Salento
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Very Interesting, Thanks Angela.By contrast, the height requirement for the British Army in World War I was 5'3", but so many died that they lowered it to 5'. They were called the bantams.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bantam_(military)
I know the lower classes had terrible diets throughout the Victorian Era, but that's really pretty short.
I remember people on the old dna-forums and here as well trying to convince me that the Roman legionnaires ate only puls and therefore must have been very puny. I couldn't convince them that that seemed to me impossible given how many battles they won and how much land they conquered. Strategy and discipline can take you only so far.
Then, in the last couple of years studies have come out showing that the legions had cattle, pigs, sheep, set up fish ponds, and grew some of their own food. It was mainly the wheat and wine which were shipped in, along with garum, which they loved. Of course, when on the march they carried only flour to make bread, salt pork, and wine.
Not to say that the Gauls and Germani weren't somewhat larger. It just goes to show that diet did indeed make a difference over the millennia. Still, the British aren't particularly tall even now. I've been re-watching Game of Thrones, and a lot of the male actors are pretty short, starting with Kit Harington, who looks to be about 5'5"-5'7". Not that I can imagine any woman complaining.A lot of others as well, such as the actors playing Ramsay Bolton, Theon Greyjoy, Littlefinger, Joffrey, even Richard Madden.
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