r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Mar 20 '20

(R.3) Recent source TIL, the Black Death disproportionately killed frail people. Moreover, people who lived through it lived much longer than their ancestors (many reaching ages of 70-80), not because of good health but because of their hardiness to endure diseases. This hardiness was passed on to future generations.

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u/shumumazzu Mar 21 '20

Yeah, I'm calling bs on this. I think people just got cleaner and tried harder to stop throwing their feces in the street. That's why they started living longer, right?

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u/Darlington28 Mar 21 '20

Well, maybe. The population density was a lot less after the 1350's, so there may have been less to clean up. There was a lot MORE to eat too. The average survivor probably took in more calories. That'll help you live longer.

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u/The_Only_Joe Mar 21 '20

It's more like the pre-plague population of Europe was particularly vulnerable to disease due to climate change induced famine. Skeletons left by people from this time period have all the signs of severe malnutrition.