Jason Colavito has a worthwhile post demonstrating the flawed thinking and resourcing of such claims (and they are quite common). But hey, I guess it sounds better than a giant prehistoric dog eating the evidence.
About Those Giants Hidden in the Smithsonian
Interesting theory. I gotta say though, reading the astounding lists of reported giant finds in news paper reports, diaries and archaeological journals on the “Stone Builders, Mound Builders and the Giants of Ancient America” facebook page, most of these are concerning 7, 8, and 9 feet tall skeletons. Regardless if there is a cover-up or not, I disagree entirely with Jason Colavito that most of these are hoaxes… some probably are, but without investigating each claim I think he is overlooking a tremendous amount of data of very tall ancient people. And if you read some of these accounts on the facebook page, there are photographs of very large skulls, 7 – 8 feet tall skeletons, bones of the giant of Castelnau, and includes quotes from Dragoo, Webb & Snow, etc of field measurements of 7 to 7 ft 2 inch skeletons excavated from Adena burials in the 1950’s. Seven, eight , nine foot tall giants fits the biophysical range and accords with historic narratives of very tall people.
There was actually a lot of hoaxing and gamesmanship of this type during this era. P. T. Barnum and the snake oil salesmen didn’t become iconic figures by accident. You might find Tribble’s book on the Cardiff giant interesting and fun (“A Colossal Hoax”) in this regard.
That sounds interesting, I’ll have to check that book out. I have heard of the Cardiff giant. Agreed, Fiji mermaids, dime museum, curio shop novelties were pretty commonplace,–still are. I guess the moral of the story is to approach this stuff with a Robert Ripley mentality. For every legit 8 footer circus giant, there is a fake prop on display somewhere. Olaff the giant is another great example, a 9 1/2 feet tall stuffed Viking mummy 😉 fooled even the late Grover Krantz, from Univ. of Washington who wanted to study Olaff to understand the mechanics and locomotion of purported Sasquatch. lol …
That being said, distinguishing the occasional hoax printed in a news paper or tabloid from legitimate finds conducted by accredited University archaeologists, or Smithsonian field agents in the 19th and well into the 20th century of intact skeletons exceeding 7 feet tall, I think warrants serious investigation and research.
Lord Sardiniby, while I appreciate skepticism a great deal…I also have a healthy appreciation for the crookedness and corruption of man and institution. It has been widely reported anecdotally that outfits like the Smithsonian engaged in coverups and obfuscation of many excavations and digs throughout the decades to preserve a certain narrative of history which became standard indoctrination procedure in the public school system. All of these hypothetical models of how things ‘could have’ been built are just that: models…..full of speculation and individual opinionated fancy. Don’t believe the hype….these self ascribed skeptics and debunkers drive their skepticism one direction…..and thats intellectually dishonest when history shows time and time again that institutions of all kinds are governed by men with personal agendas and indebted to others for favors lest their crooked personal lives be exposed. Everyone is crooked, everyone has an agenda….and no one is without bias….to believe otherwise is simply naive in the extreme.