Health and Nutrition in the Pre-Industrial Era: Insights from a Millennium of Average Heights in Northern Europe

Living Standards in the Past: New Perspectives on Well-Being in Asia and Europe

Volumn , Issue , 2005, Pages

  Steckel, Richard H ^a  

^a OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

Climate; Europe; Health; Inequality; Living standards; Middle ages; Nutrition; Skeletons; Stature; Urbanization

Indexed keywords

EID: 84920064046     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.1093/0199280681.003.0010     Document Type: Chapter

References (82)

1. Allen, R. C. (2001) 'The Great Divergence in European Wages and Prices from the Middle Ages to the First World War'. Explorations in Economic History, 38: 411-47.
2. Arcini, C. (1999) 'Health and Disease in Early Lund: Osteo-Pathologic Studies of 3,305 Individuals Buried in the First Cemetery Area of Lund, 990-1536'. Archaeologica Lundensia, 8.
3. Bennike, P. (1985) Palaeopathology of Danish Skeletons. Denmark:Akademisk Forlag.
4. Boldsen, J. (1984) 'A Statistical Evaluation of the Basis for Predicting Stature from Lengths of Long Bones in European Populations'. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 65: 305-11.
5. Buikstra, J. E. and Ubelaker, D. H. (1994) Standards for Data Collection from Human Skeletal Remains. Fayetteville: Arkansas Archeological Survey.
6. Crosby, A. W. Jr. (1972) The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
7. Crosby, A. W. Jr. (1986) Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900-1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
8. Cuff, T. (1998) 'The Effects of Economic Development on the Biological Standard of Living: Market Integration and Human Stature in Antebellum Pennsylvania'. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
9. de Vries, J. (1976) The Economy of Europe in an Age of Crisis, 1600-1750. New York: Cambridge University Press.
10. de Vries, J. (1984) European Urbanization, 1500-1800. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
11. Drukker, J. W. and Tassenaar, V. (1997) 'Paradoxes of Modernization and Material Well-Being in the Netherlands during the Nineteenth Century', in R. H. Steckel and R. Floud (eds.), Health and Welfare During Industrialization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 331-77.
12. Engerman, S. L. (1997) 'The Standard of Living Debate in International Perspective: Measures and Indicators', in R. H. Steckel and R. Floud (eds.), Health and Welfare During Industrialization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 17-45.
13. Fagan, B. (2000) The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850. New York: Basic Books.
14. Floud, R., Wachter, K. W., and Gregory, A. S. (1990) Height, Health, and History: Nutritional Status in the United Kingdom, 1750-1980. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.
15. Floud, R., Wachter, K. W., and Gregory, A. S. (1993a) 'Measuring Historical Heights-Short Cuts or the Long Way Around: A Reply to Komlos'. Economic History Review, 46: 145-54.
16. Floud, R., Wachter, K. W., and Gregory, A. S. (1993b) 'Further Thoughts on the Nutritional Status of the British Population'. Economic History Review, 46: 367-78.
17. Floud, R and Harris, B. (1997) 'Health, Height, and Welfare: Britain, 1700-1980', in R. H. Steckel and R. Floud (eds.), Health and Welfare During Industrialization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 91-126.
18. Fogel, R. W (1985) 'Nutrition and the Decline in Mortality since 1700: Some Preliminary Findings', in S. L. Engerman and R. E. Gallman (eds.), Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 439-555.
19. Fogel, R. W (1993) 'New Sources and New Techniques for the Study of Secular Trends in Nutritional Status, Health, Mortality, and the Process of Aging'. Historical Methods, 26: 5-43.
20. Friedman, G. C. (1982) 'The Heights of Slaves in Trinidad'. Social Science History, 6: 482-515.
21. Gejvall, N. G. (1960) Westerhus; Medieval Population and Church in the Light of Skeletal Remains. Lund: H. Ohlssons boktr.
22. Gilberg, R. (1976) 'Stengade-vikingernes skeletter', in J. Skaarup (ed.), Stengade II: en langelandsk Gravplads med grave fra romerskjernalder og vikingetid. Rudkobing: Langelands Museum, pp. 220-7.
23. Haines, M. R., Craig, L. A., and Weiss, T. (2003) 'The Short and the Dead:Nutrition, Mortality, and the "Antebellum Puzzle" in the United States'. Journal of Economic History, 63: 382-413.
24. Hanson, C. (1992) 'Population-Specific Stature Reconstruction for Medieval Trondheim, Norway'. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2: 289-95.
25. Hoffman, P. T., Jacks, D., Levin, P. A., and Lindert, P. H. (2002) 'Real Inequality in Europe Since 1500'. Journal of Economic History, 62: 322-55.
26. Hohenberg, P. M. and Lees, L. H. (1985) The Making of Urban Europe, 1000-1950. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
27. Holck, P. (1997) Cremated Bones. A Medical-Anthropological Study of an Archaeological Material on Cremation Burials. Antropologiske Skrifter no. 1c. Oslo: Anatomical Institute, University of Oslo.
28. Holck, P. and Kvaal, S. (2000) Skjelettene Fra Clemengkirken i Oslo. Antropologiske skrifter no. 5. Oslo: Anatomisk institutt, Universitetet i Oslo.
29. Honda, G. (1997) 'Differential Structure, Differential Health: Industrialization in Japan, 1868-1940', in R. H. Steckel and R. Floud (eds.), Health and Welfare During Industrialization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 251-84.
30. Huber, N. M. (1968) 'The Problem of Stature Increase: Looking from the Past to the Present', in D. R. Brothwell (ed.), The Skeletal Biology of Earlier Human Populations. Oxford: Pergamon Press, pp. 67-102.
31. Janssen, H. A. M. and Maat, G. J. R. (1999) 'Canons Buried in the "Stiftskapel" of the Saint Servaas Basilica at Maastricht, A.D. 1070-1521: A Paleopathological Study'. Barge's Anthropologica, 5, 2nd edn., Leiden.
32. Jones, E. L. (1968) The Development of English Agriculture, 1815-1873. London: Macmillan.
33. Komlos, J. (1989) Nutrition and Economic Development in the Eighteenth-Century Habsburg Monarchy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
34. Komlos, J. (1993a) 'The Secular Trend in the Biological Standard of Living in the United Kingdom, 1730-1860'. Economic History Review, 46: 115-44.
35. Komlos, J. (1993b) 'Further Thoughts on the Nutritional Status of the British Population'. Economic History Review, 46: 363-6.
36. Komlos, J. (1998) 'Shrinking in a Growing Economy? The Mystery of Physical Stature During the Industrial Revolution'. Journal of Economic History, 58: 779-802.
37. Komlos, J. (2000) 'The Industrial Revolution as the Escape from the Malthusian Trap'. Journal of European Economic History, 29: 307-31.
38. Komlos, J., Hau, M., and Bourguinat, N. (2001) 'The Anthropometric History of Early-Modern France', unpublished manuscript, University of Munich.
39. Kunitz, S. J. (1987) 'Making A Long Story Short: A Note on Men's Height and Mortality in England from the First through the Nineteenth Centuries'. Medical History, 31: 269-80.
40. Livi-Bacci, M. (1983) 'The Nutrition-Mortality Link in Past Times: A Comment'. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 14: 293-8.
41. Maat, G. J. R. (1984) 'A Search for Secular Growth Changes in the Netherlands Preceding 1850', in J. Borms, R. Hauspie, A. Sand, C. Susanne, and M. Hebbelinck (eds.), Human Growth and Development. New York:Plenum Press, pp. 185-91.
42. Maat, G. J. R., Mastwijk, R. W., and Sarfatij, H. (1998) Een Fysisch Anthropologisch Onderzoek van Begravenen bij het Minderbroedersklooster te Dordrecht, circa 1275-1572 AD. Amersfoort: Riijksdienst voor her Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek.
43. McEvedy, C. and Jones, R. (1978) Atlas of World Population History. New York: Facts on File.
44. Malcolm, L. A. (1974) 'Ecological Factors Relating to Child Growth and Nutritional Status', in A. F. Roche and F. Falkner (eds.), Nutrition and Malnutrition: Identification and Measurement. New York: Plenum Press, pp. 329-52.
45. Margo, R. A., and Steckel, R. H. (1982) 'The Heights of American Slaves: New Evidence on Slave Nutrition and Health'. Social Science History, 6: 516-38.
46. Margo, R. A., and Steckel, R. H. (1992) 'The Nutrition and Health of Slaves and Antebellum Southern Whites', in R. W. Fogel and S. L. Engerman (eds.), Without Consent or Contract: Conditions of Slave Life and the Transition to Freedom. New York: W.W. Norton, pp. 508-21.
47. Martorell, R. and Habicht, J. P. (1986) 'Growth in Early Childhood in Developing Countries', in F. Falkner and J. M. Tanner (eds.), Human Growth:A Comprehensive Treatise, Vol. 3. New York: Plenum Press, pp. 241-62.
48. McKeown, T. (1983) 'Food, Infection, and Population'. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 14: 227-47.
49. Molleson, T. and Cox, M. (1993) The Spitalfields Project: Volume 2-The Anthropology. Council for British Archaeology Research Report 86. York:Council for British Archaeology.
50. Munter, A. H. (1928) 'A Study of the Lengths of the Long Bones of the Arms and Legs in Man, with Special Reference to Anglo-Saxon Skeletons'. Biometrika, 28: 258-94.
51. Nicholas, S. and Steckel, R. H. (1997) 'Tall But Poor: Living Standards of Men and Women in Pre-Famine Ireland'. Journal of European Economic History, 26: 105-34.
52. O'Rourke, K. H. and Williamson, J. G. (1999) Globalization and History: The Evolution of a Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
53. Parker, G. and Smith, L. M. (eds.) (1997) The General Crisis of the Seventeenth Century. New York: Routledge.
54. Pope, C. L. (1992) 'Adult Mortality in America Before 1900: A View from Family Histories', in C. Goldin and H. Rockoff (eds.), Strategic Factories in Nineteenth Century American Economic History. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp. 267-96.
55. Preston, S. H. and Haines, R. (1991) Fatal Years: Child Mortality in Late Nineteenth-Century America. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
56. Razzell, P. (1993) 'The Growth of Population in Eighteenth-Century England:A Critical Reappraisal'. Journal of Economic History, 53: 743-71.
57. Sandberg, L. G. and Steckel, R. H. (1980) 'Soldier, Soldier, What Made You Grow So Tall? A Study of Height, Health, and Nutrition in Sweden, 1720-188'. Economy and History, 23: 91-105.
58. Sandberg, L. G. and Steckel, R. H. (1987) 'Heights and Economic History: The Swedish Case'. Annals of Human Biology, 14: 101-10.
59. Sandberg, L. G. and Steckel, R. H. (1997) 'Was Industrialization Hazardous to Your Health? Not in Sweden!', in R. H. Steckel and R. Floud (eds.), Health and Welfare During Industrialization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 127-59.
60. Schmidt, I. M., Jorgensen, M. H., and Michaelsen, K. F. (1995) 'Height of Conscripts in Europe: Is Postneonatal Mortality a Predictor?', Annals of Human Biology, 22: 57-67.
61. Scrimshaw, N. S., Taylor, C. E., and Gordon, J. E. (1968) Interactions of Nutrition and Disease. WHO Monograph Series, No. 52. New York: United Nations.
62. Shay, T. (1994) 'The Level of Living in Japan, 1885-1938: New Evidence', in J. Komlos (ed.), Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp. 173-201.
63. Steckel, R. H. (1983) 'Height and Per Capita Income'. Historical Methods, 16: 1-7.
64. Steckel, R. H. (1995) 'Stature and the Standard of Living'. Journal of Economic Literature, 33: 1903-40.
65. Steckel, R. H. (1998) 'Strategic Ideas in the Rise of the New Anthropometric History and Their Implications for Interdisciplinary Research'. Journal of Economic History, 58: 803-21.
66. Steckel, R. H. (2001) 'Industrialization and Health in Historical Perspective', in D. Leon and G. Walt (eds.), Poverty, Inequality and Health. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 37-57.
67. Steckel, R. H. (2003) 'Research Project: A History of Health in Europe from the Late Paleolithic Era to the Present'. Economics and Human Biology, 1: 139-42.
68. Steckel, R. H. (forthcoming 2005) 'Health, Nutrition and Physical Wellbeing', in S. Carter, S. Gartner, M. Haines, A. Olmstead, R. Sutch, and G. Wright (eds.), Historical Statistics of the United States: Millennial Edition. New York:Cambridge University Press.
69. Steckel, R. H. and Floud, R. (eds.) (1997) Health and Welfare During Industrialization. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
70. Steffensen, J. (1958) Stature as a Criterion of the Nutritional Level of Viking Age Icelanders. Arbok hins islenzka fornleifafelags, fylgirit.
71. Szreter, S. (1988) 'The Importance of Social Intervention in Britain's Mortality Decline c. 1850-1914: A Reinterpretation of the Role of Public Health'. Social History of Medicine, 1: 1-37.
72. Tracy, M. (1964) Agriculture in Western Europe. New York: Praeger.
73. Trotter, M. and Gleser, G. C. (1952) 'Estimation of Stature from Long Bones of American Whites and Negroes'. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 10: 463-514.
74. Trow-Smith, R. (1967) Life from the Land: The Growth of Farming in Western Europe. London: Longmans.
75. Twarog, S. (1997) 'Heights and Living Standards in Germany, 1850-1939:The Case of Württemberg', in R. H. Steckel and R. Floud (eds.), Health and Welfare During Industrialization. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp. 285-330.
76. United Nations (1973) The Determinants and Consequences of Population Trends, Vol. 1. New York: United Nations.
77. van Meerten, M. A. (1990) 'Développement Économique et Stature en France, XIXe-XXe Siècles'. Annales, 755-77.
78. Waaler, H. T. (1984) 'Height, Weight, and Mortality: The Norwegian Experience'. Acta Medica Scandinavica (Supplement 679).
79. Weir, D. R. (1997) 'Economic Welfare and Physical Well-Being in France, 1750-1990', in R. H. Steckel and R. Floud (eds.), Health and Welfare During Industrialization. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 161-200.
80. Werdelin, L. (1985) 'The Stature of Some Medieval Swedish Populations'. Fornvännen, 80: 133-41.
81. White, T. D. (1991) Human Osteology. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
82. Whitwell, G., de Souza, C., and Nicholas, S. (1997) 'Height, Health, and Economic Growth in Australia, 1860-1940', in R. H. Steckel and R. Floud (eds.), Health and Welfare during Industrialization. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, pp. 379-422.