International research team studied more than 1,500 individuals who lived around 6,000 to 8,000 years ago
Culture and health are linked in the modern world - this connection is demonstrated not least by the diseases of civilization that often result from lifestyle. However, it is unclear how this relationship has developed. Growth is an indicator of health. A smaller height than would be expected due to genetic predisposition may therefore indicate unfavorable environmental or nutritional factors. Previous research suggests that humans in the Neolithic period did not reach their genetic height potential. However, it is not known how this differed between regions and between the sexes.
Samantha Cox and her colleagues analyzed the data of 1,535 individuals from the Neolithic period using ancient DNA, stable nitrogen and carbon isotopes (as an indication of diet), paleopathology (as an indication of health) and skeletal measurements. Their age was dated to between 8,000 and 6,000 years. The aim was to investigate differences in size and possible causes. The skeletons came from four regions of Europe: northern central Europe, southern central Europe, the Balkans and the Mediterranean. Sex was classified on the basis of chromosomes or skeletal morphology.
Dr. Eva Rosenstock from the Bonn Center for ArchaeoSciences at the University of Bonn is involved in the study. The scientist provided and analyzed some of the data. "Even in people today, there is a constant debate about which factors control body size: is it primarily genes, diet or what we call the socio-economic-political-emotional environment, or SEPE-environment for short?" says Rosenstock. "This study makes a contribution to this." The archaeologist is a member of the Transdisciplinary Research Unit "Present Pasts" at the University of Bonn.
The authors show that there was great environmental stress for both sexes in north-central Europe. In general, women are somewhat smaller than men. However, the height of women in north-central Europe was significantly smaller than would have been expected from genetics. The researchers suspect that cultural preferences enabled boys to better compensate for the environmental stress on both sexes and thus grow taller than girls. "Possible causes could be advantages such as better nutrition or more attention during the growth phase," says Rosenstock. According to the archaeologist from the University of Bonn, further research is needed into nutritional behavior, for example. "It is also still completely unclear what role early pregnancies played for the bodies of adolescent girls."
In Mediterranean populations, on the other hand, the difference between the sexes proved to be smaller. According to the team, this suggests that there was also less culturally driven inequality between the sexes in this region. The researchers believe that their findings demonstrate the role of cultural and environmental factors in the evolution of sex differences in stature over time. However, they acknowledge that their analysis is limited by the availability of archaeological data.
