Be Part of the Ychsma Civilization For A Day Quiz

Answer: Corn

You wake at daybreak in your modest home and eat a quick bowl of boiled beans before heading outside. You make sure the irrigation canals and ditches are working properly for your field. Armed with manual wooden farming tools like a hand hoe, you tend to your crops, checking on fields of corn (maize), squash, beans, and chili peppers. In the afternoon, you will deliver a portion of this harvest to the local chief for the community warehouses. As the cool desert evening arrives, you head home to eat a dinner of your crops supplemented by fresh or dried fish traded from neighboring coastal fishermen.

The central coast of Peru is a desert, but corn has a relatively shallow root system compared to things like trees. For you, this makes it perfect for the shallow, flat field systems irrigated by the canals. As long as the waterways deliver a steady, controlled trickling of river water, your corn thrives. As importantly, it can be dried on the stalk and stored in communal granaries for months or even years without spoiling. For you, this meant security against years when the mountain snow melt didn't provide enough river water.

Answer: Black and white

As a potter, as soon as you awake for the day you head to the nearby river (the Lurin) to gather raw clay. Back at your shop, you go through the clay and pick out any debris or tiny stones. Because the potter's wheel doesn't exist in the Americas, you build everything by hand. For large vessels, like the giant jars used to brew and store maize beer, you use the coiling method, rolling out long ropes of clay and layering them upward. For fine ceremonial pieces, you press clay into ceramic molds that you carved yourself.

You then spend the afternoon smoothing out the piece with a large rock and painting it. You apply a rich, dark reddish brown liquid clay as a base. Using fine brushes made of animal hair or plant fiber, you paint geometric patterns, thick bands, and stylized animals using black and white pigments. (Besides the fact that many colors were not available, your civilization is known for minimalist colors). You then dry the goods in a fire pit and sleep as they cool down overnight.

Answer: The fast water collapses the dirt and stone walls

Your day starts as you walk to the main intake gate, where the water is directed from the river into the primary canal. You have simple tools of a sighting level made of a hollow reed filled with water, and a notched wooden rod. The canal must slope downward at a gentle gradient, usually less than a 1% drop. If it is too steep, the rushing water will erode the clay and stone banks, destroying the canal. If it is too flat, the water stalls, turns to mud, and evaporates into the desert air.

You spend the afternoon on the secondary canals where you use stone and wood sluice gates to control exactly how much water each field receives based on its size and the crop being grown. You then spend time with the communal work group and maintain the channel walls by lining them with heavy river stones and packed clay to prevent water seepage. At the end of the day, you scatter an offering of dried coca leaves or maize beer directly into the flowing water, thanking the spirits for bringing the mountain snow melt down.

Answer: Pachacamac

Your day starts in the inner sanctum of the large pyramid and complex of Pachacmac. After your morning purification rituals, you will spend time with the Oracle Pachacmac. This is a deeply revered wooden idol that pilgrims travel for miles to ask a single question. You will then go outside the pyramid to act as an administrator, receiving tribute from visiting regional chiefs. This could be things like food, shells, or textiles.

Toward evening you will sometimes sacrifice small animals or give the earth maize beer to thank it for its goodness to your community. At night you will go to the top of the pyramid and track the movement of the stars to predict the upcoming seasons and the potential of rain for the crops.

As a side note, Pachacmac is one of the most important and expansive archaeological sites in Peru.

Answer: Earthquake

Your day starts near one of the canals as you mix soil, clay, and water together. You then add dried grass as a binder and put the mixture into wooden molds. They will bake in the hot sun for weeks. You will then take finished bricks and construct the buildings. Because of where your civilization is located, earthquakes are not uncommon and are a sign the earth god is angry. You lay the bricks in alternating patterns to absorb seismic shock and use flexible mud mortar.

In the afternoon, you may add finishing touches to some walls such as mud plaster or mineral pigments for color. You also climb up and work on the roofs of buildings. You lay river reeds and cane across the top. Since you certainly do not expect much rain in this desert environment, you then just put on a light layer of mud to finish the top of the building and your day.

Answer: False

Your day starts early as one of your tasks is to gather various materials outside to keep the cooking fires burning. You might also help with the small flock of Muscovy ducks your family keeps. You do not have electronic toys, of course, but you do have handmade toys like tiny clay dolls or smooth, polished river rocks.

The afternoon is time for learning. But there is no school system in your civilization. All learning is done by watching and copying the adults. If you are a young boy, you might learn how to repair fishing nets. A young girl might start to learn weaving basics. At night, you will sit around the fire before bed and listen to the elders tell stories of the culture.

Answer: Cotton

Your morning is spent spinning raw cotton fibers, harvested from the surrounding fields, into yarn with a small spindle. You can also utilize some camelid wood from llamas and alpacas in the nearby mountains. You then begin to dye the raw material in boiling dye pots. You can use dried cochineal bugs to make red coloration or desert clay for browns and yellows.

Now it is time for you to weave it all together with your back strap loom. You tie one end of the loom to a sturdy wooden post and strap the other end around your lower back. By leaning forward or backward, you can control the tension of the threads. You then use bone needles to create tight, dense tapestry weaves. As an example, you might do rows of repeating, stylized triangular seabirds and interlocking zigzag fish. You finish the day by washing and folding the pieces of tapestry or clothes you have created.

Answer: Reeds

Your day starts before dawn when you head over to the shore of the Pacific Ocean where your boat is stored. Because there is no large timber on the desert coast, your boat is a small, pointed watercraft tightly woven from buoyant totora reeds gathered from local coastal wetlands. You straddle it like a horse and use a paddle for locomotion. Offshore, you use nets to haul in marine life such as anchovies, sardines and mackerel.

In the afternoon, you paddle back with your catch floating behind you. Your family joins you as you spread the fish out on mats and cover it with salt to preserve it. The sun quickly turns it into a form of jerky. Toward evening, you take the salted or fresh catch inland to swap for farm produce or household goods.

Answer: Tracking your inventory

You start your day loading up your caravan of llamas (the only pack animals in the Americas at this time) with goods. You make sure the loads are balanced and begin a journey to distant markets. Walking next to the lead llama, you carry a quipu (a device made of colored, knotted strings) dangling from your waist. Because there is no written alphabet, you use these complex knots to keep a precise inventory of exactly how many items you am carrying.

When you reach a market, you will spread out your goods on the ground and begin trading and bartering for other products. There are no coins and everything is based on pure exchange. At the end of the day, you will often chat with other merchants and, of course, update your inventory counts using your quipu.

Answer: Community group of extended families

Your day starts by joining an accountant and walking through the public plaza to count the inventory of food and goods for the community. You will also use the plaza as a place to hear grievances from the people. As chief, you are also a form of a judge and you must handle complaints and protests from various people.

Ayllus were fundamental communal and economic groups made up of extended families who shared real or mythical ancestry, religious rituals, and labor responsibilities. One of your duties is to host neighboring ayllus led by other chiefs. And you will do so lavishly with a feast of food and corn beer. Finally, before bed you will choose what offerings your community will give to the Oracle to ensure safety and prosperity for your people.