Andy White Anthropology
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So What ARE Wolter and Pulitzer Planning On Doing to Search for Giants?

8/3/2016

160 Comments

 
Many of the readers of this blog are no doubt aware of the debacle that unfolded on Jason Colavito's blog regarding the plans of Scott Wolter and Hutton Pulitzer to investigate a site that they claim contains the remains of giant humans. I recommend reading through Colavito's post and the comments (388 as of this writing, a large number of which are by Pulitzer) for the background and some insight into how the Wolter-Pulitzer show handles criticism. I'm not qualified to speculate on what might be underlying Pulitzer's inconsistencies, insults, incoherence, puffery, threats, and evasiveness, but I'm pretty sure it's not an over-abundance of professionalism and competence. It's a bizarre display, to say the least.

Generally, I'm not of the opinion that Pulitzer is worth paying a whole lot of attention to anymore. Any credibility he might have had was flushed away along with the decisive demonstration that his "100 percent confirmed Roman sword," which he claimed would change the history of the world, was simply a 19th or 20th century piece of tourist junk. He was easily fooled by it and continues to stick with his original claim to this day, despite a mountain of evidence that clearly shows his claim is wrong. His inability to accept (or perhaps even understand) contrary facts is fundamentally incompatible with the most basic tenets of science. I have yet to see any evidence that he even understands what "science" is, let alone that he is capable of practicing it.

Pulitzer's well-established silliness is not what is important to me in this case: it's that his silliness leaves us with a a lack of clarity about what the pair are actually planning on doing. To me the significant issue is what appears to be a plan by the pair to go beyond rhetoric and start messing with the actual archaeological record. Their latest audio discussion of a past episode of America Unearthed, the subject of Colavito's blog post, features them discussing what sounds like an excavation they plan to undertake with the intent of finding and unearthing what they believe to be gigantic human remains but without involving the authorities in the traditional way (listen between about 16:00 and 24:00). Pulitzer and Wolter first discuss an image, sent to them by a third party, of what they have determined to their satisfaction is a very large human bone. They say the following, among other things:

16:30 Pulitzer: "With any researcher or explorer, the only thing that confirms it is when you, yourself, your team, your documentation team can physically take them out of the ground yourself, and can document it themselves. And that's what's been missing is a lot of these have been found by people, but when they feel they're doing the right thing and calling the local authorities and state archaeologist and some of these others get involved, literally everything disappears."

18:15 Wolter: "This is not in your typical situation, where archaeologists have control of the site. There is, this is a site that is completely unknown, it has not been studied in any specific detail. [... ]This opportunity is once in a lifetime, we are going to seize that opportunity."

23:00 Wolter: "Believe me, if that bone turns out to be as big as it was, and the rest of the bones turn out to be as big, if they match this then we'll have something big to report."

The original brouhaha about Colivito's blog post concerned his use of the phrase "announce plans to rob presumed Native American grave" in his headline describing what Wolter and Pulitzer planned to do. Pulitzer accused Colavito of libel for using the term "rob" (which he argued implied a criminal act) and Colavito subsequently changed the language to read "dig up." Objectively, "rob" was a poor choice of word and I think Colavito did the correct thing by making a change. His quick word change amicably resolved the issue and we all rode off on on our rainbow-colored unicorns, satisfied that the world was populated by reasonable people. The end.

Oh no, wait, that didn't happen. My bad.

What did happen was that Pulitzer commented many, many more times after the word change, responding to challenges and questions about their plans by creating the crazy quilt of conflicting questions and explanations which you just have to read for yourself to fully appreciate. Nothing squares with anything else -- it's just a big mess that leaves the impression that there really is no plan. In their audio presentation, Wolter and Pulitzer clearly stated they think they're dealing with giant human remains (or else what would be the point of excavating them?), and I think any reasonable person would conclude, based on what they said, that they intend to dig up those remains. In the audio, they told us that professional archaeologists and "local authorities" are the problem, and they are going to "seize the opportunity" of a situation where they can "physically take [the bones] out of the ground" themselves. In his comments, however, Pulitzer appeared to walk that position backward several steps (albeit in a confusing zig-zag), disingenuously asking many others who commented where they possibly could have gotten the idea that he and Wolter were going to dig up human remains themselves. I'll tell you where: from what you said! I fail to see how a reasonable person would draw any other conclusion from the audio.

But maybe all of us somehow got it wrong? Fine -- then tell us what the plan is. I (and others) repeatedly asked Pulitzer to clarify what exactly he was talking about in terms of what he and Wolter intended to do.  Eventually we got this response:
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Pulitzer also stated that the local sheriff indeed had been notified and shown the bone (or the images, it's not clear which):

"Andy, for your information. The photos show what could easily be a human bone, but the size of it caused the local sheriff to poo poo it. Was too big. Thus case closed. Path open, thus why we are bringing in our own research and medical team. Cant force the locals to deal with now can you. All bases covered."

I responded:

"Ah . . . So now we have learned something. You and Wolter satisfied yourselves (based on a photo) that it is a human bone, but the local authorities satisfied themselves that it isn't. Therefore you argue that you have a green light to do whatever you want? Is that accurate? Perhaps if this photo is so convincing you should let the world see it. I would be willing to bet you were not looking at a genuine photo of a giant human bone. You did, after all, identify brass on your "Roman sword" as gold."

And that is where the conversation effectively ended. I am left still not knowing exactly what Pulitzer and Wolter intend to do. The cowboy tone of their audio conversation and Pulitzer's unwillingness to provide a simple answer to the "what exactly are you planning on doing" question is troubling to those of us who care about stewardship of archaeological remains. We don't know where this "site" is, and we haven't been shown the images of the object that Wolter and Pulitzer have decided is a human bone. We do know, however, that they think they are dealing with human remains and they apparently suppose they are working within the letter of the law but somehow in a way that will allow them to act  as "warriors for truth" outside of customary or established procedures. Yes, I'm using the word "act" intentionally. I'm concerned that Wolter and Pulitzer's cavalier conspiracy-theory-laden discussion will encourage others to go out and become "warriors for truth" armed, this time, with shovels to accompany the sense of outraged entitlement that Pulitzer attempts to instill in them.

My bet (and my hope) is that these guys give up on this idea, whatever the hell it actually is, and leave the physical archaeological record to professionals. This is not because we want to suppress the truth about anything, but because doing good archaeology in the field requires a skill set that takes years to develop and hone. It requires much more than TreasureForce costumes and empty rants about "forbidden history." As it turns out, technology patents, lawyers, and authorship of copy-paste treasure hunting books are of little utility when trying to read and interpret subtle variations in sediments and deciding how to pick apart overlapping features so you understand what you're looking at. In short: you guys don't know what you're doing. You can talk all you want, but when it comes to archaeological fieldwork you haven't demonstrated that you're qualified to stick a single shovel in the ground. You may have been on TV, you may have a lot of fancy toys, and you may have an A-Team van and an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock, but I'd be willing to bet that you couldn't out-perform a single one of my field school students in your knowledge of basic excavation methods.

Rant all you want about your "Roman swords" and your "fight for truth," but please leave the excavating to those of us who understand where show business stops and scientific work begins. And please leave human remains alone. These are the remains of people, not props to be used to try to build an audience for your tragicomic attempt at "rewriting history."


One simple step here would be to show the photo of the alleged "giant human bone" to someone who is qualified to make a credible, indpendent judgement about whether or not it could be human. You're completely wrong if you think it's always a simple task to determine what's human and what's not --  there are numerous examples of highly educated people making mistakes in the past, and well-meaning people in law enforcement and medicine continue to make mistakes today because they are not trained in comparative anatomy. What you need is someone who understands both human and animal anatomy and is familiar with archaeological materials. I suggest you send the image to me. If I can't figure out what I'm looking at, I'll find someone who can. That's a sincere offer. I'll give you an honest opinion, and I won't publish the image without your permission. If I think what I'm looking at is human, I will advise you to revisit the issue with the local law enforcement officials that you claim to have already dealt with. This is the point at which the responsible thing to do is to check the bravado and offer some transparency.

I have more to say about this, but I'm on the road again and my time is limited. I'll just say that my sincere hope is that what sounds like a "let's go dig something up" plan, in whatever form we're now supposed to think it will be operationalized, is piled on the scrap heap with Pulitzer's other unfulfilled promises (remember the "smoking gun" Minoan artifacts of Tennessee? remember the "Indiana mummy"? remember the "white paper" that was promised in spring 2016?).

Finally, I'd like to close by saying something positive about Scott Wolter. Despite our recent issues connected to his withdraw from participation in my class and my disappointment that Pulitzer is apparently now speaking for Wolter, I continue to believe that Wolter and Pulitzer are fundamentally different. The contrast comes through clearly in the audio conversation that is the subject of this post (the only one of their America Unearthed reviews that I've listened to so far). Wolter is articulate and has a command of the issues that easily exceeds anything I've ever heard from Pulitzer. Their partnership is none of my business, of course, but  I continue to wonder why Wolter would choose to make his equal someone who so clearly is not. I remain puzzled by the mismatch. 

I welcome any comments by Pulitzer or Wolter that will help clarify what is going on here: I'm genuinely unsure. I'll delete any comments that I deem unconstructive. 
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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Dojo

7/21/2016

49 Comments

 
I'm going to keep this short, because life is short and I don't see much utility in expending a lot of energy on this issue.

As I wrote yesterday, Scott Wolter communicated to me that he was no longer interested in participating in my upcoming class. He told me in the email that it was because Jason Colavito would also be involved in the class (here is Jason's take). Given that Colavito would be participating at a different time and discussing totally different topics, it seemed like a strange decision to me. For that reason, I chose to let Wolter be the one to explain it if he cared to. It didn't take long for "Hutton Pulitzer" to show up on my blog and demonstrate, again, his aversion to factual accuracy. "Hutton Pulitzer's" comment provided information about Wolter's decision that I did not. So now it's a topic for discussion.

Scott Wolter decided not to participate in the class because Jason Colavito was also participating.

The alert reader will have noticed my use of quotation marks around "Hutton Pulitzer." As several people commented on yesterday's post, the language used by "Hutton Pulitzer" is distinctly un-Pulitzer-like, being largely devoid of typos, lacking the USE OF ALL CAPS, and written in more-or-less readable English. I have no way of knowing for sure, but it is plausible that "Hutton Pulitzer" was actually Scott Wolter in disguise.

Whether or not "Hutton Pulitzer" was Pulitzer himself or Wolter in a Pulitzer mask, my feelings are the same: good riddance. Team XplRr has passed my tolerance threshold for absurdity.

I'm a professor at an R1 university. I have a PhD. I do real archaeology and I teach students how to do real archaeology. The Forbidden Archaeology course is designed as an exercise in evidence-based critical thinking and communication. It exists to demonstrate to students that we have mechanisms for discerning credible from non-credible explanations of the human past. Not all ideas we have and stories we tell about the past can be correct, so how do we figure out which ones we can throw out? As I've written several times, the lack of a falsification mechanism is one of the hallmarks of pseudo-science. Holding ideas up to evidence-based scrutiny is what archaeologists do. If you're not doing that, you're not doing science. Forbidden Archaeology is designed to help students learn how to critically evaluate competing narratives about the past. 

For a class like this to work, there has to be a free flow of ideas and information. Period. The title of the course is tongue-in-cheek:  in my book there really is nothing that is "forbidden." As long as we have some mechanism for measuring the credibility of ideas and evidence, there's no reason to be afraid of examining any claim about the past. When some ideas or pieces of evidence are put "off limits," science begins to break down. It's okay to have vigorous disagreements, but at some level you have to agree on what constitute "facts" and "evidence."  Even in a dojo, where combat arts are learned and exercised, there are rules to be followed. 

When I talked to Wolter earlier this summer, I thought we had a meeting of the minds about the goals of the class and what we'd be doing. My intent was to have Wolter help us have a good, aggressive discussion of the Kensington Rune Stone, an object that remains enigmatic to this day. The students would have prepared themselves for Wolter's visit, and my hope was that they could experience some really interesting firsthand interactions with someone who has spent a lot of time and effort developing and defending his ideas about the stone.

I made it clear to Wolter in our phone call that I had no interest in having Pulitzer involved in any way. In my judgement, Pulitzer's history of misrepresentations and legal threats makes him unsuitable for interactions with my students. Based on my own history of interactions with Pulitzer, that's a pretty easy call to make.  

But it appears now that when you're talking to Wolter you're also talking to Pulitzer (perhaps literally). So there's really no way around it: whether Pulitzer speaks for Wolter or Wolter is pretending to be Pulitzer, it's monkey business that has no place in my classroom.  What's next? Demands to remove all the brown M&M's? No matter how I look at it, I cannot now imagine a good interaction with the Pulitzer-Wolter show. It's pretty weak sauce, and I'm no longer interested. The Wolter visit is off the table. What they decide to do with their partnership is none of my business, and that's the way it's going to stay.

I'm looking at other options for discussing different facets of the KRS. I've heard from several interested people already, and I'm considering several approaches that will let me meet the educational goals of the class. I wish the Wolter scenario would have played out differently, but it's just absurd to me that an invited guest (and/or his uninvited business partner) would attempt to exercise control over my syllabus. I have never misled anyone about the goals and content of this class. Forbidden Archaeology is going to be fun and educational for all involved.  I will work as hard as I can to make that happen. Wolter and Pulitzer won't be a part of that. Moving on.

That's about all I have to say about this situation at the moment. I'll keep you posted as I move forward.

On a different note, I spent my morning working on this sculpture of a crow. I'm posting an "in progress" picture because I think it's looking pretty good so far. I may enter it in the state fair.

Oh wait . . . maybe the crow is related: "Nevermore" . . . (thanks, Hartman Krug).
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Correction: Scott Wolter Will NOT Be Participating in My Class

7/20/2016

47 Comments

 
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I'm sorry to announce that Scott Wolter will not be participating in my Forbidden Archaeology (ANT 291) class this fall. In an email exchange, Wolter told me that he has "lost his enthusiasm" for the idea. I don't fully understand his rationale for the decision, so I think the simplest and fairest thing to do is to leave it up to him to discuss his decision if he chooses.

The class will stilll be evaluating evidence and ideas about the Kensington Rune Stone (KRS), and we still be using Wolter's Hooked X book as a jumping off point for discussion (I was required by South Carolina law to choose the books for the course some time ago). My sense is that the KRS remains, over a hundred years since it's discovery, one of the more genuinely enigmatic objects used to support claims of pre-Columbian transoceanic contact. It's worth discussing no matter how we do it, so we're going to discuss it. I'll be thinking about options for bringing in someone else (probably via a remote lecture) to lay out an argument for/against the authenticity of the KRS. If I can get a prominent KRS skeptic to participate, maybe I'll set it up so the students take the position that the KRS is authentic . . . I'll think about it.

As far as the GoFundMe campaign to fund the costs of Wolter's travel, I can either find a way to return that money to the (n=3) donors or I can look into rolling it into the Jim Vieira travel fund. Vieira has agreed to pay for his own travel, but it would still be nice to offset some of the costs associated with getting him down here.

Please let me know if you have suggestions about KRS advocates/skeptics. I'll adjust the syllabus to accommodate whatever position the speaker wants to take. The class is first and foremost an exercise in critical thinking, logic, and the evidence-based methods we can employ to discriminate credible from non-credible statements about the human past.

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Happy Thanksgiving, Critical Thinkers: "The Argumentative Archaeologist"

11/21/2015

7 Comments

 
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I'm about to get on airplane for some holiday travel. I'm hoping to spend much of the coming week not doing much work, but I've been working hard over the last few weeks to finish a "beta" (i.e., mostly complete) version of The Argumentative Archaeologist website. It's done!  Go have a look!  Please spread the word.

I don't have time to write much about it now, so I'm just going to paste in the content from the About page:

The Argumentative Archaeologist is a website that organizes and compiles links to fact-based information and analysis related to fantastic claims about the human past.  While not all "fringe" (i.e., non-mainstream) claims have been shown to be untrue, many have (some of them over, and over, and over again . . .).  The goal of this site is to provide road maps to information that will help you both identify what's BS and understand the history and context of some of the many claims about the past that can be shown to be false.  They can't all be true, right?.

Who Are the Intended Audiences?

This site was conceived and designed with three main audiences in mind:

  • The Public. Almost by definition, most "fringe" ideas come from outside the professional archaeological community.  The marketing and selling of those ideas, not surprisingly, are largely targeted to audiences that are also outside of the professional archaeological community ("bypassing the mainstream" is a common part of the pitch). The "fringe" community has done a good job of exploiting traditional print and television media as well as utilizing the internet to uncritically spread sensational claims about the past.  While many of those "fringe" claims can easily be shown to be false, the voices of the few individuals and organizations that have made a concerted effort to address the factual basis of those claims are often drowned out the megaphones that the "fringe" community has built for itself.  This site is an attempt to assemble links to openly available, critical analysis of "fringe" claims into one central location to make it easier for interested members of the public to get the other side of the story. It wasn't aliens - see for yourself!

  • Educators. College courses that engage with the history, context, and evidence associated with "fringe" claims about the past are becoming increasingly common. I know several people that teach them, and I myself am planning on teaching one in the Fall Semester of 2016. While traditional textbooks are available that cover many facets of pseudo-archaeology, I feel that much of the real work that is being to address and understand "fringe" claims as they emerge and develop is being done online in formats such as blogs.  Blogs can and have been used to address many different aspects of "fringe" claims with a timeliness and forthrightness that would be impossible in the context of a traditional textbook. I hope that people teaching courses on pseudo-archaeology find this site useful in terms of both the kinds of information it presents and the organization of that information.

  • Researchers (Both Kinds). I hope the links compiled on this site will help those of you out there interested in performing research on many different facets of pseudo-archaeology: where do these claims come from? why are they popular? what do we know about artifact x or site y? I know that I have learned several things I did not know just through the process of initial construction of the site (and that is without actually reading in detail the large majority of the content to which this site links). While many claims have been addressed repeatedly and are fairly well understood, many have not and are not. I think it would also be of great benefit to "fringe" researchers to make an effort to understand the arguments against their claims.  I know that may be difficult when you really, really, really want something to be true . . . but if you want your ideas to be taken seriously you will have to someday address an evidence-based critique.  I'm not optimistic that will happen (evaluating the willingness to actually test an idea is one of the key ways to discriminate between archaeology and pseudo-archaeology), but it would be nice. Maybe try not just repeating the same dumb, incorrect thing that someone else already said? Just an idea.​​

How Do You Choose the Content?

The content in this site was not chosen to give "equal time" to skeptical and "fringe" voices.  As mentioned above, the "fringe" side of the equation has developed a powerful set of tools to communicate its various messages: it does not require any assistance.  This site is intended to serve as a counterpoint to "fringe" claims, providing links to critical analyses of components of those claims, links to critical reviews of "fringe" media, and a structure that lets the user explore and understand how various components of "fringe" claims are inter-connected.

During the initial construction of this site (October-November 2015), I mined the blogs of several of the major skeptical online voices of which I am aware: Jason Colavito, ArchyFantasies, Bad Archaeology, Glen Kuban, Skeptoid, Le Site d'Irna, Michael Heiser, Ancient Aliens Debunked, Hot Cup of Joe, and my own website (Andy White Anthropology). This site does not link to all posts on those websites, of course, but it links to many that are related to the topics of interest here. My plan is to monitor those sites and add links to new posts (and new topics) as they become available. I would love to hear about articles, posts, and other skeptical sites of which I am unaware (please use the Suggestion Box).​

Why Do You Present the Content the Way You Do?

The work of critically evaluating "fringe" claims about the human past is being done by very few individuals.  I hope that this site brings attention (and web traffic) to their efforts.  My guess is that most of us who take the time to investigate and write something about the nonsense that's being sold as knowledge aren't making any money by doing so (in stark contrast to the "fringe" side, which has a large commercial component). Credit should go where credit is due: write an email and thank your favorite skeptic for his or her hard work.

I have used block quotes to introduce many of the topics, artifacts, and sites for which I have created entries. Many of those quotes are from Wikipedia.  I chose to do this not because it is the best source of information, but because it probably reflects a reasonable consensus view.  And it's designed to be "open."  I've attributed the textual quotes that I use, and I've attributed the sources of images that I use by linking to my sources.  I have added internal links (i.e., links pointing to other pages within this website) and indicated those changes with the designation [links added]. I do not believe that I am violating any copyrights or other prohibitions by presenting the material the way I do. If you disagree, please let me know via email (aawhite@mailbox.sc.edu).​

What Do I Do Now?

Begin your search for information by Topic, by Person, by Geographical Area, by Title of a book, film, or television program, by Meme or Image, or Alphabetically. ​Please use the Suggestion Box to offer topics or links to information, and please sign the Guestbook.

​Enjoy! 

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The "Giants' Teeth" from Sardinia

4/5/2015

22 Comments

 
My main geographic interest in the "giants" phenomenon lies in North America, especially the Eastern Woodlands. While the situation here has its own sets of linguistic, historical, political, religious, cultural, and scientific dimensions that make it unique, it doesn't exist in isolation.  Beliefs in giants, both in the past and today, articulate with religion, culture, and archaeology in many parts of the world. So far I've made just a few excursions outside of North America:  I've discussed what size differences depicted in ancient Egyptian art might mean, looked an actual case of pituitary gigantism from ancient Rome, and talked about ethnographic examples of megalithic traditions in India and Sumba and Nias in Indonesia. 

Today we're going to Sardinia.

Sardinia is a large island west of the Italian Peninsula. Human occupation of the island dates to at least the Upper Paleolithic.  Neolithic and Bronze Age peoples built stone constructions on the island, some of which were "megalithic" in that they made use of very large stones. I'm not an expert on Mediterranean prehistory, but a quick review of information online makes it clear there is a lot of variability in the rock architecture of Sardinia.  The megalithic traditions on Sardinia overlap with those in other parts of Europe in terms of their timing and some of their architectural elements, but also have aspects that make them distinctive.

There is a current folk belief in ancient giants on Sardinia that appears to have a lot in common with
the situation in North America.  Just about everything I know about the belief in giants on Sardinia I am basing on this episode of the program Forbidden History, a 2014 series (produced in the UK) that says it "uncovers the truth behind great myths, conspiracy theories, ancient treasures, lost civilisations and war time secrets."  Like similar programs produced in the US, much of the emphasis is on travel and making the host appear intrepid. But this episode, at least, does reveal some interesting things about the belief in giants in Sardinia.
PictureScreenshot from "Forbidden History" showing one of the megalithic tombs on Sardinia that local tradition holds was built by giants.
The Sardinian tradition of giants is tied to the megalithic architecture on the island.  Commonalities to the North American situation are striking: a folk belief based partly on "mysterious" architecture; stories of finding the remains of giants passed down through generations or remembered from childhood; the idea that mainstream science and the government are actively suppressing the truth; and an almost absolute lack of direct physical evidence.

The only purported physical evidence of the remains of giants in Sardinia that I have come across is teeth.  I found four examples: two from the Forbidden History episode and two promoted by a UFO enthusiast trying to insert extraterrestrial visitors into Sardinia's prehistoric past.  In the first two of these cases I discuss, it is asserted that the teeth are human, but we are not permitted to actually see the teeth in detail.  Based on what is shown, the teeth do not appear to me to be human.  In the other two cases, just like the "replica" of the Denisovan tooth shown by Search for the Lost Giants, the teeth don't look anything like human teeth - anyone who knows anything about teeth wouldn't mistake them for being human in thousand years. 



PictureScreenshot from "Forbidden History" showing a purported giant's tooth.
Tooth 1: Donated by an Intimidated Informant

The first tooth is shown to us on Forbidden History (beginning about 24:00 into the episode).  The host waves the tooth around for a while, explaining that it was given to him by a farmer who refused to be interviewed because "he'd been warned off talking to us . . . we're not sure by whom or why."  The farmer claims it is a giant's tooth.

The screenshot to the left shows the best view we are given of the tooth.  We never get to see the occlusal surface (the part of of the tooth that comes into contact with other teeth), so all we have to go are the shape and proportions of the crown and the roots and the fact that there are three roots.

In the human dentition, the first and second maxillary molars (the grinding teeth on the upper jaw) are the only teeth that routinely have three roots. Sometimes mandibular molars have three roots instead of the usual two.  Anyway, based on what we are shown, it appears to be unlike any human molar tooth I have ever seen.  The crown appears rather tall, and the proportions and the crown and the roots just don't look right to me.  I suspect anyone with a rudimentary working knowledge of comparative dental anatomy would be able to quickly identify this tooth to the family level (i.e., whether it belonged to a cow, a deer, a pig, etc.) by looking at the cusps.  Maybe that's why the TV show doesn't actually let us see the occlusal surface.

PictureScreenshot from "Forbidden History" showing a purported giant's jaw examined by a dentist.
Tooth 2: The Testimony of a Dentist

The second tooth (actually a set of teeth) is also shown to us by Forbidden History (beginning about 30:00 into the episode).  The host interviews a dentist who claims to have analyzed a piece of bone containing three "very big molars" reportedly recovered from one of the "giant's tombs."  We are later told that the actual specimen is no longer available, having mysteriously disappeared after being given to the university in Cagliari.  So we are left with the dentist's recollections and a video taken while he was analyzing the specimen. 

The bone fragment appears to be part of a mandible.  We don't get to see the fragment with a scale (or in a good quality photograph), but the dentist states that one of these teeth was 30 mm and another was 35 mm (presumably those are mesial-distal length measurements).  What we are shown of the video is so poor that it is hard to tell anything about the teeth - the light is bright and most of the detail is washed out.  I messed with the contrast in Photoshop to try to bring out some of detail in the cusps of the teeth but it wasn't a great improvement.  The teeth appear to be bunodont (crowns that have rounded or conical cusps), which you find in the molars of omnivores such as humans, pigs, and bears.  Since we never get a good look at the cusps, it is hard to say what creature these teeth belonged to.  Based on looking at some publications on European fossil pigs (such as this one) I'd say a pig is a reasonable guess.  Again, it's hard to fathom why there is no single good, well-lit, scaled photo of this specimen that could be shown.  If I was given a piece of evidence that I thought would change history, I'm pretty sure I'd take a picture.  I'm certainly not buying this as a human jaw based on what I saw on Forbidden History.

PicturePhotograph of a purported "giant's tooth" from Paola Harris' website (cropped and adjusted).
Tooth 3: Authenticated by a UFO Journalist

The third tooth is touted as a "giant's tooth" on the website of UFO enthusiast Paola Harris.  It's nothing of the sort: it's an animal tooth that very clearly shows a pattern of enamel ridges looping around the occlusal surface and protruding from the dentine.  This is called a "lophodont" or "secodont" tooth and is found in a wide variety of herbivores, including horses, rhinos, tapirs, cows, and deer.  Humans do not have these kinds of teeth.

The image of the tooth I show here is cropped and adjusted to bring out the cusp pattern more clearly.  I don't know exactly what creature we're looking at here, but I can tell you with 100 percent confidence that this is not a human tooth.  Someone with better skills in comparative dental anatomy will be able to identify this easily from the photo.


PicturePhoto of purported "giant's jawbone" from Paola Harris' website.
Tooth 4: Another Paola Harris Special

Paola Harris' website also features a photo titled "giant jawbone" that is apparently supposed to show the jawbone of a human giant.  It is part of a mandible with portions of three teeth visible.  The bone and the teeth are in poor condition, but the high quality photograph makes it apparent that the specimen is not human.  The morphology of what's left of the teeth suggests, again, some kind of large herbivore.

The opening of this episode of Forbidden History features the host riding in helicopter in order to ask why so many ancient cultures have tales of giants. Accompanying this question is a montage of well-known fake photographs of giant skeletons that have been passed around the internet for years.  That pretty much sets the tone for what follows.   At one point they even show someone posing with Joe Taylor's femur sculpture. This program, like Search for the Lost Giants, could do a lot more "discovering of the truth" if it spent more money on paleontologists and less money on helicopter rides.  If they wanted to identify the teeth, they certainly could have (at least the one that the host was holding in his hand).

Here's a tip for all you "truth seekers" out there: learn something about your subject matter, or ask someone who already knows something.  Dentists and physicians are not your best bet, either: neither typically needs to recognize and identify bones and teeth outside of the human body (why would they?), and neither usually has even basic training in how to do that. Variation in animal teeth has been studied for a long time, and there are plenty of archaeologists, anatomists, and paleontologists who know a lot about the teeth of various animals as well as the teeth of humans.  These people, unlike dentists, physicians, and coroners, can recognize and identify remains that are not human because they are (1) actually trained to first ask the question "is it human?" and (2) equipped with practical knowledge of how to answer that question. 

I have nothing against farmers, journalists, TV producers, dentists, and UFO enthusiasts, but I do not trust their determinations of what's a human tooth and what's not.  And neither should you. If this is the best evidence giant enthusiasts can offer for Sardinia . . .  it's probably time to move on.
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