average heights query

[burntcopper]

so very crap at google-fu.

trying to find out average heights (or at least ranges) of people in Roman Britain, post-empire, saxons and vikings. Also likely heights of Romans (the italian ones, not the gauls/hispanics/everyone else in the empire) (random bunnies will hopefully SHUT UP if I provide them with random data). Anyone got any links to papers/studies? Or can pull the facts off the top of their heads?

Comments

[bedlamsbard]

I don't have the height in inches, but we talked about this last semester in my Vikings class -- the average Roman male was probably around 5'2" to 5'4", I believe, while Gauls, Saxons, Vikings and the like were closer to the height of the modern average man. (Too tall to be normal! So around six feet, maybe?)

(I think this may actually be mentioned in Tacitus, but I already packed my copy up to ship home.)

[burntcopper]

the only article i could find of relevance was on gladiators in roman york which listed the bodies as between 5'6 and 6' but gave no indication of a) origin and b) how average any of this was. ARGH.

[bedlamsbard]

Okay, I'm quickly skimming Tacitus's description in the Germania, and he says, "All have fierce blue eyes, red hair, huge frames, fit only for a sudden exertion." Which means that they're taller than the Romans. (I mean, he also says a lot of other stuff, less related. I like Tacitus, he's so bemused.)

...you know, one would not think this sort of thing would be that hard to find. I've definitely heard about it from my professors in classics and history, though.

[burntcopper]

yeah, considering how many skeletons've been dug up, you'd think so. gah.

[bedlamsbard]

Somebody even asked in my Etruscans & Early Rome class the other day! Bah, I say, bah. And I know we talked about in, like, every history/semi-archaeology-ish class I've ever had.

[ineptshieldmaid]

I would go for archaeological evidence and look for heights of doorways, perhaps? Your average person is just a bit shorter than their doorway, after all.

[burntcopper]

doorways were normally small to keep heat in in normal houses. it's like beds - they were a lot shorter because people slept in an almost sitting position.

[cunobaros]

Er... no. What doorways remain from that era are in churches, so not representative. It was often the case, too, that doorways were made too small to enter comfortably, as a defensive measure.