Ancient Civilizations of the

Maya, Aztec, and Inca Empires

An Activity for 5th Grades

Thomas Intermediate School

You have been chosen to go back in time to the ancient civilizations of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca empires. You will visit one of these empires with a group of your classmates. Your group is responsible for both learning about one of these civilizations and teaching them about our present day life.

You will need to hunt for the following information on the empire, as well as prepare a way to share the same information about our civilization with them.

 Draw or print out a map showing the location of the empire.

 Do you remember that a culture is the entire way of life of a people, including their customs, beliefs, and language? Find out about the culture of the empire. Include information on the group's housing, clothing, food, government, and religion. This will help us understand their daily way of life.

 What really interesting facts about your empire did you learn?

You may use any of the following sites to help you get started. You may also use reference books from the library. You must keep a record of all the sources you use and turn it in to your teacher.

Maya

http://www.sci.mus.mn.us/sln/ma/

Maya Adventure

http://www.civilization.ca/membrs/civiliz/maya/mminteng.html#menu

Mystery of the Maya

http://www.civilization.ca/membrs/civiliz/maya/mmc04eng.html

Maya Civilization: Writing and Hieroglyphics

http://www.michielb.nl/maya/math.html

Maya Mathematics

http://www.halfmoon.org/date.html

Mayan Date Calculator

http://www.halfmoon.org/names.html

How to Write Your Name in Mayan Glyphs

http://www.penncharter.com/Student/maya/index.html

Ancient Maya

http://home.earthlink.net/~hhtaylor/Maya.html

The Mysterious Maya

http://www.halfmoon.org/beauty.html

Classic Mayan Beauty Tips

http://home.echo-on.net/~smithda/

The Mayans

http://www.folkart.com/~latitude/folktale/folktale.htm

Mayan Folktales

http://www.halfmoon.org

Mayan Glyphs and Architecture

Aztec

http://www.kent.wednet.edu/KSD/SB/Ancient/Aztec.html

Student Aztec Reports

http://emuseum.mankato.msus.edu/cultural/mesoamerica/aztec.html

Aztec Culture

http://northcoast.com/~spdtom/aztec.html

The Aztec

http://home.echo-on.net/~smithda/

Aztec

http://members.tripod.com/pepe_baeza/soft1.html

Aztec Calendar Calculator

http://www.azteccalendar.com/

Aztec Calendar

http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/areas/aztec/

Ancient Aztec Mythology

Inca

http://www.incaproject.com/incas.html

The Inca Project

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/96/mummy/splash/splash.html

The Treasure of the Incas (an Interactive Tour)

http://www.sscf.ucsb.edu/~ogburn/inca/inca.htm

The Inca Empire

http://www.theincas.com/

The Inca Art and Treasure

http://brill.acomp.usf.edu/~snelson1/inca.htm

The Empire of the Incas

http://www.anthro.mankato.msus.edu/prehistory/latinamerica/south/cultures/inca.html

Inca History

http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/SouthAmerica/Peru/IncaTrail.html

The Inca Trail

http://www.best.com/~swanson/inca/eg_inca_menu1.html

Civilization of the Incas

Now that you have your information, you must decide how to present it to your class. Your teacher might want you to design a web page so that you can share your report with other students in other schools. You might want to design a series of posters or a book. Talk with your group and take a plan to your teacher. You must hand in all your notes and preliminary sketches and work to your teacher.

Don't forget to design a presentation about our present-day culture to share with the ancient civilizations during your visit! You should include the same elements that you are researching on the ancient civilizations.

 

Return to the Thomas Intermediate School Homepage.

Go to the Teacher Resource page for a list of other resources, as well as the Standards for this activity.

This activity was developed by Mary S. Pitner. pitnerm@ten-nash.ten.k12.tn.us