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Study Guide Answers

1.     What is the climate like in the part of Mexico that is below 3,000 feet?
     tropical - always hot
2.     Where, in Mexico, is the climate temperate?
     on the sides of mountain slopes
3.     Where, in Mexico, is the weather always cool?
     on the forested slopes and high plateaus between 7,000 and 10,000 feet above sea level
4.     What is the tallest of Mexico's volcanoes? How high is it?
     Mount Orizaba/ 18,700 feet
5.     According to legend, what is an Indian prince, transformed into a mountain?
     Popocatepetl
6.     The ancient prophets of Mexico described ____________________________ great periods of time.
     five
7.     How does each of these periods (referred to in #6) end?
     in disaster
8.     Who were Mexico's earliest inhabitants?
     Stone Age hunters
9.     How did the people (named in #8) get to the Americas?
     During the last Ice Age, they crossed a land bridge between what is now Siberia and Alaska.
10.     How long ago did primitive people arrive in Mexico?
     about 20,000 years ago
11.     When did Mexico's climate become hotter and drier?
     about 9,000 years ago
12.     People learned to weave plant fiber into ________________________, _______________________,and ___________________________________.
     baskets, rope, clothing
13.     During what period did native Mexicans begin to experiment with the cultivation of plants?
     the Archaïc Period
14.     Dogs served what purpose during the period of time named in #13 (above)?
     They were food.
15.     By when were many Mexicans living in small farming villages?
     by about 1500 BC
16.     The "Formative Period" is marked by evidence of what two things?
     increased use of pottery and numerous villages
17.     What was the most important food crop of "The Formative Period"?
     maize, or corn
18.     What developed to explain the origins of the vital food source named in #17 (above)?
     legends
19.     Maize is descended from a wild ___________________________________.
     grass
20.     Flat corn cakes are called "______________________________."
     tortillas
21.     What other crops were cultivated?
     beans, squash, chiles
22.     Chiles provided vitamin __________________.
     C
23.     In what regions were maguey thorns used as needles?
     in dry, highland regions
24.     For what was the juice of the maguey used?
     to make a nutritious, but intoxicating beverage
25.     What was an important source of meat?
     wild game ( also domesticated dogs, turkeys, and perhaps, ducks)
26.     Small pottery figures of ____________________________ were often buried with villagers.
     women
27.     When was Mexico's oldest complex civilization created?
     between 1200 and 900 BC
28.     What was the civilization referred to in #27 (above)?
     the Olmec civilization
29.     Where did the people of this civilization live and thrive?
     in the humid Gulf Coast Region
30.     What animal served as an important religious symbol for the people of this civilization?
     the jaguar
31.     Where have three important ceremonial centers of this civilization been found?
     La Venta, San Lorenzo, Tres Zapotes
32.     Where was stone quarried for this civilization's elaborately carved monuments?
     in the Tuxtla Mountains
33.     Physical features of the Olmecs appear to be similar to the physical features of what other people?
     Africans
34.     What place may have been an Olmec frontier outpost?
     Chalcatzingo, Morelas
35.     How is this region different from the Olmec homeland?
     It is much drier.
36.     In addition to mathematics, the Olmecs appear to have developed the New World's first _________________________________ and __________________________ writing.
     calendar/ hieroglyphic
37.     Olmec-influenced settlements grew in the Valley of ______________________________.
     Oaxaca
38.     Where was ancient Mexico's first true city? When did it come into existence?
     at Monte Alban/ about 500 BC
39.     The people of today's Oaxaca Valley are ____________________________________.
     Zapotecs
40.     The people of Monte Alban had a(n) _______________________-year calendar cycle.
     fifty-two
41.     For what was "Building J" probably used?
     an observatory
42.     Rulers of Monte Alban were in contact with residents of what other city-state?
     Teotihuacán
43.     In what region of Mexico was this other city-state?
     in the central highlands
44.     Teotihuacán achieved dominance over the Valley of _________________________.
     Mexico
45.     Teotihuacán is the location of the famous Pyramid of the ________________________.
     Sun
46.     Teotihuacán was at an intersection of ancient _________________________________________.
     trade routes
47.     What were the artificial islands used for farming, which were built in lakes?
     chinampas
48.     What was found in a cave that's covered by the Pyramid of the Sun?
     religious offerings that predate the founding of Teotihuacán
49.     When was Teotihuacán destroyed?
     circa 600 AD
50.     When did the Spanish conquerors arrive in Mexico?
     in 1519
51.     What indigenous civilization was in power at the time of the Spanish conquest?
     the Aztec civilization
© Educational Video Network, Inc. 2005 - www.evndirect.com
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