Stature of Prehistoric and Protohistoric People Contribution to Research of the Balkan Past Cover Image

О висини тела људи у праисторији и протоисторији прилог изучавању прошлости балкана
Stature of Prehistoric and Protohistoric People Contribution to Research of the Balkan Past

Author(s): Živko Mikić
Subject(s): Anthropology, Ethnohistory, Social history, Ancient World
Published by: Istorijski institut, Beograd

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, the Balkans are limited in a geographical sense to the area below the Danube and Sava rivers, excluding the Aegean region. Data about the height of prehistoric populations have been collected in full for the area that spreads from the Adriatic to the Black Sea, inevitably depending on the state of research and publications. Tables 1, 2 and 3 show the values in centimeters while the chart plots the data set on the basis of sex differences. In sum, from the 8th to the 2nd millennium BC the female stature was decreasing from 160.6 cm to 152.6 cm on the average. With regard to the male stature a different trend was registered. The decreasing stature tendency was noted in the period from the 8th to the 5th millennium BC, from 174.1 cm to 165.0 cm on the average. However, before the end of the 3rd millennium BC, the male stature increased to 166.7 cm. In the course of the last two millennia of the prehistoric development in the Balkan Peninsula, the results of physical anthropology are scarse, and instead of large series of skeletal material only isolated examples are known. Still, we can indicate that the prehistoric period closes with the average body height of male individuals at 171.8 cm and the average of 158.9 cm for the females.

  • Issue Year: 2004
  • Issue No: 51
  • Page Range: 10-21
  • Page Count: 12
  • Language: Serbian