
Contents
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Height as a Source of Social Science Information Height as a Source of Social Science Information
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Theoretical Framework Theoretical Framework
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Pre-Agrarian Societies: Theoretical Expectations and Analysis Pre-Agrarian Societies: Theoretical Expectations and Analysis
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Agrarian Societies: Theoretical Expectations and Analysis Agrarian Societies: Theoretical Expectations and Analysis
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Land Abundance and Military Technology Land Abundance and Military Technology
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Roving to Stationary Banditry Roving to Stationary Banditry
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Industrialization: Theoretical Expectations and Analysis Industrialization: Theoretical Expectations and Analysis
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Discussion: Preliminary Findings and Open Questions Discussion: Preliminary Findings and Open Questions
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Broader Impact Broader Impact
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Acknowledgments Acknowledgments
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Notes Notes
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Literature Cited Literature Cited
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2 A Bone to Pick: Using Height Inequality to Test Competing Hypotheses about Political Power
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Published:April 2017
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Abstract
The frameworks of modern economics demonstrate how stature and sexual dimorphism can be used to model inequality among human populations. The authors synthesize a wide range of data from archaeological and historic contexts to characterize stature variation during the Neolithic and the Industrial revolutions. First, they find that the shift from foraging to farming widely introduced inequalities significant enough to affect the distribution of health and stature and was fundamentally linked to the invention of coercive sociopolitical mechanisms. Second, a rise in sexual dimorphism that accompanies intensive agriculture and may often reflect both a society’s more efficient allocation of nutrition and a drop in female bargaining power related to increased sexual division of labor and gendered inequalities. Third, political structures deeply shape nutritional outcomes. As economists, they engage a literature and measures of inequality that are foreign to most archaeologists. Aside from the substance of their findings, this chapter represents a valuable cross-disciplinary contribution.
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