An integrative skeletal and paleogenomic analysis of stature variation suggests relatively reduced health for early European farmers

Human culture, biology, and health were shaped dramatically by the onset of agriculture ~12,000 years before present (BP). This shift is hypothesized to have resulted in increased individual fitness and population growth as evidenced by archaeological and population genomic data alongside a decline in physiological health as inferred from skeletal remains. Here, we consider osteological and ancient DNA data from the same prehistoric individuals to study human stature variation as a proxy for health across a transition to agriculture. Specifically, we compared ‘predicted’ genetic contributions to height from paleogenomic data and ‘achieved’ adult osteological height estimated from long bone measurements for 167 individuals across Europe spanning the Upper Paleolithic to Iron Age (~38,000-2,400 BP). We found that individuals from the Neolithic were shorter than expected (given their individual polygenic height scores) by an average of -3.82 cm relative to individuals from the Upper Paleol...