According to Joe Taylor, one of the biggest attractions in the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum is his sculpture of a 47” femur and an accompanying drawing showing the immense size of the individual to whom that femur belonged. You can find pictures of Taylor and his femur sculpture all over the internet, and a photo of the two together graces the back of his book “Giants Against Evolution.”
The back cover of the book (shown in the image to the right, I think) reads:
“47 inch Human Femur
In the late 1950s, during road construction in south-east Turkey in the Euphrates Valley, many tombs containing the remains of Giants were uncovered. At two sites the leg bones were measured to be about 120 cms “47.24 inches”."
The Genesis Park website makes a similar statement:
“In the late 1950’s, during road construction in the Euphrates Valley of south-east Turkey, many tombs containing the remains of giants were uncovered. At the sites the leg bones were measured to be 120 cm (47.24 in.).”
A Google search for the phrase “In the late 1950's during road construction in south-east Turkey” returns over 400,000 results, many of which appear to be retelling the story of the femur verbatim. This is a popular story. It shows up over and over and over again on websites asserting the reality of ancient giant humans.
All told, this seems to be a pretty important piece of evidence among proponents of giants.
In this interview, Taylor says that people “see the truth” in his sculpture because it has “a believable story, and it shows them how big these people were and it explains a lot of the things we see in the earth if you account for these giant men being connected to them.”
Proof that there once existed a human with a 47” femur would, indeed, be remarkable. There is no question about that.
So one might reasonable ask what is the basis of this remarkable claim? Surely there is some compelling evidence that explains why this claim is so widely accepted and so vigorously promoted?
Prepare to be disappointed.
The entire basis for this claim appears to be an anonymous letter. According the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum website, this is what the reported letter said:
“Dear Christian Friends, I was born and lived in the Middle East from 1938 to 1968. I was Ain-Tell and Euphrates water works Engineer and was very interested in archaeology and history and had some very interesting findings, some of which may sound unbelievable. I have brought with me a few silex arrow heads, etc., from the very battle-field where King Nebuchadnezzar and Pharo-Necho’s armies fought. And what about the giants mentioned in Genesis? In south-east Turkey in the Euphrates Valley and in Homs and at Uran-Zohra, tombs of about four meters long once existed, but now roads and other construction work has destroyed the spots. At two places, when unearthed because of construction work, the leg bones were measured about 120 cms. It sounds unbelievable. I have lived with my family at Ain-Tell for more than 14 years at the very spot where King Nebuchadnezzar had his headquarters after the battle of Charcamish, where I dug the graves of kings’ officers and found their skeletons like sponge, and when you touch them they become like white ash, with spears and silex and obsidian tools and ammunition laying by.”
As best I can tell, that’s it. That’s all of the evidence there is. That’s the story. That’s the documentation shoring up this key piece of evidence: an unsigned letter that anyone, anywhere could have written.
Is there any more to this story? In this interview it looks like there may be a longer version of the letter, but Taylor tells the same basic story: guy writes a letter to another guy about what he saw, we make a sculpture and glue it to a board. Case closed, evolution refuted.
In that same interview, Taylor asks “why isn’t it known throughout all the museums in the world . . . why don’t they talk about these giants?” His answer to his own question is that the atheists controlling museums know that proof of giants would be proof that the Bible was true.
My answer to Taylor's question is a little bit different: because your “evidence” is a sculpture based on a measurement reported in a letter that may have been a complete fabrication. I wouldn’t even try to get a refund for a gallon of sour milk with evidence as thin as what Taylor presents for this extraordinary claim, let alone try to use it to “refute the theory of evolution.”
Maybe there is something else to this story but it just hasn't been clearly presented. Please let me know if I missed something. If this is all there is you might as well just say “A guy wrote me a letter that stated evolution is wrong . . . let’s build a museum.”
In both of the interviews I watched, Taylor said the bone was discovered in Egypt rather than Turkey. One of the ads on the museum website (scroll down on the page) says the bone was “found in Egypt by road construction engineers in the 1960s." I know that details can be inconvenient, but you would think that we could keep at least two of them straight in this instance since there are really only three: (1) Turkey (or Egypt?), (2) 1950s (or 1960s?), (3) 47” leg bone. At least we've got the 47" leg bone.
But wait, the alleged letter actually says "the leg bones were measured about 120 cms." This could be interpreted to mean that both the bones of the leg (tibia and femur) together measured 120 cm. This would still be a tall person, but not a 15' giant. So I guess we're not even really clear on the 47" femur.
I spent a few minutes trying to find places called “Homs” and “Uran-Zohra” in Turkey and couldn’t. I’m not ready to claim they don’t exist since I didn't search thoroughly, but it is notable that what popped up right away searching on these words were re-posts of the same verbatim giant account. There is a Homs in western Syria, but (best I can tell) it isn't in the Euphrates drainage basin? The Euphrates definitely isn't in Egypt. Where was the bone supposedly found? Turkey? Egypt? Syria? Narnia?
I’m not exactly sure what all of this is proof of, but it’s certainly not proof of the existence of giants.
This tale is my new frontrunner in the category of “most bang for the buck” in terms of the ratio of its perceived importance among giant enthusiasts to the strength of evidence presented. At least the fascination with the Delevan skeletons is based on a newspaper account. And at least Jim Vieira actually called someone on the phone to discuss the story of Charles Huntington’s “eyewitness” account. All we have here is an opportunity to buy a $450 cast of a giant femur that was reportedly seen in Egypyt, or Turkey, or somewhere over there somewhere in the 1950s. Or maybe the 1960s. By somebody.
I wish I could afford to buy Taylor’s book to add it to my collection: I’m sure it contains many interesting statements. Its high cost ($39), though, would blow much of my ancient giants research budget for the year. (I’ve signed up for another month’s subscription to newspapers.com so I can keep working on understanding the North American accounts -- so that’s another $7.95 that I’ve committed and we're barely halfway through January). Maybe I should start asking for donations. Or maybe I could start selling casts of large femurs. How about someone sends me a letter saying they saw a large femur once in some place – doesn’t really matter where – and I’ll start making casts. The bigger the better: the going rate seems to be $9.57/inch.
The back cover of the book (shown in the image to the right, I think) reads:
“47 inch Human Femur
In the late 1950s, during road construction in south-east Turkey in the Euphrates Valley, many tombs containing the remains of Giants were uncovered. At two sites the leg bones were measured to be about 120 cms “47.24 inches”."
The Genesis Park website makes a similar statement:
“In the late 1950’s, during road construction in the Euphrates Valley of south-east Turkey, many tombs containing the remains of giants were uncovered. At the sites the leg bones were measured to be 120 cm (47.24 in.).”
A Google search for the phrase “In the late 1950's during road construction in south-east Turkey” returns over 400,000 results, many of which appear to be retelling the story of the femur verbatim. This is a popular story. It shows up over and over and over again on websites asserting the reality of ancient giant humans.
All told, this seems to be a pretty important piece of evidence among proponents of giants.
In this interview, Taylor says that people “see the truth” in his sculpture because it has “a believable story, and it shows them how big these people were and it explains a lot of the things we see in the earth if you account for these giant men being connected to them.”
Proof that there once existed a human with a 47” femur would, indeed, be remarkable. There is no question about that.
So one might reasonable ask what is the basis of this remarkable claim? Surely there is some compelling evidence that explains why this claim is so widely accepted and so vigorously promoted?
Prepare to be disappointed.
The entire basis for this claim appears to be an anonymous letter. According the Mt. Blanco Fossil Museum website, this is what the reported letter said:
“Dear Christian Friends, I was born and lived in the Middle East from 1938 to 1968. I was Ain-Tell and Euphrates water works Engineer and was very interested in archaeology and history and had some very interesting findings, some of which may sound unbelievable. I have brought with me a few silex arrow heads, etc., from the very battle-field where King Nebuchadnezzar and Pharo-Necho’s armies fought. And what about the giants mentioned in Genesis? In south-east Turkey in the Euphrates Valley and in Homs and at Uran-Zohra, tombs of about four meters long once existed, but now roads and other construction work has destroyed the spots. At two places, when unearthed because of construction work, the leg bones were measured about 120 cms. It sounds unbelievable. I have lived with my family at Ain-Tell for more than 14 years at the very spot where King Nebuchadnezzar had his headquarters after the battle of Charcamish, where I dug the graves of kings’ officers and found their skeletons like sponge, and when you touch them they become like white ash, with spears and silex and obsidian tools and ammunition laying by.”
As best I can tell, that’s it. That’s all of the evidence there is. That’s the story. That’s the documentation shoring up this key piece of evidence: an unsigned letter that anyone, anywhere could have written.
Is there any more to this story? In this interview it looks like there may be a longer version of the letter, but Taylor tells the same basic story: guy writes a letter to another guy about what he saw, we make a sculpture and glue it to a board. Case closed, evolution refuted.
In that same interview, Taylor asks “why isn’t it known throughout all the museums in the world . . . why don’t they talk about these giants?” His answer to his own question is that the atheists controlling museums know that proof of giants would be proof that the Bible was true.
My answer to Taylor's question is a little bit different: because your “evidence” is a sculpture based on a measurement reported in a letter that may have been a complete fabrication. I wouldn’t even try to get a refund for a gallon of sour milk with evidence as thin as what Taylor presents for this extraordinary claim, let alone try to use it to “refute the theory of evolution.”
Maybe there is something else to this story but it just hasn't been clearly presented. Please let me know if I missed something. If this is all there is you might as well just say “A guy wrote me a letter that stated evolution is wrong . . . let’s build a museum.”
In both of the interviews I watched, Taylor said the bone was discovered in Egypt rather than Turkey. One of the ads on the museum website (scroll down on the page) says the bone was “found in Egypt by road construction engineers in the 1960s." I know that details can be inconvenient, but you would think that we could keep at least two of them straight in this instance since there are really only three: (1) Turkey (or Egypt?), (2) 1950s (or 1960s?), (3) 47” leg bone. At least we've got the 47" leg bone.
But wait, the alleged letter actually says "the leg bones were measured about 120 cms." This could be interpreted to mean that both the bones of the leg (tibia and femur) together measured 120 cm. This would still be a tall person, but not a 15' giant. So I guess we're not even really clear on the 47" femur.
I spent a few minutes trying to find places called “Homs” and “Uran-Zohra” in Turkey and couldn’t. I’m not ready to claim they don’t exist since I didn't search thoroughly, but it is notable that what popped up right away searching on these words were re-posts of the same verbatim giant account. There is a Homs in western Syria, but (best I can tell) it isn't in the Euphrates drainage basin? The Euphrates definitely isn't in Egypt. Where was the bone supposedly found? Turkey? Egypt? Syria? Narnia?
I’m not exactly sure what all of this is proof of, but it’s certainly not proof of the existence of giants.
This tale is my new frontrunner in the category of “most bang for the buck” in terms of the ratio of its perceived importance among giant enthusiasts to the strength of evidence presented. At least the fascination with the Delevan skeletons is based on a newspaper account. And at least Jim Vieira actually called someone on the phone to discuss the story of Charles Huntington’s “eyewitness” account. All we have here is an opportunity to buy a $450 cast of a giant femur that was reportedly seen in Egypyt, or Turkey, or somewhere over there somewhere in the 1950s. Or maybe the 1960s. By somebody.
I wish I could afford to buy Taylor’s book to add it to my collection: I’m sure it contains many interesting statements. Its high cost ($39), though, would blow much of my ancient giants research budget for the year. (I’ve signed up for another month’s subscription to newspapers.com so I can keep working on understanding the North American accounts -- so that’s another $7.95 that I’ve committed and we're barely halfway through January). Maybe I should start asking for donations. Or maybe I could start selling casts of large femurs. How about someone sends me a letter saying they saw a large femur once in some place – doesn’t really matter where – and I’ll start making casts. The bigger the better: the going rate seems to be $9.57/inch.
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