Maya Rise and Fall (2)

New clues, unearthed from overgrown ruins and teased from newly deciphered texts, point to Fire Is Born as a central figure in this transformation. Though fragmentary, the evidence that has emerged over the past decade suggests that this mysterious outsider remade the political leadership of the Maya world. Mixing diplomacy and force, he forged alliances, installed new dynasties, and spread the influence of the distant city-state he represented, the great metropolis of Teotihuacan near present-day Mexico City.

Scholars disagree about the nature of his legacy—whether he ushered in a lasting era of foreign domination or catalyzed homegrown change. It is also possible that the Maya were already destined for greatness, and Fire Is Born just picked a lucky time to visit. But there is no question that his arrival marked a turning point. "I don't know if Fire Is Born invented the new system," says Nikolai Grube of the University of Bonn, "but he was there at the beginning."
Even before Fire is Born, the Maya had risen to unlikely heights in a harsh land. Today, the lowlands of southern Mexico and Guatemala's Petén region yield little beyond bare subsistence to their inhabitants. "A high civilization," says Vanderbilt University Maya scholar Arthur Demarest, "had no business being there."

The setting of ancient Waka, now known as El Perú, is probably much as it was when the first Maya arrived, in perhaps 1000 B.C.—a dense rain forest where scarlet macaws, toucans, and vultures nest in towering tropical hardwoods. Spider monkeys swing from branches and vines, and howler monkeys bellow in the distance. When it rains in the Petén, mosquitoes swarm in such clouds that today's Maya have to drive them away with greasy smoke from torches burning cohune palm nuts. In the dry season, the heat bakes the swampy bajos, or bottomlands, the rivers fall, and drought threatens. It is a land of machetes and mud, serpents and sweat, and cats—most notably balam, the jaguar, lord of the jungle.


unearth - 发掘，发现
tease - 梳理，强要
decipher - 解读
fragmentary - 碎片
outsider - 门外汉，局外者
diplomacy - 外交，外交手腕
forge - 锤炼，创造出
represent - 代表，象征，描绘
legacy - 遗产
usher - 引导
catalyze - 催化
destine - 注定
harsh - 粗糙的，严厉的
yield - 产出
bare - 赤裸的
subsistence - 生存，生计
scarlet - 深红色的
macaw - 金刚鹦鹉
toucan - 犀鸟
vulture - 秃鹰
vine - 藤本植物
howler monkey - 吼猴
swarm - 云集
greasy - 油脂的
torch - 火把，火炬
cohune - 巴西棕
palm - 棕榈树，手掌
swampy - 沼泽的
drought - 旱季，枯竭
machete - 弯刀
serpent - 蛇
jaguar - 美洲虎
jungle - 热带丛林