Time now to look at some of the views of writers of the twentieth century with regard to the present book's theme.  These are always interesting, often unique and thought provoking in their singularity. In considering these views it is important to realise that much conventional  thinking on subjects long held to be sacrosanct (by religion or traditional academia) has been, and is being, vigorously challenged by a comparatively new breed of open-minded  writers and scholars.  In any case, little can be taken as proved or as disproved, especially in the nebulous sphere of ancient anthropological or religious study.

     STONEHENGE, PYRAMIDS AND THE GIANTS by W.H. Warn, written in 1931, is an erudite booklet drawing on obsure ancient history in order to substantiate his thesis that a race of giant beings played no small part in building  some of the most famous structures  on earth.  Warn adduces the testimony of  the Greek historian Thucydides, (who wrote about 500 BC) regarding the  race of  Cyclops, the one-eyed  giants, probably  originating from Sicilly.  The Greek playwright, Euripides, describes the home of Polyphemous, the leader of the Cyclops, as being near the foot of Mount Etna. Homer (or the writings attributed to him) testify to the existence near Mount Etna of the Cyclops. Warn believes they were of the Anakim race (of biblical fame). The author presents further evidence of giants' existence (from ancient writers) and concludes  "It is evident that the Cyclopian giants took part in erecting those ancient buildings or works in which were used enormous blocks of stone". (p. 3) He further instances the huge stones raised twenty or thirty feet in the air at the temple at Baalbec, in Syria, and at Stonehenge.  The original inhabitants of Britain, he states,  were Celts, who are descended from Celtus, the son of Polyphemus. If they came to British shores from Sicilly (as the author maintains) in remote times, retaining their giant stature, constructing  huge works would not present such a problem as to men of ordinary stature.

Astronomical observatories?

     The idea has also been advanced that Stonehenge was (originally ?) a cometary catastrophe predictor, whose construction began about 4000 BC and whose existence was to predict  meteor storms on earth caused by a meteor or comet passing close to the earth. The huge long-barrows in the neigbourhood would then be shelters for the people of the time.
     The site of the Great Pyramid was carefully chosen. It is in the exact centre of the land masses of the earth's surface, "a pivotal point chosen by the Ancients as the strategic centre of the earth and  therefore the safest spot for this monument designed in stone to serve as a symbol of scientific and spiritual knowledge.  The Pyramids of Giza were built with the use of natural magnetic power."  So says A. Seeker, clearly a pseudonym, writing in 1956.  The quote is contained in another interesting, if idiosyncratic, book GIANTS _ TRUE OR FALSE? (front page). According to the author, ancient peoples apparently seeing the action of natural forces in the skies, movement, star shine, thunder and lightning and so on, felt the need to give names (or a name) to these mysterious forces:  they called them (or it), Deities or Gods, often with a small initial letter. "The most ancient people on this earth, giants, called these forces Natural Laws..." (p. 5).  Then, everything was much larger (a concept we have mentioned before); even the world itself before it began cooling and contracting. The early stone monuments "which the wise giants had built for us to see and recognize the natural laws which they had recognised...they wanted us to know about the very beginning..." (p. 15).  It was their time on earth that was the Golden Age, when because these early giants were benevolent, there was no trouble, no war.  One thing, says Seeker, is certain; the early giants were not savages, killing animals and using animal skins for clothing. In fact so developed were they that they had a form of intelligence that enabled them to communicate without speech. Their longevity was much greater than ours and the group (breed or race/s) lasted many hundreds of years. As time passed, the giants became smaller and their age spans shorter.

The giants' power

     The secret of the giants' power was their ability to extract natural forces from water, ground, air.  "They used a rod or staff for this purpose." (p. 34)  They took this secret (of power) with them when they dispersed into other lands, other continents.  In this connection, Seeker mentions the sunk land of Atlantis of which we have said something and will say more. The author writes of races who are descended from the (smaller) giants who possessed powers or secrets passed on to them by their giant ancestors. They were much more advanced, says Seeker, than the early Egyptians and taught them many skills, especially  building.
     The original pyramids, writes Seeker, were built by descendants of the wise giants.  "After the Atlanteans  had occupied Egypt and were lost in time an Egyptian king took credit for building the Great Pyramid and put his name on it [more on this point later]. He did not know who built it and thought it was a big grave. Other Egyptian kings continued this mistake and built pyramids in which to be buried." (p. 42)
      Huge statues, says Seeker, are found not only in Easter Island but also in many parts of the world: "Either these now distant lands were once connected or they were occupied by persons of one group or colony which became scattered" (p. 47). He also mentions the fine smooth roads on the Island (similar to those on Peru which stretch for hundreds of miles), sometimes into the sea.   It is significant that the Incas told the Spanish conquerers that they did not know who built the roads, the stone figures and the gold statues. Unfortunately the Spanish Christians destroyed all the ancient records and books they could lay their hands on.   As the author of GIANTS writes, "We lost some wonderful information when the old records were destroyed, for the ancients actually possessed secret information concerning the stars" (p. 72).

OLD CIVILISATIONS

     Old civilisations in South America contain many mysteries.  We guess at the meaning of the symbolic carvings on their monuments and hazard a guess at the meaning and purpose of the huge ruins.  Probably these were not temples as such, but astronomical buildings enabling them (e. g. the Maia) to keep records by the stars.
     When the land bridges existed, the giants crossed from Asia and Africa across the ocean to both South and North America. Islands appeared and disappeared at this time. Because of the earth's axis which "adjusts" itself, or tries to, every 26,000 years, this "Balance" as we may call it, causes some land masses, and islands to sink and other new ones to rise.  It is known for example that under-sea mountains, valleys, and inexplicable constructions exist, and it is well known that some islands of the present day came from out of the sea and that others sank below the waves.
     If we accept that the building of such as the great pyramids and the Sphinx are many, many years older than conventional history tells, then the existence of a co-terminous race of "sub-humans" does not convince -  as traditional archeaologists say; we have only to look at these wonderful stone monuments, precision laid, "fused" may be; star records; time divided into years, hours, minutes and seconds; the decimal system; the calendar; the exquisite moulding of precious and base metals into figures and jewellery. Bronze, although earlier than iron, needed to be invented; it may be that the bronze age people are no other than the discoverers of bronze, the Atlanteans. We are of course in the BC era; well before.  Throughout these ancient millenia, however, the phenomenon  of giantism was becoming less; trees, animals and "man".
 
The problem of dating

     Dating by remains is of course almost the only recourse we have and in this pottery dating is the most reliable.  In Jericho, for instance, pottery remains from the site indicate the city was destroyed by fire about 1500 BC.  It follows that the Exodus took place roughly fifty years earlier, and the approximate birth date of Abraham, the Israelite entry into Canaan, and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah  can be predicated. Other discoveries, some of which name Patriarchs who lived before the Flood, verify the earlier chapters of Genesis.  Accurate biblical chronology  therefore becomes possible.
     One great problem for the archaeologist (or anthropologist)  as we now know, is that civilisations are retrogressive as well as progressive - at various times. Charles Marston puts it succinctly when he says that when a civilisation's moral and spiritual factors decline, the civilisation destroys itself. (THE BIBLE COMES TRUE; p. 6).  The theory of the evolution of religion has broken down in the light of evidence from archaeology and anthropology, writes Marston, and likewise a crude theory of Man's evolution  breaks down before the facts of written history and before the facts brought to light by excavation. (See p. 15).

Accepting biblical evidence

     True as it is that so far much of our evidence has been derived and indeed based on the OT Bible, this has not been based on the assumption that everybody accepts the Bible claims to be the revelation of God to Man throughout the ages, on subjects, as Marston says, which are essential to his material, moral and spiritual growth. If however the assumption is accepted, then "it would be unsafe to reject any book of the Bible as useless". (p. 11)  Under the probable layers of meaning, interpretation and translation of the Scriptures and from the ancient relics, we do get the impression that the stories of the creation, the temptation and fall of Man, and other significant episodes in Genesis, were then "matters of current knowledge" (p. 23, ibid), perhaps taught in the schools in Ur of the Chaldees when Abraham lived there.
     We have already stated that archaeological evidence has established the reality of the Flood. It is the date and extent of the Flood which are as yet unproven, though approximations are able to be made. Excavations in lands associated with the Old Testament, reveal the advanced civilisation of their inhabitants before the days of Abraham. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as recorded in Genesis occurred about 2000 BC  and probably was due to volcanic action - though other explanations have been advanced. The Hebrews themselves are identified with the Habiru (a similar sounding name it may be thought) much mentioned in ancient writing, according to archaeological discoveries. The Habiru were a bellicose people whe lived in Babylonia and Assyria (before Abraham).  The majority of places mentioned in the life of Abraham have been identified.  As we have said, excavations in or near famous cities such as Jericho, Babylon, Jerusalem indicate  the reality of biblical references so it is possible to say that from Abraham onwards, at least, the biblical narrative assumes a chronological and historical sequence.
     Volcanic and/or earthquake action can explain the seemingly miraculous happenings during the desert wanderings of the Israelites.  This action is what may have happened to the walls of Jericho, (famed both for their building and for their destruction) and  the razing was acclaimed a great miracle  by the Israelites. Walls such as those at Jericho must have presented a fearful sight to the potential attackers. Traces of the burning of the walls/city by Joshua can but confirm the biblical story of its destruction.

Palestine

     Palestine because of its geographical location has always tended to be a battleground among competing nations.  Among the latter none are so prominent as the Egyptians who quickly saw its strategic potential.  The narrow coastal strip especially was regarded as an essential throughway.  Therefore in the light of this it is not surprising that significant archaeological discoveries on or near this route reveal persistent Egyptian remains.
     On the road to Gaza (on the coastal strip) from Jerusalem is the ancient town of Beit Jibrim ("House of the Gibborim"). where amazing caves exist; a veritable labyrinth of them, inhabited once by giants, it is thought, judging from (among other things) the enormous height of the ceilings and huge pick marks on the enormous walls of the chambers. It does seem as though the Rephaim giants dwelt there and in the north of the land.  The Ras Shamra Texts, discovered there, (ancient Ugarit), in 1928, throw light on the then life of Ugarit and also on Canaanite religion.  Decipherment of the texts reveal many references to the Rephaim.

BELIEF IN GIANTS

     Of course some "explain" the ever reoccurring incidence of giant beings in all race memories and folklore as  examples of psychic or psychological symbolism.  This may be so in some cases but it is not the burden of the present study. Historical evidence, written and material, IS the burden for the quondam existence of physical giants; whether it is convincing is in the final analysis up to the individual. The evidence, let me say, is far-flung; the implications global.  They may be associated in many people's minds with powerful symbols from the most remote times; colossal undertakings around the world seem to indicate the existence of giant labourers - or giant minds; often (or usually) these giants  are credited with supernatural powers and empathy with the mystic energies of life and nature.  It is clear however, and this must be emphasised, that  giants are very often remembered and alluded to, (in literature, history written and oral) as having a totally physical reality. Giants are sometimes key figures, sociologically and historically significant, and the precursors of later heroic events, as in Greek or Norse story, (about which more later).
     The early giants are credited with an array of cultural and mechanical skills - unlike the later giants!  There is, says Paul Devereux in his Foreword to Anthony Roberts' SOWERS OF THUNDER, "a strong possibility that giants are dim images reflecting from a once bright historical illumination of great cultural advancement". (p. xiii)  Apart from the Bible, giants are mentioned in the Koran and as we have seen in Near Eastern writing, and in South American legend - to name but a few. These mighty beings existed in the Golden Age before the Flood, before sin and wickedness - after which the stature of giants diminished.
     It was in this "Golden Age" that "angels" came down to earth, mated with mortal women and produced the giants.   The  a reason why I have put inverted commas round the word angels is that the expression Sons of God does indeed denote extraterrestials but may denote much more in the light of present day research and personal testimony.  Let me say at this juncture that the myth/story/legend/, whatever, of visitations from space is not by any means the sole province of the Bible.  As we have seen, these "angels" and even the early giants were if anything benevolent, imparting knowledge of all kinds to earthlings.  It was only when arcane, secret or "forbidden" knowledge was revealed that God or the "gods" did not like it. Occult secrets, it seems, were possessed by the giants who imparted them not only to the dwellers of their initially chosen lands but also to distant areas of the globe. Their believed affinity to the stars has been mentioned and their ability to utilise the energy forces of the solar system as well as earth made them special - and formidable.
     Most ancient records (among which are Genesis and the Book of Enoch) bear witness to the giants' real existence.  For the ancient writers the giants were decidedly not symbolic figures of an advanced pre-historic world.  As Roberts so well expresses it, "To these sages memories of the lost Golden Age, its giants, its civilisation, its peace and harmony were real memories and the fact that such brilliant men as Homer, Hesiod, Socrates and Plato could mourn its passing is a powerful reflection of its once realizable validity to human philosophy"; (SOWERS OF THUNDER, p. 22).

Development of Man

     It must be deduced from these ancient thoughts that the history of man was not one of steady progression; on the contrary that periods of achievement seemed to be followed by periods of regression; that indeed civilisations came and went; that peaks were followed by troughs; that humanity often, as it were, started anew.  These great writers undoubtedly looked back on a Golden Age to which of course they were much closer, with nostalgia, and with admiration for the beings who, as Roberts says, initiated a terrific upheaval on this planet.

     Naturally it is asked: if there was all this activity where are the remains i.e. the skeletons? Well, skeletons have been unearthed, many of them, but the finds tend to be given little publicity because they do not conform to accepted theory. Not only bones have been found however, but the remains of tools, weapons  and coffins of supra-human size. Huge bows have been unearthed which clearly needed far more than ordinary strength to use. There are many sites in Britain which can be associated with giant activity especially hills and earthworks: in several counties of which perhaps the most prominent are Wiltshire (Stonehenge and Avebury for example), Cornwall, Somerset.  The giant effigies set into the hillsides (such as at Glastonbury) are according to some, evidence of the one time presence of Atlantis survivors in these isles; or of a very advanced culture existing in remote times.  A further word on Stonehenge may be fitting: apart from the immense labour of the construction, the subtle and precise building indicates a  knowledge  far superior to that which is normally granted to pre-historic man. There is without doubt something very mysterious and very ancient about the strange stone geometry found world-wide.  From Cro-Magnon times until about 8000 BC a "series of advanced geomantic cultures flourished throughout Britain...that some of these geomancers were huge in stature becomes increasingly hard to deny". (Roberts, p. 147).
     It is difficult to deny categorically that there is a hidden meaning to all these stoneworks and landmarks; as with the pyramids, they are more than simply burial grounds and/or calendrical constructions.  They are, says Roberts succinctly, "Mute evidence  of a once powerful application of organic architecture and spiritual recognition combining to transform the temporal landscape into a detailed metaphysical replica of heaven itself". (p. 157).

Mysterious maps and tracks

     Not only stone and earth works puzzle us: there are the mysterious maps that reveal lands and coastlines that are hidden from us today or have been revealed comparatively recently.  Of these the most famous is that of the Turkish Admiral,  Piri Reis, drawn in about  1513 which shows Antarctica as it must have been in remote times.  When it is remembered that Antarctica was not discovered until 1818 and that the most recent time when it could have been charted free from ice was about 4000 BC, the mystery is great indeed.  Where did he obtain his knowledge?  He tells us himself that he was not the originator but that he compiled his map from ancient sources. His map also places South America and Africa in the correct longitudes, the divination of which was not possible in his time.
     Then there are the strange lines or tracks at Nazca in Peru (already mentioned).  One of the most puzzling aspects of these lines (and figures) is that they can only be conceptualised properly from the air!  How can that be - in ancient times?  Some of the lines stretch for miles, dead straight.  What is their meaning - and purpose?  The local people believe the lines and figures of animals were not made by their forebears, not by men as such, but by demigods, beings who were half man, half god.  Were these landmarks made for flying "gods" - who knows the truth?

And buildings

     The same continent has several ancient citadels built from immense stone blocks: Tiahuanaco, Cuzco, Sacsayhuaman.  How could the Incas who knew not the wheel or capable machinery  have transported, lifted and worked these mountainous stones? But the Incas or their descendants did not accomplish these feats as the locals are only too willing to tell.  They, like the mysterious lines and figures, were built, according to ancient  legends, by the Viracochas, a bearded, white-skinned race whose existence is lost in the remote past.  They were the "shining, faithful ones" - reminiscent we might think of similar words in the Bible referring to the Nephilim, the old giants, "warriors, men of renoun".  Graham Hancock in his book, FINGERPRINTS OF THE GODS, quotes an old text about the "myths" of the Andean peoples.  It is very significant in our present context.

Viracocha

     "The great Creator God, Viracocha, decided to make a world for men to live in.  First he made the earth and sky. Then he began to make people to live in it, carving great stone figures of giants which he brought to life.  At first all went well but after a time the giants began to fight among themselves and refused to work.  Viracocha decided he must destroy  them.  Some he turned back into stone...the rest he overwhelmed with a great flood." (p. 54).
     In a temple at Tiahuanaco there is carved in rock what is believed to be a likeness of Viracocha. He is bearded and resembles a Caucasian.
     We do not and can not know  what great civilisations existed in the past in South America, particularly Peru. It may be that the giants mentioned in the Bible are to be associated with the legendary giants of ancient South America.   The giant thin-lipped figures lie in and around these remarkable cities, Tiahuanaco, Machu Picchu, Cuzco, Sacsayhuaman, which have been given a credible dating by many scholars of some 15000 BC.
     Again reminiscent of the biblical Genesis is the following reference, quoted by Hancock from an ancient Aztec document: "First Sun...duration 4008 years. Those who lived then ate water maize ...In this age lived the giants..." (p. 98).  Certainly the huge monuments, citadels and pyramids of Central America bespeak a very ancient giant civilisation that may have sought, like the builders of the Tower of Babel, (in Genesis) to "make a name" for themselves in their constructions.
 
A PUZZLING TIME SCALE

     Returning to a theme mentioned earlier (and to be dealt with in more detail in subsequent chapters) it seems as if these ancient civilisations, such as the Egyptian and the Central American, did not so much evolve as emerge ready formed: it seems that up to a certain point in time, largely pre-historic, there was little to go on, little to signify that the races in question were advancing. Suddenly (in vast historical terms) writing appeared, precise and huge buildings began to be built, statues, figures, symbols, - all tending  to demonstrate  a technically advanced state of knowledge.  This fact of course is one of the great puzzles of tracing man's ancestry.  If these civilisations did spring almost fully developed "over-night" what caused it?  It is a vitally important subject.  We shall have more to say on this score later,

Contacts between civilisations?

     Meanwhile we ponder these mysteries; the culture that produced the great marks of Egyptian civilisation...could not these also have produced the marks of Central America?  Apart from similar constructions, there are similar creeds to those of Egypt:  the belief for example in rebirth after death,  in the stars - a type of stellar reincarnation.  Traditions of Mexican belief in the god-king, Quetzalcoatl, a revered venerable figure of the remote past, reveal that in human form, he had died but that he was reborn as a star; the same belief the ancient Egyptians held about their pharoah who would be reborn as a star after his death.  There does appear to be in both cultures a shared legacy.  The puzzlement is that so far as we can tell there was no contact between Egypt and Central America in the era of pyramid building: so can we state that both cultures inherited similar notions in remote times - from a common source?

THE AGES OF MAN

     We have mentioned the ancient (Greek and in certain books associated with the Bible) belief that there had been several "Ages" of Man, notably expressed by the Greek poet Hesiod (of whom more later), writing in the eighth century BC.  The first, as we have seen, was the "Golden Age" followed by successively more degenerate ages, except maybe for the age of "heroes".  In the "bronze age", which preceded the age of heroes, the then existing  race was described as possessing the strength of giants, and mighty hands...and mighty limbs. Not only had the ancient builders of the distant past possessed giant strength but also they must needs have possessed a knowledge of a secret technology now lost to us.
     The great historical luminaries of Egypt and Greece thousands of years ago: who or what were they?  Were they gods or merely imaginative figures from a sacerdotally dominated  past?  Were they memories of real events, or asks Hancock, "part of a coded message from the ancients that had been transmitting itself over and over again down the epochs"? (p. 361).
     The ancient Egyptians, according to scholarly sources, said about the Golden Age, the First Time, that it was when the gods ruled, the flood waters receded, and civilisation began.  They recounted tales of the "Watchers" (a term we have explored earlier), a type of intermediary between gods and men, who appeared to be benevolent, and possessing preternatural powers. The Egyptian historian, Manetho, writing in the third century BC, signals a startling fact: that a civilsation of gods or men, existed in Egypt long before the First Dynasty about 3000 BC. If accepted, this theory would go a long way towards explaining the ancient Egyptian preoccupation with boats, several of which have been found in the desert.  Of course this may be simply a reflection of the Egyptians' belief that "solar" boats were needed to convey the Pharaoh across the heavens.  On the other hand, it may be indicative of the fact that an (unknown)  seafaring nation became involved with the ancient Egyptian race  in pre-history.  Perhaps "gods" (giants?) did walk among men in those remote days.  The ancient Pyramid Texts, those archaic hieroglyphic writings, which have references to boats, stars, sky and flight, say that their ancestors were taught the study of the stars by gods.
     It is fitting  at this juncture to quote what I believe are some very pertinent words regarding what are the most remarkable constructions of this or any other age; namely the great pyramids of Egypt and the enigmatic Sphinx. These words are taken from Hancock's book, already mentioned, where he speaks of buildings not erected by any historical pharoah but dating back to prehistoric times; of buildings which seem to have become vaguely connected with the names of particular pharoahs...without ever yielding a single piece of evidence that...proves those pharoahs built the structures..."Aren't the tenuous links much more indicative", he writes, "of the work of restorers seeking to attach themselves to ancient and venerable monuments than of the original architects of those monuments - whoever they might have been and in whatever epoch they might have lived?"  (p. 407)

     From what we have seen so far, it is clear that direct written testimony regarding the existence of giants is certainly to be found in the Old Testament writings, canonical and other; this testimony is found in legends about Atlantis and by comparison deduced from   ancient Egyptian (and Central American) building and art - while where there is language, (as in Egypt), inference from hieroglyphs may legitimately take the place of direct statement, as indeed are valid inferences and deductions from non-written testimony such as megaliths, monoliths and the relics of neolithic man. In view of the prime importance of Hebrew, Egyptian and Central American ancient history  in our study we shall consider  Egyptian  influence regarding the Hebrews and their belief in the ancient Nephilim/giant race and more on the Watchers. First, we shall preface the next chapter with some remarks on the puzzling megaliths which seem to indicate strange remote civilisations.

© A.B. Finlay Ph.D