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You Can Get $100 for Making America Dumber!

2/1/2018

17 Comments

 
I wasn't planning on writing a blog post today, but two things came across my desk this morning as I was going through emails and making my "to-do" list.  The first one was this article in The Conversation about the history of "fake news." The second was this top ten list of giant human skeleton claims.

The multiple connections between these stories operate on several levels. The piece in The Conversation, written by a professor of media studies at Penn State, had me shaking my head not because it was wrong, but because I'm frustrated that pointing out that 19th century newspapers often fabricated stories to increase circulation rates as insightful. As anyone who follows the history of pseudo-archaeology knows, made-up stories in 19th century newspapers about made-up places, made-up artifacts, and made up giant skeletons are integral to the perpetuation of the tangled mess of 19th century claims about the human past that persist today among "forbidden history" advocates of all stripes (Young Earth Creationists, white supremacists, Atlantis enthusiasts, giantologists, etc.).

It's bizarre that the same crowd that cries "fake news" and "conspiracy" today relies so heavily and so uncritically on newspapers that have been shown to have produced multitudes of fake stories for the purpose of selling copies.
I don't know how many discussions I've had with people on line who say that, unlike now, the media could be trusted back in the 1800's because there was no reason for them to lie.

Did you know, for example, that we discovered life on the moon in 1835?

I think there's a deep parallel between the creation and spread of fake news stories about giant skeletons in the 1800's and the resurgence and re-spread of those same stories now. I suspect that, in both cases, it has something to do with the emergence of new technologies of mass communication (the proliferation of cheap newspapers then, the internet today). Some of the same dynamics are at work in encouraging the publication of fantastic claims and rewarding those that create and spread them.

Which brings me to the second piece: a Listverse article titled "10 Forbidden And Creepy Claims Of Giant Human Skeletons" by Duane Wesley. I'm linking to this dumb article not to increase it's exposure, but so you can see it for yourselves. 

Wesley places himself among the world's most gullible people by citing for support, in the first paragraph, the satirical World News Daily Report article that has demonstrated the critical thinking skills of so many believers in giants. He then lists nine well-worn "giant skeleton" reports from late 19th and early 20th century newspapers. For good measure, he throws in as evidence a more recent satirical article (also from the World News Daily Report) about a giant skeleton unearthed in Australia.   

And why does Duane Wesley do this to us?

To make a hundred bucks, apparently.

That's how it works, I guess. You go look at other lists of giant skeletons, switch up the order, cite a publication that's one step below The Onion on the credibility scale, send it to Listverse, get your money through PayPal, and go buy some groceries or cat food or whatever you think is a suitable way to spend the money you earned for making America dumber.

Congratulations, Duane: you're part of the problem.
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17 Comments
Bob Jase
2/1/2018 09:52:18 am

Honestly its not the money, I'm just not evil enough to make this world dumber.

Reply
Andy White
2/1/2018 10:19:02 am

Okay, I can see you drive a hard bargain. How about $200?

Reply
Bob Jase
2/1/2018 10:35:38 am

For $200 I'll do something to prevent anyone from getting smarter. Maybe I can quote some old book.

Andy White
2/1/2018 10:37:29 am

$300 and an autographed photo of one my sculptures. Final offer.

Bob Jase
2/1/2018 11:10:23 am

That is sooooo tempting!

Any chance you could throw in a couple bits of welding slag?

Reply
Andy White
2/1/2018 11:17:53 am

No. No deal.

Reply
E.P. Grondine
2/2/2018 09:52:35 am

Hi Andy -

Its true that the newspapers would write stories that would sell newspapers. It is also true that the people living in those days were very racist could not accept that the ancestors of the Indians built the earthworks whose remains they found, and created imaginary peoples to account for them.

The problem is that there were very large Native Americans, the Andaste. Theis physical size is set out in the standard works on the Adena, Webb and Snow's, and Dragoo and Neuman's. Their physical remains have been excavated by professionals in well recorded excavations.

Further we have eye witness colonial accounts of them before their genocidal extermination in 1676 during Bacon's "Revolt".

Currently, there are some people trying to turn the Andaste into ancient alien hybrids, while others theosophist cult members are trying to turn them into some kind of knowledge bringing master race; and fundamentalists trying them into Nephilim; and the Mormons trying to use them to support Smith's errors.

They will take whatever you say and try to tun it into something to support their theories:

https://youtu.be/PQm8AC66bSE

https://youtu.be/aBFlFRLnzk8

Besides Webb and Snow and Dragoo and Neuman, you can find Norris's excavation notes here:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/jason-jarrell-and-sarah-farmer/ages-of-the-giants/paperback/product-23458418.html

Reply
Bob Jase
2/2/2018 10:27:46 am

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Adena_culture

from which, "Well, on average the Adena males were 5 ft 6, and women 5ft 2.Yes it's true that the people, overall, were not very tall."

Average height matters, NBA stars are not a separate race of giants.

Reply
E.P. Grondine
2/2/2018 11:11:20 am

I referred you to the books in which the results of Adena excavations were set out, not wikipedia.

(I also omitted Putnam's excavation notes and plates from my earlier list, but you will have to wait for Jeff Wilson's publication of them. Wilson will also share accounts of early archaeology in Ohio which I am very sure very many people will find of great interest.)

Dragoo cam up with the "Big Man" hypothesis to account for he evidence he had excavated, and set out that hypothesis in depth in "Mounds for the Dead", which I will again remind you is the standard and academically accepted text for training those students who will be working on Adena sites.

I myself rely upon Cambridge mt DNA distribution studies, which appear to be fully supported by excavation data. Not only does the Clovis First hypothesis fail, but the hypothesis that all crossings to the Americas came via Beringia fails as well.

Thew best fit for X mt DNA distribution is found via a landfall in Newfoundland with Canadian maritime archaic at 8,350 BCE.

That is what the data tells me. The data may tell you something entirely different, but pitching out the data is not an option.

Also, Jason Jarrell goes into Hrdlcka's activities in detail, working from the hard records.

You should also know that I am irritated to no end with "professional" archaeologists who refer to "the Moundbuilders", as if there was any such people.

Finally, I'd like to add that the height gene expresses in both Cherokee and Osage populations today. and I need to explicitly point out that the ancient Adena behaviors do not.


Bill Wagner
2/3/2018 11:41:45 am

Attempting to sweep ALL 19th century (first hand) accounts off the table by attributing them to newspaper sensationalism requires a leap of faith that would, in other contexts, be flagged and penalized. Numerous county histories detail finds, witnesses and submissions to the Smithsonian (letters thanking them for their donations quoted verbatim).

Really. To someone who remembers the mental climate in which any statement coming from the Soviet Union was immediately dismissed as a nefarious lie, this belief-based mentality in archaeology is Yogi Berra's "deja vu all over again."

PS : the (emphasis) average (/emphasis) height of the Adena is an irrelevant red herring. The Adena giants are more plausibly visualized as a ruling (genetic) elite reproducing only amongst themselves, such as those who ruled the Incas (blue-eyed and blonde), the Egyptians and any number of other peoples in antiquity.

Efforts devoted to throwing the baby out with the bath water would be better devoted, IMO, to re-focusing on the assumption that where there's that much smoke there must be fire involved.

Reply
Jim
2/3/2018 03:00:09 pm

So, you go with the premise that if you repeat the same crap multiple times it becomes truth ?

Reply
E.P. Grondine
2/5/2018 09:12:44 am

That works for Newt Gingrich (Trump, Fox, etc.), the manned Mars flight "enthusiasts" (read "nuts"), the "ancient alien" folks, and those who insist that there were no comet impacts at the start of the Holocene.

Like I told you, usually what has happened has been that archaeologists have dug up Adena remains, and then have to figure them out, in other words, figure out why they are there. Its too bad that most archaeologists have not met that many Cherokee (Tushgul) or Osage (Wedigo), as then they would have no problem with their finds. Do you have any idea what it's like to find yourself growing to 7 foot height?

E.P. Grondine
2/4/2018 10:39:36 am

May archaeologist only change their views when directly confronted with what what they find in their own excavtions:

Another group of sites which seems to be related to this movement of the Copper Trading Giants are some large stone burial mounds. The following excavation report of one of them by Gerard Fowkes is of particular interest, as while Fowkes vigorously denied the existence of the Giants, nonetheless he found the remains of a giant in his own excavation, and much to his credit, he reported it:

“Quite different from these [small stone graves] is a type of stone graves, once quite abundant on both sides of the Ohio River, from Manchester, Ohio, to Dover, Kentucky, a distance of twenty five miles. A few stood at varying intervals for some miles below Dover, and as far up the river as Huntington, West Virginia; and some remain along North Fork of Licking River in Mason county, Kentucky. They were most abundant from Manchester to Ripley on the Ohio side of the river, and from Maysville to Dover on the Kentucky side. Between these points, almost, every peak, ridge, or high elevation, commanding an extensive view of the Ohio Valley, was crowned with at least one, and in many instances several of these cairns. The smallest ones contained not more than a wagon load of stones; the largest fully fifty times as much. Between these extremes was every intermediate size.

“Two miles above Aberdeen, a narrow ridge extends directly south for about 500 feet from the rolling table land. Its top is horizontal; its sides slope steeply like the roof of a house, to a gorge on either side; the end falls precipitously to the river level. A cairn on this ridge, about 300 feet from its point, was much the largest tumulus of this character yet discovered. It measured 34 feet from north to south, 37 feet from east to west, with its summit six feet above the southern margin. The surface on this side, however, is much lower than formerly, on account of careless cultivation... "

Many excavation reports have also been thrown out along with the newspaper reports.

“A trench reaching to the subsoil was dug entirely around the mound, and carried inward until the imbedded rocks were exposed; they covered an area: about 26 feet north and south, by 29 feet east and west... The entire area covered by these graves measured fifteen feet east and west by eleven feet north and south. The bones varied much in size; one jaw was massive and nearly two inches longer than that of anyone present at the time. Bones of children were also found. None were in condition for preservation.

“In the original soil, near the central portion of the earth mound on which these graves were made, were two small shallow holes containing some charcoal and scraps of burned animal bone; in one were two lumps of [red] ochre and a copper spool shaped object. Though much smaller, and of a slightly different pattern, the latter resembles the so-called "ear ornaments" frequently found in the large earth mounds.”

Reply
Denise
2/4/2018 12:20:21 pm

My mantra to all fellow historians and every park visitor I come into contact with is "Thou Shall Not Trust 19th Century Sources" at least not without a lot of additional primary research. Learned that lesson as a buck seasonal Park Ranger at Valley Forge when I learned not only that no one had starved or froze to death there (that was the following year at Morrisontown NJ) but the soldier's diaries praised how well they were fed and complained about the 100 degree weather. Sure the first two weeks were cold but they were there through July.

My favorite history myth re. 18th century:
"They were all short". Depends on ethnicity and nutrition just like now. To be an British Grenadier one had to be over 6 feet tall.

Reply
E.P. Grondine
2/5/2018 08:21:02 am

Hi Denise -

For some reason I want to share with you the fact that the only site I have ever taken an artifact from is Valley Forge. When I visited there, I happened to spot an unusual rock. When I picked it up, it turned out to be a really really poor gun flint. I was surprised at how badly the Congress had supplied their troops. I took it home and taped it to a copy of the visitor's guide.

I especially want to point out that this was not a Native American site, but rather a colonial one, and that this is the only time I have ever done this at any of the thousands of sites I have visited. So Andy, you do not have to worry about your dig. Nor does anyone have to worry about their site. Unless they are grossly mismanaging an important colonial site.

Reply
Sean
10/11/2018 10:36:21 am

Ok..I am just gonna ask. I have a vague interest in the subject. I think it is because I follow the Paleo diet to treat my psoriasis (Hey, it works for me). In many respects, learning about the diet, is a meditation on the negative consequences of agriculture. It seems to me, that the fossil record shows that humans became, smaller, weaker, smaller brained..etc as a result of living in agricultural societies. Is there any degree, in your opinion, that this is referenced in some of our more ancient literature? For instance in say, The Epic of Gilgamesh?

Reply
Sean
10/11/2018 12:21:42 pm

I only ask because, it seems to me, the loudest voices on this subject seem to be those people, whom drawing the conclusion that, the gods were in fact just large hunter gatherers, have the most to lose. Also, racists having to face the possibility that their Uber "race" was brown might feel some pressure to change their views. Thinking of the old myths in that way, actually provides some clarity...not that it is correct. Show me some bones, is the correct stance, i suppose.

Reply



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