It’s no tall tale—the first complete ancient skeleton of a person with gigantism has been discovered near Rome, a new study says.
At 6 feet, 8 inches (202 centimeters) tall, the man would have been a giant in third-century A.D. Rome, where men averaged about 5 and a half feet (167 centimeters) tall. By contrast, today’s tallest man measures 8 feet, 3 inches (251 centimeters).
Finding such skeletons is rare, because gigantism itself is extremely rare, today affecting about three people in a million worldwide. The condition begins in childhood, when a malfunctioning pituitary gland causes abnormal growth.
Two partial skeletons, one from Poland and another from Egypt, have previously been identified as “probable” cases of gigantism, but the Roman specimen is the first clear case from the ancient past, study leader Simona Minozzi, a paleopathologist at Italy’s University of Pisa, said by email.
According to ancient legends once he walked the Earth giant race of people who built the giant pyramids and buildings as a divine temples. Their existence also tells the story of David and Goliath and countless fairy tales.
The mystery is why these people died out. Unusually large remains, allegedly scientists have discovered in Bulgaria, could help answer that question.
Necropolis had a stash of about 80 skeletons, and most of them were complete. In addition they also found a preserved ceramic pots filled with grain. In recent years, however, the villagers discovered the cemetery Titans in the planting apple orchard.
In addition to oversized skulls they discovered intact skeleton, jewelery, fragments of vessels specifically 3-meter statue. Even at this point in a group of archaeologists and drove findings discovery was forgotten, it is said among locals.