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※ [本文轉錄自 Ancient 看板 #1ICPhm0b ]

http://goo.gl/mnQPLu National Geograghic（內有圖） 翻譯有誤，請指正

Beheaded Maya Massacre Victims Found
發現馬雅時期被斬首的屠殺犧牲者

Two dozen Maya war captives were beheaded, dismembered, and buried
unceremoniously some 1,400 years ago at the site of Uxul, an international
team reported on Tuesday.

星期二，一個國際研究團隊發表，在墨西哥 Uxul 發現24名被斬首、肢解、亂葬的
馬雅戰俘，距今約1400年前。
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The victims were likely rulers of nearby towns at war with Uxul, located in
southern Mexico, or the dethroned rulers of the town itself, according to the
researchers. The discovery of the mass burial in an artificial cave adds to
the evidence that the brutal warfare, torture, and sacrifice of captives widely
depicted in ancient Maya artwork were real practices, says discovery team
archaeologist Nicolaus Seefeld of Germany's University of Bonn.


Nicolaus Seefeld 如是說。
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Of the two dozen skeletons discovered at the site earlier this year, the team
was able to determine that at least 13 were men and 2 were women. Their ages
at death ranged from 18 to 42. "Some of them had jade inserts in their teeth,
which we think means they were high-status members of the ruling class," says
Seefeld.

在這24具骨骸中，研究團隊判斷至少有13名男性與2名女性，死亡時的年紀在18到42歲之
間，「有些人的牙齒有鑲玉，表示他們是具有高地位的統治階層。」Seefeld 說。
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"All of them were decapitated, and the bones were scattered," Seefeld adds.
The neck bones of the victims exhibit hatchet cuts, and several of the skulls
bear unhealed marks from hatchet and cudgel blows. The skulls were piled some
distance away from the skeletons in the burial chamber, a 344-square-foot
(32-square-meter) rectangular cave once used to store water.


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The victims were buried without any of the offerings or jewelry typically
seen in royal burials, aside from a few potsherds that allowed the researchers
to roughly date the time of their massacre. At the time, Uxul was apparently
ruled by a local dynasty, though it later came under the control of Calakmul.
The latter city was the superpower of the classic Maya era, which ended after
A.D. 800 with the widespread abandonment, or collapse, of the pyramid-filled
cities of Central America.


然在後來被納入 Calakmul 城邦的統治之下。後者（指 Calakmul）曾是中美洲馬雅古典時

期的強大勢力（superpower），在西元800年時沒落，留下大規模的廢墟。
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"Most likely these were soldiers dispatched after being captured in warfare,
or else [were] the local rulers themselves after being usurped," says
archaeologist Arthur Demarest of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, who was
not part of the discovery team.

「最有可能的是，這些是戰爭中被捕獲的戰士，不然就是被篡奪王位的本地統治者。」
納什維爾范德堡大學的考古學家 Arthur Demarest 說道。
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Seefeld originally investigated the burial site looking to unearth the water
system of the town, which was abandoned before A.D. 800, early in the era of
Maya collapse. Instead of a cistern, he found the buried skeletons under 6.6
feet (2 meters) of sand and a layer of clay. "The cave once provided water to
nearby elite residences, but we don't know if there is any connection to the
people who lived there," he says.


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For now, the team hopes that chemical isotope analysis of the bones will reveal
whether the beheading victims were local nobles or invaders captured during a
war between Maya cities. The results should be known in November, Seefeld says,
offering more insight into who won and who lost this one particularly fierce
fight.



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◆ From: 211.76.38.6
※ 編輯: shinshong       來自: 211.76.38.6          (09/12 18:47)
                  巧合而已
※ 編輯: shinshong       來自: 211.76.38.6          (09/12 18:56)

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