| A | B |
|---|
| Beringia | An ancient land bridge over which the earliest Americans are believed to have migrated from Asia to the Americas |
| Ice Age | A cold period in which huge ice sheets spread outward from the polar regions, the last of which lasted from about 1,600,000 to 10,000 BC |
| Maize | Corn |
| Mesoamerica | An area extending from central Mexico to Honduras, where several of the ancient complex societies of the Americas developed |
| Olmec | The earliest known Mesoamerican civilization, which flourished around 1200 BC and influenced later societies throughout the region |
| Zapotec | An early Mesoamerican civilization that was centered in the Oaxaca Valley of what is now Mexico |
| Monte Alban | The first real urban (city) center in the Americas; built by the Zapotec |
| Chavin | The first major South American civilization, which flourished in the highlands of what is now Peru from about 900 to 200 BC |
| Nazca | A civilization that flourished on what is now the southern coast of Peru from about 200 BC to AD 600 |
| Moche | A civilization that flourished on what is now the northern coast of Peru from about AD 100 to 700 |
