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The stature of some medieval Swedish populations Werdelin, Lars

Fornvännen 80, 133-141

http://kulturarvsdata.se/raa/fornvannen/html/1985_133

Ingår i: samla.raa.se

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The stature of some medieval Swedish populations

By Lars Werdelin

Werdelin, L. 1985. The stature of some medieval Swedish populations.

(Kroppslängden hos några svenska medeltida populationer). Fornvännen 80.

Stockholm.

The statures of four medieval populations (Löddeköpinge, Helgeandsholmen, Västerhus and Leksand) and one Neolithie population (Västerbjers) from Sweden are calculated and statistically analysed and compared. The female populations from Västerhus and Leksand are found to include some heteroge- neity, and it is suggested that this may be due to social factors, particularly kinship structures, acting in these populations. The female population from Helgeandsholmen is found to be anomalously short in stature. Reasons for this are not clear, but are thought to be related to socioeconomic conditions peculiar to this population. The stature difference between males and females at Löddeköpinge is found to be small in comparison with the other medieval populations, and this is related to possible nutritional deprivation. There is no unequivocal evidence for a change in stature between the Neolithie and the Middle Ages. It is concluded that a thorough statistical analysis of statures can be highly revealing, and have important consequences, both in itself and for archeological analyses of a population and its culture.

Lars Werdelin, Department of Geology, University of Stockholm, S-I069I Stockholm, Sweden.

Introduction

T h e stature of earlier populations and the estimation thereof has long been an impor- t a n t issue in physical anthropology (e.g.

Wells 1963). It has, for example, been pro- posed that stature is related to nutritional status, so that populations with a highly nu- tritional diet will be relatively tall. This issue also relätes to the general increase in stature of caucasian populations in Western Europé a n d North America, as reported by among others A u b e n q u e (1957), Bryn and Schreiner (1929) and Bowles (1932). Unfortunatdy, m a n y discussions of changes in stature, i n d u - d i n g those of recent populations, have been h a m p e r e d by methodological problems, par- ticularly concerning the estimation of stature from skeletal remains. This paper tries, by

using uniform methodology throughout, to minimize these problems, and instead at- tempts to address some questions concerning the analysis of statures, both within and be- tween populations.

T h e methodology of stature estimation, especially issues related to the statistical me- thods, is extensivdy reviewed by Sjovold (1974), and only two points will be touched upon briefly here. First, there is still some confusion as to how the calculation of stature from regression equations should be carried out. Some recent authors, working from Holck's (1970) recommendations, have made i n d e p e n d e n t estimates of stature from several long bones, and then averaged these estima- tes. T h e regression equations used are, how- ever, those of T r o t t e r and Gleser (1952), who

Fornvännen 80 {1985}

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134 L. Werdelin

specifically warn against using this method (see also Sjovold 1974). Most authors, follow- ing T r o t t e r a n d Gleser, instead recommend using that combination of long bones for which the regression equation has the smal- lest s t a n d a r d error. T h i s method has been applied in the present paper, and statures of previously published populations recalculat- ed. A second problem, which has been cir- c u m v e n t e d in the present study, is that sta- t u r e estimates obtained from different regres- sion equations are not directly comparable (cf. K u r t h 1954). Here all calculations have used T r o t t e r and Gleser's (1952) equations, a n d if a future a u t h o r wishes to compare his results with those presented here without having to redo all the calculations, this me- thod must be used.

I f methods of stature estimation have been m u c h d e b a t e d in the literature, the interpre- tation of the results obtained from them has been m u c h less so. Most discussions of stature have been limited to comparing the stature of earlier populations with that of recent ones, or at best to longitudinal studies of stature changes with time (Wells 1963; Helmuth

1965). T h i s is unfortunate for several reasons.

In the first place, valuable information is löst by not considering the distribution of statures in the population under study. Secondly, making comparisons with recent populations is d a n g e r o u s , since the statures in one case have been calculated and in the other measu- red directly, a n d also as the question of statu- re increase över the last century still is an open issue. H u b e r (1968, in a review of the literature on stature increase in recent popu- lations) c o n d u d e s : " . . .that maximum statu- re has increased recently, in populations of N o r t h e r n E u r o p e a n ancestry at least, is not presently justified by the available evi- dence . . . " ( 1 9 6 8 p . 98).

Very few studies have concentrated on c o m p a r i n g roughly contemporaneous skeletal populations, an exercise which could afford valuable insights into these populations, as I h o p e to show below. Points which especially deserve attention are, besides the mean, also the variance, which can indicate if the samp- les analysed come from the same basic popu-

fig. 1. Map of Northern Seandinavia showing location of the populations used in this study. A = Löddeköpinge, B = Helgeandsholmen, C = Västerhus, D = Leksand, E = Västerbjers.

lation or not, the skewness of the distribution, which will indicate biases or other ano- malies in the material, the kurtosis of the distribution, which, among other things may, together with the variance and codficient of variation, suggest whether the sample is ho- mogeneous or not. For example, Broberg (1983) suggests that the h u m a n skeletal mate- rial from Helgeandsholmen in Stockholm is too heterogeneous, both temporally and socio-economically, to be of use for anthropo- logical studies. However, if a sample includes several subsamples with different means, one would expect the resulting total distribution of statures to be platykurtic (relatively flat).

As we shall see below, this is not the case for

Förmännen 80 11985)

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Helgeandsholmen, and we may therefore ten- t a t i v d y c o n d u d e that, in this one feature at least, the Helgeandsholmen material is homo- geneous, however temporally and economi- cally heterogeneous it may otherwise be. A final point to consider is the difference in m e a n stature between males and females in the same population. It has been suggested ( e . g . T o b i a s 1970) that women are more re- sistant to nutritional deficits than are men, a n d that this will reflect on their relative sta- tures. If this is so, one would expect the diffe- rence in stature between men and women in nutritionally deprived populations to be rela- tively small. T h e above list is certainly not exhaustive, and as more populations are ana- lysed in this way, further interesting features will be found.

Material and Methods

T h e calculations carried out in the present p a p e r a r e based on the following populations:

V ä s t e r h u s , J ä m t l a n d (Gejvall 1960), Lödde- köpinge, Skåne (Persson & Persson 1983), Leksand, D a l a r n a (Sjovold 1982), and Hel- g e a n d s h o l m e n , Stockholm (unpublished m e a s u r e m e n t s by J . Sjöberg, deposited in Antikvarisk-Topografiska Arkivet, Stock- h o l m ) . All of these populations are medieval.

In addition, the material from the neolithie cemetery Västerbjers, Gotland (Stenberger et al. 1943; Sjovold 1974), was included in the comparisons, to see how the temporal factor would influence results. All populations are t h u s from Sweden (Fig. 1).

As mentioned above, the regression equa- tions of T r o t t e r and Gleser (1952) were used.

For several reasons, these may be considered the best so far available (cf. Sjovold 1974).

For the purposes of the present study, how- ever, it is of little or no importance which regression equations are used, as long as the s a m e set is used for all populations. It is only when comparisons with recent populations a r e to be m a d e that the question of which equations to use becomes a major issue.

Neither does it matter that different sets of equations are used for males and females, as long as the same pair of sets is used for each population.

T r o t t e r and Gleser give regression equa- tions for a large set of long bones. After ha- ving tested all of these on the same popula- tion, I have found that there is an indication, albeit not statistically significant, that equa- tions for the long bones of the upper limb result in greater statures than those for the bones of the lower limb. It is thus possible t h a t there has been a slight change in the relative proportions of the upper and lower limb since medieval times, and I have for that reason and to minimize possible error, used only the regression equations for the long bones of the lower limb, the femur and tibia.

T h i s has reduced the size of the available populations somewhat, but hopefully increas- ed the reliability of the results. It should be pointed out that H u b e r (1968) also did not find any statistically significant difference in relative proportions of the upper and lower limb between Allemanns from the fifth to eighth century A D and the recent populations of T r o t t e r a n d Gleser (1952, 1958).

T h e r e remains one possible major source of error, a n d that is that the skeletons of the five populations were measured by different peo- ple. T h i s problem is particularly acute in the case of Västerbjers (see discussion in Sjovold 1974). Ö v e r this source of error I have unfor- t u n a t d y not had any control. It has not been feasible within the limits of the present study to remeasure all the material, nor even any single population.

T h e statistical methodology is for the most p a r t such as can be found in any standard text on the subject (e.g. Sokal & Rohlf 1981).

Basic statistics calculated are: N = number of cases; ic ± 95 % = mean and its 95 % confi- dence interval; SD = standard deviation (for N—1 cases): O. R. = observed range. In addi- tion, the skewness, which in essence measures the relative location of the mode (negative skewness indicates that the mode is shifted to the right, positive that it is shifted to the left), a n d kurtosis, which measures how peaked or flat the curve is (a leptokurtic curve is relati- vely peaked and a platykurtic one relatively flat), were calculated for each population, a n d tested for significance. T h e homogeneity of tbc variances of the different populations

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136 L. Werdelin

Table 1. Summary statistics for the populations under study. * significant.

:

significant at the 5 % level. n.s. = not statistically

Sex Male

Female

Population Löddeköpinge Helgeandsholmen Västcrhus Leksand Västerbjers Löddeköpinge Helgeandsholmen Västerhus Leksand Västerbjers

N 183 180 62 17 15 105 128 74 30 15

x ± 95 % 169.4 ± 0.9 170.6 ± 0 . 8 173.3 ± 1.5 172.5 ± 2.7 166.1 ± 2 . 9 160.1 ± 1.0 155.9 ± 0.8 160.6 ± 1.6 159.1 ± 1.6 156.3 ± 2.3

SD 6.15 5.41 5.98 5.24 5.34 5.16 4.49 6.91 4.29 4.25

O R . 153-183 159-190 160-187 163-180 157-175 149-174 145-168 141-171 149-165 149-165

skewness 0.2254 n.s.

0.2767 n.s.

0.0151 n.s.

0.0707 n.s.

0.0461 n.s.

0.4524 n.s.

0.1733 n.s.

-0,5741*

-1.1058*

-0.2037 n.s.

kurtosis -0.2378 n.s.

0.4951 n.s.

-0.5180 n.s.

-0.7720 n.s.

-0.4649 n.s.

-0.1670 n.s.

0.0968 n.s.

0.7911 n.s.

0.4350 n.s.

-0.4476 n.s.

was tested, a n d in the case of females it was found that they were not homogeneous. For the comparison of means, I have used the G r 2 - m e t h o d (Sokal & Rohlf 1981) in the case of males. Since variances were heterogeneous in the case of female populations, I have used the a p p r o x i m a t e method of G a m e s and Ho- well (Sokal & Rohlf 1981) to compare means.

Finally, it should be pointed out that the \ - tests of the sex distribution referred to below a r e based on the material for which stature could be estimated only, and not on the entire skeletal material of any site.

Results

T h e s u m m a r y statistics for the five popula- tions under consideration are shown in Table 1. As mentioned above, the variances of the female populations were heterogeneous, and an inspection of the standard deviations in T a b l e 1 indicates that it is probably Väster- h u s which is anomalous. This population shows a m u c h higher standard deviation in statures than either of" the others. Further- more, the observed range shows that this is probably due to a relative extention of the lower end of the size range. T h u s , the tallest w o m e n in the Västerhus and Löddeköpinge populations are nearly equal in stature (171 a n d 174 cm, respectivdy), but the shortest w o m a n in Västerhus is far shorter than in Löddeköpinge (141 against 149 cm). Possible

reasons for this will be considered below.

T h e women from Västerhus, together with those from Leksand, are also anomalous in a n o t h e r respect. Both of these populations can be seen in T a b l e I to be significantly n e g a t i v d y skewed, meaning that the mode of the distribution has been shifted toward the large end of the size range. In the case of V ä s t e r h u s , this distribution, which if looked at in another way means that there is a relati- vely long tail of individuals of short stature, together with the relatively large variance, suggests that there is some heterogeneity pre- sent in this population. This indication is en- h a n c e d by the fact that Västerhus is the only population for which the variance for males is lower than for females (Table 1).

T h e r e a r e no similar anomalies in the po- pulations of males shown in T a b l e 1.

T h e results of the GT2-method and Games a n d Howell method for the comparison of m e a n s are shown in T a b l e 2. For men there were significant differences in mean stature between Löddeköpinge and Västerhus, Hel- g e a n d s h o l m e n and Västerhus (the former in each case being the shorter population), and Västerbjers a n d all populations except Löd- deköpinge (with Västerbjers the shorter po- pulation in all cases). T h a t Västerbjers should differ from the other populations is p e r h a p s not surprising, given the temporal isolation of this population. It is more notable t h a t V ä s t e r h u s once again stånds out as ex-

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Table 2. Results of the G'72-melhod for men (left) and Games and Howell approximate method for women (right).

* = significantly different al the 5 % level. — = not statistically significant.

Males Females

A B

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

Löddeköpinge Helgeandsholmen Västcrhus Leksand Västerbjers

Table 3. Difference in mean stature between men and women in the populations under study.

Löddeköpinge Helgeandsholmen Västerhus Leksand Västerbjers

9.3 cm 14.7 cm 12.7 cm 13.4 cm 9.8 cm

ceptional. Both these points will be further considered below.

In the case of females (Table 2), significant differences were found between Helgeands- holmen and Löddeköpinge and Helgeands- holmen a n d Västerhus (Helgeandsholmen being shorter). Here, then, it is the Helge- a n d s h o l m e n population which is exceptional in being so very short in mean stature.

T h e difference in stature between males a n d females in each of the five populations is shown in T a b l e 3. T h e material clearly falls into two groups: one, i n d u d i n g Västerhus, Leksand a n d Helgeandsholmen, displaying a relatively large difference in stature between the sexes, the other, i n d u d i n g Löddeköpinge a n d Västerbjers, displaying a relatively small difference. This very interesting result will be discussed in relation to nutritional status in the following section.

Discussion

T h e results outlined above and in Tables 1—3 raise some interesting issues which require further consideration. In the text below, diffe-

rent explanations for these results will be con- sidered, both in terms of physical and social anthropology.

In general, the possible explanations for a given set of facts concerning a skeletal popu- lation can be separated into two classes. They m a y be due to factors occurring prior to or d u r i n g interment, or they may be due to fac- tors occurring after interment.

Factors occurring before or during inter- m e n t can, in turn, be separated into three categories. T h e first category concerns the genetic constitution of the population. Here we find explanations in terms of how closely related the individuals of the population are.

Results of such relatedness which are of parti- cular interest a r e inbreeding and genetic drift, both of which may influence skeletal remains.

T h e second category concerns the effects of the physical environment on physique. T h e r e a r e factors in the environment, such as nutri- tion, which have a direct influence on the physical a p p e a r a n c e of a population. T h e third category of preinterment factors con- cerns the social structure of the population. A simple example would be if the population u n d e r study is biased towards individuals from a certain social class. It is possible to further subdivide the above-mentioned cate- gories, but for the present purposes this is not necessary. In actual cases, it is, of course, highly unlikely that an observed pattern can be explained by any one of the above catego- ries alone, as they are deeply interwoven in each other. A hypothesized genetic differenti- ation is most likely to have been preceded by a social differentiation, environment in many

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138 L. Werdelin

cases directly influences social structure, etc.

T h e second basic class of factors, those occurring after interment, includes two cate- gories: biases d u e to methods of exeavation, a n d taphonomic (preservational) biases. I h e first of these factors can and should ideally be u n d e r the control of the investigator, though of course this is not always the case. T h e second has not been considered in much de- tail for non-fossiliferous h u m a n skeletal mate- rial but is clearly of major importance. I f e . g . in a cemetery, skeletons buried near the c h u r c h are better preserved than skeletons buried far from it, this may introduce major biases into the material. H u b e r (1968) found for his Allemanic population an apparently socially stratified bias in preservation, with skeletons buried with a heavy armament being less well preserved than skeletons buried with light a r m a m e n t , which in turn were less well preserved than skeletons buried without arms.

An in-depth study of relative preservation of skeletons in a cemetery and its physical and chemical causes would thus be of great value.

W i t h o u t such detailed information, it is im- possible to assess the preservational bias in- herent in any material. In the absence o f i n - formation to the contrary I have in the pre- sent study for the most part assumed that preservational biases are not of major impor- tance to the discussion of the causes of the observed patterns.

T u r n i n g from these general considerations to their application in the present case, let us first consider Västerhus. Both variance, observed range and the observed significant negative skewness indicate that there is some heterogeneity present in this material. Al- t h o u g h postinterment factors cannot be ruled out, the fact that both sexes are equally repre- sented at Västerhus {X

1

= 1.059, p > 0 . 0 5 ) , tends to corroborate the hypothesis that these a r e not the cause of the observed pattern. Is the p a t t e r n d u e to environmental effects? Pro- bably not, as these would be likely to affect the population as a whole, and Västerhus, although somewhat anomalous, is not mar- kedly different from the other populations un- der consideration.

It remains to consider social and genetic

factors. T h e former have clearly played a role in d e t e r m i n i n g the physical appearance of the cemetery. T h e r e was an almost total segrega- tion of the sexes in the cemetery, with women being buried to the north of the church, and m e n to the south of it. In addition, there is some suggestion that taller individuals were buried d o s e r to the church, and short indivi- d u a l s in the peripheral areas (Gejvall 1960 p.

77). T h i s is, however, not generally true. T h e shortest w o m a n , no. 36 in Gejvalfs (1960) system, was buried fairly close to the church (see plan of cemetery in Gejvall 1960). T h u s , while the suggestion presents itself that soci- ally high ranking individuals were buried d o - ser to the church, the equation socially high r a n k i n g = tall is of questionable validity. No- n e t h d e s s , it is possible that social stratifica- tion m a y have influenced the results of the s t a t u r e estimations. However, if this were the only explanation for the given facts, one would expect to see the same pattern in both sexes. T h e male population of Västerhus, ex- cept for being relatively tall among the popu- lations investigated, does not exhibit any fea- tures out of the ordinary. We must therefore seek a class of explanation which will affect only one of the sexes. O n e such class of expla- n a t i o n s which i m m e d i a t d y presents itself is kinship structures and marriage patterns (Lévi-Strauss 1949). Not only will such fac- tors influence the physical characteristics of the population, but d u e to the relatively grea- ter mobility of women in most such structu- res, female populations are likely to be more influenced than male populations. It thus be- comes necessary to invoke a combination of social a n d genetic factors in order to explain the observed distribution of statures in the female population of Västerhus. Further ana- lysis of the possible causes of the observed p a t t e r n would require a much more detailed study than the present one, and one taking into consideration more anthropological fea- tures than stature.

In view of the above discussion, it is unfor- t u n a t e that the Västerhus population in many cases has come to serve as a sort of standard against which other medieval populations have been compared, a situation due entirely

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to the classic study by Gejvall (1960). T h e time has now become ripe for a reconsidera- tion of this important material.

It is possible that the same general class of explanation also holds for Leksand, although the evidence, a p a r t from the demonstrated skewness of the female population (Table 1), is m u c h less clear. T h e preservation of this material was, however, poor (Sjovold 1982), a n d this, together with the observed differ- ence in the n u m b e r of male and female skele- tons in the material (though this difference is not statistically significant, X

2

= 3.596, / ) > 0 . 0 5 ) , suggests that preservational factors m a y account for at least some of the observed p a t t e r n in the Leksand material.

T h e major anomaly observed in the analy- sis of differences in stature between popula- tions (Table 2) is the extremely short female population of Helgeandsholmen.

O n c e again, preservational factors cannot be ruled out, especially in view of the signifi- cant difference in the n u m b e r of males and females in this material { X = 8 . 7 7 9 , p < 0 . 0 \ ) . T h i s difference may perhaps be more profit- ably related to the socio-economic conditions peculiar to this site, however, which makes it plausible to consider factors intrinsic to the population. For reasons similar to the ones stated above for Västerhus, environmental factors may probably be ruled out as the cause of the observed pattern, and we are once again left with social and genetic expla- nations. In this case, the population, though short in stature, is not anomalous in any other way observed in this study, which leaves very little evidence to work from in the search for explanations. However, given the known socio-economic heterogeneity of the Helge- a n d s h o l m e n material, it is possible that ex- planations can be sought in this area.

T h e final point to consider is the pattern of s t a t u r e difference between males and females shown in T a b l e 3. Here, Västerbjers and Löddeköpinge stånd out in the fact that the s t a t u r e difference between men and women in these populations is much less than in the others. For the first-mentioned population, there is no independent evidence for preserva- tional biases, whereas in the latter there are

significantly more males than females { X = 21.125, p < 0 . 0 0 l ) . Since there is no other de- m o n s t r a t e d effect of this difference in either sex, I t e n t a t i v d y c o n d u d e that it has not influenced the stature estimates significantly.

Given the hypothesis mentioned above, that nutritional factors will affect males more than females, it is tempting to reläte the observed p a t t e r n s to poor nutrition. Whether this is true of Västerbjers I cannot state from the information available to me. In the case of Löddeköpinge the available archeological in- formation is contrary to this condusion (H.

C i n t h i o , pers. comm., 1984). However, if so- cial a n d / o r genetic factors are responsible for the observed patterns, some factor common to the two populations must probably be found, which at present seems unlikely. I c o n d u d e that an environmentally related ex- p l a n a t i o n is the most plausible one in this case, although such an explanation must be considered with care and corroborated by in- d e p e n d e n t evidence.

I n c o n d u s i o n , a few words should be said a b o u t the Neolithie population of Väster- bjers. In this population both males and fe- males a r e of relatively short stature. T h e r e is, however, no statistically significant difference in s t a t u r e between the Neolithie females and the medieval ones. T h e Neolithie men, on the o t h e r h a n d , are significantly shorter than most medieval populations tested. C a n we take this as an indication that males were shorter in Neolithie times than in medieval times? No, because if we look at the difference in s t a t u r e between males and females (Table 3), we find that this figure is low for Väster- bjers. W e can again hypothesize that this is d u e nutritional deprivation affecting males more than females. If we bring this figure up to the level of a " n o r m a l " population, i.e.

a r o u n d 13 cm, by increasing the statures of males, we find that the difference between Västerbjers and the medieval populations has been eradicated. I have no data to say wheth- er other neolithie populations were nutritio- nally deprived in the same way as Väster- bjers, so the above discussion holds lör the latter population only.

I hope to have shown in the present study

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140 L. Werdelin

the value of a detailed analysis of the stature of earlier populations. Such analyses are, of course, not limited to stature, but may be carried out on any metric feature of the skele- ton. Any such study is dependent on several things. The first and foremost of these is the availability of data. The present study would not have been possible if it were not for the fact that raw data have been published for some few skeletal populations. The only alter- native would have been to remeasure all ske- letons, an undertaking which was not reason- able in view of the limited scope of the study in other respects. I condude that the routine publication of selected measurements, not just summary statistics or calculated statures

and indices, is essential if inter-populational comparisons are to be at all undertaken.

From a methodological viewpoint, a crucial point in a study such as the present one is the careful consideration of the statistical distri- bution of the measurements. As seen above, this distribution can give valuable informa- tion on the population under study. Other features to be considered are mean stature, and difference in stature between males and females. The results of the analyses must then be related to their possible causes in an expli- cit way, so that other investigators working on other aspects of the same site can use the results in their own investigations, which may subsequently lead to reevaluation of the first data set. In this way archeology and physical anthropology can complement each other in the most useful and efficient way.

Acknowledgments

I h i s study has bendited from valuable dis- cussions with Drs. Elisabeth Iregren and Lars Redin, Museum of National Antiquities, Stockholm, and Mr. Hampus Cinthio, Uni- versity of Lund. I would also like to thank Professor Nils-Gustaf Gejvall, Professor Tor- stein Sjovold, Dr. Ove Persson and Mrs. Evy Persson for having the foresight to publish the raw data upon which their respective analy- ses have been based.

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Form annen 80 (1985)

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Sammanfattning

K r o p p s l ä n g d e n hos fyra medeltida populatio- ner (Löddeköpinge, Helgeandsholmen, Väs- terhus och Leksand) och en neolitisk popula- tion (Västerbjers) har beräknats och analyse- rats och jämförts med statistiska metoder. De kvinnliga populationerna från Västerhus och Leksand visas innefatta någon heterogenitet, och detta föreslås bero på sociala faktorer, särskilt släktskapsstrukturer, som verkat in- om dessa populationer. Kroppslängden hos den kvinnliga populationen från Helgeands- holmen är kortare än hos de övriga medeltida p o p u l a t i o n e r n a . Anledningen till detta är oklar, men föreslås bero på sociala och ekono- miska faktorer unika för denna population.

Skillnaden i kroppslängd mellan män och kvinnor i Löddeköpinge är liten i förhållande till de a n d r a medeltida populationerna, vilket kan bero på näringsbrist. Det finns inga otve- tydiga bevis för en förändring av kroppsläng- den från neolitikum till medeltiden. En nog- g r a n n statistisk analys av kroppslängder kan v a r a mycket avslöjande och ha betydande konsekvenser både i sig själv, och för arkeolo- giska analyser av en population och dess kul- tur. Möjligheten till sådana analyser är dock a v h ä n g i g av tillgången på publicerade råda- ta, d å skelettmaterialen är så omfattande att o m m ä t n i n g av dem för enstaka analyser är orimligt tidskrävande.

Fornvännen 80 (1985)

References

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