The Paiutes, a Native American tribe indigenous to parts of Nevada, have an oral tradition that they told to early white settlers of the area about a race of red-haired, white giants or “barbarians” that their ancestors referred to as the Si-Te-Cah. The story was written down in 1882 by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, daughter of a Paiute Indian chief in her book Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Claims.
These “giants” were described as being vicious, unfriendly and cannibalistic. In this story, the Paiutes speak of a great battle that took place which led to their extermination at site known today as Lovelock Cave. During the early part of the 20th century, archaeologists found thousands of artifacts inside this cave leading to a lengthy excavation of the site and speculation that the Paiute legend was real.
The Paiute Legend of the Lovelock Giants and their Massacre at Lovelock Cave
Si-Te-Cah or Saiduka literally translates as “tule-eaters” in the Northern Paiute language. The tule is a fibrous water plant, which according to legend, was woven by giants into rafts in order to escape attacks by the Paiute. They used the rafts to navigate across what remained then of Lake Lahontan, an ancient lake that once covered most of northern Nevada during the last ice age.
As the Paiute tale goes, after years of warfare, all the tribes in the area joined together to rid themselves of the Si-Te-Cah. One day, as the tribes chased down the last remaining red-haired giants, they took refuge in a cave. The Paiutes demanded their enemy come out of the cave and fight, but the giants refused.
The coalition of tribes proceeded to shoot arrows at them while starting a large fire at the mouth of the cave. The smoke drove out a few who died in a hail of arrows while the rest were all either burned alive or asphyxiated. Over time, the entrance to the cave would collapse leaving it accessible only to bats and cut off from human contact.
Lovelock Cave in Nevada
Lovelock Cave, known also as Bat Cave, Horseshoe Cave, Sunset Guano Cave and Indian Cave is located 20 miles south of modern day Lovelock, Nevada. It’s a very old cave that pre-dates humans on the continent and in prehistoric times was underneath Lake Lahontan.
In 1886, a mining engineer from Lovelock named John T. Reid was told of the legend by local Indians, who took him to the site to prove it existed. Reid was unsuccessful in getting an archeological dig started immediately, but two miners, James Hart and David Pugh, realized the value of guano as an ingredient of gunpowder, and created a company to start digging it out in 1911.
They stripped a layer of guano from the cave approximately three to six feet deep, using a pick and shovel with little regard to the artifacts, and shipped some 250 tons of it to the Hawaiian Fertilizer Company in San Francisco.
Archaeological Explorations at Lovelock Cave
Alfred Kroeber, founder of the University of California Anthropology Department was contacted by Hart and Pugh when they reported finding prehistoric artifacts. This spurred the first archeological dig of Lovelock in 1912 led by L. L. Loud also of the University of California.
A second dig took place in 1924 and after finishing the excavations, Loud collaborated on a report that was published in 1929. What Loud found was nothing short of amazing. Approximately 10,000 archaeological specimens were uncovered including tools, bones, baskets, and weapons.
According to the report, 60 average-height mummies were unearthed. Duck decoys (among the oldest known in the world with feathers still attached) and a sandal over 15 inches (38 cm) long were excavated. A donut-shaped stone with 365 notches carved along the outside and 52 corresponding notches inside was found, which some scientists believe is a calendar.
Interestingly, radiocarbon dating done on follow up visits found vegetable material dating back to 2030 BC, a human femur dating to 1450 BC, human muscle tissue dating 1420 BC, and basketry dating back to 1218 BC.
Archaeologists concluded from this that human occupation of Lovelock cave, by this culture, started in 1500 BC. Today’s anthropologists call the people who lived in the area the Lovelock Culture with the Period lasting some 3,000 years. Many archaeologists believe that the Lovelock Culture was replaced by Northern Paiutes.
Exploring the Lovelock Giants and their Remains
There is some debate as to the veracity of the claims made regarding the Lovelock Giants. During the initial excavations, there were reports of mummified remains being found of two red-haired giants. One was a female 6.5-feet (1.98 m) tall and the other a male over 8-feet (2.44 m) tall. However, no such evidence remains.
Unworthy History writes “In this video we read from “Life Among the Piutes: Their Wrongs and Their Claims,” by Sarah Winnemucca Hopkins, published all the way back in 1883. This tells of the Pyramid Lake War that broke out in 1860 between the Piutes and the white settlers near Genoa, Nevada. It also tells the Piute legend of the red-haired cannibalistic people whom the Piutes exterminated several hundred years before this book was written.”
m99
Hey Wes,
What an excellent article and post. I’d heard of this before, oddly enough, from listening to and reading Steven Quayle’s website articles. That was back in around 2012 when I started understanding certain realities because I had been asking The Lord about these things. The “Giants” I thought, were possibly “Sasquatch”, or the Sasquatch may have been some version of the giants in pre-history.
During that time I’d been reading about the giants in the scrolls and the bible too, and wondered why we weren’t taught more about it in church, but concluded, possibly because the teachers, pastors, priests and preachers As Well, weren’t taught about it in seminary.
I had been asking the Lord about the giants, and was very puzzled, because clearly they’re in the book. It’s my belief a lot is covered up, also in “churches”. One Pastor actually told me not to read ancient texts because it’d confuse me. Oh, I thought, ‘when Jesus said seek and you shall find, he had to have meant not to read the old text that are concealed because the sheep are too stupid to comprehend history.’ I’m never confused when I seek and find.
I gather from the above article, they could be more an ancestor who occupied the territory at that time. At any rate, it’s a great article, and I appreciate you posting it for everyone.
Thanks again. I hope you’re feeling better. _m
m99
Facinating reading. I think these gentle people, the Paiute’s, were people of God.
There are native stories about ‘the Great Spirit’ who walked among the different peaceful tribes, like the pre-incarnate ‘Son’, or Holy Spirit, on the plains of Mamre.
This person greeted Abram and Sarai (later Abraham and Sarah, renamed by the Lord their God) who was accompained by two others. Then one left for Sodam, I think, one stayed with the Lord. They were served food and drink and ate with Abram and Sarai.
I’ll see if I can find the references of the Native Peoples who were visited by the Lord, whom they called the Great Spirit.
Anyway, the video was very intriguing, and I’ll be sure to find the site and send the link to my peeps.
Blessing, joy and love to you and yours. Peace _m