Your Daily Giant 5/22/2013
Today's Daily Giant is from the Bemidji Daily Pioneer, October 3, 1916. A description of an opening of a burial mound in the Rainy Lake territory of Minnesota is given. From the article, "Some large mounds have been found in the this territory. In some places a number of pieces of pottery have been unearthed. It will be remembered that when the dam at International Falls was under construction several hundred pieces of tempered copper were unearthed from a depth of 15 feet. The articles consisted of fish hooks, knives, spears and arrows. The art of tempering copper which was known these early mound builders is now a lost art." An unusually large skeleton was also unearthed thought to have been a woman, "Physicians who have examined the skeleton declare that it represented a type of early prehistoric persons who were seven feet tall or more and who possessed an especially large lower jaw. They drew this conclusion because the skeleton found was that of a person of very large stature. The jaw bone was wide and its construction is said to be a special gift of nature to the early man in order that he could masticate the coarser foods which then made up his subsistence. The skull is very large. The well rounded forehead gives evidence of considerable development of intelligence of the Rainy Lake territory...The skeleton will be sent to the Minnesota Historical Society."
I have contacted the Historical Society to see if they have record of the skeleton and what happened to it. This account is quite similar to several ones describing seven and eight foot skeletons that where on display at the Maryland Academy of sciences with "unusually large skulls" and thighbones "as thick as a horse".
Today's Daily Giant is from the Bemidji Daily Pioneer, October 3, 1916. A description of an opening of a burial mound in the Rainy Lake territory of Minnesota is given. From the article, "Some large mounds have been found in the this territory. In some places a number of pieces of pottery have been unearthed. It will be remembered that when the dam at International Falls was under construction several hundred pieces of tempered copper were unearthed from a depth of 15 feet. The articles consisted of fish hooks, knives, spears and arrows. The art of tempering copper which was known these early mound builders is now a lost art." An unusually large skeleton was also unearthed thought to have been a woman, "Physicians who have examined the skeleton declare that it represented a type of early prehistoric persons who were seven feet tall or more and who possessed an especially large lower jaw. They drew this conclusion because the skeleton found was that of a person of very large stature. The jaw bone was wide and its construction is said to be a special gift of nature to the early man in order that he could masticate the coarser foods which then made up his subsistence. The skull is very large. The well rounded forehead gives evidence of considerable development of intelligence of the Rainy Lake territory...The skeleton will be sent to the Minnesota Historical Society."
I have contacted the Historical Society to see if they have record of the skeleton and what happened to it. This account is quite similar to several ones describing seven and eight foot skeletons that where on display at the Maryland Academy of sciences with "unusually large skulls" and thighbones "as thick as a horse".
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