The Inca: mountain roads, terraces and the quipu
Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet
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Circle the best answer.
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Farming and storing food in the Andes
Topic What we know Terraces flat steps built into rugged mountain slopes to make more land for farming Crops potatoes and quinoa; maize grew in lower valleys but not at the highest places Stored food freeze-dried potatoes (chuño), maize and quinoa, kept in storehouses called qullqas along roads and near cities Machu Picchu built about 1450, high in the mountains; it is believed to have been an estate of the ruler Pachacuti, though no written records from the time confirm it What were terraces, Zee asks?
- Roads between valleys
- Flat steps in slopes
- Storehouses near cities
- Grass rope bridges
The cell marked ? is blank. Ari's chart has a blank: where did maize grow?
- Nowhere in the Andes
- In lower valleys
- In the rainforest and nowhere else
- At the highest peaks
Farming and storing food in the Andes
Topic What we know Terraces flat steps built into rugged mountain slopes to make more land for farming Crops potatoes and quinoa; maize grew in lower valleys but not at the highest places Stored food freeze-dried potatoes (chuño), maize and quinoa, kept in storehouses called qullqas along roads and near cities Machu Picchu built about 1450, high in the mountains; it is believed to have been an estate of the ruler Pachacuti, though no written records from the time confirm it What were qullqas, Bo asks?
- Terraces on slopes
- Relay runners
- Grass bridges
- Roadside storehouses
Why build terraces on mountain slopes, Esme asks?
- To make steep slopes farmable
- To build roads for carts
- To stop farming on the slopes
- To make the slopes even steeper
Why grow potatoes and quinoa high up, rather than maize, Jun asks?
- Quinoa was not a crop
- Potatoes need tropical heat
- Maize grew well on the high peaks
- Maize could not grow that high
Why put storehouses along the roads, Luz asks?
- Travelers carried no food
- Food could reach where needed
- Storehouses replaced roads
- Roads were the one patch of dry land
Stored food was a hedge against poor crop years. What does that mean, Milo asks?
- Fewer crops were planted
- A wall around the fields
- Saved food helped in bad years
- Food thrown away each year
Noah's chain reads: terraces → ? → food stored in qullqas. What fills the blank?
- Storehouses built terraces
- More food from more farmland
- Roads got longer
- Less food grown across the empire
Machu Picchu was built about 1450. About how many years ago is that, Ren asks?
- About 575 years ago
- About 57 years ago
- About 3,476 years ago
- About 1,450 years ago
Tala's note says, "Records from the time prove Machu Picchu was Pachacuti's estate." Which fix is right?
- Change "prove" to "historians believe"
- Change "estate" to "road"
- Leave it: records prove it
- Change "Pachacuti" to "Pachacamac"
