虽然玛雅文明和其他原始文明没有本质区别，但这个文明确实有很多奇妙之处，其中有很多都是难解之谜。尤卡坦半岛上的玛雅古迹很像“犯罪现场”，如果你对考古感兴趣，这里就是你的天堂。
先来列举6个玛雅文明最奇妙的地方：
一，玛雅文明没有像其他伟大文明一样，起源于大河的旁边；
二，玛雅文明在一块比广西大不了多少的地方发展了2000多年，却始终没有统一；
三，玛雅文明在天文方面非常先进，却在很多其它方面非常落后；
四，玛雅文明在公元850年左右发展到顶峰，却在此后的50多年里迅速崩溃，所有已知的玛雅古城都在这段时间内被遗弃，石碑上的纪年历也都终止于这一时期；
五，有人估计，玛雅总人口在巅峰时期达到了500万人，甚至有人说有1000万人之多，可在顶峰之后人口迅速减少，据估算大约有80%的玛雅人在这段时间里神秘地消失了；
六，玛雅的古典时期起于公元250年，止于公元900年。此后100年左右，玛雅人没有留下任何信息，没人知道这段时间到底发生了什么。可自公元1000年开始，玛雅文化又经历了短暂的复苏，经济文化中心转移到了相对少雨的尤卡坦北部平原；
以上这些奇妙之处都可以从尤卡坦半岛的地理和自然环境上找到原因，这一点戴蒙德老师在《枪炮病菌与钢铁》和《崩溃》里都有过精彩的解读，正是读了他的书，我才越来越相信地理决定论的，简单说，就是“一方水土养一方人”。
下面我就来试着一一解答：
一，尤卡坦半岛最明显的特征就是绿而缺水。这里满眼绿色，植被茂盛，南部山区更是遍布原始森林，但却很少见到河流，湖也很少，偶尔见到湿地，充其量也就可以称之为泥潭。这有两个原因：一，这里的降水很不稳定，雨季只有3-4个月，其余都是旱季，降水很少；二，这里是典型的喀斯特地貌，地表都是易渗水的石灰岩，雨水积不起来，都渗到地下去了。三，这里缺乏高山，最高的地方不到3000米，不可能有积雪，因此也就不能保证在干旱的时期有稳定的水源供应。有了这3条，你就不难想象为什么这里没有大河了。
（从飞机上看到的尤卡坦半岛北部平原）
二，北美严重缺乏有驯养潜力的野生动物（个中原因请参考《枪炮病菌与钢铁》，里面有非常绝妙的解释。）。玛雅人除了少量狗和火鸡外，没有任何家禽家畜，尤其缺乏牛马等能够提供畜力的动物，所有的运输都要靠人来背。这块地方也缺乏有驯化潜力的野生植物，因此玛雅人所能种植的庄稼只有玉米、豆子和青南瓜等很少的几样，这些农作物营养价值不高，又不方便携带，所以玛雅军队走不远，只能就近找个对手打仗，无法像旧世界那样轻易地“跨省追捕”。
（站在危地马拉境内的Tikal古迹的一座金字塔上远眺）
别小看技术的力量。正是因为从技术上不可行，造就了玛雅人独特的政治体制。玛雅文明在广西那么大的一块地方建立了将近100个国家，站在本国金字塔的尖顶甚至可以望见敌国的金字塔！如此高密度的国家（更准确地说应该叫城邦）分布使得玛雅人彼此之间经常打仗，反而不如大一统的中国那样相对安定。
有趣的是，玛雅战争有点像同时代的三国（同样始于公元200年左右），象征意义更大些。只有玛雅贵族才被允许参与打仗，平民都必须留在田里劳动。贵族之间的战争以俘虏对方将领为最终目的，不会去敌国平民那里烧杀抢掠，那样的话对方一旦报复起来，大家都不合算。
这样的模式其实就是动物本能。为了减少损失，很多动物种内的争斗都只具有象征意义，一旦确立了等级，便不再搏杀，彼此相安无事。事实上，因为生产力不发达，古代战争大都是这个样子的，现代战争中的疯狂杀戮是人类文明发展到一定阶段后的事情。不过，这也可以说是一种必然，因为象征意义的战争是不稳定的，一旦出现一个战争狂人，国家之间的短暂平衡很快就会土崩瓦解，玛雅文明就是一个很好的例子。（未完待续）
每日一歌：Bob Dylan-《It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Bleeding）》：
这是他1964年的实况录音。这首歌比较冷门，但里面充满了智慧的歌词，有兴趣的读者可以仔细琢磨琢磨。下面贴的是唱片版的歌词，大家可以和他的实况即兴对比一下：
It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child’s balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool’s gold mouthpiece the hollow horn
Plays wasted words, proves to warn
That he not busy being born is busy dying
Temptation’s page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover that you’d just be one more
Person crying
So don’t fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It’s alright, Ma, I’m only sighing
As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don’t hate nothing at all
Except hatred
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Make everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It’s easy to see without looking too far
That not much is really sacred
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have to stand naked
An’ though the rules of the road have been lodged
It’s only people’s games that you got to dodge
And it’s alright, Ma, I can make it
Advertising signs they con
You into thinking you’re the one
That can do what’s never been done
That can win what’s never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you
You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks they really found you
A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit
To satisfy, insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not forget
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to
Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to
For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something they invest in
While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society’s pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he’s in
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it’s alright, Ma, if I can’t please him
Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn’t talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares
Propaganda, all is phony
While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer’s pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death’s honesty
Won’t fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes must get lonely
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed
Graveyards, false gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough, what else can you show me?
And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They’d probably put my head in a guillotine
But it’s alright, Ma, it’s life, and life only
