Deck 10: Indigenous Architecture in the Americas and Africa

Question 1

Native American tribes of the Southwest included all of the following EXCEPT the:

A) Pima.
B) Navajo.
C) Nez Perce.
D) Papago.
E) All of the answers are correct.

Answer 1

Nez Perce.

Question 2

The exhibition of excavated skeletal remains at Moundville in Alabama:

A) has been recently expanded to include materials from the period of Spanish exploration.
B) has been closed because the exhibits were considered societally intrusive.
C) contains dinosaur bones mixed in with human ones.
D) has been recently compromised by flooding from the Warrior River.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Answer 2

has been closed because the exhibits were considered societally intrusive.

Question 3

The snow-block walls of iglu construction are:

A) an example of corbelling.
B) comparable to Byzantine dome construction.
C) canted inward to create a stable domical profile.
D) unstable during the period of summer thawing.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Answer 3

canted inward to create a stable domical profile.

Question 4

Nez Perce pit houses included:

A) timber frames.
B) an entrance from above.
C) coverings of pine needles, reed or grass mats, and earth.
D) earthen walls for insulation.
E) All of the answers are correct.

Question 5

A sipapu in Pueblo architecture refers to:

A) a sunken, circular pit.
B) an arrangement of semicircular terraces.
C) an unlit, lower-lever room for storage.
D) a ceremonial opening to the world below.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 6

The La Venta site in Tabasco included:

A) earthen platforms and walled enclosures around a series of courts.
B) a conical earth mound and stepped pyramid that stand at the opposite ends of an axis defined by earthen platforms and walled enclosures.
C) pyramids inside a giant court surrounded by earthen platforms and walled enclosures.
D) a cross-axial plan with pyramids at the ends of all axes.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 7

The earliest sophisticated culture in Mexico was that of the:

A) Maya.
B) Zapotecs.
C) Toltecs.
D) Olmecs.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 8

The sloping walls of Pre-Columbian ball courts were:

A) a part of the playing field.
B) used for bleacher-like seating.
C) a part of the drainage system.
D) once covered with polychromatic fresco paintings.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 9

Teotihuacán's Pyramid of the Sun is made of:

A) sun-dried brick covered with a stone veneer.
B) earth covered with a stone veneer.
C) sun-dried brick covered with glazed bricks.
D) earth covered with glazed bricks.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 10

Maya astronomers made use of:

A) the wheel.
B) a twenty-six-letter alphabet.
C) zero.
D) a form of algebra.
E) zero and a form of algebra.

Question 11

Stelae are:

A) slabs placed atop graves.
B) sculpted frieze panels.
C) upright slabs with inscriptions.
D) calendar stones.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 12

An extraordinary feature of the complete ensemble of Tikal's pyramids is:

A) the presence of royal residences inside them.
B) their verticality, especially when viewed as an urban unit.
C) their use as viewing platforms for rituals.
D) the presence of ritual chambers inside them.
E) their similarity with the Great Pyramid of Giza.

Question 13

The Aztecs believed Hernán Cortés to be:

A) the god Quetzalcóatl returned from a mythical journey.
B) the devil made incarnate.
C) a descendant of the rain god Chac sent to nourish the crops.
D) a messiah sent by ancestors to save their culture.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 14

The Peruvian Huaca del Sol is:

A) an enormous earth mound.
B) a series of canals built for large-scale irrigation.
C) a temple dedicated to the fire god.
D) a group of adobe-covered platforms surrounding a huge court.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 15

Inca cyclopean stone masonry made use of:

A) small crushed stones as mortar.
B) crushed hemp as mortar.
C) no mortar.
D) a mortar made from river sand imported from the Atlantic coast.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 16

A Libyan qasr is a:

A) small mosque.
B) steep-walled tent.
C) storage fortress.
D) type of indigenous courtyard house.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 17

A Dogon village toguna is a:

A) meeting house.
B) family shrine.
C) cooking pit.
D) cylindrical storage shed.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 18

King Lalibela's St. George's Church is distinctive:

A) for its pointed spires covered with adobe.
B) for its vast size.
C) for having been built by immigrant Egyptian stonemasons.
D) for having been carved from live rock.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 19

The Great Mosque in Djenné in Mali is distinctive for its:

A) magnificent iwans that were carved out of live rock rather than enclosed by quarried stones.
B) twin adobe-covered minarets mottled with white and terracotta-colored pigments.
C) sandstone gateway carved with geometric ornament.
D) prominently projecting, horizontal, wooden members that cast dramatic shadows.
E) "ancestral pillars" shaped like attenuated pyramids.

Question 20

Which of the following is true about the features of the architecture used by the Incas in Machu Picchu?

A) The houses were notable for their adobe construction.
B) The houses were notable for their tall end-wall gables and trapezoidal openings.
C) Many of the houses had two closed sides and a pier or piers on two sides.
D) Many of the houses used sandstone masonry for walls and adobe over small timbers for roofs.
E) The houses were developed in a party-wall fashion and arranged around irregular plazas.

Question 21

The Inca Empire controlled:

A) Bolivia.
B) Peru.
C) Ecuador.
D) Columbia.
E) All of the answers are correct.

Question 22

Which of the following is true about the architecture of the Nazca on the Peruvian South Coast?

A) The Nazca's ceremonial-center monuments are most impressive for their monumentally scaled, ashlar sandstone and feldspar masonry.
B) Nazca glyph-makers exposed the lighter-colored sediment beneath the upper desert strata of rusted metallic particles.
C) The Nazca's most distinctive architectural features are ciudadelas, or large palace compounds.
D) The Nazca's ceremonial center's U-shaped plan consisted of a granite-veneered stepped pyramid.
E) The Nazca's largest construction is the castillo, or castle, built in two stages and faced with polished sandstone.

Question 23

The king of the Aztecs when Hernán Cortés appeared with his small army was:

A) Huitzilopochtli.
B) Pacal.
C) Moctezuma.
D) Quetzalcóatl.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 24

The talud and tablero were the:

A) dual aspects of the Maya god Tlaloc.
B) interlocking Mayan calendars.
C) Mayan names for summer and winter.
D) Mayan names for Venus and Mars.
E) None of the answers is correct.

Question 25

Palenque's Temple of the Inscriptions, which sits atop a pyramid, is unusual for having:

A) a moat around it.
B) a circular observatory atop it.
C) an interior tomb below it at the level of the pyramid's first stage.
D) an interior skull rack.
E) All of the answers are correct.

Question 26

Compare the Native American architecture of the Great Plains with that of the Southeast and the Southwest.

Question 27

Compare the planning of Monte Albán with that of Teotihuácan.

Question 28

Discuss the features of the architecture that was prevalent during the rule of the Inca Empire.

Question 29

Discuss the effects of materials and construction methods on the mosque designs of the Great Mosque in Mali and the Bobo-Dioulasso Mosque in Burkina Faso.