VOA慢速英语2019--古代绘画暗示着提奥提瓦坎的社会平等

Ancient Painting Suggests Societal Equality in Teotihuacan

The remains¹ of artwork found at what was once the largest city in the Americas has added to evidence that even commoners who lived there enjoyed the finer things in life.

Each year, millions of travelers visit the huge pyramids and other structures that made up the city of Teotihuacan, about 48 kilometers north of present-day Mexico City.

The newly discovered art was found on the city's southern edge, far from the center and far from where visitors explore today.

Boston University scientist David Carballo discovered the art. The large, brightly colored pictures, or murals, were painted on three buildings he began excavating² in July. He said, "We're now finding that life on the periphery³ was pretty good."

The paintings show flowers and singing birds. Carballo said it was surprising to find such works so far away from Teotihuacan's center.

Carballo and his team have also found other signs of wealth nearby, including a stone mask, seashells from Mexico's Pacific and Gulf⁴ coasts and jade⁵ stone.

The mural discoveries point to a very different path taken by Teotihuacan compared to other ancient civilizations. The city was most successful from about 100 B.C. to 550 A.D.

At the time, daily life in Mayan cities, ancient Rome and ancient Egypt was marked by a small, powerful group of people controlling poor or enslaved masses. But in Teotihuacan's case, most of its estimated 100,000 people were treated well.

Scientists believe that a successful craft-based economy made the city rich. Near the murals, Carballo and his team unearthed⁶ what would have been a busy workshop. Workers there likely produced some 200,000 sharp tools made of volcanic⁷ glass.

In an area of the city called La Ventilla, another part of Teotihuacan equality can be observed: multi-family, stone housing centers where over 90 percent of the city's people lived. Teotihuacan has more than 2,000 such centers.

The narrow streets of these centers of housing suggest a dense⁸ city existence. The centers had water removal systems, open-air spaces and murals.

Ruben Cabrera is an archaeologist who has long led excavations⁹ at La Ventilla. He said Teotihuacan's mass housing is not found elsewhere in ancient times. He said it shows there was less inequality in the city than in most other places.

"It wasn't as pronounced as, say, Rome or other places where there was a dominant¹⁰ group and a dominated group," he said.

No evidence of slavery has been found in more than 100 years of digs there, he noted¹¹.

Arizona State University archaeologist Michael Smith leads a research laboratory at Teotihuacan. He measured wealth of the city based on its home sizes. The measurement is called a Gini score.

A 1.0 measure means a single household owns everything and zero represents total equality. Teotihuacan's Gini score came in at 0.12. Smith said that shows an extremely low level of inequality for a pre-industrial society.

"My first reaction was: ‘This is a mistake,'" he said.

Smith compared digs at Aztec sites founded more than 1,000 years after Teotihuacan's collapse¹². Each Teotihuacan house had about 200 square meters of living space. Aztec houses were generally much smaller -- about 25 square meters.

Also, burial data gathered by Carballo shows that Teotihuacan's commoners grew to a height similar to its wealthy and powerful people. Males buried in the centers of housing were less than one centimeter shorter than those buried near the city's central Moon Pyramid.

By comparison, commoners have been found to be six to nine centimeters shorter than the rich in ancient Greece and Egypt.

Words in This Story

commoner - n. a person who is not a member of the nobility

pyramid - n. a very large structure built especially in ancient Egypt that has a square base and four triangular¹³ sides which form a point at the top

periphery - n. the outside edge of an area : the area that surrounds a place or thing

excavate¹⁴ - v. to uncover (something) by digging away and removing the earth that covers it

craft - n. a job or activity that requires special skill

pronounced - adj. very noticeable

dominant - adj. more important, powerful, or successful than most or all others

1 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。

2 excavating   

v.挖掘( excavate的现在分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• A bulldozer was employed for excavating the foundations of the building. 推土机用来给楼房挖地基。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs. 一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。 来自辞典例句

3 periphery   

n.(圆体的)外面；周围

参考例句：

• Geographically, the UK is on the periphery of Europe.从地理位置上讲，英国处于欧洲边缘。
• The periphery of the retina is very sensitive to motion.视网膜的外围对运动非常敏感。

4 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

5 jade   

n.玉石；碧玉；翡翠

参考例句：

• The statue was carved out of jade.这座塑像是玉雕的。
• He presented us with a couple of jade lions.他送给我们一对玉狮子。

6 unearthed   

出土的（考古）

参考例句：

• Many unearthed cultural relics are set forth in the exhibition hall. 展览馆里陈列着许多出土文物。
• Some utensils were in a state of decay when they were unearthed. 有些器皿在出土时已经残破。

7 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

8 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

9 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

10 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

13 triangular   

adj.三角（形）的，三者间的

参考例句：

• It's more or less triangular plot of land.这块地略成三角形。
• One particular triangular relationship became the model of Simone's first novel.一段特殊的三角关系成了西蒙娜第一本小说的原型。

14 excavate   

vt.挖掘，挖出

参考例句：

• They plan to excavate a large hole.他们计划挖个大洞。
• A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs.一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。