Monday, November 8, 2010

How Did the Maya Collapse?



There are many possible ways that the Maya could have collapsed. My theory combines many others and brings in my own idea. Many of the Maya (80 %) suffered from lack of nutrition, particularly iron. That is the key thing that started the gradual fall of the Maya empire. When the people started to get sick from anemia (lack of iron) the healthy would focus on making the sick well. Slowly everyone started to get sick, and other tribes took advantage of
the weakness. Some small tribes around the Maya could have attacked the Maya and slowly taken every major city away from the empire. Then finally eventually everyone would die out from anemia. An explanation however for the sudden stop of historical monuments is simple. The Maya were so focused on healing the sick they spent their time trying to survive instead of making monuments.
Skull suffering from anemia (middle), Mayan warriors fighting (top), Mayan monument (bottom)

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