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雖然瑪雅文明和其他原始文明沒有本質區別，但這個文明確實有很多奇妙之處，其中有很多都是難解之謎。尤卡坦半島上的瑪雅古跡很像“犯罪現場”，如果你對考古感興趣，這里就是你的天堂。
先來列舉6個瑪雅文明最奇妙的地方：
一，瑪雅文明沒有像其他偉大文明一樣，起源于大河的旁邊；
二，瑪雅文明在一塊比廣西大不了多少的地方發展了2000多年，卻始終沒有統一；
三，瑪雅文明在天文方面非常先進，卻在很多其它方面非常落后；
四，瑪雅文明在公元850年左右發展到頂峰，卻在此后的50多年里迅速崩潰，所有已知的瑪雅古城都在這段時間內被遺棄，石碑上的紀年歷也都終止于這一時期；
五，有人估計，瑪雅總人口在巔峰時期達到了500萬人，甚至有人說有1000萬人之多，可在頂峰之后人口迅速減少，據估算大約有80%的瑪雅人在這段時間里神秘地消失了；
六，瑪雅的古典時期起于公元250年，止于公元900年。此后100年左右，瑪雅人沒有留下任何信息，沒人知道這段時間到底發生了什么。可自公元1000年開始，瑪雅文化又經歷了短暫的復蘇，經濟文化中心轉移到了相對少雨的尤卡坦北部平原；
以上這些奇妙之處都可以從尤卡坦半島的地理和自然環境上找到原因，這一點戴蒙德老師在《槍炮病菌與鋼鐵》和《崩潰》里都有過精彩的解讀，正是讀了他的書，我才越來越相信地理決定論的，簡單說，就是“一方水土養一方人”。
下面我就來試著一一解答：
一，尤卡坦半島最明顯的特征就是綠而缺水。這里滿眼綠色，植被茂盛，南部山區更是遍布原始森林，但卻很少見到河流，湖也很少，偶爾見到濕地，充其量也就可以稱之為泥潭。這有兩個原因：一，這里的降水很不穩定，雨季只有3-4個月，其余都是旱季，降水很少；二，這里是典型的喀斯特地貌，地表都是易滲水的石灰巖，雨水積不起來，都滲到地下去了。三，這里缺乏高山，最高的地方不到3000米，不可能有積雪，因此也就不能保證在干旱的時期有穩定的水源供應。有了這3條，你就不難想象為什么這里沒有大河了。
（從飛機上看到的尤卡坦半島北部平原）
二，北美嚴重缺乏有馴養潛力的野生動物（個中原因請參考《槍炮病菌與鋼鐵》，里面有非常絕妙的解釋。）。瑪雅人除了少量狗和火雞外，沒有任何家禽家畜，尤其缺乏牛馬等能夠提供畜力的動物，所有的運輸都要靠人來背。這塊地方也缺乏有馴化潛力的野生植物，因此瑪雅人所能種植的莊稼只有玉米、豆子和青南瓜等很少的幾樣，這些農作物營養價值不高，又不方便攜帶，所以瑪雅軍隊走不遠，只能就近找個對手打仗，無法像舊世界那樣輕易地“跨省追捕”。
（站在危地馬拉境內的Tikal古跡的一座金字塔上遠眺）
別小看技術的力量。正是因為從技術上不可行，造就了瑪雅人獨特的政治體制。瑪雅文明在廣西那么大的一塊地方建立了將近100個國家，站在本國金字塔的尖頂甚至可以望見敵國的金字塔！如此高密度的國家（更準確地說應該叫城邦）分布使得瑪雅人彼此之間經常打仗，反而不如大一統的中國那樣相對安定。
有趣的是，瑪雅戰爭有點像同時代的三國（同樣始于公元200年左右），象征意義更大些。只有瑪雅貴族才被允許參與打仗，平民都必須留在田里勞動。貴族之間的戰爭以俘虜對方將領為最終目的，不會去敵國平民那里燒殺搶掠，那樣的話對方一旦報復起來，大家都不合算。
這樣的模式其實就是動物本能。為了減少損失，很多動物種內的爭斗都只具有象征意義，一旦確立了等級，便不再搏殺，彼此相安無事。事實上，因為生產力不發達，古代戰爭大都是這個樣子的，現代戰爭中的瘋狂殺戮是人類文明發展到一定階段后的事情。不過，這也可以說是一種必然，因為象征意義的戰爭是不穩定的，一旦出現一個戰爭狂人，國家之間的短暫平衡很快就會土崩瓦解，瑪雅文明就是一個很好的例子。（未完待續）
每日一歌：Bob Dylan-《It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding）》：
這是他1964年的實況錄音。這首歌比較冷門，但里面充滿了智慧的歌詞，有興趣的讀者可以仔細琢磨琢磨。下面貼的是唱片版的歌詞，大家可以和他的實況即興對比一下：
It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The
handmade blade, the child’s balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To
understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From
the fool’s gold mouthpiece the hollow horn
Plays wasted words, proves to
warn
That he not busy being born is busy dying
Temptation’s page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at
war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike
before
You discover that you’d just be one more
Person crying
So don’t fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It’s alright, Ma,
I’m only sighing
As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can
be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to
crawl
While others say don’t hate nothing at all
Except hatred
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their
mark
Make everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs
that glow in the dark
It’s easy to see without looking too far
That not
much is really sacred
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge
waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its
gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have to
stand naked
An’ though the rules of the road have been lodged
It’s only people’s games
that you got to dodge
And it’s alright, Ma, I can make it
Advertising signs they con
You into thinking you’re the one
That can do
what’s never been done
That can win what’s never been won
Meantime life
outside goes on
All around you
You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to
fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice,
unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks they
really found you
A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit
To
satisfy, insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not
forget
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to
Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I
got nothing, Ma, to live up to
For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any
degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them
that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
they invest in
While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social
clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing
except who to idolize
And then say God bless him
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race
choir
Bent out of shape from society’s pliers
Cares not to come up any
higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he’s in
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But
it’s alright, Ma, if I can’t please him
Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push
fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn’t talk, it
swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony
While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer’s pride,
security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death’s
honesty
Won’t fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes must get lonely
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed
Graveyards, false gods, I scuff
At
pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my
legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough, what else can you show
me?
And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They’d probably put my head in a
guillotine
But it’s alright, Ma, it’s life, and life only
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