Our closest relative, the Neanderthals, is believed to have become extinct around 40,000 years ago. The reason for their disappearance remains a mystery.
While searching for answers, scientists continue to encounter perplexing questions regarding remains identified as human, but of unusually large size. Some remains have been lost, while others are still being studied. For various reasons, modern science has yet to find the answers.
Here are some of those traces.
oversized lower legs
In 1877, a group of geologists exploring for mineral veins in Eureka, Nevada, USA, accidentally discovered a human lower leg skeleton broken above the knee. The bones were embedded in a rock. After struggling to break through the rock, the geologists managed to retrieve the skeleton, which included the lower leg, ankle, and foot.
What’s remarkable is the size of this leg bone. From heel to knee, it measures 99cm, equivalent to the height of a person up to 2.74 meters. The bone was subsequently examined, and experts concluded it belonged to a relatively elderly person.
Later, attempts were made to find the rest of the skeleton, but nothing was found. This particular tibia bone was once on display, but it has since disappeared.
Giant feet
In 1986, the American Anthropologist journal published an article about the discovery of a footprint nearly 40cm long in West Virginia, USA. This size is equivalent to that of a person who is 2.13 meters tall.
Nearly 40 years later, in 1932, numerous fossilized human footprints embedded in plaster were discovered in New Mexico, USA. These footprints were enormous, measuring 56 cm long and 28 cm wide, equivalent to the height of a person 2.43 meters tall.
Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins is the author of *Life Among the Paiutes*. (Photo: Smithsonian).
Another event was mentioned in a book titled * Life Among the Paiutes *, written and published in 1882 by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins , the daughter of a Paiute tribal chief. In it, she recounts the story of a large, tall, red-haired people who existed at the same time as her tribe, frequently using their strength to seize burial grounds and eat human corpses. The story doesn’t specify a timeframe; however, Sarah notes that the Paiute defeated the last of these large people around the 19th century.
At the time the book was published, many believed the story of the red-haired cannibal was a fabrication, but in 1912, a series of mummies with red hair were found in Lovelock, Nevada – a place once inhabited by the Paiute people. The mummies found measured as much as 2.13 meters in length; some are still preserved and displayed in museums and universities in Nevada, USA.
Tiny mummy
In October 1932, a group of geologists exploring the Pedro Mountains in western Wyoming discovered a strangely colored geological formation. Believing they had found a mineral-rich area, they detonated explosives and began exploration. After the explosions, they found a crevice in the rock. Waiting for the dust to settle, they peered inside and were surprised to discover a mummy sitting upright with its arms crossed and legs crossed on a rock outcrop.
X-ray images confirmed that this was indeed the mummy of a person, complete with all body parts, albeit in a very small size: 35cm tall and weighing 4.5kg. Experts believe the mummy still has its complete set of teeth, including wisdom teeth. This ruled out the possibility that it was the mummy of an infant; biologists believe it was the mummy of a person around 65 years old.
A tiny mummy is held in the arms of a normal adult man. (Photo: Casper College Western History Center).
There is still a theory that it was actually a child, but suffering from premature aging. However, scientists have ruled out this theory because premature aging does not cause wisdom teeth to erupt.
Pre-Inca microtunnels
South of where the tiny skeleton was found, there are also traces of a thriving civilization of tiny people. The time of these tiny people is so distant that no stories or rumors remain today.
At several archaeological sites in Central America, archaeologists have always been puzzled by the features found there: the tiny structures. Indeed, the tunnels and passageways discovered are very small and low, barely wide enough for a toddler, while the floors are worn smooth by tiny footprints.
It is these tiny remains that have piqued the curiosity of experts, wondering whether a race of tiny people actually lived here, and what caused them to disappear.
