An Exploration into the Existence of Giants in the Georgian Caucusus

In early June 2014 a team of four Georgian researchers led a production crew from the Science Channel cable network into the Borjormi-Kharagauli national park. Their remit was to gather key footage for an episode of the Science Channel’s flagship cable show, ‘The Unexplained Files’. The episode would be about the legendary ancient giant humans.

For anyone unfamiliar with this show, credited with being the most popular Science Channel series of 2013, it has the following mission directive: “…aims to analyse historical events and scientific phenomena by using interviews with scientists, academic researchers and reliable eyewitness accounts.”

This filming project was a follow up to an expedition back in 2008 when the same group of Georgian researchers had hiked into the wilderness of this huge park to investigate an ancient ruin located high up in the Lesser Caucasus mountain range. Their goal back then had been to follow up on a story about a giant’s burial chamber that had apparently been stumbled upon by farmers passing through this remote location. It would seem the farmer had entered an ancient stone crypt adjoining a ruined structure only to discover two giant sized human skeletons perched on chairs either side of at a large table. Exactly when this find occurred is not known but it was many years previous to 2008.

When the Georgian researchers reached the site, which is difficult to approach, they found the ancient ruined structure and the nearby crypt-like chamber. In 2008 the crypt roof had already collapsed and the chamber was now filled with blocks, soil and other debris, the giants were not evident. A shallow dig carried out in one corner of the rectangular space revealed a significant cache of very aged bones. The bones appeared to be human, yet some of them seemed far too large for a normal modern human.

Bones found at the ancient site in Georgia. Credit: Bruce Fenton

The team collected some bones for testing and then returned to the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. There they presented these bones to the respected Georgian scientist Professor Vekua, best known for his discovery of the 1.8 million year old remains of Homo Erectus Georgicus. His reported opinion stated that if the bones were human they would be consistent with a person of around 2.5 meters in height. Unfortunately before any final conclusions were reached or full testing could be done Vekua sadly died and the bones were lost somewhere in a Georgian museums archive, in amongst thousands of other pieces and bones. There is some controversy over Vekua’s statements, it has been suggested he may have been misquoted or mistranslated.

Researchers for the Science Channel stumbled onto this story in early 2014 and began contacting scientists and researchers in Georgia that had been connected to the original discovery. It was then decided that they would send a film crew to meet with the members of the original team there and hopefully travel with them back to the site of the find. The intention was for these persons to gain permits and carry out a full excavation that could then be filmed and that any more bones found could then be tested.

A three man team was dispatched from the UK to carry out the filming, but they were also joined by ancient mysteries researcher and author, Bruce Fenton, who flew out from Ecuador to accompany them. Bruce was at that time deeply involved with research of the so-called Lost City of Giants discovered in the Ecuadorian jungle in 2012. It was his giant related research and existing experience of exploring sites in extreme territory that led to his being brought along.

Once the team arrived on the edge of the park the heaviest technical equipment was loaded onto horses whilst the team members each carried their own kit on their backs, and so began the gruelling hike. They would have to travel some 20km’s on foot through dense forest, mountain paths and even in an ice cold river for several kilometres to reach the destination. It should be mentioned that these forests are home to bears, wolves, wild cats and at times armed poachers.

From around half way into the journey the team’s ancient mysteries expert, Bruce Fenton, began to notice numerous worked stone pieces scattered about and even a square based column lying beside the path. Some of these stones were heaped up into now dilapidated walls that may have one been parts of structures or even burial mounds destroyed by an eon in the elements. Other blocks were simply laying in the wide streams the team passed through, as though washed down from somewhere further ahead when the water had been much higher.

Blocks with perfectly round scoop marks and engraving. Credit: Bruce Fenton

This interesting stone debris later became so plentiful that Bruce concludes this must have been a very ancient paved road now in such ruin that it is likely thousands of years old. The questions is then who could have shaped and transported such a massive quantity of stone in such an inaccessible area and then utilised sufficient engineering skills to construct kilometres of road. Most intriguing of all, why would they want to do so in such a remote uninhabited area?

After the trek through the woodland came a difficult slog walking in a river itself, this being necessary due to the gorge entered having steep cliffs on either side going vertically upwards to a height of about 100 metres. The risk of a deadly flash flood being ever present. The water was full of large boulders, many of these stones appeared to be shaped by human hands. At one point within the gorge a skull-like carving in the stone of the cliff wall was observed, if one allows for thousands of years of water erosion it could very well be such a design. Clearly the basic form of a skull-like face seems to be present in the feature.

Following the exit from the river gorge the team faced an upwards march on a steep and muddy mountain path for the several hours. Here again they encountered further evidence of a ruined paved road and possibly other ruined stone constructions. Blocks were sticking up through the mud of the path and scattered about on either side.

This seeming remnant of a lost civilisation continued on until the final destination, a ruined structure situated at 1850 metres altitude on a narrow mountain ridge. The trek had set off from an altitude of 440 metres.

The target location, ancient ruin suspected to be 2000 years old. Credit: Bruce Fenton

The ruin resembles either a chapel or small defensive fort, there is little left to base a final conclusion on. An East-West alignment was noted suggesting potentially it might have been a solar temple, but the ideal defensible position also left open the other possibility. In all it covered perhaps 150 square metres at most. The roof is long gone and the walls largely collapsed, large old trees having grown over parts of the ruins. Only one strange symbol, engraved skilfully into a loose stone block, remained as a tantalising clue. This engraving rather resembles a tadpole, the head of which seems to have been drilled with incredible precision.

Just a few metres away from this ruin is the subterranean structure posited to be a crypt. It might be that this was once a storage cellar for the larger structure or something else entirely, nobody really knows the original use. All that can be said for sure is that the remains of humans, some of great stature, seem to have ended up buried there.

The age of the ruins is unknown, the best projections put forwards by a local historian is 1800 to 2200 years old. This speculative date is based on the type of cement used between blocks, it appears to be similar to Roman era concrete but it may however be unrelated to the Romans. It is a fascinating mystery as to who built these structures and why, especially with it being so far from any significant settlement. Full excavation and detailed forensic archaeological examination are required.

Featured image: The Caucassus Mountains, Georgia. Credit: VITALII / Adobe Stock

By Bruce Fenton