Chapter 15 - Ancient American Civilizations

Question 1

Ch 15: Why was Diaz, author of “True History of the Conquest of New Spain” astounded when he reached the Aztec city of Iztapalapa?

Answer 1

The palace where the soldiers stayed was spacious and luxurious.

Question 2

Ch 15: Tenochtitlan was the capital of what empire?

Answer 2

Aztec

Question 3

Ch 15: What is at L’Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland?

Answer 3

Evidence of pre-Columbian European contact with indigenous peoples of the Americas by Norse Vikings.

Question 4

Ch 15: What are the 4 regional cultural areas of the Americas?

Answer 4

Mesoamerican, South American, Southwestern, and Native American.

Question 5

Ch 15: What do the Mayan and Mississippi culture sites have in common?

Answer 5

Stepped pyramids.

Question 6

Ch 15: What were the three main crops of the indigenous peoples of the Americas?

Answer 6

Maize, squash, and beans.

Question 7

Ch 15: First large city of the Americas founded by the Olmec Civilization?

Answer 7

Monte Alban in the Oxaca Valley, Mexico.

Question 8

Ch 15: Earliest example of monumental “earthen” construction was built by Native Americans in what is now this US state?

Answer 8

Louisiana

Question 9

Ch 15: Where is Woodhenge? Ancient and present day.

Answer 9

Cahokia on flood plain of Mississippi River near St. Louis.

Question 10

Ch 15: What Native American city was more populous than London during its peak (located near present day St. Louis)?

Answer 10

Cahokia

Question 11

Ch 15: Anasazi is the old term used to describe these peoples who created the most sophisticated architecture north of Mexico. What’s the new term?

Answer 11

Ancestral Pueblos

Question 12

Ch 15: Before the construction of the pueblos, the Ancestral Pueblos lived where?

Answer 12

Mesas - flat tops of mountains.

Question 13

Ch 15: Circular pits called _______ were mostly used for communal rituals and gatherings.

Answer 13

Kivas

Question 14

Ch 15: The ceremonial center of the Ancestral Pueblos where great gatherings were held for special ceremonies was here.

Answer 14

Pueblo Bonito at Chaco Canyon

Question 15

Ch 15: The most commonly accepted change of construction locations from mesas to hollow cliffs by the Ancestral Pueblos is ___________ due to _________.

Answer 15

Climate change due to deforestation.

Question 16

Ch 15: What was the first complex culture of Mesoamerica (later inherited by the Maya)?

Answer 16

Olmec Civilization.

Question 17

Ch 15: What was the most striking aspect of Olmec architecture?

Answer 17

Giant bodiless heads.

Question 18

Ch 15: The Calzada de los Muertos, or Avenue of the Dead, is associated with which Oaxaca Valley city (no definitive ethnic group ID’d/associated, but was later discovered by the Aztecs)?

Answer 18

Teotihuacan

Question 19

Ch 15: Calzada de los Muertos, or Avenue of the Dead, is not alighted with true north-south axis - what structure lies there, and why is it aligned so uniquely? (no definitive ethnic group ID’d/associated, but was later discovered by the Aztecs).

Answer 19

The Pyramid of the Sun is there, and it’s aligned so that the sun sets twice a year, in May and July, directly over the pyramid.

Question 20

Ch 15: Which indigenous American culture is broken into periods pre-classic, Early Classic, and Classic?

Answer 20

Mayan

Question 21

Ch 15: Tikal and Calakmul were the two most powerful city-states of which peoples?

Answer 21

Mayan

Question 22

Ch 15: The Maya inherited some of their culture from the _________.

Answer 22

Olmec

Question 23

Ch 15: Mayan culture was divided into what 2 general geopolitical areas? Where were the Mayan pyramids located?

Answer 23

Guatemalan highlands and lowlands. The Mayan pyramids were in the Guatemalan lowlands.

Question 24

Ch 15: How do Mayan tombs differ from tombs in Egyptian pyramids?

Answer 24

The tombs are burred beneath the structure, not within the pyramid.

Question 25

Ch 15: Which number was sacred to the Maya, and where do we see this number in relation to architecture?

Answer 25

The number 9. It’s the number of terraces of their stepped pyramids.

Question 26

Ch 15: In Mayan belief, ______ are essential for the dead because of the presence of the k’uh.

Answer 26

Bones.

Question 27

Ch 15: What cool shit happens at the Mayan Pyramid of Kukulcan (AKA El Castillo) during the equinoxes?

Answer 27

The serpent god Kukulcan can be seen in the shadows/lights cast on the pyramid.

Question 28

Ch 15: The earliest monumental “stone” works of architecture were built by these peoples (earlier than the Egyptians or Mesopotamians).

Answer 28

Caral

Question 29

Ch 15: The Caral Pyramids were being constructed around the same time as these structures.

Answer 29

The first Egyptian pyramids.

Question 30

Ch 15: This empire was the largest in all the Americas by the time Europeans arrived.

Answer 30

Inca

Question 31

Ch 15: The greatest architectural legacy of this civilization included fine stonework using dry masonry technique so carefully done that a sword couldn’t fit between stones.

Answer 31

Inca

Question 32

Ch 15: Macchu Picchu is architecture of which indigenous American civilization?

Answer 32

Inca

Question 33

Ch 15: The monumental stone architecture of the Americas came from these 3 prodigious cultures.

Answer 33

Aztec, Maya, Inca