A somewhat more sedentary pattern during the Mesolithic increased longevity of females slightly due to lessened migration stress. Drop in stature due to nutritional stress begins appearing in places during the Mesolithic although in general it is still good. One site shows signs of seasonal growth arrest. Hunting continued at a high enough level, however, so that protein and vitamin D levels were maintained at sufficient levels to sustain relatively healthy growth, and only small losses in adult stature are seen overall compared to the Paleolithic. A 100m rise in sea level at this time due to climatic warming led to encroachment of water further inland promoting a northward spread of malaria into populations not yet adapted.
Neolithic sites show an increasingly settled way of life as exemplified by evidence of food storage.
Also at this time, genetic adaptation to endemic infectious diseases such as malaria began to occur. Apparently this resulted mainly from thalassemias, since children show it in long bones as well as their skulls. But porotic hyperostosis in adults had other causes too, probably from iron deficiency from hookworm, amebiasis, or phytate, effect of any of the malarias. The thalassemias necessarily imply falciparum malaria. This disease may be one direct cause of short stature.