Deck 13: The Emergence of State Societies in the Americas

Question 1

Complex chiefdoms are another term for state societies.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Basalt was a luxury commodity used for elite purposes in Olmec cultures.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

The Olmec site of El Manatí has the earliest evidence for the Mesoamerican ballgame.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

City planning at Teotihuacan was on a grid system centered on two long, intersecting avenues.

Question 5

The Aztecs worshipped some Teotihuacan deities.

Question 6

Maya city states co-existed peacefully with each other.

Question 7

Maya kings had divine status.

Question 8

The layout of Maya cities symbolically represented Maya cosmology.

Question 9

Tikal was the smallest Maya city.

Question 10

Blood letting was a ritual practice of many Mesoamerican societies.

Question 11

Chavín de Huántar was the first South American state.

Question 12

Workers who built the Moche Pyramids of the Sun and Moon may have been fulfilling a form of state tax.

Question 13

Textiles were considered prestige items in Andean society.

Question 14

Moche portrait pottery vessels depict deities worshipped by the Moche.

Question 15

Tiwanaku and Wari were contemporary states.

Question 16

Tiwanaku and Moche monumental structures are similar in that they are made of the same raw materials.

Question 17

Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Inca empire.

Question 18

Chinampas were fertile blocks of reclaimed swampland.

Question 19

As well as enabling rapid transfer of information, the Inca road system served as a propaganda tool.

Question 20

Writing was the only medium used to transfer information in Mesoamerica and South America

Question 21

The Olmec elite of San Lorenzo were able to control trade because

A) they were the most powerful group in the region
B) San Lorenzo was strategically placed on trade routes
C) all the traded goods originated in San Lorenzo
D) the traded goods originated in La Venta

Question 22

Olmec is not considered a state because

A) there is no evidence for rulers
B) there are no monumental buildings in San Lorenzo or La Venta
C) there is no evidence of a formal army, taxation or warfare
D) there is no ranking in the society

Question 23

Evidence for the way of life of Maya peasants at Tikal and Copan comes from

A) Maya inscriptions
B) Maya art
C) archaeology
D) Spanish missionaries

Question 24

The 2,200 glyphs on the steps of the Hieroglyphic Stairway describe

A) myths
B) the dynastic lineage of all Maya cities
C) Maya laws
D) the dynastic lineage of Copan

Question 25

Oxygen and strontium isotope analyses of a sample of human skeletons at Teotihuacan indicated that

A) many people had suffered from starvation
B) some people were not originally from Teotihuacan
C) some people had been victims of cannibalistic practices
D) some people had died from a contagious disease

Question 26

Evidence indicates that subsistence at the ritual center of El Paraíso, Peru, was based primarily on

A) maize, beans and corn
B) littoral resources
C) animal sacrifices
D) wild plants and animals

Question 27

The Moche Pyramids of the Sun and Moon at Cerro Blanco were built in

A) one phase by a specialist workforce
B) one phase by Moche warriors
C) multiple phases by different groups as part payment of state taxes
D) multiple phases by Moche warriors during peacetime

Question 28

Ritual combat between Moche warriors and the subsequent sacrifice ceremony is suggested by

A) the iconography on some Moche pottery
B) high status burials at Sipan
C) marks on skeletons at the Pyramid of the Moon
D) all of the previous

Question 29

Intensive cultivation of tubers and grain around Tiwanaku was possible

A) because the land was particularly fertile
B) through a system of raised fields and complex hydraulic technologies
C) because agricultural workers lived at Tiwanaku
D) because Tiwanaku leaders forced peasants to work long hours

Question 30

The grid layout of high, thick walled rectangular compounds is characteristic of
Architecture

A) Moche
B) Tiwanaku
C) Wari
D) Maya

Question 31

Wari and Tiwanaku are similar in that

A) they were both vassal states under the Inca
B) they had colonies beyond their borders
C) their capitals were located on the coast of Peru
D) marine foods were their primary source of food

Question 32

Spanish colonial documents on the Aztec and Inca

A) provide an unbiased account of both empires
B) provide a biased account of both empires
C) deal only with sacrifice ceremonies
D) deal only with technology

Question 33

The market at Tlatelolco was

A) typical of all Aztec markets
B) typical of all Aztec markets but on a larger scale
C) not a typical Aztec market
D) typical of all Aztec markets but on a smaller scale

Question 34

At Aztec markets people used lengths of cotton cloth as a form of currency for large transactions but paid for small transactions with

A) maize kernels
B) cowrie shells
C) cacao beans
D) bronze coins

Question 35

Commoners in Aztec society could achieve upward mobility through

A) bribery
B) entering the priesthood
C) marrying a rich person
D) inheritance

Question 36

Aztecs believed that human sacrifice had a divine purpose, but they also used it as a

A) way of getting more meat in their diet
B) way of controlling population numbers
C) form of propaganda
D) way of collecting blood for blood transfusions

Question 37

Tawantinsuyu was the Inca name for

A) their capital city
B) the Inca empire
C) the territory ruled by their enemies
D) the former territory ruled by Tiwanaku

Question 38

When the Inca conquered new areas they

A) killed all the native peoples
B) killed some of the natives and enslaved the rest
C) moved part of the conquered peoples to a different region of the empire
D) moved all the male population to a different region

Question 39

Mit'a was a form of labor through which people

A) avoided joining the army
B) paid their state taxes
C) participated in religious ceremonies
D) helped their neighbors build their houses

Question 40

The Inca practised human sacrifice

A) on a scale equal to the Aztecs
B) but sacrificed camelids and textiles in greater quantity than humans
C) on a large scale but sacrificed only the old and infirm
D) of soldiers

Question 41

Which aspects of Olmec culture are present in later Mesoamerican states?

Question 42

How did the environment of the Maya area affect the development of Maya states?

Question 43

Comment on the sources of information for Mesoamerican and South American states and empires.

Question 44

What caused Copan's decline as a power?

Question 45

Discuss the factors that may have underpinned Teotihuacan's power.

Question 46

Was Teotihuacan influential outside its borders? If so, how?

Question 47

Evaluate the evidence for the Moche sacrifice ceremony.

Question 48

In what ways was Tiwanaku a ceremonial center and secular city?

Question 49

Which aspects of the Inca empire reflect Wari influences?

Question 50

What was the basis of Aztec power?

Question 51

What was the basis of Inca power?

Question 52

Was there an Olmec state?

Question 53

Discuss the role of ideology in Maya states.

Question 54

Compare warfare and ritual in the Maya and Moche states.

Question 55

Consider the role of sacrifice in Mesoamerican and South American states and empires.

Question 56

In what ways are the Aztec and Inca empires similar? How do they differ?

Question 57

How did technology influence the development of the Aztec and Inca empires?