530 THE STATURE OF MAN AT VARIOUS EPOCHS. 



epoch not exactly determined, which corresponds to the age of iron. 

 These men are of those who constructed the megalithic monuments of 

 Roknia and of the Caucasus, in which their remains are found. 

 Their stature is hardly larger than that of the actual inhabitants of 

 the country, the men reaching a mean lieight of 1.673 meters and 

 the women 1.564 meters. According to Schortt, the average size of 

 the present natives of Caucasus is 1.650 meters. Therefore we have 

 an average height almost the same as that of the French. 



In turning to France, an examination of the skeletons found in 

 the Gallic or Gallo-Roman cemeteries of Vert-la-Gravelle, of Jon- 

 chery, and of Mont-Berny reveals a height of 1.66 meters in the men 

 and 1.55 meters in the women. The Frankish populations buried in 

 the sepulchers of the Department of Marne were 1.67 meters in 

 height; those of the cemetery of Ramasse in the Dejjartment of Ain, 

 considered to be Burgundians by M. de Mortillet, showed a height of 

 1.666 meters for the uien and 1.538 for the women. The average 

 stature of these peoples, who occupied France in the (jallo-Roman 

 epoch, was a bit higher than that of the French nowadays, but not so 

 nuich higher as one would suppose from the remarks of historians. 

 With each investigation of each epoch the same conclusion is reached, 

 and we rej)eat it as though it were the refrain of a couplet : Man's 

 stature in the proto-historic period, as in the preceding period, was 

 almost invariable. 



The final researches of M. Rahon bear upon the l*arisian popula- 

 tion from the fourth to the eleventh centuries. The cemetery of 

 Saint-Marcel was used in the fifth and sixth centuries, that of Saint- 

 Germain-des-Pres more recently, in all liklihood in the tenth and 

 eleventh centuries. The comparison and measurement of bones from 

 these two cemeteries show that the average height of men and women 

 is the same for both burial places, being 1.677 meters in the case of 

 the men and 1.575 meters in the case of the women. The result gives 

 rise to two observations. One is that in the course of six centuries 

 the average height of I^irisians has maintained a remarkable fixity. 

 .The other observation bears upon a comparison Avith the present 

 stature of Parisians. A diiference of nearly 1 centimeter (7 milli- 

 meters) in favor of the mediajval Parisians exists betAveen the aA'erage 

 lieight of present Parisians and those of the middle ages. 



This is at once a great deal and A^ry little. The greater size is 

 explained by the fact that the bones A\diich Avere put aside, guarded 

 in collections, and finally submitted to measurement Avere the 

 best preserved, the most solid, and those, in consequence, Avhich, hav- 

 ing most successfully resisted destruction, proved in themseh^es that 

 they had belonged to the select. One such circumstance is sufficient 

 to explain a sliglit dift'erence of some millimeters. 



It may be admitted as the result of pretty general experience — the 



