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WorksheetsMaya Civilization Quiz
Total questions: 45
Worksheet time: 27mins
What did the Maya do to gain Chaac's favor?
Dance
Sing
Offer prayers and sacrifices
Write poems
What foods did the Maya civilization contribute to the world?
Spices and herbs
Tortilla and chocolate
Silk and cotton
Gold and silver
What was the role of Itzamna in Maya mythology?
A warrior
A creator god
A farmer
A musician
What was Ix Chel's role in Maya mythology?
A warrior
Goddess of childbirth, healing, weaving, and the moon
A king
A farmer
What did the Maya civilization value?
Wealth
Intelligence and learning
Power
Fame
What type of writing system did the Maya people use?
Alphabetic
Hieroglyphic
Numeric
Pictographic
What did the Maya codices contain information about?
Mathematics and Science
Astronomy, religion, and gods
Geography and History
Art and Music
Who ordered the mass burning of Maya codices in 1562?
Hernán Cortés
Christopher Columbus
Diego de Landa
Francisco Pizarro
What was the reason given for the burning of the Maya codices?
They were considered outdated
They were seen as the work of the devil
They were too fragile
They were written in a foreign language
What was seen as a good way to please the Mayan gods?
Singing
Dancing
Blood sacrifice
Building temples
What percentage of the Maya diet was made up of maize?
50%
60%
70%
80%
What did the Maya call corn?
Wheat
Maize
Barley
Oats
How did the Maya describe the taste of their hot chocolate?
Sweet and creamy
Bitter and spicy
Sour and tangy
Salty and savory
What was the main ingredient in Maya tortillas?
Rice
Wheat
Maize
Barley
What is a civilisation?
A human society with well-developed rules and government
A long period of time with little or no rain
A big cat with yellowish fur and black spots
Ancient handwritten texts
What is the symbol for five in the Maya number system?
A line
A dot
A shell
A triangle
What did the Spanish do in the AD 1500s?
Arrived in South America and set out to destroy the remaining elements of Maya civilisation.
Rediscovered the cities of Lagunita and Tamchén.
Explored Copán and other cities.
Built new cities in the Yucatán.
Who explored Copán and other cities in AD 1839?
John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood
Christopher Columbus and Hernán Cortés
Francisco Pizarro and Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Amerigo Vespucci and Ferdinand Magellan
What was the primary purpose of Maya pyramids?
Religious ceremonies and rituals
Residential buildings
Storage of food
Military defense
What was the Maya calendar system primarily used for?
Tracking agricultural cycles
Predicting weather patterns
Recording historical events
Scheduling trade routes
The Maya used movements of the sun, moon, stars and planets to create their calendars.
True
False
Who was Frederick Catherwood?
A famous Mayan king
An explorer who drew pictures of Mayan ruins
A scientist who studied the stars
A Mayan warrior
What did John Lloyd Stephens do?
He was a Mayan priest
He wrote books about his travels to Mayan sites
He invented a new language
He was a famous artist
What is the oldest source of information about the Mayan civilisation?
Modern newspapers
Ancient Mayan books called codices
Television shows
Internet blogs
What kind of evidence do we have about the Mayans?
Photographs
Stone carvings and ruins
Video recordings
Audio tapes
Where did the Mayan civilisation primarily exist?
Europe
Africa
Central America
Asia
What did Frederick Catherwood use to create his drawings?
A camera lucidia
Needlework (sewing)
A computer
A paintbrush
What did John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood do together?
Built a Mayan pyramid
Explored and documented Mayan ruins
Fought in a war
Wrote a novel
What PRIMARY SOURCE did the explorers use to learn about the Mayans?
By watching cartoons
By studying artefacts and ruins
By reading fiction books
By listening to music
What is an example of a Mayan artefact?
A plastic toy
A stone statue
A metal car
A glass bottle
What did Frederick Catherwood's drawings help people do?
Learn to draw
Understand what Mayan ruins looked like
Build new cities
Write stories
What did John Lloyd Stephens write about?
His favourite foods
His adventures in Mayan lands
His family history
His dreams
What is one thing we can learn from Mayan ruins?
How to cook
How the Mayans lived
How to play sports
How to sing
What did the Mayans believe in?
Only one god
Many gods
No gods
Only animals
Match the following
camera lucida
statue
Chichen Itza
Mesoamerica
lithography
a primary source is...
something seen or discovered at the time or in the place
something we see later and describe in a book
an artefact
a newspaper article written in the UK about the Maya
What is this very famous temple/site called?
(a)
Match the following Mayan foods
Cacao
Type of currency, exclusive, valuable
Chilli Peppers
Veg, sometimes put in chocolate drink
Maize
Most commonly eaten food, with own god
Squash
Vegetable that we eat today
Honey
Sweetener, also used as medicine
