Why did medieval youth grow slower than modern youth? Osteological evidence suggests that medieval youth grew into their 20s and measurements of the length of the femoral shaft in children indicates that they lack a growth spurt that is indicative of puberty
So puberty was not experienced until later teens and continued into the 20s rather than reaching full physical maturity in later teens like today.
Do we know why this is?
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Nutritional deficiencies can stunt and delay growth, especially protein deficiencies. Puberty has been getting younger and younger in modern times, through a combination of a higher protein diet and unusual hormones in food.
Some quick googling also suggests that childhood obesity can cause early onset of puberty (as well as making it end prematurely)
I've seen charts showing that medieval people were actually quite tall due to the medieval warm period improving harvests and shit. But I suppose poor diet, despite being abundant, would delay growth and would explain why it was so widespread to consider true adulthood only at like 25 or so.
Stupid question, but what would you say is the main difference between the medieval diet and ours? Why did the general medieval diet lack so much protein? Was it the tendency of boiling things for a long time and meat often not being available when it was not slaughtering season?
Most people didn't eat much meat before supermarkets and mass production. During the 1800s, black slaves in America were taller on Average than Europeans--that's how abundant food was in the US, with all its cattle ranches and chickens. European diets were more heavily based on bread, kasha, and dairy.
The dominant diet of wheat products was mostly imposed by the church i can imagine, diet was also largely class based i presume? Read that the abby of Corbie consumed around 600 pigs in the year 822 alone, which is quite a feat and that is after the rule of 150 days of fasting, were you ate mostly fish was implemented
>The dominant diet of wheat products was mostly imposed by the church
Geography impose diet more than anything.
Yeah that is true, but the mediteraian diet spread quickly
meditteranian diet spread quickly into the western european territories thanks to the gospel and the heavy emphasis on wheat based products despite more heavy soil inhabiting the region.
What happened to the Netherlands?
Also kek at French manlets.
What makes the french so low...
>Osteological evidence suggests
Whats wrong with that sentence?
>evidence suggests
This is popsci speak for:
>there realy isn't any evidence but this was suggested as a possibility in a side line of a foot note in an article that is somewhat related and it makes a good headline.
>Veeky Forums is really this retarded
That was the point, yes.
It was put forth by Tony Waldron after researching medieval burial sites in Barton, England
>physical, tangible evidence is irrelevant
>biased tertiary written sources are the only form of evidence
Historyfags at their best
It also serves as a nice explanation why adolescentia lasts from 14 to 21 and pueritia from 7 to 14.
the first half of the 19th century kinda shat on the Netherlands in political and economic terms.
In the 16th, 17th and even 18th century foreign accounts still describe the Dutch as generally tall but by the 19th century they were the manlets of Europe.
5 foot 7 or 5 foot 8 was the average before the industrial revolution. As an average that is like an inch below the present average.
PS, just checked it again and Dutch people during the early middle ages stood at 174 centimeters or 5 foot and eight and a half inch. That's about half an inch lower than present Englishmen.
But where did the red line go?
And I'm sure it aided his book sales
174 cm? That's taller than i imagined, cool!
English have always been abnormally short due to poor diet though.
One of the tallest generations was the generations raised on war rations from WW2 since it actually gave them a well rounded and healthy diet.
The generations before and after and currently are all shorter on average.
Really? One would think that war rations werent the most healthy stuff, also given that rations and general foods werent in big abundance. Atleast I often heard stories of starvation and poor diets due to rationings. I know very little of the subject though.
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>Good standards of healthcare, sanitation, and nutrition were the key drivers, he said. Also important is the mother's health and nutrition during pregnancy.
How tall are you, Veeky Forums?
Maybe some people were hogging all the rations?
Could a diet lacking more meat based products then stunt the health of the child/foetus considering how women were seen as cold and wet in Galens humors and should ingest warm foods but also stay away from meat and strong spirits to prevent lust
Could such a diet actually stunt teenage growth in later years too?
This also goes for fish, there is much evidence in coastal villages that men often ate more meat and fish based products than their female counterparts, so what could be a good substitute for that.