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第五章

針對馬雅文明的隕落,三本新出版的書提出了各自不同的看法:David Webster的The Fall of the Ancient Maya(New York: Thames and Hudson, 2002)、Richardson Gill的The Great Maya Droughts(Albuquerque:University of New Mexico Press, 2000)以及Arthur Demerest、Prudence Rice和Don Rice一起編輯的The Terminal Classic in the Maya Lowlands(Boulder:University Press of Colorado, 2004)。Webster綜合概括了馬雅社會的歷史,從人口和資源分配的角度解釋了馬雅崩潰的原因;Gill則把重點放在氣候變化上,認為是旱災引起了馬雅的崩潰;而Demerest等人則強調各遺址間錯綜複雜的差異,對於生態方面的變因很少關注。關於這些方面的早期討論見T.Patrick Culbert編輯的The Classic Maya Collapse(Albuquerque:University of New Mexico Press, 1973)以及T.Patrick Culbert 和D.S.Rice合編的Precolumbian Population History in the Maya Lowlands(Albuquerque:University of New Mexico Press, 1990)。David Lentz編輯的Imperfect Balance:Landscape Transformation in the Precolumbian Americas(New York:Columbia University Press, 2000)一書中有好幾個章節涉及馬雅的崩潰,還探討了其他相關族群,如生活在霍霍凱姆、安第斯山和密西西比地區的印第安人,本書對他們也略有提及。

有些書還總結了馬雅地區某些特定城市的興衰。如David Webster、Ann Corinne Freter和Nancy Gonlin合著的Copan:The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Maya Kingdom(Fort Worth:Harcourt Brace, 2000);Peter Harrison的The Lords of Tikal(New York:Thames and Hudson, 1999);Stephen Houston的Hieroglyphs and History at Dos Pilas(Austin:University of Texas Press, 1993);以及M.R.Dunning 的Lords of the Hills:Ancient Maya Settlement in the Puuc Region, Yucatan, Mexico(Madison, Wis.:Prehistory Press, 1992)。關於馬雅歷史和社會的書籍(沒有專門探討崩潰問題)可參見Michael Coe的The Maya, 6th ed.(New York:Thames and Hudson, 1999);Simon Martin 和Nikolai Grube 的Chronicle of the Maya Kings and Queens(New York:Thames and Hudson, 2000);Robert Sharer的The Ancient Maya(Stanford, Calif.:Stanford University Press, 1994);Linda Schele與David Freidel合著的A Forest of Kings(New York:William Morrow, 1990);以及Linda Schele和Mary Miller的The Blood of Kings(New York:Braziller, 1986)。

John Stephens將自己的發現寫在兩本經典作品中:一本是Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan(New York:Harper, 1841);還有一本是Incidents of Travel in Yucatan(New York:Harper, 1843)。這兩本書都由Dover Publication 重印。Victor Wolfgang von Hagen 在Maya Explorer(Norman:University of Oklahoma Press, 1984)一書中介紹了John Stephens的一生及其偉大的發現。

B.L.Turner Ⅱ在馬雅集約化農業和人口方面出版了不少論文和書籍。它們有「Prehistoric intensive agriculture in the Mayan lowlands」(Science 185:118-124(1974));他與Peter Harrison共同發表的「Prehistoric raised-field agriculture in the Maya lowlands」(Science 213:399-405(1981));他們兩人還合寫了Pulltrouser Swamp:Ancient Maya Habitat, Agriculture, and Settlement in Northern Belize(Austin:University of Texas Press, 1983);Thomas Whitmore與B.L.Turner Ⅱ合作發表了「Landscapes of cultivation in Mesoamerica on the eve of the conquest」(Annals of the Association of American Geographers 82:402-425(1992));以及B.L.Turner Ⅱ和K.W.Butzer合作發表的論文「The Columbian encounter and land-use change」(Environment 43:16-20 and 37-44(1992))。

最近發表的以湖芯研究作為馬雅崩潰與乾旱有關的證據的論文有Mark Brenner 等人寫的「Paleolimnology of the Maya lowlands:long-term perspectives on interactions among climate, environment, and humans」(Ancient Mesoamerica 13:141-157(2002))(同期值得關注的論文見pp.79-170 和 263-345);David Hodell 等人發表的 「Solar forcing of drought frequency in the Maya lowlands」(Science 292:1367-1370(2001));Jason Curtis等人發表的「Climate variability of the Yucatan Peninsula(Mexico)during the past 3500 years,and implications for Maya cultural evolution」(Quaternary Research 46:37-47(1996));以及David Hodell 等人合寫的「Possible role of climate in the collapse of Classic Maya civilization」(Nature 375:391-394(1995))。這些科學家專門在佩滕地區進行湖芯研究以瞭解乾旱的影響,相關論文見Michael Rosenmeier寫的「A 4000-year lacustrine record of environmental change in the southern Maya lowlands, Peten, Guatemala」(Quaternary Research 57:183-190(2002));以及Jason Curtis等人發表的「A multi-proxy study of Holocene environmental change in the Maya lowlands of Peten, Guatemala」(Journal of Paleolimnology 19:139-159(1998))。此外,Gerald Haug等人發表的「Climate and the collapse of Maya civilization」(Science 299:1731-1735(2003))也可供讀者參考,文中科學家們通過對被河流沖積到海洋的沉積物進行分析,以瞭解每年雨量的變化。

對馬雅文明感興趣的讀者請勿錯過Mary Ellen Miller寫的The Murals of Bonampak(Princeton, N.J.:Princeton University Press, 1986),書中收錄了很多壁畫的圖片,有黑白,也有彩色,還有酷刑的畫面。Justin Kerr寫的介紹馬雅陶器的一系列書The Maya Vase Book(New York:Kerr Associates, various dates)也值得推薦。破解馬雅文字的過程精彩紛呈,相關書籍有Michael Coe的Breaking the Maya Code,2nd ed.(New York:Thames and Hudson, 1999)以及Stephen Houston、Oswaldo Chinchilla Mazareigos和David Stuart合著的The Decipherment of Ancient Maya Writing(Norman:University of Oklahoma, 2001)。關於提卡爾的蓄水池,可參看下列文章:Vernon Scarborough與Gari Gallopin寫的「A water storage adaptation in the Maya lowlands」(Science 251:658-662(1991));Lisa Lucero在其論文「The collapse of the Classic Maya:a case for the role of water control」(American Anthropologist 104:814-826(2002))中提出馬雅各地區可用水量的差異導致馬雅古典時期城市間崩潰時間的不同;Arturo Gomez-Pompa、JoseSalvador Flores和Victoria Sosa在他們的論文「The『pet kot』:a man-made tropical forest of the Maya」(Interciencia 12:10-15(1987))中對馬雅人培育有用樹種進行了研究分析。Timothy Beach的研究報告「Soil catenas,tropical deforestation, and ancient and contemporary soil erosion in the Peten, Guatemala」(Physical Geography 19:378-405(1998))表現了馬雅有些地區利用梯田來改善水土流失的情況。Richard Hansen等人寫的「Climatic and environmental variability in the rise of Maya civilization:a preliminary perspective from northern Peten,」(Ancient Mesoamerica 13:273-295(2002))一文用跨學科的研究方式對前古典時期人口稠密的地區進行分析,並證明石灰生產與森林砍伐之間的關係。