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Thread: Lovelock Cave - The Legend of the Red Headed Giants

  1. #1

    Lovelock Cave - The Legend of the Red Headed Giants

    In the fall of 1911, during the mining of some two hundred fifty tons of bat guano for fertilizer in a cave about
    twenty-two miles southwest of Lovelock, Humboldt valley, west central Nevada, numerous well preserved ancient Indian objects
    were discovered. Many of these were lost or destroyed; some went to the Nevada Historical Society in Reno; and the remainder
    passed into private possession. After the commercial exploitation of the cave had ceased, the University of California sent L.
    L. Loud to the cave to conduct archaeological excavations. Between April 1 and August 1, 1912, he obtained, unassisted, 10,000
    specimens from the cave. This collection was divided between the University of California and the Nevada Historical Society.
    The lack of assistance and the fact that one of the joint claimants of the cave prohibited work in his end of the cave made
    stratigraphic work not feasible. An outstanding feature of Mr. Loud’s collection was profuse textile material, which included
    over 1500 fragments of basketry and 1400 of matting, the total of 3324 pieces weighing 121 pounds.

    http://nevadan.files.wordpress.com/2...harrington.pdf

    The Legend of the Red Headed Giants

  2. #2
    That looks very interesting. The link does not want to load. I tried to get it through a search, also. I was able to get this:

    <snip>

    "The people for whom the Lovelock Culture was named successfully exploited lake and marsh resources for food (water fowl, fish, and marsh plants) and for raw material for shelter, clothing, and other purposes. Among the artifacts associated with the Lovelock Culture are the following: distinctive willow and tule baskets, distinctive sagebrush sandals, tule duck decoys, nets, fish hooks, stone, and wooden animal effigies, and large, shaped mortars with conical depressions. In addition to these locally made artifacts, the Lovelock Culture is distinguished by the presence of relatively large quantities of shaped, marine shell beads and ornaments, and lesser quantities of other artifacts exhibiting connections to California Middle Period cultures. It is believed that these exotic artifacts reflect extensive trade between the regions. Nevada was a source of various rocks and minerals and, possibly, animal hides and byproducts not available west of the Sierra Nevada, while California and the Pacific Ocean were sources of many exotic shells.


    The Lovelock Culture's disappearance is the subject of some debate in archaeology. Most archaeologists believe that the Lovelock Culture was eventually replaced by Northern Paiutes beginning around 1000 years ago. Northern Paiutes have an oral tradition of describing the defeat of foes who were variously described as red-headed, cannibalistic giants who lived within their territory, sometimes wholly within lakes and marshes. These Saiduka were either driven out of Paiute territory or exterminated. One of the principal battles leading to extermination of the Saiduka occurred at Lovelock Cave. Other Paiutes deny the historical validity of the story, describing it as a "fairy tale."

    Read the rest here:

    http://www.onlinenevada.org/lovelock_culture

    There are similar stories associated with the petroglyphs found in the California desert. The Paiutes and Shoshones say the petroglyphs are not theirs and they do not even know the people who made them. Theories run from the ancient peoples having been Proto-Paiutes who died out and no longer are remembered or something more exotic like the ancient culture described here.

  3. #3
    The link to the PDF works for me, but takes a while to load.

    (Maybe related: what I have noticed, though, is that my Google Chrome browser doesn't load online PDFs any more since over a month ago, after one of the last upgrades).
    An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it.
    - Jef Mallett

    Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.
    - Charles Darwin

  4. #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Garuda View Post
    The link to the PDF works for me, but takes a while to load.

    (Maybe related: what I have noticed, though, is that my Google Chrome browser doesn't load online PDFs any more since over a month ago, after one of the last upgrades).
    I'm using the latest Firefox and it did find the page, it just kept spinning though. That has happened a few times lately.

  5. #5
    Funny: I've got the same with Chrome instead of Firefox...

    Typically what the experts recommend is to reinstall Adobe Reader... <sigh>

    BTW, that PDF is just over 28 MB.
    An opinion should be the result of thought, not a substitute for it.
    - Jef Mallett

    Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.
    - Charles Darwin

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Garuda View Post
    Funny: I've got the same with Chrome instead of Firefox...

    Typically what the experts recommend is to reinstall Adobe Reader... <sigh>

    BTW, that PDF is just over 28 MB.
    I use Foxit Reader but I'm sure I have the Adobe Plug-in, so maybe that is the problem.

    28 MB? That sounds like the other source I located which is actually a much more generalized paper than just Lovelock Cave.

    I am very interested in this because it bears on Early Human presence in the Americas, Proto-Indian theories and a couple of other Forbidden Archeology topics. My kinda stuff!

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