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11/24/2007: "Ancient people healthier than moderns"

"I'm a historian of the First World War and the average height of a soldier in that conflict was in the order of 5ft 6ins." Compared with their counterparts 350 years later, "the men in the Mary Rose were bigger, stronger and fitter," says Capt Page.

"In some respects the men who manned the Mary Rose were an elite, but this also perhaps tells you something about changes in society. By the late 19th/early 20th Century, we were more urbanised and the diet wasn't as good."

Of those on board, 25% had no significant tooth decay, leading Admiral Lippiett to suggest the "shape of their teeth was far better than in today's society".

Navigational objects on the ship forced archaeologists to reconsider their take on Tudor technology. A gimbals compass, which will rotate on two axes so it remains horizontal whatever the movement of the ship, was thought to be an object of the 17th Century. But three were recovered from the Mary Rose.

[ "History" is a lie. ]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7038519.stm