Humans Were About 5 Inches Shorter 5000 Years Ago
Examining the historical data, archaeological remains and expert analysis reveals that the average human 5000 years ago was roughly 5 inches (12 cm) shorter than today‘s averages. Men stood around 5‘5" (165 cm) tall while women were approximately 5‘3" (160 cm).
As a history and data aficionado, I wanted to dig deeper into the trends around height over time to uncover insights on our ancestors using the empirical evidence available. What I found suggests some fascinating changes have occurred in our species, impacted by variations in lifestyle and environment.
A Journey Through Height History
First, let‘s ground ourselves on height benchmarks over time for context, starting from 10,000 years ago when humans began adopting agricultural practices:
| Time Period | Male Height | Female Height |
| 10,000 years ago | 5‘4" (162.5 cm) | 5‘1" (155 cm) |
| 8,000 – 6,600 BC Upper Palaeolithic Age | 5‘5" (166 cm) | 5‘2" (157 cm) |
| 5,000 – 3,000 BC Chalcolithic Age | 5‘5" (165 cm) | 5‘3" (160 cm) |
| Modern England (175 cm) | 5‘9" (175 cm) | 5‘4" (162 cm) |
A key trend emerges here – there was a noticeable reduction in height corresponding to lifestyle shifts towards agriculture. This holds true globally, with the tallest documented ancient humans being European hunter-gatherer males from the Gravettian culture about 30,000 years ago, who averaged 6 ft (183 cm) in height!
Let‘s explore why early farmers shrunk and what clues this gives us into the lives of our ancestors.
When Agriculture Shrunk Humanity
The archaeological record indicates the gradual adoption of agriculture and animal domestication beginning 12,000 years ago resulted in a dramatic decline in nutrition and health due to:
- Reliance on fewer staple crops: Instead of diverse foraging, early farming focused on high-yield grains like wheat and rice, lacking vitamins and minerals.
- Population density and diseases: Permanent settlements enabled diseases to spread faster.
- Physical stress: Farming was brutally hard physical labor compared to hunting/gathering.
The combined effect was nearly 4 inches (10 cm) of height reduction over a few thousand years. Now consider that the average American male has grown over 4 inches in just the past century – it puts into perspective how transformational the Agricultural Revolution was on humanity!
Just as with today, wealth and class factors also created height disparities:
- Upper class Egyptians 5000 years ago averaged 5‘6" for males and 5‘4" for women.
- Lower class farmers were as short as 5‘1".
This shows the outsized impact of nutrition and health on determining height outcomes.
Uncovering Ancient Secrets through Bones
But how do archaeologists reliably know so much about the statures of our ancestors given they have no written records and few material artifacts survive?
By scientifically measuring and analyzing skeletal remains!
Bones provide a remarkable window into the lifestyles and biology of ancient populations. Key techniques researchers use include:
- Long Bone Analysis: Lengths of arm/leg bones strongly correlate to overall height.
- Proportion Calculations: Ancient to modern body proportion ratios help determine heights.
- Paleogenomics: DNA and isotopic analysis reveal diet, diseases, ancestry etc.
Combining these forensic methods allows scientists to gauge height, weight, age, gender, mobility and more from millennia-old skeletons with reasonable accuracy.
We can thank meticulous anthropologists and archaeologists for providing such intimate insights on our often diminutive ancestors based on bones alone! It adds texture and nuance to our understanding of human history.
The Future Trajectory of Human Height
Modern healthcare and nutrition has rapidly increased global height averages over the past century across populations. But have we peaked? Scientists think not.
Projected drivers that could make future generations taller include:
- Improved childhood health and prenatal care
- Greater access to protein-rich diets
- Population intermixing evening out height variations
- Potential genetic modifications
However, should adverse conditions emerge like high-stress lifestyles, increased pollution exposure or radical climate changes, declines in height may occur again as environmental factors override genetic potential.
Only time will tell, but the plasticity of human development means our species will continue responding and adapting to our circumstances. I will be watching with great interest as to where the height story goes next!
So in summary, archaeological evidence gives us a glimpse into the stature of humans from different eras, and what it reveals is we are taller today but also far from reaching the biological limits on potential human size. Our ancestors provide living proof that humanity shrinks or grows to fit the times.
Let me know your thoughts in on this topic in the comments!
