纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 048莫希战士锅（4）

Excavations¹ of Moche burials often uncover large numbers of these decorated pots, sometimes many dozens of them, all carefully ordered and organised around repeated themes and subjects. The sheer quantity of pots that survive tell us that Moche society must have operated on a considerable scale. Pots like this must have been an industry, with elaborate structures of training, mass-production and distribution.

Moche territory stretched for around 350 miles (560 km) along the Pacific coast, and theirs was, literally², a narrow existence - bounded by the ocean on one side and the mountains on the other, usually with just desert in between. But their largest settlement, at Moche itself, was the first real city in South America, with streets, canals, plazas³ and industrial areas that any contemporary Roman town would have been proud of. The remains⁴ of the canal network that they used to channel the rivers flowing from the mountains are still visible today. They also exploited the extremely rich waters of the Pacific for fish, shellfish, seals, whales and birds. There's one pot for example, in the British Museum, that shows a Moche fisherman in a large boat catching⁵ tuna. Carefully managing and irrigating⁶ their environment, the Moche grew maize⁷ and beans, farmed llamas, ducks and guinea-pigs, and as a result, were able to sustain a population three times as large as the area does today.

And yet, as is usually the case in human history, it is not the great acts of water engineering or agriculture that a society honours in its works of art. It's war.

1 excavations   

n.挖掘( excavation的名词复数 )；开凿；开凿的洞穴（或山路等）；（发掘出来的）古迹

参考例句：

• The excavations are open to the public. 发掘现场对公众开放。
• This year's excavations may reveal ancient artifacts. 今年的挖掘可能会发现史前古器物。 来自辞典例句

2 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

3 plazas   

n.（尤指西班牙语城镇的）露天广场( plaza的名词复数 )；购物中心

参考例句：

• At focal points, there are seating plazas as rest points for users. 在主要主景点上，有空间较大的广场提供休息的地方。 来自互联网
• Such products are suitable for lighting and decoration of plazas, courtyards, parks, residential district and roadside. 本产品适合于广场、庭院，公园、小区草坪和道路的装饰和照明。 来自互联网

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

6 irrigating   

灌溉( irrigate的现在分词 )； 冲洗（伤口）

参考例句：

• Derrick and I have been laying out the system of irrigating ditches. 德里克跟我在一起修建那个灌溉网。
• He had been in command at the irrigating ditch the day before. 上一天，在灌溉渠边，是他担任指挥的。

7 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。