The case of the Giant of Castelnau or géant de Castelnau was apparently only covered scientifically in a journal article published in La Nature, Vol. 18, Issue 888, 1890 AD.
Click to enlarge—if you read French
In October 3, 1892 AD The New York Times ran a snipped titled, “A Race of Giants in Old Gaul” which they reiterated from The London Globe which states:
In the year 1890 some human bones of enourmous size, double the ordinary in fact, were found in the tumulus of Castelnau, (Herault,) and have since been carefully examined by Prof. Kiener, who, while admitting that the bones are those of a very tall race, nevertheless finds them abnormal in dimensions and apparently of morbid growth. They undoubtedly reopen the question of the “giants” of antiquity, but do not furnish sufficient evidence to decide it.
That they are very tall and of apparently of morbid growth may mean that, if they actually were human, they were the result of an overactive pituitary gland. As per the Popular Science News and Boston Journal of Chemistry report below, “whether this excessive growth was a normal one, or due to a diseased condition resulting in a general hypertrophy of the osseous system. On this point the authorities differ, one professor of the University of Montpellier holding that the bones are normal in every respect, while another finds evidence of a diseased condition.”
On October 11, 1894 AD The Princeton Union of Minnesota published this report which was republished as is in March 8, 1895 AD by The McCook Tribune of Nebraska as “Giants of Prehistoric France”:
In a prehistoric cemetery recently uncovered at Montpellier, France, while workmen were excavating a, water works reservoir, human skulls were found measuring 28, 31 and 32 Inches in circumference. The bones which were found with the skulls were also of gigantic proportions. These relics were sent to the Paris academy, and a learned “savant” who lectured on the find says that they belonged to a race of men between ten and fifteen feet in height.
The original report, at least as the USA is concerned, seems to have been by Popular Science News and Boston Journal of Chemistry, August 1890 AD, Vol. XXIV, No. 8 which reads, “The legends of all races tell of a time when mankind were of giant stature, doubtless arising, in many cases, from the discovery of the fossil bones of ancient animals of large size, such as the elephant, mammoth, etc.” On this point see my Grading the giant human skeleton chart.
Furthermore, “as we know, there is no proof whatever that the human race was ever possessed of a greater average stature than at present…Occasional instances of unusual stature are, however, not uncommon.” Indeed, ancient reports of giants that are the least bit reliable (a term which says nothing specific about height) no one is taller than the tallest pro basketball player of today: just shy of 8 feet—I know of 15 people who can be said to have been verified, to whatever degree of certainty, to be taller than that1.
Yet, the occasional taller than the tallest average could certainly have existed. The report weaves a tall tale of its own in stating, “In either case the giant of Castelnau must have been a source of wonder, if not of terror, to the savage men of those times, and was doubtless treated with all the honor which in these modern days is bestowed upon a successful prize-fighter.” But why think this at all. From what we know of some taller than average people, this one may have not been agile at all.
Here is the informative portion of the repot:
…there were giants even in the Stone Age seems to be proved by a discovery made near Montpellier, in France, by M. LAPOUGE, and communicated by him to La Nature. At Castelnau, near the above town, is a prehistoric cemetery, dating from the ages of polished stone and bronze. A large number of human bones were found, including about forty skulls, one of which formerly belonged to an individual about eighteen years old, who, judging from the size of his skull, must have been over six feet in height…
three pieces of bone, illustrated in the engraving, which must formerly have belonged to some pre-historic giant of extraordinary size. The first piece, shown on the left of the engraving, is a part of a femur, or thigh-bone, and the one on the right a part of a tibia, or shin-bone. In the middle is represented a humerus, or bone of the upper arm, from the same ancient cemetery, but of normal size. At the bottom is represented a small fragment, which may be either a piece of a femur or a humerus; if the latter, then it must also have formerly made up part of the skeleton of the giant, as can be seen by comparison with the normal humerus above it…must have been between ten and eleven feet high.
Apparently, the bones were studied at the University of Montpellier by professor of paleontology M. Delage and professor of Zoology M. Sabatier. Then by the Montpellier School of Medicine’s professor of pathological anatomy Dr. Paul Louis André Kiener and finally at the Paris Academy.
I wrote to the Académie des Sciences as well as the U. of Montpellier in order to ask for any info on this and am awaiting a reply.
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