Ancient Maya diet was mostly maize, squash, beans (the ‘Three Sisters,’) and chili peppers. Of these, maize was most popular, and they ground it up and made tortillas to wrap meat and beans in.

In fact, the top crops in the Mayan diet are some of the most popular ingredients in Mexican cuisine: cacao, papayas, ...

Morell-Hart’s hands ache from all the digging. “I wish I’d done two years of kung fu finger exercises in preparation,” she says. Analysis of the soil samples she collects shows the Maya diet was more ...