Measuring Up Real World Archaeological Giants
Strabo, Philostratus and Pliny all wrote about mythological giants: Antaeus, Ilio son of Hercules, Orestes, Cyclops and many others, and one of the most common components of creation myths found in ancient cultures from Peru to China and Iceland to Egypt is the inclusion of prehistoric races of giants who first inhabited indigenous territories. In 2019, Dr. Marco Romano from the University of Roma in Italy, published a paper in the International Journal of Paleobiology highlighting that one of the determining factors influencing the myths about giants, was the discovery of “large vertebrate bones (largely Cenozoic), initially interpreted as the remains of giant humans.” (Cenozoic era occurred circa 66 million years ago). His article casts serious doubt on the belief of a faction of modern researchers that giants actually roamed the planet in ancient times.
David faces the giant Goliath in this lithograph by Osmar Schindler (1888). (Public Domain)
However, researchers should take care not to confuse the mythical giants with the remains of really tall people in history, and it is not an indulgence in fringe archaeology to review the taller than average people who dominated indigenous peoples across the globe. Whether one believes it or not, such a review can be achieved with no mention of Smithsonian cover-ups or archaeological conspiracies.
