It just occurred to me that size is one of the easiest things to select for (which is why large dogs are an order of magnitude larger than small dogs), and agriculturists are in much less need of size than hunter gatherers. Maybe humans pre-agriculture were all naturally taller, but rarely reached their maximum height?
I believe that people living in developed nations usually grow to their maximum individual height, and that differences in height are almost entirely genetic among people with adequate nutrition. Since we’ve gotten taller as malnutrition has become less and less frequent, it seems reasonable to postulate that this is fulfilling potential rather than genetic drift. However, famines during the beginning of the agricultural revolution could have decreased the height of humans, since being larger didn’t help one find alternate food sources (like it might have earlier in human history), but did require more sustenance.
There are probably a number of holes in this theory; despite humans breeding dogs to be vastly varying in size during this same period, I doubt that the time period in question is really quite enough to have altered human size naturally. I also think archeologists would be aware of this and be able to recognize changes even in malnourished size over the time periods being discussed.
It just occurred to me that size is one of the easiest things to select for (which is why large dogs are an order of magnitude larger than small dogs), and agriculturists are in much less need of size than hunter gatherers. Maybe humans pre-agriculture were all naturally taller, but rarely reached their maximum height?
I believe that people living in developed nations usually grow to their maximum individual height, and that differences in height are almost entirely genetic among people with adequate nutrition. Since we’ve gotten taller as malnutrition has become less and less frequent, it seems reasonable to postulate that this is fulfilling potential rather than genetic drift. However, famines during the beginning of the agricultural revolution could have decreased the height of humans, since being larger didn’t help one find alternate food sources (like it might have earlier in human history), but did require more sustenance.
There are probably a number of holes in this theory; despite humans breeding dogs to be vastly varying in size during this same period, I doubt that the time period in question is really quite enough to have altered human size naturally. I also think archeologists would be aware of this and be able to recognize changes even in malnourished size over the time periods being discussed.