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somewhat after the manner of mummies, and will doubtless throw new light upon the history of the people who reared these mounds. On the stones which covered the vault were carved inscriptions, and if deciphered will probably lift the veil which has enshrouded the history of the race of giants which undoubtedly at one time inhabited the continent." Georgia's Landmarks, Memorials, and Legends, by Lucian Lamar Knight (1868-1933) (Byrd Printing, Atlanta, 1913-14) The question has been raised, asking whether there was giant stature among the Native American people in earlier historic times. From Hardesty's History of Monroe County, Ohio, we discovered this: "He further told me of the killing of a big Indian at Buckchitawa, about the time of the settlement at Marietta. The Indians had a white prisoner whom they forced to decoy boats to the shore. A small boat was descending the river, containing white people, when this prisoner was placed under the bank to tell those in the boat that he had escaped captivi- ty, and to come to the shore and take him in. The Indians were concealed, but the big Indian stuck his head out from behind a large tree, when it was pierced by a bullet from the gun of the steersman of the boat. The Indians cried out "Wetzel, Wetzel' and fled. This was the last ever seen of the prisoner. The Indians returned next day and buried the big Indian, who, he said, was twenty inches taller than he was, and he was a tall man. "When Chester Bishop was digging a cellar for Asahel Booth, at Clarington, many years ago, he came across a skeleton, the bones of which were removed carefully by Dr Richard Kirkpatrick, and from his measurement the height of the man when living would have been 8 feet and 5 inches. It is proba- ble that these were the bones of the big Indian of whom the Indian at Jackson's told me." Could this special burial have been another kingly individual? the bank to tell those in the boat 1 In these increasingly hasty intrusions into the native burial ty, and to come to the shore and grounds' inherent sanctity, the holocaust delivered its zenith under were concealed, but the big Indi: the officialdom action of former Union Major Powell. This man, who in his youth had lived among the "Indians", somehow was insensitive to the sanctuary of their graveyards. But others came later to do a fair share of damage as well, all in the name of information gathering. The prehistory of eastern North America is not what we have been asked to accept from the efforts of Cyrus Thomas, nor from the subsequent authorities who based so much of their work upon his, and the reason is worth repeating: many or most of the oldest mounds and sub- terranean burial acreages were promptly destroyed, long before any focused "scientific" effort came on the scene. Apart from the disregard of the settlers' records, the other part of the problem is the labyrinthine mausoleum that is the Smithsonian bone and arti- fact collection. In sum, we today are deprived of the real knowledge of the more ancient lineage. The early settlers observed that the giants of old may have passed on their grand stature to the later native people, for there were individuals among their later progression Group of mounds in Union County, Mississippi who were of a size and build that goes beyond our current notions of Native American physicality. United States Coast Guard ligh hlan aha afia ne Ee ard r ‘ P ‘ og Ne she. at And again this: "A large quantity of human bones was dis- on County, Mississippi covered in a fissure in the limestone near the United States Coast Guard lighthouse. A crude tomb of black stone slabs, of a formation not known on the island, was found many years ago beneath the roots of a huge stump. Eight skeletons were found, one measuring over seven feet in height." Chatehac and Ctaviac af tha Taka Fria Telande The Telling of the Bones It is difficult not to understand the probability of an elite lineage of tall men and women who propagated their own genetic inheri- tance. These people lived, worked and bred together. Were their marriages arranged to ensure the continuance of the grand stature in roles of leadership and protection? In his classic Red Earth, White Lies, Vine Deloria says: "From talking with elders of several tribes, my understanding is that the Indians were and are describing people of more than average height. In fact, some elders as a routine matter have reported that the Indians themselves were much larger and taller." Sketches and Stories of the Lake Erie Islands by Theresa Thorndale, Sandusky (1898) Some of the settlers and their descendants may have seen clearly, but the representatives of the Smithsonian and other sanctioned institutions, in spite of good intentions, lacked the kind of thoroughness in their analyses that included a broadened field of vision. We have felt heartily from the beginning of this research that the Smithsonian is the recipient of mandates put into 56 = NEXUS JUNE — JULY 2003 Group of mounds in Union County, Mississippi www.nexusmagazine.com