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Study Guide Questions

1.     When were the ruins of ancient cities found in the jungles of southern Mexico, Guatemala, and Yucatán?
2.     Who made the discoveries referred to in #1 (above)?
3.     Who made drawings of the sites referred to in #1 (above)?
4.     The cities referred to in #1 (above) were built by whose ancestors?
5.     Mayan civilization was based on a(n) __________________________ system developed thousands of years before their rise.
6.     Nearly 3,000 years ago, an elite class of ____________________________ and ___________________emerged in the humid Gulf Coast region.
7.     What people invented the systems of writing and mathematics adopted by the Mayas?
8.     When did settlements begin to grow in size and complexity?
9.     What connected Mayan villages with other developing centers of civilization?
10.     When did Mayan civilization reach its artistic and intellectual height?
11.     Lowland Mayan monuments were inscribed with dates based on ______________________________.
12.     Mayas measured time in terms of __________________________________ calendars.
13.     There was a ceremonial cycle of ________________ days and a solar year of ______________ days.
14.     In most cases, a complete calendar "round" consisted of ____________________________.
15.     What city influenced the Mayan region between the first and seventh centuries AD?
16.     When did Mayan civilization reach its zenith?
17.     When were many lowland Mayan cities abandoned?
18.     There are ruins of classic Mayan cities from _________________________________ to _________________________________.
19.     A Mayan ruin in ________________________, Guatemala, had six tall temple pyramids and an estimated population of 50,000.
20.     Coba means "__________________________________________."
21.     The Coba settlement is scattered over how many square miles?
22.     The tall, steep pyramids at Coba served as ____________________________________________.
23.     El Castillo rises how many feet above the forest canopy?
24.     What does the coastal location of Tulum reflect?
25.     By the time that the settlement at Tulum was built, most classic Mayan villages had already been in ruins for hundreds of years. True or false?
26.     What is Palenque?
27.     What dominates the palace at Palenque?
28.     What are distinctive elements of classic Mayan architecture?
29.     The palace at Palenque is built around a(n) ________________________.
30.     The palace at Palenque features portraits of prisoners in postures of ___________________________.
31.     When did Lord Pacal die? With what was he buried?
32.     What does Lord Pacal's death mask symbolize?
33.     Murals at what place offer insights about life and warfare during the late classical Mayan period?
34.     The murals referred to in #33 (above) tell about what?
35.     The murals referred to in #33 (above) date to when?
36.     What was the most westerly of the important Mayan cities?
37.     Of what were temples in Comalcalco built? Why?
38.     Mortar for the temples at Comalcalco was made from what?
39.     What is the tropical plant that yields chocolate?
40.     What are the low, stony hills that lie northward on the Yucatán Peninsula?
41.     What was constructed to store rain water in the region referred to in #40 (above)?
42.     Puuc buildings are faced with thin slabs of _____________________________.
43.     Many buildings in the Puuc region feature the hooked nose of _______________________, a(n)________________________ god.
44.     The palace at __________________________ shimmers like gold in the evening.
45.     An elaborately decorated archway can be seen at ________________________.
46.     What is the largest of the Puuc sites?
47.     The most splendid buildings of the city named in #46 (above) date from when?
48.     Uxmal is dominated by what?
49.     The "Nunnery" at Uxmal was probably what, in reality?
50.     What motif seen on buildings at Uxmal suggests contact with central Mexico?
51.     What is Uxmal's finest structure?
52.     What guards the structure named in # 51 (above)?
53.     Some possible reasons for the downfall of classical Mayan cities in the tropical lowlands are:
54.     What people invaded the Mayan territory during the late 10th Century?
55.     Where is the story of the Toltec victory over the Yucatán Mayas carved in stone?
56.     How did the Toltec invaders arrive at Chichén Itzá?
57.     What happened to the defeated Mayan leaders?
58.     What is the earliest known round structure in the Yucatán?
59.     For what was the Caracol probably used?
60.     What was the name of the central Mexican feathered serpent god?
61.     What is Quetzalcoatl called in the Yucatán?
62.     Where was the Toltec capital?
63.     What is the "Well of Sacrifice" at Chichén Itzá?
64.     Cenotes were thought to be the homes of the ______________________________________.
65.     When did the Toltecs abandon Chichén Itzá?
© Educational Video Network, Inc. 2005 - www.evndirect.com
Your leading source for curriculum-based educational videos and DVDs.