Nasty, brutish and not that short discusses some of the insights found by archaeologists excavating a mass grave from a medieval battle.
Erm... nothing to do with ERE (other than perhaps reminding us how good we've got it), but this place has a lot of inquisitive minds who I think will appreciate this really interesting article.
Some things stood out.
Medieval height for a male: 5'7" (that's pretty good; I'm 6'2"; my father is 6'; but my grand parents are/were <5'7"); high bone density; good teeth (almost no sugar in the diet).
In some sense we're not that much better off. I'd take my present "lifestyle" over the medieval lifestyle of those guys, but I'd take the medieval one over that of the Victorian factory worker.
I bet it was easier to piece the skeletons together from that battle than it would be from a modern battle. Hand grenade anyone?
Great read. Thanks for posting it. In the comments section, "uncle clive" has some pretty interesting background.
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