Listen to part of a lecture in an archaeology class. The professor has been discussing ancient Mayan civilization.

旁白：请听一段考古学的讲座。教授讨论的主题是玛雅文明。

Now, as you remember from your reading, the Maya were an ancient civilization which occupied in area corresponding to parts of modern-day Mexico and Central America.

教授：现在，你们应该还记得你们读到过的内容，玛雅文明是一种古老的文明，这种文明占据的地域相当于现在的墨西哥和美洲中部。

Early Mayan settlements date back over 3,000 years…and, oh, say, from about 600 to 900 C.E., the civilization was in what’s considered a “golden age” of cultural achievement, what we call the“Classic period.”

早期玛雅定居点可以追溯到3000年前。大约从公元600年到公元900年，玛雅文明被认为是文化成就的黄金时代，我们把这段时期称作“古典时期”。

The period after this, after the Classic period, is called the “Postclassic period.”

古典时期之后被人们称作后“古典时期”。

Now, it’s long been thought that during the Postclassic period, Mayan civilization was in decline.But… we’re continuing to find new evidence that, in certain areas, Mayan civilization flourished right up to the end of the Postclassic period, what we refer to as the“Late Postclassic period.”

很久以来，人们认为在后古典时期，玛雅文明开始进入了衰退期。但是...我们一直在发现新的证据。这些证据表明玛雅文明的一些地区的兴盛期直到后古典时期末才结束—我们把这段时称为后古典时期晚期。

The Late Postclassic corresponds to the period from the 1200s to the 1500s, right until the arrival of the Spanish in the mid-1500s.A good example of a site which continued to flourish, through the Late Postclassic, is the inland Mayan community of Lamanai, located in what is today the country of Belize in Central America.

后古典时期晚期大约从13世纪开始到16世纪结束，直到16世纪中期西班牙人入侵才宣告结束。玛雅文明内陆的一个名叫Lamanai的群体是后古典时期晚期兴盛繁荣的很好例证。这个群体位于今天中美洲国家伯利兹地区。

Now…Lamanai is one of the largest and most prominent archaeological sites in Belize.It was occupied for over 3,000 years. That makes it the longest continually occupied site by the ancient Maya.

Lamanai是伯利兹境内最大的也是最出名的玛雅文明的遗迹之一。它有长达3000多年的历史。这使它成为了古玛雅文明持续占有时间最长的定居点。

Large-scale excavation at Lamanai began back in 1974, under the leadership of a Canadian archaeologist.

1947年，在一名加拿大考古学家的领导下，大规模的挖掘工作在Lamanai展开。

The first excavation there was on a building that dated back to the Late Postclassic period.When the excavation began, we didn’t know much about Mayan life during that time.As I said, most people considered the Postclassic period as a time of decline that came after the so-called golden era.

第一项展开的挖掘工作是关于一座可以追溯到后古典时期晚期的建筑。当挖掘工作开展时，我们对当时玛雅文明的生活状态了解的并不多。正如我所说的，大部分人会把后古典时期当作黄金期结束后的衰退期。

But during the first few years of excavation, the archaeological team realized that Lamanai had continued to be an important center of Classic Mayan culture, almost right up until the 1500s.

但是，在挖掘工作开展的头几年，考古队意识到Lamanai长久以来一直是玛雅文化的一个重要中心，一直到16世纪才结束。

So basically, what you’re saying is, while other Mayan cities were collapsing or had already collapsed, Lamanai is one of those places that was flourishing?

学生：所以你的意思是说其他玛雅城市当时可能正在崩溃或者已经崩溃，但是Lamanai是最后还处于兴盛期的城市？

Uh-huh. Exactly. In fact, the evidence shows that one of the greatest periods of construction in the city occurred during the Postclassic.That’s definitely not what was happening at neighboring sites during that time.

教授：恩…对。事实上有证据表明后古典时期是Lamanai大量兴建建筑的时期。毫无疑问，当时其他的城市是不可能做这种事的。

And consider this: archaeologists found ceramic artifacts from Lamanai’s Late Postclassic period at a recently discovered site on an island off the coast of Belize.And, in Lamanai, they found objects that had been imported from parts of the region which correspond to modern-day Mexico during the Late Postclassic.What did those finds tell us?

思考下这个问题，考古学家们最近在离伯利兹海岸不远处的一个岛上发现了一处遗址，在那里发现了Lamanai后古典时期的陶瓷手工物。在Lamanai他们发现了后古典时期后期从其他地区（相当于现在的墨西哥）进口的物品。这些发现说明了什么？

Uh, that trade was still going on. So you’d probably still find the same Mayan social structure and economic practices, right?

学生：当时还有贸易往来。因此，你很有可能发现同样的玛雅文明的社会结构和经济活动，对吗？

Yes. Now, these researchers, and subsequent research teams, have been helping us see a bigger picture: we now know that there was still a widespread trading network up and down a long portion of the coast of what is modern-day Mexico and Central America, for more than two centuries after the golden era ended.Those finds are telling.

教授：是的。这些研究人员和后来的研究队伍一直在让我们从一个更宏观的角度来看问题。我们现在知道在黄金时期结束后的两千多年中，当时在现在墨西哥和中美洲地区的海岸线上还存在着一个分布广泛的贸易网络。这些发现非常能说明问题。

How big is Lamanai overall?Well, in all, 700 stone structures have been documented.It’d take several lifetimes and lots of funding to uncover all of them.Uh, OK, if that’s not a helpful mental picture, um, well, here’s another detail that might help. There was once a population of between 35 and 55 thousand there.

女生：Lamanai总共有多大？教授：恩，总共有700座石制建筑结构被记录下来。要挖掘所有这些东西需要花费几代人的时间而且还要耗费很多资金。好吧，如果这还不能帮你们有个概念…另外一个细节或许会有帮助：Lamanai的人口数量曾一度在35000和55000之间。

The southernmost end of Lamanai had become the city center by the Postclassic period.It was there at the southern end that the people continued to develop technological capabilities, especially in ceramics and eventually in metal work.The center of Lamanai society had previously been in the northern part of the city. We’re not yet sure why the focus of life shifted southward, only that it did.

在后古典时期，Lamanai的最南部已成为城市中心。正是在最南部，人们不断发展技术能力，特别是在陶瓷制作方面，最后转移到了冶炼金属方面。在这之前，Lamanai社会的中心位于城市的北部。我们到现在都不确定为何生活重心会南移，只知道确实如此。

Was the former center, the one in the north smaller than the new one in the south?Uh, like, maybe the population grew, so they needed more room, and moved?

学生：那之前的那个中心，就是北方那个，比南方要小咯？嗯，可能是因为人口增长了，因此他们需要更多的空间，然后就搬家了？

Actually, the new city center was smaller. It’s possible that’s because the population had decreased by that point.So they actually needed less room. In any case, the restructured community thrived.

教授：事实上，新的城市中心更小。这很有可能是因为到那时人口减少。因此他们不需要这么多的空间了，不管怎样，重组后的社区蓬勃发展。