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Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 9:14 am
by Alisha Clarke
Some of you do, due to this Native American woman the Vikings took back with them back to Iceland.

There is no record of them bringing anyone back with them and even if they did then there is no evidence that they had six with them. Believe it or not but female slaves were not bought to perform sixual activities, they were workers like all other slaves.

A few weeks ago I wrote a paper on slavery in Iceland for a class I'm taking, so I know what I'm talking about

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 5:36 pm
by anna ley
There is no record of them bringing anyone back with them and even if they did then there is no evidence that they had six with them. Believe it or not but female slaves were not bought to perform sixual activities, they were workers like all other slaves.

A few weeks ago I wrote a paper on slavery in Iceland for a class I'm taking, so I know what I'm talking about


http://historicmysteries.com/vikings-introduce-native-american-dna-to-iceland though admittedly nothing definitive has been decided yet.

And no, this isn't the only one.

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 11:36 am
by Kathryn Medows
I think a more interesting question is why the Scandinavians who share the same rough genetic cline as northern England, Scotland and Ireland (after conquering and colonising them in the early Middle Ages) grow to be noticeably taller. Or a better example might be the Netherlands which effectively shares the same genetic heritages as its neighbouring countries (being the melting pot in the middle) but their population averages taller than either France or Germany. Europe is such a genetic blending that the average population height variances are probably more due to national differences in health and nutrition.

For a poignant insight take a look at the Wiki page showing average heights from around the world and compare the difference between the height of Mexican men (5'4") and American Mexican men (5'7"). That's a three inch difference primarily driven by a modest increase in standard of living!


:) I don't know whether you were just joking, but actually only a very tiny part of the Scandinavian population became Vikings and raided overseas. The vast majority were (relatively) peaceful farmers.


Genetically most Brits & Gaels are different to Scandinavians & Balts.

The paternal DNA know as Y that is genes passed from a father to his son but can not pass via a woman and in turn proves male ancestry. Over years this gene has suffered small mutations which once recorded are placed into haplogroups. The hapolgroup for the majority of the British Isle is R1b. This haplogroup is also common across south and central Europe. This is the gene group of the Megalithic people of central and western Europe from whom the Celts descended.

In Scandinavia they are mostly I or R1a.
I is possibly the highest and is also the Balkans and forms the group IJ. J is the haplogroup of the Chaldeans (Iraquis, Syrians etc) Arabs & Jews) which shows they were related much further back.
R1a is the haplogroup found amongst Slavs, Persians and also NW Indians. It is high in countries such as the UKraine. R1a which was related to R1b much further back is believed to be the genes descended from the nomadic groups of the steppes of Russia such as the Scythians, Getae, Samatians, Persians, Medes etc. R is believed to be the gene passed down from the original Indo-Europeans


Interestingly although Iceland was colonised by Scandinavians it is high in R1b unlike Scandinavia & the Baltic which is relatively low in comparrson.

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 7:54 pm
by claire ley
wrong thread

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 12:42 pm
by Beth Belcher
The Maasi, Oromo and the Mandinka/Mandingo are African tribes which are considered tall, and Inuit tend to be dimunitive in height, so that puts a kink in Bergman's rule.
Heredity has a lot to do with, despite claims of nutrition. Poor nutrition can stunt growth, that is true. However, if one is genetically predispositoned to short stature or has/is predispostioned to health/endocrine issues, all the food in the world will not increase their height.

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 6:44 pm
by Trevor Bostwick
Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall in real life?

That's how they make up for being short in fake life.

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 1:00 am
by Andrea Pratt
I'm Norwegian and pretty tall 193 cm or 6 foot 4 inches. So i'm pretty lucky in that regards. Also I'm rather stocky at 220 pounds and at 12% body fat thats pretty muscular. I'm just lucky in my genes i guess.

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 10:08 am
by James Smart
Well, some Asian folks were also very combative and they weren't very tall (Mongols, for example), and the same could be said about lots of other peoples. So it's more at random. That's how evolution (in the sense of random mutations, not progression to better... maybe it's a stupid aclaration, but I don't want to look nazi) works.


mongolians rode horses though. you dont want to be tall on a horse cause that raises your center of gravity and makes it harder for the horse to turn. thus mongolians became shorter. :)

im willing to bet its mostly diet. just watching that show deadliest warrior you see large differences between eastern and western warriors with the western warrior being alot bigger. probably eat more meat and obviously dairy since alot of asians have difficulty with dairy products because it wasnt part of their normal diet historically. japanese i think are the exception if i remember the map correctly.

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 11:09 am
by Eoh
mongolians rode horses though. you dont want to be tall on a horse cause that raises your center of gravity and makes it harder for the horse to turn. thus mongolians became shorter. :)

im willing to bet its mostly diet. just watching that show deadliest warrior you see large differences between eastern and western warriors with the western warrior being alot bigger. probably eat more meat and obviously dairy since alot of asians have difficulty with dairy products because it wasnt part of their normal diet historically. japanese i think are the exception if i remember the map correctly.


About your first paragraph, well, I don't think so. If you ask me, evolution wouldn't work like that. I mean, I don't think they were taller at the beggining and then became shorter, as I don't see how the taller people would have died and the shorter ones would survive to spread their genes. As other peoples living close to the mongolians are more or less the same size, I would say their height was like that even before they rode horses. If by luck that gave them some advantage... could be, though there were very good riders in Europe, being taller.

About your second paragraph, I agree :thumbsup:. But don't forget that even with their too-much-vegetable diet (shared by some western folks as well) there were completely badass warriors!

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 11:18 pm
by JaNnatul Naimah
deadliest warrior

Please, please, please don't cite that show for actual scientific and historic content. Please.

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 4:58 pm
by Lil'.KiiDD
I've heard the Sami are quite short in general, and the ones I've met always have been - unfortunately, I don't know enough Sami people to give an accurate guesstimate at what their average height might be. And I've never seen an actually accurate source say they're short, it's more on the basis of hearsay. I'm unable to find any reliable sources to back up their shortness, though, but http://www.cedarseed.com/fire/humantypes2.jpg pops up with a quick Google search. Anyway, the point is that if the Sami are indeed quite short and have lived in the extreme North (as they have), that makes the "taller because of colder climate"-argument less probable.

It's true that the Scandinavian countries have been "isolated" for a long time, so a narrower gene pool might be what caused it.

At 5'2'' I'm below average height by Finnish standards. :( Damn. I should move to a country with a shorter average height to make myself feel taller.

I'm part Sami and I can only say that my sami great-grandmother was short, that I tend to think of Sami as shorter than Germanic Scandinavians but that I cannot supply any official info either.

All people used to interbreed as in marry from their own type. travel of the modern world and political correctness has encouraged mixed relationships. If its a reference to marrying from first cousins then other parts of the world such as many Muslim countries are historically the worst for this as it is accepted. I'm sure Nordic countries did it no more than any other older culture. It was more common globally full stop. Laws and research has calmed it down and much research into modern science has come from northern European countries.

Peoples mixed long before such things were made up.

http://historicmysteries.com/vikings-introduce-native-american-dna-to-iceland though admittedly nothing definitive has been decided yet.

And no, this isn't the only one.

From what I've read, the Vikings didn't have that much contact with the natives in America. Not other than trading with the ones who came to the colony and fighting when misunderstandings arose. I've only heard about the vikings being near native villages from people on the internet, never read it in a book, but in turn, I've hardly read all sources on the subject.

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 8:43 pm
by katie TWAVA
http://historicmysteries.com/vikings-introduce-native-american-dna-to-iceland though admittedly nothing definitive has been decided yet.

And no, this isn't the only one.

well I'll be damned...

That's pretty cool :P

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 9:35 pm
by Sweet Blighty
well I'll be damned...

That's pretty cool :P

I agree. Though it's already pretty cool that you could easily converse with time-travelling Vikings.

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 2:52 pm
by leni
I agree. Though it's already pretty cool that you could easily converse with time-travelling Vikings.

Indeed, I love the fact that I can pick up ancient Icelandic / Norwegian books and stories and read them with ease. ^_^

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 8:52 pm
by Danny Warner
Australian's are tall and naturally strong too.


I saw this had to question what you meant. You do know that we all came from England, right? I don't see many stereotypes about English people being tall and strong. Unless you mean our indigenous population of course, but they're not really famous for being tall and strong.

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 6:16 pm
by mike
mongolians rode horses though. you dont want to be tall on a horse cause that raises your center of gravity and makes it harder for the horse to turn. thus mongolians became shorter. :)

im willing to bet its mostly diet. just watching that show deadliest warrior you see large differences between eastern and western warriors with the western warrior being alot bigger. probably eat more meat and obviously dairy since alot of asians have difficulty with dairy products because it wasnt part of their normal diet historically. japanese i think are the exception if i remember the map correctly.


A bit of info.

Indian people as a whole are short however people such as those of NW India such as the Punjab are known as being tall. Interestingly the Punjab is mostly populated by people such as Jatts who trace their ancestry to the Saka. Saka was the name used by the Scythians for themselves. Jatts are also fair in comparison to most other Indians and their features are often sharper or squarer.
When DNA studies were done on the people such as the Jatts their Y DNA haplogroup was R1a which is the same as that common amongst males of Eastern European countries such as Ukraine & Poland. Although they are Indian and look India we can prove via DNA testing that Jatts therefore share the same ancestry as many people living in Eastern Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_R1a_(Y-DNA)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jatt

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 10:40 am
by Louise Dennis
Half Norwegian, other half is scot/irish. Somewhere between 5'9" - 5'10"(No cm for you, too bad) so just slightly below average for a norwegian.

We're all so big because we eat the smaller ones.

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 10:09 am
by Alexander Lee
I saw this had to question what you meant. You do know that we all came from England, right? I don't see many stereotypes about English people being tall and strong. Unless you mean our indigenous population of course, but they're not really famous for being tall and strong.

[censored] you, no I didn't!

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 8:17 pm
by Kate Norris
mongolians rode horses though. you dont want to be tall on a horse cause that raises your center of gravity and makes it harder for the horse to turn. thus mongolians became shorter. :)

Yes, because that's how evolution works.

Not.

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 7:39 pm
by Russell Davies
my ancestors came from northern countrys i guess, but my dad's side of the family always was tall, my grandpa was 6 ft 3, (He was also part native american, like half or something) his dad was around the same hight (or so i've been told) I'm around 6 ft 2, i think that tallness comes from your ancestors, but maybe some families are just a lot taller than others

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2010 12:01 pm
by Shelby Huffman
i think that tallness comes from your ancestors, but maybe some families are just a lot taller than others

Wha... wu... uh... huh?

Why are Norse people (Scandinavian / Baltic) people so tall

PostPosted: Sat Jul 31, 2010 1:57 am
by Bek Rideout
Why is there genetic variation within species at all? The answer is evolution and divergent paths.