SC - People's size

[Michael F. Gunter]

> Maybe, but I recall Roman historians like Tacitus and Caesar himself,
> IIRC, claiming that the northern barbarians in Germany and Britain were
> often giants of over six feet tall (and the Roman "foot" is a bit
> smaller than the English one).

But even nowadays the fact remains that those of us of Northern stock seem
bigger than the Meds. I remember being in a crowded square in Sicily and looking
over the heads of just about everybody there. I'm not particularly tall, a little
under six foot. My 6'4" friend was an object of curiosity there.

What about bog people? I've heard they were of average height, same for some of
the hill mound skeletons. Isn't it true that the Tudors (?) averaged over six
feet?

I agree that the "outsized" armor (smaller and larger than average) have a better
chance of surviving than the typical battle armor that was changed over the
years.

What kind of archeological evidence is out there?

> Other possibilities might be that factory-made sandals (there are some
> who'd call caligae boots, but I'm not one of them) might be made
> somewhat larger to accomodate several different sizes, not to mention
> the fact that the soldiers at Hadrian's wall are believed to have worn
> thick woolen socks under their caligae.

That's a good thought, also remember that not every Roman soldier was Italian
or Mediterranian. I'm sure a lot of those sandals were worn by Gallic and Germanic
auxillaries.

More fuel to the discussion since I'm nowhere near a sholar on this issue. 

For those of you who are only interested in cooking matters we can carry this
discussion over to diet and size. I've heard the ruling class was physically
larger in many instances because they generally ate better than those they 
ruled. Any comments?

> Adamantius  

Yers,

Gunthar
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