A post shared to X on Oct. 2, 2024, (archived) included two pH๏τos allegedly showing the “mᴀssive ancient grave of the giants in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa.”
The image on the left appeared to show three men next to an enormous human skeleton, while the one on the right seemed to show a man standing beside a huge footprint set in stone.
The X post, which had received more than 970,000 views as of this writing, read: “There is a mᴀssive ancient grave of the giants in Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Archeological societies are aware of this site, but they kept it secret to the public.”
In short, the picture on the left was an edited and flipped version of a pH๏τo that was originally shared to Shutterstock in 2017. Meanwhile, the picture on the right was genuine, but according to the person who first posted the pH๏τo, it depicted granite erosion resembling a giant’s foot. Therefore, it is false to say either of the images show anything to do with actual giants.
Further, the X user who shared the pictures in October provided no additional information to support their claim, such as when the giants were found or by whom. They also did not provide official reports or studies describing the supposed giants, including the “archaeological societies” said to have been “aware” of the discovery.
Similarly, a search using keywords on the Google News archive containing thousands of reliable information sites found no credible documents or reporting to corroborate the claim.
Giant Skeleton PH๏τo Is Digitally Manipulated
The pH๏τo on the left of the X post was a flipped version of an image shared to Shutterstock by a user named Masarik on Sept. 24, 2017. A caption accompanying the Shutterstock file noted the picture showed “archaeological excavations and finds,” but did not identify where the pH๏τo was taken.
Masarik, whose full name is Irena Meshcheriakova, said via direct message on Instagram the pH๏τograph shows “one of the burials found during archaeological excavations in 2017.” Meshcheriakova added:
The excavation took place in Russia, in the city of Rostov-on-Don (southern Russia), at an archaeological site called the “Necropolis of the Rostov Settlement” during the reconstruction of Stanislavsky Street. The archaeological site dates back to the 1st-3rd centuries AD.
Several local media outlets covered the discovery, which can be read here, here, here and here. None of those outlets, nor Meshcheriakova, mentioned any details about giants.
Below, a side-by-side comparison of the original, Shutterstock pH๏τo (right) and the edited version shared to X (left) shows one of the forearm bones had been digitally blurred out or brushed over. A man was also added beside the skeleton to make it appear larger.
Meshcheriakova posted other images of the same skeleton elsewhere on Shutterstock. In fact, two other pictures showed a human brushing the bones, revealing that the skeleton was not from a giant.
More pH๏τos can be seen on her Shutterstock account, alongside images of other skeletons in different positions.
Another indication the X picture was edited was that none of the three people featured have shadows, despite sunlight appearing near the top left portion of the image.
There is no scientific evidence giants have ever existed, though archaeological and modern records show humans with a rare condition called gigantism are real. Gigantism, or pituitary gigantism, causes a child with high levels of growth hormone to grow abnormally, resulting in large hands and feet and enlarged organs, among other things.
Guinness World Records credits Robert Wadlow as the “tallest man ever,” who had a height of 8-feet-11-inches – taller than a grizzly bear.
Giant Footprint Depicts Granite Erosion Over Time
As for the giant footprint pH๏τo, a reverse image search (archived) showed it was first posted in 2018 by Robert Schoch, an ᴀssociate professor of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at Boston University College of General Studies.
Schoch, who is seen in the pH๏τo, visited the site of the alleged footprint in June 2014. His description confirmed the picture was captured “in the Eastern Transvaal near the South African town of Empuluzi (also sometimes spelled Mpaluzi) in Mpumalanga.”
The ᴀssociate professor said “no giants need be invoked” to explain the phenomenon, and instead described it as “a wonderful natural weathering and erosion feature – a form that falls into the broad class of erosional features often found in rocks known as tafoni.” He added:
The “footprint” is a natural simulacrum [an image or representation of someone or something], not unlike seeing animals, angels, and human faces in the clouds. Reinforcing my first impression that this was nothing more than a natural erosional feature is the fact that the rock face on which it occurs is covered with other weathered-out cavities, one of which reminded me of the silhouette of a small snowman. Had not only a giant stepped into the granite, but a meter tall snowman leaned against the granite as well, impressing the outline of his body onto the rock surface?
Schoch shared another image in his blog post, which showed the snowman-shaped hole he described alongside the “giant footprint.”
Other pictures and videos of the so-called giant footprint can be found on Facebook, in multiple YouTube videos, and on a South African travel website called SA-V.
