Topic 0 and Topic 1 Quiz- History of mexico

Historians gain historical knowledge by analyzing and evaluating evidence from the past that has survived to the present. This evidence, termed secondary sources, can take the form of architecture, books, paintings, legal documents, maps, photographs, diaries, oral accounts, coins, and so forth.

FALSE

Like many academic disciplines students encounter during their college education, it is safe to say that the construction of historical knowledge is scientific in nature. Why? Because like the culture of science, history shares the protocol of hypothesis-testing, it employs deductive reasoning, and it uses an experimental and objective process producing incontrovertible facts about the past.

FALSE

One of the earliest civilizations to flourish during the Preclassic/Formative period was the Mexica who were located in the Gulf Coast region of Mexico. Much of what is known of this civilization is derived from a corpus of architecture and sculptures that have survived to the present. Mexica urban centers included San Lorenzo and La Venta. Mexica political order appears to have been headed by dynastic lineages, however, little is still known about how the Mexica state was organized and who truly headed it.

FALSE

The civil calendar we use to track dates in the Western tradition is known as the Julian calendar. This calendar, named after Pope Julius XIII, was a reform of the Gregorian calendar introduced by Pope Clement II. The designations used for eras in these calendars were AD, indicating before Christ, and BC, indicating in the year of our lord.

FALSE

The historical record for a given period of time studied is composed of all the identified secondary sources. In researching the past, historians also use accounts of the past created by people writing about events sometime after they happened. These accounts are referred to as primary sources. Most students of history have acquired their knowledge about the past by reading primary sources.

FALSE

The move towards socioeconomic political organization termed civilization began during the Archaic Period (c. 7000-1500 BCE). What made this transition possible was the domestication of maize. During the Archaic Period maize surplus made it possible for non-agriculturists to be supported. In other words, urbanism and specialization was made possible by agricultural surplus. It is during the Archaic Period that Mixteca civilization reached its most developed stage. In fact, scholars believe that the Mixteca developed a prototype for writing in Mesoamerica. This conclusion is derived by scholars from a variety of objects that have survived with a script engraved on them. One such object is the Mojarra Stela, on which 500 graphical symbols inscribed have been identified. Scholars have concluded that the Mixteca Script is very closely related to Mayan scripts.

FALSE

Unike historical knowledge, periodization has does not have an interpretive quality to it. In other words, every historian periodizes in the same way. Chronological periodization seems to be the easiest way to organize the past. However, sometimes historians will approach the past thematically, or will combine a thematic approach with a chronological approach.

FALSE

After the fall of Teotihuacan, this region witnessed a series of migrations into central Mexico from the northwestern frontier that was headed by the "Chichimeca." These migrants are believed to have been nomadic in their lifeway. Unfortunately, there is little that can be learned about this culture from the archaeological record and the written record.

TRUE

Along with the Olmec, two other examples of early civilization in Mesoamerica were the Zapotec and Izapan. Located in Oaxaca, the greatest of the Zapotec urban centers was Monte Albán.

TRUE

Alun Munslow, in his work entitled Deconstructing History describes history as, the narrative interpretation and explanation of human agency and intention. Munslow also argues that, history is the study of not of change over time per se, but the study of the information produced by historians as they go about doing this task.

TRUE

Because of the revision that has taken place over the years in historical narrative, historians must also be familiar with historiography. Historiography is the history of the writing of history.

TRUE

During the Archaic/Incipient Period (c. 7000 - 1800 B.C.E.) some hunting and gathering Paleo-Indian bands adopted horticulture and thus began a transition toward a new sedentary lifeway that would serve as a gateway to the creation of anthropogenic landscapes. This early agrarian period in Mexico's history witnessed the growth of concentrated communities in the form of villages. Further intensification (technologies/lifeways to further extract resources from land) led to agriculture that made use of an early form of genetic engineering referred to as plant domestication. Evidence for some of the earliest plant sources domesticated in unearthed archaic sites include maize, beans, squash, tomatoes, avocados, and chiles. Corn would serve as the foundation for Mesoamerican civilizations.

TRUE

For the human body to digest and absorb the nutrients carried by corn (niacin and amino acids), dried kernels were removed from the cob and put through nixtamalization. Next they were grounded in the metate (grindstone) and prepared in different forms for consumption. It is not clear to historians today how knowledge nixtamalization was attained.

TRUE

It was during the Postclassic Period that the Nahua began to infiltrate central Mexico. The Nahua were a people who were united by a shared culture and common language (Uto-Aztecan family). The Mexica were the last of the Nahua to migrate into central Mexico.

TRUE

Lifeways during the Early Hunters/Paleo-Indian (c. 35,000 - 7000 B.C.E.) was dominated by hunting and foraging. As a consequence of this, humans during this period lived in small communities referred to as bands and practiced systematic movement as plant and animal resources were sought. It is believed by anthropologists that these early communities were egalitarian. Early archaeological sites that provide insights about human lifeways during this period include Tequixquiac (Valley of Mexico), Tlapacoya (Valley of Mexico), and Valsequillo (Puebla).

TRUE

Teotihuacan is an example of a Classic Period civilization that flourished in central Mexico between c. 150-650 CE. It is believed to have measured up to 20 square miles in size. Scholars estimate that Teotihuacan's population may have reached over 100,000.

TRUE

The Classic period also witnessed the golden age of the Maya (c. 250-900 C.E.). Maya civilization is considered by many to represent the culmination of the Classic period civilizations. Some of the most important Maya centers included Tik'al (Guatemala), Kalak'mul (Campeche), Palenque (Chiapas) and Copán (Honduras), each with an estimated population size of about 100,000.

TRUE

The Post-Classic Period (c. 900 - 1521 C.E.) witnessed the arrival of the Toltec (c. 950-1150), another migrating culture, who dominated northern and central Mexico from their capital located at Tollan/Tula. Rival states during the post-Classic period included Mixtecs, Huastec, and Tarrascans. This period also witnessed the migration of the Nahua-speakers to central Mexico.

TRUE

With regards to Mexica origins, Hernando de Alvarado Tezozomoc's Cronica Mexicana (c. 1598) explains that "the Mexica came from a land called Chicomoztoc, which is called house of the seven caves, also called Aztlan." From Juan de Tovar's Origen de los Mexicanos we learn that the Mexica were ". . . led by a leader named Mexi, from which the name Mexicans is derived, because with Mexi with this particular ca, mexica is composed, which means the people of Mexico."

TRUE

historian Paul Kirchhoff first introduced the term "Mesoamerica," he defined it as a cultural zone where the indigenous inhabitants spoke as many as sixty different languages, but were united by a common history and shared a specific set of cultural traits that made their civilization unique in the world. Among the most significant was the development of both pictographic and hieroglyphic writing as well as the production of books constructed from animal hide or amate paper.

TRUE