The Ancient Giants of Europe, The Gravettian's

For centuries, legends of tall giant humanoid beings have been told across various cultures around the world. The Jotnar in Norse mythology is described as being a group of tall giants who live in the frozen realm of Jotunheim. The Hebrew Bible talks about a race of tall humanoid beings known as the Nephilim, whom are described as being the offsprings of sons of God and humans. Hindu mythology has various Rakshasas, which include Kumbhakarna, who is described as being taller than most mountains. Greek mythology describes Gigante, whom are a race of powerful giant beings born from Gaia, who fought against the Olympian gods. Even in this current age, giants are still fascinating people in various forms of media, including TV shows and video games. The stories of giants have always fascinated humans across the years. Giants are usually depicted as being angry, violent, and unintelligent beings whom are But did you know that about 25,000 years ago, there existed a group of people who were so tall, powerful, and intelligent that they have been influential in the shaping of modern human civilization. This legendary group of mammoth-hunting early giants were known as the Gravitian people. The Gravitians were a group of hunter-gatherers whom emerged near the Danube River in Eastern Europe and spread westward, expanding their culture across the entirety of the European continent. They were further divided into two distinct cultures, which include the Western Gravitians who lived in France, Spain, and Britain, and the Eastern Gravitians who migrated as far as Central Europe and Russia. Europe during that time was a cold, temperate place with large amounts of grasslands spread across the continent filled with large megafauna like woolly mammoths and cave lions. The Gravitians are known for being proficient mammoth hunters, and due to the availability of large amounts of prehistoric megafauna, they enjoyed a nutritious and protein-rich diet, which led to them becoming one of the tallest groups of people in the entire history of mankind. Gravitian burial site from Russia revealed that the men were lean and stood at a height of about six foot two on average, which is far taller than most modern people. One of the main reasons which led to the tall height is the eating habits that Gravitians followed, which mainly prioritized a meat-based diet. For hunting large megafauna, the Gravitians developed innovative techniques like utilizing bone tools from animal remains to developing blunted back knives and boomerangs. The Gravitians hunted animals in close contact as throwing spears hadn't been discovered yet, hence clubs and blades were used commonly for hunting and trapping. The discovery of nets in Gravitian burial sites proved that they used it to hunt smaller animals. Moreover, it is also believed that Gravitians were credited as one of the earliest innovators, which led to the development of the bow and arrow. The Gravitians are also responsible for most of the development in art and sculptures in the upper Paleolithic period, with many Venus figurines and cave paintings associated with them. The Venus of Bas-en-Foy, an ivory figurine discovered in a cave in Bas-en-Foy, France, is said to resemble a Gravitian woman. One of the famous examples of Paleolithic figurines, the Venus of Willendorf, is also associated with the Gravitian culture. It is made from limestone and coated in red ochre, which suggests that the Gravitians were skilled in some level of primitive stonework. The Gravitians also made unique coats using the fur and bones of mammoths. They were also skilled in developing intricate carvings using ivory. Eventually, by the end of 20,000 BCE, the Gravitian culture faced a massive decline. Due to the climate change and lack of food, they were replaced by the Solutrean culture, whose men were shorter but still pretty tall compared to modern men, averaging at a height of around five foot ten. On the other hand, due to the introduction of agriculture, the height of Europeans reduced massively since the prehistoric times, as they moved away from a high-protein-rich nutritious diet to a much more carb-rich diet involving grains. As hunter-gatherers adopted a sedentary lifestyle, the use of taller and stronger bodies to hunt large mammals reduced considerably across the generations. The height of Europeans only increased to the level of their hunter-gatherer ancestors only recently due to the massive improvements in technology in agriculture and health in the 20th century. But on the other hand, Eastern Europeans, especially men from the countries of Montenegro, Bosnia and Bulgaria, have a significant taller stature compared to the average Western Europeans for centuries, with many regions having an average height of more than six feet. Surprisingly enough, recent studies have proven that the tall Eastern Europeans share many genetic similarities with mainly the presence of Y-haplogroup IM-170, which is found mostly across the Scandinavian countries and the Balkans, which certainly suggests that the genetic legacy of the Gravetian people still lives on among the people of Europe. The Austrian culture of Gravetian people still fascinates many archaeologists even today. Their contributions towards the growth of art, tool usage, and hunting have had a significant impact in shaping the social structure of early humans and further paving the way for their expansion across the world. 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