与其亚述（Assyrian）伙伴们之间的贸易往来。事实上，我们对赫蒂人的所知大部分来自于赫梯人对其文化的广泛采用。赫蒂的人口数量或许曾在几十年中占据多数如果没到上百年的话然而却是在赫梯贵族们的统治之下，直至最终在历史的
8、长河中晦暗下去。Photo credit: Rod Waddington图片引自：Rod Waddington9、Zapotec Civilization萨博特克文明While most people are familiar with the Aztecs and the Maya of Mesoamerica, the people knownas the Zapotec remain relatively obscure. Among the first people in the area to use agriculturaland writing systems, they als
9、o built one ofthe earliest recognized cities in North AmericaMonte Alban. Founded in the fifth century B.C., the city was home to a maximum of 25,000citizens and lasted for over 1,200 years. In Monte Alban, a privileged class made up of priests,warriors, and artists ruled over the lower classes.相较于许
10、多人对中美洲 阿芝特科（Aztecs）及玛雅（Maya）的熟悉来说，一支称为 萨博特克（Zapotec）的文明显得生涩了许多。他们不仅是这一地区最早进行农业耕作、使用书写系统的文明之一，同时也修建了北美地区最早的城市Monte Alban。 译者注：地理划分上“中美洲”只是一个地区的概念而算不上一个“洲”。Zapotec 文明及其中心城市Monte Alban 位于今墨西哥南部，在地理上属于“中美” 范畴，但按“七大洲”概念则属北美 该城建于公元前 5 世纪，最多可容纳 2 万 5000 名市民，存续超过 1 千 200 年之久。在MonteAlban 城，由牧师、战士及艺术家组成的特权阶级统
11、治着其他相对低级的阶层。Like many of the civilizations of Mesoamerica, the Zapotecs subjugated the surrounding areasthrough a mix of warfare, diplomacy, and tribute. The sudden downfall of their cultureseemed to have no reason, and their largest city was mostly left intact, though it waseventually ruined by yea
12、rs of abandonment. Some scholars believe that a failure of theireconomic system may havepushed the Zapotecs to find work elsewhere. The rest of thepopulation grouped together into various city-states, which proceeded to fight each other (aswell as outside forces) until they were no more.同中美洲地区许许多多的其
13、他文明一样，萨博特克也通过包括战争、外交和进贡在内的方式征服了周边地区。这支文明的衰落看起来毫无缘由，而且他们最大的城市也基本上是完好地遗留了下来，虽然由于多年的弃置，最终还是损毁了。一些学者认为，他们失败的经济体系，或许使得萨博特克人不得不到其他地区寻找工作。余下的人口组成了大量的城邦，并且相互交战（同时也与外部势力交战）直至灭亡。Photo credit: Michel wal图片引自： Michel wal8、Vinca Civilization温卡文明（长春花文明）Europes biggest prehistoric civilization, the Vinca, existed
14、for nearly 1,500 years. Beginning inthe 55th century B.C., they occupied land throughoutSerbia and Romania. Named after apresent-day village near the Danube River, where the first discoveries were made in the 20thcentury, the Vinca were a metal-working people, perhaps even the worlds first civilizat
15、ion to usecopper (they also excavated the first mine in Europe).欧洲最大的史前文明，温卡，存续近 1500 年之久。从公元前 55 世纪开始，他们占据了遍及叙利亚和罗马尼亚的土地。首次发现于 20 世纪，并以发现地，多瑙河附近一当代小镇的名字命名。温卡人是一个从事金属加工的民族，他们或许是世界上最早使用铜的文明（他们同样采掘出了欧洲的第一桶矿产）。Though the Vinca people had no officially recognized form of writing, examples of proto-writi
16、ng,symbols which dont actually express language, have been found on various stone tabletswhich date as far back as 4000 B.C. In addition, they were artistic and fond of children;archaeologists have found various toys, suchas animals and rattles, buried among the otherartifacts. They were also extremely organizedthe houses of the Vinca civilization hadspecific locations for trash, and the dead were all buried in a central location.虽然温卡人的存在无法从文字、类文字图样、甚至那些算不上语言的符
