Proof of Giants on Earth
Were There Giants on Earth?
Humans have long expressed a mixture of fascination and fear around the question, “Were there giants on Earth?” Whether in legends or life, giants have been worshipped, reviled, ostracized, and celebrated. While the existence of dinosaurs is largely accepted, and millions of people travel across continents to marvel at majestic, larger than life monuments, the facts about human giants, or giant races, are much debated. Regardless of whether they are dismissed as myth or accepted as fact, giants represent important aspects of our individual and collective psyche. They capture our imagination, appear in religious texts, and drive scientific endeavor. But the question still remains — did giants once roam the Earth?
What Are Giants? A Brief Look at Gigantism
Merriam-Webster defines a giant as being a “legendary humanlike being of great stature and strength,” as well as “a living being of great size.” In physical terms, a giant is a person over seven feet tall with a condition known as “gigantism.” The tallest person documented modern history was Robert Wadlow (1918-1940), known as the “Alton Giant,” or the “Giant of Illinois,” who stood 8 feet 11 inches tall.
Robert Wadlow, the Alton Giant
Wadlow intended to study law, but lived as a celebrity after traveling with the Ringling Brothers Circus and as a spokesman for giant-sized shoes. He died at a young age, an all too common end for those with gigantism — their weight and size puts constant strain on the heart and skeletal system.
Today genetic giants are gaining acceptance because overall, humans have evolved into a taller species. According to Max Roser, an economist studying global standards of living conditions, between 1810 and 1980 European male height grew from an average of 160 centimeters to 185 centimeters. But despite this acceptance, giants can still find life in a normal-sized world stressful and lonely, and like Wadlow, are treated as an oddity. This contradiction mirrors the way in which giant races have been regarded throughout history.
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Artificial Intelligence Uncovers More Than 140 New Nazca Lines
Since Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía Xesspe first discovered the Nazca lines in the 1920s, — giant images etched into the earth across Peruvian plateaus — they have been the subject of great speculation, with scientists searching for a logical explanation and others wondering if they are signals and symbols reaching out to alien life forms. The Nazca geoglyphs are so tremendous in their proportions (some of which measure up to 1,200 feet long) and so incomprehensible on the ground that their messages seem aimed at viewers who must have been airborne. And now, even more of these geoglyphs have been discovered in Peru, further baffling the already baffled investigators. While these latest finds are exciting, it seems that scientists are no closer to resolving the mystery of why they were created.
