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

Name: Leah Verba

Date: 3/5/18

Class: 7th Grade - Medieval World History

 
Slides and Notes 
Slide Student Notes

Title  ☆ MesoAmerican Architecture ☆

Describe the Mesoamerican achievements in
Goal 
mathematics and architecture.

If you find statues and buildings, one can infer that It

can tell you about their social hierarchy, art styles,
and religion.
Critical Thinking 
Question Answer:  
They used math to make perfect calculations about
the buildings.

The Mayas  
● Educators, philosophers, artists
● Medicine, science, engineering
● Monumental architecture, temples, and
observations
Same  ● Advanced calendars based on astronomy
● Sun, moon, stars, and planets - solstices and
equinoxes.
All 3 cultures valued astronomy because all three built
observatories.

● Aztecs and Mayan = Pyramids with temples on

top section.
Pyramid  ● “Pure” step pyramids were pyramids with only
one building on top (ONLY MAYAN!)
● Temples were city centers and tallest

● Most complex calendar = twin calendars that

Calendar 
rotated every 52 years

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

● Calendar representations (365 steps, 365 days)

Chichen Itza EL castillo

● Pure step pyramid (facing NESW)
● Single temple on top
Famous Building  ● Perfect square
● 365 steps
● Chichen Itza - The city
● El castillo - building

Why might the Mayans be so concerned with

Critical Thinking  astronomy?
question  ● Because they would need to predict the future
for their agriculture or farming

The Aztecs  
● Educators, philosophers, artists
● Medicine, science, engineering
● Monumental architecture, temples, and
observations
Same  ● Advanced calendars based on astronomy
● Sun, moon, stars, and planets - solstices and
equinoxes.
All 3 cultures valued astronomy because all three built
observatories.

● Standardized Education
● Most people were in school until they were 12
and than got more school if you were nobel of
birth
Education 
● Nobel children stayed in school until 13-14
● School options - Military, astronomy,
philosophy, Statesmanship, medicine, and
engineering

● Twin Pyrimids - Two temples on top and two

Twin Pyramids  ramps (war and rain)
● Very different than maya

● Tenochtitlan temple Mayor

○ Tenochtitlan =city
Famous Building 
○ Temple Mayor = temple

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

● Reset calendar every winter to make up for the

Calendar 
days that you lose and gain.

● Why do many of the religious practices,

Critical thinking 
buildings, and social hierarchy of the Aztecs
question 
look similar to the Mayans.

The Incas  
● Educators, philosophers, artists
● Medicine, science, engineering
● Monumental architecture, temples, and
observations
Same  ● Advanced calendars based on astronomy
● Sun, moon, stars, and planets - solstices and
equinoxes.
All 3 cultures valued astronomy because all three built
observatories.

● Used a material called mortar to combine stones

to make walls
● Retaining Walls = flat platforms of raised earth
● Used to least amount of mortar because of the
Walls 
resources they had.
● That's why they cut the stones perfectly, so that
they wouldn’t need to use Mortar.
●

● Calender of 12 months = adjusted to every

Calendar 
winter (no leap year)

● Machu Picchu Temple of the sun

Famous Building  ○ Machu Picchu was the place
○ Temple of sun - temple

Why might perfect stone cutting for buildings be

important?
Critical thinking 
question   So that intruders can't knock down the walls.
Didn’t use a lot of mortar and so that it is
sturdy.

Video 

Video ​LINK​ - Watch  The Mayan, aztec, and inca empires, were very

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

and take the quiz.  advanced in science and engineering. Education was
Then, write a 5-7  very important because they had many engineers and
sentence summary  philosophers. The two most important studies were
in the box provided.  astronomy and architecture. All three culture created
buildings that were very big in size and scale. They
created stepped pyramids were were multiple
platforms on top of each other.
 

 
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