A recent issue of The Economist (Dec. 18-31, 2010) has an article about a unique archaeological excavation in England. A mass grave was uncovered in Towton, a town between York and Leeds, full of soldiers’ remains dating from the War of the Roses in the 1400s. Archaeologists could tell by the bones how old the men were (17-50) and, in excruciating detail, how each died. They reached many interesting conclusions, one being that the average medieval man was only 4 centimeters shorter than the average Englishman today.
“It was only in the Victorian era that people started to get very stunted,” says Christopher Knusel, one of the archaeologists who is now at the University of Exeter. They also debunked another myth–that people in the medieval era had blackened, rotten teeth. Sugar was not widely available at that time, so their teeth were strong. Their diet was pretty good too, something else they could discern from studying the bones.
Read the whole article, Nasty, Brutish, and Not That Short at http://www.economist.com/node/17722650
OK, so WHY did people “get stunted” in the Victorian era…and was this more or less so in America than Europe?
The Victorian era in Britain (technically 1837-1901) saw the worst of industrialization–pollution, smog, and epidemics brought on by bad water and crowding the population into small spaces. No longer on the farm where they could grow food, factory workers had trouble finding adequate food. Malnourished children working fourteen-hour days in factories do not grow into strong, healthy bodies. This growing segment of the population would have driven down the average. I’m no expert in British history, but that’s my best explanation. These circumstances were less characteristic of America.
It may be *less* true of America, but just recently I was at an exhibition of (American) wedding gowns and most of the gowns from 1850 to the turn-of-the-century were very dainty.
I’m 5’2″ and none of these ladies were taller than me, many shorter, and all were clearly more small-boned and delicately built over all. (And the corseted waists almost frightening!)
Most were also teenagers or barely out of their teens.
Corsetted waists are deliberately tricking the eye, the narrow part si short, and when you look from the side, the waist is sticking out at the front and back more than we assume. It is a circle shape, not the flat stomached oval we have today.
I feel it is also worth pointing out that average height in the UK tends to be a bit shorter than in the US. I am below average height in the US (I think it’s 5’4″) but around average in the UK.
If we extrapolate that persons in the original 13 colonies were of a height with their contemporaries back in Europe, then it could suggest that people “back then” were “shorter” than the average American – but only by an inch or two.
Bravo!! Just off the top of my head, George Washington, Christopher Columbus and Abraham Lincoln all were over 6′ tall. If you had access to decent nutrition, there was no reason why you couldn’t grow as large as “modern people.”
Thanks for the wonderful post!
I collect Victorian furniture. I am 6’2″ and I can’t sit in any of it. The chair seats are too close to the floor. Both of my mid 19th century beds had to be lengthened by 10 inches!