Download Mesoamerica Vocabulary Study Guide Olmec: civilization that

1. Olmec: civilization that created huge stone heads (up to 20 tons
in weight) thought to show important chiefs or ball players.
2. Maya: civilization that vanished & archaeologists have only
possible theories; adopted calendar from Olmecs; developed mathematic
system that included a zero & an advanced system of writing (using paper
made from tree bark).
3. Toltec: civilization whose chief god was Quetzalcoatl; great builders who
built the holy city of Teotihuacan, which was the greatest city of its time &
was burned by the Toltecs around 900 A.D.
4. Inca: civilization located high in Andes Mountains in S. America (important
cities: Cuzco-the capital & Machu Picchu); master builders (castles/temples)
without using any mortar (stones were cut perfectly to fit
together); doctors/priests capable of performing brain surgery
(Inca royalty was preserved using mummification); excellent
metalworkers & farmers (farmed on slopes on mts. using
irrigation- Llamas carried supplies & maize (corn) most important crop.
5. Aztec: greatest civilization of Mesoamerica; built great city,
Tenochtitlan on a swampy island in Lake Texcoco & center
attraction was “The Great Temple”; worshiped many gods &
performed human sacrifices (usually prisoners of war);
expanded empire from Pacific Ocean to Gulf of Mexico-height of empire had
5 million people; empire conquered by Hernando Cortes because Emperor
Montezuma thought he was the god, Quetzalcoatl, returning as the legend
foretold.
6. quicochico: coming-of-age celebration for Inca girls that begins with days
of fasting and ends with festivities such as dancing and singing to declare a
young girl’s womanhood.
7. floating gardens: “chinampas”- offered a solution to
problem of infertile soil in Aztec civilization which allowed
the fertile mud to be elevated on rafts that were
anchored to the bottom of the lake, producing large harvests.
8. telpochcalli: a boarding school where Aztec boys (ages 6-10) were trained
to be warriors. At age 10, when they became warriors, their goal was to
capture or kill 4 prisoners in order to become an Aztec citizen, or tequina.
9. macahuitl: an Aztec wooden sword edged with sharp pieces of (obsidian)
volcanic glass used by Aztec warriors.
10.pictographs: symbols used by Aztecs to
represent words, since they did not have an
alphabet.
11.cocao beans: from which chocolate is made;
highly prized by
Mesoamericans;
wealthy families drank a chocolate
drink called xocoatl. When Cortes
arrived at Tenochititlan, the emperor had over 2 million pounds of cocao beans
stored in warehouses; Cortes introduced chocolate to Europe-where it was
sweetened with sugar & vanilla, like today’s chocolate.
12.Quetzalcoatl: the feathered serpent god of the Aztecs & Toltecs who
believed the legend that this god left or had been driven from the land, one
day to return.
13.reservoir: used by the Aztecs to store fresh water after
aqueducts carried water into the city.
14.causeway: a raised roadway with a removable wooden bridge built by the
Aztecs, which allowed civilization to travel from island to mainland.