The Maya: city-states, a calendar, writing, and mathematics with zero

Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Challenge Me

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Numbers, laser maps and languages (cards A to D; summaries in our words). Card A, Maya numbers: a dot is 1, a bar is 5 and a shell is 0. A number is written in levels. The bottom level counts ones, the level above counts twenties, and the level above that counts 400s. Card B, Inca counting: the Inca had no writing system. They kept records on quipus, cords with knots. The position of a group of knots on the cord shows ones, tens or hundreds, and a gap with no knots stands for zero. Card C, a laser survey (2018): archaeologists used lidar, a laser scan from aircraft, over about 2,100 square kilometers of forest in northern Guatemala. Lasers measure the ground through gaps between treetops. The survey found more than 60,000 structures, many hidden under the trees and missing from earlier maps. The researchers say the lowlands may have held many more people than earlier estimates. Card D, languages today: more than 20 Maya languages are spoken in Guatemala today, by millions of people.

2. 1.

   A Maya number has two levels. The upper level shows two dots. The lower level shows a bar and a dot. What number is it, Ren asks?

   • 8, found by adding the 2 and the 6 without using the levels
   • 46, since two twenties is 40 and a bar and a dot is 6
   • 26, reading the 2 and the 6 side by side as a two-digit number
   • 106, counting the upper level as hundreds and the lower level as ones
3. 2.

   A Maya number has a shell on the lower level and three dots on the upper level. What number is it, Tala asks?

   • 3, since the shell means nothing and the three dots are worth 3
   • 30, since the shell stands for ten and the three dots are three
   • 63, since the shell adds 3 more on top of the three twenties
   • 60, since three twenties is 60 and the shell adds nothing
4. 3.

   How would a Maya scribe write 75 in levels, Zee asks?

   • A bar and two dots on the upper level, and a bar on the lower level
   • Three dots on the upper level and a shell on the lower level
   • Three bars on the upper level and three dots on the lower level
   • Three dots on the upper level and three bars on the lower level
5. 4.

   Cards A and B describe two ways to record numbers. What do the Maya and Inca systems share, Ari asks?

   • Both count in twenties, though the Inca tied knots and the Maya drew marks
   • Both used a shell shape for zero, drawn on the page or tied on a cord
   • Both had a writing system for words as well as numbers on their records
   • Both use position to show a mark's value, and both have a way to show zero
6. 5.

   A student writes, "Maya lowland cities were small and few." Which card challenges that most directly, Bo asks?

   • Card A, which explains how dots, bars and a shell make up numbers on the upper and lower levels
   • Card D, which says millions of people speak Maya languages in Guatemala today, so the cities were large
   • Card B, which shows that the Inca kept their records on knotted cords that stand for numbers
   • Card C, where a laser survey found over 60,000 structures in about 2,100 square kilometers
7. 6.

   Card C says lasers measure the ground through gaps between treetops. Why can lidar find what earlier ground surveys missed, Jun asks?

   • It counts the people who live in the area today, so it finds hidden villages
   • It maps the ground through gaps in the leaves, showing mounds hidden under thick forest
   • It reads the carved dates on monuments from the air, so it finds the age of each ancient city
   • It digs test pits across the forest at once, so it finds buried objects quickly
8. 7.

   Card C's researchers say the lowlands may have held many more people than earlier estimates. Which statement is most careful, Kira asks?

   • The structures say nothing about how many people lived there, so the researchers' claim has no support from the laser survey
   • The structures give the exact number of people who lived in each ancient city
   • The laser team's claim settles the matter, so earlier studies are simply wrong
   • The structures suggest more people may have lived there, but counting structures is not counting people
9. 8.

   Card D says more than 20 Maya languages are spoken in Guatemala today. What does that suggest about the Maya, Luz asks?

   • The languages are unchanged from Classic times, so nothing in Maya life has changed
   • The Classic cities were abandoned because the languages divided into more than 20 kinds
   • People still speak Maya languages, so Maya culture continued after the Classic cities
   • The Maya disappeared long ago, and the languages spoken today came from elsewhere
10. 9.

    Which source would best show how Classic Maya scribes themselves wrote numbers, Milo asks?

    • A carved or painted text made by Classic Maya scribes, read by a specialist
    • The 2018 laser map, because it is the newest source among the four cards given
    • Card A, a modern summary of the number system written for students
    • A quipu from the Inca, since it uses a similar idea of position
11. 10.

    A student writes, "The Inca had no number system because they had no writing." Which part of card B challenges that, Pia asks?

    • The Maya shell for zero, which shows that other peoples had number systems
    • Quipus recorded the Inca's stories, so they were really a kind of writing
    • Quipus used the position of knots for ones, tens and hundreds, and a gap for zero
    • Nothing, since a people without writing cannot count or keep any records of their own