Richard H. Steckel

Richard H. Steckel's research uses historical and skeletal data to study how living standards, health, and nutrition have changed over long periods of human history, often measuring physical stature and bone remains as indicators of past well-being. His work combines economic history with anthropometry (the study of body measurements) to understand topics such as slavery, discrimination, and health disparities, including their effects on later populations like African Americans. He has also contributed studies on health, diet, and violence in Europe over two millennia.

Publication output was concentrated in a burst around 2018, likely tied to a book project, and has slowed considerably in subsequent years, averaging less than one publication per year over the last five years.

Generated by claude-sonnet-5 from public bibliographic data · Jul 20, 2026