age 23. Though anemia rarely causes death, it cuts the blood's oxygen carrying capacity, increasing the chances of fatality from pneumonia, bronchitis, and heart problems. It also heightens the impact of even moderate blood loss during childbirth, which the au- thors rate as the leading cause of anemia-related death among early medieval women.
Iron intake for men and women increased the 10th century throughout Europe. Development of the three-field crop rotation sys- tem, an advance over the earlier...