[1][2] The concept was formulated in 1989 although it has historical roots.
[3] In the 1830s, Adolphe Quetelet and Louis R. Villermé studied the physical stature of populations.
[4][5] In the 1960s, French historians analyzed the relationship between socio-economic variables and human height.
[6] Anthropometric history was established as field of study in the late 1970s when economic historians Robert Fogel, John Komlos,[7][8] Richard Steckel and other academics began to study the history of human physical stature and its relationship to economic development.
[9] A branch of cliometrics, it uses trends and cross-sectional patterns in human physical stature to understand historical processes.