Iron Age War Grave

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Yes that makes sense....how tall were these guys?

[Medicus matt]

Yes that makes sense....how tall were these guys?

Before or after?

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

:lol: Before....I just have this image in my head....was watching some interesting programs on the Vikings the other night....one track mind I'm afraid.

[marka]

were there any religious artifacts buried with them?
vikings might have had thors hammer pendant for example

[Medicus matt]

were there any religious artifacts buried with them?
vikings might have had thors hammer pendant for example

Nothing. Not a sausage, to the extent that it's stated that they were stripped naked before being thrown in the pit.

Again, smacks more of a vengeful 'home team' taking their frustrations out on invaders than the other way around. Stripped, humiliated, executed, mutilated and then thrown into pits.

[Ingvar Sigurdson]

And perhaps even flayed! If the semi-mythical 'dane-skin' practice is to be believed, although I understand it has never been proven. But as some one once said 'the past is a brutal country' but so is the present.

Not sure how tall these folk are either, another A-S aged cemetary showed male victims of traumatic injury ranging in sizes not disimilair to modern British population.

cheers
Ingvar
Dave Huggins
Ulfhednar England.

[Medicus matt]

Well, I know of at least one church where the 'Daneskin' remains have been tested and proved to be human...in Pembridge.
Most have turned out to be from animals though.

Why shouldn't they be the same size as modern English? They'd be from predominantly the same genetic stock as today's Caucasian inhabitants? The average male height in Britain during the A-S period is 5'8" ...an inch shorter than the average height in 2007. It then decreases after the Conquest and doesn't recover again until the 20th century.

Warriors might have been even taller, perhaps because they were chosen for their larger physique but also because they'd probably eat better than most of the population. Average heights of men from A-S weapons burials are at least one each taller than the local male average.

None of which helps because the average heights of males from Scandinavia are pretty much the same. :wink:

[Ingvar Sigurdson]

I think that I know the 'dane-skin' you speak of Medicus, but I'm not sure if it has ever been dated, apart from the provenance of the metal work holding it in place..but in a brutal age it's not unbelievable.

Not sure why anyone would think they shouldn't be the same size as the modern population? I was just giving an example of the size in a particular A-S cemetary, from Mr Stumpy to Mr Lanky..like myself :wink:

Ingvar

Dave Huggins
Ulfhednar England

[john m roberts]

I believe the idea that medieval people were much smaller than moderns comes from things like the low doorways of medieval houses and the small size of many armors preserved in museums. In reality, the ow doorways were mainly for defensive purposes and many fine plate armors were made for the young sons of nobles and royalty. If people of the future were to estimate the height of 20th-21st century people by the size of our bathtubs, they would conclude that the average American was about 5' tall, while our British contemporaries were 7' or taller.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

I am thinking of the majority of the scandanavian friends I have who are 6'3" upwards......some 7'...
These are above average height, so i imagine the reputation of the Vikings was enhanced by an above average number of above average height males in the warrior population.

@ John, who have you been visiting over here? All the tubs I have seen are quite average sized...... :lol:

[john m roberts]

I lived in Scotland in the early '70s and it was the first time in my life I could fully stretch out in a tub, and I'm only 5'8". American tubs for some reason are unreasonably short.

[Marcus Iulius Chattus]

Hm, i´m some of those nordic/germanic-like guys with blond hair, a red beard and of nearly 2m height, and i never fit in any kind of bathtub, with the exception of Hotel-Bathtubs that sometimes have the measurements of a small swimmingpool :lol:
The idea, that mediveal peoples where much more smaller as modern peoples is the same with the small romans, a rumor!

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Hmmmm, I would argue on the Roman point but agree with the later periods to a certain extent.
Certainly those on a better diet wit hmore meat would be bigger.
But those Romans were all my size :lol: Which would have made me a 6' Roman LOL I'm 5' 7-1/4"

[Marcus Iulius Chattus]

Byron, what is 5´7-1/4 in centimeter or meter?
With small romans i mean that most modern people compare them with italians or even midgets! On every event the visitors say to me "Oh, you´re not a real roman, because you´re so tall and blond with bright skin, and the romans where small, with black hair and a darker skin (and speak italian)."
I believe that i read in a book, that minimum height for legionaires to enlist in the first cohort must be 1,75m, but i´m not sure!

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

170cm = 5'7"

but a 6 foot roman was bout 5'8"..so I'm close.....
A Roman foot was smaller than the modern foot. I think there is some confusion when people start translating from Roman feet to metric, and end up using modern feet as the starting point.