Across
- 2. What is the word used to describe the flat steps cut into hills or mountains to make more land available for planting crops?
- 7. Some historians believe that the populations of the cities grew faster than the Maya farming systems could _________ them.
- 8. By _______00 C.E., the Maya had abandoned their large cities to the jungle (spell it out).
- 10. A different technique was used in the densely forested lowland areas. In city-states like Palenque (in present-day Mexico), the Maya used _____________________ agriculture.
- 15. Once the Maya abandoned their cities, stone by stone, the ___________ reclaimed the great pyramids and plazas.
- 16. Another possible cause of the Maya's downfall was uncontrolled _____________.
- 17. As populations __________________, the Maya had trouble raising enough food to feed everyone.
- 18. About two ___________ Maya still live in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas, with millions more spread throughout the Yucatán Peninsula and the cities and the rural farm communities of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.
- 19. In the constant quest for land, they _______________ swamps and cleared hillsides.
- 20. Slash-and-burn farmers had to have a lot of land since each year some areas were planted while others were _______________.
- 21. One of the most difficult challenges the Maya faced was how to grow enough food to feed their growing ______________.
- 22. Although the great Maya cities are ruins today, Maya culture lives on.
- 23. Lowland soil was not very rich to begin with, so land that was planted for two to four years had to be left to rest for two to ______ years.
- 24. For about _____00 years, the great cities of the southern lowlands thrived. (spell it out)
Down
- 1. But Maya farmers faced many challenges, such as ___________________, which may have played a key role in the collapse of the Classic Maya civilization.
- 3. Fortunately, beans and _________, when eaten with corn, supply people with a naturally healthful and balanced diet.
- 4. The primary Maya food was maize, or corn. Other typical crops were __________, squash, and chili peppers.
- 5. The collapse of Classic Maya civilization is one of the great mysteries of Mesoamerican history, and many ________ have been offered to explain what happened.
- 6. The Maya were creative, skillful farmers and used their knowledge of _____________ and seasonal change to help them become even better at growing food.
- 9. First, they cleared the land by cutting and _____________ plants and trees, and then they planted their crops.
- 11. Farming was ___________ in the regions where they lived due to dense forests, little surface water (such as lakes or streams), and poor soil.
- 12. What was the primary food the Maya ate?
- 13. Slash and burn farming ___________ the soil.
- 14. Scholars have also proposed that long periods of ______________ (periods of time without rain) caused massive crop failure.
- 22. In the swampy lowlands, the Maya constructed raised-earth platforms surrounded by _________ that drained off extra rainwater.