【简译】霍奇卡尔科（Xochicalco）

Xochicalco in central Mexico was an important hilltop centre from the 8th century CE and was a rival and successor of Teotihuacán. Architecture at the site is closely connected to that of the Classic Maya, Teotihuacan, and Veracruz, and contact was also established with the Mixtec Oaxaca and Zapotec civilizations. Blending these various cultural elements to create their own idiosyncratic art and architecture, the Xochicalco culture probably went on to influence the later Toltec and all subsequent Mesoamerican civilizations. The site, like many contemporary hilltop centres, was abandoned at the end of the Epiclassic period, around 900 CE. Xochicalco is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

          从公元 8 世纪起，位于墨西哥中部的霍奇卡尔科就是一个重要的山顶中心，是特奥蒂瓦坎的竞争对手与继承者。该遗址的建筑与古典玛雅、特奥蒂瓦坎和韦拉克鲁斯的建筑密切相关，同时还与米斯特克、瓦哈卡和萨波特克文明建立了联系。霍奇卡尔科文化融合了这些不同的文化元素，创造出自己独特的艺术和建筑，很可能对后来的托尔特克文明和所有随后中美洲文明都产生了影响。该遗址与许多当代山顶中心一样，在古典时期末期（约公元 900 年）被遗弃。霍奇卡尔科被联合国教科文组织列为世界遗产。

早期定居点

Founded c. 700 CE or even before, Xochicalco, 130 km southwest of Cacaxtla and perched above the Cuernavaca Valley, was built on a hill which was re-shaped by levelling and terracing certain areas to create an acropolis of four concentric terraces. A straight path on the southern side gives access from the valley floor. Although early pottery shares many similarities to that found elsewhere in central Mexico, there seems to have been very little outside contact in later times. Any links to the Maya seem to have been via the coast settlements, and the iconography in many relief carvings at Xochicalco has a strong Mayan and Teotihuacan influence.

          霍奇卡尔科 (Xochicalco) 建于公元 700 年左右或更早，位于卡卡克斯特拉 (Cacaxtla) 西南 130 公里处，坐落在库埃纳瓦卡山谷 (Cuernavaca Valley) 上方的一座小山上，通过平整和修筑梯田将某些区域重新塑造，形成了由四个同心梯田组成的卫城。南侧有一条笔直的小路可以从谷底进入。虽然早期的陶器与墨西哥中部其他地方的陶器有许多相似之处，但后来似乎很少与外界接触。与玛雅人的任何联系似乎都是通过沿海定居点进行的，而在霍奇卡尔科的许多浮雕中，都有强烈的玛雅和特奥蒂瓦坎风格。

Xochicalco was eventually fortified and contained three distinct areas containing regular plazas, sacred precincts, paved causeways, a large pyramidal platform, and an I-shaped ball-court, all oriented along the cardinal points. The large slanted wall ball-court is located in the centre of the site, and it may be the oldest such structure in central Mexico, whilst the western platform contains a sweat-bath consisting of several rooms with benches. Another feature of the site is the presence of caves in the hillsides which were used for storage and, in one case, as an underground observatory. This latter cave has a man-made shaft to the sky, through which, on just two days in the year, the sun shines directly down into the cave.

          霍奇卡尔科最终被筑成了防御工事，包含三个不同的区域，其中有规则广场、圣地、铺设的便道、一个大型金字塔平台和一个工字形球场，所有这些都根据基点定向。大型斜墙球场位于遗址中心，可能是墨西哥中部最古老的此类建筑，而西部平台上则有一个汗蒸房，由几个带长凳的房间组成。遗址的另一个特点是山坡上的洞穴，这些洞穴用于储藏物品，其中一个洞穴还被用作地下天文站。后一个洞穴有一个人工竖井通向天空，一年中仅有两天，阳光可以通过这个竖井直接照射到洞穴中。

建筑设计

The large open plaza with three temples is accessed by a short flight of stairs. Dominating the space is the large platform temple of Xochicalco known as the Pyramid of the Feathered Serpent which was constructed sometime prior to 900 CE. It measures 19.6 m x 21 m, is aligned on an east-west access, and consists of sloping walls which create a square, roofless courtyard. There is a stepped entrance on the west side which has balustrades with carved serpents. The outer walls carry impressive decorative relief sculpture divided into rectangular scenes - larger scenes at the lower level and smaller rectangles above. All of these reliefs were originally brightly painted in red, green, yellow, blue, black and white, traces of which still remain. In the lower sections there are six writhing feathered rattle-snakes, early depictions of the creature which would appear in all forms of Mesoamerican art and be identified with the god Kukulkán or Quetzalcoatl. Between the curves of the snake sit men, each wearing an animal headdress. Each of the smaller scenes depicts glyphs and a seated warrior. Above all of these is another, smaller frieze with pairs of seated men in Maya dress separated by calendar signs which may represent a succession of Xochicalco rulers, or the figures may represent either priests or gods and each holds a sort of fan - probably an indication of their rank - and is wearing a headdress.

          穿过一段短短的楼梯，就可以到达拥有三座神庙的大型露天广场。霍奇卡尔科（Xochicalco）的大型平台神庙（又称羽蛇金字塔）占据了广场的主要位置，该神庙建于公元 900 年之前。它占地为 19.6 米 x 21 米，东西走向，由倾斜的墙壁组成，形成一个方形的无屋顶庭院。西侧有一个阶梯式入口，入口处的栏杆上雕刻着蛇。外墙上的装饰性浮雕给人留下了深刻的印象，这些浮雕分为长方形场景，下层为较大的场景，上层为较小的长方形。这些浮雕最初都用红色、绿色、黄色、蓝色、黑色和白色绘制而成，至今仍留有痕迹。下部有六条蠕动的带羽毛的响尾蛇，这是中美洲各种艺术形式中出现的生物的早期形象，被认为是库库尔坎神（Kukulkán）或羽蛇神（Quetzalcoatl）。蛇的曲线之间坐着人，每个人都戴着动物头饰。每个较小的场景都描绘了石刻和一个坐着的战士。在所有这些图案的上方是另一个较小的楣饰，上面有几对身着玛雅服饰的男子坐着，中间用日历符号隔开，这可能代表着霍奇卡尔科的历代统治者，也可能代表着祭司或神，每个人手执一把扇子（可能表示他们的等级）并戴着头饰。

霍奇卡尔科的书写系统

The glyphs or signs depicted on the monument, often of unidentified place names but also parts of speech, are a strange and unique combination of Aztec day signs and symbols within a Maya cartouche, whilst the numerals are similar to those used by the Zapotec. Indeed the scribes of Xochicalco may have been the first experimenters of a writing system, elements of which would become standard from the 13th century CE in Mesoamerica. The places referred to in the friezes may indicate a political association between sites or indicate places which offered tribute to Xochicalco. The glyphs also appear on three stelae found at the site. These large stone monuments are between 1.4 and 1.5 m tall, and they also carry familiar central Mexican imagery such as a jaguar-snake mask, sky bands, and the goggle-eyed and fanged rain god Tlaloc. The stelae now reside in the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City.

          纪念碑上描绘的字形或符号通常是不明地名，但也有语音部分，是阿兹特克日标和符号在玛雅图案中奇特而独特的组合，而数字则与萨波特克人使用的数字相似。事实上，霍奇卡尔科的文士们可能是最早尝试书写系统的人，从公元 13 世纪起，这种书写系统的元素就成为了中美洲的标准。楣板上提到的地方可能表示遗址之间的政治联系，或者表示向霍奇卡尔科进贡的地方。这些石刻还出现在该遗址发现的三块石碑上。这些大型石碑高 1.4 至 1.5 米，上面也有墨西哥中部常见的图案，如美洲豹蛇面具、天空带和瞪大眼睛、獠牙密布的雨神特拉洛克。这些石碑现存于墨西哥城国家人类学博物馆。

参考书目：

Almere Read, K. Handbook of Mesoamerican Mythology. ABC-CLIO, 2000.

Coe, M.D. Mexico. Thames & Hudson, 2013.

Jones, D. Mythology of Aztec & Maya. Southwater, 2007.

Kubler, G. Art and Architecture of Ancient America - The Mexican, Maya and Andean Peoples. Yale University, 1990.

Miller, M.E. The Art of Mesoamerica. Thames & Hudson, 2012.

Nichols, D.L. The Oxford Handbook of Mesoamerican Archaeology. Oxford University Press, 2012.

Townsend, R.F. The Aztecs. Thames & Hudson, 2009

原文作者：Mark Cartwright

          驻意大利的历史作家。他的主要兴趣包括陶瓷、建筑、世界神话和发现所有文明的共同思想。他拥有政治哲学硕士学位，是《世界历史百科全书》的出版总监。

原文网址: https://www.worldhistory.org/Xochicalco/