History’s 1st Emoji? Ancient Pitcher Shows a Smiley Face史上第一个表情？古代陶罐现笑脸

劳拉·盖格尔

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.”

標志性的笑脸表情，看似是一种现代符号，但是，在古代陶器上发现的一个貌似笑脸的画面意味着它可能由来已久。

在对卡尔凯美什（遗址位于今土耳其近叙利亚边境，曾是赫悌古城）的挖掘中，考古学家发现了一件距今3700年的陶罐，上面有3个明显的绘画笔触：一弯笑容，上面的两点是眼睛。

“那上面毫无疑问是笑脸。”意大利博洛尼亚大学历史文化系副教授尼科洛·马尔凯蒂通过电子邮件告诉《生活科学》杂志，“陶罐上没有其他绘画痕迹。”

马尔凯蒂说，由土耳其、意大利两国考古学家组成的团队在卡尔凯美什古城一幢房子下的墓穴里发现了这只陶罐，其年代约为公元前1700年。他告诉土耳其新闻机构阿纳多卢通讯社，这只陶罐可能用于饮用果子露，一种甜的饮品。

考古学家还在古城中发现了其他的瓶瓶罐罐以及金属制品。古城面积约135英亩（55公顷），比100个足球场稍大些。

考古队在声明中说道，卡尔凯美什的意思是“（尊神）卡米斯之港”，卡米斯神当时在叙利亚北部备受尊崇。这座城市自公元前6000年就有人居住，直到中世纪晚期被遗弃，其间有一系列文明的人群在此生活，包括赫悌人、新亚述人和古罗马人。考古队还指出，卡尔凯美什在1920年曾多次用作土耳其的军事哨所。

英国考古学家曾在19世纪末20世纪初到访过这里，但仍有许多尚待发现之处。因此，由马尔凯蒂带领的新考古队于2003年开始在这里挖掘。但直到最近刚结束的实地挖掘中，考古队才出土了这件画有类似笑脸表情的陶罐。

“这个地区的古代陶瓷艺术中没有相似作品，”马尔凯蒂告诉《生活科学》杂志，“至于如何解读，当然就仁者见仁、智者见智了。”                          □

（译者为“《英语世界》杯”翻译大赛获奖选手