There was once a special race on Earth

No matter in the Eastern and Western legends, there is a nation like this, they are tall, taller than Yao Ming, the average height of more than 3 meters, the largest individual is 5 meters.

In Greek mythology they were called Titans, and in the Book of Mountains and Seas they were called Giants.

Scientists once thought the giants were imaginary, until giant human remains were unearthed all over the world.

Was there ever such a race of giants in the world?

So why didn't they last?

The attacking giant

In Indian culture, there is a legend that a group of giants forced the ancestors of the Indians into a cave and lit torches in order to burn the Indians inside.

Later Americans really went looking for the legendary giant and found a grave in Bride Falls, California, owned by a mother and son.

Amazingly, they are all over 2 meters tall.

Since the 1920s, mining owners in the United States have claimed to have found large human remains in their mines.

The remains are similar to humans, but there are also differences. For example, these giants have two rows of teeth and six fingers and toes.

Although there are many claims of noses and eyes, none have survived with any of the remains.

In 2004, because of the impact of the Indian Ocean tsunami, Indonesia found a prehistoric ruins, locals say, here is the site of the giant family, inside the burial of 3 meters tall giant.

However, for various reasons, the site has not been excavated by archaeologists.

There are no fossils, so academics don't acknowledge the existence of this giant species.

The remains are similar to humans, but there are also differences. For example, these giants have two rows of teeth and six fingers and toes.

Although there are many claims of noses and eyes, none have survived with any of the remains.

In 2004, because of the impact of the Indian Ocean tsunami, Indonesia found a prehistoric ruins, locals say, here is the site of the giant family, inside the burial of 3 meters tall giant.

However, for various reasons, the site has not been excavated by archaeologists.

There are no fossils, so academics don't acknowledge the existence of this giant species.

To that end, a team of Russian archaeologists traveled in 2017 to the Middle East's Mesopotamia region, once one of the cradles of human civilization.

The team found a set of graves. These graves are very large, at least twice the size of a normal cemetery, which is obviously not.

The Russian team thought it was a huge grave, and when they tried to dig deeper, they were sent home.

To that end, a team of Russian archaeologists traveled in 2017 to the Mesopotamia region of the Middle East, once one of the cradles of human civilization.

The team found a group of tombs. These tombs are very large, at least twice the size of a normal burial site, which is clearly not a normal burial site.

The Russian team thought it was a giant tomb, and when they tried to dig deeper, they were sent home.

The ancient Chinese book "Shan Hai Jing" records a giant kingdom, which mentions the husband kingdom and the giant of the East China Sea.

The giant in the husband country is about 2.5 to 2.7 meters tall, and the giant in the East China Sea is even taller, with the tallest person being 5 or 6 meters.

The legend of the giant, like the older Great Flood, is a common denominator among different peoples and cultures, which makes one wonder if such groups ever really existed, only to die out.

The real gigantopithecus

Although folk legends abound for the giant family, but in biology can be called "giant", only an extinct ape, called gigantopithecus.

The famous movie "star" King Kong was designed with the habits of many great apes in mind, but the appearance of King Kong is a gorilla.

A member of the genus Gigantopithecus of the hominidae that is genetically closer to today's orangutans and lived in Southeast and South Asia between 100 and 300, 000 years ago. Fossils of its teeth have been unearthed in the Guangxi region of China.

A longtime neighbor of Homo erectus, which lived in Asia at the time, Gigantopithecus was gentle and plant-based like its close relatives, the orangutan.

There was no competition between them and Homo erectus. They got along relatively well, and no gigantopithecus bones have been found in the bones of Homo erectus.

Judging by the wear on Gigantopithecus' teeth, their main diet was bamboo, which was common in Asia at the time.

The extinction of Gigantopithecus coincided with the extinction of Homo erectus in Asia, so biologists suspect that there was a very big environmental change in Asia about 300,000 to 200,000 years ago.

The biggest possibility is that it cooled, causing the plants to die off and gigantopithecus to die out for lack of food.

That is to say, by the time Homo sapiens migrated from Africa to Asia, there were no gigantopithecus left, so the giants of various ethnic legends are definitely not gigantopithecus.

So what are giants if not gigantopithecus?

Although there is no scientific proof that the giants actually exist, the legend of the giants has become a part of the culture of many peoples.

We can see the shadow of giant in the literature of many countries, and at the same time, there is always a dwarf race against them.

For example, the famous British novel Gulliver's Travels describes a Lilliput and a country of adults. The people of the country of adults, let alone the height of 6 meters, may have reached 10 meters.

Members of Lilliput, on the other hand, are the size of an average human littlefinger. Obviously, these people don't exist in real life.

Although there is no scientific proof that giants exist, there are still many enthusiasts who pursue them.

Some explorers go to places where giants are legendary, looking for the remains of giants, to prove that giants did exist on Earth.