YAHOO NEWS — Archaeologists have been trying to figure out what happened to the Maya for 100 years - after Mayan cities were mysteriously depopulated in the ninth century.
But new analysis by researchers by University of California, Riverside archaeologist Scott Fedick and plant physiologist Louis Santiago shows the Maya had nearly 500 edible plants available to them, many of which are highly drought resistant.
Santiago said: "Even in the most extreme drought situation — and we have no clear evidence the most extreme situation ever occurred — 59 species of edible plants would still have persisted."