Lesson 30: Achievements of the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas

• Scholars have learned about the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas by...


  • observing traditions passed down to descendants
  • reading accounts from Spanish soldiers and priests
  • studying artifacts at archeological sites
• Solar year


  the time it takes Earth to travel once around the sun
• The Maya were able to calculate the solar year because


  priests provided observations about the movement of stars and planets they took when studying the sky from observatories
• Every 52 years...


  the solar and sacred calendar fell on the same day; Calendar Round
• The Maya used place values for


  10s and 20s
• The Maya recognized the number


  zero
• Steles


  a vertical stone slab or pillar with carvings or inscriptions
• The Maya inscribed steles with...


  dates and hieroglyphics in honor of significant events
• Huipiles


  embroidered tunics made by Mayan women
• Corbel vault


  when Mayan builders stacked stones so that they gradually angled in toward each other to form a triangular archway
• The Mayans developed the most complex system of writing in the ancient Americas.
• Glyphs


  A symbol for a word, idea, or sound in a hieroglyphic system of writing
• Dialect


  a regional variety of a language
• The Mayas wrote hieroglyphics about...


  rulers, history, myths & gods, and astronomy
• Mayan groups spoke related dialects.
• Technological advancements show in Tenochtitlán:


  • chinampas
  • causeways
• Calendars helped the Aztecs with farming because...


  • solar calendar - tracked seasons
  • sacred calendar - predicted events and determined "lucky days"
• Sun Stone


  one of the most famous Aztec artifacts that shows the face of the sun god, included solar and sacred calendar
• Aztec poems


  • praises of the gods
  • told stories
  • celebrated the natural world
• Music and dance were important features of Aztec ceremonies and holidays.
• Aztec painters created scenes showing


  gods and religious ceremonies
• Aztec sculptors


  • stone statues
  • relief sculptures on temple walls
  • figures of people and animals from rock and jade
• Aztec craft and beauty surpassed that of earlier Mesoamerican cultures.


  True
• Aztec architecture is remembered for their...


  massive stone temples
• Pictographs(Aztecs)


  a drawing that stands for a word, phrase, or name
• Nahuatl


  the rich vocabulary of the Aztec language that allowed speakers to create new words and describe abstract concepts
• Maintaining tight control over a large empire was one of the Incas' most impressive accomplishments.


  True
• Suspension bridges (Incas)


  a bridge held up by cables anchored at each end
• Incan technological advances:


  • road system
  • terraces
  • canals
  • trephination (medicine)
• Trephination


  a type of surgery in which a hole is made in the skull
• Arts and Architecture of the Incas:


  • clothing textiles
  • golden objects
  • music: flutes, seashell horns, rattles, drums, panpipes
  • durable stone buildings