MEN FROM EARLY MIDDLE AGES WERE NEARLY AS TALL AS MODERN PEOPLE

eurekalert.com ohio state university ^ | Richard Steckel

[Prost1]

Yes, Karl was 7x his foot, or tall for his times. I was thinking of his grandson Charles the Bald...

[beezdotcom]

Well, we certainly know who to blame for THIS!

Well, undoubtedly, they'll find a way to blame Bush specifically - but they already blame people in general for early climate change. This study cites early man as the first anthropogenic source of greenhouse gases. So does the book The Great Ice Age. The impetus is to push as much blame as possible on people.

[Garuda82]

Are you sure about that? I thought reaching your potential (considering only the nutrition side) was all about getting enough calcium.

Of course, protein, vitamins, and all the rest are key, but I always thought calcium was the #1.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Exactly! 5'9" doesn't sound right but it is. In modern society we are used to ceilings being 8' or higher in our houses. But for most of history, people have generally had ceilings a little crowded in their houses. We just aren't used to that and so therefore feel cramped and think "Wow, they must have been short!"

That someone who is 5' 6" can stand comfortably in a room and someone who is 6' has to duck does not surprise me in the least. A ceiling of 5' 10" would work fine in many houses, our culture just wouldn't accept it.

[Lazamataz]

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.

Only after the Rack.

[Lazamataz]

Exactly! 5'9" doesn't sound right but it is. In modern society we are used to ceilings being 8' or higher in our houses. But for most of history, people have generally had ceilings a little crowded in their houses. We just aren't used to that and so therefore feel cramped and think "Wow, they must have been short!"

Their armor is tiny.

Perhaps they just liked it tight.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

Can they be certain that graves from the 1500's and 1600's are representative of the population as a whole? Maybe the prosperous were more likely to be buried in marked graveyards.

[T Minus Four]

he impetus is to push as much blame as possible on people.

Well, Terry Kerry stated in her convention speech that as soon as her hubby became president, he'd begin to reverse global warming. At last, after all these centuries, someone is doing something!

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

Who doesn't.

[nathanbedford]

I meant, well you know what I meant.

I wish you a long and happy late middle age.

[T Minus Four]

go to your room!

[TexanToTheCore]

Yep. I'm sure. Bear in mind that a balanced diet plays a large role and calcium is a big part of that, but protein and chronic disease are key.

When you are seriously sick your body expends most of its energy attempting to get well rather than in growing. I should be somewhat taller than I am and it is probably due to a very serious illness I had when I was four which interrupted the normal growth spurts.

[r9etb]

. "Urban centers were reservoirs for the spread of communicable diseases."

And poverty.

[beezdotcom]

Well, Terry Kerry stated in her convention speech that as soon as her hubby became president, he'd begin to reverse global warming.

Perhaps she was just implying that he might actually shut up then, and cease to generate hot air. Of course, I feel compelled to point out that he needn't wait - I give him permission to do so now...

[Wallace T.]

A good case could be made for the effects of diet. Studies done in the 1920s noted that the American-born children of Italian and Eastern European immigrants were taller than their foreign-born parents. Indeed, their average height started to approach that of Americans of Northern European background. While these second generation Americans would have eaten their mothers' cooking while growing up, the greater prosperity in America meant that there would be more meat in the meals than was the case in Calabria, Belarus, or Croatia. In other word, more meatballs and less spaghetti, or more kielbasa and less sauerkraut.

[TexanToTheCore]

Another example from our own history.

Ever wondered why the pilgrims landed in Massachusetts rather than further south in the Cheasapeake Bay area?

Because of the cold winters in Mass, there was very little water-born disease. Mass had about one quarter the premature death rate of the areas in the Cheasepeake Bay area and south. The lattitudes where the diseases such as malaria occurred were well known and were avoided.

[petro45acp]

"Does not sound right - every knight's armor I have ever seen is built for smaller men - and they would have been the ones to live a "good" life.

They data could show that average height in 1300 was 5'5" and average height in 1700 was 5'3"."

I'm glad someone brought this up. In his novel "TIMELINE" Michael Chrichton presents the point that the versions of armor that are on display from the period in question are primarily display pieces. This is similar to a scale model of an object for a trade show or retail display. Working armor, if it spent ANY time ouside unattended would rust to dust in little or no time (considering the metalurgy of the period). Additionally a good bit of armor was produced by the process of "ceur bolli" or boiled leather. When vegetable tanned leather (tanic acid from bark as the primary chemical treatment) is boiled, then pressed into a form and left to dry in the form, it becomes UNBELEIVEABLY hard. Hard enough to stop a sword slash or a glancing lance blow (layer it and let panels slip and you have a very viable and light armor system). It would not likely stop a crossbow bolt sporting a long thin iron tipped point, but that is a whole 'nother gear situation. Finally, it was inexpensive relative to the protection it provided.

Yeah, I know I am referring to a novel, but Chrichton has references....honest. I just don't have them with me.........

Let me check my notes....

ka-klick!

Cheers!

[wyattearp]

"Ever wondered why the pilgrims landed in Massachusetts rather than further south in the Cheasapeake Bay area?"

Actually, I read that it was because they ran out of beer. I'll try to find the reference.

[wyattearp]

Found it! I really do love Google.

This particular day of observance prays for a beer. The Pilgrim Fathers came from Plymouth and Leiden, but they did not have a remotely good time (by Puritan standards) until they reached Massachusetts. They landed there, instead of Virginia, because they had run out of beer and had to stop and brew some more. Why else did you think they thanked God each year for the bension of their new homeland?

http://www.beerhunter.com/documents/19133-001346.html

[OESY]

Good stats, but beware. Doors and ceilings could be downsized for heat conservation reasons (and windows and frontage for tax reasons). I wonder if a thousand years from now, historians will conclude our average height was 4'8" based on the height of shower heads at cheap motels.