Sidestep: Oceania's Giants

There is a lot of talk of giants around the world. Every continent has stories of them. Some of those stories will be based on fact and many will be embelished or made up from legends from elsewhere. The fact is, few skeletons have been presented for evidence. But absence of evidence does not always mean evidence of absence.

Here is a list I have found that is interesting and in some cases - entertaining. The entry of Mangaia Island is my own addition that relates to an artifcat found in the cave there.

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Tuvalu: On the remote atoll of Nukulaelae there once lived a giant named Tevalu. He used to snatch children playing on the beach, kill and eat them. Two brothers, who aimed at his eyes with their fishing-spears, finally killed Tevalu. A few years ago Japanese archaeologists found what the old villagers said was the giant's grave, 3.5 meter long. The villagers first wanted the archaeologists to open the grave, but then changed their minds: It was too dangerous!

Marshall Islands: On the small atoll of Lae there is a legend of a huge cylinder of timber that came drifting, with giants inside. Since the giants were week from drifting across the ocean the villagers managed to kill them. They then discovered that one of the giants was a princess, and regretted what they had done. Still today the islanders throw a piece of food in the water to ask forgiveness when they go fishing and pass by the islet where she is buried.

Fiji: Rotuma is an isolated island far north of the main islands. During the Second World War, coast watchers build a watch-house on the top of a hill. They uncovered shin bones over 3 feet (1 meter) long, - only a 12 foot (4.5 meter) tall man would have leg bones that size. In the same area, while searching for places to hide in case of a Japanese invasion, the people found caves filled with giant human bones.

Samoa: "May Moso eat you!" is an expression you can hear even today, when people quarrel or parents are scolding their children. Moso was a legendary giant that is said to have walked/jumped from Samoa to Fiji - and his footprint can be seen today. A tribe of giants, the Hiti, lived on Samoa before a great flooding.

Cook Islands: Also in the Cook Islands you can find old legends about giants. A giant named Moke was supposedly the largest giant of the South Pacific. He lived on the island of Mangaia and was no less than 2o meters tall. Also the main island of Rarotonga had it's giant. His name was Teu and he was ten meters tall. There is an amcient road on Rarotonga.

Mangaia Island (Cook Group): Legend of a giant of 8' called Kanunu, whose spear (Karare) was 30' long. A report was written by Edwin Gold, of Makatea Village, Mangaia Island, that the spear lay for a long time in the cave of Piri-te-umeume. In battle, Kanune would remain out of sight till the crucial moment, and then rush into the front of the battle to spear six enemy in one thrust, and next, resting the butt of the korare on the ground, he would elevated the great spear to a vertical position, with its writhing victims impaled thereon: a ghastly sight; and what strength, to do this with one immense heave! Victory was always theirs. Naturally, the “giant” could not, when doing this frightful “stunt,” look after his own safety. This was attended to by a bodyguard of ten chosen tribesmen. This seems logical and adds some authenticity to the story.

Tonga: The king of Tonga is two meters tall, and the royal family has always been extremely tall. Well, they are said to have the blood from the ancient gods - might be the giants? According to one legend two of the giants that lived in Tonga walked to Rotuma in Fiji in search of food. One starving giant killed the other, who then was killed by the people. Two bones after the giant were kept for people to see.

Easter Island (Rapa Nui): The island is famous for the gigantic statues of stone, but when the Dutchman Jacob Roggeveen discovered the island in 1722 there were living giants there too! Bahrens, one of the members of the expedition, wrote that some of the native were so tall that the seamen could walk upright between their legs! Did you know quite a few of the statues have six fingers?

Kiribati: On Tarawa, the main atoll of Kiribati, I found the footprints of a giant, his wife and children in a schoolyard - in the village of Banreaba. They all had six toes. Erik Von Däniken found one untouched 5,3 meter long grave in Kiribati, where a giant is said to buried, but were unable to examine it. The people are very afraid of ghosts.

Hawaii: On the islands of Hawaii there are many legends about ancient gods and giants. People say that skeletons of giants have been found. Some of these skeletal remains are supposed to be on the island of Maui, in lava caves near Ulupalakua and Olowalu.

Federated States of Micronesia: On the island of Pohnpei (Ponape) in Micronesia are some very interesting ruins called Nan Madol. This ancient city of stone is built on 90 artificial islands situated on the southeastern side of the island. Bones of giants have supposedly been found both inside the ruins and in the dense forest on the adjacent island. The people of Pohnpei are afraid of the mysterious place event today.

Federated States of Micronesia: The giant Ruwathoel lived on the southern tip of Yap. He was different from all the Yapese because of his size. He was half-human and half-giant and possessed skills and capabilities that surpassed all Yapese men. Out of jealousy, the people plotted to get rid of Ruwathoel. They cast a spell on him and got him to sleep and tied his hands to the coconut tree trunks and braided his hair to the house posts and set fire to the house. In his struggle to free himself Ruwathoel kicked the neighboring small island of Ngulu to where it still remains today…about 60 Miles from the main island of Yap.

Solomon Islands: An earlier US-airforce officer (?) now living in the Solomon Island is claiming that giants are living on Guadalcanal and the other islands. "The people of the Solomon Islands have shared their Islands with 'previously undiscovered to the modern world' race of hominoids for millennia right to this present day. The larger and more commonly seen are over 10 foot tall, but I have come across numerous Islander accounts with evidence that supports that they do grow much taller than that." He also claims there is an UFO-base on the island of Malaita. Attempts to reach him by e-mail have not been successful.

New Zealand: According to the local newspaper, a very large skeleton was found about 7 feet below the surface on the Saltwater Creek spit, Timaru, in 1875 - when removing some sand for building purposes. The skeleton was estimated to belong to a person of around 8 meters tall. It had so huge scull, that a normal human scull could entirely fit into its mouth. It belonged to a mysterious tribe of local giants by Maoris called Te Kahui Tipua which used to roam vicinity of Timaru until around 18th century.

New Zealand: According to the legends there were a lot of giants in New Zealand before and after the arrival of the Maori. One was Matu, who lived by Lake Wakatipu (""tipua" means giant), he was nine feet tall. Even bigger was Te Pute o Nga-puhi, who had eyes as lagre as plates. The giant Taangina lived by the Waikatro-river. He killed the high-chief Korongoi, but his son then killed the giant. Footprints after a giant are supposed to be found at East Cape.

New Zealand: Various stories of tall skeletons being found from Port Waikato down to Raglan. Tangata Whenua 16's specific interest is of just one of those mentioned, hidden in a dry cave and laid out on cut shelves in the soft rock. You will find more if you begin at no.1 post on 8th January and work forward from there.

Australia: Rex Gilroy has discovered giant footprints in Australia. He has also found hand axes, clubs, pounders, knives, and other stone-tools so huge that only giants with extra large hands and strength could have made use of them. Estimates for the actual size of these giants range from 10 to 12 feet tall and over. Aboriginal legends tells of giants living there when they arrived: "When Giant fellas alive, them big animals still bin walkabout this country, Ground shake when he walk. He eat peoples."

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Now that which is listed above is just part of the Pacific region. It is all conjecture as no proff exists that we can access. Yet there are various accounts in every culture all over the world, from Ireland to Russia, Afria to India, Alaska to Terra del Fuego. There has to be some basis for truth in such a widespread belief. There has to be at least a few occasionas that a race to giants existed for there to be so much talk of it. (Any race over 7' would be considered as a giant considering humans were shorter historically than since 1900AD). Today we laugh of such suggestions. Well, if you are one of those laughing I'm ok with it. I laugh at stuff too. But please read Post #12 on 24th January and see for yourself. If two such existing tall people reproduced and stayed isolated for a long time they would produce a race just like them. That is how genetics works.

While I love a good story, evidence is better than speculation. For example; all people either believe in a Creator or the Big Bang. There can be no middle ground on this issue. And yet, neither group can prove to the other that they are right by any human means we currently possess. Creationists will say they have faith (and that is all they have). The theorists say they have science. The fact is, both groups believe what they do by faith in what they are taught - as neither can be proved, and yet the latter requires possibly more faith than the former, due to producing everything from nothing, and assumes nothing exists outside of what we can see. The point isn't to debate about the two different beliefs in the earth's formation in this blog, it was simply an illustration of what we believe where some say one thing is fact, yet there is no evidential proof. Belief is not proof. Evidence is what separates the two and neither group has physical evidence, yet both believe what they cannot prove in spite of mans huge advancements.

So, to leave that type of debate aside permanently...If a race of giants pre-dating Maori 'have never existed' in this country as many maintain, and evidence is finally provided that they did exist in the form of many detailed digital photo's, along with video, DNA and carbon dating papers (actual copies revealed)- what then?

And will that bring out the Archaeoligists and others who already know the truth, but have been unable to speak until now? Well, we may find out soon!