评论
打印
I find this desire to discover European or Asian elements in ancient American societies fascinating.
我猜，如果你想在我们这副面具上找到非洲人或中国人的面孔特征，你一定能说服自己。
I think it's because the similarities between the cultures of the old and the new worlds are so strong-both produced pyramids and mummification, temples and priestly rituals, social structures and buildings that function in similar ways-that scholars found it hard to believe that these American cultures could have evolved like this in isolation.
但事实上，它体现的是十足的中美洲人的特点。这样的面孔在今天生活在墨西哥的奥尔梅克人后裔身上还能看到。不过，想在古老的美洲社会找到欧洲或亚洲因素，找到古代社会相互关联与影响的证据，也是历史学家的迫切愿望，并极具启发性。新大陆与旧的文明十分相似，都修建金字塔、制作木乃伊，庙宇、祭祀仪式、社会结构和建筑也都有类似之处。很长时间以来，学者都难以相信美洲是完全孤立地发展起来的。
But they did.
但事实就是如此。
At only five inches high, the mask is obviously far too small to have been worn over anybody's face, and it's much more likely that you'd have worn this round your neck or in a headdress, possibly for some kind of ceremony.
面具的高度只有十三厘米，很明显无法戴在任何人脸上。它极有可能是戴在脖子上，或加在头饰上、在某种仪式上佩戴的。
Small holes have been bored at the edges and at the top of the mask, so that you could easily fasten it with a bit of twine or thread.
面具的边缘和顶部都有小孔，用细绳可以很方便地系上。
On either cheek you can see what, to my European eyes, look like two candles standing on a holder. To the eyes of the great Olmec specialist, Karl Taube, they're more likely to be the cardinal points of the compass, and they suggest that this person may have been a king:
脸颊两边刻有图案，以我为欧洲人的眼光来看，那仿佛是烛台上的两支蜡烛。而在奥尔梅克专家卡尔陶布教授的眼里，那四条直线很可能代表了罗盘的基本方位。而他认为这可能是国王的肖像：
"For the Olmec we have these great colossal heads, we have thrones, portraits of kings and very often, important here too, is the concept of centrality.
我们见过许多巨大的头像、国王的宝座和肖像，人们通常有一种中央观念，会把国王放在世界的中心。
And so, on this finely carved serpentine mask, we see four elements on the cheek which are probably the four directions.
因此在这一精心雕琢的纹石面具上，我们看到的四个元素很可能代表了四个基本方位。
And so for the Olmec, of major concern were the world directions and world centre, with the king being the pivotal world axis in the world centre."
奥尔梅克人最关心的，便是以国王为世界中心和主轴的世界方位与世界核心。
