Mr. Charon's: Ancient Americas Book Assignment

The Americas

Civilization Paper, Chapter 7 (94 points):

Check PowerSchool for make-up due date to receive credit!

Directions: Write the first letter of the civilization in the blanks which best fits the description: o for Olmecs, m for Mayas, a for Aztecs or i for Incas.
*(hint: Some descriptions may have more than one answer possible)

1. _____ Time line A.D. 300-900
2. _____ Most well known for giant stone-head carvings
3. _____ Sacrifices of human hearts were made to the Sun God, Huitzilopochtli
4. _____ Built pyramid temples
5. _____ Built one of the greatest road systems in history
6. _____ Lived in communities called ayllus.
7. _____ Invented calendars & used carved inscriptions as a form of writing
8. _____ Capital city was Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City)
9. _____ Influenced heavily by the Chavin, the Mochicas, & the Nazca peoples
10. _____ Main crops were corn, beans, & squash
11. _____ Time line 1400 B.C.-500 B.C.
12. _____ Used herbal medicines, set broken bones, treated dental cavities, and prescribed steam baths for ill people

13. _____ Capital of the Sun built with stone blocks that were polished and carved to fit exactly in place

14. _____ Had a hieroglyphic system of writing
15. _____ Covered area from the Yucatan in Southern Mexico through much of Central America.

16. _____ Influenced arts of later peoples with their jaguar and serpent carvings
17. _____ Empire destroyed by civil war
18. _____ Had a 365-day calendar & a 260-day calendar based on Venus
19. _____ Sacrificed animals
20. _____ Farmers cleared rain forests & then built raised fields that caught & held rainwater

21. _____ Empire numbered about 30 million people by 1500
22. _____ Capital city Cuzco
23. _____ Had many chiefs, nobles(warriors) priests, & farmers in each city-state
24. _____ Used language Quechua
25. _____ Covered area in tropical rain forests along the Mexican Gulf Coasts
26. _____ Developed a number system including zero
27. _____ Had single ruler (emperor), nobles (judges and governors), warriors, farmers, & slaves

28. _____ Kept historical records on quipu, a collection of knotted strings

29. _____ Certain women were chosen and became known as the Aclla, to serve the Sun God

30. _____ Performed human sacrifices
31. _____ Nobles were military leaders, collected taxes, & enforced laws
32. _____ Civilization actually began in the mid-1400's
33. _____ Religion tied to routines of life
34. _____ Polytheistic peoples
35. _____ Empire covered most of Mexico, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean

36. _____ Pyramid temples were burial places for nobles and priests
37._____ Civilization reached from Ecuador to Chile
38. _____ Ancestors moved into the Valley of Mexico in the late 1200's
39. _____ Had books made of bark
40. _____ Emperor claimed to be the son of the sun itself.
41. _____ Built chinampas, "floating gardens"
42. _____ Society believed to be made up of priests and aristocrats
43. _____ No one really knows how or why this civilization ended
44. _____ Priests recorded historical events, ran schools for noble children among other jobs

45. _____ Largest city was Tikal
46. _____ Farmers helped build temples
47. _____ Ancestors settled on island; Lake Texcoco

Next, make a heading for each group, Olmecs, Mayas, Aztecs, and Incas and, using the information from the above assignment, list each peoples accomplishments under the heading of its group. This may be done on a seperate paper.