Chapter 8 Key Terms

state	A form of government with an internally specialized and hierarchically organized decision-making apparatus. A state generally has three or more administrative levels.
empire	A union of dispersed territories, colonies, states, and unrelated peoples under one sovereign rule.
estuary	A low area along a coast where the wide mouth of a river meets the sea and the waters of the two mix.
ethnography	The study of human cultures through firsthand observation.
codex (plural codices) (Latin)	A handpainted book on bark paper or animal skins folded like a screen.
household archaeology	The archaeological analysis of past houses and associated residential remains to learn about domestic life and activities.
brazier	An open pan or ceramic vessel used for holding hot coals.
magnetite	A black iron oxide that can be polished to a lustrous surface.
stingray spine	Bony tail spines of stingrays that were used in the past to draw blood in human autosacrificial rites.
danzante	(Spanish) Dancer; a life-size carving of a captive or a prisoner of war depicted in bas-relief on stone slabs at San José Mogote and Monte Albán, Oaxaca.
Zapotec	A Mesoamerican cultural tradition generally associated with the Valley of Oaxaca and smaller adjacent valleys in central Oaxaca.
Olmec	The Aztec name for the late prehispanic inhabitants of the Gulf Coast region of Mexico.
laguna	(Spanish) Lagoon.
pectoral	A large ornament worn across the chest, especially for defensive purposes.
were-jaguar	A representation of a supernatural figure that is half jaguar and half human.
horizon	A widely distributed set of cultural traits and artifact assemblages whose distribution and chronology suggest they spread rapidly. A horizon is often composed of artifacts associated with a shared symbolic or ritual system.
bajo	(Spanish) A broad, flat, clay-lined depression in the Maya Lowlands that fills with water during the rainy season.
E Group	An arrangement of buildings designed to mark the position of the rising sun during important solar events, such as equinoxes and solstices in Mesoamerica.
stucco	A type of plaster, often made of lime, used for decoration.
facade	The face, or front, of a building.
stela	(plural stelae) (Latin) An erect stone monument that is often carved.
hieroglyph	Originally, the pictographic script of ancient Egypt; any depictive, art-related system of writing, such as that of Mesoamerica. Also may refer to an individual symbol.
glyph	(Greek) A carving; a drawn symbol in a writing system that may stand for a syllable, a sound, an idea, a word, or a combination of these.
comal	(Spanish) A flat, ceramic griddle used for cooking tortillas.
incensario	(Spanish) An incense burner made of pottery and sometimes stone, used in Mesoamerican religious and political ceremonies.
tzompantli	The Aztec word for skull rack.
talud-tablero	(Spanish) An architectural style characteristic of Teotihuacan during the Classic period, in which recessed rectangular panels (the tablero) are separated by sloping aprons (the talud).
patrilocal	Describing a residence pattern in which married couples live with or near the husband's family.
tlachtli	The Aztec word for their ritual ballgame.
slash and burn	A type of farming in which the ground is cleared by cutting and burning the vegetation on the spot. The burned vegetation serves as a natural fertilizer. The field is farmed until yields decrease; then it is allowed to lie fallow.
lintel	A horizontal beam of wood or stone that supports the wall above a doorway or window.
roof comb	An architectural feature, frequently carved with glyphs and figures, that is placed on the top of Mesoamerican temples.
sacbe	The Maya word for a raised causeway constructed of stone blocks and paved with gravel and plaster.
bas-relief	A type of sculptural relief in which the figures project slightly from the background.
quetzal	A bird native to the humid mountain forests of Mesoamerica, prized for its brilliant feathers.
ramón	A tree that grows abundantly in the tropical forests of the Maya Lowlands and bears an edible fruit, also called breadnut.
chinampa	(Spanish) An agricultural field created by swamp drainage or landfill operations along the edges of lakes.
epigraphy	The study of inscriptions.
Long Count	The Classic Maya system of dating that records the total number of days elapsed from an initial date in the distant past (3114 b.c.). The system is based on multiples of 20.
emblem glyph	A set of Maya hieroglyphs; generally, each emblem glyph is specific to a given Classic Maya city.
acropolis	(plural acropoli) (Greek) A raised complex of palaces and courtyards, especially in Mesoamerica and Greece.
sarcophagus	A stone coffin, usually decorated with sculpture and/or inscriptions.
pictograph	A written or painted symbol that more or less portrays the represented object.
ideograph	A written symbol that represents an abstract idea rather than the sound of a word or the pictorial symbol of an object (pictograph).
phonetic	Pertaining to the sounds of speech.
cenote	The Maya word for a sinkhole, a natural well in the Yucatán that provides water for drinking and bathing.
chac mool (Maya)	A life-size stone figure in a reclining position, with flexed legs and head raised and turned to one side.
vault	An arched structure of masonry that forms a ceiling or roof. The construction of vaults with corbelled, or stepped, ceilings was a common building technique of the Maya.
Chichimec	A term loosely applied to the peoples who lived beyond the northern limits of Mesoamerica; nomadic people, considered to be uncivilized barbarians.
petty state	A small, socially stratified political unit prevalent in Mesoamerica at the time of the Spanish conquest.
pochteca	A privileged, hereditary guild of long-distance Aztec traders.
marketing	An exchange system that frequently involves currencies and generally extends beyond close kinsmen and a small group of trading partners. Market participants try to minimize their costs and maximize their returns to make a profit.
cacao	A bean of the cacao tree, native to Mesoamerica; used to make chocolate. Cacao beans also were used as money by the Aztecs.
cannibalism	The practice of eating human flesh.