In about A.D. 800 to A.D. 900, the Maya of the Classic Period collapsed, no one knows why. I think that the Classic Period of the Maya collapsed because of malnutrition from a shortage of corn crops. A skull (top left picture) found in the Copán Valley (top right picture) has evidence of severe anemia, caused by a lack of iron in the diet. Perhaps when the Maya flourished, the corn crop was doing well. So, we have modern evidence of what might have happened: Modern farmers in the temperate and mountainous Copán Valley say that each year, the corn crops are getting smaller in amount. The land is being cultivated every year, without time for the land to rest. To feed their population of 25,000, however, which is about the same amount of people living there before the collapse, they need to plant every year, even though a smaller amount of corn grows every year. The Maya probably experienced significant thinning of their corn crops and a famine. Some Maya moved north to the warm and humid Yucatan, while the remaining Maya died out. Though the possibilities to why the Maya Classic Period collapsed are numerous, I think that a famine, followed by departure from the Copán Valley, caused the collapse of the Maya Classic Period and is therefore the likeliest of the theories.
