为什么四大古代文明中没有一个起源于欧洲？（一）
Why didn''t any of the four ancient civilizations originate from Europe?
译文简介
实际上，存在六个独立兴起的早期文明：埃及、美索不达米亚、印度河流域、中国、中美洲和南美洲西海岸。它们有一些共同之处。
正文翻译
William Smith
Actually, there are six early civilizations that arose independently: Egypt, Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, China, Mesoamerica, and the west coast of South America.
There are some commonalities to them. Four of the six—Egypt, China, Mesopotamia, Indus—centered on large river basins. The Olmec civilization, the earliest Mesoamerican civilization, arose in an area with multiple rivers. The Norte Chico, the earliest Peruvian civilization, centered on the Fortalenza, the Pativilca, and the Supe rivers on the coastal plain. All had generally temperate to warm climates—the furthest north is China—that encouraged the development of agriculture on a large enough scale to support an increased population, after which follows settlements and some form of centralized government.
Europe had large rivers, but a colder climate. That is probably the biggest reason why civilization did not first develop there. Civilization in the Mediterranean basin spread from Egypt and Mesopotamia around the entire basin before penetrating further.
实际上，存在六个独立兴起的早期文明：埃及、美索不达米亚、印度河流域、中国、中美洲和南美洲西海岸。它们有一些共同之处。其中四个——埃及、中国、美索不达米亚、印度河流域——都以大河流域为中心。最早的中美洲文明奥尔梅克文明产生在一个有多条河流的地区。最早的秘鲁文明小北文明则以福塔莱萨、帕蒂维尔卡和苏佩三条河流为中心，位于沿海平原上。它们的气候通常温和到温暖，中国是最北端的，这种气候有助于发展规模足够大以支持人口增长的农业，随后形成定居点和某种形式的中央集权政府。
欧洲拥有大河流，但气候较寒冷。这可能是为什么文明没有首先在那里发展的最主要原因。地中海盆地的文明是从埃及和美索不达米亚向整个盆地扩散，然后才进一步渗透的。
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It could simply have been a matter of climate. The four ancient civilizations - Sumerian, Harappan, Egyptian and Canaanite - all occur in semi-arid to arid environments. That means the area was not densely forested and the soil was friable.
People who had only stone tools, or later bronze, would not be able to clear a dense forest like found in most of Europe. They couldn’t even clear the oak forests on the Levantine Plain - that had to wait for the iron-wielding Philistines. But they could cleaer light scrub.
Also these areas had large seeded wild legumes and cereals, the crop progenitors like barley (the first domesticated crop). Similar species were not to hand in Europe.
很可能这只是气候问题。四个古代文明——苏美尔、印度河流域文明、埃及和迦南——都存在于半干旱到干旱的环境中。这意味着这些地区没有茂密的森林，土壤也较为疏松。
那些只有石头工具，或后来才有青铜工具的人们无法清理像欧洲大部分地区那样茂密的森林。他们甚至无法清理黎凡特平原上的橡树森林，这要等到使用铁器的非利士人才能实现。但是，他们可以清理较为稀疏的灌木丛。
此外，这些地区存在大型的野生豆类和谷物，包括大麦（第一个驯化的农作物）等作物的原始品种。而在欧洲，类似的物种并不存在。
Europe north of the Alps has very tough clayey soil. There wasn't enough of a population to require writing. The easy to plow river valleys of the Huang basin, Mesopotamia, & Ancient Egypt gained larger populations to require a bureaucracy. Meso-America has fresh water cenotes. Europe's population only expanded when the horse collar was introduced from the Far East c.1000 AD.
阿尔卑斯山以北的欧洲土壤非常坚硬，主要是由黏土组成。那里的人口规模并不足以需要书写文字。黄河流域、美索不达米亚和古埃及易于耕种的河谷地带拥有更多的人口，需要建立官僚机构来管理。中美洲拥有淡水天坑。只有当1000年左右从远东引进了马具时，欧洲的人口才开始扩张。
Thanks for the A2A.
The four Old World “cradles of civilization
” (Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China) all developed civilization
around river valleys and they all controlled the water necessary to keep agriculture going and prevent flooding. Prior to about 12,000 years ago, the surrounding areas had been much greener and able to support a dispersed population. The people gradually started moving to wetter areas (the rivers) as the climate became more arid. (At least the first three; I don’t know about climate change in China. The Chinese Bronze Age also started significantly later.)
This pattern did not repeat itself in Europe, because there were no great rivers surrounded by inhospitable land that urbanized in the same pattern.
感谢提出问题。四个古老世界的“文明摇篮”（美索不达米亚、埃及、印度河流域和中国）都是围绕河谷地带发展文明，并控制了必要的水资源以维持农业和防止洪水。大约在12,000年前之前，周边地区的环境更加绿色，可以支撑分散的人口。随着气候变得更加干燥，人们逐渐开始迁往更湿润的地区（河流）。至少前三个地区是如此；我不了解中国的气候变化情况。中国的青铜时代也开始得较晚。这种模式在欧洲没有重复出现，因为那里没有被荒凉土地所环绕的伟大河流以相同的方式实现城市化。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
The four ancient civilizations, in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, China and Egypt were all centered along major rivers, in very fertile areas that are ideal to grow crops. They were all located at a similar latitude, which means they have a pretty similar, mild climate at the time. Conversely, the climate in Europe was rather cold, and therefore a lot less suited for agriculture.
四大古代文明，即美索不达米亚、印度河流域、中国和埃及，都聚集在主要河流沿岸，处于非常肥沃的地区，非常适合农作物的种植。它们都位于相近的纬度上，这意味着当时它们拥有相似、温和的气候。相反，欧洲的气候比较寒冷，因此不太适合农业。
早期高度文明形成的主要原因之一是农业，或者更准确地说是种植谷物（如小麦或稻米）的能力，这些谷物可以长期储存并作为主食。农业使人们与一个地方紧密联系，因为无法带着田地走，而且你也无法轻易带走那么多的谷物。因此，人们定居下来，然而这也带来了一个脆弱性，那些没有定居下来的部落会知道你的位置，并可能袭击你的定居点。所以你和其他附近定居的人结盟，寻求人多安全，组织自己并建造防御结构等等。由于你能可靠地获得粮食的过剩，你可以让更多的人从事其他工作，而不仅仅是种植食物，例如负责组织一切的人，负责保护生产食物的人免受外来者侵害的人，负责建造和维护结构的人等等。
由于欧洲的农业较为困难，人们并没有像在世界上更肥沃的地区那样认为它值得大力发展。他们更长时间以来仍然是狩猎采集者，并且不能像其他地方那样形成相同类型的城市文明。在整个欧洲，你仍然可以找到古老的建筑物、永久或半永久的定居点遗迹、艺术品和其他物品。但他们没有形成大型（当时而言）的城市，甚至没有形成王国和领土国家，他们分散居住在各处的部落，并且直到更晚的时候才集中到城市中。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
If I remember correctly Jared Diamond has a useful map in his text Guns Germs and Steel early on showing the spread of domesticated crops across Eurasia.
Given the starting point in the Tigris and Euphrates river valleys the knowledge of agriculture and the crop varieties necessary for different local climates took awhile to spread outward.
如果我没记错，贾里德·戴蒙德在他的著作《枪炮、病菌与钢铁》中早期展示了欧亚大陆上驯化农作物的传播图。从底格里斯河和幼发拉底河流域起点开始，关于农业知识和适应不同地区气候所需的作物品种的传播需要一段时间。
As the crops and the the knowledge of agriculture expanded people began to settle down and build permanent structures. Archeology digs reveal a predictable pattern of settlements, towns, and eventually cities radiating out from the Middle East over time and distance, documenting the spread of civilization.
当苏美尔、埃及和印度河流域文明兴盛时，欧洲人主要还是牧民。中国一直以来都是独特的文明，与其他三个文明有着密切的贸易往来，自成一派。中国也种植了不同的作物，以稻米为主粮，与印度河谷、苏美尔和埃及的小麦形成对比。随着作物种植和农业知识的扩散，人们开始定居并建造永久性建筑。考古挖掘揭示了一个可预测的定居点、城镇和最终从中东辐射出的城市的模式，记录了文明的扩散过程。
Now woven among the threads of this conventional narrative are acknowledgements that various local exceptions crop up: Malta has ruins going back to the Neolithic and Stonehenge is but the most famous of northern European cultural remnants, not the oldest nor only.
最早繁荣的是东地中海沿岸，然后是海上的岛屿，最后希腊、腓尼基人和其他民族的殖民地出现在非洲、意大利和西班牙。真正的后来者是北欧人，直到中世纪晚期才收到影响。这个传统叙述中还提到了各种地方性的特例：马耳他的遗迹可以追溯到新石器时代，巨石阵只是北欧文化遗迹中最著名的一个，并不是最古老或唯一的。
But if we’re talking written records and technology the big players are closer to the starting point in Iraq.
因此，文明的某些方面确实传播到了欧洲，并且有证据表明本土文化也具有相当程度的复杂性。但是，如果我们讨论的是文字记录和技术，则与伊拉克的起点更加接近的是主要的文明发源地。
You can make too much emphasis about words like “Europe” and “Civilisation”.
The civilisations of the “land of Eden” (Iraq) were based on rivers and had cities made of “bricks” made of dried mud.
Same for Egypt.
An “alphabet” is not an essential part of civilisation.
Their “European” counterparts would have built in wood, that rots.
And would have still been “civilised” even if they did end up adopting the synthesis of Iraq and Egypt alphabets of Canaan, and therefore of the Greeks, who would have been the “first” European civilisation that we would have described as such.
The reason why “Jericho” is the oldest “continuously inhabited” place in the world is because it is not the best place to live in the world.
The stone age cannibals of New Guinea are “equally civilised” in most respects to the earliest “civilisations” with “cities” like Jericho.
Because they live in much nicer places to live, they do not need to build “cities”.
你过多地强调了诸如"欧洲"和"文明"之类的词语。位于伊甸园之地（伊拉克）的文明是以河流为基础，城市建筑则由干燥泥土制成的"砖块"构建。埃及也是如此。"字母表"并不是文明的必要组成部分。它们的"欧洲"对应物可能会使用木材建造，但木材会腐烂。即使最终采用了伊拉克和埃及以及迦南的字母系统，进而演化为希腊字母，他们仍然是"文明的"，而我们会将其描述为欧洲的"第一个"文明。杰里科之所以成为世界上最古老的"持续有人居住"的地方，是因为它不是世界上最适宜居住的地方。新几内亚的石器时代食人族在大多数方面与耶里哥等拥有"城市"的早期"文明"一样具备"同等的文明程度"。因为他们生活的地方要好得多，所以他们不需要建造"城市"。
Because the basis of pre-industrial civilizations is agriculture, and agriculture in Europe is only possible with an iron axe and a heavy plow. The iron axe created the opportunity for slash-and-burn agriculture and the settlement of Europe in the Roman period, and the invention of the heavy plow by the Romans opened up the possibilities for the emergence of European civilization. Its beginning was restrained by the climatic minimum of the Dark Ages of the 5-8th century, but after the beginning of the medi climatic optimum in the 9th century, European civilization began to develop rapidly. A unique feature of Western Europe is the Gulf Stream effect, due to which the average annual temperature is by 2-3 degrees higher than it should be at this latitude. Western European civilization is a child of the Gulf Stream. Were it not for the Gulf Stream, Europe would never have achieved such prosperity, and it would hardly have survived the Small Ice Age without sliding into new Dark Ages. It is absolutely certain that without the Gulf Stream, we would not have seen modern Western civilization at all, or would have seen something much more modest.
因为前工业文明的基础是农业，而欧洲的农业只有借助铁斧和重犁才能实现。铁斧为罗马时期的刀耕火种农业和欧洲定居创造了机会，罗马人发明重犁则为欧洲文明的出现开辟了可能性。它的起步在5-8世纪的黑暗时代气候最低点受到了限制，但在9世纪开始的中世纪气候最优期之后，欧洲文明开始迅速发展。西欧的一个独特特征是受到北大西洋暖流影响，使得该地区的年平均温度比该纬度本应有的要高2-3摄氏度。西欧文明是北大西洋暖流的产物。如果没有北大西洋暖流，欧洲永远不会取得如此繁荣，而且在小冰河期中也很难幸免于陷入新的黑暗时代。毫无疑问，如果没有北大西洋暖流，我们根本就看不到现代的西方文明，或者会看到一些更为谦逊的东西。
附：在古埃及和美索不达米亚的农业中，只需要一把木镰和一个木质的尖棍就足够在湿淤泥中挖一个坑，然后手动放入小麦或大麦粒。这就是支撑埃及和美索不达米亚伟大文明的所有技术。其他的则靠水和太阳来完成。
The term civilization, which describes the peoples that inhabited the world in ancient times, is a historical term, whose function is to describe the level of economic, cultural and scientific progress achieved by a community of people in a previous era, but the term ancient civilizations is the name that the history books have given to the first human peoples that laid the foundation of early civilization as we understand it in the modern world.
“文明”一词描述了古代居住在世界上的民族，是一个历史名词，其功能是描述一个民族在前一个时代取得的经济、文化和科学进步水平，但“古代文明”一词是历史书给奠定了我们在现代世界所理解的早期文明基础的第一批人类民族的名称。
学者们一致认为，世界古代文明史的开端是在公元前3100年左右，在现代伊拉克的某个地方发明了第一套文字系统，它的历史一直持续到公元400年左右，当时西罗马帝国灭亡，欧洲的文明水平下降。尽管人类在发明文字之前很久就生活在地球上，但对古代文明的描述是从这个事件开始的。因为它使得为后代编纂和保存历史事件成为可能。
古代文明出现在世界的多个地区，并在过去三千年的不同时期出现，但最早且最重要的文明出现在特定的地理区域。在古代世界的大陆上，最早的文明出现在埃及、美索不达米亚以及阿拉伯世界，而印度河流域出现在印度次大陆，黄河流域出现在中国，克里特岛则出现在希腊。
然而，包括伊拉克或波斯、埃及、印度和腓尼基在内的四大古代文明源于人口众多且稳定的河流流域，这些人口足够庞大和稳定，从而创造了一个文明。
新大陆的第一个文明出现在中美洲地区，即目前位于北美洲南部地区。所有这些文明都具有共同的特点：建造大城市、创造书写系统、发现金属和制陶、驯化动物以利用它们的肉和奶，并最终创建了复杂的社会和阶级制度。
根据国家地理学会的观点，文明的产生可以提到一些特征，其中最重要的是：存在大型人口中心，许多人聚集在村庄、城镇或大城市中。具有独特的文化特点，例如：
Possessing a writing system, which allows the written language to be registered and recorded, in order to preserve the history for subsequent generations.
The jurisdiction is a political system to manage the lands belonging to civilization, such as provinces, cities, and towns, and who governs them.
Specification is a system that defines the professions and jobs of people in society. The population was divided into social classes, such as: aristocrats and peasants, or bourgeois and workers.
以特定风格建造房屋和宫殿，并拥有独特的艺术品味。
拥有书写系统，可以记录和保存书面语言，以便将历史传承给后代。
存在一种治理制度来管理文明所属的土地，如省份、城市和镇，以及管理这些地区的人。
存在一种分类制度，定义社会中人们的职业和工作。人口被分为不同的社会阶层，如贵族和农民，或者中产阶级和工人。
The terrain wasn’t good enough yet. The Tiber, the Po, the Seine, the Thames, the Ebro the Rhine, the Vistula, the Volga, the Danube etc aren’t big enough or straight enough or have enough flat terrain to sustain more than a few cities. Furthermore, Europe hadn’t really warmed yet, so it’s harder to grow the rich cereal crops of the other civilizations.
Europe only took off in the later bronze age about 2000–1500 BC; that’s when ships could contact the Middle East and make a solid trade network, and when technological developments finally took off in northern Europe (we see this in West Africa somewhat later)
当时的地形条件还不够好。台伯河、波河、塞纳河、泰晤士河、埃布罗河、莱茵河、维斯瓦河、伏尔加河、多瑙河等都不够宽阔、直线且没有足够的平坦地形来支撑多座城市的存在。此外，欧洲当时的气候尚未真正变暖，所以种植其他文明中丰富的谷物作物更为困难。 欧洲直到公元前2000年至公元前1500年的后青铜时代才开始崛起；那时船只可以与中东建立联系并建立起稳固的贸易网络，同时北欧的技术发展也终于起步（我们稍后在西非也能看到这一点）。
It’s a long way from the Tigris to the Danube.
贸易非常重要；虽然印度河、底格里斯-幼发拉底河和尼罗河文明都是独立发展的，黄河-长江从未相互接触，但从土耳其到苏丹再到印度的贸易路线促进了作物、牲畜和思想的传播，从而刺激了安纳托利亚和伊朗文明的发展。 从底格里斯河到多瑙河的距离实在太远了。
Because Humans form from Africa, and crossing Mountains and Oceans are hard.
因为人类起源于非洲，跨越山脉和海洋是困难的。
现代人普遍认为我们的祖先在今天的埃塞俄比亚地区进化到了现在的状态。这个地区多山，土壤并不是很肥沃，因此人类沿着尼罗河向北行走寻找更多适合农耕的土地。后来人类穿过西奈半岛的沙漠，到达了黎凡特和美索不达米亚地区。早期人类很难穿越安纳托利亚和波斯的山脉，而且在那里没有太多的意义，因为尼罗河、底格里斯河和幼发拉底河提供了足够的食物来维持人类的生存。显然，人类确实迁移到了欧洲，甚至到达亚洲，并延伸到美洲，但是这三条大河的平坦河滩提供了稳定的食物来源，这三条河的洪水也相当可预测。这些地区的气候也不过于炎热或寒冷，适宜人类居住。欧洲比较寒冷，而且由于现代人类还要应对冰河时期，欧洲的大部分地区可能过于寒冷。
中东靠近人类的摇篮并且拥有众多的河流系统，人类可以依靠这些河流获取食物。后来，现代人发现并定居在中国和印度的大河流域。
河流的泛滥平原是早期人类的粮仓，所以很多人居住在河流附近（现在绝大多数人仍然生活在靠近海岸、湖泊或河流的地方）。早期的船只相当简单，所以沿着尼罗河航行是很容易的，而通过地中海乘船穿越则非常困难甚至不可能。欧洲伟大的河流系统距离较远，并且被难以逾越的地形所遮挡。要从非洲到达卢瓦尔河、波河、多瑙河和莱茵河，你要么要穿越地中海，要么穿越西奈沙漠、安纳托利亚山脉、巴尔干山脉、喀尔巴阡山脉和阿尔卑斯山脉，这需要付出很大努力，而且所到之处的水域条件也不及尼罗河、底格里斯河和幼发拉底河。在东欧，要到达涅伯河或伏尔加河，你要么要穿越安纳托利亚山脉和黑海，要么要穿越高加索山脉和波斯草原。没有马匹，穿越草原将非常困难。
古代的四大文明都形成于易于农耕并富饶的河流系统周围，而欧洲的河流系统不如这些地区优越，并且距离较远。
The climate and the natural resources are the logical answer to your question. However can we consider the question correct? Look at this one;
“Bulgaria's Varna Gold Treasure is considered the oldest processed gold in the world dating back to the time of the Chalcolithic (Aeneolithic, Copper Age) Varna Culture (usually dated to 4400-4100 BC). It was discovered in 1972 in the so called Varna Chalcolithic Necropolis”.
A little is known about the civilization around and from the lands now under the Black sea. The human history still keeps secrets. What we read and learn is based on the discoveries and knowledge systemised in the last few centuries. Even discovered and well studied the Egyptian pyramids or the amazing creations of the South American civilization are enigma for the modern science.
对于您的问题，气候和自然资源是合乎逻辑的答案。然而，我们是否可以认为问题本身是正确的呢？让我们看看这个问题：
“保加利亚的瓦尔纳黄金宝藏被认为是世界上最古老的经过加工的金器，可以追溯到原始青铜时代（铜器时代）瓦尔纳文化的时期（通常被认为是公元前4400-4100年）。这些宝藏于1972年在所谓的瓦尔纳原始青铜时代墓地中被发现。” 关于现在位于黑海下的土地周围的文明了解甚少。人类历史仍然保持着许多秘密。我们所阅读和学习的内容是基于近几个世纪以来系统化的发现和知识。即使对埃及金字塔或南美洲文明的惊人创造进行了发现和研究，对于现代科学而言，它们仍然是谜团。