Ancient-to-modern secular changes in Korean stature

Statural growth in human populations is a sensitive indicator of socio-economic well-being, and improvements in socio-economic status are reflected in secular increases in adult height. In the present study, we investigated the statures of historical Korean societies to show how stature changed over time. Applying Fujii's equation, derived from modern Japanese, to the measurement of femora removed from 15th- to 19th-century Joseon tombs, the average heights of Korean adults during the Joseon dynasty were estimated to be 161.1 ± 5.6 cm and 148.9 ± 4.6 cm for males and females, respectively. Plotting statures for successive historical societies against time revealed that Korean heights remained relatively unchanged through to the end of the 19th century, a pattern that differs from that seen in many Western countries in which stature transiently decreases after the Middle Ages. In contrast, a sharp increase in Korean stature was observed at the beginning of the 20th century, similar to trends seen in other nations (although exact timing varies in different countries). There were no accompanying changes of stature sexual dimorphism. The data reported in this study reflect the unique historical experience of Korea; the relative isolation of Joseon society, the late onset of modernization (at the end of the 19th century), and the later occurrence of industrialization (during the 1960s).     

The biological standard of living in 19th century Mexico and in the American West

During the mid-19th century, the United States acquired Texas and large parts of Mexican territory with the vast Mexican-born population. This paper considers the biological standard of living of the part of this population that was incarcerated in American prisons. We use their physical stature as a proxy for their biological welfare. These data confirm earlier results which showed that adult heights tended to stagnate in Mexico during the late-19th century despite considerable social and political turmoil. While there is some evidence of a decline in height among youth, the decline is slight (<1 cm). As in other 19th century samples, farmers were the tallest. Americans were taller than Mexican prisoners by about 2 cm.     

Family size,the physical environment,and socioeconomic effects across the stature distribution

A neglected area in historical stature studies is the relationship between stature and family size. Using robust statistics and a large 19th century data set, this study documents a positive relationship between stature and family size across the stature distribution. The relationship between material inequality and health is the subject of considerable debate, and there was a positive relationship between stature and wealth and an inverse relationship between stature and material inequality. After controlling for family size and wealth variables, the paper reports a positive relationship between the physical environment and stature.     

Stature,migration and human welfare in South China, 1850–1930

This paper offers new evidence on human stature in south China during the second half of the 19th century and early part of the 20th. It is based on the records kept by the Government of Canada of 97,123 Chinese immigrants who were required to pay an entry tax between 1885 and 1949. While the study population included both sexes and all ages from infancy to old age, it was largely male, with most ages falling between 12 and 50. The data reveal an increase of over 4 cm in the adult heights of both sexes between 1850 and 1930. They also indicate an upward trend of over 5 cm in the heights of adolescent males. The mean heights of male immigrants fall in the lower range of those reported in other studies of stature in south China. The rising trends contrast with a pattern of stagnation and decline reported in other recent findings but are consistent with other recent evidence of increasing economic growth, real wages, and life expectancy in south China during this period. One likely cause of improved well-being is the influence of the migrants’ remittances on socioeconomic change in south China.     

Wealth, inequality, and insolation effects across the 19th century white US stature distribution

Sources associated with 19th century stature variation have been widely considered. Using US state prison records and robust statistics, this paper illustrates that 19th century US white statures were positively associated with a broad combination of wealth, equality, and environmental characteristics. Individuals from geographic areas characterized by low wealth and high inequality had shorter statures. After controlling for various factors, direct sunlight – the primary source of vitamin D – was also positively associated with stature. After controlling for wealth, inequality, and insolation, farmers were taller than workers in other occupations. These wealth, insolation, and socioeconomic relationships are significant across the stature distribution.     

Stature estimation in prehistoric Native Americans of Ohio

In the present report we investigate stature estimation techniques in a sample of 64 (35 male, 29 female) prehistoric Native Americans from Ohio. Because living stature is unknown for these 64 individuals, we use Fully's (1956) anatomical method to provide the best estimates of living stature. In this method all osseous components of skeletal height are measured and soft tissue correction is added. Comparisons of regression equations commonly used for stature estimation in prehistoric Eastern Woodland Native American populations, but developed for East Asian and East Asian-derived populations (using lower extremity components), show that these commonly used equations consistently yield stature estimates 2 to 8 cm in excess of the best estimates from Fully's method. Based on the skeletal height measures of the 64 individuals in the present sample, we develop regression equations for the estimation of stature. These equations yield stature estimates virtually identical to estimates from Fully's method and may prove useful for stature reconstruction in other prehistoric Eastern Woodland Native American populations.     

山东省儿童青少年生长发育20年变化趋势

为了解近20年来山东省儿童青少年生长发育的变化趋势, 本文利用山东省1985年、1995年和2005年学生体质调研资料, 分析了7—18岁儿童青少年生长的长期变化。20年间, 7—18岁身高平均增长6.27cm(城男)、5.02cm(城女)、7.62cm(乡男)、5.69cm(乡女); 体重平均增长9.97kg(城男)、6.02kg(城女)、7.96kg(乡男)、4.87kg(乡女)。BMI明显增长, 7—18岁平均增长2.57kg/m2(城男)、1.46kg/m2(城女)、1.71kg/m2(乡男)、0.93kg/m2(乡女)。发育水平上的城乡差别依然存在, 但身高的城乡差别逐步缩小, 体重的城乡差别明显扩大。下肢长指数(身高—坐高)的增长幅度大于坐高的增长幅度。总之,1985—2005年的20年间,山东省7—18岁儿童青少年在身高、体重、BMI和身材比例等方面都发生了较大变化。     

Spouse selection by health status and physical traits. Sardinia, 1856–1925

Military medical information and data from civil registers of death and marriage have been used to study the role of physical characteristics and health conditions in explaining access to marriage for the male population of Alghero, a small city located in Sardinia Island (Italy), at the turn of 19th century. Literature data about contemporary populations have already demonstrated the influence of somatic traits in the mate choice. The results presented here show that men with low height and poor health status at the age of 20 were negatively selected for marriage. This holds true also in a society where families often arranged marriages for their children. This pattern of male selection on marriage was found to be particularly marked among the richest and wealthiest SES groups. Our hypothesis is that this social group carefully selected for marriage those individuals who were apparently healthier and therefore more likely to guarantee good health status and better life conditions to offspring. In evolutionary terms, the mate choice component of sexual selection suggests that the height of prospective partners could be claimed as one of the determinants, along with other environmental causes, of the observed higher stature of men belonging to the wealthiest social strata of the Alghero population. Am J Phys Anthropol, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Short and plump physique of Mexican-American children

Mexican-American children are shorter but relatively heavier than non-Hispanic whites and blacks. The objectives of this paper are to assess the extent to which this "short and plump" physique occurs in data collected in two national surveys (HANES I and II); to determine variations by age, sex, and socioeconomic status; and to investigate the anthropometric characteristics that may account for the overweight. Three groups, defined on the basis of reported ancestry and observed race, are studied: Mexican-Americans (MEXAME), non-Hispanic Whites, (EURAME), and blacks (BLACK). Short stature was clearly associated with the poverty index (PI) in all three groups. MEXAMEs with a PI greater than 1.6 were similar in stature to EURAMEs at the same income level at ages 1-11 years but not at 12-17 years. On the other hand, MEXAMEs were shorter than BLACKs at all ages and income levels. The body mass index (kg/cm2) and poverty were unrelated. With respect to the anthropometric characteristics examined that are related to the body mass index, MEXAMEs and EURAMEs were similar in sitting height as a proportion of total height, arm muscle and fat areas, and triceps skinfold but different in the following ways: MEXAMEs had narrower elbow but broader bitrochanteric breadths and larger chest circumferences and subscapular skinfolds. Greater upper body dimensions and fatfolds seem to best describe the physique of MEXAMEs. However, in multiple regressions, these anthropometric characteristics failed to account fully for the greater relative weight of MEXAMEs as compared to EURAMEs.     

Water level fluctuations in Lake Baringo,Kenya, during the 19th and 20th centuries: Evidence from lake sediments

This article presents a fossil diatom-based, semi-quantitative reconstruction of water level fluctuations for Lake Baringo over the past 200 years as a consequence of climatic variations. A 285 cm long sediment core sample was collected using a Rod-Operated Single-drive Stationary Piston corer. Lake level was inferred using indices based on the proportion of planktonic to benthic diatom taxa (P/B ratio). The sediment archive presented distinct zones dominated by planktonic and benthic diatom flora. An initial transgression in the early 19th century was characterised as a shallow water environment dominated by planktonic Aulacoseira spp. This was a response to extreme drought during the late 18th to early 19th century. Mid-19th century was defined by a high lake stand. The late 19th to early 20th centuries experienced low water level following the widely documented aridity at the time. The mid-20th century was marked by a spectacular rise in water level that coincided with remarkably wet years during the early 1960s and late 1970s. The first decade of the 21st century witnessed widespread changes in water level. The proxy records show that lake ramping and drawdown over the years follow approximately 50-year climatic cycles.     

Height correlation analysis between women with Turner syndrome, their sisters and parents

INTRODUCTION: The most frequent physical features associated with Turner syndrome is short stature. The main goal of the research was to estimate the height of women with Turner syndrome and to analyze the correlation between their height and their sisters and parents height. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The research was based on the 176 women with Turner syndrome (number of parents = 176; number of sisters = 122). The data was collected from 1995 to 2002 in Out-patient Clinic for Women with Turner's Syndrome in Bytom. RESULTS: Average height in the group of women non treated with growth hormone and anabolic drugs was 144.1 +/- 6.8 cm (n = 105), mothers average height: 162 +/- 5.3 cm, fathers average height: 172.4 +/- 6.1 cm, sisters: 164.9 +/- 5.2 cm (n = 79). The height of women with karyotype 45,X was slightly shorter: 143.1 +/- 6.9 cm, while the height of the family have remained unchanged. Contrary to all untreated women with Turner syndrome where the height was correlated with the mothers and fathers height (pearson's r = 0.32 and 0.34 respectively), sisters height was correlated mainly with fathers height (pearson's r = 0.47 and 0.34 respectively). In the group with karyotype 45,X patients' height was correlated mainly with mothers height (r = 0.55). In this group sisters height is correlated stronger with fathers' height (r = 0.45) than with mothers' height (r = 0.35). CONCLUSIONS: 1. The height of non treated women with Turner syndrome is correlated with both parents height while the height of sisters is correlated mainly with fathers. 2. The height of Turner syndrome women with karyotype 45,X is correlated with their mothers height.     

Preliminary studies of an interdisciplinary inquiry of the body height proportions of Germans in the 19th century and of the influence of living conditions. II. Original preliminary studies for Baden, Alsace-Lorraine, Bavaria, the whole German Reich, summarizing evaluation, historical nutritional references, literature

In Part I of this examinations, preliminary original researches about the constitutional situations in Germany from the North to the kingdom Württemberg has been presented. In this part II, such preliminary researches follow for the other southern part of the German settlement. With references to Baden, Alsace-Lorraine, and Bavaria first since the second part of the 19th century, comprehensive anthropological data exist, but these contain valuable and differentiated data material. A first analysis for this German data material does not reveal regular relation-ships between body-height, urban and rural life, and geographical altitude. But there are relation-ships between wealthy and poor social classes and between educated and heavily working people, and there exists a negative trend in the body-height-means from the North and South to the middle of the German settlement with minima in Saxony and in several regions in Southern Germany. As spread for the different means about 160 to more than 170 cm is to estimate. The spread seems to be broader in the second half of the 19th century, presumably because the better life-conditions does not hold for all Germans in the same manner. About of the beginning of the 20th century, the body-height-means show an increase with may by interpreted as an kind of rehabilitation after times of emergency in the early industrialization and of difficulties in food supply.     

Life stresses of slavery

Skeletal evidence exists for life stresses of 120 Black individuals from 25 sites in Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas. Periods for statistical comparison are eighteenth century, 1690-1770; Catoctin Furnace, Maryland industrial slaves, 1790-ca.1820; 1800-ca.1860, nineteenth century; and a twentieth-century Black sample compiled from forensic (accidental deaths) cases. From these archaeological sources, skeletal age at death shifts from 36 years, female, and 30 years, male in eighteenth century (N = 29) to 34.8, female, and 36.3, male in nineteenth century (N = 56). Catoctin Furnace slaves' longevity may reflect special conditions for skilled males (34.6 years, female; 41.2 years, male (N = 16). Nutritional stresses are indicated by dental lesions, hypoplasias, stature, and skull base height and pelvic brim index. Occupational stress occurs in some adolescents and in many adults as exaggerated development of lifting muscles (deltoid and pectoral crests) and early vertebral and shoulder breakdown. Lead content of bone may reflect site of occupation. The most common pathology is anemia or sicklemia; parietal depressions and ulna fractures ("parry") indicate violence-related trauma.     

Inequality in the American South: evidence from the nineteenth century missouri state prison

The use of height data to measure living standards is now a well-established method in economic history. Moreover, a number of core findings in the literature are widely agreed upon. There are still some populations, places and times, however, for which anthropometric evidence remains thin. One example is 19th century African-Americans in US border-states. This paper introduces a new data set from the Missouri state prison to track the heights of comparable black and white men born between 1820 and 1904. Modern blacks and whites come to comparable terminal statures when brought to maturity under optimal conditions; however, whites were persistently taller than blacks in the Missouri prison sample by two centimetres. Throughout the 19th century, black and white adult statures remained approximately constant, while black youth stature increased during the antebellum period.     

Stature estimation in extinct Aónikenk and the myth of Patagonian gigantism

The Aónikenk were a hunter-gatherer group that inhabited the southern extreme of Patagonia at European Contact and became extinct at the end of the 19th century. The myth of Patagonian gigantism developed around these aborigines from early Spanish explorer accounts. In this study, the postcranial remains belonging to the Aónikenk (Patagonia) and the Selk'nam (Tierra del Fuego) preserved at the Instituto de la Patagonia (UMAG, Chile) have been measured, using standard metrics. Different stature estimations for these groups have been generated, by using the different regression formulae available. Aónikenk male stature appears to be between 174 and 178 cm on average, whereas the Selk'nam are considerably shorter. In addition, stature estimations from Spanish populations dating to the contact period have been compiled for comparison. While it can be concluded that the Aónikenk probably presented the highest stature values of all Meso- and South American populations, it is suggested that the perception of their gigantism could be partially attributed to the real difference in stature (probably more than 10 cm) between these aborigines and contemporaneous Europeans. Am J Phys Anthropol 105:545–551, 1998. © 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

The biological standard of living in Suriname,c. 1870–1975

The physical stature of Surinamese soldiers is estimated to have increased by more than 3 cm between 1870 and 1909. In the subsequent four decades, the increase in adult male and female height amounted to 0.3–0.5 cm and 0.9–1.0 cm per decade, respectively. This increase in height continued and accelerated during the second half of the twentieth century. Height increase among African and Hindustani Surinamese males and females was similar. Height differences between African and Hindustani Surinamese were therefore fairly constant over time, at 4–5 cm. Other indicators of nutritional and health status, such as infant mortality, showed continuous improvement, whereas per capita calorie and protein availability improved in the twentieth century.