People in This Roman City Have Not Grown Taller in 2000 Years
According to the researchers, the average height of humans has been on a steady rise in every part of the world except one Roman city. Citizens of Milan have not experienced a significant variation in height, over the past 2000 years, as per a study published in the journal Scientific Reports.
"This is one of the rare studies to show no change in stature trend over time in Europe," Mirko Mattia, co-author of the paper and postdoctoral fellow at the Università degli Studi di Milano in Italy shared, Newsweek reported. The findings surprised experts worldwide because this pattern is not usually noted in humans across generations. The study focuses on the unique factors that could have caused people in Milan to have a different evolutionary feature than the rest of the world.
Human Height Across Generations
Researchers stated that there has been a U-shaped trend in human height across generations, Newsweek reported. Average height went down from the Early Medieval times to the Late Middle Ages and/or Modern era, after which it slowly began to pick up in the 20th century.
As per the study, people in industrialized nations during the last 150 years have grown around four inches in height. The average young adult today is around five percent taller than those who lived a century ago.
Static Height in Milan
The study used historical data sources and compared them with ancient skeletons found in Milan, to figure out the average height of people residing in the city across generations.
Researchers in their analysis of subjects from Milan found that male heights ranged between 152 centimeters (5 feet) and 195.4 centimeters (6 feet 5 inches), with a mean of 168.5 centimeters (5 feet 6 inches), while female heights fell between 143.5 centimeters (4 feet 8 inches) and 177.6 centimeters (5 feet 10 inches) with a mean stature of 157.8 centimeters (5 feet 2 inches), Newsweek reported. The averages in both cases showed little to no variation, which was in stark contrast to the pattern observed in the rest of the world.
Subjects Used in the Milan Study
"Skeletons are testimonies of past lives and they can reveal much about a person's life history. In particular, here, we looked at the evolutionary trend of stature in Milan. For the study, we examined over 500 skeletons (549 exactly), selecting over 50 females and 50 males per historical period: Roman era (1st-5th century A.D.), Early Middle Ages (6th-10th century A.D.), Late Middle Ages (11th-15th century A.D.), Modern era (16th-18th century A.D.) and Contemporary era (19th-21st century A.D.)," Mattia said.
Researchers ensured that the subjects taken into consideration in the study had similar economic backgrounds and lived in the same area. This was done to limit geographical and social biases. Skeletal remains displayed in the Anthropological Collection of the LABANOF (Anthropological and Odontological Lab of the State University of Milan) were used in the study.
Reasons for No Variation in Height
Mattia stated that a big factor behind humans in the study showing no variations could be their similar backgrounds and living conditions, Newsweek reported. "Several factors may explain this difference: first, the geographic and socioeconomic context is homogeneous, based on individuals from a single place (the city of Milan) and with a similar socioeconomic background, limiting the effects of geographic and socioeconomic disparities," he explained.
Researchers also pointed out the better living conditions in Milan compared to other European countries, as a reason behind the pattern noted in the stature. The factors that brought the average height down in the Late Middle Ages possibly did not facilitate in the city because of the superior conditions. Similar living conditions devoid of negative influences aided Milanese in maintaining a stable average height across generations.