Early Migrations
Mesoamerican Civilizations
Culture & key terms
Challenge
100

This strip of land once connected Asia to Alaska.

What is the Bering Land Bridge?

100

This was the first known civilization in Mesoamerica.

Who were the Olmec?

100

What was the ice age?

What is: a time when Earth had freezing temperatures and large amounts of water froze into huge ice sheets?

100

What did the Inca use instead of a writing system?

What are: Quipu (knotted strings)?

200

Lower sea levels caused by this Ice Age feature made the land bridge possible.

What are glaciers?

200

The Olmec are especially known for these large stone creations.

What are stone buildings and sculptures?

200

Movement of people or animals from one region to another.

What is migration?

200

If you were a member of the Aztec empire, this is one way you might gain wealth.

What is trade or tribute?

300

These people are believed to have crossed into Alaska between 38,000 and 10,000 BC.

Who were the Paleo-Indians?

300

This civilization built canals to control water in their cities.

Who were the Maya?

300

A group’s common values and traditions are called this.

What is culture?

300

Historians still don’t know why this civilization collapsed in the 900s.

Who were the Maya?

400

Paleo-Indians survived by doing this instead of farming.

What is hunting and gathering?

400

The Aztec capital city, founded in 1325, became the greatest city in the Americas.

What is Tenochtitlán?

400

The term for people who hunted animals and gathered wild plants for food.

Who are hunter-gatherers?

400

Imagine you lived in the Inca empire. What was one advantage of their roads?

What is easier travel and communication across the empire?

500

True or False: We know exactly when Paleo-Indians crossed into North America.

False: There are many theories, but the leading one is that people traveled across the land bridge on foot!

500

This South American empire built a vast system of roads and bridges.

Who were the Inca?

500

The climate and landscape surrounding living things.

What is environment?

500

Explain how different environments in the Americas influenced the development of societies.

Open-ended — hunting/gathering vs. farming, climate differences, etc.