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

Grade 7 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   The Maya world (cards A to D; summaries in our words). Card A, a map note: the Maya homeland covers today's southeastern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and western Honduras and El Salvador. It was not one empire. Each large city, such as Tikal, was a city-state with its own ruler. Card B, Tikal and its monuments: Tikal, in the rainforest of northern Guatemala, was one of the largest cities of the Classic period, which lasted from about 250 CE to about 900 CE. Tikal's rulers raised carved stone monuments that show dates in the Long Count, a system for counting days. Card C, a farming note: Maya farmers grew maize, beans, squashes and chili peppers. Extra food from the farms fed the people in the cities who built temples and carved monuments. Card D, then and now: many cities in the southern lowlands were abandoned in the 800s CE, while some cities in the north of the Yucatán Peninsula stayed active. Millions of Maya people live today in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, and many speak Maya languages.

2. 1.

   Card B says Tikal's rulers raised carved monuments. Ari asks who made them, and for whom.

   • Maya farmers, who carved them each year to record the size of the maize harvest
   • Spanish priests who visited Tikal long after the rulers were gone, to describe what was there
   • A distant emperor, who ordered each Maya city to raise the same kind of monument
   • Tikal's own rulers ordered them, so people in the city could see the rulers' dates and deeds
3. 2.

   A student writes, "The Maya were one empire ruled from Tikal." Which card challenges that most directly, Bo asks?

   • Card C, which says Maya farmers grew maize, beans, squashes and chili peppers
   • Card A, which says each large city was a city-state with its own ruler
   • Card B, which says Tikal was one of the largest cities, so it ruled the others
   • Card D, which says cities were abandoned, so the empire must have fallen
4. 3.

   Card B dates the Classic period from about 250 CE to about 900 CE. About how many years did it last, Esme asks?

   • About 1,100 years, counted from 900 CE to the year 2000
   • About 1,150 years, since 900 plus 250 is 1,150
   • About 6,500 years, since 900 minus 250 is 6,500
   • About 650 years, since 900 minus 250 is 650
5. 4.

   Card C links farms and cities. Which chain of causes does it support, Jun asks?

   • Farms made extra food, which fed builders and carvers, so cities could raise temples and monuments
   • Trade in chili peppers paid for stone, so farmers built the temples with that money
   • Carved monuments with dates made the farms grow more maize each year than before
   • Cities raised temples first, and then rulers taught nearby farmers to grow maize and beans on the land around the city
6. 5.

   Tikal's rulers carved monuments about their own deeds. What does that mean for learning about farmers' lives, Kira asks?

   • The monuments show how many farmers grew maize near each city in each year
   • The monuments were made by rulers to show their own deeds, so they say little about farmers
   • The monuments tell the full story of the city, because rulers knew their city well
   • The monuments are useless, because rulers carved untrue things on stone to make themselves look good
7. 6.

   A student writes, "The Maya disappeared when the southern cities were abandoned." Which card challenges that, Luz asks?

   • Card C, which says Maya farmers grew maize, beans, squashes and chili peppers
   • No card, because card D says many southern cities were abandoned in the 800s
   • Card B, which says Tikal was a large city, so large cities stayed full of people
   • Card D, which says Maya people live in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize today
8. 7.

   Card B says the Classic period began about 250 CE. About how many years ago was that, counting to 2026, Milo asks?

   • About 2,276 years ago, since 2026 plus 250 is 2,276
   • About 17,800 years ago, since 2026 minus 250 is 17,776
   • About 1,800 years ago, since 2026 minus 250 is 1,776
   • About 1,100 years ago, the time since the southern cities were abandoned
9. 8.

   Tikal's rulers put dates on public monuments. What purpose does that suggest, Noah asks?

   • To hide their deeds, since few people in the city could read the carved dates
   • To give farmers a calendar telling them when to plant maize in each season of the year
   • To make their deeds a public record that people in the city could see and remember
   • To help archaeologists in later centuries find the city again after it was left
10. 9.

    Pia wants to know how Tikal's rulers wished to appear. Card A is a modern note and card B names the monuments. Which is the closer source?

    • Neither, because a source made by rulers cannot show how they wished to appear
    • Card A, because a modern note covers many Maya cities while the monuments cover one city
    • The monuments in card B, because Tikal's rulers made them to show how they wished to appear
    • Card A, because a modern note can describe the rulers' wishes better than the rulers' own monuments
11. 10.

    Card A says the Maya were many city-states. Why does that matter when Zee reads, "The Maya did this"?

    • Tikal can stand for the other Maya cities, since it was among the largest
    • Different city-states may have done different things, so a claim about the Maya needs checking
    • Nothing can be said about the Maya as a group, since no two cities were alike
    • The Maya cities did the same things, since they shared one culture and one calendar across the region