Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Those small people we descended from? Not always

Wikipedia article on Gravettian people, 33,000 to 22,000 years ago:

“Physical remains of people of the Gravettian have revealed that they were tall and relatively slender people. The male height of the Gravettian culture ranged between 179 and 188 centimetres (5 ft 10 in and 6 ft 2 in) tall with an average of 183.5 centimetres (6 ft 0.2 in), which is exceptionally tall not only for that period of prehistory, but for all periods of history.

“They were fairly slender and normally weighed between 67–73 kilograms (148–161 lb), although they would likely have had a higher ratio of lean muscle mass compared to body fat in comparison to modern humans as a result of a very physically active and demanding lifestyle. The females of the Gravettian were much shorter, standing 158 centimetres (5 ft 2 in) on average, with an average weight of 54 kilograms (119 lb). Examinations of Gravettian skulls reveal that high cheekbones were common among them.

Also: Stature of early Europeans

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17003019/

Later humans were shorter. So, what caused the four-inch decrease in average height? 

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