I have looked at what science says about human evolution.
Giants and science:
Is it so sure that the giants do not fit the theory of human evolution?

For hundreds of years it was believed that giants once had roamed the earth. This all changed when Charles Darwin in 1859 presented his theory saying that natural selection was the cause of evolution: Humans had evolved from apes. The giants of the Bible were suddenly nothing but theology, and the legends all over world just fiction. Well, not everybody was impressed; there is still a fierce debate between the creationists and evolutionists. And archaeological findings and DNA-testing are bringing questions to the accepted theory of human evolution. So let's take a closer look!

Ardipithecus ramidus:
4,4 million years ago
120 cm (3'11") tall
Brain: 300-350
cm³

Homo erectus:
1.5 million years ago.
1.79 m
(5 ft 10 in)
Brain 850-1100 cm³

Homo heidelbergensis: 600.000-400.000 years ago.
1.8 m (5ft 11in)

Brain 850-1200 cm³

Homo neanderthalensis: 600.000–20.000 years ago
1.64 m (5 ft 5 in)

Brain 1.125-1.750 cm³


Early Homo sapiens
35.000-10.000 years ago
1.70 m tall (5 ft 6 in)
Brain 1.200-1.600 cm³


Homo sapiens sapiens
200.000 years ago to now

Brain: 1250cm³
The scientists of today believe that the earth was formed 4.5 billion years ago and that life appeared on its surface within one billion years. As we can read in Wikipedia: "Highly energetic chemistry is believed to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 billion years ago and half a billion years later the last common ancestor of all life existed."
   It is also believed that several million years ago an African ape-like animal gained the ability to stand upright. This enabled the use of tools - and it was a need for a larger brain, which started the evolution of the human race.
   DNA-testing has shown that the closest living relatives of humans are gorillas and chimpanzees, as they share a relatively recent common ancestor. Human DNA is about 94-98 percent simular to that of chimpanzees.
"Wise man"
"Homo sapiens" is Latin for "wise man" and we humans are, as far as the scientists know, the only living species of the Homo genus. The accepted theory is that anatomically modern humans originated in Africa about 200.000 years ago - and that migration out of Africa occurred about 70.000 before present time. These modern humans spread globally and replaced earlier hominids. A popular theory is that they displaced Homo Neanderthalensis and other species descended from Homo Erectus (which had inhabited Eurasia as early as 2 million years ago) through more successful reproduction and competition for resources. The humans shall have reached full behavioural modernity around 50.000 years ago, when language, music and other cultural universals had developed.
   It is believed that these modern humans inhabited Eurasia and Oceania for about 40.000 years ago and the Americas at least 14.000 years ago. About 6,000 years ago, the first proto-states developed in Mesopotamia, Egypt's Nile Valley and the Indus Valley.

The "gigantes"
Giant. The word has its origin from Greek mythology: The "gigantes" were the children of the goddess Gaia, the mother of all. The Titans was a result from her union with Uranus while other giants were fathered by Taranus.
   The most famous of the giants were the hundred Thracian Gigantes who waged war on the gods. The ancient Thracians inhabited areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. Thrax, where the name Thrace comes from, was regarded as one of the sons of the violent god Ares.    There were many other giants, including the handsome Orion, the one-eyed and cannibalistic cyclop Polyphemus, and the six-armed Gegenees (for an article with a complete list of giants from Greek mythology - click here).
   The giants of the Greek mythology were really tall; Herodotus describes how the Spartans uncovered in Tegea the body of Orestes which was seven cubits long - around 10 feet (3.30m) and Ajax, great-great-grandson of the god Zeus, was said to have been almost 14 feet (4.3 meters).

Other giants in mythology
The English word "giant" is derived from Greek "gigantes", and the mythology and legends of many different cultures include monsters of human appearance but with enormous size and strength.
   In Hinduism, the giants are called Daityas, they were the children of the earth goddess Diti and the sage Kashyapa - and they fought against the gods or Devas because they were jealous of their Deva half-brothers.
   The giants are the origin of many of various monsters in Norse mythology, but the gods themselves were related to the giants by many marriages and they bear little difference in status to them. Norse mythology also tells that the entire world of men was once created from the flesh of Ymir, a giant of cosmic proportions. His name is considered by some to share a root with the name Yama of Indo-Iranian mythology. In Vedic tradition Yama was considered to have been the first mortal "who died and espied the way to the celestial abodes".
   In Bulgarian mythology, giants called ispolini inhabited the Earth before modern humans. They lived in the mountains, fed on raw meat and often fought against dragons.
   Many legends in the Basque territory in Spain tell that the giants are accountable for the creation of many megalithic structures like dolmen. Yes, in folklore from all over Europe, and also all over the world, giants were believed to have built large walls and other gigantic stone monuments; That the megaliths were made by previous civilizations where the giants played an important part.
Fairy tales
Tales of combats with Celtic giants were a common feature in the folklore of Wales, Scotland, Ireland and England. Giants also figure in a great many fairy tales, such as Jack and the Beanstalk. Ogres and trolls are humanoid creatures, most often of gigantic stature, that occur in European folklore and fairy tales.
The Bible
In the Christian Bible we can read: "There were giants on the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown." Genesis 6:4.
   The most famous giant in the Bible is of course Goliath, he was as "six cubits and a span" in height - over nine feet tall (over 2.75 m). Goliath had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. He was far from the only giant in the Bible, but they were of a dying race. King Og was said to have been the last - his bed was 13 feet long!
Sumerian
The Sumerian culture is said to be the oldest in the world; where civilization was born. The old Sumerians believed that their gods came from the stars and that it was these god that helped them to change their ways of living: The gods taught them everything from farming to fishing, building hoses and writing on clay tablets - even mathematics based on the six digits system. Sumerian pre-historic statues, seals and carvings are often showing their gods and the children they got with the humans - giants with six fingers!


1.20 meter tall monkeys

We have had a brief glance at mythical giants from the Greek titans to the Sumerian gods, but even if they in the ancient scriptures were described as real there is no proof that they actually were living beings. Let us go back to science; what about the ancient humans, the first Homo Sapiens and even earlier? Could some of them have been giants? Well, as we have mentioned: according to the theory of evolution; the human race started out as 1.20 meter tall monkeys that got the ability to stand straight up, about 5 million years ago. 1.5 million years ago we had developed from this "apeman" Ardipithecus Ramidus to Homo Erectus, who was in average 1.79 meter (5 ft 10 in) tall - and then about half a million years ago to Homo Heidelbergensis, who was a centimetre taller or so. The Neanderthal man, Homo Neanderthalensis who lived 600.000 to 20.000 years ago was quite a bit shorter with 1.65 meter in average (but had a larger brain than we have today). The Early or Archaic Homo Sapiens, like Cro-Magnon, lived 35.000-10.000 years ago and were in average 1.70 meters tall (5 ft 6 in) for males. So we find no giants in our earliest history - according to the most accepted theories!
Click on the pictures for articles or info!

A different picture of the human early evolution
Professor Lee Berger of the University of Witwatersrand in
Berger holding bone. Click for article!
Berger holding bone
Meganthropus
Meganthropus
Bigfoot
Bigfoot
 
South Africa is giving us quite a different picture of the early human evolution: He says that numerous fossil bones indicate some populations of Homo Heidelbergensis were "giants", routinely over 2.13 m (7 ft) tall and inhabited South Africa between 0.5 million and 300,000 years ago. Some of them were even much taller! At least one archaeologist refutes Bergers claim but there are pictures of Berger holding a giant bone in front of normal sized bones - and there is no doubt that it is much larger!
   I guess you never have heard about Homo Palaeojavanicus or Meganthropus. It is a name given to several large jaw and skull fragments from Sangiran, Central Java. Most paleoanthropologists considering them related to Homo Erectus in some way, and some of the finds were accompanied by evidence of tool-use similar to that of Homo Erectus. Homo Meganthropus is estimated ta have been 2/3 the size of Gigantopithecus (see next), which was twice as large as a gorilla, which would make it somewhere around 8 feet (2.44 m) tall.
   Gigantopithecus or Gigantopithecus Blacki is said to an extinct species of ape and it is believed that an adult male stood about 3 m (9.8 ft) tall and weighed as much as 540 kilo. Dating methods have shown that Gigantopithecus have been contemporary with Homo Sapiens for tens of thousands of years, and co-existing with Homo Erectus before the appearance of Homo Sapiens. In the past, it had been thought that Gigantopithecus was an ancestor of humans, on the basis of molar evidence - and some researchers still claim that the footprints are simular to that of humans and not apes. Some say that Bigfoot/ Sasquatch/Yeti are forms of Gigantopithecus that live in remote areas today!
New species of human
Denisovan tooth
Resent findings and DNA-testing have given startling results and unexpected conclusions. In March 2010 scientists announced the discovery of a finger-bone fragment and a tooth in the Denisova Cave in Altai Krai, Russia. The bones had belonged to an ancient human species but DNA-analysis showed to their surprise that it was a new species of human and gave this species the name "Denisova hominins".
Further studies determined that this group shares a common origin with Neanderthals and interbred with the ancestors of Melanesians like in Papua New Guinea and Australian aborigines. The tooth was gigantic, much larger than any Homo Sapiens or Neanderthal teeth ever found!
Prof. Vekua with bones - click on the picture for video and article!
Prof. Vekua with bones
Lovelock jaw and normal. Click for article!
Lovelock jaw and normal jaw
Russian major tv-channel
Another startling find has recently been done in the Borjomi Gorge in Georgia, close to the Caucasus Mountains: Bones that belonged to humans that lived 25 thousand years ago, human giants that would have been from 2.5 to 3 meters tall (about 9 to 10 feet)! The expedition was filmed and it was showed as a news item at the Russian major TV-channel Channel One. The well known academic Abesalom Vekua shows the bones on the film and tells that he believes that the find is a sensation, as in the scientific community long has debated if there were giants who inhabited certain areas of Eurasia thousands of years ago. The bones were found in a crypt in a ruined and unknown settlement in an isolated and now uninhabited area.
Very tall people
Humbolt Museum in Winnemucca, USA has confirmed that they have remains after the so called Lovelock-giants there. In 1911 several
Bigfoot
Giant stone tools
The Texas skull. Click for article!
The Texas skull, right
giant
skeletons and ancient artefacts were fund in a cave in
Lovelock in Nevada. Almost everything was later lost in a fire but you can still go to the museum to see the giant Lovelock skull!
   Several giant stone tools have been found in the Kalahari Desert of Africa, and Professor David Thomas of the University of Oxford has confirmed that four of the hand-axes they found were more than 30 centimetres long!
   Many old articles in the respected newspaper
New York Times tells of giant skeletons that were found all around the USA when the settlers worked their newfound land, and the University of Texas has confirmed that a large skull was found in 1939 but that the skull has been missing from their collection for a long time.
   It is also interesting to read how the first explorers came across very tall people at the southern part of South America (Patagonia) and that even Darwin in 1931 wrote: "They are certainly the tallest race which we anywhere saw." Yes, a large skeleton has even been found in resent times!


Modern man and Cro-Magnon
The scientists do not always agree
The archaeologists are doing new discoveries all the time, and as you have read above: Some of them are quite sensational when it comes to the size of the earliest humans. The scientists are of course "a bit" reluctant to use the word "giant" - even when they discover teeth or leg-bones that only could have belonged to a homo of gigantic size! What also is interesting is that we are getting an increasing variety of ancient human species all the time: We already have about 20 different species of homo! For ordinary people this can be hard to understand - and it seems to be quite confusing for the scientists as well: They seem at the least to have as many views on our earliest past as they have species of homo!
Resent analysis indicates that modern humans, Neanderthals, and the Denisovans shared a common ancestor but it still seems to be unclear if any of the homo species were tall enough to be called giants - but it is not impossible! What is sure is that new archaeological findings and DNA-testing are bringing new questions to the accepted theories of early human evolution!
    It is also a bit strange that the term Cro-Magnon has been eradicated from the scientific papers and books and substituted the general term Early or Archaic Homo Sapiens. Cro-Magnon was considered to be the tallest of the homo-species, generally more than 7 feet tall, but today Early or Archaic Homo sapiens is said to only have been as tall as modern people - as you and me. A few illustrations comparing Cro-Magnon with Homo Sapiens can still be found on the internet - and the difference in hight is startling! It is not only Cro-Magnon that seems to suddenly have shrunk, the Neanderthal man, Homo Neanderthalensis, is now said to have been an average of 1.64 meters tall: Earlier he was said to be taller and more muscular than Homo
Homo heidelbergensis — sometimes called Homo rhodesiensis — is an extinct species of the genus Homo which lived in Africa, Europe and western Asia from at least 600,000 years ago, and may date back 1,300,000 years. It survived until about 200,000 to 250,000 years ago. Its brain was nearly as large as that of a modern Homo sapiens. It is very likely the direct ancestor of Homo sapiens (in Africa) and the Neanderthals (in Europe), and perhaps also the Denisovans (in Central Asia). Wikipedia
Sapiens. Of course new and better research can have given other figures than earlier, and that the figures we have today are the correct ones. We must also remember that skeletal remains very often just are small pieces of bone - it is not so that the archaeologists dig up whole skeletons that can be easily measured! But it is still a bit worrying that data for earlier findings have been changed when it comes to hight - especially when it comes to Homo Species that was said to have been very, very tall!

The tall Archaic Homo Sapiens and Denisovans died out when we the modern humans entered the stage about 200.000 years ago. Or is our pre-history wrong? Did they survive for thousands of years, might be even up to historic times in remote parts of Siberia and Caucasus mountains? Did they have their own evolution, did learn how to sail on the rivers and oceans? Were they the giants of the myths and legends all over the world?

We will try to find some answers in the next article!


What do you think?
Do you have any ideas, thoughts or facts - please send them to Terje Dahl: terje@sydhav.no


Here are what our readers have sent in:

It's such a good article. do you guys have any clue how was de appereance of the denisovans? (we known there's no skeeton but based on the proximity of hilderbergensis and in their enviroment in that time, is it possible to know more about them look? what do you think? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZQxtHJer60
Rondon
Let it not be forgotten, that Dr. Vekua is holding a "Femur", of a Cerrano-Homo-Nehidelberghgenesis. So named from Dr.Cerranos 'first' discovery, of a more giant form, that averaged 7ft. S, based on that and that Humans often reach 7',5", for this, I cite Basketballs Yeow Ming and Vladdie Dievots, plus several actors, with YY syndrom, at 7',4". Ok, my point is this, if some 'Proto' Neanderthal, @ 7'achieves YY Syndrome, isn't it possible for one to reach 8'? Ummmmmm, yes it is, and that's being conservative. My only wonder, is if a Giganto could cross, with a Homo-Heidelberg? If so, that would be the answer for all of Sasquatch sighting variations.
John S.

There is nothing in evolutionary theory to say that larger statured peoples could not have evolved through natural selection, as was the case on many occasions of large statured animals. Whether the large people went exinct or still survive is a matter of natural selection. So you should not state that evolution and the mechanisms of it could not produce large statured peoples and Darwin never ever said that - he was a devout Christian after all.
Grant
tallest homo is human being
alexkent

I think after reading some of the comments, people are paranoid and they think way too much. There were Giants, no doubt but I if the Giants didn't survive then they weren't as intellegent. Too bad for the big and stupidest.
Jessica
I think it would rewrite the evolution of upright walking apes like us, for the general scientific community to accept this. That is EXACTLY what they don't want. The existence of large upright walking non humans, I think, will always frighten most people. I think about the case for Sasquatch, Yeti and the various forms of upright 'non humans' out there, the thousand of credible reports from eyewitnesses and the impact that acknowledgement of their existence would have.
Think about it, logging operations would be devastated, especially if habitat had to be set aside. Then imagine the National forests suffering decreased visitation due to a large. (often times not very pleasant natured) bipedal 'ape man' living within their boundaries. Besides, I really think scientists are unwilling to admit their theories of human evolution and bipedalism were wrong. Look how they continually swore that Neanderthals were lumbering idiots who died out and never mated with early (modern) humans. I am a redhead and there is evidence that the MC1R gene responsible for red hair was a Neanderthal mutation. If this is true, then I am living proof of that lineage, as are a huge majority of living humans with 'the ginger gene'. I wish they would finally acknowledge what most of us already know. There are still discoveries to be made public.
June P.
First of all Giganto reached, upwards of (15)ft. tall, not 8. Secondly, (everything) else is 100% true! Their has been a complete cover up about early Giants, in America. Several investigative shows, have gone to Native American burial sites, the last I personally saw on America History Unearthed. In particular, a (8)ft. (6)in. skeleton, was found, with (two) Native Maidens, each-covering their faces, and in fetal position, at (it's) feet, as if they were some kind of offering. I have also researched authentic photos of a (over) 7 ft. tall hairy,almost totally rotted Female corpse, and (7)ft. tall rotted Female corpse, holding her dead baby, once again, both were covered in hair. I suggest that the females are hair covered Serrano-Neiheidelbergs, or early pre- Neanderthal. The other 1/2 foot male, is clearly a Sasquatch, thus the 'fear' based double Female Virgin sacrifice, at its feet.
John S.
Cerano Homo Heidelbergensis, 'averaged' (7) foot tall, that's already a recorded fact, #(1). Cerano Homo Heidelbergensis, could also 'easily' reach heights of (8) foot, for this, I simply cite the 'normal' Human height of around (6)ft, therefore, there are thousands of 'normal' Humans, (at) or in excess of (7) ft., just look at all of the pro basket ball players. Cerano was also covered in body hair, very muscular, barrel chested and thick boned and around as early as (11,000)years ago, not 300,00! I do believe that there are two kinds of Creatures called 'Bigfoot', (a), Cerano, at (7), to (8)ft. and a Gigantipithcus, evolved derivative. Remember, the rare tales of the Chumash and Salish Natives having their women abducted, then usually dieing during birth, only to give birth to a half Cernano looking baby, that massively grows, only to always die of internal problems. The Ceranos, have also been filmed in the Caucasus Mountains, to this very day, secondly, an evolved derivative of Gigantopitchecus, look it up, for your self, then open your eyes!
phx761
Terje - Love this! Think about this: Every region of people passed down history, and it was so unbelieveable we thought it must be a "myth." Giants did not evolve - they were intelligent by their father's superior being DNA - Fallen angels. Evolution was only the Nephilim trying to create a race of peoples by mixing DNA with animals. They almost completely died in the Flood of Noah. Noahs sons wives still had the nephilim gene deep in their DNA, but it was 120 yrs diluted. But think of this Ham and Cush had sons that were Bigggg...ie. Nemrod ... the giants appeared again, just not so big as before the flood. You know Hybrids loose original qualities as they continue to breed.
Soon the Bible will prove itself true, and correct man's theories. It is an exciting time to be alive!
BTW - have you seen the Liger?
Jillianne

Tall = Giant, yet the great apes are heavy, squat, not so tall?
Uncle B

Why nobody never talks something about of russian csaar Peter the first, as alien. He was 2.3 m high. His bodyguards were chosen very carefully. One of the most important parameter was soldier natural hight All his bodyguards were must be at least 2.05 m height. This is really was so.
Rein Visk

Large people have been produced in modern time by population bottlenecks in the same manner that "midget" populations have been produced on islands.
Tim

Interesting how the giant mammalian species of the Pleistocene are no more yet they have smaller representatives alive today. Could the same thing have happened in the genus Homo?
Tim

An anthropological fact usually ignored is that there are notable differences in types of paleolithic man. The terms Cro-Magnon and Modern Man are used as if they were synonymous, whereas strictly speaking they are not. All Cro-Magnons are Modern, but all Moderns are not Cro-Magnon.
Milo
Homo sapiens may not have pushed Neanderthals to extinction, as some scientists have hypothesized; it may have been the weather that did them in. Volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago devastated Neanderthals in Western Asia and in Europe, anthropologists report in Current Anthropology.
Sindya Bhanoo, New York Times

News from the editor:
Between about 20,000 and 5000 years ago, our planet underwent an astonishing climatic transformation. Over the course of this period, it flipped from the frigid wasteland of deepest and darkest ice age to the - broadly speaking - balmy, temperate world upon which our civilisation has developed and thrived. During this extraordinarily dynamic episode, as the immense ice sheets melted and colossal volumes of water were decanted back into the oceans, the pressures acting on the solid earth also underwent massive change. In response, the crust bounced and bent, rocking our planet with a resurgence in volcanic activity, a proliferation of seismic shocks and burgeoning giant landslides.
Read more in Sydney Morning Herald.
Childbirth is complicated in humans relative to other primates. Unlike the situation in great apes, human neonates are about the same size as the birth canal, making passage difficult.
A significant shift in childbirth apparently occurred quite late in human evolution, during the last few hundred thousand years.
Read more
The large body size of some Middle Pleistocene fossil individuals, as well as the Late Pleistocene Neandertals, has led to considerable speculation about their adaptation.
Read more
The average stature of American men today is 176 cm. Holliday [2] showed that early Upper Paleolithic males had an average stature around 170 cm. According to Carretero and colleagues, the average Sima de los Huesos adult male had a stature around 168-170 cm. And as they note, taller individuals with stature estimates of 180 cm or more are present in the Early and Middle Pleistocene sample -- most notably the large Kabwe tibia, but we can also mention KNM-ER 1808 and KNM-ER 736 from the Early Pleistocene of Kenya.
Read more

Many dramatic changes in morphology within the genus Homo have occurred over the past 2 million years or more, including large increases in absolute brain size and decreases in postcanine dental size and skeletal robusticity.
Read more

Ancient Human Fossil Could Be New Primitive Species
During the Pleistocene Epoch, which lasted from about 2.6 million years ago to 11,700 years ago, humans generally evolved smaller jaws and teeth, but the new fossil from Taiwan appears larger and more robust than older Homo erectus fossils from Java and northern China.
Read more
From Wikipedia:
"People have lived in Australia for about 40,000–60,000 years. The first people who arrived in what is now Australia were the Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders.[1] Aborigines came by boat from the islands of what is now Indonesia."

Melanesians Carry DNA Of Unknown Species - Scientists Say
Youtube video
The Out of Europe/Asia & Into Africa Theory of Human Origins
A new paper published by Professor Úlfur Árnason, a neuroscientist at the University of Lund in Sweden, places the last common ancestor of Homo sapiens sapiens and Neanderthals somewhere in Eurasia. Árnason argues that the ancestors of the African KhoeSan and Mbuti populations formed the first exodus of Homo sapiens sapiens into Africa from Asia and Europe.
Read more









 


Do you have other information?
Please send me an e-mail:
terje@sydhav.no