I heard people were much shorter centuries ago. Is this true?
short ancestors
I heard people were much shorter centuries ago. Is this true?
Re: short ancestors
I'm pretty sure they were, and I have heard that improved nutrition is one of the main reason people are taller now than centuries ago, but I'm not an expert on the topic.
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Re: short ancestors
so, they're like, indian short?
Re: short ancestors
They were like short like in back around WW2 Japanese Imperial Guard units had an entry height requirement of 155cm - and that was stricter than the humbler corps had. Having mainly rice to eat does that.
These days the younger Japanese tourists, of around my age or thereabouts (ie. mid-twenties) I see coming to the museum I work in are quite often around my height - and I'm a bit over 180cm. Heck, surprisingly many of the young women come close to my height too. The middle-aged ones, about the parents of the above, tend to be noticeably shorter.
The hike in average heights has been about as startling here in Finland within about the last century or half. Increased standards of living and by far improved nutrition levels do wonders.
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Re: short ancestors
The nobility and other upper castes could reach heights that are normal, or even extraordinary, for today. In the Tower of London's armory, for instance, there's a suit of armor from the 14th century for a guy that stood at least three, maybe four heads taller than I am (1.80-1.85 m). A real giant. I reckon the suit stood at some 2.3 meters height.
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Re: short ancestors
Well, if we assume the Philistine champion Goliath (of Old Testament fame) was similarly an unusually tall man, if not suffering from genetic gigantism...
But yeah, the upper classes were generally taller. For one thing they ate better on the whole (they might suffer from any number of vitamin deficiencies etc. like everyone else, but they didn't actually go hungry); for another their diet tended to include rather more meat, fish and similar "luxury" articles that as it happens are among the primary sources of animal protein, which as it happens is about the single most central building block the metabolism uses for height growth...
"Let us remember that there are multiple theories of Intelligent Design. I and many others around the world are of the strong belief that the universe was created by a Flying Spaghetti Monster. --- Proof of the existence of the FSM, if needed, can be found in the recent uptick of global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. Apparently His Pastaness is to be worshipped in full pirate regalia. The decline in worldwide pirate population over the past 200 years directly corresponds with the increase in global temperature. Here is a graph to illustrate the point."
-Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
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