Genetic Variation (Introduction)

by David Turell , Monday, September 27, 2010, 02:22 (5171 days ago) @ George Jelliss


> B-M: They were not un-evolved versions of us. They were bigger, faster, stronger, and I suspect smarter, than we are. 
> 
> The evidence surely is that humans in the past were smaller than we are today. That is the general trend. You only have to compare the heights of doorways in everyday dwellings. Faster and stronger and more alert as a general average, quite probably, since they lived in more dangerous environments. -
English and American histiorical buildings and clothing show that the 18th and 19th century people were short. However, before the agricultural revolution, several thousand years ago, the average population was taller, with men approaching six feet. I know of no theory that explains this reduction in height with the hard work of agriculture. Dietary change? Increased caloric burn?