An Estimation of Adult Males' Average Stature from the Skeletal Remains of Joseon Period

Pak, Sunyoung

Abstract

An average height of adult males of Joseon period was estimated by utilizing excavated skeletal remains of the era. The height estimation formula for Mongoloid males by Trotter and Gleser (1958) was applied to the maximum femur lengths from 85 individuals' skeletal remains identified as grown-up males by the author of this paper. Individual estimations were obtained first, and then the mean of the central numbers of the individual estimations was taken as the group average. The average height of the 85 individuals was estimated 164.49 cm. When the sample was divided by the burial type, a presumed indicator of the socioeconomic status of the buried, those buried in the lime-mortar type burials were generally taller than those buried in the earth-pit type burials. When the Eunpyeong site was examined separately, those excavated from the earth-pit type burials were shorter about 1.5 cm than those excavated from the lime-mortar type burials. Because it is presumed that the earth-pit type burials were mostly used by commoners during the Joseon period, the mean height of the adult males from the earth-pit type burials can be considered as a mean height of adult male commoners of the era. The mean height of those from the earth-pit type burials was 164.09 cm when the total sample was analyzed and 163.19 cm when only those from Eunpyeong were analyzed. When estimated from skeletal remains, the adult Korean male commoners from middle and southern Korea of Joseon period were as tall as or a little taller than those adult Korean males from middle Korea measured by Westerners or Japanese in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.