Andean
In which of the following early civilizations was large-scale irrigation not important?
- Mesopotamia
- Mesoamerica
- Egypt
- Mesoamerica
- Mesopotamia and Egypt depended heavily on irrigation agriculture, while Mesoamerican societies relied more on rainfall, terracing, and chinampas rather than massive river-based irrigation systems)
Which city was the capital of the Aztec Empire and is now buried beneath the streets of Mexico City?
- Tenochtitlán
Tenochtitlán was the Aztec capital built on Lake Texcoco. Modern Mexico City was later constructed over its ruins.
Which of the following describe the Andean coast?
- location of the Moche state
- earliest agriculture in the Americas
- location of Olmec society
- Location of the Moche state
- Earliest agriculture in the Americas came from Mesoamerica and coastal Peru concurrently, but the classic answer in archaeology is that domestication was earliest in Mesoamerica.
Olmec society is Mesoamerican, not Andean.
This animal was domesticated in America.
- goat
- sheep
- pig
- turkey
This site was the center of an early Andean chiefdom and included sunken plazas and carved stones with images of bizarre figures combining elements of humans, snakes, jaguars and other animals.
- Monte Verde
- Monte Albán
- La Venta
- Chavín de Huántar
- Chavín de Huántar
Chavín de Huántar, located in the Andean highlands of Peru, was the ceremonial center of an early Andean religious and political system. It is known for: Sunken plazas, Stone carvings with composite beings (humans + jaguars + snakes + other animals) and the Lanzón and Tello Obelisk, both featuring hybrid supernatural iconography
The social hierarchy of which of the following prehispanic cities most closely resembles that of Harappa in the Indus Valley?
Monte Albán
Moche
Teotihuacan
- Teotihuacan
Harappa had a relatively non-hierarchical, corporate, centrally planned urban layout rather than a highly individualized rulership.
Teotihuacan also exhibits corporate rule, limited focus on kingship, and strong urban planning, making it the best comparison.
What does the creation myth as presented in the Mixtec codices describe?
a. the epic of Gilgamesh
b. a covenant between people and deities
c. the dynastic history of Copán
The Pyramids of the Sun and Moon are found at this Mesoamerican site.
- Monte Albán
- Teotihuacan
- Ur
- Memphis
- Teotihuacan
Which of the following traits was shared by both Andean and Mesoamerican states?
- domesticated llamas and alpacas
- a writing system focused on economic transactions
- the Aztec empire
- the practice of ritual human sacrifice
- the practice of ritual human sacrifice
- Both Mesoamerican (e.g., Aztec, Maya) and Andean civilizations (e.g., Inca capacocha rites) practiced human sacrifice, although the rituals, cosmology, and purposes differed. This is the only shared feature among the options listed.
This site was an imperial estate of the Inca rulers.
Chavín de Huántar
Monte Albán
Machu Picchu
- Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu (built c. 1450 CE) is located high in the Andes Mountains of Peru. It served primarily as a royal estate and ceremonial retreat for the Sapa Inca (emperor), most likely Pachacuti.
Imagery from more than 300 carved stone slabs set into the facades of Building L-sub at Monte Albán indicate that political authority was both____
- based on violence and gifting
Which of the following was characteristic of the histories of all of the early civilizations we looked at in class?
a. cities arose before the state
b. sedentism occurred before domestication
c. social inequality developed before cities
d. egalitarian social organization arose with the state
As societies became more complex, factors such as differential access to resources, labor specialization, and control over surplus food led to hierarchical social structures. This process often began in large villages or sedentary communities, laying the groundwork for the later development of cities and states.
Which of the following was not an Andean empire?
- Aztec
- Tiwanaku
- Inca
- Aztec
- The Aztec Empire was located in Mesoamerica (primarily in the Basin of Mexico), not in the Andean region.
Over 300 carved stone portraits representing people performing autosacrifice to communicate with ancestors were set in the facades of a building at the Main Plaza of this site.
Monte Albán
Monte Verde
Teotihuacan
- Monte Albán
Monte Albán (Oaxaca, Mexico) featured carved stone monuments, including danzantes — human figures that appear to be sacrificed or bloodletting (autosacrifice) used for communication with ancestors. These carved stones were placed in temple facades and plazas.
The Mesoamerican Archaic period is characterized by which of the following?
Human occupation of Coxcatlán Cave
the earliest pottery
early chiefdoms
the peopling of the Americas
- Human occupation of Coxcatlán Cave
- Coxcatlán Cave in the Tehuacán Valley contains evidence of early domestication of maize and gradual transition to agriculture, defining the Archaic period.
Which of the following is a mountaintop city in the southern Mexican Highlands.
- Cuzco
- Monte Albán
- Memphis
- Teotihuacan
- Monte Albán
- Monte Albán was the Zapotec capital built high on a mountain ridge overlooking the Oaxaca Valley. Cuzco is in the Andes (South America), Memphis is in Egypt, and Teotihuacan is located in a valley basin, not a mountaintop.
Machu Picchu was the capital city of the Inca Empire.
False
- Machu Picchu was not the capital city of the Inca Empire. The capital of the Inca Empire was Cuzco (also spelled Cusco), located in modern-day Peru.
Machu Picchu was a royal estate built for the Inca emperor Pachacuti in the 15th century. It is an important archaeological site, but it was never the political or administrative center of the empire.
This city has the best evidence in Mesoamerica for landscape degradation due to agriculture at the end of the Classic Period.
Teotihuacan
Monte Albán
Copan
- Monte Albán
- Copan’s decline is strongly tied to deforestation, soil erosion, and agricultural overuse.
An early Andean city and state capital on the north coast of Peru dating to 200 B.C.-A.D. 600.
Moche
Tikal
Mohenjo-Daro
- Moche
- Moche was a major Andean state famous for warfare, sacrifice, irrigation, and fine ceramics.
People entered the Americas by...
- boating across the South Pacific Ocean
- walking across the frozen Atlantic
- walking across or boating along the Bering land bridge (Beringia)
- walking across an ice free corridor between Africa and the tip of South America
- walking across or boating along the Bering land bridge (Beringia)
- During the last Ice Age, lower sea levels exposed Beringia between Siberia and Alaska, allowing migration by land or coastally by boat.