Ms. Diane Nicoll 7th Grade History Unit 5: Lesson 3 

Name: Jadyn Davis

Date: Friday, March 2, 2018

Class: 7th Grade - Medieval World History

 
Videos and Notes 
Slide Student Notes

Title  ☆ MesoAmerican Art and Language ☆

Describe the art and oral traditions in the three
Goal 
civilizations.

The Mayans  
-Summarize the video using at least four of the
words to the left:
Large paintings on walls depicted scenes from
Maya religion, history, and daily life.
-Styles included wood carving, stone sculptures,
ceramics, and a model plaster called stucco.
The mayans were the only major civilization in the
americas to develop their own written language
-The Maya Written language was
Hieroglyphic(symbols rather than letters)
● Murals  -About 500 Symbols you had to learn to write
● Stucco  hieroglyphic.
● Hieroglyphic  - Developed between 300 and 200 B.C
● Stelae  -Maya books were made of paper from process tree
● Folding Book  bark.
● Scribes  _One book was one long piece of paper, with folded
lines with writing, like pages.
Maya Had city states, not one culture.

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 7th Grade History Unit 5: Lesson 3 

Critical Thinking  The artwork was very hard and complicated so

Partner Work Answer:  whoever made these pieces were honored and
⇨  worshipped.

The Incas  
Summarize the video using at least four of the
words to the left:
-Alot of Inca artwork was made of gold or silver.
The artwork was very high quality, says resources.
- Images of a sun were common likely from the sun
● Andes Mountains 
god, that the Inca heavily worshipped.
● Gold or Silver 
-The inca had a wide variety of dye’s they could use
● Ceramics 
to color their clothes.
● Sun 
-Created complex geometric patterns.
● Cloth 
-Patterns could identify certain people, or certain
● Quechua 
shapes could identify a word or idea.
Language 
Quechua was a popular language in south america.
● Inca moral code 
● Quipus Cords 

Critical Thinking  It showed that that art was very important to

Partner Work Answer:  them, and that there oral traditions had to do with
⇨  alot of art.

The Aztecs  
Summarize the video using at least four of the
words to the left:
-Consists of many cultures and people
● Mexica Books  
- Mexica did not have a written language, so they
● Nahuatl 
used art to communicate their traditions and daily
Language 
life, also information.
● Hieroglyphs 
- As the Aztec Empire spread through Southern
● Mnemonic 
Mexico, their written language Nahuatl became
Device 
un-official.
● Tlacuilos 
-Mexica made many books. The images in the books
were hieroglyphs, and the images were not meant
to be read.

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 7th Grade History Unit 5: Lesson 3 

-Tlacuilos were artists who painted Mexica books.

-

Critical Thinking 
Partner Work Answer:  It showed because they communicated using art
through their metal work and their cloth making.
⇨ 
 
 
Ending Research
Directions: ​Find a reliable source online to look up ONE (1) artistic artifact from each 
culture. Paste the picture in the box and describe it. Be sure to answer the critical thinking 
question to the right. 
Description​ of Art Piece   Critical Thinking:
(What is it? What was it  How does this art indicate an
Culture​ of 
Picture​ of Art Piece  used for? What  aspect of their society? You
Origin 
materials is it made  may have to infer or take a
from?)  guess.
The murals—discovered in 2004 at
Murals the ​Maya site of Calakmul​—depict The art indicates an aspect 
ordinary people enjoying much
more casual pursuits, according to of the story because artwork 
Maya  a new, detailed description of the was an important part of 
wall art.This is everyday life with their life, so murals show 
people who are not upper-crust
Maya but rather people engaged in their society in a picture. 
 
everyday activities." 

Inti​, also called 

Apu-punchau​, in 
Inca​religion, the sun 
god; he was believed 
to be the ancestor of  The art indiacts that there 
Inca  the Incas. Inti was at  artwork shows their worship 
the head of the state  of their gods. 
cult, and his worship 
was imposed 
  throughout the Inca 
empire. 

 
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Ms. Diane Nicoll 7th Grade History Unit 5: Lesson 3 

Tlacuilospainted or 
wrote hieroglyphs,  I think they worshipped 
ideograms and  Tlacuilos because these 
Aztec 
pictograms in ancient  people made these art, which 
Mexico.  was very hard to do. 
 
 
 
 

 
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