GIANTS! The Tall Tales of Archaeological Hoaxes
Giants have long fascinated us humans and seem to be a never-ending resource for archaeological hoaxes. Towards the end of the 19th century, there almost became a trend to create giant hoaxes. In some cases, this was just to amuse; in others, it was to prove the Bible right.
In this episode, we will look at three cases. The Lovelock giant. The San Diego giant. And, of course, the most famous of them all, the Cardiff giant. Let's investigate the origins of these giants and see what archaeology has to say about these cases. What are the sources telling us, and what have other people invented afterward?
In Digging up Ancient Aliens, our host Fredrik uses his background in archaeology to discover what is genuine, fake, and somewhere in between in popular media, such as Ancient Aliens, Ancient Apocalypse, and many other places.
In this episode:
The Lovelock Giant
San Diego Giant
Cardiff Giant
Sources, resources and further reading suggestions
Sources, resources, and further reading suggestions
Colavito, J. (2013). How David Childress Created the Myth of a Smithsonian Archaeological Conspiracy. [online] Jason Colavito. Available here
Dunning, B. (2013). The Red Haired Giants of Lovelock Cave. [online] Skeptoid. Available here
Feder, K.L. (2020). Frauds, myths, and mysteries : science and pseudoscience in archaeology. 10th ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Lepper, B. (2020). Archaeology: Newspapers have been debunking giant hoaxes for a long time. [online] The Columbus Dispatch. Available here
Loud, L.L. and Harrington, M.R. (1929). Lovelock Cave. [online] Barkley: University of California Press. Available here
Owen, J. (2007). Find Out How the Giant Skeleton Hoax Started. [online] National Geographic. Available here
Pettit, M. (2006). ‘The Joy in Believing’. Isis, 97(4), pp.659–677. doi: https://doi.org/10.1086/509948
The Onondaga Giant. (1869). The Fort Wayne Gazette. 27 Oct.
Tribble, S. (2008). A Colossal Hoax. Plymouth: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Watkins, J.E. (1908). Cheat and Hoaxes Recalled by National Gallery Forgeries. Salt Lake Tribune, [online] 7 Jun., p.17. Available here .
Watts, E. (2020). Colonizing the past. University of Virginia Press.
White, A. (2016). The " Giants" Section in Forbidden Archaeology. [online] Andy White Anthropology. Available here
Winnemucca Hopkins, S. (1882). Life among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims. [online] Boston, New York: CUPPLES, UPHAM & CO / G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS. Available here