Socio-cultural practices may have affected sex differences in stature in Early Neolithic Europe

Samantha L. Cox (), Nicole Nicklisch, Michael Francken, Joachim Wahl, Harald Meller, Wolfgang Haak, Kurt W. Alt, Eva Rosenstock and Iain Mathieson ()
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Samantha L. Cox: University of Pennsylvania
Nicole Nicklisch: Danube Private University
Michael Francken: State Office for Cultural Heritage Management Baden-Württemberg, Osteology
Joachim Wahl: Paleoanthropology Section, Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Eberhard Karls University
Harald Meller: State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, State Museum of Prehistory
Wolfgang Haak: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Kurt W. Alt: Danube Private University
Eva Rosenstock: Universität Bonn
Iain Mathieson: University of Pennsylvania

Nature Human Behaviour, 2024, vol. 8, issue 2, 243-255

Abstract: Abstract The rules and structure of human culture impact health as much as genetics or environment. To study these relationships, we combine ancient DNA (n = 230), skeletal metrics (n = 391), palaeopathology (n = 606) and dietary stable isotopes (n = 873) to analyse stature variation in Early Neolithic Europeans from North Central, South Central, Balkan and Mediterranean regions. In North Central Europe, stable isotopes and linear enamel hypoplasias indicate high environmental stress across sexes, but female stature is low, despite polygenic scores identical to males, and suggests that cultural factors preferentially supported male recovery from stress. In Mediterranean populations, sexual dimorphism is reduced, indicating male vulnerability to stress and no strong cultural preference for males. Our analysis indicates that biological effects of sex-specific inequities can be linked to cultural influences at least as early as 7,000 yr ago, and culture, more than environment or genetics, drove height disparities in Early Neolithic Europe.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41562-023-01756-w

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