勞拉·蓋格爾

The iconic smiley face may seem like a modern squiggle， but the discovery of a smiley face-like painting on an ancient piece of pottery suggests that it may be much older.

During an excavation of Karkemish， an ancient Hittite city whose remains are in modern-day Turkey near the Syrian border， archaeologists came across a 3，700-year-old pitcher that has three visible paint strokes on it： a swoosh of a smile and two dots for eyes above it.

“The smiling face is undoubtedly there，” Nikolo Marchetti， an associate professor in the Department of History and Cultures at the University of Bologna in Italy， told Live Science in an email. “There are no other traces of painting on the flask.”

The team of Turkish and Italian archaeologists found the pitcher， which dates to about 1700 B.C.， in what was a burial site beneath a house in Karkemish， Marchetti said. The pitcher was likely used to drink sherbet， a sweet beverage， he told the Anadolu Agency， a Turkish news outlet.

The archaeologists also found other vases and pots， as well as metal goods in the ancient city， which measures about 135 acres （55 hectares）， or slightly more than 100 football fields.

The name Karkemish translates to “Quay of （the god） Kamis，” a deity popular at that time in northern Syria. The city was inhabited from the sixth millennium B.C.， until the late Middle Ages when it was abandoned， and populated by a string of different cultures， including the Hittites， Neo Assyrians and Romans， the archaeologists said in a statement. It was used once more in 1920 as a Turkish military outpost， the archaeologists added.

British archaeologists visited the site in the late 1800s and early 1900s， but there was still much to be uncovered， so the new team， directed by Marchetti， began excavating it in 2003. But it wasn’t until this past field season that the archaeologists unearthed the pitcher with the emoji-like painting.

“It has no parallels in ancient ceramic art of the area，” Marchetti told Live Science. “As for the interpretation， you may certainly choose your own.”

標志性的笑臉表情，看似是一種現(xiàn)代符號，但是，在古代陶器上發(fā)現(xiàn)的一個貌似笑臉的畫面意味著它可能由來已久。

在對卡爾凱美什（遺址位于今土耳其近敘利亞邊境，曾是赫悌古城）的挖掘中，考古學家發(fā)現(xiàn)了一件距今3700年的陶罐，上面有3個明顯的繪畫筆觸：一彎笑容，上面的兩點是眼睛。

“那上面毫無疑問是笑臉?！币獯罄┞迥醽喆髮W歷史文化系副教授尼科洛·馬爾凱蒂通過電子郵件告訴《生活科學》雜志，“陶罐上沒有其他繪畫痕跡?！?/p>

馬爾凱蒂說，由土耳其、意大利兩國考古學家組成的團隊在卡爾凱美什古城一幢房子下的墓穴里發(fā)現(xiàn)了這只陶罐，其年代約為公元前1700年。他告訴土耳其新聞機構阿納多盧通訊社，這只陶罐可能用于飲用果子露，一種甜的飲品。

考古學家還在古城中發(fā)現(xiàn)了其他的瓶瓶罐罐以及金屬制品。古城面積約135英畝（55公頃），比100個足球場稍大些。

考古隊在聲明中說道，卡爾凱美什的意思是“（尊神）卡米斯之港”，卡米斯神當時在敘利亞北部備受尊崇。這座城市自公元前6000年就有人居住，直到中世紀晚期被遺棄，其間有一系列文明的人群在此生活，包括赫悌人、新亞述人和古羅馬人?？脊抨犨€指出，卡爾凱美什在1920年曾多次用作土耳其的軍事哨所。

英國考古學家曾在19世紀末20世紀初到訪過這里，但仍有許多尚待發(fā)現(xiàn)之處。因此，由馬爾凱蒂帶領的新考古隊于2003年開始在這里挖掘。但直到最近剛結束的實地挖掘中，考古隊才出土了這件畫有類似笑臉表情的陶罐。

“這個地區(qū)的古代陶瓷藝術中沒有相似作品，”馬爾凱蒂告訴《生活科學》雜志，“至于如何解讀，當然就仁者見仁、智者見智了?！? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? □

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎選手