The giants of North America, as elsewhere

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Many peoples of the world in all parts of the world have preserved ancient legends and myths about people of gigantic stature who coexisted with ordinary people in time immemorial. North America is no exception, where the memory of the tribes of giants has been preserved in various parts of the continent.

For example, in the legends of the northern group of the Payute tribes, giants with red hair are mentioned. The Payutes called them "si-te-cash" and constantly waged wars with them. Lived "si-te-cash" in the territory of the modern state of Nevada. In the first half of the 20th century, the last descendants of the Indians who lived in the Yosemite Valley (California) told a legend about people of gigantic stature who came to their lands long before the appearance of white people. These giants were called "oo-el-en" by the Indians. They were considered vicious people because they were cannibals and the local Indians fought with them. According to legend, the giants were eventually destroyed and their bodies burned.

The Pawnee Indians have a legend that the first people on Earth were giants. They were so huge that even the bison next to them looked like a dwarf. Such a giant, as the legend says, could effortlessly load a buffalo onto his shoulders and carry it to the camp. But these giants not only were not afraid of anything, but also did not recognize the Creator (in Pawnee - "Ti-ra-va"). Therefore, they did things without thinking at all about their consequences. In the end, the Creator got tired of this and decided to punish the giants. He raised the waters of all sources (that is, he made a great flood), the earth became liquid and heavy giants drowned in this mud.

In the oral tradition of the Sioux and Delaware Indians, a legend has been preserved about a tribe of giants, who had enormous growth and strength, but were cowardly. The Indians called them "Alleghevi" and constantly fought with them. The Allegheny River and Mountains in the eastern states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia were named in their memory. According to legend, these tribes of giants were driven out of their well-fortified cities by the tribes of the so-called Iroquois League (its appearance dates back to the 16th century). The remnants of the giants fled to the territory of the modern state of Minnesota, where they were finally destroyed by the Sioux Indians.

The Chippewa Indians (Minnesota) and the Tawa Indians (Ohio) have similar traditions that the first people who inhabited these lands were black-bearded giants. But later other giants with red beards came. They destroyed the black beards and captured these lands. There are many similar legends about ancient giants among the tribes of North American Indians.

People of gigantic stature are also known in our era. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the tallest man of the 20th century lived in the United States. His name was Robert Wedlow (1918 - 1940) and his height reached 272 cm. He was born into a family of people of ordinary height, but at the age of 5 he was forced to wear the clothes of a 17-year-old teenager.

Now in Washington state lives the tallest teenager in the world - Brendan Adams (born 1995), his height is 224, 8 cm. He was born into an ordinary American family, but already at 12 months has grown to the size of a three-year-old child. At eight years old, Adams reached the size of an adult, which caused confusion among doctors. They later found that the reasons for this growth lie in abnormalities in the boy's chromosomes. Brendan had unusual "enlarged" joints. As the doctors established, his further growth would lead to death, so with the help of special procedures and medications, they managed to stop the growth of Adams in 2008. Among the many physical ailments that the unfortunate teenager suffers from, there was another abnormal deviation. The doctors were able to stop the growth of the teenager's body, but could not cope with his teeth. Not with their size, but with the number of teeth. Over the past couple of years, 12 "extra" teeth have been removed. The significance of this fact will become clear in the course of the further presentation of the material.

The facts of the appearance of modern giants are rare. These are rare exceptional cases. And such giants are born in families of people of normal height. Physicians tend to explain this phenomenon as genetic failures or abnormalities in the human genetic structure. But how can they be caused? Can we assume that this is the result of the manifestation of recessive genes inherited by modern man from a separate race of giants that existed in distant antiquity? Modern concepts of the development of the species Homo sapience do not assign any place for intelligent giants in its evolution. This is allegedly due to the lack of relevant anthropological data. However, there is such data. Bone remains of people of gigantic stature were found both in antiquity (which is confirmed in written sources) and in modern times in various parts of the world. The territory of North America is no exception. The largest number of giant remains were found in the United States in the 19th century. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of the finds were not made by specialists but by construction workers, farmers, miners. Many finds were irretrievably lost, but some of the discoveries were not only documented, but the finds themselves ended up in museums or private collections. However, their further fate was sad. The found remains of the giants and the artifacts accompanying them perished in fires or floods, or mysteriously disappeared. In any case, over the past two hundred years, the problem of the existence of the race of giants in antiquity for some reason has not at all interested professional anthropologists and archaeologists. But even that scant information about the lost finds, which has survived to this day, allows us to conduct a preliminary study of this historical mystery. The selection of facts below, of course, is not exhaustive, but with its help certain conclusions can be drawn about the ancient race of giants.

In 1911, mummified remains were found in Lovelock Cave (112 km from Reno, Nevada), significantly exceeding normal human growth. Their distinguishing feature was their preserved copper-colored hair. The growth of the mummified remains ranged from 198 to 250 cm. Scientists did not have time to examine the mummies. Some of the finds were stolen by local workers, the rest were simply burned. Only a few samples of bones and skulls have survived, which ended up in the Museum of the State Historical Society of Nevada (Reno) and the Humboldt County Museum (Nevada). One of the surviving skulls had a height of almost 30 cm. This is one of the rare examples when the remains of an ancient giant can be seen in the museum's exposition.

Twenty years later, in February and June 1931, two more giant skeletons were discovered at Lake Humboldt (in the same area near Lovelock). The first was 259 cm tall and was wrapped in cloth in a manner similar to ancient Egyptian funerary practices. The growth of the second skeleton reached 3 meters. Information about these finds was reported on June 19, 1931 by the newspaper "Review-Miner", but the further fate of these remains was not written. In 1939, another 231 cm skeleton was found at Friedman's ranch near Lovelock, which was again reported in the same newspaper on September 29.

As mentioned above, there are a significant number of reports on the finds of giant human bones in the United States. However, in many cases there is no accurate data, it is only indicated that bones of huge size were found. Therefore, in this information set, I will mainly use those facts that indicate the size of the bone remains.

In 1833, while excavating at the Lompoc Ranch (California), soldiers discovered the remains of a skeleton that belonged to a person over 3.5 m tall. Large stone axes and other artifacts were found nearby. The skull had two rows of teeth in the upper and lower jaws. The find caused indignation of local Indians and the bones were buried again.

In 1872, near the town of Seneca (Ohio), a mound (burial mound) was excavated containing the burial of three skeletons, the height of which was about 240 cm. The bones were very massive, in accordance with the growth. The skulls had two rows of teeth in the upper and lower jaws. In 1978, a massive human skull was unearthed during excavations in Ashtabula County, Ohio. Its size was such that the skull could easily be put on like a helmet on the head of a grown man.

In 1877, not far from Evreki, Nevada, prospectors worked on gold mining in a desert rocky area. One of the workers accidentally noticed something sticking out over the ledge of one of the cliffs. People climbed the rock and were surprised to find the human bones of the foot and lower leg along with the patella. The bone was embedded in the rock and the prospectors freed it from the rock with pickaxes. Having appreciated the uncommonness of the find, the workers brought it to Evreka. The stone into which the rest of the leg was embedded was quartzite, and the bones themselves turned black, which betrayed their considerable age. The leg was broken above the knee and represented the knee joint and the intact bones of the leg and foot. Several doctors examined the bones and concluded that the leg was undoubtedly an ancient man. But the most intriguing aspect was the size of the find - 97 centimeters from knee to foot. The owner of this limb during his lifetime was about 360 centimeters tall. And the age of the quartzite in which the fossil was found was determined at 185 million years, that is, the heyday of the dinosaurs. Local newspapers vied with each other to report the sensation. One of the museums sent researchers to the find in the hope of finding the rest of the skeleton, but, unfortunately, nothing else was found.

In 1879, during the excavation of the Mound near Breversville, Indiana, a human skeleton was found with a height of 295 cm. Around the neck of the skeleton was a necklace of mica. The bone remains were collected and stored at a nearby mill. But in 1937, these remains were destroyed by a flood.

In 1885, a very interesting note was published in the reputable American Antiquarian (volume 7). A group of researchers from the Smithsonian Institution excavated a large maund near the town of Gasterville, Pennsylvania, and at a shallow depth discovered a crudely vaulted crypt. The burial contained the skeleton of an adult 218 cm tall and several children's skeletons of various sizes. The remains of the bones were covered with mats woven from grass or reeds. A copper crown was worn on the forehead of an adult skeleton, and bone beads adorned the bones of children. But the most interesting find was found at the vault of the crypt. It turned out to be an inscription in an unknown font. The note said that this is one of the greatest finds of our time, which should lead to a revision of the ancient history of the continent. However, nothing of the kind happened. All finds were carefully packed and sent to the Smithsonian Institution, their further research was either not carried out, or were not made public. The sensation about the discovery of an ancient unknown script in America did not take place.

In 1891, in the town of Crittenden (Arizona), while building the foundation of a house at a depth of 2.5 meters, workers stumbled upon a stone sarcophagus. When they managed to move the lid, inside they found the remains of a skeleton about 275 cm tall, which literally crumbled into dust when opened.

The Chicago Record on October 24, 1895 reported the discovery of a burial mound near Toledo, Ohio, which contained 20 skeletons in a seated position and facing east. The growth of the skeletons was not indicated, but the note stated that the size of the teeth is twice the size of the teeth of modern humans. That is, the growth of these people during life should have exceeded 3 meters. And this is for the whole group of 20 people. In addition, behind each figure was placed a bowl with carefully carved hieroglyphic designs. In Minnesota in 1888, the remains of 7 skeletons were found with a height of 213 to 244 cm, as reported by the Pioneer Press on June 29, 1888.

But the most massive grave of ancient giants was discovered in August 1871, as reported by The Daily Telegraph on August 23 of the same year. Daniel Fredinburg and his friends were excavating his ranch near the town of Cayuga (about 80 km west of Niagara Falls, New York). At a depth of 1, 5 to 2 meters, they stumbled upon a large burial ground. Burials were made in simple pits, often located one above the other. About 200 such graves were found! All bone remains belonged to people of gigantic growth, on average reaching 2.5 m. Several skeletons were about 3 meters in height and several - 2 m. Only one of the found skeletons belonged to a person of ordinary height. Stone beads were found on the necks of all the skeletons. In the burials, stone axes, tomahawks with stone tops of the traditional form for the Indians, and huge smoking pipes were also found. The skulls of the buried had different shapes and many had traces of violent death (split skulls, dents from blows, etc.). The discovery of the ancient burial ground aroused great interest among local residents and many engaged in unauthorized excavations of graves (the ranch area reached 150 acres) in the hope of finding gold and silver. Many of the skulls were taken away and the rancher was eventually forced to fill up the excavation site. No further studies were carried out.

In the newspaper "Nature" dated December 17, 1891, a note was published that during the excavation of a large burial mound in Ohio, a twin burial of a man and a woman of enormous height was discovered. The male skeleton was dressed in massive copper armor: a helmet, bracers, half-armor that covered the chest and stomach. On his neck rested a necklace of bear fangs inlaid with pearls.

In 1903, while excavating a burial mound on Fish Creek (Montana), Professor S. Farr and a group of students from Princeton University discovered a twin burial of a man and a woman. Both skeletons were about 270 cm in height. In 1925, several antiquity lovers dug up a small mound in Volkerton, Indiana, and found eight human skeletons ranging from 240 to 270 cm in height. In addition, this collective burial contained the remains of copper weapons and armor …

During World War II, a certain Alan Macshire worked as an engineer during the construction of an airstrip on Shemya Island (a group of Aleutian Islands). He said that workers opened one of the hills and found several huge fossilized skulls, vertebrae and leg bones. The skulls reached 58 cm in height and 30 cm in width. The ancient giants had a double row of teeth and disproportionately flat heads, which, apparently, was the result of cranial deformity. Each skull had a neat round opening at the top - the result of trepanning surgery. The vertebrae, as well as the skull, were three times larger than that of modern humans. The length of the shin bones ranged from 150 to 180 centimeters. Thus, during their lifetime, these people were more than 3 meters tall. This story McSheer told in his letter, sent to one of the American television programs already in the 60s. The letter also stated that all bone remains were collected and removed by the staff of the Smithsonian Institution …

In August 1947, interesting discoveries were made in the so-called geological Province of Valleys and Ridges, stretching from southern Nevada through the famous Death Valley (California) to Arizona. In this vast area, 32 caves were discovered, some of which contained archaeological finds. In one of these caves in the Colorado desert, Dr. Bruce Russell and Dr. Daniel Bowie found several well-preserved male mummies ranging in height from 240 to 275 cm. Interestingly, the mummies were dressed in some kind of jackets and knee-length short pants. The garments were made of gray leather from an unknown animal. The further fate of these finds is unknown.

In 1965, the skeleton of a giant, 266 cm tall, was found under a rocky outcropping in the valley of Holly Creek in central Kentucky.

The largest bone remains of ancient people were discovered in 1923 in the Grand Canyon (Arizona). These were two petrified (!) Human skeletons 457 cm and 549 cm high. Nothing is known about their further fate.

There are many such testimonies of the finds of the remains of ancient giants in the American press. In the 19th century, it became popular to publish the history of individual counties, especially in the eastern states. These "stories" contained geographical, geological, and historical information about the counties. And they also repeatedly mention the facts of finds of giant human bones since the time of the appearance of the first European settlers here. But in those days such a science as archeology did not yet exist, so this information did not carry specific information. Nevertheless, even from the brief selection of facts given here, it is clear that bone remains of ancient giants have been constantly found in the Mississippi and Ohio river basins over the past centuries. And very often they are found in burials under artificial hills - mounds.

According to the modern archaeological picture, this territory of the basins of the two largest rivers was the center of the spread of sufficiently developed agricultural cultures, which successively replaced each other over two millennia. In American studies, they are commonly referred to as "Mound Builder Cultures." On the basis of numerous archaeological studies of this region, a chronological scale of local cultures has been compiled. According to modern archaeological data, the first mounds on the territory of the eastern states appeared already in the middle of the 4th millennium BC. in the so-called archaic period, when the local population did not yet know the manufacturing economy. Around 1000 BC. In the central part of the Ohio valley, the Aden culture, the first of the agricultural cultures of the funeral mounds, appears. The bearers of the Aden culture were mainly engaged in hunting and gathering, but they also had the beginnings of a productive economy. They grew pumpkins and sunflowers. One of the most impressive earthworks in the United States, the so-called Great Serpentine Mound, located on the ridge of a hill in southwestern Ohio, is considered to be this culture. We can say that this is the largest image of a snake in the world. But there is no exact evidence that it was built by the carriers of the Aden culture. It is generally accepted that the Aden culture lasted until about 200 BC.

At the end of the 1st millennium BC. the culture of Aden was replaced by the culture of Hopewell, also famous for its funerary munds, which existed until about the middle of the 1st millennium AD. And somewhere at the turn of the VIII-IX centuries A. D. in this region, the Mississippi culture begins to develop, the carriers of which have already built huge temple mounds (that is, in fact, the earthen platforms and pyramids that served as the foundations for the temples). This culture continues to exist until the arrival of Europeans here. The bearers of these cultures left a legacy of a huge number of earthen structures - mounds, platforms, ramparts and embankments. Only in the valley of the Ohio River there are about ten thousand of them. But were all these monuments built by the Indians of Aden, Hopewell and beyond, as modern archeology says? After all, the finds of the collective burials of giants in the funeral mounds testify to the existence here in antiquity of a culture different from the Indian culture.

Some Indian tribes, who lived earlier in the Ohio River valley, have preserved oral legends that before them these lands were inhabited by two more ancient races: "ancient" and Adena (hence the name of the corresponding archaeological culture). People of the "ancient" race had tall, slender bodies and elongated heads. The people of Aden were shorter, had more massive bodies and were round-headed. Adena came to the Ohio Valley from the south and later from the "ancients" who were defeated in a long war. Who were these mythical "ancients"?

David Cusick (c. 1780-1831) was one of the first Indian authors (from the Tuscarora tribe) to publish a book in English on the mythology and ancient history of Indian tribes. In his Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations (1828), he wrote that many local legends about ancient peoples mention the powerful Ronnongwetowanca tribe - a tribe of giants. Kasik wrote that according to legends, the Great Spirit, having created people, simultaneously created giants. The latter kept everyone at bay until the rest of the tribes created a united army and destroyed all the giants. And this happened in about 2500 winters (many Indian tribes were calculating not in years, but in winters) before the arrival of the Europeans, that is, in about 1000 years. BC.

Thus, the archaeological and ethnographic data available today indicate that in ancient times, tribes of people of giants lived on the territory of America next to the Indians, whose height on average varied from 2 to 3 meters or more. Naturally, for the Indians, whose average height was about 160 cm, these people seemed to be real giants. The available information allows us to draw a number of specific conclusions about the anthropological characteristics of the American giants.

Their growth, as already mentioned, significantly exceeded the growth of the Indians. Archaeological finds indicate that the largest number of bone remains were about 2.5 meters tall, but in some cases the growth of ancient giants exceeded 3 meters, and in exceptional cases it was more than 5 meters! Naturally, people of this size, as the Indian legends testify, possessed tremendous physical strength.

A significant number of bone remains testify to another characteristic feature of giants - a double row of teeth on both the upper and lower jaws. In a number of cases, another feature of the structure of the bodies of giants was recorded - the presence of six fingers and toes.

And, finally, in cases of finds of mummified remains, an unusual hair color of giants was recorded: copper or red. Without a special study of the mummified hair itself, it is impossible to talk about their exact color. In American literature, they are referred to as red-headed.

According to the surviving Indian legends, some tribes of giants were engaged in cannibalism and ate the enemies they defeated. This was one of the main reasons for the enmity between giants and Indians. On the other hand, archaeological finds indicate that the ancient giants had a sufficiently developed material culture, which included copper metallurgy. That is, it can be concluded that the various tribes of giants were at different levels of cultural development, like the surrounding Indian peoples. Also, on the basis of the surviving legends (including those of other peoples of the planet), one can safely assume that mixed marriages existed between the giants and the Indians. From this point of view, it is interesting to note that some anthropological features of the ancient giants, namely, a double row of teeth and six fingers on the limbs (polydactyly), occasionally appear in individuals today (such as Brendan Adams' "extra" teeth). In 1949, the Vayorani Indian tribe was discovered in the jungles of eastern Ecuador. Its representatives were of normal height and belonged to the racial type typical of this region. But at the same time, many Indians had a double row of teeth and six fingers and toes.

The lack of the possibility of full-fledged studies of the bone remains of giants does not allow us to determine whether they were a separate subspecies of Homo sapiens. But since their existence is recorded in the ancient legends of all the continents of the planet, I conventionally use the term "race of giants". Nothing definite can be said about the time of their appearance on the territory of America. Although, as mentioned above, some Indian tribes believed that the bearded giants were the first to populate these lands long before the Indians themselves. In addition, it is possible to say with sufficient accuracy when the giants or their last descendants disappeared. This happened already in the 16th century, at the early stage of the colonization of the New World. The first expeditions of the Spanish conquistadors, which penetrated the territory of the modern United States, encountered in different parts of the country with tribes of people of enormous stature. And there is written confirmation of this, left by the participants of these expeditions.

Hernando de Soto was the first European to organize a long-term expedition to the territory of the modern United States. Together with a very large detachment (about 600 people and 230 horses), he landed on the Florida coast on May 30, 1539. Here he surveyed Tampa Bay and the mouth of the Savannah River. Then the conquistadors reached the Alabama River, and in May 1541, the first Europeans came to the banks of the Mississippi River. During this long expedition (May 1539 - May 1542), de Soto went through the entire southeastern United States. Expedition member Alvaro Fernandez described multiple encounters with giant aborigines. The Spaniards encountered them as soon as they went deep into the mainland. The Chronicler notes that the Indians were on average 30 cm taller than the Spaniards, and their leaders were much taller. So the leader of the Okalo settlement possessed enormous growth and incredible strength. Kopafi, the chief of the Appalachian tribe who lived in the vicinity of the modern city of Tallahassee, also had a huge growth. A leader named Tuscaloosa, who subjugated almost all the tribes in the territory of the modern states of Alabama and Mississippi, is described in a similar way. The chronicler, unfortunately, does not give the exact size of the giants met by the Spaniards. But the leader of Tuscaloosa, according to his description, was half a meter taller than his rather big fellow tribesmen and had excellent proportions. When the leader agreed to accompany de Soto's detachment on the further journey, they tried to pick up a horse for him, but none of the riding horses could bear the weight of Tuscaloosa. Finally, the most powerful of the draft horses was brought to him and the leader was able to saddle it. But at the same time, his feet almost touched the ground. It can be assumed that Tuscaloosa was much more than 2 meters tall. Another Spanish expedition led by Panfilo de Narvaes faced the Indian tribes of enormous growth and strength in the same places.

Alonso Alvarez de Pineda in 1519, while exploring the mouth of the Mississippi River, also discovered gigantic aborigines here. Later, having moved to the coast of Texas, he also faced tribes of very tall and strong Indians there. According to other later sources, these gigantic growth Indians were called Karankava and they lived in the vicinity of Matagorda Bay. The last representatives of this people were destroyed by white settlers in 1840.

In 1540, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado organized a major expedition to the southwest of the modern United States in search of the so-called "seven cities of Sivola." When his detachment reached the territory of what is now the Mexican province of Sonora, Coronado sent out a small group of Spaniards for reconnaissance. The member of this expedition, Pedro de Castañeda, says in his book The Coronado Expedition that when the scouts returned, they brought with them an Indian of enormous stature. The tallest of the Spaniards reached him only to the chest. The scouts reported that the rest of the Aborigines they saw on the coast were even higher.

On June 17, 1579, Francis Drake landed, it is assumed, in the San Francisco area (according to another hypothesis, in modern Oregon) and declared this coast to be the English possession of "New Albion". Here he also encountered Indians of very tall stature and incredible strength. According to the surviving descriptions, the local giants were able to easily carry on their shoulders a load that two or three Spaniards could barely lift off the ground.

Thus, written sources indicate that the first Europeans who reached the territory of the modern United States encountered tribes of gigantic aborigines (which they also called Indians), who lived in different parts of the country: in the southeast and southwest, on the coasts of the Gulf of Mexico and The Pacific Ocean. It can be assumed that by this time many giants had assimilated with the Indian population. Their growth did not exceed 2.5 meters and was less than the growth of more ancient giants.

At the end of this chapter, I would like to cite a curious and very revealing story that I found on the Internet a few years ago. This letter was published online by a descendant of the Susquahanock Indians, who called himself the name Teddy Bear. This Indian tribe lived in the northeastern United States (modern states of Maryland, Pennsylvania) even before the arrival of white people here. According to the legends that his father told Teddy Bear, the average height of the men of his tribe in the 17th century was 1, 9 - 2, 0 m, which was quite a lot for that time. During the Anglo-Dutch wars of the middle of the 17th century, the Susquehannock tribe had a military leader, whose height was almost 230 cm and he had two rows of teeth. Such a high growth and double the number of teeth was explained by the fact that this man was a descendant of the "feline people". By this name the Indians of the Susquehannock and Delaware tribes called the people of giants with double rows of teeth. Actually the name "cat people", according to legend, was given to these people because their speech sounded like the roar of a cougar. These people had much lighter skin and copper-colored hair than the rest of the Indians. Their average height was 3 meters. All local tribes feared the people of the "feline people" for their savagery and commitment to cannibalism. In the Susquehannock Valley (Pennsylvania), many people, including the Teddy Bear himself, have found numerous bone remains of large people and their artifacts, including bowls with a diameter of 1.5 to 2 meters and arrowheads more than 15 cm long. storerooms of local small museums and are not available for study. According to Teddy Bear, one of his farmer acquaintances discovered the remains of two human bones in the valley, whose height reached 340 cm. ". Teddy Bear himself was forced to leave his homeland as a result of the persecution that local authorities subjected him to. The reason was his active interest in finding traces of ancient giants.

It is possible, of course, to attribute this story to the "Internet ducks", especially since the verification of information in the same Susquehannock Valley would require separate and lengthy research. However, the total number of known finds of the bones of ancient giants only in the United States is very significant. And a logical question arises: why none of the specialists in the relevant industries is engaged in the study of the topic of ancient giants? After all, an abundance of anthropological and archaeological material has been found; it remains only to "dig it up" anew in museums and private collections. How and to whom do the facts of the existence of the ancient race of giants hinder? After all, the study of this issue can become a real sensation in anthropology and ancient history. Is it really just that intelligent giants do not fit into the modern concept of human evolution? Or are there other, more compelling reasons?