Medieval England E xcavations of cemeteries dating back to medieval England have provided a range of heights for both men and women and a mean average for both. Across the sites, the mean average height for males was 171.26 cm. For females, it was 157.55 cm. While it is evident that the height of Londoners changed very little in the 17th and 18th centuries, the same was not true of Americans. 4 Modern World A study published in Britain in 1988, using data compiled from 1981, determined that the average height in the modern British population was 173.8 cm.
T here are two basic theories as to why modern people are taller.
The second, and much more popular, is that improved nutrition, combined with other facets of modern life such as antibiotics and central heating, have allowed people to reach their maximum height potential. This argument would make the increasingly out-bred population of the United States a nation of Big Boys and Early Girls. It has supporters, but is generally the less compelling explanation. Arguments against it include the lack of much initial inbreeding in most Western populations, the lack of evidence that cross-racial progeny are larger and the trend's reversal during wartime. T he improved nutrition theory actually involves two components.