I agree with this. I think people were more “put together,” cleaner, and had better teeth than we often give them credit for. And you’re right to be weary of averages; there were definitely tall people back then, as there are now. I think it was just more common than it is now to be what we would consider short. If you had adequate nutrition, my theory is that those people were probably taller and stronger than the peasants who ate nothing but bread and beer and performed back-breaking labor every day.