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# Mummy of a 2.54-metre Native American found near San Diego in 1895 proved to be a fake
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-1895-godu-nedaleko-ot-san-diego-bylo-obnaruzheno-mumifitsirovannoe-telo-indeitsa-dlinoi-2-54-metra/
- Published: 2018-03-20T10:44:57.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T18:58:47.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archaeology, Museums, Science

In 1895 the mummified body of an Indian 2.54 metres long was discovered near San Diego. The mummy was declared to be the remains of the tallest man who had ever lived. By the scientists' estimate, in life the man found might have stood taller than 274 centimetres.

The unique mummy became a veritable sensation. Several museums at once took an interest in buying the exhibit, among them the Smithsonian, which sent a group of scholars to the fair in Atlanta, where the 250-year-old antiquity was on show, to verify the mummy. The head of the American Bureau of Ethnology, Professor J. McGee, and the comparative anatomist from the Smithsonian, Professor Lucas, examined the find and were satisfied.

Teeth were discovered beneath the lips, ribs protruded from the chest, and the skin and hair had survived quite well. On one leg, however, the bone was exposed, and it aroused the investigators' interest by its "freshness" and greasiness, perceptible to the touch: it was not nearly dry and porous enough for so great an age.

This clue made them examine the mummy, which at first glance had satisfied the scientists, more thoroughly. It turned out that the distance from the pelvis to the leg bones was far greater than it should be. A study of the hair showed that it was made of jute and other plant fibres, and the structure of the skin proved to be fibrous as well. In the end it emerged that the framework of the mummy had been assembled from real human bones, cleaned of flesh with ammonia and covered with tarred bandages to give the appearance of mummified skin.

It is supposed that the craftsmen who produced the forgery made more than a dozen such sensational finds, with plaster skulls and wooden skeletons, which scattered across American museums and private collections. So not every Indian princess and noble native is to be trusted.