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I can't tell from the pictures, but these almost look too small to sleep in. Would people curl up inside them? I'd like to see a human for scale
by dewbrite 3y ago
I can't tell from the pictures, but these almost look too small to sleep in. Would people curl up inside them? I'd like to see a human for scale
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- stakhanov 3y agoIf they're about warmth, then maybe keeping the air volume to a minimum is part of the function, so maybe curling up was a part of it. The other part was probably that people were statistically shorter in the middle ages.
- JKCalhoun 3y agoThe one pencil sketch gives you some idea. I think they just have a smallish opening — it looks like there is room to the left and to the right (inside) of the shuttered area.
- drewcoo 3y agoPeople were also smaller.
- fuzztester 3y agoI've heard or read people say that hundreds of years ago people were taller than now. even much taller. no idea if that is true or not.
- timthelion 3y agoThis is false. If you're ever in Europe come visit an old castle, the kings of old slept on what would today be seen as child sized beds.
- fuzztester 3y agoincomplete argument. those could have been the beds of their children. not saying you are wrong, but you would need to substantiate it better, imo, to convince.
- merry_flame 3y agoWe clearly haven't been to the same castles. Also, you could always curl up in a bed or sleep in a sitting position (which or may not have been common in Western Europe a few years ago). If you go visit museums that have full suits of armour that were actually worn by knights and kings, you'll be surprised. You clearly had plenty of tall people. Average size was certainly much lower than today, but spread was higher and you had plenty of tall, well-fed nobles. Charlemagne was apparently 1.84 m, Francis I of France was almost 2 m tall, Sancho VII of Navarre was even taller than that.
- tmtvl 3y agoIt's most likely false, considering the rate of malnourishment before the Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions.
- ad 3y agoThere’s some nuance/caveats, but here’s a study showing humans lost height during the switch from hunting/gathering to agriculture: https://modernfarmer.com/2022/04/farming-made-our-ancestors-shorter/ https://modernfarmer.com/2022/04/farming-made-our-ancestors-...
- SketchySeaBeast 3y agoAnd, though I'm sure there are going to be objections, in both time periods people would be considered nutritionally deficient when compared to today.
- tmtvl 3y agoYes, however I don't think many hunter/gatherers had cupboards to sleep in...
- RetroTechie 3y agoPeople were smaller on average. But also, I've read it wasn't uncommon to sleep with legs/knees pulled up somewhat (maybe using pillows?). And that the changed bloodflow due to non-horizontal sleeping position (legs above head) contributed to higher prevalence of brain strokes. Don't know if the latter is true. But doesn't seem too implausible - life back then was generally less healthy & more dangerous.