Ch 16

3. Name two reasons that may explain the Maya civilization's decline.

warefare between two city sates and lack of stable food supply

totems

Animals or other natural objects that serve as symbols of clans or other groups

quipu

Arrangement of knotted strings on a cord used by the Inca to record numerical information

Triple Alliance

Association of city-states that led to the formation of the Aztec Empire

Popul Vuh

Book containing a Maya story of creation

codex

Book with bark-paper pages; only three of these ancient Maya books have survived

potlatch

Ceremonial giving practiced by some Native American societies in the Pacific Northwest

Anasazi

Early Native American people who lived in the Southwest

obsidian

Hard, volcanic glass used by early peoples to make sharp weapons

Tikal

Maya city in present-day Guatemala

1. What is known about Maya cities?

Maya society was divided into social classes. The best warriors and priests were at the top. The merchants and craft workers were at the next level. Peasant farmers—the majority of the people—were at the bottom.

Iroquois

Native American peoples from the eastern Great Lakes region of North America who formed an alliance in the late 1500s

2. Name three features shared by Native American groups.

Nearly all native North Americans thought that the world was full of spirits and that people had to follow certain rituals and customs to live in peace. Native Americans also shared great respect for the land, which they did not believe that people could own. They also shared an emphasis on the family as the most important social unit. Family included parents, children, grandparents, and other relatives. In some tribes, families were linked together with others who shared a common ancestor.

glyph

Picture symbol used as part of a writing system

Mississippian

Related to the Mound Builder culture that flourished in North America between A.D. 800 and 1500

mita

Requirement for all Incan subjects to work for the state a certain number of days each year

Montezuma II

Ruler under whom the Aztec Empire weakened

Pachacuti

Ruler under whom the Incan Empire grew quickly

ayllu

Small community or clan whose members worked together for the common good

2. How does Maya writing reflect Maya culture?

The Maya also developed the most advanced writing system in the ancient Americas. Maya writing was made up of about 800 symbols, or glyphs. They used their writing system to record important historical events. They carved in stone or recorded events in a bark-paper book known as a codex. Three of these ancient books still survive. A famous Maya book called the Popul Vuh records a Maya story of the creation of the world.

1. Explain the cultural differences between the Anasazi and the Mississippians.

The Mississippians were a people who lived later in this area. They built thriving villages, such as Cahokia. In the center of Cahokia was a flat-topped pyramid with a temple on top. The Anasazi lived where the present-day states of Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico meet. They built groups of houses in the shallow caves that broke up the rocky walls of deep canyons. By the 900s, the Anasazi were living in pueblos. Pueblos were villages with large, apartment-style groupings.

Quetzalcoatl

Toltec god

pueblos

Villages of large apartment-like buildings made of clay and stone by peoples of the American Southwest