Your Daily Giant 3/2/2013

 

Today's Daily Giant is from the Branford Oregon Opinion, Jan. 14th 1913. L. L. Sharp, the chief at the local land office considers the finding of a skeleton "at least" 8 feet high to be one of the most interesting Anthropological finds in the Northwest. Mr Sharp also notes, "The head is one of the most remarkable I have ever studied among prehistoric skulls. It is massive with enormous brain space." Then the article goes on to give a more detailed anatomical description. I have also uncovered an account of this find in the Colonist, Volume LIV, Issue 13569, 9 November 1912, Page 3. Another non-sensationalized account, clearly not mastodon bones, clearly not disarticulation- the massiveness of the skull speaks to that, no perceived gain for the finder- another legitimate citizen simply stating what is before his eyes, and once again a description of anatomic anomalies that were widely reported around the country in obscure town histories and buried in newspapers. Ellensburg is also the site of the unearthing of 11 giant skeletons with double rows of teeth a year earlier. In that account the Milwaukee Sentinel June 8th, 1912 article also reports that the " jaw bones are so large that they will go around the face of a man today." Just like hundreds of other accounts that were found such as these- History of the Town of Rockingham, Vermont. 1907, Lyman Simpson Hayes pg. 338: “When the earth was removed from the top of the ledges east of the falls, a remarkable human skeleton, unmistakably that of an Indian, was found. Those who saw it tell the writer the jaw bone was of such size that a large man could easily slip it over his face and the teeth, which were all double, were perfect.” Also, from The New England Magazine, Vol. 16, 1897, pg. 546: “The spot where the village of Edgartown stands today was at that time an ancient Indian burial ground. In one case, a huge jawbone of a man was dug up out from the ground, larger than that of any man at the present time, so large that it could be placed against the face of an ordinary man and entirely surround his jaw.” I would say there is a little more to this story than carnival hoaxes as misidentified Mastodon remains.