Deck 13: Mesoamerica, the Classic Maya, and the Aztec Empire

Question 1

Developments in the ____________________ were not discussed as part of Mesoamerica in this chapter.

A) Andean highlands
B) Basin of Mexico
C) Gulf Coast
D) Valley of Oaxaca

Answer 1

A

Question 2

__________________ were staples of the Mesoamerican diet.

A) Beans
B) Maize
C) Squash
D) All of the above

Answer 2

D

Question 3

During the Classic Maya period, Tikal and __________________ engaged in a lengthy rivalry.

A) Copan
B) Palenque
C) La Venta
D) Calakmul

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Which of these is not the nickname of a Maya ruler?

A) Hammerhead
B) Curl Snout
C) Fire Born
D) Great Misty Claw

Question 5

Sixteen small jade, serpentine, and sandstone figurines and celts were found at __________.

A) Pueblo Alto
B) Banpo
C) La Venta
D) Snaketown

Question 6

________________ was the main center in the Valley of Oaxaca after 500 cal BC.

A) Kaminaljuyú
B) Monte Albán
C) Khan
D) Mayapan

Question 7

The basis of power in the Aztec empire was the___________________.

A) Emperor's standing army
B) Triple Alliance
C) Mayan calendar
D) Maize doll industry

Question 8

During the Aztec empire, the most important Aztlan group was the ______________.

A) Mexica
B) Texico
C) Olmec
D) Quetzal

Question 9

The central figures of the Maya creation myth are _______________.

A) the Cosmic Eggs
B) the Star Lords
C) the Hero Twins
D) Fire Born and Sky Witness

Question 10

At their peak of political complexity, the Aztecs are referred to as the Aztec ____________.

A) Empire
B) Republic
C) Tribe
D) Union

Question 11

Archaeologists place the end of the Maya Classic period at about AD _________.

A) 250
B) 550
C) 900
D) 1524

Question 12

In Mesoamerican archaeology, a standing carved stone is called ___________________.

A) an obelisk
B) a stela
C) a codex
D) a cenote

Question 13

_______________ was destroyed by a volcanic eruption around AD 400.

A) Teotihuacán
B) Cuicuilco
C) Tikal
D) Cahokia

Question 14

The lowland Maya site El Mirador featured a pyramid named ________________.

A) El Cochino
B) La Serpiente
C) El Cocodrilo
D) El Tigre

Question 15

Which of these was the largest unit of time in the Maya calendar?

A) K'in
B) Ch'am
C) Bak'tun
D) Tun

Question 16

______________ was a Maya lowlands center during the Middle Preclassic.

A) Nubia
B) Nakbe
C) Narmer
D) Nabta Playa

Question 17

Maya glyphs were based on _____________________.

A) Sumerian cuneiform
B) Egyptian hieroglyphs
C) Chinese ideograms
D) None of the above

Question 18

Maya glyphs that represent words are ______________ and those that represent sounds are _____________.

A) phonetic; ideographic
B) syllabic; logographic
C) ideographic; syntactic
D) logographic; phonetic

Question 19

2000 cal BC marks the beginning of the _______________ period in Mesoamerica.

A) Formative
B) Predynastic
C) Terminal Classic
D) Basketmaker

Question 20

Somewhat intuitively, the Maya glyph for one day (k'in) resembles a ________________.

A) hand
B) snake
C) sun
D) skull

Question 21

_____________________ was a major center of the Olmec people.

A) Machu Picchu
B) Chetro Ketl
C) Hun Hunapu
D) San Lorenzo

Question 22

San José Mogote was a political center in the _____________ Valley

A) Indus
B) Silicon
C) Oaxaca
D) Cuzco

Question 23

Which of these animals was a significant element of Mesoamerican artistic motifs?

A) Hippopotamus
B) Barracuda
C) Jaguar
D) Porpoise

Question 24

The Late Preclassic period center Kaminaljuyú controlled sources of ___________________.

A) silver and gold
B) cacao and macaw feathers
C) jade and obsidian
D) bronze and jade

Question 25

Which of these was a prized Mesoamerican marine shell?

A) Sahelanthropus
B) Microtus
C) Equus
D) Spondylus

Question 26

Maya dynastic rulers claimed the title of ______________.

A) Lord
B) Emperor
C) Master
D) Supreme Leader

Question 27

According to the Maya long-count calendar, the 12th bak'tun ended in _______________.

A) 1521
B) 1955
C) 2012
D) 2001

Question 28

Which of these periods occurs earliest in the Maya region?

A) Early Preclassic
B) Late Classic
C) Postclassic
D) Late Archaic

Question 29

The Maya long-count calendar begins in the year _________________.

A) 3114 BC
B) 200 BC
C) AD 11
D) AD 400

Question 30

Chichén Itzá was a Terminal Classic period city in _____________________.

A) the Basin of Mexico
B) the Yucatan Peninsula
C) the Valley of Oaxaca
D) the Giza Plateau

Question 31

The Olmecs are famous for giant stone llama monuments.

Question 32

Zapotec was a state-level politically complex society that emerged in the Valley of Oaxaca about 20 cal BC.

Question 33

In Mesoamerican archaeology, a tree bark record of Maya glyphs is called a dendroglyph.

Question 34

The Maya were the first group to develop a unique symbol for the number zero.

Question 35

In a Maya burial, elites sometimes had flattened skulls from cradle boarding in infancy.

Question 36

To see Maya ruins, go to modern-day Guatemala.

Question 37

A key part of the Classic Maya agricultural base was millet.

Question 38

The Spanish defeated the Aztecs in AD 1787.

Question 39

Tlatilco was a site in the Basin of Mexico.

Question 40

The burial masks of Maya kings were customarily made from jade.

Question 41

What were the three most significant crops of Mesoamerican subsistence systems?

Question 42

What evidence suggests a shift from communal to private ownership of food resources in the Formative period?

Question 43

Why did people abandon Cuicuilco, many of them likely moving to Teotihuacán?

Question 44

Farmers in the Preclassic Maya lowlands developed canals, but for an atypical purpose. What was this purpose?

Question 45

What kinds of materials and objects are Maya glyphs preserved on?

Question 46

What were some of the symbolic aspects of Teotihuacán's layout?

Question 47

What significant mathematical concept, independently discovered three times in human history, was first discovered by the Maya?

Question 48

What were two uses of the cacao bean in ancient Mesoamerica?

Question 49

How did Maya royals legitimize their rule?

Question 50

How was a relatively small group of Spanish conquistadors able to subjugate the people of the Maya region?

Question 51

What types of archaeological evidence demonstrate social stratification in the Classic Maya period?

Question 52

What do you see as the ritual significance of "erasing history"? Describe two examples of this occurrence, past or present.

Question 53

Many early politically complex societies were based on river systems. In contrast, Mesoamerica did not have a defining river. What rivers were critical to Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Harappa? How were Mesoamerican civilizations so successful, despite this difference from other world centers?

Question 54

From the Maya perspective, what was the role of bloodletting and human sacrifice in their culture and social system?

Question 55

Why did the Classic Maya period come to an end? What are the most commonly proposed explanations?