[Prost1]

I could have saved the guy lots of effort...
The buildings in Germany from the 1000's (ie. Goslar) have doors around 5'x2.5'. Armor from that period is not much larger, for individuals around 5'3".
The beds made for miners in Gold Rush California (1850's) are only about 5' length (ie. Columbia State Park or Bodie).
Karl the Great (Charlemagne) was considered average height at 5'6" in the 800's. He was nobility and Emperor.
Poor have been small until recently, rich have been taller.
More fish and flesh, more height, more starch - less.
The guy could have checked the cemetaries - sarcophaguses...plotted sizes from northern Europe to Italy...

I hope his study wasn't govenment funded.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

The door thing is brought up a lot, but if you lived in a climate with very cold winters, you would want a shorter door to keep in more heat. People just ducked a bit coming into and out of houses. (Another reason that hats were taken off before entering a house.)

[Restorer]

Various sources give Charlemagne's height as 6'+ to 6'6". What is your source for 5.5'?

[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.

[MikefromOhio]

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.....