This is often told of ancient warriors who were tall because of battles that relied on physical strength and muscle. Likewise, ancestors were considered physically fit because they were accustomed to living difficult lives such as farming without the help of tractors, cutting down trees without saws, or making construction projects only by relying on hands and feet. almost everything is done manually so that it naturally develops muscle strength.
But the assumption is actually not quite right.
The reality is that in ancient civilization food was difficult to obtain because of frequent wars, security and governance issues, and underdeveloped technological factors or agricultural productivity. hence the intake of nutrients and nutrients and protein is difficult to obtain continuously which causes developmental disorders.
Not to mention the fact that muscles naturally do not form to be as large as body builders but generally become clay muscles that are not visible from the outside. as in a construction worker's arm, the muscles formed by work and the load do not always grow out of proportion. Even though it looks small compared to bodybuilding athletes but actually it is much stronger about endurance.
Therefore, a soldier who is trained even though his body is not enlarged despite not undergoing food and discipline such as bodybuilding. This is not a problem because the focus of the training is on strength and stamina while bodybuilding is aimed at appearance. Seeing from this fact the assumption that the warriors or ancient people were tall (muscular) like Hollywood action movie stars is arguably wrong.
When food supplies are uncertain and there is a need to wear heavy armor at all times, a person's height can actually be reduced. according to a study using Ring Armor that starts at a young age effectively makes the body shorter by about 1 inch or more due to impaired spinal growth.
For comparison, the average height of men in the Roman era ranged from 160-170 cm. at the Pompeii site buried by volcanic eruptions, the average man is known to be 166 cm, while in the city of Herculaneum it is 169 cm. by comparison, Julius Caesar, who lived several hundred years before the buried city of Pompeii, was 170 cm high and above average.
Europeans enjoy a high body which is very good because of agricultural surplus coupled with intake of protein from dairy products such as cheese and seafood. this continued until Roman destruction or the beginning of the middle ages where Europeans had reached 173 cm. then decreased to 167 cm in the 17th century. new heights rose again after the 18th century in line with increased nutrition and food availability.
For other parts of the world can be divided into 2 parts, whether including nomad civilization or not. Nomadic residents have access to high protein foods such as meat and cheese and stomach which adapt to the lactose content in milk. but they are poor in agricultural products so growth is not optimal. the average Mongol looks smaller than Europeans, they are estimated to have a height of about 150-160 cm.
For those who are not nomadic, like Chinese civilization, they have a lot of agricultural products, but limited meat consumption because it is considered a luxury. not to mention they do not consume milk because it is intolerant of the lactose content in it which causes stomach pain or diarrhea. can be tricked by making cheese but is less popular because of the availability of other abundant food ingredients such as soybeans that are processed into tofu.
Then what about the story about the ancient barbarians who were said to be very tall?
Not all is wrong, but it is just coincidence or unique, does not describe average. like in modern times there might be Yao Ming, Shaq O'Neil and other NBA players. of course this does not reflect the height of the modern population. even in the past, usually barbarians naturally chose the strongest to be a leader. of course the leader was in front of the troops so they all looked tall.
Unique to some barbarians such as Kelts or Gallians, because they are in the transition from hunting to agriculture / herding, their nutrition is sufficiently met so as to produce many populations with maximum developmental heights. therefore for the Romans who were mostly physically barbaric vegetarians seemed far greater.
Perhaps the most interesting is about Macedonia, which by Greek standards is somewhat below average. Therefore Alexander the Great (169 cm is considered above average) and his troops are often made enchanted by their opponents who hold selected warriors with a height of 180-190 cm. one of the kings from northern india was so tall that it was mentioned when he came to ride an elephant that it looked as appropriate or natural as riding a horse.
