纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 048莫希战士锅（6）

"We found that these were male warriors¹. Robust², strong, males aged³ between 18 to more or less 39 years of age. They had a lot of ancient injuries consistent with battles, but also had a lot of fresh injuries, a lot of cut marks on the throats, on the arms, on the faces, indicating that most of them have had their throat cut. And a few of them had the skin of their face removed, arms separated from their bodies, some of them were de-fleshed completely and transformed into skeletons - even in one case two human heads transformed into some kind of container."

It's grim and gripping stuff. And there's a lot of mystery still to unravel⁴. The Moche stopped making these horror-movie pots, and indeed pretty much everything else, in the seventh century - roughly about the same time as the Sutton Hoo ship burial. Why? There are no written records of course, we've got to guess, and the best bet at the moment seems to be climate change. It appears there were several decades of intense rain, followed by a drought that upset the delicate ecology of their agriculture, and wrecked⁵ much of the infrastructure⁶ and farmlands of the Moche state. If that's what did happen, there would clearly be neither the time nor the resources to make pots. People did not entirely⁷ abandon the area, but their skills seem to have been used above all for the building of fortresses⁸, which suggests a world splintering in a desperate competition for diminishing natural resources. Whatever the cause, in the decades around 600 AD, the Moche state and civilisation⁹ collapsed¹⁰.

To most of us in Europe today, the Moche and other South American cultures are unfamiliar¹¹ and unnerving. In part, that's because they belong to a cultural tradition that followed a very different pattern from Africa, Asia and Europe. For thousands of years, the Americas have a separate parallel history of their own. But as excavation¹² unearths¹³ more of their story, we can see that they are caught in exactly the same predicaments as everybody else - harnessing nature and resources, avoiding famine, placating¹⁴ the gods, waging war. And as everywhere else, they addressed these problems by trying to construct coherent and enduring states. In the Americas, as all over the world, these ignored histories are now being recovered to shape modern identities. Here's Steven Bourget again:

1 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

2 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

3 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

4 unravel   

v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开

参考例句：

• He was good with his hands and could unravel a knot or untangle yarn that others wouldn't even attempt.他的手很灵巧，其他人甚至都不敢尝试的一些难解的绳结或缠在一起的纱线，他都能解开。
• This is the attitude that led him to unravel a mystery that long puzzled Chinese historians.正是这种态度使他解决了长期以来使中国历史学家们大惑不解的谜。

5 wrecked   

adj.失事的，遇难的

参考例句：

• the hulk of a wrecked ship 遇难轮船的残骸
• the salvage of the wrecked tanker 对失事油轮的打捞

6 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 fortresses   

堡垒，要塞( fortress的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They will establish impregnable fortresses. 他们将建造坚不可摧的城堡。
• Indra smashed through Vritra ninety-nine fortresses, and then came upon the dragon. 因陀罗摧毁了维他的九十九座城堡，然后与维他交手。 来自神话部分

9 civilisation   

n.文明，文化，开化，教化

参考例句：

• Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
• This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。

10 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

11 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

12 excavation   

n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地

参考例句：

• The bad weather has hung up the work of excavation.天气不好耽误了挖掘工作。
• The excavation exposed some ancient ruins.这次挖掘暴露出一些古遗迹。

13 unearths   

发掘或挖出某物( unearth的第三人称单数 )； 搜寻到某事物，发现并披露

参考例句：

14 placating   

v.安抚，抚慰，使平静( placate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• She pulled her face into a placating and childlike expression. 于是她装出一副稚气的想要和解的样子来。 来自飘（部分）
• Uncle Peter's voice came as from a far distance, plaintive, placating. 彼得大叔这时说话了，他的声音犹如自一个遥远的地方起来，既带有哀愁又给人以安慰。 来自飘（部分）