Medeivil People were NOT shorter..

[Danustouch]

New research contradicts the commonly held idea that people were shorter in the middle ages:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,61-1786767,00.html

[WokeUpDead]

The average British male is 5'7? They're still short.

[Fyre_Nymph]

lol. not in my book. that's 2 inches taller than me

[Danustouch]

Heck, this is sad news for me, actually. I'm only 4'11. I've always wanted to invent a time machine to take me back to those times, if for no other reason, then to be able to dance with a man who's close to my own height!

JUST kidding ;)

[Mithrea]

I'm a giant!!!!!!!! :foh:

[Moonlite Faery]

hehe...I'm 5'4 and my hubby is 6'2 :)

[Kaylara]

Wow... Brits are short.

[Meadhbh]

Very short their 5'3 I'm 6'0. I feel freakishly tall now.

[halfwaynowhere]

wow, are brits really that short today? i'm 5'10", which is still on the tall side, but most of my friends are over 5'6"...

[Iberian]

.

[nik]

Then why is all the furniture so small? Have you ever visited a medieval site? Their beds were at least 2 feet shorter than the average ordinary bed now...

Nik

[WokeUpDead]

And the second story railings were too low to be safe if they were normal height, at least in old American buildings.

[cowdragon]

I think (in reference to the low railings) that back then, people were expected to bring their own common sense. A railing was more of a suggestion or reminder as opposed to an actual barrier. ;)



The Cowdragon _wiz_

[Evendusk]

I'm resurrecting this dead thread because of a site I came across. The membership records of a fat men's club were posted on the web for some reason but what I find interesting is that the heights, weights and places of birth are listed. Since these gentlemen lived before the era of antibiotics and the food pyramid it could be assumed that their heights could at least reflect the heights of men from the middle ages.

What struck me the most was that these gentlemen were as tall as men today though a few were abnormally short, attributable to poor diet maybe?

http://www.rootsweb.com/~meandrhs/society/fatmen/1870.html

[AstralMoth]

I dont get this thread at all. Im a brit, 6'2". My shortest friend is 5'6", the rest are all over 5'8". I have been into a lot of very old houses, Castles etc in the UK and the doors are all really small, surely if your going to build a house you would do so in a way that most of the people wouldnt have to hunch to get in. The old furniture as well is way too small. So therefore one of these statements is true
1) People who built things back then were really stupid
or
2) People were shorter

[Avalonia]

I feel short. I'm only about 5'1". XD

[cowdragon]

I think the difference is that in the Dark Ages, Europeans WERE shorter. Even the wealthiest had poor diets consisting mostly of grains with little protein. Periods before and after that though, people were generally larger. Since so many castles were built during the dark ages, that may be why the doors and such were so small.



The Cowdragon _wiz_

[goaway]

The average British male is 5'7? They're still short.
whoa, that's average height for korean's who are 1gen. 1.5 and 2.0 tend to be taller though

[dragoncrone]

I have been into a lot of very old houses, Castles etc in the UK and the doors are all really small, The old furniture as well is way too small. So therefore one of these statements is true
1) People who built things back then were really stupid
or
2) People were shorter


Exactly! In addition, for around 300 years during 1600 to 1800 (+/-) there was a mini-ice age in the northern hemisphere. One biological result was shorter people BECAUSE a relatively small body is easier to keep warm than a tall gangly one.
Think about it - the Eskimo people in their icy environment, vs. the Zulu and Masai living in hotter climates.

[Cain]

Hmm, I've always wondered about that. Its going to depend a large part on diet. In the hills and lakes of Peru, there were teenagers who looked ten because of the protein deficiency...I suppose so long as you got adequate meat (like the nobles seemed to) then there was no reason you couldnt grow to roughly the same size at today...