文本内容:
The Riseof Teotihuacan特奥蒂瓦坎的崛起The cityof Teotihuacan,which layabout50kilometers northeastof modern-DayMexico City,began itsgrowth by200-100B.C.At itsheight,between aboutA.D.150and700,it probablyhad apopulation ofmore than125,000people andcovered at least20square kilometers.It hadover2,000apartment complexes,a greatmarket,a largenumberof industrialworkshops,an administrativecenter,a number of massivereligious edifices,and aregular gridpattern ofstreets andbuildings.Clearly,much planningand centralcontrolwere involvedin theexpansion andordering ofhis greatmetropolis.Moreover,thecity hadeconomic andperhaps religiouscontacts withmost partsof MesoamericamodernCentral Americaand Mexico.起源于公元前200到10年前的特奥蒂瓦坎城位于现在的墨西哥城东北约50公里处在鼎盛时期,也就是大约在公元150到700年间,它的人口很可能超过了
12.5万,少覆盖了20平方公里它拥有超过2,000座大厦、一座大型市场、大量的工业作坊、一个行政管理中心、数量庞大的宗教场所,还有规则的街道建筑网络显然,这座伟大的都市的扩张和排列都经过了精心的规划和集中管理此外,特奥蒂瓦坎城与中美洲的大部分地区今天的美国和墨西哥中部都保持着经济也许还有宗教的联系How didthis tremendousdevelopment takeplace,and whydid ithappen intheTeotihuacan ValleyAmong themain factorsare Teotihuacan,s geographiclocation onanatural traderoute tothe southand eastof the Valley of Mexico,the obsidianresources intheTeotihuacan Valleyitself,and thevalleys potentialfor extensiveirrigation.The exactroleof otherfactors ismuch moredifficult topinpoint—fbr instance,Teotihuacan,sreligious significanceas ashrine,the historicalsituation inand aroundthe ValleyofMexico towardthe endof thefirst millennium B.C.,the ingenuityand fbresightednessofTeotihuacan^elite,and,finally,the impactof naturaldisasters,such asthe volcaniceruptionsof thelate firstmillenniumB.C.这惊人的发展是如何完成的、又为什么会发生在特奥蒂瓦坎峡谷呢?其中最主要的原因就是特奥蒂瓦坎地处联通墨西哥峡谷南部和东部的自然形成的通商线路中,特奥蒂瓦坎峡谷本身拥有的黑曜石资源,还有特奥蒂瓦坎峡谷大面积灌溉的潜能而其他的因素的作用则很难表述清楚——例如,特奥蒂瓦坎作为宗教圣地的重要地位,在公元前一千年后期墨西哥峡谷及其周围地区的历史情况,特奥蒂瓦坎精英们的机智和深谋远虑,以及自然灾害的冲击,比如在公元前一千年后期的火山喷发This lastfactor is atleastcircumstantially implicatedin Teotihuacan,s rise.Prior to200B.C.,a numberof relativelysmall centerscoexisted inand neartheValleyofMexico.Around thistime,the largestof thesecenters,Cuicuilco,was seriouslyaffected byavolcanic eruption,with muchof itsagricultural landcovered bylava.With Cuicuilcoeliminatedas apotential rival,any oneof anumberofrelatively modesttowns mighthaveemerged as a leadingeconomic andpolitical powerin CentralMexico.The archaeologicalevidenceclearly indicates,though,that Teotiluacanwas thecenter thatdid ariseas thepredominantforce inthe areaby thefirst centuryA.D.这最后的因素至少偶然地暗示了特奥蒂瓦坎的崛起在公元前200年以前,有很多相对较小的中心在墨西哥峡谷内部和周围和谐共存着正是在大约这段时间,其中最大的中心Cuicuilco遭到火山爆发的严重影响,其大部分农田被岩浆覆盖了随着Cuicuilco失去了竞争能力,其他任何一个中等规模的城镇都可能成为墨西哥中部新一代的政治经济中心考古资料明确地表明,特奥蒂瓦坎就是在公元1世纪时在该地区崛起的主力军It seemslikely thatTeotihuacan^natural resources—along withthe cityelites abilitytorecognize theirpotential—gave thecity acompetitive edgeover itsneighbors,Thevalley,like manyother placesin Mexicanand Guatemalanhighlands,was richin obsidian.The hardvolcanic stonewas aresource thathad beenin greatdemand formany years,atleast sincethe riseof theOlmecs apeople whoflourished between1200and400B.C.,and itapparently hada securemarket.Moreover,recent researchon obsidiantools foundatOlmecs siteshas shownthat someof theobsidian obtainedby theOlmecs originatednearTeotihuacan.Teotihuacan obsidianmust havebeen recognizedas avaluable commodityformany centuriesbefore thegreat cityarose.很可能是特奥蒂瓦坎的自然资源以及当地的精英人群对这些自然资源潜能的开发,给予了这座城市以与其相邻城市抗衡的力量像墨西哥和危地马拉高地的其他地区一样,这个峡谷也富含黑曜岩那坚硬的火成岩在很多年内都是需求量极大的资源,至少从奥尔麦克人一个在公元前1,200到公元前400年间繁荣过的民族的崛起之后就是这样了,显然它有着一个稳定的市场关于最近在奥尔达克遗址中发掘的黑曜岩工具的研究表明,奥尔麦克人所得到的部分黑曜石工具源自特奥蒂瓦坎地区在这座伟大的城市崛起之前,特奥蒂瓦坎的黑曜岩一定已经作为极有价值的商品闻名数世纪了Long-distance tradein obsidianprobably gavethe eliteresidents of Teotihuacanaccess toa widevariety ofexotic good,as wellasarelatively prosperouslife.Such successmayhave attractedimmigrants to Teotihuacan.In addition,Teotihuacan,s elitemay haveconsciouslyattempted toattract newinhabitants.It isalso probablethat asearly as200B.C.Teotihuacan mayhave achievedsome religioussignificance andits shrineor shrinesmayhave servedas anadditional populationmagnet.Finally,the growingpopulation wasprobablyfed byincreasing thenumber andsize ofirrigated fields.长距离的黑曜岩交易可能就使得特奥蒂瓦坎的精英们有机会得到外来的商品和相对繁荣的生活,这种成功可能会吸引移民到特奥蒂瓦坎另外,特奥蒂瓦坎的贵族们也可能会有意地吸引新的移民也有可能是早在公元前200年前,特奥蒂瓦坎的宗教就达到了一定的高度,所以其神殿就是另一种对移民的吸引力最后,不断增加的人口可以通过扩大灌溉土地的面积和规模而得到给养The pictureofTeotihuacanthat emergesisaclassic pictureof positivefeedbackamong obsidianmining andworking,trade,population growth,irrigation,and religioustourism.The thrivingobsidian operation,for example,would necessitatemore miners,additional manufacturersof obsidiantools,and additionaltraders tocarry thegoods tonewmarkets.All thisled toincreased wealth,which inturn wouldattract moreimmigrants toTeotihuacan.The growingpower ofthe elite,who controlledthe economy,would givethemthe meansto physicallycoerce peopleto movetoTeotihuacanand serveas additionstothe laborforce.More irrigationworks wouldhave tobe builtto feedthe growingpopulation,and thisresulted inmore powerand wealthfor theelite.特奥蒂瓦坎的生活图景是一种经典的、在黑曜岩开采和交易,人口的增长,灌溉的扩张,还有宗教旅游业之间的良性反馈比如,黑曜岩交易的发展将需要更多的矿工,更多的黑曜岩工具的制造商和更多的商人将工具运往新的市场所有的这一切导致了财富的增加,而财富的增加,这反过来又会吸引更多的人移民到特奥蒂瓦坎而那些掌控者经济命脉的社会精英们的力量的增长就会为他们提供了种种方法以迫使人们移往特奥蒂瓦坎以充当额外的劳动力于是就不得不建成更多的灌溉工事以给养增长的人口,而这又会导致精英们力量和财富的增加。