There may have been poorer nutrition and increased disease for the first farmers in Europe, report experts at Penn State University.
Academics looked at bone measurements and DNA of ancient European people
Those who lived when farming started 12,000 years ago were generally shorter
There may have been poorer nutrition and increased disease for the first farmers
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Our ancestors got shorter when they made the switch from foraging to farming 12,000 years ago, a new study shows. An international team of researchers has analysed DNA and taken measurements from skeletal remains of 167 ancient individuals found around Europe. The bones had already been dated to either before, after or around the time when farming emerged in Europe 12,000 years ago.
A switch from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to farming crops took an average 1.5 inches off their height, the experts found. Shorter height is an indicator of poorer health, they say, because it suggests they were not getting enough nutrition to support proper growth. These first European farmers likely experienced 'poorer nutrition and increased disease burdens' that stunted their growth. Other skeletal 'stressors' that the farmers may have experienced include 'lorotic hyperostosis', characterised by areas of spongy or porous bone tissue in the skull.
