EH.R: This is my first posting, so I'll say a bit about myself.

================= EH.RES POSTING ================= This is my first posting, so I'll say a bit about myself. My name is Dave Batten, and I'm an archaeologist. My dissertation research dealt with the growth advantages of cities with transport advantages. That is, to what extent are cities restricted to land transportation also restricted in terms of population growth? I did archival research in Nuremberg and Cologne in Germany to find out more about the supply of staple foods to these differently situated cities (concentrating on the period between 1500 and 1800). I was interested in the topic presented by Professor Komlos and I have a couple of questions and some thoughts to toss out. First, are the conclusions based entirely on skeletal material recovered archaeologically from the relevant periods, or are there historical sources from which a reasonable sample of heights can be determined? Second, I found it intriguing that height correlates positively with social status, but not with income. How was or is social status determined? If the height data are archaeological, how is income determined? Regarding noncorrelation of height with income, while doing my archival research several years ago I was (perhaps naively) surprised to discover that wealthier Germans preferred white bread. They could afford to have their grain more finely ground and filtered. This would certainly affect their nutrition. However, one would also expect that they would be able to afford a greater variety of food groups: vegetables and especially meat. It would seem reason- able that this advantage would translate to greater height. Dave Batten ============ FOOTER TO EH.RES POSTING ============ For information, send the message "info EH.RES" to lists@cs.muohio.edu. >