Environmental stress rather than genetics influenced height differences in early Neolithic people: study

According to an article published in Human behavior suggests. The results indicate that height differences during this period cannot be explained by genetic and dietary factors alone.

Culture and health are linked in the modern world; however, how this relationship evolved is unclear. Height is an indicator of health and being smaller than expected based on genetics may indicate unfavorable environmental and/or dietary factors. Previous research has suggested that Neolithic humans did not reach their genetic potential for height, but how this differed between regions and between sexes is unknown.

Using ancient DNA, stable isotope analyzes (to indicate diet), paleopathology (to indicate health status), and skeletal measurements, Samantha Cox and colleagues analyzed data from 1,535 Neolithic individuals dated between 8,000 and 6,000 bp to study height differences and possible causes.

Skeletons came from four regions of Europe (North-Central, South-Central, Balkans and Mediterranean) and sex was classified based on chromosomal sex or skeletal morphology. The authors show that in central and northern Europe, environmental stress was high between the sexes, but female stature was low despite genetic scores identical to those of male individuals.

They suggest this may indicate a cultural preference favoring men’s recovery from stress. In Mediterranean populations, the sex difference is reduced, suggesting that there was no cultural preference for protecting male individuals from the impacts of environmental stress.

The authors suggest that their results demonstrate the role of cultural and environmental factors in sex differences in stature over time, but acknowledge that their analyzes are limited by the availability of archaeological data.