人类的古老文明:被历史遗忘的十个文明古国Much like Isaac Newton imagined when he gave hisfamous “shoulders of giant s”quote, our moderncivilizations owe a great deal to those which camebefor e us. While examples like the Sumerians orEgyptians are deeply ingrained in nearly everyone’sminds, there are a number of other civilizations whichhave been largely forgotten. Here are 10 of them.正如艾萨克·牛顿在提出其“巨人的肩膀”名言时所设想的一样，我们的现代文明也从先前的诸文明中获益良多。
虽然诸如苏美尔或者埃及文明的例子已经深入人心，但仍有为数不少的文明基本上是被忘却了的。
这里列举10个如下。
Photo credit: Bhushan Kotakar图片引自： Bhushan Kotakar10、Hattian Civilization赫蒂文明The Hattians were a civilization which inhabited the area of present-day Anato lia, Turkey fromthe 26th century to around the 18th century B.C. Believed to be the earliest urban settlers ofthe area, their existence can be traced to 24t h-century Akkadian cuneiform tablets. Mostarchaeologists believe that they w ere indigenous to the area preceding the more famous Hittitecivilization, whi ch arrived in the 23rd century B.C. The two cultures slowly merged together, withthe Hittites adopting a variety of Hatti religious beliefs and practices. Ma ny of the largest Hittitesettlements, such as Alaca Hoyuk and Hattusa, are bel ieved to have originally been Hattian.赫蒂文明位于今土耳其安纳托利亚地区，存在于公元前26世纪至约18世纪。
他们是该地区最早的城市居民，其存在的证据可追溯至公元前24世纪的阿卡德楔形文字石碑中。
大多数考古学家认为，赫蒂人比更为闻名的赫梯人更早存在于这一地区，后者于公元前23世纪来到这里。
随着赫蒂人采纳了许多来自赫梯的宗教信仰和实践习惯，两大文明慢慢地融合在了一起。
赫梯人的许多大型定居点，诸如阿拉卡·郝予克（Alaca Hoyuk）以及哈兹萨（Hattusa），确信最初曾是赫蒂人的。
While they had their own spoken language, no evidence of a written form of the Hatti languagehas ever been found. It’s likely that they were multilingual, perhaps to facilitate trade with theirAssyrian partners. In fact, most of what we know about the Hattians comes from the widespread adoption of their cu lture by the Hittites. Their population probably existed as a majority for dec ades—if not centuries—while they were under the aristocratic rule of theHittit es, before they eventually faded away into obscurity.虽然他们有自己的口头语言，但并未发现过有关其文字语言的证据。
他们有可能是多语言的，或许是为了促进与其亚述（Assyrian）伙伴们之间的贸易往来。
事实上，我们对赫蒂人的所知大部分来自于赫梯人对其文化的广泛采用。
赫蒂的人口数量或许曾在几十年中占据多数——如果没到上百年的话——然而却是在赫梯贵族们的统治之下，直至最终在历史的长河中晦暗下去。
Photo credit: Rod Waddington图片引自：Rod Waddington9、Zapotec Civilization萨博特克文明While most people are familiar with the Aztecs and the Maya of Mesoamerica, the people knownas the Zapotec remain relatively obscure. Among the first p eople in the area to use agriculturaland writing systems, they also built one of the earliest recognized cities in North America—Monte Alban. Founded in the fifth century B.C., the city was home to a maximum of 25,000citizens and last ed for over 1,200 years. In Monte Alban, a privileged class made up of priests ,warriors, and artists ruled over the lower classes.相较于许多人对中美洲阿芝特科（Aztecs）及玛雅（Maya）的熟悉来说，一支称为萨博特克（Zapotec）的文明显得生涩了许多。
他们不仅是这一地区最早进行农业耕作、使用书写系统的文明之一，同时也修建了北美地区最早的城市——Monte Alban。
[译者注：地理划分上“中美洲”只是一个地区的概念而算不上一个“洲”。
Zapotec文明及其中心城市Monte Alban位于今墨西哥南部，在地理上属于“中美”范畴，但按“七大洲”概念则属北美] 该城建于公元前5世纪，最多可容纳2万5000名市民，存续超过1千200年之久。
在MonteAlban城，由牧师、战士及艺术家组成的特权阶级统治着其他相对低级的阶层。
Like many of the civilizations of Mesoamerica, the Zapotecs subjugated the su rrounding areasthrough a mix of warfare, diplomacy, and tribute. The sud den downfall of their cultureseemed to have no reason, and their largest city was mostly left intact, though it was eventually ruined by years of abandon ment. Some scholars believe that a failure of theireconomic system may have pushed the Zapotecs to find work elsewhere. The rest of the population grou ped together into various city-states, which proceeded to fight each other (as well as outside forces) until they were no more.同中美洲地区许许多多的其他文明一样，萨博特克也通过包括战争、外交和进贡在内的方式征服了周边地区。
这支文明的衰落看起来毫无缘由，而且他们最大的城市也基本上是完好地遗留了下来，虽然由于多年的弃置，最终还是损毁了。
一些学者认为，他们失败的经济体系，或许使得萨博特克人不得不到其他地区寻找工作。
余下的人口组成了大量的城邦，并且相互交战（同时也与外部势力交战）直至灭亡。
Photo credit: Michel wal图片引自： Michel wal8、Vinca Civilization温卡文明（长春花文明）Europe’s biggest prehistoric civilization, the Vinca, existed for nearly 1,500 y ears. Beginning inthe 55th century B.C., they occupied land throughoutSerbia and Romania. Named after apresent-day village near the Danube River, wh ere the first discoveries were made in the 20thcentury, the Vinca were a meta l-working people, perhaps even the world’s first civilization to usecopper (they also excavated the first mine in Europe).欧洲最大的史前文明，温卡，存续近1500年之久。
从公元前55世纪开始，他们占据了遍及叙利亚和罗马尼亚的土地。
首次发现于20世纪，并以发现地，多瑙河附近一当代小镇的名字命名。
温卡人是一个从事金属加工的民族，他们或许是世界上最早使用铜的文明（他们同样采掘出了欧洲的第一桶矿产）。