Posted on 01/31/2006 10:35:59 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Low doorways and laughably small suits of armor led to conventional thinking that people in the middle ages were significantly shorter than we are. After an exhaustive study of hundreds of churchyard skeletons, British archaeologists Charlotte Roberts and Margaret Cox say that height discrepancy is little more than a tall tale. Although medieval children were in fact shorter – 10-year-olds then were around 8 inches shorter than 10-year-olds now – most likely due to poorer nutrition and slow growth, adult European heights really haven't changed much over the past few centuries. Adult heights of men and women have remained constant at about 5 foot 7 inches for men and 5 foot 3 inches for women. The shorter heights of military recruits and smallish suits of armor probably reflect a younger army, while lower doorways may simply have been a way to conserve heat.
(Excerpt) Read more at discover.com ...
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In short... European men are still short.
Joust what are you getting at?
[rimshot!]
i just have to wonder why all the catacombs and churches that i visited in europe seem to have tiny coffins? was it that the leadership was smaller? hmmmmmmmmm
Hard to believe. If you buy and furniture more than 50 years old it's all smaller - chairs, tables, beds.. everything. Pretty sure they didn't do that to conserve heat.
It's more likely the people they examined were wealthy and lived more comfortable and healthy lives than the average person.
I grew up in a house where most of the furniture was more than 50 years old, and none of it was any different in size than today's.
Two possibilities come to mind -- one is, the coffins are boneboxes, containing just the excarnated bones of the deceased; the second is that wood was scarce (it was), so the coffins just aren't comfy inside.
Really? Whenever I get dragged out to an antique market we can never find something suitable...chairs are too low, tables are too low. I'm only talkng a few inches, but I'm 6'4" so I can't use them.
Yes, really.
I was always a little confused when I heard that medieval people were so small cuz I've seen many suits of armor over the years and much of it looked bigger than me (5'6"). But your right. I suspect guys that owned armor probably grew up well fed.
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