8 Foot Giant Excavated in a New York Burial Mound Replicated by Eye-Witness
In
1876, a young man accompanied several of his neighbors who excavated
a burial mound. What he witnessed would inspire him 62 years later to
carve a replica of the remarkable find.
Mr. Huntington’s motivation was to recreate exactly
what he had witnessed many years ago, using the measurements taken
by Mr. Cheney who was present at the dig. The model was built
life-size, according to measurements taken by Mr. Huntington when a
mound on the Conewango Road was opened. In the background is one of
the two busts that he carved based on the measurements of a man who
was 8 foot in height and a woman that was 7 foot 6 inches who were
removed from the Grave Creek Mound in Moundsville, West Virginia.
The
original account of the burial mound was printed in the History of
Cattaraugus County, New York in 1879. These county histories
featured prominent citizens of the county, whose reputations were
beyond reproach.
