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Where was Mayan civilization located?
Western Hemisphere
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How were the Maya organized politically?
They were organized into city-states
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What rituals did the Maya use to please their gods?
The kings would stab themselves with stone knives and feed their blood to their gods
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What happened to the Maya in around 900 CE?
The civilization began to mysteriously decline
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In what way does Mayan culture still exist?
pottery, buildings and carvings
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Mesoamerica
modern day central america
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slash-and-burn agriculture
raising crops such as corn, bears, squash
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classic Mayan time
250-900 CE
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city-states
Mayan city-states warred against each other
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ritual
religious ceremonies honoring the gods
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The Mayas used _____________ agriculture because they lived in the rain forest, which has very poor soil
slash and burn
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In Mayan civilization each city was a separate __________ with its own ruler, army, and areas that it dominated.
city-state
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The Maya government and religion in the Classic Period were linked because the Mayas believed that the king was _____________ from the gods.
descended
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Probably it was only the ___________ that learned to use the Mayas writing system.
scribes
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Although they had NO ______________, the Mayas were able to study and make detailed observations of the stars and planets.
telescopes
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The Maya had a system of writing, a system of numbers, highly accurate calendars, but they DID NOT have _______________
a specific language
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It was difficult for the Mayas to build stone pyramids because they had no _________________
wheeled vehicles
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Material remains such as pottery, buildings, and __________ are the most important and valid sources of information that achaeologist have about everyday life in __________ Maya society.
carvings, ancient
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The oldest civilization in the Americas started in an area called Mesoamerica, which is a region extending from __________
Central Mexico into Northern Central America
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What was the most brilliant of the Mesoamerican civilizations?
The Mayas
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What is the rain forest soil like?
thin and fragile
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Describe slash and burn agriculture
Farmers cleared small plots of land by cutting down the forest and burning the felled trees and plants to use as fertilizer
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What was the main crop farmers planted in the rain forest?
corn and beans
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Who rediscovered the Maya civilization?
John L. Stephen and Frederick Catherwood
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Where was the site of the Maya civilization discovered?
Buried under the jungle
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What are the 3 main periods of Maya civilization?
- 1. Pre classic
- 2. Classic
- 3. Post classic
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When was the pre-classic period of the Maya?
1800 BC - 250 AD
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By the time of the Classic Maya, what had they built dozens of?
cities
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What were some of the structures (buildings) found in cities?
temples, palaces
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When did the Maya civilization fall into ruin?
800-900 AD
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What are 3 reasons scholars believe why the Maya civilization collapsed?
- 1. natural disasters
- 2. drought
- 3. food shortages
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When did the Post-Classic Maya civilization end?
in the early 1500s
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Discoverers of the ancient Maya ruins
Stephens and Catherwood
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Area of central Mexico to northern Central America
Mesoamerica
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A long period with lower than usual rainfall
drought
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A method of farming used by the Mayas
slash and burn agriculture
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Half of the globe
hemisphere
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The Maya were able to farm in the ___________ after clearing and burning trees.
rain forest
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During the ____________ period, the Mayas began building their civilization
pre-classic
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Maya cities were places where major __________were held.
ceremonies
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Between 800 and 900, Maya civilization began to ________
collapse
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On what number was the Mayan number system based?
20
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What were the names of the three Mayan calendars?
- 1. ritual calendar
- 2. solar calendar
- 3. civil calendar
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What probably explains why the Maya used 20-day segments in their ritual calendar and 20-day months in their solar calendar?
Their number system was based on the number 20.
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Which calendar was used to keep track of religious days?
ritual calendar
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Which calendar would have been most useful in predicting the beginning of rainy seasons?
solar calendar
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Where did Mayas put their language characters?
walls, poetry and books
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Who were probably the only people in Mayan society who had the ability to read and write?
nobles and trained scribes
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What does ELITE mean?
a small group of highly privileged or skilled people.
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What was Maya writing based on?
hierogrlyphs
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What is a hieroglyph?
a symbol that stands for words, ideas and sounds
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What is a codex?
an ancient book that was written by hand
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Today, most of what scholars study and know about Mayan writing (glyphs) is found where?
on stone and statues
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What kind of telescopes did the Mayas have to study the sky?
they didn't have telescopes
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What is a STELA?
A stela is a carved stone slab or pillar usually created to celebrate an event or a person.
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