印加人儀式上佩戴的“獎杯頭”是一種權力的展示

這一令人毛骨悚然的發(fā)現表明，印加人儀式上佩戴的“獎杯頭”是一種權力的展示

It was the largest, most elaborate society the Americas had ever seen. And it was about to come to an abrupt end.

這是美洲有史以來最大、最復雜的社會。這一切即將戛然而止。

By the Late Horizon of the Inca Empire, the epic civilisation stretched all the way from Colombia in the north to Chile in the south. Imperial fortunes would soon change – violently, at the hands of Spanish conquistadors – but before the curtain fell, the kingdom was truly vast.

印加帝國晚期，史詩般的文明從北部的哥倫比亞一直延伸到南部的智利。在西班牙征服者的手中，帝國的命運很快就會發(fā)生變化——劇烈變化——但在帷幕落下之前，這個王國真的是遼闊的。

How did the Inca maintain their grip over such an expansive, disparate empire?

印加人是如何保持對如此廣闊、迥然不同的帝國的控制的?

With force, and the gruesome threat of it, a new study suggests.

一項新的研究表明，可能是，暴力及可怕的威脅。

By the Late Horizon (1476 CE to 1534 CE), "new forms of ideological violence" were emerging at the fringes of the Inca Empire, researchers say in a new paper.

研究人員在一篇新的論文中說，到晚期(1476-1534)，印加帝國邊緣出現了“新形式的意識形態(tài)暴力”。

Evidence of this – according to a team from the Museo Nacional de Historia Natural in Chile – comes in the form of the "performative use of modified severed heads", which could been one way the Inca kept locals in line at the periphery of their huge pre-Columbian realm.

根據智利國家歷史博物館的一個研究小組的說法，這一現象的證據是以“改良的切割頭的表演性使用”的形式出現的，這可能是印加人在其巨大的前哥倫布王國外圍保持當地人一致的一種方式。

A fragmentary trophy skull with drilled hole modifications (F. Garrido & C. Morales via Nature)Anthropologists Francisco Garrido and Catalina Morales analysed four severed and fragmented skulls dated to the Late Horizon era, which were buried in isolation among trash and without their bodies in Copiapo? Valley in northern Chile.

人類學家弗朗西斯科·加里多和卡特琳娜·莫拉萊斯，分析了四個來自智利北部的伊阿波山谷的，被切割和破碎的頭骨，這些頭骨可以追溯到晚地平線時代，它們被孤立地埋在垃圾堆中，沒有身體。

According to the researchers, these decapitated heads reveal modifications including orifices in the cranium vault and defleshing marks in the mandible. The team suggests these marks indicate the skulls were most likely mounted as "trophy heads, used in ritualistic displays of power over local subjects of the new imperial provinces".

根據研究人員的說法，這些被斬首的頭顱顯示出了一些變化，包括頭蓋骨穹窿的小孔和下頜骨的刮痕。研究小組認為，這些標志表明，頭骨最有可能被安裝成“獎杯頭，用于對新帝國省份的地方臣民進行儀式性的權力展示。”

The trophy heads were discovered in a prehispanic village called Iglesia Colorada, the largest settlement in Copiapo? Valley, a region the Inca mined for copper.

這些獎杯頭是在一個叫做伊格麗西亞·克勞達的西班牙前村莊發(fā)現的，這是印加人在科皮亞波山谷(copiapo valley)開采銅的地區(qū)最大的定居點。

The skulls were excavated in 2003, found buried amid a large concentration of domestic refuse, at a distance from the village's cemetery area. Despite poor preservation, it's estimated three of the skulls came from young females aged between 16 and 30, while another nearby skull, also featuring circular perforations, is thought to have come from an individual aged 11 to 13.

這些頭骨是2003年挖掘出來的，被發(fā)現埋在離村子墓地不遠的一大片生活垃圾中。盡管保存得不好，但據估計其中三個頭骨來自16至30歲的年輕女性，而附近另一個頭骨也有圓形穿孔，據了解是來自一個11至13歲的個體。

In addition to these four skulls analysed in the current study, the researchers say at least five other severed skulls have been found at the same archaeological site.

除了在當前研究中分析的這四個頭骨外，研究人員說，在同一個考古遺址至少發(fā)現了另外五個被切斷的頭骨。

Although they acknowledge it's impossible to know for sure, the researchers say the decapitated heads and their distinctive modifications are strongly indicative of their use as grim trophies.

盡管不可能確切地知道，但研究人員說，斬首的頭部和它們獨特的修改強烈地表明，它們被用作可怕的戰(zhàn)利品。

"We argue that the observed pattern of severed head modification may represent new ideological efforts for controlling possible social unrest, which was especially likely considering the distance of the site from major imperial centres," the authors write.

作者寫道:“我們認為，觀察到的頭顱被砍下的樣子，可能代表了控制可能發(fā)生的社會動蕩的新意識形態(tài)努力，尤其是考慮到遺址與主要帝國中心的距離。”

"Thus, the performative use of shocking and powerful displays of violence may have helped demonstrate political control and ensured compliance with Inca rule."

“因此，使用令人震驚和強有力的暴力表現，可能有助于顯示政治控制，并確保遵守印加規(guī)則。”

It's possible, the researchers suggest, that Iglesia Colorada represented a pocket of resistance to Inca rule, located as it was at the distant edge of the empire.

研究人員認為，有可能伊格麗西婭·克勞達代表了對印加統治的抵抗，因為它位于帝國的遙遠邊緣。

Contemporaneous burials in the village did not include Inca pottery in the graves, which the researchers say "may be interpreted as a form of resistance to domination".

村里同時代的墓葬中沒有包括印加陶器，研究人員說，這些陶器“可能被解釋為反抗統治的一種形式”。

Amidst this fraught backdrop, it may be that the local Inca authorities or their representatives targeted weaker members of the village – women and children, whose bones revealed signs of illness and nutritional deficiencies – to use as the tools of their terrible propaganda.

在這一令人擔憂的背景下，當地印加當局或其代表可能將目標鎖定在村里較弱的成員——婦女和兒童身上，她們的骨骼顯示出疾病和營養(yǎng)不足的跡象——制作獎杯頭——他們可怕宣傳的工具。

"The selection of female individuals with nutritional stress, in preference to young males in good health condition, may be related to the state's interest in not affecting the labor structure of the population serving as taxpayers in their corve?e labour system," the researchers explain.

研究人員解釋說：“與健康狀況良好的年輕男性相比，選擇缺乏營養(yǎng)的女性個體可能與國家利益有關，也就是不影響勞動體系中作為納稅人的勞動結構。”

"Trophy heads could be a mode of repressing … internal tension and conflict, before it increased to levels that could threaten the imperial rule in this far provincial context."

“在這個遙遠的省份背景下，在這種沖突上升到可能威脅帝國統治的水平之前，獎杯頭可能是一種壓抑的方式……內部緊張和沖突的方式。”

If the researchers are right, this reign of terror and coercion did not have long to last – before it was replaced by something equally brutal.

如果研究人員是對的，那么這個恐怖和脅迫的統治就不會持續(xù)很久——在它被同樣殘忍的東西取代之前。

By 1530, the Inca Empire had reached its greatest extent. Two years later, the Spanish conquest would begin.

1530年，印加帝國達到了鼎盛時期。兩年后，西班牙的征服開始了。