Yoda Posted February 22, 2007 I was listening to a science program on NPR the other day and she said that humans were taller 30,000 years ago than they are today. That pretty much blew me away. I've seen all those tiny handprints in the Grand Canyon walls and have read that humans have been getting taller due to good nutrition steadily over the last hundreds (thousands?) of years. I had assumed that we've gradually been getting taller since the hominid days. Wild shit. Average male was 5 ft 11 inches 27,000 years ago in Europe. The Vikings were considered giants back in their day, but the males were only 5 ft 6.5 inches. And today, I think European males are 5-10. Fits with the Atlantis mythology, of course. More scientifically, a friend suggested that it could be that agriculture and switching to a grain diet shrank everyone drastically... not enough nutrients per calorie in grains. Before that, the paleo diet was all the rage. Could be. There must be an easy explanation for this. I hope it'll be easy to google. -Yoda Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thelerner Posted February 23, 2007 When food and space are abundant animals grow larger. On Islands you have a shrinking effect. In the Phillipines they've found an ancient extinct race of 'hobbits' who hunted the pygmy elephants of the island. Food depravation also causes evolutionary pressures towards survival of the smallest. Michael Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
