Download Ancient Cultures of Middle America Midsemester Exam Fall 2010

Ancient Cultures of Middle America
Midsemester Exam Fall 2010, Page 1
Anthropology 3618 Ancient Cultures of Middle America
Final Exam
22 December 2010
This exam is available in electronic form
from your
folder Week 16
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your emailname_MA_final
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Upload all six of your questions in one file.
Do not upload them separately in six files.
You must finish and turn in or upload this exam by 1:55 p.m.
Answer SIX (only 6) of the following questions. Keep in mind that there is more than one
approach you can take in answering these questions. Each question is worth up to 100 points.
Follow these guidelines:
 Organize your answer before you begin.
 Be sure to state:
1. What or who something is
2. Where it occurred or is located (if appropriate)
3. Why it is important
3. When it occurred
 State YOUR position or approach clearly.
 Cite specific examples or references to support your statements.
 Mention problem areas or other relevant materials which you would like to
consider further in a more thorough statement.
 Summarize your argument or discussion.
 Wherever appropriate use materials from more than one region of the world.
 Remember that each of your responses should have a beginning, a middle, and
an end.
Note: Do not discuss any topic at length in more than one question.
Ancient Cultures of Middle America
1.
Midsemester Exam Fall 2010, Page 2
From the Moodle Wiki:
(A) What is the "Popol Vuh" and why would it be significant to contemporary
research relating to Mesoamerica?
(B) Compare the "Popol Vuh" to one similar thing in Ancient Mesoamerica.
2.
From the Moodle Wiki:
(A) Water is an extremely important resource of any settled farming community.
Explain and discuss three major creative ways water resources have been
utilized in ancient Middle America.
(B) How do the farmers of modern Middle America harvest water?
3.
From the Moodle Wiki:
Describe the economic structure of the Aztec “empire” during the time just before
contact. Explain how this is related to Cortés success in conquering the Aztec
capital of Tenochtitlán.
4.
From the Moodle Wiki:
Describe three of the theories of why Mayan civilization collapsed. Which do you
believe is most plausible, and why?
5.
6.
From the Moodle Wiki:
(A)
Describe Quetzalcoatl and his historical and philosophical significance in
Aztec and Mayan Cultures.
(B)
Why was the legend of Quetzalcoatl so important?
From the Moodle Wiki:
(A) Why are Tula and Chichen Itzá considered "sister cities"?
(B) Do you agree that they should be considered "sister cities." Why, or why
not?
Ancient Cultures of Middle America
7.
Midsemester Exam Fall 2010, Page 3
From the Moodle Wiki:
El Juego de Pelota, the ancient ball game played by Mesoamericans, was
played not for fun but for sacrifice.
(A) Briefly describe this tradition and its prehistoric importance.
(B) Do you believe this tradition has become a part of the modern sports world
of today? Or is it a different class of "sport" entirely? Why or why not?
8.
From the Moodle Wiki:
(A) Describe the significance of jade to the Mayan Culture, specifically the
elites. As part of your answer discuss why the color green is so sacred to
the Ancient Maya and what effect it holds on their culture?
(B) Compare that to the video The Sweat of the Sun.
9.
The video Secrets of the Dead: "Aztec Massacre" was advertised as portraying
“a . . . discovery . . . in Mexico [which] is turning history on its head. ‘Aztec
Massacre’ paints a new picture of the . . . relations between the Aztecs and the
Conquistadors and rewrites much of what we thought we knew about the Aztec
civilization.”
Discuss the “new picture” portrayed in “Aztec Massacre” and why the producers
of the film think it “is turning history on its head” and rewriting “much of what we
thought we knew about the Aztec civilization.”
10.
From the Moodle Wiki:
Compare the Classic and Post-Classic periods of Ancient Middle American
culture in terms of how they were portrayed in the videos "The Fifth World of the
Aztecs" (episode 4 of the Spirits of the Jaguar series) and "Forests of the Maya"
(episode 2 of the Spirits of the Jaguar series).
11.
The video Lost Kingdoms of the Maya showed archaeologists digging at a rather
unusual Mayan site. Describe this site and discuss its relevance and importance
to Middle American archaeology in general.
Ancient Cultures of Middle America
12.
Midsemester Exam Fall 2010, Page 4
Optional Take-Home Question:
NOTE: Essentially you may make up ONE question total. You may either do that as a take-home
and bring it to class with you, or you may do that in class the day of the exam. If you elect to do the
optional take-home exam and bring it with you to class, then you must choose five (5) additional of
the remaining questions presented on the actual exam, as they are presented on the exam.
If you do not like these questions, make up and answer a question of your own
choice relating to a topic which you have not considered in your other answers.
Answers should contain specific information supporting your position. Both your
question and your answer will be evaluated. If you like these questions but
simply prefer to make one of your own, go ahead.
If you elect to make up and answer a question, you may prepare your question
and answer in advance and bring them with you to the exam. If you prepare
your question and answer in advance you only need to answer five (5) midterm
exam questions in class.
13.
On Current Affairs:
A lead article in Science, 6 December 2010, raises the question . . .
Did Climate Change Drive Prehistoric Culture Change?
by Michael Balter on 6 December 2010
The full text of the Science article is available below and on-line.
For Question 13 critique this article based on what you have learned this
semester. Include as part of your discussion how this material relates to
Ancient Middle America.
Did Climate Change Drive Prehistoric Culture Change?
by Michael Balter on 6 December 2010
<http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/12/did-climate-change-drive-prehist.html>
Earth is warming, climate researchers say, and sooner or later we will have to adjust our lifestyles if we
want to adapt and survive. Perhaps we should take a cue from earlier occupants of North America. A new
study finds a strong correlation between changing climate and changing culture in the prehistoric United
States.
Archaeologists divide the prehistory of North America into three broad cultural phases: the Paleoindian,
Archaic, and Woodland periods. They are characterized by an increasing trend toward sedentary lifestyles
and shifts in the kinds of plants and animals people lived on, as well as changes in the kinds of tools and
other artifacts they used. For example, during the Paleoindian period, which began roughly 13,500 years
ago, humans lived in small nomadic bands and hunted big game such as caribou; the Archaic period,
Ancient Cultures of Middle America
Midsemester Exam Fall 2010, Page 5
which began in the Northeast about 11,250 years ago, was marked by a shift to smaller game, the rise of
fishing, and semipermanent base camps; and the Woodland period, starting about 3000 years ago, saw
the beginning of agriculture and full-fledged village life as well as the advent of pottery.
The archaeological record often reflects these cultural transitions. Fishing hooks show up in the Archaic
period, for example, and pottery for storing grain first appears during the Woodland period.
Did climate change cause these shifts? Some researchers say yes. In 2005, for example, a team led by
archaeologist Paige Newby of Brown University found that during a cold snap called the Younger Dryas,
which lasted from 12,900 to 11,600 years ago, Paleoindians used a special spearhead called a fluted point
to hunt large game such as the cold-adapted caribou. But they abandoned its use as soon as things
began to warm up when the Younger Dryas ended, the caribou disappeared, and Earth began to enjoy
temperatures similar to today's.
To see just how tight the connections between prehistoric climate and culture might be, a team at the
University of Ottawa in Canada, led by geographer Samuel Munoz, analyzed the best available data from
the northeastern United States. The study area covered archaeological sites from Maine to Pennsylvania
and included 1887 radiocarbon dates from more than 500 sites, 63 pollen and 40 charcoal records (which
indicate what kinds of plants were present), as well as isotope records from lake sediments and lake-level
measurements (which give indications of temperature and soil moisture).
The team found that nearly all of the transitions between one cultural period and the next occurred at
times of ecological and environmental changes. Thus the Paleoindian period, 13,500 to 11,250 years ago,
was characterized by the presence of cold-adapted plants such as sedges and spruce and pine trees; the
so-called Early Archaic period, 11,250 to 8200 years ago and corresponding to warmer climes, saw a
decrease in pine and an increase in oak trees; and 8200 years ago, when another, short cold spell hit
much of the world, prehistoric humans underwent another cultural shift known as the Middle Archaic
period. The Late Archaic, beginning 5250 years ago, and the Woodland period 3000 years ago were
accompanied by yet more climate and vegetation shifts, Munoz and his colleagues report online today in
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The authors don't claim that climate change directly drove cultural change, but they do argue that
prehistoric humans periodically "adjusted their tool kits" in response to climate changes.
Munoz says that only future research in more regions, along with closer study of individual archaeological
sites, will enable researchers to pinpoint just how climate caused cultural changes. And he cites the recent
fluted-point study as an important step in that direction.
Bryan Shuman, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Wyoming in Laramie and a co-author on the
fluted-point study, says the correlations in the new study are "striking," adding that "the major cultural
transitions happen right when the major climate and ecological transitions take place." He agrees with
Munoz that further work is needed to investigate just how prehistoric humans adapted to those transitions.
But Anthony Brown, a paleoenvironmentalist at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom,
cautions that the cultural periods used in the study might not have been accurately identified. Often, Brown
says, archaeologists excavating sites with few cultural artifacts use radiocarbon dates to guess which
culture they are dealing with, thus creating a "circular process" that could make the team's attempts to
correlate culture and climate "problematic."
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Midsemester Exam Fall 2010, Page 6
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