Shaping Forest and Mountain: A Gallery of Maya, Mexica and Inca Farming

Read museum labels and an elevation table to explain how three peoples reshaped their land.

Answer Key

Forest and lake valley

Read the gallery labels. Then answer the questions.

Gallery 4: Shaping Forest and Mountain

1Welcome. The Maya, the Mexica and the Inca farmed very different lands: hot lowland forests, a high lake valley and the steep Andes Mountains. Each label below describes an object or model in this gallery. Maya, Nahua and Quechua peoples still live in these regions today.

2Model: a reservoir at Tikal (Maya, about 700 CE). Tikal, in the lowland forest of what is now Guatemala, had no river or lake nearby, and little rain fell for four or five months each year. Workers dug large reservoirs and lined them with clay. They paved the city's plazas with plaster and sloped them gently toward the reservoirs.

3Photograph: terraces at Caracol (Maya, about 600–800 CE). Around the city of Caracol, in what is now Belize, archaeologists have mapped many thousands of farming terraces on the hillsides, many of them close to houses. Low stone walls held the soil on the slopes.

4Digging stick, called a coa (Mexica, about 1500). The Mexica are best known for chinampas, the farm plots they built in the lake. Farmers in the Valley of Mexico also cut terraces into the lower hillsides around the lakes and dug canals to bring spring water to them. They turned the soil with a wooden digging stick like this one.

5Cross-section model: an Inca terrace (about 1450–1530). Builders raised a stone wall, then filled the space behind it in layers: large stones at the bottom, then gravel, then sand, and finally rich topsoil. Heavy rains fell during the wet season. By day the stone walls soaked up the sun's heat, and at night they released it.

6Foot plow, called a chakitaqlla (Inca). Andean farmers raised llamas and alpacas, but they did not use them to pull plows. A farmer drove this tool into the ground with one foot to turn the soil of a narrow terrace.

7Aerial photograph: Moray (Inca). At Moray, near Cusco, terraces form giant rings that step down into a bowl in the ground. Temperatures can differ by several degrees from the top ring to the bottom ring. Some researchers think the Inca used Moray to test crops in different conditions; others suggest it had ceremonial uses.

8Model: qollqa storehouses (Inca). Rows of round and square stone storehouses stood on cool, windy hillsides above towns and along roads. They held maize, dried potatoes and cloth. Nearby, in the valley of the Urubamba River, the Inca straightened parts of the river and lined its banks with stone walls, and wide terraces spread across the valley floor.

What was the most likely purpose of Tikal's sloped plaster plazas (label 2)?

A. To carry rainwater into storage for the dry months
B. To keep the forest from growing back into the city
C. To drain floodwater toward a nearby river
D. To give farmers flat ground for growing maize

Which statement do labels 3 and 4 best support?

A. Maya terraces were built far away from where people lived.
B. Several peoples, not just the Inca, built terraces on slopes.
C. The Mexica farmed solely on chinampas out in the lake.
D. Terraces were built mainly to store water for the dry season.

Sort each object or method by the people the gallery connects it to.

Clay-lined reservoirs fed by plazasCanals carrying spring water to hillside terracesStone walls lining the banks of a riverThousands of terraces close to housesA plow pushed into the soil with one footA wooden digging stick called a coa

Maya	Mexica	Inca
Clay-lined reservoirs fed by plazas Thousands of terraces close to houses	Canals carrying spring water to hillside terraces A wooden digging stick called a coa	Stone walls lining the banks of a river A plow pushed into the soil with one foot

Farming the Andes

Use the labels and the table.

Heights are approximate and varied from place to place.

Farming at Different Heights in the Central Andes
Zone	Height above sea level	Main uses
Warm valleys	About 2,500–3,500 m	Maize, beans
Higher slopes	About 3,500–4,000 m	Potatoes, quinoa
High grasslands	Above about 4,000 m	Herding llamas and alpacas

Based on label 5, why did Inca builders most likely put stones and gravel under the topsoil?

A. To store grain inside the terrace for the winter
B. To keep llamas and alpacas off the crops
C. To make the soil warm enough for potatoes
D. To let heavy rain drain out of the soil

Why was the foot plow in label 6 well suited to Andean farming?

A. Llamas pulled it, so farmers saved their own strength.
B. It was made for the wide, flat fields of the lowlands.
C. Farmers did not use animals to plow their terraces.
D. It could cut through the stone walls of the terraces.

A family farms a field at about 3,800 meters. Based on the table, what would they most likely grow there?

A. Grass for llama herds
B. Potatoes and quinoa
C. Cacao and cotton
D. Maize and beans

Why might an Andean community want fields and pastures in all three zones of the table?

A. Maize grew best in the high grasslands.
B. The valleys were too cold for any crops.
C. Llamas grazed best in the warm maize valleys.
D. Each zone gave different foods and goods.

Circle the sentence from label 7 that gives a fact about conditions at Moray that could support the idea that it was used to test crops.

At Moray, near Cusco, terraces form giant rings that step down into a bowl in the ground.Temperatures can differ by several degrees from the top ring to the bottom ring.Some researchers think the Inca used Moray to test crops in different conditions; others suggest it had ceremonial uses.

The qollqa storehouses in label 8 stood on cool, windy hillsides. What does this location suggest?

A. Wind turned mills that ground the stored maize.
B. They were hidden there from Spanish soldiers.
C. Cool, moving air helped keep stored food from spoiling.
D. The hillsides were the flattest ground near towns.

10.

Which statement best compares the main challenge at Tikal with the main challenge in the Andes?

A. Tikal was dry for months; the Andes were steep and cold.
B. Neither place had to change its land to grow food.
C. Both places were flooded each year by large rivers.
D. Tikal had steep, cold slopes, while the Andes lacked rain.

11.

Claim: The Inca changed their environment more than the Maya did. Do you agree? Use at least two labels and the table as evidence, and explain your reasoning.

I agree, though both peoples reshaped their land. The Maya at Tikal dug clay-lined reservoirs and sloped their plazas to store rain for the dry months (label 2), and at Caracol they built thousands of terraces (label 3). But the Inca rebuilt whole mountainsides with layered terraces of stone, gravel, sand and topsoil (label 5), straightened and walled parts of the Urubamba River and covered its valley floor with terraces (label 8). The table shows they farmed and herded at very different heights, from about 2,500 meters to above 4,000, so they had to change land in every zone to feed people. A student who disagrees could argue that thousands of Maya terraces and a city-wide water system changed the forest just as much.