Posted on 09/01/2004 12:02:19 PM PDT by ckilmer
MEN FROM EARLY MIDDLE AGES WERE NEARLY AS TALL AS MODERN PEOPLE COLUMBUS, Ohio – Northern European men living during the early Middle Ages were nearly as tall as their modern-day American descendants, a finding that defies conventional wisdom about progress in living standards during the last millennium.
Richard Steckel "Men living during the early Middle Ages (the ninth to 11th centuries) were several centimeters taller than men who lived hundreds of years later, on the eve of the Industrial Revolution," said Richard Steckel, a professor of economics at Ohio State University and the author of a new study that looks at changes in average heights during the last millennium.
"Height is an indicator of overall health and economic well-being, and learning that people were so well-off 1,000 to 1,200 years ago was surprising," he said.
Steckel analyzed height data from thousands of skeletons excavated from burial sites in northern Europe and dating from the ninth to the 19th centuries. Average height declined slightly during the 12th through 16th centuries, and hit an all-time low during the 17th and 18th centuries.
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"Height is an indicator of overall health and economic well-being, and learning that people were so well-off 1,000 to 1,200 years ago was surprising," he said. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern European men had lost an average 2.5 inches of height by the 1700s, a loss that was not fully recovered until the first half of the 20th century.
Steckel believes a variety of factors contributed to the drop – and subsequent regain – in average height during the last millennium. These factors include climate change; the growth of cities and the resulting spread of communicable diseases; changes in political structures; and changes in agricultural production.
"Average height is a good way to measure the availability and consumption of basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, medical care and exposure to disease," Steckel said. "Height is also sensitive to the degree of inequality between populations."
The study appears in a recent issue of the journal Social Science History.
Steckel analyzed skeletal data from 30 previous studies. The bones had been excavated from burial sites in northern European countries, including Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Great Britain and Denmark. In most cases, the length of the femur, or thighbone, was used to estimate skeletal height. The longest bone in the body, the femur comprises about a quarter of a person's height.
According to Steckel's analysis, heights decreased from an average of 68.27 inches (173.4 centimeters) in the early Middle Ages to an average low of roughly 65.75 inches (167 cm) during the 17th and 18th centuries.
"This decline of two-and-a-half inches substantially exceeds any height fluctuations seen during the various industrial revolutions of the 19th century," Steckel said.
Reasons for such tall heights during the early Middle Ages may have to do with climate. Steckel points out that agriculture from 900 to 1300 benefited from a warm period – temperatures were as much as 2 to 3 degrees warmer than subsequent centuries. Theoretically, smaller populations had more land to choose from when producing crops and raising livestock.
"The temperature difference was enough to extend the growing season by three to four weeks in many settled regions of northern Europe," Steckel said. "It also allowed for cultivation of previously unavailable land at higher elevations."
Also, populations were relatively isolated during the Middle Ages – large cities were absent from northern Europe until the late Middle Ages. This isolation in the era before effective public health measures probably helped to protect people from communicable diseases, Steckel said.
"It is notable that bubonic plague made its dramatic appearance in the late Middle Ages, when trade really took off," he said.
Steckel cites several possible reasons why height declined toward the end of the Middle Ages:
The climate changed rather dramatically in the 1300s, when the Little Ice Age triggered a cooling trend that wreaked havoc on northern Europe for the following 400 to 500 years. Colder temperatures meant lower food production as well as greater use of resources for heating. But many temperature fluctuations, ranging in length from about 15 to 40 years, kept people from fully adapting to a colder climate, Steckel said.
"These brief periods of warming disguised the long-term trend of cooler temperatures, so people were less likely to move to warmer regions and were more likely to stick with traditional farming methods that ultimately failed," he said. "Climate change was likely to have imposed serious economic and health costs on northern Europeans, which in turn may have caused a downward trend in average height."
Urbanization and the growth of trade gained considerable momentum in the 16th and 17th centuries. Both brought people together, which encouraged the spread of disease. And global exploration and trade led to the worldwide diffusion of many diseases into previously isolated areas.
"Height studies for the late 18th and early 19th centuries show that large cities were particularly hazardous for health," Steckel said. "Urban centers were reservoirs for the spread of communicable diseases."
Inequality in Europe grew considerably during the 16th century and stayed high until the 20th century – the rich grew richer from soaring land rents while the poor paid higher prices for food, housing and land. "In poor countries, or among the poor in moderate-income nations, large numbers of people are biologically stressed or deprived, which can lead to stunted growth," Steckel said. "It's plausible that growing inequality could have increased stress in ways that reduced average heights in the centuries immediately following the Middle Ages."
Political changes and strife also brought people together as well as put demand on resources. "Wars decreased population density, which could be credited with improving health, but at a large cost of disrupting production and spreading disease," Steckel said. "Also, urbanization and inequality put increasing pressure on resources, which may have helped lead to a smaller stature."
Exactly why average height began to increase during the 18th and 19th centuries isn't completely clear, but Steckel surmises that climate change as well as improvements in agriculture helped.
"Increased height may have been due partly to the retreat of the Little Ice Age, which would have contributed to higher yields in agriculture. Also improvements in agricultural productivity that began in the 18th century made food more plentiful to more people.
This study is part of the Global History of Health Project, an initiative funded by the National Science Foundation to analyze human health throughout the past 10,000 years.
Steckel wants to continue looking at, and interpreting, fluctuations in height across thousands of years
"I want to go much further back in time and look at more diverse populations to see if this general relationship holds over 10,000 years," he said.
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Contact: Richard Steckel, (614) 292–5008; steckel.1@osu.edu Written by Holly Wagner, (614) 292-8310; wagner.235@osu.edu
A lot of the armor that is displayed in museums were never meant to be worn in battle, but were specially made for display. They were made in 3/4 size to show off the armorer's skill, since many of the breastplates and helmets contained very elaborate designs.
Actual battle armor was less elaborate and was usually limited to breastplate, helmet, gloves and knee shields to allow greater flexibility and freedom of movement.
Of course that's true, and the scientists know it, but still all LIBERALLY educated people know it is the fault of the U.S. that there is a hole in the ozone in Antarctica. The next time I am down there(HA HA) I will take some High-SPF suntan oil when I am setting on the beach watching the penguins playing on the ice.
I heard several years ago that a single volcanic eruption like Mt. Saint Helens releases more CO2 into the atmosphere than all human activities since the beginning of civilization. -- rdl6989In the case of a very long, larger eruption, it could happen, probably has happened. The largest single eruption inferred from the record, during generally accepted human times, took place about 70,000 years ago off SE Asia.
However, when you add in the constant emissions from all volcanoes, geothermal vents, decomposing vegetation, etc...human output becomes a smaller and smaller percentage. -- beezdotcomI'd also agree with this -- and there are hundreds of eruptions of various sizes each year.
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I also have read that ancient Greeks of Doric (Spartans for example) ancestry were about the same size as people today.
Calcium (most likely from dairy) is even more important for bone growth, the single most important requirement for height.
bump for later reading
No way were the peole of centuries ago as tall as this generation. If they were the NBA would have been invented 100's of years earlier.
William Wallace was about 11" taller than Mel Gibson.
Every knight's armor that is displayed in museums is for show, made at 60-75% scale. Battle armor is much larger and not as pretty.
Two things: the typical "knight's armor" of the period in discussion was a chain mail hauberk (thigh length shirt) and chausses (maille leggings). It would have been as unfitted as a sweatshirt, with a 3-4 inch height difference not readily noticeable. I am unsure if there are even any surviving intact Norman/Viking/Saxon hauberks.
Second, armor is often displayed on a rack that does not take into account the extra material and play at the joints. When you add up these, armor has a surprising amount of expandability.
There are other explanations. Small doors are easier to defend and weatherproof. Space on ships is always at a premium. Check out bunks in a modern sub. You see similar arguments because the beds are small, but period illuminations show people sleeping in a reclined position, like a chaise lounge.
Well, not that new. When one looks at the feast days in a typical calendar and other feudal commitments from lord to serf, they actually had a better deal than early 20th c. sharecroppers. IIRC, something like one quarter of the year actually was taken up by assorted feast days where the villagers could expect to be fed at the expense of the lord. They also got to keep quite a bit of their own produce. All told, they may have had a lesser tax burden than us.
Oops. Didn't realize this was a two year old thread.
I belong to the Society for Creative Anachronism, and last summer attended a short class where a guy was demonstrating the process. The ideal temperature is actually 180 degrees F. The leather goes from soft and flexible to a state resembling tough plastic. It retains enough "give" that a blow with a sword blade will bounce off.
The Japanese encountered this type of armor when they were fighting the Mongols, who used it extensively. The most effective way to defeat this type of armor is to have a sword with a very sharp edge, and using a slicing blow, which is why edge-sharpness is so treasured in samurai swords
Well another thing that has kinda made it down through the years....
Apparently being 200 lbs is a BIG thing as most men who eclipse 200 lbs are considered *BIG* men or bigger men.
I was 210 lbs at 13 (of course I was 5'10" as well) but I don't quite understand.
Humans today are just bigger.
Look at the NFL.
Look at college and high school football.
You can find guys who arer 6'7" and weight 350 lbs who can run a sub 5 second 40 yard dash.....
I agree with ..ckilmer..
Middle ages people were small.
In 1671 the average door height was 5'6" or maybe smaller.
In the 1000s it was 5'0".
Why, because the people did not need a bigger door to enter.
Think of today. The doors were 6'6" until everyone started getting bigger. Now doors are 7'0". Why? Because people fit in the bigger doors.
That says it all! IMO!
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