为何四大古代文明都不是起源于欧洲？
Why didn't any of the four ancient civilizations originate from Europe?
译文简介
quora网友：因为这个小家伙，以及关于它的革命。小麦原产于安纳托利亚高原的一种野生植物。安纳托利亚的狩猎采集者花了几千年才驯化了小麦。起初，小麦是另一种人们可以食用的野生植物。然后，人们开始种植小麦，选择性育种的过程也开始了......
正文翻译
Why didn't any of the four ancient civilizations originate from Europe?
为何四大古代文明都不是起源于欧洲？
为何四大古代文明都不是起源于欧洲？
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…because of this little guy, and itsevolution.
Wheat was a wild plant native tohighlands of the Anatolian Plateau. It took the hunter-gatherers of Anatolia afew thousand years to domesticate wheat.
At first, wheat was another wild plantthat people could eat. Then, people started to cultivate wheat, and the processof sextive breeding started.
Wild wheatwas a mountain plant that liked cold snowy winters and hot dry summer. It tookquite some time to grow this plant in Mesopotamia, where winters are warmer.Once a suitable breed was achieved, everything changed. Mesopotamia, Egypt andthe Indus Valley thrived with abundance of food, and the first civilizationswere born.
NorthernEurope wasn't suitable for wheat cultivation. European summers were wetter andcooler. The landscape was filled with forest. It took thousands of years forthe Northern Europeans to develop a breed of wheat good enough to compete withthe Mesopotamian wheat, and to cut all the forests for fields.
Joshua Moshiach, 执行助理 (2013至今)
因为这个小家伙，以及关于它的革命。
小麦原产于安纳托利亚高原的一种野生植物。安纳托利亚的狩猎采集者花了几千年才驯化了小麦。
起初，小麦是另一种人们可以食用的野生植物。然后，人们开始种植小麦，选择性育种的过程也开始了。
野生小麦是一种山地植物，喜欢寒冷多雪的冬天和炎热干燥的夏天。这种植物在美索不达米亚生长了很长时间，那里的冬天比较暖和。一旦找到合适的品种，一切都改变了。美索不达米亚、埃及和印度河流域因食物丰富而兴旺发达，第一批文明由此诞生。
（欧洲的森林采伐：左为公元前1000年，右为公园1500年，其中英格兰和威尔士的森林覆盖率从90%下降至17%）
而北欧不适合种植小麦。欧洲的夏天更加潮湿和凉爽。这里到处都是森林。北欧人花了数千年的时间才培育出一种足以与美索不达米亚小麦竞争的优质小麦品种，并将所有森林砍伐成农田。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
The oldest civilizations that I am aware ofare in order from the oldest : Mesopotamia, The Indus Valley, Egypt and TheMayan’s. Basically it boils down to climate, river systems and the fertility ofthe land. There are many others. At that time Europe was mostly forest. Youwill note that none of these civilizations was started in a forest. Europedoesn’t have a stable climate. It has seasons that are far more extreme. Theland was nowhere near as fertile. Plenty of game to hunt but not much free landon which to plant the crops necessary to feed a city.
You need an urban center, because thensome population can do things other than work to feed themselves. You get alarger leisured class with more free time to think. Elsewhere people are toobusy surviving to work out a writing system and civil code.
Derek Kent, 前护工(2005-2016)
我所知道的最古老的文明来自最古老的文明:美索不达米亚文明、印度河流域文明、埃及文明和玛雅文明。基本上可以归结为气候、河流系统和土地的肥沃程度。
还有很多其他的。那时欧洲大部分是森林。你会注意到这些文明都不是起源于森林。欧洲的气候并不稳定。它的季节要极端得多。而且这片土地远没有那么肥沃。可供狩猎的猎物很多，但可供种植农作物以养活城市自由土地却不多。
你需要一个城市中心，因为这样一些人就可以做一些工作以外的事情来养活自己。你会有更多的空闲时间去思考。在其他地方，人们忙于生存，无暇制定一套书写系统和民法典。
If I remember correctly Jared Diamond hasa useful map in his text Guns Germs and Steel early on showing the spread ofdomesticated crops across Eurasia.
Given the starting point in the Tigrisand Euphrates river valleys the knowledge of agriculture and the crop varietiesnecessary for different local climates took awhile to spread outward.
Europeans were still largely herders whenSumeria, Egypt, and the Indus Valley civilizations were waxing and waning.China was, as always, its own unique civilization, creating its own path farfrom the other three who enjoyed robust trade among each other. China grew adifferent set of crops as well, with rice the principle grain, contrasting towheat in the Indus River Valley, Sumeria, and Egypt.
As the crops and the the knowledge ofagriculture expanded people began to settle down and build permanentstructures. Archeology digs reveal a predictable pattern of settlements, towns,and eventually cities radiating out from the Middle East over time anddistance, documenting the spread of civilization.
The eastern Mediterranean shoresprospered first, then islands across the sea, and finally colonies from theGreeks, Phoenicians and others appear in Africa and Italy and Spain. The reallatecomers were the northern Europeans, who would not be tamed until well intothe Middle Ages.
Now woven among the threads of thisconventional narrative are acknowledgements that various local exceptions cropup: Malta has ruins going back to the Neolithic and Stonehenge is but the mostfamous of northern European cultural remnants, not the oldest nor only. Soaspects of civilization did spread to Europe, and there is evidence forhomegrown local cultures with a fair degree of sophistication.
But if we’re talking written records andtechnology the big players are closer to the starting point in Iraq.
如果我没记错的话，贾里德·戴蒙德在他的著作《枪炮、细菌和钢铁》中有一幅有用的地图，显示了驯化作物在欧亚大陆的传播。
考虑到以底格里斯河和幼发拉底河流域作为起点，以及农业知识和不同地方气候所需的作物品种的原因，向外传播需要时间。
当苏美尔、埃及和印度河流域文明盛衰交替的时候，欧洲人基本上还是牧民。中国一如既往地拥有自己独特的文明，创造了自己的道路，与其他三个享有强劲贸易往来的国家截然不同。
中国也种植了一套不同的农作物，以大米为主要谷物，与印度河流域、苏美尔和埃及的小麦形成鲜明对比。
随着农作物和农业知识的扩展，人们开始定居下来并建造永久性的建筑。考古发掘揭示了一个可预测的模式：定居点，城镇，最终随着时间推移从中东辐射开来的城市，记录了文明的传播。
东地中海沿岸首先繁荣起来，然后是隔海相望的岛屿，最后来自希腊、腓尼基和其他国家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，他们直到中世纪才被驯服。
如今，在这种传统叙事的脉络中，交织着对当地各种例外情况的承认:马耳他有可以追溯到新石器时代的遗迹，而巨石阵也只是北欧最著名的文化遗存，它既不是最古老的，也不是唯一的。
所以文明的各个方面确实传播到了欧洲，有证据表明本土文化具有相当程度的复杂性。
但如果我们谈论的是书面记录和技术，那都是离伊拉克最近的那些大玩家们。
There were likely many civilizations thatbecame extinct throughout the early world including Europe.
There were definitely many more than fourancient civilizations.
Europe has been for millennia acrossroad, when draught or famine drove people from geographical areas south,west and east they likely resettled in Europe.
The immigrants possibly brought with themdiseases that locals had not developed immunity and vanished,
At this point in time in humandevelopment there was little written language or technology, that would haveleft any trace of their existence.
The greatest civilization in history mayhave lived in Europe st one early time . There would be no material trace ofthem now except a couple of genes.
John Spencer
在包括欧洲在内的早期世界，可能有许多文明已经灭绝。
古代文明肯定不止四个。
数千年来，欧洲一直是一个十字路口，干旱或饥荒迫使人们从南部、西部和东部的地理区域迁移到欧洲定居。
这些移民可能带来了当地居民没有发展出免疫力的疾病，
在人类发展的这个时期，几乎没有书面语言或技术以留下任何痕迹。
历史上最伟大的文明很有可能在很早以前就生活在欧洲。现在除了一些基因外，已经没有任何物质上的痕迹了。
‘Very likely’? What is your basis forthat? Europe north of the Pyrenees, the Alps and Greece was heavily foresteduntil about 1,000 BC. Outside of Plato’s Atlantis, there are no indications of‘civilization’ in Europe contemporaneous with Egypt, the Indus cultures orMesopotamia.
“很有可能”?你的依据是什么?
欧洲比利牛斯山脉以北、阿尔卑斯山脉和希腊直到公元前1000年都被茂密的森林覆盖。
除了柏拉图的亚特兰蒂斯，没有任何迹象表明欧洲与埃及、印度河文化或美索不达米亚一道，同时存在“文明”。
Not true. The Minoans traded with theEgyptians.
不对。米诺斯人曾与埃及人做生意。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
And the Minoans lived where? Besides,Egypt was ‘ancient’ even before the Minoans could write.
那米诺斯人生活在哪儿的？另外，甚至在米诺斯人能写字之前，埃及就很“古老”了。
The Minoans lived on Crete. You knowthat. They were the first European Bronze Age civilization. Pictures of Cretansappear on Egyptian tombs. Egyptian civilization lasted for so long that othercultures could rise and fall and still be contemporaneous. In fact, the Induscivilization did that.
米诺斯人生活在克里特岛。你知道的。
他们是欧洲第一个青铜时代的文明。克里特人的图画出现在埃及的坟墓上。
埃及文明持续了如此之久，以至其他文化可以起起落落，但仍然是同时代的。事实上，印度河文明就是这种情况。
My point is that Egyptian civilizationwas ancient long before Crete became civilized. The question dealt with theorigin of European ‘civilization’. ALL the evidence indicates Europe was ahowling wilderness compared to Egypt for more than 1000 years. Crete wasfocused on the eastern Mediterranean and the Agean. There was no European‘civilization’ while the Egyptian ‘Old Kingdom’ reigned.
我的观点是，早在克里特岛文明之前，埃及文明就已经很古老了。这个问题涉及欧洲“文明”的起源。所有的证据都表明，与埃及相比，欧洲一千多年来一直是一片荒凉的荒野。克里特岛主要集中在东地中海和爱琴海。在埃及的“旧王国”统治时期，没有欧洲的“文明”。
It wasn’t a howling wilderness. It justdidn’t have urban settlements and all their organizational trappings. You’reacting as if you think being able to lay brick in the hot sun and have a scribenote how many bricks you used is superior to living on a Swiss lake.
这里不是一片荒凉的荒野。它只是没有城市定居点。
你的行为就好像你认为能够在炎炎烈日下铺上一层砖，并记录下你用了多少块砖，这比住在瑞士湖边要好得多似的（注：亦即瑞士的居住环境比埃及好）。
If you were living on a Swiss lake in2000 BC would have been very cold and very hungry. The Helveti that JuliusCaeser intercepted were not traveling south to get an early seat at the Monacotables.
如果你生活在公元前2000年的瑞士湖边，你会感到又冷又饿。
Irene Fuerst
You would have been cold and hungry formuch of Europe’s history.
在欧洲大部分历史里，你都会感到又冷又饿。
Actually, there are six early civilizationsthat 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 riverbasins. The Olmec civilization, the earliest Mesoamerican civilization, arosein an area with multiple rivers. The Norte Chico, the earliest Peruviancivilization, centered on the Fortalenza, the Pativilca, and the Supe rivers onthe coastal plain. All had generally temperate to warm climates—the furthestnorth is China—that encouraged the development of agriculture on a large enoughscale to support an increased population, after which follows settlements andsome form of centralized government.
Europe had large rivers, but a colderclimate. That is probably the biggest reason why civilization did not firstdevelop there. Civilization in the Mediterranean basin spread from Egypt andMesopotamian around the entire basin before penetrating further.
William Smith, 博学;在许多领域的深造和学位证明了这一点
事实上，有六个独立出现的早期文明: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。六个中的四个——埃及、中国、美索不达米亚、印度河流域以大流域为中心。奥尔梅克文明是最早的中美洲文明，起源于一个多河流的地区。
北奇科文明是秘鲁最早的文明，它以沿海平原上的福塔伦扎河、帕特维尔卡河和苏皮河为中心。这些地方的气候一般都很温和(最北的是中国)，这鼓励了农业的大规模发展，足以支持人口的增长，然后是定居点和某种形式的中央政府。
欧洲有大河，但气候较冷。这可能是文明没有首先在那里发展的最大原因。地中海盆地的文明从埃及和美索不达米亚向整个盆地传播，然后进一步渗透。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
Thanks for the A2A.
The four Old World “cradles ofcivilization[1]” (Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, and China) alldeveloped civilization[2]around river valleys and they all controlled thewater necessary to keep agriculture going and prevent flooding. Prior to about12,000 years ago, the surrounding areas had been much greener and able tosupport a dispersed population. The people gradually started moving to wetterareas (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 startedsignificantly later.)
This pattern did not repeat itself inEurope, because there were no great rivers surrounded by inhospitable land thaturbanized in the same pattern.
谢邀。
东半球的四个“文明摇篮”(美索不达米亚、埃及、印度河流域和中国)都在河谷周围发展了文明，它们都控制着维持农业发展和防止洪水泛滥所必需的水。大约在12000年前，周围的地区更加绿.化，能够养活分散的人口。
随着气候变得更加干旱，人们逐渐开始迁移到更加湿润的地区(河流)。(至少前三种;我不了解中国的气候变化。中国的青铜时代也开始得晚得多。)
这种模式并没有在欧洲重演，因为欧洲没有被同样模式城市化的不适宜居住的土地所包围的大河。
原创翻译：龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处
Europe north of the Alps has very toughclayey soil. There wasn't enough of a population to require writing. The easyto plow river valleys of the Huang basin, Mesopotamia, & Ancient Egyptgained larger populations to require a bureaucracy. Meso-America has freshwater cenotes. Europe's population only expanded when the horse collar wasintroduced from the Far East c.1000 AD.
阿尔卑斯山以北的欧洲有非常坚硬的粘性土壤。
人口不足以到需要书面语的程度。
易于耕作的黄河流域、美索不达米亚和古埃及的河谷的人口增加，需要一个官僚机构。
中美洲有淡水灰岩坑。
直到马项圈在公元1000年从远东传入欧洲，欧洲人口才开始增长。
Plamen Galabov, Self Employed Video producer andPhotographer (1990-present)
The climate and the natural resources arethe logical answer to your question. However can we consider the questioncorrect? Look at this one;
“Bulgaria's Varna Gold Treasure isconsidered the oldest processed gold in the world dating back to thetime of the Chalcolithic (Aeneolithic, Copper Age) Varna Culture(usually dated to 4400-4100 BC). It was discovered in 1972 in the socalled Varna Chalcolithic Necropolis”.
A little is known about the civilizationaround and from the lands now under the Black sea. The human history stillkeeps secrets. What we read and learn is based on the discoveries and knowledgesystemised in the last few centuries. Even discovered and well studied theEgyptian pyramids or the amazing creations of the South American civilization areenigma for the modern science.
Plamen Galabov,视频制作人和摄影师 (1990至今)
气候和自然资源是你问题的逻辑下的答案。然而，我们能正确地考虑这个问题吗?看看这个：
保加利亚的瓦尔纳黄金宝藏被认为是世界上最古老的加工黄金，可以追溯到铜器时代瓦尔纳文化时期(通常可以追溯到公元前4400-4100年)。它于1972年在所谓的瓦尔纳古石墓地被发现。
人们对周围的文明以及现在黑海海底的陆地所知甚少。人类的历史仍然是保密的。我们的阅读和学习是基于过去几个世纪的发现和系统化的知识。
即使发现并研究了埃及金字塔或南美文明的惊人创造，对现代科学来说也是一个谜。
Europe’s ancient civilisation wasdestroyed and usurped by the Romans. Etruscans are responsible for the progressof Rome. And Grimaldi culture was whitewashed over the years. Civilisationsflourish under polytheism and then history gets rewritten by invadingmonotheistic dictatorship
欧洲的古代文明被罗马人摧毁和篡夺了。
伊特鲁里亚人对罗马的进步产生了影响。
…………文明在多神教的统治下繁荣昌盛，随后历史被入侵的一神教统治改写。
Because all of the four ancientcivilizations are agricultural societies, and Europe was too cold foragriculture back then. Egypt, Babylon, India, and China are all situated intropical, subtropical, or warm temperate zones. Europe, in contrast, lies inthe cold temperate zone.
因为这四个文明古国都是农业社会，而当时的欧洲对于农业来说太冷了。埃及、巴比伦、印度和中国都位于热带、亚热带或暖温带。相比之下，欧洲位于寒温带。
The climate for agriculture was moreconducive to growing grain further south in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, andSouth East Asia. Agriculture caused people to anchor to one place and startvillages which evolved into cities. Cities are the engine of civilization.
农业气候更有利于在埃及、美索不达米亚、印度和东南亚种植谷物。农业使人们定居在一个地方，并开始发展成为城市/村庄。而城市是文明的发动机。
Civilisation exist due to several reasons
River mostof civilization exist near river e.g nile gave ancient Egyptian civilization ,Indus give Harappa civilisation
Lack ofdager these are at place of optimum place that's why they florish
Optimumtemperature average temperature of Europe is low while these region these areoptimum
文明存在由于几个原因：
大部分文明都存在于河流附近。尼罗河给了古埃及文明，印度河给了哈拉帕文明
危险较少，这些（文明）都是在最合适的地方，这就是为什么他们繁荣的原因
欧洲的平均温度较低，而这些地区的平均温度适宜
Though my first thought was climate, mynext was that civilization grew best at the mouths and deltas of major rivervalleys like the Nile, the Tigris/Euphrates, the Indus, and the Yangtze…
There are theories that assume the risingocean levels thousands of years ago suddenly flooded what is now theMediterranean Sea and then the Black Sea, as waters crested over and theneroded away what is now the Pillars of Hercules/Strait of Gibraltar, and thenthe Bosporus. Any ancient civilization at the low end of southern Europe’s riverslies under these seas.
虽然我的第一个想法是气候的原因，但我随后觉得文明在尼罗河、底格里斯河/幼发拉底河、印度河和长江等主要河谷的河口和三角洲会发展得最好。
有理论认为，数千年前不断上升的海平面突然淹没了现在的地中海，然后是黑海，海水先是冲过，然后侵蚀了现在大力神/直布罗陀海峡的支柱，然后是博斯普鲁斯海峡。
任何位于南欧河流末端的古代文明都位于海洋之下。