In the prehistoric populations, the maximum height for men was 165 to 170 cm, while women topped out at 160 cm. Today, by comparison, men in England have an average height of around 175 cm, while for women it is about 162 cm.
In general, modern humans living in developed countries are taller than their ancient counterparts, but this was not always the case. Certain ancient human populations were quite tall, even surpassing the average height of the tallest of modern countries.
From 1400 to the early 1650, mean height reached 173-174 cm. The early years of the 1600s were 'unusually healthy', and the paper notes that the introduction of poor laws may have contributed to better health for poorer sections of society.
According to Steckel's analysis, heights decreased from an average of 68.27 inches (173.4 centimeters) in the early Middle Ages to an average low of roughly 65.75 inches (167 cm) during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Pre-glacial maximum Upper Palaeolithic males (before 16,000 BC) were tall and slim (mean height 179 cm, estimated average body weight 67 kg), while the females were comparably small and robust (mean height 158 cm, estimated average body weight 54 kg).
10,000 years ago: European males – 162.5cm (5 ft 4 inches). A dramatic reduction in the size of humans occurred at this time. Many scientists think that this reduction was influenced by global climatic change and the adoption of agriculture.
In the prehistoric populations, the maximum height for men was 165 to 170 cm, while women topped out at 160 cm. Today, by comparison, men in England have an average height of around 175 cm, while for women it is about 162 cm.
The average height of Vikings as found by researchers and scholars, varied depending on a number of factors, including their age and gender. Typically, the average male Viking would usually be between 5 foot 7 and 5 foot 9, while the average female would be between 5 foot 1 and 5 foot 3.
Our ancient ancestors went through a tall and skinny phase around 1.5 million years ago, according to new research. The early humans hunted in African savannahs, which caused them to become tall and slender after leaving forest-like habitats.
Remember the average life for a man in the Ancient Rome's times was about 40… Even the average height was shorter than today's Romans: around 5'5”!
Dutch people are the tallest people in the world. They have an average height of 175.62 cm (5 feet 7.96 inches).
The Greek reference dataset
Compared to other, contemporary populations, they were approximately as tall as the inhabitants of Scandinavia/Finland (males: 171.9 cm, females: 160.9 cm) and the females from Britain (males: 164.14 cm, females: 156.51 cm).
Adults grew to about 1.4-1.8 metres tall and weighed 41-65 kilograms. H. erectus brain size was smaller than that of humans today - in some cases nearly half the size - and their skulls were thicker. From left to right: skulls of Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis.
Nevertheless, over this whole period they found that the mean height (of their sample of 150 skeletons) was 157.5cm (or 5ft 2in) for women and 167.9cm (or 5ft 6in) for men, quite like today.
Standing at around six foot tall, the Gravettian men of Europe were by far the tallest humans of the prehistoric era. The Ice Age giants were known for hunting woolly mammoths and have even been linked to the demise of the famous species.
Early Humans Became Tall and Thin 1.5 Million Years Ago to Survive Outside the Forest. For most of hominid evolution, our ancestors got heavier as they got taller. However, about 1.5 million years ago, humans had a growth spurt, suddenly becoming tall and lanky. This was likely a response to changes in human behavior.
Adults grew to about 1.50-1.75m tall and weighed about 64-82kg. Early Neanderthals were taller on average than later Neanderthals, but their weight was about the same. Model of a Homo neanderthalensis skeleton (front and back views).
Thorkell the Tall, (born late 950s, southern Sweden—died after 1023), Viking warrior and chieftain who gained renown during his lifetime for his fighting prowess and who played a notable role in English history in the 11th century.
Vikings worked long hours, carrying, and using heavy equipment which contributed to the formation of muscles, even from an early age. Another reason for the significant strength of the Vikings was their diet. Vikings were mostly hunters, not gatherers, due to their cold, harsh environment.
Experts say natural selection, combined with a good animal protein diet, makes these Nordic locals taller than their counterparts elsewhere in the world. The Norwegians, like some of the other tallest people in the world have some great genetic backgrounds. Average height of Norwegians: 5 feet 7.97 inches.
"The chimp-like ancestor was like a power athlete," said Dan Lieberman, a biological anthropologist at Harvard University. "Much stronger and faster than humans, but they had no endurance."
Endangered Species: Humans Might Have Faced Extinction 1 Million Years Ago. New genetic findings suggest that early humans living about one million years ago were extremely close to extinction.
The researchers discovered the bones of prehistoric homo sapiens were more dense than ours today, suggesting early sapiens likely ran far more often—and for longer distances. Other studies suggest many early humans had the running capacity of today's competitive cross-country athletes.