The Inca: mountain roads, terraces and the quipu

Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Inca records and a bridge

   Topic	What we know
   Quipus	cords of cotton or llama-family fiber with knots; knots in a base-ten place system stored numbers; a quipu could have a few cords or several thousand
   Reading quipus	the Inca kept careful census records on quipus, but knowledge of how to read most of them was lost
   Queshuachaca	the last Inca rope bridge, of grass ropes over the Apurímac River; local people still renew it each June

   On a quipu cord, knots higher up stand for hundreds, then tens, then ones at the bottom; a gap with no knots means zero.

2. 1.

   How would 470 look on a quipu cord, Luz asks?

   • 4 hundreds, 7 ones, a gap for tens
   • 47 knots in the ones
   • 4 hundreds, 7 tens, a gap for ones
   • 11 knots in a row
3. 2.

   The Inca had no writing system. How did they keep census records, Milo asks?

   • In books of paper
   • They kept no records
   • On quipus of knotted cords
   • On clay tablets
4. 3.

   Knowledge of how to read most quipus was lost. What does that mean for historians, Noah asks?

   • Quipus were books
   • There are no quipus left
   • Much of what they record can't yet be read
   • Each quipu can be read easily
5. 4.

   Why might colors and the order of cords matter on a quipu, Pia asks?

   • They showed the weather
   • They sorted the information into groups
   • They were just decoration
   • They stood for letters

6. Two societies, same columns

   Society	Land and farming	Building and engineering	Records, writing and numbers
   Maya	maize, beans, squashes and chili peppers in the tropical lowlands	stone cities with tall buildings and carved monuments	a writing system of word signs and syllables, now mostly deciphered; numbers in twenties with a shell for zero
   Inca	potatoes, quinoa and maize, grown on terraces in the Andes	roads of about 30,000 to 40,000 km and fine stonework, built without wheels or iron	no writing system; quipus stored numbers in tens

7. 5.

   Using the same columns, how did Maya and Inca records differ, Ren asks?

   • The Inca wrote; the Maya used cords
   • Both used quipus
   • Both wrote books
   • Maya writing; Inca quipus
8. 6.

   Which column shows that both societies farmed, but in very different land, Tala asks?

   • Society: both were Maya
   • Land and farming
   • Records: both wrote
   • Building: both used wheels
9. 7.

   Which society's engineering is described as working without wheels or iron, Zee asks?

   • The Maya
   • The Inca
   • Neither
   • Both

10. Inca records and a bridge

    Topic	What we know
    Quipus	cords of cotton or llama-family fiber with knots; knots in a base-ten place system stored numbers; a quipu could have a few cords or several thousand
    Reading quipus	the Inca kept careful census records on quipus, but knowledge of how to read most of them was lost
    Queshuachaca	the last Inca rope bridge, of grass ropes over the Apurímac River; local people still renew it each June

    On a quipu cord, knots higher up stand for hundreds, then tens, then ones at the bottom; a gap with no knots means zero.

11. 8.

    Local people still renew the Queshuachaca grass bridge each June. Is that change or continuity, Ari asks?

    • Change: the bridge is new each year, so nothing carries on
    • Neither
    • Change: it was built last year
    • Continuity: the old skill carries on
12. 9.

    Why would a grass rope bridge need renewing often, Bo asks?

    • Grass ropes wear out over time
    • Bridges need no care
    • Grass gets stronger each year
    • The river moves the bridge
13. 10.

    Esme's note says, "Inca quipus are a kind of writing, like Maya glyphs." Which fix is right?

    • Change it: quipus stored numbers on cords
    • Leave it: records of any kind are writing
    • Change "cords" to "tablets"
    • Change "Inca" to "Tang"