Humans have been telling stories about giants for thousands of years, from the Cyclops of Greek mythology to Goliath in the Bible, but are these just myths, or did giant humans really exist on this earth?
If you consider anyone nearly nine feet tall to be a giant, you’d be right. The tallest man on record, Robert Wadlow, grew to 8 feet 11 inches (2.72 meters) by the time of his death in 1940 at age 22. Guinness World Records.
Wadlow was way above his current level. Average height of men in the United States Approximately 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 meters), even taller than some interpretations. The Bible Account of GoliathYet there was nothing magical about Wadlow: Like most real-life giants, his height was the result of medical issues.
“The majority [giant] The patient has a growth hormone problem.” Marta Korbonitz“That’s what Robert Wadlow had,” the professor of endocrinology at Queen Mary, University of London, told Live Science.
Korbonitz noted that the main cause of gigantism is elevated levels of growth hormone produced by the pituitary gland in the brain. In most cases, these high levels are caused by benign tumors. One reason it’s unlikely we’ll ever see someone as tall as Wadlow again is that doctors now know Remove the tumor Gigantism and tumors pose a risk to a person’s health, so medications are used to stop the growth.
Related: Why aren’t there so many giant animals anymore?
There are several other conditions that can cause abnormally tall people, including Marfan syndrome, a genetic disorder that causes elongated bones, Korbonitz explained.
However, some people experience rapid height growth without any medical issues. Formerly the tallest man in the worldBao Xishun is 7ft 9ins (2.36m) tall, making him a giant without gigantism. Korbonitz said they probably carry a genetic mutation that makes them more likely to be tall.
Although it’s easier for researchers to study modern giants, it’s likely that very tall people have existed since ancient times. The Earliest Case of Gigantism The remains, believed to be those of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, were about 6 feet 1.6 inches (1.87 meters) tall, but Korbonitz’s the study Many real The Irish Giant They inherited a genetic mutation from someone who lived 2,500 years ago.
“These diseases have been around for as long as humans have existed, so it’s impossible that these giants didn’t exist in ancient Egypt or at other times in human history,” Korbonits said.
A combination of genetics and environmental factors such as diet during childhood Determine the heightPopulation often rises over time as civilization advances, but it’s not necessarily a linear trend.
Pavel GlasgruberPart of the skeleton of a man from the late mammoth-hunting Gravettian culture, about 29,000 years ago, stands out for its extraordinary stature, researchers from Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, told Live Science. Inspiring the mythology of giantsThe tallest of seven skeletons excavated in the Grimaldi Caves in Italy in the early 20th century was Estimation He was 6 feet 5 inches (1.96 meters) tall.
“Considering that at the time these skeletons were discovered, the standard height for a European male was under 170cm. [5 feet, 7 inches]”It’s no wonder that these people seemed ‘giants’ to scientists at the time,” Glasgruber said in an email.
Researchers don’t know if the tall remains are representative of the Gravettian man, but Glasgruber noted that the tall men are typical of early Late Paleolithic peoples in the historic regions of France and Moravia (now the Czech Republic), who achieved heights unreachable by modern industrialized countries until the mid-20th century.
“The good physical health of Early Upper Paleolithic hunters was due to low population density and an abundance of large mammal prey, such as mammoths,” Glasgruber said.