# Did tall races of 8' ever exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 5, 2019, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109 "2019-04-05T22:59:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/61 "2019-04-10T15:10:21Z")
Humans didn’t used to be big, humans _are_ big. It’s the _pictures_ that got small. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/62 "2019-04-10T15:44:03Z")
> [@tangatawhenua16](#): > > But I am not here to convince anyone, yet. You create a website that is involved in and/or promoting the vandalizing of archaeological sites, and you post the exact same “theories” on two separate forums. Hell of a lot of work if you aren’t trying to convince people, don"t you think? ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/63 "2019-04-10T23:42:09Z")
> [@tangatawhenua16](#): > > …(the last one in 2008 by someone I know where the archaeologist ordered the skeleton bulldozed!) )… Do you have any evidence of this that you can share? ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/64 "2019-04-10T23:52:55Z")
> [@tangatawhenua16](#): > > Do you think if evidence of a pre-Polynesian people of tall stature were revealed to the authorities they’d applaud it? No idea. I’d expect most people would be highly skeptical, some very interested, and a few each displeased or smug. > [@](#): > > Political Maori totally reject the notion they were not here first. But many Maori do not believe they were first. It depends on what tribe (and therefore what part of the country) you come from. If that’s the case then why the need for a conspiracy of denial and concealment? > [@tangatawhenua16](#): > > All that changes is the title of who were the original native people. I’m not sure why you bring in a racist tone to all this. It’s a mistake many make. I’m happy to extend you the courtesy of assuming this isn’t your position then, but please be aware that similar claims of an earlier indigenous people were historically used by some people with ulterior racial motives. ---
**Author:** ![tangatawhenua16](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@tangatawhenua16](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tangatawhenua16)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/65 "2019-04-11T06:44:11Z")
> [@Richard\_Pearse](#): > > At most? This is actually the goal. Prove that there were white people in New Zealand before the Māori and then you don’t have to honour the Treaty of Waitangi because it was “our” (white people’s) land all along! The giant bit is just a red herring. > > [https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/22-05-2017/the-white-tangata-whenua-and-other-bullshit-from-the-one-new-zealand-crew/#.WSHrX6848mY.twitter](https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/22-05-2017/the-white-tangata-whenua-and-other-bullshit-from-the-one-new-zealand-crew/#.WSHrX6848mY.twitter) Actually the treaty was with British and Maori. That will never change. This has nothing to do with the treaty, only who was first. So your insinuation is a really wayward and a bit racist. Keep in mind, we are only following a really good lead. We have nothing to prove yet except that no one would seal this cave this way unless trying to discourage anyone from attempting to get back in. That and the fact we have a fossilized human bone that came in from the outside as unearthed by a digger when they sought fill to block the entrance. Bone cannot fossilize in the time Polynesians have lived here so it proves there were others her a long time ago. Tall skeletons? Well, that’s what we are yet to prove or disprove. Keep watching - you might be vindicated or you might be amazed. ---
**Author:** ![tangatawhenua16](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@tangatawhenua16](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tangatawhenua16)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/66 "2019-04-11T06:49:34Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > No, I think it is pretty clear that they are doing this criminally, and I hope that they are caught and given free room and board for an extended time. Interesting Darren. Can you explain how your assumption is ‘clear’ exactly. Before you answer consider we have no proof, we are digging out a cave not noted anywhere, is not close to any recorded archaeological site, all we have found so far has been brought in from the outside (ie already destroyed ‘archaeological’ evidence), and therefore we are simply digging out a cave at this stage. Explain your assumption please. But if it does hold what we hope to find, then it will real the archaeologist have been covering up stuff for years, just like the tall skeletons they bulldozed in 2008 in Tauranga which has been recorded. We hope to be arrested initially when we break the news (if it’s real), that is the best public coverage anyone could hope for. But you need to read more of the site and gain some more understanding, if your bias could allow you to do so? ---
**Author:** ![tangatawhenua16](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@tangatawhenua16](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tangatawhenua16)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/67 "2019-04-11T06:54:43Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > ditto. > > And I’m sure there were “giants” in biblical times. Any people who averaged 6" taller than the people who wrote the Bible would have been giants, after all. That’s a good point. a 5’ person would see a 7’ person as a giant. I don’t use the words giant - it’s too subjective. The reason we say the cave could hold 8’ skeletons is because someone else saw them before we did. The one we are tackling is only one of three sites locally holding skeletons rumored to be 8’+. The other two sites requires heavy equipment be undercover them again. Each site has or had petroglyphs nearby that are or not found elsewhere in Polynesia and in one case, even in NZ. ---
**Author:** ![tangatawhenua16](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@tangatawhenua16](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tangatawhenua16)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/68 "2019-04-11T06:58:01Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Yeah, well Australia’s got ya beat! Look see, [_they_ found a 17-footer](https://worldnewsdailyreport.com/5-meter-tall-human-skeleton-unearthed-in-australia/). All the recent photos are fake crap. Until someone produces multiple angle shots and video, treat them all as fake. ---
**Author:** ![tangatawhenua16](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@tangatawhenua16](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tangatawhenua16)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/69 "2019-04-11T07:03:26Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > tangatawhenua16, let us know when there’s a publication in a refereed scientific journal, because until then there’s nothing to discuss. Yet you still felt the need to comment? Love you Wendell… oh no, not in that way! Just in the semantics way. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/70 "2019-04-11T11:32:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Actually the treaty was with British and Maori. That will never change. This has nothing to do with the treaty, only who was first. So your insinuation is a really wayward and a bit racist. There’s a [song about a dragon](https://youtu.be/X-jVAHAuiS4) who’s a “bit racist”, do you know it? I’m curious why you use the words _tangata whenua_, when you are looking for people who were pre-Māori. Isn’t that a Māori term? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/71 "2019-04-11T11:59:40Z")
**tangatawhenua16** - Any comment on your completely inaccurate reading of G. Raumati Hook’s paper, where you claim he says the direct opposite of what he actually said? I mean, you couldn’t have missed [my post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/report.php?p=21578118)on the first page. It had the bright red font and everything… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/72 "2019-04-11T12:09:51Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I mean, you couldn’t have missed [my post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/report.php?p=21578118)on the first page. Ha ha, [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=21578118&postcount=16). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/73 "2019-04-11T12:22:17Z")
Also: > [@Colibri](#): > > What was the point of your General Questions thread on the time it takes for bone to fossilize (by which I assume you mean petrify) when you ignore the information that there is no necessary relationship between the age of a bone and the degree of fossilization? A mineralized or petrified bone could be less than 780 years old. Also, how do you know it’s a mammal bone? Moa bones were also large and dense Unless you are an expert on vertebrate osteology (which you clearly are not) I doubt you could reliably identify it as a mammal bone, let alone a human bone. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/74 "2019-04-11T12:59:22Z")
I was wondering why this all sounded so familiar…[and then I remembered this](https://writical.com/smithsonian-letter-response-specimen-submitted-guy/). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/75 "2019-04-11T16:10:17Z")
> [@tangatawhenua16](#): > > But if it does hold what we hope to find, then it will real the archaeologist have been covering up stuff for years, just like the tall skeletons they bulldozed in 2008 in Tauranga which has been recorded. You keep saying this. What’s your evidence? How do you know this? Where was it recorded? Was there an outcry or repercussions? ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/76 "2019-04-11T16:11:01Z")
Your blog seems to indicate you were “just on the brink of great discoveries” three years ago and blogged obsessively about your amateur research every single day. And then the entries stop. What happened? Did you come to your senses for a while and realized you were so high on confirmation bias you couldn’t see straight? ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/77 "2019-04-11T20:58:56Z")
> [@tangatawhenua16](#): > > many would say no because there is no evidence. But if evidence did exist many would call them ‘giants’ and the link to the biblical would be too grating…maybe? Are all the rumors just that and why so many rumors of cover-ups? > > We are in NZ and are following a rumor of 8’ tall skeletons in a cave which was immediately resealed and hidden. But we found the entrance and are digging it out. Follow our journey here - Why would anyone cover it up? In a field where everyone dreams about the big find that will make their reputation, and fame and fortune follows paradigm-overturning discoveries such as Homo Floresiensis. Why would anyone cover it up, or reseal a cave with something spectacular in? ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/78 "2019-04-11T21:34:00Z")
> [@tangatawhenua16](#): > > That’s a good point. a 5’ person would see a 7’ person as a giant. I don’t use the words giant - it’s too subjective. It doesn’t even need that much of a difference in height. IIRC, from a book called _The First New Zealanders_, Cook reported that the Maori were huge. From the book, the average height of sailors on Cook’s ship was something like 5’4", and the officers 5’6", while the Maori (presumably the young male warriors) were something like 5’9" or 5’10". (Sorry, long time since I read it - it was one of my wife’s University anthropology texts.) ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/79 "2019-04-11T21:34:31Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I was wondering why this all sounded so familiar…[and then I remembered this](https://writical.com/smithsonian-letter-response-specimen-submitted-guy/). Probably almost every field has questsions/claims that you give a stock answer for and be almost 100% certain to be correct. In areas that interest me, some questions include: Q: Have I found a meteorite? A: You haven’t found a meteorite. Q: Have I found a dinosaur egg? A: You haven’t found a dinosaur egg. (For the second question/answer, get a taste [here](http://www.thefossilforum.com/index.php?/search/&type=forums_topic&tags=egg&nodes=14&sortby=newest).) ---
**Author:** ![Grim\_Render](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@Grim\_Render](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grim_Render)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109/80 "2019-04-11T21:41:40Z")
Interestingly… human (ish) bones in a cave where there should be no human bones. A human species on an East Asian landmass long before the first Homo Sapiens. It was of unusual size. The sensational story broke yesterday. [Homo Luzonensis](https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47873072). Also, I checked out the OPs website and its basically trying to get money off the exceedingly credulous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-tall-races-of-8-ever-exist/832109.md?page=5)