Earliest Evidence of Gigantism-Like Disease Found in 3,800-Year-Old California Skeleton

Western DIgs ^ | March 24, 2014 | Blake de Pastino

[SunkenCiv]

The remains of a man buried 3,800 years ago in a richly decorated California grave bear some unusual but unmistakable features — a protruding brow, a lantern jaw, thick leg and arm bones, and teeth so crowded together that at one point they erupt in rows three deep.

According to a new study of the ancient skeleton, they are signs of acromegaly, a rare disorder of the endocrine system that’s similar to gigantism.

The California man is among the very few examples of acromegaly ever found in the archaeological record, and it’s the oldest ever identified, according to Dr. Eric Bartelink, a physical anthropologist at California State University, Chico...

Acromegaly has only been identified definitively at two other archaeological sites in North America, Bartelink said: in the remains of a male buried in New Mexico about 600 years ago, and an unsexed 1,100-year-old skull found in Illinois...

The man, believed to have been in his mid-30s at the time of his death, was found in a burial mound with 176 other bodies near the Central Valley town of Elk Grove...

In the case of Burial 37, the body was daubed with red ochre on the head, chest, pelvis, left elbow, and on both hands and feet. The grave was festooned with 48 beads made from the shells of Olivella sea snails, and another 7 ornaments crafted from abalone...

[RoosterRedux]

The article says that he was 5’5”.

His growth abnormality was just getting started.

Interesting that he was buried face up.

And then there's this...

A few aspects of the burial were “interesting,” however, including the fact that the man was buried face-up, instead of prone, and with his head oriented north rather than the west, like most others interred in the mound.

Those who buried him thought him to be from either a different tribe...or a different specie.

Nephilim.

[Varda]

I guess the original find could have been by someone accidentally hitting the skeleton with a shovel. Once the site was handed over to the archaeologists this kind of damage wouldn't happen.

I know that it's common for archaic era skeletons to show signs of a violent life and death. That made me think of the hole as the cause of death.

[SunkenCiv]

Archaeologists are not always too careful either. We should keep in mind that the skull was apparently buried under something for a long, long time. Lucky it survived at all.

[fso301]

The black arrow indicates where the man’s right eye tooth erupted just below his nose.

Would it really have been a great technical difficulty to have used a brighter color for the arrow?

[Varda]

Once a site is designated for excavation, the tools used wouldn’t produce this kind of damage. I suppose if the skeleton was found from a test hole it could be damaged. There would be very low odds of finding anything in a test hole but I do recall someone pulling an adze out of a test hole.

[SunkenCiv]

I guess you’ll have to take it up with them.

[kaehurowing]

Nephilim Alert

[Altariel]

For e last time, I wasn’t involved. The ACME Instant Gigantism syringe found near the skeleton is purely circumstantial evidence!

[Beowulf9]

“It would interesting to see if that was from an ancient source, or something Robert Graves cooked up for fun.”

I would like to know that as well but it seemed rather buried in the story. Just one sentence, I believe in a letter written to Claudius. I have never seen a reference to it otherwise.