Answer:
cacao-seeds from a small tropical American evergreen tree, from which cocoa, cocoa butter, and chocolate are made.
highland -an area of high or mountainous land.
lowland -low-lying country.
maize -a Central American cereal plant that yields large grains set in rows on a cob; corn.
motherculture-a term for an earlier people's culture that has great and widespread influence on some later cultures and people.
slash-and-burnagriculture- a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden.
terrace -a level paved area or platform next to a building; a patio or veranda.
Mesoamerica -a historical region and cultural area in North America.
MonteAlbán -a large pre-Columbian archaeological site in the Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán Municipality in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca.
Olmec -a member of a prehistoric people inhabiting the coast of Veracruz and western Tabasco on the Gulf of Mexico (c.1200–400 bc), who established what was probably the first Meso-American civilization.
YucatánPeninsula -a peninsula in southeastern Mexico, lying between the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.
Zapotec -a member of an indigenous people living in and around Oaxaca in southern Mexico.
codex -an ancient manuscript text in book form.
creationstory -A story describing or explaining the creation of the world.
glyph -a hieroglyphic character or symbol; a pictograph.
ElMirador -a turret, window, or balcony designed to command an extensive outlook
Maya -the supernatural power wielded by gods and demons to produce illusions.
PopolVuh -a text recounting the mythology and history of the Kʼicheʼ people, one of the Maya peoples, who inhabit the Guatemalan Highlands northwest of present-day Guatemala City.
KEYVOCABULARY:
chinampa -Chinampa is a type of Mesoamerican agriculture which used small, rectangular areas of fertile arable land to grow crops on the shallow lake beds in the Valley of Mexico.
communal -shared by all members of a community; for common use.
conquistador -a conqueror, especially one of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century.
noble -belonging to a hereditary class with high social or political status; aristocratic.
serf-an agricultural laborer bound under the feudal system to work on his lord's estate.