This unexpected article "Legendary Giants Found in Ecuador", caught my eye a while ago, so I am sharing it with you.
The original source seems to be this one: Cuenca HighLife (Amazon giants may be for real; research team finds several large skeletons in settlements on the Ecuadorian – Peruvian border. Oct. 5, 2015, Liam Higgins).
The article says that Dement uncovered some remains dating back 600 years that belonged to a person measuring 7 ft. 4 inches, which is 2,24 m. Considerable height.
Apparently "One of the first mentions of them was in an article by the German researcher Franz Bosch, who heard about it from a community of the Shuar, southeast of Cuenca". The Shuar also known as Jivaro were the famous "head shrinkers".
I have not found what Bosch wrote about them, but instead came across what a Catholic priest, Juan de Velasco, wrote about giants in Ecuador. He did so in his book "Historia del reino de Quito en la America Meridional: La historia antigua", published in 1841 by the Imprenta del Gobierno, 1841 - Ecuador, and below I copy his comments on them:
The text says: "...[at] Manta... was at the beginning of the Christian Era... the location of a horrible race of giants. They consumed in part, and in part, forced to withdraw, the American nations that before them had inhabited that country. After the giants became extinct, the place was again peopled but slowly, by other common races... ".
But there is another even older reference to the giants, in chapter LXVI (De cómo ciertos gigantes aportaron a la provincia de Manta, los quales salieron de vnas yslas de la mar del Sur, y después fueron quemados con fuego celestial, y cuenta de otras cosas que ay en la tierra), by Pedro Gutiérrez de Santa Clara (1543-1603), a Mexican historian who wrote about the wars in Peru. See the full Spanish text here.
Apparently, de Santa Clara heard from the "old and ancient Indians" that lived in Puerto Viejo in the Manta province, that during the reign of Topa Inca Yupanqui, a "large quantity of gint Indians of ill shaped height and size " came in "very big boats or rafts made of canes and dry wood which had triangular Latin sails", they came from "where the Sun sets towards the Molucca Islands or the Strait of Magellan" (which is odd, as one is south and the other is west!).
These giants killed some Indians and evicted the others from their villages. So these natives called for help to the Inca ruler who sent the Curaca (governor) of the Chimo Valley and the governor of Piura as ambassadors to deal with the giants.
Topa Inca Yupanqui or Tú pac Inca Yupanqui ruled from 1471 to 1493. Which gives us a time frame for the arrival of these "giants".
This map shows the location of Manta and Cuenca.
An interesting point is that Giants were also reported in the book: Obras históricas de don Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl by Fernando de Alva (1568 - 1648) was a Spanish - Aztec priest, who on page 17 writes: "In Nueva España [Mexico] there were giants, besides the proof of their bones that are found in many places, the ancient Toltec historians say that they were called Quinametzin". Which shows that giants were a prevalent myth in America at the time of its discovery by Europeans.
Last but not least, the type of ship mentioned by Santa Clara actually did exist and was reported by European explorers as can be seen in the following image:
Image from: "Navegación precolombina: el caso del litoral pacifico ecuatorial: evidencias e hipótesis", Alicia Alonso Sagaseta, Jean François Bouchard, Mercedes Guinea Bueno, José Alcina Franch, Revista Española de Antropología Americana, Vol 17, 1987. Which may imply that the "giants" were Native Americans from further north, from Mexico, Colombia or Central America...
Nevertheless, I am very sceptical about all stories that mention giants and am taking this with a pinch of salt until I see it published in a reputable publication.
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2015 by Austin Whittall ©
Hi Austin, I think you're right to be skeptical. A quick Google search reveals no results for "Russell Dement" outside of websites that basically reblog the Cuenca HighLife content. Therefore it seems most likely a hoax.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that your review of the historical materials around this subject are, as usual, over enlightening. Regards NeilB.
Thank you Neil.
ReplyDeleteYes, he does not figure in any search in Google Scholar nor does he appear in the website of the Berlin Free University. Even the surname "Dement" is rather suspicious. Googled in Spanish and also, only copy pastes from the same source in Ecuador.
You are right, the whole thing is a hoax.
In 1965 I was a guest at the home of Victoria Faust, a hollywood personality and actress of the 1940s. She lived in an old hacienda below Punta Bunda, in Baja California. She told me of a discovery of a nine foot giant in a region south of the area that she and her husband lived in. I always remembered that.
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