PBS.新星.马丘比丘幽灵（2010）

High in the Peruvian Andes,
秘鲁安第斯山脉上
there's an ancient city called Machu Picchu.
有一处名为马丘比丘的遗迹
It is a ruin that defies explanation.
此处胜景难以言表
Who were the mysterious people who built it
造物主是谁
and why did they build it here?
为什么选址在此地
With no defensive wall, it doesn't look like a fortress.
没有城墙 看来就不是要塞
Instead, there are fountains and small pools,
相反 这里有喷泉和小水池
temples and strange altars cut from granite,
神庙和用花岗岩雕琢的怪异祭坛
but little else to explain
但却无从解释
how a people who didn't have iron tools or the wheel
没有铁器和带轮子的运输工具情况下
could have created such a masterpiece
人们是如何完成此等壮举的
and why.
以及建造的缘由
Now, new research is solving these mysteries
当下 一些研究人员正试图
in the bodies and bones of the people who once lived here.
通过查验遗体和骨头来解开这个谜团
To me,
在我看来
this is the type of injury more indicative of a weapon,
这种伤痕该是武器造成的
possibly of warfare.
可能是由于战事
There are clues far below the city
线索在迷城的脚下
and underneath it
及其正下方
and in the stories of the mummies of kings.
以及有关国王木乃伊的故事里
Will all these revelations
而这些线索
finally lay the Ghosts of Machu Picchu to rest?
真的能令马丘比丘幽灵最终安息吗
Right now, on this Nova/National Geographic special.
尽在本期新星与国家地理合作的特别节目
Perched at 8,000 feet on a narrow ridge in the high Andes,
位于安第斯山脊八千英尺高处狭长地带
Machu Picchu is a remote and mysterious ancient wonder.
马丘比丘是个远离人迹的神秘故址
Spread across the top of this ridge
绵延在这山脊高处
are more than 200 structures,
有多达200个建筑
each built with exquisitely cut stone.
均由精妙切割的石头构筑
Some appear to be homes, others temples.
有些是住所 有些是庙宇
They surround a one-acre green,
都围绕着一片一英亩见方的绿地而建
and all are fed by open waterways and fountains.
其间有露天水路和喷泉串联
It is a lost city,
作为一座弃城
whose doorways and passages hint at the ghosts of its past;
其路径都隐示着往昔的岁月
a place that is at once beautiful
这个地方曾经美丽
and baffling.
又令人困惑
There are no written clues in the city,
城中无迹可寻
no carvings to suggest a purpose.
找不到此城存在的意义
At its highest point, the mystery only deepens.
在最高点 还有个更不可思议的事物
There, a beautifully carved pillar stands,
精巧雕琢的台柱
a graceful riddle to cap the site.
高踞在遗址顶端的谜
From this lofty height,
极目远眺
the views leave one stunned,
景色令人炫目
but also curious.
亦令人好奇
How did the builders get all this stone up here
石头是怎么运上来的
and then cut it so finely
又是如何切得这么完美
that they didn't even need mortar
甚至其间隙连泥灰都没
to hold their walls in place?
就能令石墙立而不倒
Who built Machu Picchu?
是谁建了马丘比丘
And why did they build it in this impossible place?
又为什么选址在此高山悬崖之巅
Even more perplexing, why did they abandon it?
更费解的是 为什么又被弃了
Throughout the city,
遍观全城
stones seemed to be on the verge of being placed
有些石头雕琢好了正准备安置
when work came to a stop.
但工程却突然停止了
Now, as never before, clues are emerging
当下 相较以往 线索正日渐明晰
—Some at the site itself in new excavations,
有些人在城中进行新的发掘
others at the lower reaches of Machu Picchu—
另有人在马丘比丘的山脚下
as teams explore them for the very first time.
进行着前所未有的探索工作
These mysteries have long obsessed Fernando Astete,
这些疑点长♥期♥存于马丘比丘考古项目的领队
director of the Machu Picchu Archaeological Park.
费尔南多·阿斯泰特脑中
There is such an important cultural legacy here,
这里有非常重要的文化遗迹
not just for Peruvians, but a legacy for the entire world.
不仅对秘鲁人而言是如此 亦是世界的遗产
Making sense of that legacy is Astete's challenge—
了解此遗迹的意义对阿斯泰特而言
along with getting to work.
是工作中的挑战
He has one of the most precarious commutes
他所面对的是世界上
of anyone on the planet.
最难确定的信息
His path was built by a people who were sure-footed,
他的道路是由不惧高的
with little fear of heights, the Inca.
坚实迈出每一步的印加人所造
They rose to power in the mid-1400s in part
这个民族之所以能在15世纪中期崛起
because they built such good roads.
部分便是缘于其筑路的质量
Much of their 10,000-mile network is still visible today.
他们遗留的上万英里的路网大多尚可明见
They left other evidence
另有其他证据可知
that they were master engineers and builders.
他们是高超的工程师和建筑师
Their terraces, canals
梯田 水道
and stone cities rival those of ancient Rome.
和石城可与古罗马媲美
But unlike the ancient Romans,
但与古罗马人不同的是
they did all of this without the wheel,
他们建造时没有轮具
without iron and without a written language.
铁器和可书写的语言
The Inca did have a calculating system,
印加人确有计算系统
using knotted strings called khipu,
用一种被称之为伊普的结绳方法
but it left no record of their lives or their history.
但却没有与其生活和历史相关的记录
So, much of what we do know
所以大多数我们所知的
comes from the Spanish who conquered them in the 1500s.
来自于16世纪时西班牙人的征战记录
These accounts carry the bias of conquerors.
但其间不免带着征服者的偏见
A different view comes from an Inca artist named Guaman Poma.
印加艺术家瓜曼·帕曼有不同见解
Poma was born shortly after the Spanish arrived in Peru,
帕曼在西班牙人到达秘鲁后不久出生
so he was an observer who bridged both worlds.
所以可算是连接两个世界的观察者
He produced hundreds of simple drawings
他作了上百幅简单绘画
about farming techniques,
用以描述农耕技术
royalty and the Inca history of conquest.
王室皇权和印加侵略史
From both these sources,
两手材料对比
we know the Inca were fierce warriors
可知印加人都是勇猛的战士
who subjugated dozens of different peoples,
征服了许多不同的种族
forging them into one of the largest empires in the world,
将其融入了一个绵延2400英里的
stretching some 2,400 miles.
世界上最大的帝国
They fed their people by transforming steep slopes into farmland
把陡峭的山壁变成梯田
with the rise and run of terracing.
进行农业种植
It's believed that more land was under cultivation
印加时代♥开♥垦的农田
during Inca times than is today in modern Peru.
尚且多于当今的秘鲁
But the most surprising detail about the Inca
但最令人惊讶的细节是
is that they ruled for only 100 years.
他们的统治仅维持了100年
Then, their empire was decimated,
其后这个帝国便消亡了
first by disease, then civil war,
先因疾病 后有内战
finally the Spanish Conquistadors.
末了来了西班牙侵略军
From the Spanish,we know
由西班牙人的记载可知
that the last Inca emperor retreated into the mountains,
最后的印加人都撤退到了山里
to a city called Vilcabamba.
一个叫做比尔卡班巴的城中
The Inca held out at Vilcabamba for 35 years,
在此据守35年
until, finally, in 1572,
直到1572年
the Spanish destroyed the city.
西班牙人摧毁此城
Strangely,
奇怪的是
they left no written record of where it was located,
未有任何有关此城方位的记载
and the legend of the lost city of Vilcabamba was born.
所以便有了失落之城比尔卡班巴的传说
It was a mystery that had powerful allure.
此说甚具诱惑
Almost 350 years later,
大概350年后
it pulled an American explorer named Hiram Bingham here
一位名叫黑拉姆·宾汉姆的美国探险家至此
on a quest to find it.
意图找到迷城
On the morning of July 24, 1911,
于1911年6月24日晨
Bingham, camera at the ready,
宾汉姆带着相机
reached the top of a ridge and stepped into history.
到达山脊的同时也开启了历史
"It fairly took my breath away," He later wrote.
我近乎窒息 他这样写道
Bingham's photos marked one of the first times
宾汉姆的照片记录了首次
that a moment of discovery had been captured on film.
用胶片捕捉到得发现的瞬间
Today, those pictures are part of
今日 这些照片作为一个探索家
a rare 23-volume explorer's album
珍藏的一部分共有23张
detailing Bingham's discovery.
详细记录了宾汉姆的发现
But what, exactly, had he found?
但是到底他发现了什么?
He called it by its local name, Machu Picchu,
他以当地人对其的称呼而称 马丘比丘
but he thought it was the lost city of Vilcabamba.
但他认为这就是失落之城比尔卡班巴
A year later, when his team discovered over 100 burials,
一年后 他的小队发现了100多个逝者
Bingham believed he'd found the evidence to make his case.
宾汉姆相信这就是用以结案的证据