The Old Testament tells a story in which a diminutive David defeats the giant Goliath. Using just a sling to slay his enormous foe, this unlikely victor became the second Hebrew monarch. While many consider the tale to be merely a colorful allegory, a recent finding exhibiting the oldest known Philistine inscriptions suggests that Goliath may have actually existed.
This artifactβa small clay shardβwas found in Israel in by Tell es-Safi University archeologists. Alwt and Wlt are non-Semitic names which are etymologically similar to the name Goliath. Studies confirm that the carving was made around B. However, evidence collected from around the globe over the last century suggests that the existence of a real giant may not have been that strange after all.
In fact, these finds have led some to believe that the mankind of antiquity may have come in three distinct sizes: giants, humans, and hobbits. Researchers determined that these smaller humans had existed alongside man until about 13, years ago. The research teamβincluding Indonesian paleoanthropologist Professor T. Jacobβdubbed the small race Homo floresiensis, named after the Indonesian island of Flores where the skeletons were uncovered.
Some say these hobbits still roam the jungle, prompting many visitors to the island in recent years in search of a myth incarnate.
The wealth of evidence for a race of giants is even greater. Remains of giant humans have been found in practically every part of the globe: Tunisia; Pennsylvania; Glen Rose, Texas; Gargayan in the Philippines; Syria; Morocco; Australia; and throughout the Urbasa mountain range in Spain. Similar human remains that were found in nearby southern China reveal large humans who possessed six digits on each extremity.
