Mesoamerica Civilizations Quiz

Study Notes

Mesoamerica encompasses the region including Mexico and Central America, with pre-Columbian times being the most densely populated for the Americas.
It includes regions in North America through Central Mexico and Belize, Guatamala, Nicaragua, Honduras El Salvador, and northern Costa Rica.
It's home to the civilizations of the Olmec, Maya. Aztec, and Inca.

Flourished from 1200 B.C.– 600 A.D.
Olmec deities often represented natural elements, such as the Maize deity, the Rain Spirit, and the Fish or Shark Monster.
Their religious activities included offerings made by elite rulers at religious sites.
Olmec art, crafted from materials like jade, clay, basalt, and greenstone, often depicted naturalistic and anthropomorphic creatures with symbolic religious meaning.
Their art often featured downturned mouths and cleft heads, along with depictions of were-jaguars and the rain deity.

Excelled in agriculture, pottery, hieroglyph writing, calendar-making, mathematics, and left behind impressive architecture and symbolic artwork.
Most of their stone cities were abandoned by A.D. 900.

The Mayan Calendar consists of two parts: a solar calendar of 365 days and a sacred calendar of 260 days.
Their units of time are the Kin, Uinal, Tun, Katun, and Baktun.
The Kin represents one day, the Uinal is 20 days, the Tun is 365 days, the Katun is 7,200 days, and the Baktun is 144,000 days.
The Long Count is based on a cycle of 13 baktuns, which equates to 1,872,000 days.

Aztec people created a famous calendar known as the “Sun Stone” which depicted a god called Tonatiuh at its center.
Their language, Classical Nahuatl, was not written with an alphabet but used a series of glyphs which represented sounds.
The Aztec glyphs were used in three different ways: pictograms, ideograms, and phonograms.

The Inca organized their government in a hierarchical structure.
They had a system of taxation to manage their resources and finances.
Their architectural achievements are showcased by amazing structures, such as forts, sanctuaries, and palaces.

The Inca road system was a remarkable achievement, spanning 25,000 miles, connecting their vast empire.
Their unique messenger service allowed for the swift communication of orders and information throughout the empire.
This elaborate system included stations, inns, and storage depots to supply troops, provide travelers with rest, and sustain messenger services.
The Q'eswachaka bridge, a suspension bridge over the Apurimac River, stands as a testament to their engineering prowess in bridge construction.