Tallest in the World: Native Americans of the Great Plains in the Nineteenth CenturyNational Bureau of Economic Research, 1998 - 35 pages Historians often portray Native Americans as merely unfortunate victims of European disease and aggression, with lives in disarray that followed the arrival of Columbus and other explorers or conquerors. The data we analyze on human stature show, in contrast, that some Native Americans such as the equestrian Plains nomads, were remarkably ingenious and adaptive in the face of exceptional demographic stress. Using anthropometric data originally collected by Franz Boas, we show that the Plains nomads were tallest in the world during the mid-nineteenth century. We link this extraordinary achievement to a rich and varied diet, modest disease loads other than epidemics, a remarkable facility at reorganization following demographic disasters, and egalitarian principles of operation. The analysis provides a useful mirror for understanding the health of Euro-Americans. |
Expressions et termes fréquents
adjustments Antebellum anthropometric Arapaho areas Assiniboin Author Title Date average height Bamforth bands Bison Ecology Blackfeet buffalo buffalo robes Carter Richard Sutch Census cent centimeters taller Cheyenne cm at age Comanche Crow Dakota demographic discussion distribution diversity Eggan energy expenditure epidemic disease equestrian nomads equestrian Plains tribes estimated Euro-Americans European Ewers female foodstuffs forage Franz Boas furs gender growth Haines Hanson Health herds hides historians horses hunting Ibid important inverted-U Isenberg Jantz Jeremy Atack Kindscher Kiowa Labor Market males measurement meat Mesoamerica micronutrients mid-nineteenth century Missouri modern height standards Native American history Native Americans NBER nineteenth century North northern Plains Number Author Title Nutritional Status pemmican Peter Temin physical activity Plains Anthropologist Plains Indians Plains nomads prairie Press Prince protein and energy relative Richard H Roderick Floud Sample Sizes Sioux Smallpox social southern Sundstrom Table tall stature tallest trade typically University West winter count women Yanktonai