考古學(xué)家在古代龐貝古城發(fā)現(xiàn)了回收系統(tǒng)

考古學(xué)家在古代龐貝古城發(fā)現(xiàn)了回收系統(tǒng)

In some ways, the ancient Roman city of Pompeii mimicked a modern city — once contained within protective city walls, as the urban area grew and prospered, it spread into the countryside, creating suburbs. But in other ways, it was extremely different.

在某種程度上，古羅馬城市龐貝模仿了現(xiàn)代城市的樣子——曾經(jīng)被保護在城墻之內(nèi)，隨著城市的發(fā)展和繁榮，它擴展到鄉(xiāng)村，創(chuàng)造了郊區(qū)。但在其他方面，情況卻截然不同。

The ancient city of Pompeii was long covered in ash and debris from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in the year 79 now serves as a valuable archeological site. (Photo: lara-sh/Shutterstock)

Archeologists say it's important to remember that all societies — past or present — don't have the same attitudes towards cleanliness or sanitation. What constitutes garbage, and how and where to keep it is decided by community members. Think about it: litter is a malleable concept, and even in the modern era it used to be acceptable to leave trash behind. Many smokers still think it's OK to toss their cigarette butts out the car window.

考古學(xué)家說，重要的是要記住，所有的社會，無論是過去還是現(xiàn)在，對清潔和衛(wèi)生的態(tài)度都不一樣。什么是垃圾，以及如何和在哪里保存垃圾是由社區(qū)成員決定的。想想看:垃圾是一個可塑的概念，即使在現(xiàn)代，把垃圾扔在身后也是可以接受的。許多吸煙者仍然認為把煙頭扔出車窗外是可以的。Understanding how different cultures see death and garbage is one key to understanding them. In Pompeii, tombs were put in high-traffic parts of the city (to better remember the dead) and disposal pits were kept in the same spaces as water storage. They also sorted their recycling differently. Instead of packing it up and sending it to a faraway state, new evidence shows Pompeiians recycled right at home.

如何看待死亡和垃圾是理解不同文化的關(guān)鍵。在龐貝，墳?zāi)贡环胖迷诔鞘薪煌ǚ泵Φ牡胤?為了更好地紀念死者)，處理坑被放在和水儲存的相同空間。他們對回收利用的分類也不同。新的證據(jù)顯示，龐貝人并沒有把垃圾打包送到遙遠的國家，而是直接在國內(nèi)回收垃圾。

Archaeologists figured this out by examining piles of detritus and the types of soil it contained. Human excrement or household food waste would leave behind organic soils in a pit, and street litter would pile against walls and get mixed in with the area's sandy soil, degrading into similar soil, not the darker, richer organic stuff. Some of that litter would be found in sizable piles, bigger than what would have been swept or blown aside by busy foot traffic.

考古學(xué)家通過研究成堆的碎石和其中包含的土壤類型得出了這個結(jié)論。人類糞便或家庭食物垃圾會在坑里留下有機土壤，街道垃圾會堆在墻邊，與該地區(qū)的沙土混合，降解成類似的土壤，而不是更黑、更豐富的有機物質(zhì)。有些垃圾會堆成相當(dāng)大的一堆，比繁忙的人潮掃過或吹走的垃圾還要大。

As the researchers delved into 6-foot-high piles pushed against the city walls, they found materials like plaster and broken ceramic bits. Originally, these piles were thought to be part of the mess left behind when an earthquake ravaged the city 17 years before Mount Vesuvius erupted, but it's more likely to be evidence of recycling, posits Emmerson, since the archeologists found that same type of material was used as building material elsewhere in the city, and in the suburban areas.

研究人員深入研究了城墻上的6英尺高的木樁，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了石膏和破碎的陶瓷碎片等材料。最初，這些木樁被認為是維蘇威火山爆發(fā)前17年地震摧毀這座城市留下的殘跡的一部分，但它更有可能是回收利用的證據(jù)，埃默森如此假設(shè)，因為考古學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)同樣的材料在城市的其他地方和郊區(qū)被用作建筑材料。

The archaeologists already knew that the interior walls of Pompeii's buildings would often contain pieces of broken tiles, chunks of used plaster, and pieces of household ceramics, which would be covered over with a top layer of new plaster for a finished look.

考古學(xué)家們已經(jīng)知道，龐貝古城建筑的內(nèi)墻通常會有破碎的瓷磚、用過的灰泥和家用陶瓷的碎片，這些碎片會被覆蓋上一層新灰泥，以形成完整的外觀。

Now it was obvious where that interior wall material came from — the carefully sorted "recycling bins" leaning up against the ancient city walls. It makes sense — this was a location to dump material from a tear-down or remodel, and a place where builders could then pick up material to reuse. "The piles outside the walls weren't material that's been dumped to get rid of it. They're outside the walls being collected and sorted to be resold inside the walls," Emmerson said.

現(xiàn)在，內(nèi)墻材料的來源已經(jīng)很明顯了——精心分類的“回收箱”靠在古老的城墻上。這是有意義的——這是一個從拆除或改造中傾倒材料的地方，也是一個建筑商可以提取材料進行再利用的地方。“墻外的堆積物并不是用來處理垃圾的。它們在墻外被收集和分類，然后在墻內(nèi)轉(zhuǎn)售，”艾默森說。

In this way, the Pompeiians weren't just recycling, they were recycling locally — with building and refuse materials removed from one area of the city and used to build in another.

通過這種方式，龐貝人不僅回收利用，他們還在當(dāng)?shù)鼗厥绽?mdash;—從城市的一個地區(qū)回收建筑和垃圾材料，然后在另一個地區(qū)建造。

Considering that construction waste is at least a third — and maybe as much as 40% — of landfill space, this is a lesson modern societies could take from the ancients.

考慮到建筑垃圾至少占垃圾填埋場空間的三分之一，甚至可能高達40%，這是現(xiàn)代社會可以從古人身上學(xué)到的一課。

Emmerson explains why: "The countries that most effectively manage their waste have applied a version of the ancient model, prioritising commodification rather than simple removal."

埃默森解釋了原因:“那些最有效管理廢棄物的國家采用了一種古老的模式，優(yōu)先考慮商品化，而不是簡單的清除。”