4 C UNIT I SPECULATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS ABOUT THE PAST o. Complete this iligi? school students noies bi circling the correct words. o 66 o o o o o 4 Pjramid exactf,q 365 steps! tmp1e (no wîidou s!) heqht: 70ft (21 m) mater/al st.one secret buriafcliambe,-? 1 It must have might have taken many years to build a pyramid 2 I couldn might flot have been easy without horses or oxen 3 The temp1esave I could have been very dark mside 4 Some pyramids must have have ad a secret burial chamber 5. The Mayhave/ could have had some kriowledge of astronomy Look at the number of steps! ê
Speculations and Conclusions about the Past. A BailCurt found in afmost everg Maqan citg Bailcourt hoop o heqht ofhoop: 27fl (8 m) name ofgame:pok-a-tok? simifar t basketba/f? rubber bail sui,? moon? 6. The Mayaav might have enjoyed this sport. 7 The name of the game must have have been pok-a-tok 8 It must have similar to basketball 9. The solid rubber bail must have /cyymbo1ized the sun or the moon. 10. The average Mayan man was 5 feet 1 inch (1.52 m) tau. Inhav/ might flot have been very easy to get the bail into the hoop. 11. The mies of the game were very complicated. Itave/ might have been difficuit to score.
8. i-a e Who were the ancient Maya? What happened to their advanced civilization? complete these speculations. Use the words in parentheses and choose between affirmative and negative. 1. The ancient Maya must have been a ve intelligent people. They had (must/ be) the most complex writing system in the western hemisphere and an amazingly accurate astronomical calendat 2. Recently, archaeologists found four new Mayan sites in thick mountain jungle on the Yucatàn Peninsula in Central America. Because of the thick jungle growth, the sites v1 u r fr?1ç,lv - 2-asily visible. (must / be) 3. Archaeologists k j.d )0 I k&jc._ k very excited by the discovery. It (hadto/feel) provided a lot of important information about the Maya. f 4. The Maya t1tl 4he sites between the years 700 and 900. (must/ occupy) The style of the architecture and the pottery found at the sites is typical of that time. t - J 5. The sites lie between two major population centers. The ancient residents ( i 9ÂJf_ 4T&LLL1 with these cities. J (may / trade) Î i 3 6. Archaeologists once thought the Maya; 1d.i t W in the city (could/(ive) centers. They believed that the centers were used only for cerernonial purposes. 7. Archaeologists used to believe that the ancient Maya were very peaceful. Todaç I. howevei; there is evidence that they i1ifrj YLg I / L -- be L as peaceful as once thought.., (may/be) Bum marks on buildings, war images on buildings and pottei and the discovery of weapons have lcd archaeologists to believe that the Maya Ç O Ç - - (must/fight) 9. Archaeologist Arthur Demarest believes that after the year 751 there vas intense rivahy among Mayan rulers. He says, Their ferocious competition, which exploded into civil war, / 1 t4 1 what finally triggered the society s / (may / be) t breakdown. r
r Speculations and Conclusions about the Past i (OcLc-e4 10. The ram forests L Yl t ha* 1fl J-? enough food to support the Maya. (maght / produce) Archaeologists have found evidence that at some point the ram forests were almost destroyed. 11. The Maya to other areas in search of food. That (could / go) would explain their suddenly abandoning their homes. 12. The Maya M k!fr 9nough water. There was a four-month d period every year. (might/ have) 13. Some areas oveopu1ation. chaeo1ogist J (may / suifer) T. Patrick Culbert estimates that there were as many as 200 people per square kilometer. 14. Overpopulation LLkO( 13V4- \ Ct to hunger. Human bones show evidence of poor nutrition. (coutd / lead) 15. At the end, the Maya had so many problems that even a small disaster Iv?ih kâaje + j fir civilization. J (might/destroy) 16 Culbert says the final cause of destruction COLLL(j. Llj»JL- t n. (could / be) something totally trivial two bad hurricane seasons... or a crazy king. Source: Michael D. Lemonick, Secrets ofthe Maya, 77me, August 9, 1993. Complete these tourists conversations with short answers and the verbs in parentheses. 1. A: Those pyramids we saw were fascinating. Do you think they took a long time to build? B: They must have. According to our guide, the Maya didn t have horses or any other ànimals to carry the stone. 2. A: It was really hot out there today. Do you think it was more than 90 degrees? B: Vvl L ( h 2i.je t veryone was sweating. 3 A The tour guide was really informative Do you thrnk he studied archeology2 B: t4e... hi 1 112JL. He surely knows a lot. {might) (continued on next page)
ivi t 111 4 A I wonder if the guide ever heard of von Damken s theories B Von Daniken is pretty well known (might) 5 A I Just called Sue s room and there was no answer Do you Suppose she went oui2 B J _Sih.L postcards. b-?, h f Jc& (could) kçv t1pl\r?... 6. A: Do you think pok-a-tok was a rough sport? She said something about wantmg to buy B: frms protection. kv_ players wore thick, heavy padding for 7. A: What did you think of lunch? B: It was very good. Did the Maya eat tortillas, too? A: Zi j. VLL J have found metates in the ruins. B: Metates? What are those? tl0itl. Their main crop was corn, and archaeologjsts A Stones used for grinding corn into four 8 A The guide didn t say anythmg about the tip we gave him Do you think he was happy with it? i-) i1 tif B: (might flot) 9. A: I don t feel well. ) B: Do you think it was something you ate? kwc ybe we didn t give him enough. A (cou(d flot) I ate the exact same tiung as you, and you re fine.