Geography & Homes
This civilization lived in the Andean mountains of South America and built terraced fields to farm on slopes.
Inca
Which civilization used hieroglyphics as a writing system?
Mayan
Name the famous Inca site high in the mountains known for its stone buildings and terraces.
Machu Picchu
The Aztecs practiced many ceremonies focused on what?
Religion
Which civilization used quipus: Mayan, Aztec, or Inca?
Inca
Name the modern-day country that was the center of the Aztec Empire (where Tenochtitlan once stood).
Mexico
The Incas did not have a written language. What system of knotted strings did they use for record-keeping?
Quipus
What large Aztec city featured temples, canals, and marketplaces?
Tenochtitlan
Name one farming technique the Maya used to grow crops in rainforest soil.
Slash-and-burn (also called swidden) agriculture
Which two civilizations built impressive pyramids or stepped temples?
Maya and Aztec
The Maya lived in rainforests across several modern countries. List two modern countries where Mayan people lived.
Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, southern Mexico (any two)
Give one example of information the Maya recorded using writing or glyphs
Astronomy, calendars, rulers' names, historical events
The Maya are known for building what stepped structures used for ceremonies and burials?
Pyramids
The Aztecs had a strong emphasis on education and the arts. True or False? Explain with one supporting detail.
True. (Support: they had organized schools and valued arts.)
State one similarity and one difference between Aztec and Inca engineering.
Similarity: Both built large public works (roads or causeways) to support their societies. Difference: Incas focused on roads/terraces for mountains; Aztecs focused on canals and island-city engineering.
300 (alternate phrasing) — Incas engineered roads and terraces for mountains; Aztecs engineered canals and chinampas for lake-based farming.
What was the Inca capital city that served as the heart of their empire?
Cusco
Explain one advantage and one disadvantage of the Inca quipu compared with a written alphabet.
Advantage: quipus stored numerical/accounting data; Disadvantage: less flexible for detailed narrative or widely shared reading.
Describe one engineering method the Incas used to build roads or bridges in mountainous terrain.
Used stone foundations, suspension-style rope bridges, switchbacks, and retaining walls to stabilize paths on steep slopes.
Give two examples of items or activities you might find in an Aztec marketplace.
Examples: food (corn, cacao), pottery, textiles, tools, traders offering goods, and currency-like cacao beans.
Contrast the Mayan writing system with the Inca record-keeping system in one clear sentence.
The Maya used written glyphs for detailed records; the Inca used quipus (knotted strings) for numeric/administrative records.
Explain why the Incas built terraces and road networks — give two reasons tied to their geography.
Terraces prevented erosion and created flat planting areas; roads connected distant regions for trade and control.
Describe how writing or record systems supported government or religion for any one of these civilizations (use text evidence).
Maya glyphs recorded rulers and calendar dates used to legitimize leadership and religious ceremonies.
Compare two architectural achievements — one from the Maya and one from the Aztecs — and explain how each reflects its environment or beliefs.
Maya stepped pyramids for ceremonies reflecting religious beliefs; Aztec temples and canals in Tenochtitlan showed urban planning for island-city life and ritual needs.
Describe how religion influenced at least one public building or practice in any of these civilizations.
Example: Large temples and pyramids used for religious ceremonies; sacrifices and rituals were central to public life.
Using a short paragraph (2–3 sentences), explain how the environment shaped the farming practices of the Maya and the Incas.
Sample paragraph: The Maya lived in rainforests, so they used slash-and-burn and raised fields to clear and enrich soil. The Incas lived in high mountains, so they built terraces to make flat farmland and roads to connect steep regions.