I believe that Maya civilization collapsed because of a famine caused by soil that was unable to support crops. A sign of erosion was found at some houses near Copan, a Mayan city near the Guatemala border, and was most likely caused by over-farming. Over-farming would have caused the Maya soil to lost its nutrients, thereby making the soil unable to support plant life. Also, many Mayan skulls were found to have anemia, a disease caused by a lack of iron in one's diet and undernourishment,
which was caused by a dearth of food and nutrition. Many modern farmers are getting less and less corn from their fields because of a lack of a fallow period, which was caused by the substantial population. The Maya ate maize all year round, and a lack of it would cause many people to starve and a paucity of food. Therefore, my theory is that the Maya civilization collapsed because of a sparseness of food.
