The Strange Sounds site published an article titled Mysterious giant humanoids discovered on the ceiling of an Alabama cave which on the day of the article’s publication, May 23, 20220, referenced, “A new scientific study,” “published in the peer-reviewed journal Antiquity,” “uncovered GIANT human-like figures etched in the ceiling of an Alabama cave by Native Americans more than a 1000 years ago…carvings of mysterious giant humanoids” accompanied by photos by Steven Alvarez and Jan Simek from the paper Discovering ancient cave art using 3D photogrammetry: pre-contact Native American mud glyphs from 19th Unnamed Cave, Alabama (Cambridge University Press: 04 May 2022” by Simek, Stephen Alvarez, and Alan Cressler.
This seems like layers of interpretation as someone first outlined that which they saw amongst the scored rock (“glyphs…in the soft mud on the cave’s ceiling”), then told us what they think it depicts within the journal, and then someone else did likewise within the article in question. This is especially so when you consider the vast amounts of crosshatched scorings in these photos.
We are told, “The figures, three of which were humanoid in shape, are among the biggest ever uncovered in the Northern Americas. Some are more than 6ft long per a study.”
Yet, I am unsure how such a height is derived since I am unsure to what such a height is being compared. Also, note that “more than 6ft long” (or, tall), and one specifically specified to be “5.9 ft tall” and another “6.8 ft tall,” have been interpreted for us as “giant” which speaks to the generic, vague, subjective, and multi-usage nature of that English word—giant compared to whom?
We are also told of, “An undefined figure made of swirling lines, with a round head at one end and a possible rattlesnake tail at the other (7 ft wide).”
Simek, an archeologist, notes that Natives, “believe in a tiered universe…They believed that there were these spirit worlds” which means that the illustrations, even if taken as-is, are metaphors since spirits have not height, by definition.
He thinks, “The glyphs portray what archeologists call anthropomorphs, figures that could either represent humans in costumes and masks or humanoid spirits.”
Alvarez noted that “more than 16,000 pictures” were taken, which means that someone had to work very, very hard to make much ado about virtually nothing in telling us of “giants.”
We are told, yet no one is quoted to this affect, about, “enormous humanoid glyphs.”
As for Simek, Alvarez, and Cressler’s paper: it does not refer to “giants.” It does note that in correlation to, “certain…other known regional rock art…The most striking aspects of these cave art images are their size and context” but we are only told about size when it comes to a different location, “Barrier Canyon Style…of Utah…typically described as being ‘life-sized’ (i.e. around 2m in height)….the largest figure at the renowned Horseshoe Canyon site in Utah is described as being ‘over seven feet’, or 2.13m tall” which, overall, can only mean anything about actual height if we take glyphs literally.
Goliath, who was most reliably just shy of 7 ft., may have been a subjective giant to the average Israelite male of those days who was 5.0-5.3 ft.
Likewise, an over seven feet tall personage (granting literalness) may have been a subjective giant in that day and time.
Yet, how being subjectively unusually tall is any sort of issue is quite mysterious, particularly when the “Mysterious giant…” article did not bother telling us why they considered it to be anything but archeological news.
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