The oldest human remains found on earth. Where were the oldest human remains found? Latest data on ancient man

In the tales and legends of almost all peoples of the Earth there are references to people of enormous stature - giants. The fact that there used to be people on Earth whose height was much higher than that of modern humans is indicated by many archaeological finds found around the world.

The remains of giant people have been found in almost every part of the world:Mexico, Peru, Tunisia, Pennsylvania, Texas, Philippines, Syria, Morocco, Australia, Spain, Georgia, Southeast Asia, the islands of Oceania.

In 2008, near the city Borjomi, V Kharagauli reserve, Georgian archaeologists found a skeleton three-meter giant. Skull found in 3 times more ordinary human skull.

Remains giant people were found in Australia, where anthropologists found a fossilized indigenous tooth 67 mm high and 42 mm wide. The owner of the tooth must have been about 7.5 meters and weight 370 kilograms. Hydrocarbon analysis determined the age of the find - 9 million years.

IN China fragments of jaws of people whose height ranged from 3 to 3,5 meters, and the weight 300 kilograms.

IN South Africa, at diamond mines, a fragment of a huge skull as tall as 45 centimeters. Anthropologists have determined the age of the skull - about 9 million years.

Many remains of giants were found in the last century on Caucasus. In 2000, archaeologists discovered the skeletons of four-meter giants in a mountain cave in Eastern Georgia.

In 2001, on July 23, Marvin Rainwater, owner of a farm in Iowa (USA), while digging a well, a tomb was discovered with mummified giant people 3 meters tall.

IN Sahara in the area Gobero Stone Age burials have been discovered. The age of the remains is approximately 5000 years. In 2005 - 2006, about 200 burials of two cultures were found in the region - Kifian And Tenerian. The Kifians lived in this territory 8 - 10 thousand years back. They were tall, exceeding 2 meters.

Many giant fossilized bones were discovered in one of the mountain valleys Turkey. Fossilized human leg bone is long 120 centimeters, judging by this size, the person's height was about 5 meters. The Giant Race existed!

The end of the twentieth century was marked by a sensational discovery by an Anglo-French paleontological expedition that conducted research in remote parts of Southern Mongolia, in the Gobi Desert, which has long been considered a hive of secrets. There is a place there called Uulakh, about which a legend about a giant devil who lived in a stone gorge has been passed down from generation to generation. He was so huge that the earth could hardly bear him.

A group of paleontologists, led by Professor Higley, decided to check the authenticity of this legend. Persistent excavations in strata rock, which is about 45 million years old, were crowned with success: a well-preserved skeleton of a humanoid creature was discovered. Moreover, scientists were amazed by its growth - about 15-17 meters. It turns out that the legend was true? But how did local residents know about the “gigantic shaitan” if he lived millions of years ago? There is only one plausible explanation: they have already seen his bones. The rock could have been washed away by water, which allowed the Mongols to see the remains, the legend of which has been passed down from generation to generation for hundreds of years.

So it’s already been 45 million years human civilization- Race of Giants!?

Independent experts pointed to another important factor: A fake of this scale cannot be manufactured and delivered to the required location in secret.

Noteworthy is the version put forward by Canadian scientist Roger Wingley, who noted that it is necessary to take into account the data of recent studies. It follows from them that for billions of years the Earth rotated around the Sun and around its axis much faster than at present. Calculations show that at that time a day lasted about 10 hours, and in one year there were almost 400 days. According to Wingley, such conditions made it possible for the existence of giants - dinosaurs, lizards and even humanoids. It is likely that this is the answer to the mysterious gorge.

Articles appeared in a number of British newspapers that called for a new look at the history of human development. The famous British scientist doctor Tones.

He believes that his colleagues made a unique find that does not belong to earthly civilization. The professor hypothesized that the creature discovered in the Gobi Desert developed and lived according to laws that are very far from earthly evolution. Therefore, this is not a representative of an extinct race from our planet, not a hoax, but a creature from outer space.

Historical chronicles 19th century finds are often reported in different corners globe skeletons of abnormally tall people.

In 1821 in USA in Tennessee found the ruins of an ancient stone wall, and under it two human skeletons 215 centimeters tall. In Wisconsin, during the construction of a granary in 1879, huge vertebrae and skull bones were found “of incredible thickness and size,” according to a newspaper article.

In 1883 in Utah Several burial mounds were discovered containing the burials of very tall people - 195 centimeters, which is at least 30 centimeters higher than the average height of the Aboriginal Indians. The latter did not make these burials and could not provide any information about them. In 1885, in Gasterville (Pennsylvania), a stone crypt was discovered in a large burial mound, in which there was a skeleton 215 centimeters high. Primitive images of people, birds and animals were carved on the walls of the crypt.

In 1890 Egypt archaeologists found a stone sarcophagus with a clay coffin inside, which contained the mummies of a two-meter red-haired woman and a baby. The facial features and build of the mummies were sharply different from the ancient Egyptians. Similar mummies of a man and a woman with red hair were discovered in 1912 in Lovelock (Nevada) in a cave carved into the rock. The height of the mummified woman during life was two meters, and the man - about three meters.

In 1930 near Basarsta in Australia prospectors mining jasper often found fossilized imprints of huge human feet. Anthropologists called the race of giant people, whose remains were found in Australia, Meganthropus. The height of these people ranged from 210 to 365 centimeters. Megantropus are similar to Gigantopithecus, the remains of which were discovered in China. Judging by the found fragments of jaws and many teeth, the height of the Chinese giants was 3 to 3.5 meters, and their weight was 400 kilograms. Near Basarst, in the river sediments, there were stone artifacts of enormous weight and size - clubs, plows, chisels, knives and axes. Modern Homo sapiens I would hardly be able to work with tools weighing from 4 to 9 kilograms.

An anthropological expedition that specifically explored this area in 1985 for the presence of remains of Meganthropus, carried out excavations at a depth of up to three meters from the surface of the earth. Australian researchers found, among other things, a fossilized molar tooth 67 millimeters high and 42 millimeters wide. The owner of the tooth had to be at least 7.5 meters tall and weigh 370 kilograms! Hydrocarbon analysis determined the age of the finds to be nine million years.

In 1971 in Queensland farmer Stephen Walker, plowing his field, came across a large fragment of a jaw with teeth five centimeters high. In 1979 in Megalong Valley V Blue Mountains local residents found a huge stone sticking out above the surface of the stream, on which could be seen the imprint of part of a huge foot with five toes. The transverse size of the fingers was 17 centimeters. If the print had been preserved in its entirety, it would have been 60 centimeters long. It follows that the imprint was left by a man six meters tall

Up close Malgoa Three huge footprints were found, 60 centimeters long and 17 centimeters wide. The giant's stride length was measured at 130 centimeters. The footprints were preserved in fossilized lava for millions of years, even before Homo sapiens appeared on the Australian continent (if the theory of evolution is correct). Huge footprints are also found in the limestone bed of the Upper Macleay River. The fingerprints of these footprints are 10 centimeters long and the width of the foot is 25 centimeters. Obviously, the Aborigines of Australia were not the first inhabitants of the continent. It is interesting that in their folklore there are legends about giant people who once lived in these territories .

In one of the old books entitled History and Antiquity, now kept in the library of Oxford University, there is an account of the discovery of a gigantic skeleton made in the Middle Ages in Cumberland. “The giant is buried four yards deep in the ground and is in full military garb. His sword and battle ax rest next to him. The skeleton is 4.5 yards (4 meters) long and the teeth " big man"measures 6.5 inches (17 centimeters)"

In 1877, near Jews in Nevada prospectors were panning for gold in a deserted hilly area. One of the workers accidentally noticed something sticking out over the cliff ledge. People climbed the rock and were surprised to find human bones of the foot and lower leg along with the kneecap. The bone was immured in the rock, and the miners used picks to free it from the rock. Assessing the unusualness of the find, the workers brought it to Evreka. The stone in which the rest of the leg was embedded was quartzite, and the bones themselves turned black, which indicated their considerable age. The leg was broken above the knee and consisted of the knee joint and completely preserved bones of the lower leg and foot. Several doctors examined the bones and concluded that the leg undoubtedly belonged to a person. But the most intriguing aspect of the find was the size of the foot - 97 centimeters from knee to foot. During life, the owner of this limb had a height of 3 meters 60 centimeters.

Even more mysterious was the age of the quartzite in which the fossil was found - 185 million years, the era of dinosaurs. Local newspapers vied with each other to report the sensation. One of the museums sent researchers to the site in hopes of finding the remaining parts of the skeleton. But, unfortunately, nothing more was found

In 1936, German paleontologist and anthropologist Larson Kohl found the skeletons of giant people on the shore Lake Elizi in Central Africa . The 12 men buried in the mass grave had heights from 350 to 375 centimeters during their lifetime. It is curious that their skulls had sloping chins and two rows of upper and lower teeth.

There is evidence that during the Second World War in the territory Poland During the burial of those executed, a fossilized skull 55 centimeters high was found, that is, almost three times larger than that of a modern adult. The giant to whom the skull belonged had very proportional features and a height of at least 3.5 meters.

One of the most unique specimens in Klaus Don's collection is the bones of a giant. This is a genuine artifact. IN Ecuador in 1964 he found part of the calcaneus and occipital bone of a human skeleton. Based on calculations, he found out that this bone belonged to a man 7 meters 60 centimeters tall. The age of these remains is more than 10 thousand years. But that's not all. IN Bolivia he was also able to make a discovery. Klaus discovered the burial of people 260-280 centimeters tall. But the strangest thing is that they have unusually elongated skulls.

About giant people from other sources:

Helena Blavatsky

Theosophist, writer and traveler Helena Blavatsky formed a classification of existing earthly civilizations - Indigenous Human Races:

I race - angelic people,

Race II - ghost-like people,

III race - Lemurians,

IV race - Atlanteans,

V race - Aryans (WE).

In her book The Secret Doctrine, Helena Blavatsky writes that the inhabitants of Lemuria were the “root race” of humanity.

As Blavatsky writes, “the late Lemurians had a height of 10 - 20 meters. All major achievements of earthly technology come from them. They left their knowledge on “golden plates”, hidden to this day in secret places. The Lemurian civilization existed for many millions of years and disappeared 2 - 3 million years ago.

The Atlantean race was also a highly developed race, but to a lesser extent than the Lemurians. Atlanteans were 5-6 meters tall and were similar in appearance to modern people. The bulk of the Atlanteans died during Flood 850 thousand years ago, but some groups of Atlanteans survived until a period of 12 thousand years ago.

The Aryan race appeared in the depths of the Atlantic civilization about a million years ago. All modern earthlings are called Aryans. The early Aryans were 3-4 meters tall, then their height decreased.”

Nicholas Roerich

The scientist, artist, and mystic philosopher Nicholas Roerich wrote about the Bamiyan statues: “These five figures belong to the creation of the hands of the Initiates of the Fourth Race, who, after the sinking of their continent, found refuge in the strongholds and on the peaks of the Central Asian mountain range. These figures illustrate the Doctrine of the gradual evolution of Races. The largest depicts the First Race, its etheric body was imprinted in solid, indestructible stone. The second - 36 meters high - depicts the “Later-Born”. The third - at 18 meters - perpetuates the Race that fell and conceived the first physical Race, born of a father and mother, the last offspring of which are depicted in statues on Easter Island. These were only 6 and 7.5 meters tall in the era when Lemuria was flooded. The Fourth Race was even smaller in size, although gigantic in comparison with our Fifth Race, and the series ends with the last.”

Drunvalo Melchizedek

Scientist and esotericist, Drunvalo Melchizedek in the book "The Ancient Secret of the Flower of Life" writes about aliens from parallel worlds on the land of Ancient Egypt.

He describes the growth of people of different spatial dimensions:

1.5 - 2 meters - the height of people of the third (our) dimension,

3.6 - 4.5 meters - fourth dimension,

10.6 meters - fifth dimension,

18 meters - sixth dimension,

26 - 28 meters - the seventh dimension.

Drunvalo Melchizedek writes that egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten was not an earthling, he came from the Sirius star system, his height was 4.5 meters. Akhenaten's wife, Nefertiti, was about 3.5 meters tall. They were people of the fourth dimension.

Ernst Muldashev

Professor Ernst Muldashev, during an expedition to Syria, in the town of Ain-Dara, in an ancient destroyed temple, discovered traces of a giant man. The length of the giant's footprint was 90 cm, the width at the base of the fingers was 45 cm, the length of the thumb was 20 cm, and the length of the little finger was 15 cm. According to calculations, a person with such feet should have been 6.5-10 meters tall.

In the East there is very detailed description Buddha. From this description, called “60 features and 32 characteristics of the Buddha,” it is known that the Buddha had enormous height, webbing between his fingers and toes, and 40 teeth, which corresponds to the description of the people of the Atlantean civilization.

GIANTS TODAY

Nowadays, there are also giants, but, unfortunately, there is little fabulous in them. These are sick people suffering from increased function of the anterior pituitary gland, which produces growth hormone. Giants grow over 2 meters (the tallest man described in literature was 320 centimeters tall). In childhood, they look like ordinary people, but by the beginning of puberty (9-10 years), their growth accelerates sharply and lasts longer than that of ordinary people.

Matrine Van Buren Bates(1837-1919) - “giant from Kentucky”, hero of the American civil war, who fought on the side of the Confederacy (slave-owning south of the country). His height reached 243 centimeters and weight - 234 kilograms. In his youth Martin worked school teacher, but after the start of the civil war he joined the army, rose to the rank of captain, became a legend among the northerners, was captured, was exchanged (according to another version, he escaped), and in the end decided to leave the service, hiring himself to work in a circus. Despite the giant growth, such people are characterized by poor health. They rarely live to old age, sometimes have mental problems, are not sexually active, and suffer from visual impairment. Their gigantism is disproportionate - people often become freaks with excessively small heads and long limbs. However, despite this, many giants find the strength to live normal life. They even manage to become famous.

Human brains predate humans
Hominid brains reorganized before the expansion in size that was thought to differentiate human and primate abilities began. The discovery was made based on the analysis of the remains of a small-brained hominid from South Africa. Researchers examined the inside of the skull of Stw 505, a member of the Australopithecus species. africanus, found in the Sterkfontein cave in the 80s. It is 2-3 million years old. Making allowances for changes in brain size, researchers from Columbia University showed that the brain of this primate and the brain of modern humans show remarkable similarities.

The most ancient hominid
(an erect primate) lived in northern Chad (Africa), and he lived 7 million years ago. Maybe, Sahelanthropus tchadensis was the most early ancestor person. His discovery made it possible to consider Africa the cradle of humanity. The successor of this hominid was Australopithecus anamensis, who lived 4.2 million years ago. It is very similar to A. afarensis, who lived 3.5 million - the owner of a big face and small brains. The discovery of a female skull, which was dubbed Lucy, also belongs to this species. These hominids lived on the savannas of East Africa and walked upright, but they still had many similarities with apes.

Hominid without tools
southern ape, or Australopithecus was an upright, bipedal hominid, lacking the ability to make tools from stone. They used stones and bones as primitive tools, primarily as weapons. It was the making of tools and life in communities that helped hominids leave shelters in trees and survive in open space.

Black skull of Australopithecus aethiopicus Australopithecus aethiopicus
Black Australopithecus ethiopicus skull Australopithecus aethiopicus– a crude skull discovered in Lomekwi (West Turkana, Kenya). It dates back 2.5 million years. Its owner had a big face and a small brain. It is believed to be a primitive form of A. robustus.

Human ancestors no longer choose partners based on smell
Development color vision led to the fact that primates living in eastern hemisphere, and the people who then appeared as a result of their development lost the ability to recognize pheromones. This happened about 23 million years ago, shortly before the superfamily of apes, from which humans eventually descended, split into several isolated groups. This period roughly coincides with the time when primates in the eastern hemisphere developed full-color vision.

Faces rough and graceful
U Australopithecus And robustus had broad, flat faces, whereas species afarensis and africanus had finer facial features. A. aethiopicus had a massive jaw, which this vegetarian used to grind hard plant foods.

The brain is similar, but the behavior is more complex
One of the few differences between humans and Australopithecus is the position of the primary visual cortex. Its border is marked by a depression in the surface of the brain. In an ancient hominid, this area is located closer to the front, and therefore larger. But in Australopithecus Stw 505 this area is located slightly behind - just like in humans. This means that the Australopithecus brain was already changing, turning into the brain of modern humans. In front is an area associated with various forms of complex behavior, such as the evaluation of objects and their qualities, facial recognition and social communication.

The last species of ape from which the great apes and modern humans evolved
The age of the skeleton found in the Spanish city of Barcelona is 13 million years. The new species is named in Latin Pierolapitecus catalaunicus. The height of the found specimen, a male, reached 120 centimeters. He weighed about 35 kilograms. Having studied the jaw and teeth, experts came to the conclusion that this creature ate mainly fruits, but on occasion it could easily eat insects or the meat of small animals. This monkey was well adapted to climbing trees. It required all four limbs to move, but some changes are visible in the skeletal structure that allowed later species of human ancestors to begin walking on two legs.

The one who began to use fire
Two million years ago a species appeared Homo lineage, who invented tools and fire. At the same time, migration from Africa began, which took place in four stages. In the process they became isolated australopithecus africanus, homo erectusHomo erectus And .

Homo erectus was the first to hunt
Homo erectus Homo erectus lived 1.7 million - 300,000 years ago and is considered the first of people to hunt large animals. The number of people has increased. And they began to spread over a wide range, left Africa a million years ago and began to colonize areas of the old world with a warm climate. His face was rugged with a massive lower jaw, massive brow ridges, and a long, low skull. The brain volume was 750 - 1225 cubic meters. see c (average 900). The discovery of a complete skeleton of Homo erectus under the name “Turkana boy” from Western Turkana (Kenya, 1984) is known.

A skilled man began to make tools
Brain of a Habilitated Man Homo habilis, who lived 2.2 - 1.6 million years ago in East Africa, had a volume of 500-800 cubic meters. cm, more than that of Australopithecus and approximately half the volume of the modern human brain. He was the first of the people who made tools by breaking long bones into long fragments that served him as knives.

Human mental abilities have increased
Over the past 2.5 million years, human mental abilities have increased many times over those of other primates. Human brain is now approximately three times the size of the brains of its “closest relatives,” chimpanzees and gorillas.

An ancient man became wiser due to a mutation
The human brain has evolved to a large size as a result of a mutation that occurred 2.4 million years ago. Our ancestors' bodies lost the ability to produce one of the main proteins that stimulate the growth of massive jaw muscles in primates. Unconstrained by the bulky chewing apparatus, the human skull was given the opportunity to grow freely: weak muscles put much less pressure on the skull, allowing the brain matter to grow and expand. A period around 2 million years ago, according to fossil evidence, shows rapid growth of the brain. By that time, our ancestors had begun to switch from chewing tough leaves all day long to eating meat, and they did not need very powerful jaws.

Goodbye Autralopithecus
Approximately two million years ago Homo habilis and developed a brain with a volume of over 500 cubic centimeters. Both of these species had significantly smaller jaw muscles compared to their ancestors, representatives of the genus Australopithecus.

Homo erectus got by without a brain
Early Homo erectus lived 1.8 million years ago and had a small brain. For several hundred thousand years, humanity lived without powerful jaws and without developed brain. Homo erectus (upright people) lived from 2 million to 400 thousand years ago. According to one version, they appeared in Africa, but gradually settled throughout the Old World. The first fossil remains of Homo erectus were found by Eugene Dubois at the end of the 19th century in Java. Since then, many other remains have been found, but they nevertheless remain fragmentary.

There were ancient hobbits in Indonesia who built boats.
The remains of a new species of human, conventionally designated as “hobbits,” were unearthed on the Indonesian island of Flores. At first it was believed that these were the remains of a child, but analysis showed that these were the bones of an adult, one meter tall and with a skull the size of a grapefruit. These remains are 18 thousand years old. The scientific name of the new species of people is These Homo people floresiensis are relatives of Homo erectus. They arrived on Flores one million years ago and, in isolation, developed their unusual appearance. Interestingly, there was no previous evidence of the ability of Homo erectus to build boats, but this is how the ancestors of floresiensis could get to the island. These people are not only interesting because of their short stature, but also because of their relatively long arms. Perhaps they were fleeing in the trees from Komodo dragons - giant lizards, the remains of which (of the same age) were discovered not far from the remains of Homo floresiensis. In addition to these bones, archaeologists unearthed on Flores the remains of an ancient dwarf elephant (Stegodon), which the “hobbits” probably hunted. Now we need to pay more attention to the legends about hobbits and dwarves.

160 thousand year old man
In June 2003, the oldest human remains in the world were found in Ethiopia - they are about 160 thousand years old. The largest number of remains of primitive people have been discovered in Africa, in particular in Tanzania and Kenya. But they are all scattered over a large area, so it is difficult for scientists to restore the primitive way of life of hominids.

Homo neanderthalensis– people from the Neander Valley
Neanderthals lived 230,000 - 28,000 years ago in Europe, central Asia and in the Middle East. These people ate mainly meat. Men reached 166 cm and weighed 77 kg, women – 154 cm and 66 kg. Their brains were 12% larger than those of humans. As a species, Neanderthals formed during the Ice Age. The short, densely built body was adapted to conserve heat. Despite their small stature, they had strong, well-developed muscles. Brow ridge was wide and low, running down the middle of the face and hanging over the nose, which was vulnerable during snow storms and prolonged frosts

Neanderthals were skilled hunters and hunted together, breaking up into separate groups, which interacted during the hunt. They surrounded the prey and killed it at close range. Many remains of Neanderthals have been found with traces of severe injuries.

Neanderthals could speak, but their speech was not complex. They didn't understand abstract concepts. Art was alien to them.

Rivals of the Neanderthals
Modern humans, who appeared in Europe 40,000 years ago, became rivals of Neanderthals. The researchers' data showed that by the time modern humans and Neanderthals interacted, mortality among the latter was 2% higher. In this competition for survival, the latter lost. Within 1,000 years, Neanderthals became extinct. 28,000 years ago the last Neanderthals disappeared. A number of scientists optimistically believe that they did not disappear, but assimilated, giving their genes to modern man. The data does not support this.

Sapiens supplanted Neanderthals
Currently, the most common theory of appearance in Europe states that Homo sapiens came to the continent from Africa about 200 thousand years ago and gradually replaced other species of anthropoids inhabiting it, including Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis). Scientists compared the preserved remains of four Neanderthals and five early modern humans from Western Europe. The DNA of these samples was so different that the hypothesis of widespread interbreeding between the two species could be clearly rejected.

Didn't mix with Neanderthals
Comparison of genomes and Neanderthals show that modern humans have virtually no genes characteristic of Neanderthals. In addition, the results of some molecular studies prove that Homo sapiens was fully formed in modern form before the Neanderthals appeared.

Climate killed the Neanderthals
Neanderthals and the first humans to arrive in Europe struggled with falling temperatures, a new study involving more than 30 scientists has found. These two species of hominids coexisted in Europe approximately 45-28 thousand years ago, before the extinction of the Neanderthals. The cause of the death of Neanderthals was their inability to adapt to climate change. The problem was not only the cold snap itself - both species had fur clothing like robes. Rather, the researchers believe, Neanderthals were unable to change their hunting methods. Neanderthals, who once used forest cover to sneak up on herds of animals, turned out to be less effective hunters in conditions where they had to approach animals scattered across the steppe without any camouflage. Eating less well made Neanderthals weaker and more susceptible to disease and other threats. Although early humans also experienced similar problems, they eventually adapted to changing conditions.

Neanderthals led turbulent lives
Skeletons of Neanderthals show that they led turbulent lives - often breaking bones and being hit hard. They rarely lived past 40. Hunting in new environment turned out to be even more dangerous and much less successful. This is what made it impossible for the Neanderthals to survive. With food scarce, they became more susceptible to disease, reproduction slowed, starvation became common, and the population slowly but surely declined.

Europeans have Neanderthal teeth
The oldest remains of Homo sapiens have been found in Europe, the BBC reports. Analysis of the remains found in Romanian Carpathians in the cave, showed that they are from 34 to 36 thousand years old. This is the age of the male jaw found in the cave. These bones, without a doubt, belong to Homo sapiens, but they have features characteristic of more primitive species of anthropoids. In particular, the wisdom teeth on the found jaw are of such a huge size that have not been noted in any remains of Homo Sapiens, since those whose age is 200 thousand years.

Invention of the spear
The invention of such a useful tool for hunters and fishermen as a spear, which is now believed to have happened over a million years ago, served as a prologue to the great peace concluded between the tribes of the ancestors of people 985 thousand years ago. In addition, the emergence of such weapons also led to a decisive split in the behavioral patterns of chimpanzees and humans, which allowed us to stand out from the animal world.

Range expansion
People invented weapons that could be thrown from afar and thereby successfully hunt large mammals. The ability to kill at a distance also led to the spread of new tactics for conducting border battles between people - it was possible to set up ambushes. Circumstances forced the ancient people to come up with new ways to resolve their long-standing conflicts: in particular, to maintain friendly relations with their neighbors whenever possible.

Cooperation between tribes allowed a significant expansion of the area of ​​early human settlements and even provoked their migration from Africa. All this also served as an impetus for the emergence of new types of social organization, which ultimately led to the organization of planned military actions and attacks on the first human settlements. The earliest archaeological evidence of the presence of such organized wars dates back to the 10th-12th millennia BC, they were found in Africa, in the territory of what is now Sudan.

Migration
The biological species that we call originated in eastern or southern Africa and from there gradually spread throughout the planet. However, experts do not yet have a consensus on how exactly this migration took place. Scientists from several countries have put forward a hypothesis according to which humans modern type began migration from its African ancestral home to other continents by crossing the Red Sea and then moving east along the coast Indian Ocean. Conclusions are based on the results of the analysis genetic information the aborigines of Malaysia, whose ancestors once first inhabited this part of the land.

Eurocentric theory
In the 1980s, the Eurocentric hypothesis of this process dominated. At that time, most anthropologists believed that man appeared quite late, about 50 thousand years before our time. According to this model, 45 thousand years ago our ancestors entered the Levant and Asia Minor through the Isthmus of Suez and the Sinai Peninsula. Over the next ten millennia, they colonized Europe, displacing the Neanderthals, and reached Australia around the same time.

African-centric theory
The results of excavations at African continent definitely showed that the age of Homo sapiens significantly exceeds 100 thousand years. It was then proven that Southeast Asia humans have been around for at least 45 thousand years, and in Australia for 50 to 60 thousand years. Gradually, among experts, the belief formed that Homo sapiens appeared in Africa somewhere around 200 thousand years ago, 100 thousand years later crossed the Sinai and entered the Asian expanses. Thus, the chronology of the emergence of man has undergone major adjustments, but the expected route of his exit from Africa has remained unchanged.

Sea route theory
In the mid-90s, that is, a decade ago, Italian and English anthropologists put forward another hypothesis. They came to the conclusion that some of the first settlers from Africa to Asia moved not by land, but by sea. First, these people penetrated the coast of the Horn of Africa, and then crossed the Red Sea in the area of ​​​​the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and entered the Arabian Peninsula. From there they moved east along the Indian Ocean and this way reached India, and then Australia. The authors of this theory estimate that this migration began at least 60 thousand years ago, but it is possible that as many as 75 thousand.

The oldest man in Europe was a Georgian
Georgian scientists discovered in Eastern Georgia the skull of the oldest European continent person. According to preliminary estimates by scientists, the find in Dmanisi is 1 million 800 years old. The discovery in Dmanisi allows us to conduct research not only on individual individuals, but on an entire settlement. Along with the remains of the hominid discovered in Dmanisi, animal bones and stone tools were found. For example, the so-called “choping”, as well as hewn stone, which primitive man could use instead of a knife. "These earliest primitive stone tools are very similar to what was discovered in Africa."

Wars arose when the land began to be cultivated
Scientist Kelly connects the emergence of the first wars with the development agriculture, which exponentially increased the value of cultivated areas. Until this happened, the largest human conflicts resembled sporadic attacks by the same chimpanzees, because no one seriously planned such fights.

Farmers spoiled the prehistoric climate
Analysis of ancient air bubbles stored in Antarctic ice, gave evidence that people began to change global climate thousands of years before the industrial revolution. About eight thousand years ago, the content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere began to rise - at the same time, people began to cut down forests, engage in agriculture and raise livestock. Forests in Europe and Asia began to replace cultivated fields. About five thousand years ago, as evidenced by ice samples, the methane content in the air began to increase.

Cattle have turned this world into a man's world
The earliest human societies, which were initially dominated by women (the times of matriarchy), were replaced by a patriarchal structure after the practice of acquiring cattle spread among tribes. The idea that early communities turned from matriarchal to patriarchal (when the status of men began to be considered higher than that of women and inheritance was already carried on in the male line) precisely when people got cattle, appeared from the very beginning of modern anthropological research in the nineteenth century. However, at that time no one was able to convincingly demonstrate this cause-and-effect relationship.

The most ancient writings
Signs carved into turtle shells over 8,000 years ago may be the world's oldest words found to date. The results of their deciphering may also help us learn something about the rituals of Neolithic China. One of the graves contains a headless skeleton with 8 tortoiseshells placed where a skull would be.

All people were once cannibals
Cannibalism was probably much more widespread among our prehistoric ancestors than previously thought. A certain gene variation protects some Guinea Fore from prion disease caused by their former cannibalistic habits. Scientists have shown, after analyzing multiple DNA samples, that the same protective gene variant is found in people all over the world. Taking all their findings together, they concluded that such a feature could only have appeared if cannibalism had once been very widespread, and a protective form of the MV “prion” gene was required to protect the cannibals from the prion diseases lurking in the flesh of the victims.

The first wine was made in the Stone Age
It is possible that people of the Paleolithic era obtained a wine drink from naturally fermented juice of wild grapes. The idea of ​​winemaking may have come to our smart and observant ancestors as a result of observations of birds fooling around after eating fermented fruits. During the Neolithic era, the eastern and southeastern part of Turkey was a good place for the emergence of agriculture. Among others, wheat was domesticated here - this event paved the way for the transition to a sedentary lifestyle. So, by all indications, the place is quite suitable for the initial domestication of grapes.

Humanity was created by old people
Researchers from the universities of Michigan and California found that a significant increase in human lifespan occurred at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, about 32 thousand years ago. A study of more than 750 remains showed that during this period the number of people reaching old age almost quadrupled. This, they say, is what gave humans an evolutionary advantage, determining the evolutionary success of the species. Representatives of the culture of late Australopithecines, people of the early and middle Pleistocene, Neanderthals from Europe and Western Asia and people of the early Upper Paleolithic were studied. By calculating the ratio of old to young adults for each period of human evolution, the researchers found a trend in the survival of older people over the course of human evolution.

The increase in the number of elderly allowed the early modern people accumulate more information and transfer specialized knowledge from one generation to the next. It could also strengthen social and kinship ties as grandparents could raise growing grandchildren and others outside the family. In addition, increasing life expectancy should have increased the number of offspring produced.

Ancient jewelry found in African cave
In the Stone Age, shells were in vogue. So say the archaeologists who dug up the oldest known pieces of costume jewelry. The beads from Blombos Cave in southern South Africa are possibly 75,000 years old. A team of researchers from the University of Bergen, Norway, discovered over 40 pearl-sized shells with drilled holes and signs of wear indicating that they had been collected into necklaces, bracelets or clothing patches. Such beads, sewn onto clothing or worn on the body, indicated high social status; and therefore they believe that representatives of a fairly modern culture lived in the cave.

Human ancestors created symbols
Series parallel lines, carved on animal bones 1.2-1.4 million years ago, may serve the oldest example human symbolic behavior. Many other scientists believe that the ability for true symbolic thought appeared only in Homo sapiens. The 8cm bone that sparked the controversy was excavated from the Kozarnik cave in northwestern Bulgaria. Another bone found in the same place has 27 notches along its edge. The scientists who examined them claim that these cannot be cutting marks. A baby tooth of a similar age, belonging to some early Homo, was found next to the bones, but researchers find it difficult to name specific type. Most likely this is Homo erectus. The carved bone belonged to an unknown ruminant.

People's ability to believe in miracles has long been a reliable source of income for various types of scammers. This time the forger was not chasing a long dollar - he worked for the love of art...

In this article I would like to analyze in detail the fairly large-scale falsification of the last decade. Its essence is that archaeologists allegedly find the remains of giant people all over the Earth, up to 2, 3, 4 and even 10 meters tall. This has become a tasty morsel for lovers of various kinds of sensations and conspiracy theories. Many sites, starting with those who simply love sensations of any kind (very “yellow” sites), and ending with creationist sites, are actively publishing more and more new photographs of the found “remains” that “expose the theory of evolution official science“showing these very “photos” of giants. Immediately, lovers of everything mystical and mysterious began to put forward versions that it was he who built the pyramids, placed the stones of Stonehenge - in a word, created all the ancient Wonders of the World, which were supposedly beyond the power of an ordinary person.

It is not surprising that in our time people believe, to put it mildly, unreliable rumors. I want secrets, I want riddles, even where there are none. What is surprising is not that there are lovers of sensations, but how many of them there are. By typing the query “giant skeleton” into Google, we will see a sea of ​​sites where photographs of “remains” are posted; hundreds of people enthusiastically write in the comments: “now I believe!” and curse modern science for hiding the truth.

Adding powder to the fire is the fact that in some religions and myths of antiquity giants and giants are mentioned. “So here it is, the lost link!” - they exclaim gullible people. Meanwhile, using anyone for proof, even the most correct hypothesis false facts, you can only ruin both your reputation and the credibility of the hypothesis.

Let's look at what these amazing “photos” are and where they came from. Let's start with the very first and most famous of them.

Return to the valley of the giants - photo montage with the image archaeological excavations giant humanoid skeleton, which took third place in the 2002 Archaeological Anomalies 2 graphic design competition, which was held on the website www.worth1000.com. . Shortly after publication, the photo was widely circulated on the Internet and, with accompanying articles, was published by some media mass media as proof of the existence of an ancient race of giants, references to which are contained in the Bible and the myths of many peoples. After the misunderstanding was discovered, the author of the photomontage, known under the pseudonym IronKite, gained some fame in the communities of graphic designers and researchers of anomalous phenomena.

Story

In 2004, the Internet and some printed publications A photograph has circulated from an archaeological excavation of a giant humanoid skeleton. Based on the size of the archaeologists’ figures in the same photograph, the length of the skeleton was estimated at 18-24 meters. Early online reports claimed that the discovery was made in the desert in western India by a National Geographic expedition. According to the source, the excavation area has been cordoned off. Indian army, and all the details are classified. The report also spoke of the discovery of stone tablets with ancient inscriptions in Sanskrit, according to which the skeletons belonged to the mythical giants Rakshasas, who challenged the gods and were destroyed by them.

Another version of this story was published on April 24, 2004 in the Bangladeshi newspaper The New Nation. According to this newspaper, the discovery was made in the desert in southeastern Saudi Arabia by a Saudi Aramco search team searching for natural gas deposits. It was also claimed that tablets with inscriptions on Arabic, according to which the remains belonged to representatives of the ancient tribe of Aad, descendants of the Old Testament prophet Noah mentioned in the Bible and Koran. The tribe defied the plans of Allah and was destroyed by him. The location of the discovery was cordoned off by Saudi troops; the photo was taken from a military helicopter.

Similar articles were published in the March 2007 issue of Hindu Voice, an Indian magazine published in Mumbai, and subsequently in several other print media.

An elementary examination of the photograph made by the center for the study of paranormal phenomena Rationalist International discovered that there are no independent sources of information about the find, and the photograph itself bears traces of software processing using a graphics editor. Most obvious sign The fakes had different directions and intensity of shadows cast by the giant skeleton and the objects surrounding it. A more detailed study showed that the photo is a montage of fragments of several images. Apparently, it was a photograph of a real archaeological excavation, with an enlarged image of a human skeleton embedded in the central part.

Subsequently, the source of the photomontage was identified.

Society spokesman James Owen conducted the investigation. And I found, forgive the pun, “where the legs grow from” this skeleton.
As the investigation showed, the photograph of the giant came from the famous website worth1000.com, where a graphic design competition called “Archaeological Anomalies” was held. The goal of the competition participants was to create images illustrating fictional archaeological finds. The site publishes works of various types, ranging from frankly humorous to high-quality imitations of photos of archaeological excavations. The author of the work is a Canadian illustrator known under the pseudonym IronKite (Russian iron kite), in email told the editors of National Geographic magazine that he did not intend to mislead anyone. However, the image fell on fertile ground - many have no doubt that giants once lived on Earth.

Here is a direct link to the work itself with Giants by IronKite on the website worth1000.com

Soon one of the original photographs was discovered, which served as material for editing. It was taken on September 16, 2000 in the town of Hyde Park, New York, where a paleontological group at Cornell University led by Professor John Chiment was excavating the remains of a mastodon aged 14 to 11 thousand years

The National Geographic Society, created back in 1888 in the USA, is one of the oldest in the world. Since that time, it has been publishing the famous National Geographic magazine. And now, keeping up with the times, he also publishes news on the Internet every day on his National Geographic News portal.
Society is the most authoritative organization. They trust her. This is why there are a lot of people who believe that the photos of a giant skeleton that have been circulating on the Internet for several years are authentic. They excite the imagination and make one believe in conspiracies of scientists against civilization. After all, the discovery of the gigantic skeleton is “hung” specifically on the geographical society. Allegedly, its specialists participated in the excavations.

Any sane person can easily guess that the photos are fake, says National Geographic News illustration editor Sebastian John. “However, we regularly receive requests in the hundreds by email from all over the world. Like, tell me, what kind of skeleton is this? Is it true that they found it? Where is he now? Is it hidden from prying eyes?

National Geographic could not resist, and in 2007 published a refutation of these photographs - but things are still there. More and more “remains” are being created, and I would not be surprised if they tell me: “Well, look, there are so many photographs! It can’t all be fake!” Alas, all this is really the fruit of the creativity of people who masterfully (and sometimes very poorly) use Photoshop. And the beginning of this story surprisingly coincides with the publication of creativity on worth1000.com. The multitude of photographs can easily be explained by the multitude of “workers” looking for “remains” in the Photoshop environment.

The pioneer IronKite seems to have attracted followers. And now the Internet is full of giant skeletons.

These classic "photos of giants" are now literally circulating from one yellow site to another, via email, blogs and forums to excite the imagination of the ignorant man in the street.

Many do not doubt the authenticity of the images. In fact, the "giant skeleton" is not a photograph of a real discovery. However, observations suggest that the high quality of the fake images, coupled with the vaguely plausible explanations that accompany them, is apparently sufficient to convince many recipients. that the “discoveries” are genuine.

By the way, IronKite’s work was even shown on YouTube. The video's creator is using IronKite's giant skeleton, along with other dubious images, as "proof" that giants once lived on Earth. The well-documented image deception, in addition to the number of logical flaws, has caused the episode to be bagged by YouTube users.

Even if you believe that a race of giants existed on Earth, you can be sure that these photographs do not reflect some of their remains. They take their original origins from the Worth1000 competition, and the image's status as a purely fictional "archaeological discovery" is understandable.

Not only do objects cast shadows in different directions, but the skeleton does not fit into the panorama of the image at all due to the difference in angles. The skeleton lacks perspective, most likely due to the fact that the source was a photograph of an ordinary skeleton, shot vertically, while the landscape in which it was placed was shot at an angle with perspective.

A giant Atlas skeleton has been found in the ocean again!

1. The color border on the left side of the photo immediately catches your eye. The skeleton is simply pasted onto a background with a coral reef.

2. The lower right part of a school of fish is translucent - this indicates low professional level photoshopper. Instead of carefully cutting out the fish onto a new layer, he applied feathering and reduced the layer's opacity.

3. And as always, symmetry violations. The size of the skull is disproportionate to the size of the femurs. Apparently, to emphasize the size of the skeleton, the skull was enlarged.

A seasoned photoshopper who knows his job worked here. He got burned because of his ignorance of the anatomy of the human body. The vertebrae are too large for the size of the skull.

The edges of a black and white image of a skeleton pasted into the pit can be clearly seen. In addition, the quality of the source image with skeletons is much worse than the main image, this is especially noticeable when enlarging

Verdict: a good craft in Photoshop.

Allegedly, various finds of giant skulls, which themselves are very mediocre fakes, when compared with images, provide more information

This is the same normal size skull, if we take both skulls and compare them as shown in the picture, we will see that they are identical. Even if we imagine for a second that these are the same excavations, then why did the skull change its size by 3 times? .

On the left in the photograph, the skull is larger than the sitting person, and if we take into account that the person is closer to us than the skull, then in reality the skull would be even larger.
On the right we also see a skull, but this time it is significantly smaller than a sitting person, while the skull is in the foreground, if it is placed next to a person it will be 2 times smaller.

In the left picture, the skull literally sank into the plane of the earth; the frame hanging in the air is no less smiling. Besides, where has it been seen that unique finds are literally trampled under boots?

Verdict: not the best fakes of a giant, using an ordinary skull.

Considering the various options for fakes of giants, I became curious if I could repeat something similar using only the most basic skills in a graphics program Adobe Photoshop. I decided to create several similar images.

As you can see, creating something like this is not difficult

Note: “Photos of giants” floating around the Internet are distinguished by their individuality. You won't find a "photo of a giant's skeleton" taken several times from different angles. Single images everywhere. I can’t believe that such a unique find was taken only once from one position. This once again confirms the individuality of the work on producing “photographs of giants.” The creators from Worth1000.com simply did not have a goal to mislead the public, so each of them limited himself to single work, it is not surprising that the network lacks diverse images of at least one giant, “shot” from different angles. Moreover, creating such an image is much more difficult.

Another fact is not in favor of the giants. Giant human bones are not exhibited in any museum in the world. But enthusiasts led by historian Michael Baigent, author of the acclaimed book " Forbidden Archeology", representatives of traditional science are accused of this. They say that they deliberately hid unique finds. From sin further. Because otherwise they would have to change their views on evolution, and on the entire history of mankind.

The entire absurdity of this “argument” can be realized after reading the article
Pseudoscience as it is

Often from parascientific works one can learn about certain “forbidden” discoveries that pose a threat to established ideas and are therefore hidden from the public.
Without exception, all such messages are fiction. A researcher who stumbles upon something truly remarkable will strive to report his discovery in order to immortalize his name for centuries. If for some reason he delays publication, envious colleagues will certainly not miss the opportunity to attribute the discovery to themselves. Even if the government intervenes, for some reason wanting to hide the truth, then unfriendly states, having found out the secret with the help of their intelligence services, will immediately stop this attempt.

And yet there is something gigantic in museums - teeth. They look almost human, but are 6 times larger than ours. First discovered in 1935 by the Dutch paleontologist Koenigswald in... one of the pharmacies in Hong Kong. According to estimates, their owners should weigh 350-400 kilograms.
Many “giantists” still “show off” these teeth, attributing them to mythical giants - the predecessors of people. However, it is known that in 1956 in Southern China, in the Guangxi province, archaeologists dug up three huge jaws with exactly the same teeth. And they determined that they belonged to apes - the so-called Gigantopithecus. Yes, these primates were huge - almost four meters tall. Sort of like mini King Kongs. But not by people.

What about myths?

Giant enthusiasts continue to trumpet the former existence of giants; they first of all refer to countless myths. Naturally, it is difficult to find a people who would not have written legends about giants - just listing their national names would take up an entire book page.
What are myths? Here are lines from the Bible: “At that time there were giants on the earth, especially from the time when the sons of God began to come in to the daughters of men, and they began to give birth...”
Elsewhere in the Bible, the “report” of the spies sent by Moses to Palestine is given: “... There we saw giants..., from a giant race; and we were... before them like locusts...”.

Another argument is the strange cyclopean buildings. And the most amazing of them is the Baalbek Terrace in Lebanon, located about a hundred kilometers from Beirut. At its base, archaeologists discovered monolithic stone blocks measuring 21 by 5 by 4 meters. Some weigh 800 tons. And they are fitted so neatly that it is difficult to even insert a needle between the edges. Who else but the giant tilers was able to lay them?

However, according to skeptics, Baalbek is not the best argument in favor of the existence of giants, says anthropologist Andrei Grinevsky. - Yes, no one can yet explain how the 800-ton stone blocks were laid. But it is naive to assume that they were carried by 20-meter giants. With such growth, a maximum of six people can grab the monolith. Total, more than 100 tons “per brother”. Don't lift it.

There are huge footprints, the most famous of which is located in South Africa. It was found by local farmer Stoffel Coetzee at the beginning of the last century. A “left foot print” is imprinted into the almost vertical wall to a depth of approximately 12 centimeters. Its length is 1m 28 centimeters. They claim that it was “inherited” by a man about 10 meters tall. Came here hundreds of millions of years ago, when the rock was soft. Then it froze, turned into granite and stood upright due to geological processes.
In my opinion, the footprint only looks like a human one. But there are no undeniable signs. It could have been left behind by a stone that later fell out. And a dinosaur.

What if giants really lived on Earth?

Excavations indicate that there was a time when giants lived on Earth. And not lizards, but mammals. Some became extinct, died out a long time ago - in the last ice age. Others - much later - about a thousand years BC. And people could see them
Giant short-faced bear,
living in Alaska and Chukotka, reached almost 5 meters if he stood on his hind legs. By the way, I ran on them at a speed of almost 70 kilometers per hour.

The 5-ton giant sloth was no less fast-moving than the bear.

And beavers and rats grew to the size of the current hippopotamus. In a word, gigantism is not alien to nature. So why should people be an exception?

The answer lies in the very structure and proportions of the human body. If you look at typical representatives of giants (dinosaurs, elephants and others), they all have one thing in common: a horizontal spine, a relatively small head, and the center of mass is concentrated in the lower part of the body.

The legs of a typical mammal support the weight of its body, and as the animal's mass increases, the strength of the support must correspondingly increase. Let us assume that all the linear dimensions of the animal have doubled. The mass of such an enlarged animal will then increase 8 times, i.e., like a cube of linear dimensions, which should affect the strength of the supporting structures. To prevent these structures from collapsing, their cross-sectional area must increase in proportion to the eightfold increase in load, but if all dimensions are simply doubled, the cross-sectional area of ​​the bones will only increase by a factor of four. This is clearly not enough, and in order to support eight times the increased weight, the bones must increase disproportionately.

A threefold increase in linear dimensions gives a 27-fold increase in mass, and the cross-sectional area of ​​the bone must be increased by a factor of 27.

Measurements of the ultimate strength of mammalian bones of different masses from 0.05 to 700 kg (14,000-fold difference) did not reveal any significant differences (233 ± 53 MN/m2 in small animals and 200 ± 28 in large animals) (Biewener, 1982) .

Moreover, the mass of a mammal’s skeleton does not fit into schemes that take into account only gravitational loads. During movement, forces always arise due to acceleration or braking, which twist and bend the skeleton, and its elements must withstand these forces and not break primarily under the influence of bending.

Those. if a person has linear dimensions of 20 meters (i.e. more than 10 times larger than normal), then his volume (and mass) increases 1000 (10 cubed) times, i.e. it weighs about 80 tons (80,000 kg). And this is not compatible with life, because he will simply be crushed (even in a supine position, the chest will collapse) under our gravity.

Thus... Yes, there may be giants, but they will not look like people, and their skeletons will not look like human ones. Let's give another simple example. If a person with a height of 180 cm and a weight of 80 kg is increased four times to 720 cm, then his weight will be 5120 kg, and bones with such dimensions in human proportions will be optimally adapted only to 1280 kg, that is, the additional mass above the optimal will be 3840 kg (i.e. the area the cross-section of the bones will increase by 16 times, but the body weight will increase by 64 times), the bones simply cannot withstand such an overload, this is equivalent to the fact that a person 180 cm tall and weighing 80 kg, with the same muscles and bones, will hang a load of 240 kg for life, and what will happen to his joints and spine? What I mean is that with gigantic sizes, the cross-section of the bones should be proportionally much larger, depending on the magnification factor. Therefore, if there were human giants, then their skeletons will look completely different from the photoshopped photos from the sites of Photoshop enthusiasts. That's it. Well, the skeletons of giants were actually found - these are dinosaurs that, despite such dimensions, had powerful bones and could not do without a tail, and their center of gravity was completely different, as was the principle of constructing a skeleton for such a mass.

What do giants get sick with?

In ancient times, myths and legends associated high growth with some kind of superpowers, and “giants” have always enjoyed great respect. However, according to doctors, high growth can result in poor health, and this is especially true for women. The tallest woman in the world, Sandy Allen, recently died at the age of just 53 - and she, alas, suffered from many chronic diseases.

American Sandy Allen's height was 2 meters 32 centimeters - that is, three centimeters higher than the famous Chinese basketball player Yao Ming.

She was only slightly inferior to the other tallest people in the world - Ukrainian Leonid Stadnik (2 meters 53 centimeters) and Tunisian Radhuan Charbib (2 meters 36 centimeters). The cause of Allen's death is still unknown, but in the hospital where she was, she was given numerous dangerous diagnoses.

These include diabetes, susceptibility to infections and kidney failure. In addition, she had difficulty walking, so she spent the last years of her life in a wheelchair.

A person is destroyed by gravity - after all, his muscles and bones are simply not adapted for such growth. In such people, the proportions of the skull are disturbed, the feet and hands increase to enormous sizes, the tongue becomes huge - and because of this, giants very often suffer from shortness of breath.

Conclusion

Today, on the Internet, it is not difficult to come across sites full of bright headlines about the discovery of the millennium, about a hidden sensation. Demand creates supply. People believe, to put it mildly, unreliable rumors that excite the imagination. I want secrets, I want riddles, even where there are none. What is surprising is not that there are lovers of sensations, but how many of them there are.

However, if you carefully approach the issue of giants under consideration, carry out an analysis of information and elementary logical calculations, an unambiguous conclusion arises that, for certain reasons, the existence of people of gigantic stature is simply impossible, it is not surprising that real evidence there is no former existence of giants. Just myths, dubious evidence and fraud.

Everyone read fairy tales in childhood, and probably not only Russian ones, but also fairy tales of the peoples of the world. Giants are invariably present in the popular consciousness, fairy tales and epics of almost all nationalities on all continents. There are descriptions of giants in sacred texts. In all ancient written sources that have come down to us: in the Vedas, Avesta, Edda, the Bible, Chinese and Tibetan chronicles, giants are reported everywhere. Even the Assyrian cuneiform clay tablets speak of the giant Izdubar, who towered above all other people, like a cedar above a bush.
Materials regularly appear on the Internet about discoveries of giant human skeletons, both in the past and present. The first time I came across material about Russian finds, which prompted me to collect a collection of photographs of what I would come across freely floating on the Internet.

The mystery of the Terengul giants

In Sri Lanka, on the island of Ceylon, there is a cone-shaped mountain 2240 meters high, which is revered by adherents of all four world religions. The reason for this veneration is the imprint of a human foot in the rock at the very top. According to legend, this mountain is located next to paradise. Mount Adam, as the peak is called, is annually visited by thousands of pilgrims during the dry season: Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims. Since climbing under the scorching rays of the sun is too difficult an ordeal, the pilgrimage is performed at night. Shortest path involves overcoming 5,000 steep steps.

The size of the human foot print on the top is very unusual: length - 160 centimeters, width - 75.

Published the work of an international group of scientists, which included six Russians. It was thanks to their enthusiasm that the scientific community received at its disposal a unique find, and with it the most ancient genome of homo sapiens.

Nobody believed it!

This story is full of wonderful coincidences, and just plain luck. It started in 2008. Omsk artist Nikolai Peristov, specializing in bone carving, wandered along the banks of the Irtysh in search of working material - the remains of a bison, mammoth and other prehistoric animals. He organized such forays regularly: the banks of the river are destroyed, the earth reveals what has been hidden in it for centuries and millennia. That day, Peristov noticed a bone sticking out of the washed layer, threw it into a bag and brought it home. Yes, just in case.

The bone lay in the artist’s storage for two years until an acquaintance of his drew attention to it. Alexey Bondarev - forensic expert from the regional police department. He is a biologist by training, and paleontology is his hobby. Bondarev carefully examined the bone. From its appearance it was clear that this was not an animal or even a Neanderthal. 35 cm long, the bone most closely resembled a human femur. But how old is this person?

Alexey asked for help Yaroslav Kuzmin from the Institute of Geology and Mineralogy SB RAS, which is in Novosibirsk. He took the find unusually seriously. “Simply put, he believed that the bone could be very ancient, tens of thousands of years old,” Bondarev recalls. - The fact is that in our area the remains of a person from the Paleolithic era (over 10 thousand years ago) have never been found. And no one expected that they could be found at all. This never even occurred to scientists! Archaeologists knew only ancient sites of homo sapiens with stone tools and animal bones discovered on them. In general, it was believed that the first people came to the territory of the Omsk region no earlier than 14 thousand years ago.”

Yaroslav Kuzmin is a well-known specialist in radiocarbon dating(this is one of the methods for determining the age of biological remains). He sent the bone for examination to the University of Oxford, with which he has been collaborating for a long time. The British were delighted: the analysis showed that the bone material is 45 thousand years old! To date, these are the most ancient human remains, dated directly, and not by indirect signs (i.e., not by the environment in which they were found: tools, household items, etc.). The man from Ust-Ishim (he received his nickname from the name of the nearest village) is the oldest representative of the genus Homo sapiens discovered outside of Africa and the Middle East. And even in the north, at latitude 58! Scientists believe that it was the cold climate that helped preserve this bone.

Omsk artist Nikolai Peristov found a sensation on the river bank. Photo: From personal archive/ Alexey Bondarev

Cradle in Siberia

The discoveries didn't end there. Yaroslav Kuzmin involved geneticists in the case: the precious bone, accompanied by Russian scientists, went to Germany, to Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. They know firsthand about sensations from Siberia: it was at this institute that the DNA of the now famous “Denisovo” man from a cave in Altai was studied.

German anthropologists confirmed the conclusions of their colleagues about the age of the bone, and in addition, they discovered perfectly preserved DNA in it - the oldest at the moment. It took more than a year to assemble and read the genome. It turned out that Ust-Ishim man has 2.5% of Neanderthal genes - just like modern inhabitants of Eurasia. But the fragments of these genes are longer; foreign DNA is not as widely distributed throughout the genome as ours. Hence the conclusion: the Ust-Ishimets lived shortly after the crossing of humans with Neanderthals, and it happened somewhere 50-60 thousand years ago, along the road of Homo sapiens from Africa to Siberia.

“It is now clear that the history of the settlement of Asia was somewhat more complicated than previously thought,” emphasizes Yaroslav Kuzmin. - Coming out of Africa, some of our ancestors soon turned north - unlike those who settled in southern Asia. We also managed to find out the diet of the ancient Siberian. He was a hunter. His food was mainly ungulates - primitive bison, elk, wild horse, reindeer. But he also ate river fish.”

“I think this man looked almost the same as you and me,” adds Alexey Bondarev. - Dress him up, comb his hair, put him on a bus - no one will think that this is an ancestor who lived 45 thousand years ago. Well, maybe the skin will be darker.”

And most importantly, the man from Ust-Ishim turned out to be equally related to Europeans, Asians, and even residents of the Andaman Islands - aborigines who are hiding from the outside world and do not want to make contact with civilization. They, according to the theory of anthropologists, belonged to the early wave of migration from Africa. This means that, even if the Ust-Ishimite did not leave direct descendants (scientists do not exclude this), Siberia can safely be called one of the cradles of humanity.