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| A Skull With Evidence of Anemia |
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| A Modern-Day Mayan Descendant Picking Corn |
The Maya were a strong ancient civilization that flourished from about 250 - 900 A.D., before suddenly disappearing. Why did this happen? My theory is that the civilization collapsed from malnutrition. In many Mayan skulls found, there were sponge-like areas, or evidence of anemia (lack of iron in the diet). 80% of the skeletons that we have discovered have this, therefore many people must have died from disease and lack of nutrition. The corn crop was reported to be shrinking each year, and the land being overworked. This would deplete many of the few nutrients in the diet, especially with the population of the Maya being so large - about 25,000 people. The Maya probably collapsed peacefully, because had they been conquered, the conquerors would probably have left some evidence that they won. There is an unfinished altar still standing, which was never finished - conquerors would have knocked it down.
That is why I think that the vast, strong, Mayan civilization collapsed peacefully from malnutrition.
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| A Mayan Pyramid |
