"Land of Gnomes" really exists, height of house is less than 2 meters, and average height is only 1 meter1

I think everyone must have heard story of "Snow White and Seven Dwarfs" and they were all amused by cute and naive images in anime.

However, such a small country in fact, houses there are only 2 meters high, and average height of people is only 1.1 meters.

What is name of this magical place? Why are people there so small? What are characteristics of local area?

This magical village is called Makunik, which adjoins west of Afghanistan and belongs to easternmost part of Iran. Due to its remote location, it has never been discovered by humans. When it was discovered by people, world entered the 20th century.

Makunik is recognized by people because of mummy only 25 centimeters tall. This little mummy was discovered near village in 2005. The experts gathered together for several days to determine that this is body of a premature baby 400 years old, but a normal baby is close to 50 cm in size. The experts did not immediately know how to explain this phenomenon, so they remembered legend of Lilliputians, thinking that local villagers below rest.

What is specific reason why people are short here? It begins with history of Makunik over 1500 years ago.However, as history progresses, many truths are no longer explored. The only certainty is that Makunik's ancestors fled here to escape the war.

Since this is an escape, it's natural that action shouldn't be too ostentatious. To hide atmosphere of their activities, they will blend their houses with local natural scenery and slowly compress house to point that from a distance it looks like a small bag of earth.

Their house is only two meters, and there is only a hand-sized hole in wall as a window. Many people feel that living in such a narrow space will be very depressing, but it is this unusual design that protects them from pain of a large temperature difference between day and night.

The location of village of Makunik is a desert. There is no vegetation in this area, and only loess and sand are exposed outside. Such an environment cannot properly adapt local climate, which makes temperature there seem icy and fiery with sunrise and sunset, a double sky feeling. Such cramped houses prevent heat loss and also reduce hot air inflow at high outdoor temperatures.

Of course, their small stature can't afford a big house at all, not to mention fact that they came here as fugitives, and building a big house is no less than exposing themselves to outside world.

The place to live is basically decided, so where does their food come from? This place is notorious for being barren and dry, thanks to smart Makuniks who know how to dig their own wells. But people can't just drink water, they can't do without food to satisfy their hunger.

However, crops cannot be grown here at all on barren land.

Slowly, they began to look for new things around and finally found a date tree. This type of jujube tree is a blessing to them. Not only does tree produce a huge amount, but it also tastes sweet and is great for satiety.

However, daily consumption of only such food cannot replenish various elements that human body needs every day. Therefore, people suffer from yin and yang deficiency for a long time, and finally stopped growing early and became a dwarf .

However, malnutrition is not main reason, but main reason for their short stature lies in genetic defects. Makuniks are far from outside world, and all life exchanges are decided inside, which means they breed with their people.

Human genes are imperfect. After many experiments, biologists have found that some genetic defects will continue to accumulate in offspring. The best way to solve this problem is to avoid marriages between close relatives. But Makuniks had no choice but to marry their own in such an environment. Genetic defects were passed down from generation to generation, and eventually they couldn't grow up.

When Makunik was discovered, their poor life attracted attention of local government. To prevent them from being isolated in their own world, government directly built a road connecting village and city. to work in city.

Suddenly, Makunik's fame made people all over world interested in him, and they all wanted to visit "Lilliput" to explore its mysteries. Having learned about this, local government also actively communicated with makuniks, and finally, both sides reached an agreement to turn headman into a tourist attraction.

Thanks to tourism industry, local economy was relatively well developed, and people's diet gradually kept pace with times. Some villagers even told reporters in interviews, "I feel like I've gotten taller!"