Korean counterparts – as this was a period during which the North was affected by a harsh famine where hundreds of thousands, if not millions, died of hunger. A study by South Korean anthropologists of North Korean children who had defected to China found that eighteen-year-old males were shorter than South Koreans their age due to malnutrition. The tallest living man is Sultan Kösen of Turkey, at . The tallest man in modern history was Robert Pershing Wadlow (1918–1940), from Illinois, United States, who was at the time of his death. The tallest woman in medical history was Trijntje Keever of Edam, Netherlands, who stood when she died at the age of seventeen. The shortest adult human on record was Chandra Bahadur Dangi of Nepal at . An anecdotal article titled "Ancient American Giants" from the 14 August 1880 edition of Scientific American notes a case from Brushcreek Township, Ohio, when Dr. J. F. Everhart supervised a team that discovered ancient clay coffins within a mound which were reported to contain skeletons of the following length: woman with a child , a second coffin with a man and woman, a third coffin with a man and woman, and seven other independent skeletons measuring between and . An image and stone tablet were found with the giants. Adult height between populations often differs significantly. For example, the average height of women from the Czech Republic is greater than that of men from Malawi. This may be caused by genetic differences, childhood lifestyle differences (nutrition, sleep patterns, physical labor), or both. Depending on sex, genetic and environmental factors, shrinkage of stature may begin in middle age in some individuals but tends to be universal in the extremely aged. This decrease in height is due to such factors as decreased height of inter-vertebral discs because of desiccation, atrophy of soft tissues, and postural changes secondary to degenerative disease. Working on data of Indonesia, the study by Baten, Stegl and van der Eng suggests a positive relationship of economic development and average height. In Indonesia, human height has decreased coincidentally with natural or political shocks. Average height around the world As with any statistical data, the accuracy of such data may be questionable for various reasons: Some studies may allow subjects to self-report values. Generally speaking, self-reported height tends to be taller than its measured height, although the overestimation of height depends on the