My-Mu Blog

In Part 1, we examined quotes from William Niven contained in Louis E. Hills’ book entitled, Historical Data from Ancient Records and Ruins of Mexico and Central America. In this follow-up, we examine writings from and about William Niven. Please note this is not a complete list. As demonstrated below, some articles appeared more than once with the exact same text. Most images open links to the referenced article.

1896
REMARKABLE DISCOVERY OF THE RUINS OF A PREHISTORIC CITY IN MEXICO – The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal – Volume 18 – Jan-Nov 1896 page 323-324
No giants, no larger than normal people mentioned in text

A Lost City That was Larger than London;
The San Francisco Examiner Sat Nov 7, 1896

No giants, no larger than normal people mentioned in text

1897
The Land of Bones; The South Western Farmer and American Horticulturist (Wichita, Kansas) Thu Apr_1, 1897

No giants, no larger than normal people mentioned in text

The Land of Bones; Kansas City Daily Tribune (Kansas City, Kansas) · Fri, Apr 2, 1897
The Land of Bones; The Valley Falls New Era (Valley Falls, Kansas) Sat Apr 3, 1897
The Land of Bones; The Lebanon Journal (Lebanon, Kansas) Sat, Apr 3, 1897
The Land of Bones; The Galena Evening Times (Galena, Kansas) Fri, Apr 9, 1897
The Land of Bones; Evening Messenger (Marshall, Texas) Sat, Apr 10, 1897
The Land of Bones; The Ozark County News (Gainesville, Missouri) Thu Apr 29, 1897
Content same as above.
No giants, no larger than normal people mentioned in text

Prehistoric Relics in Mexico; St Louis Dispatch (St. Louis, Missouri) Mar 7, 1987


No giants, no larger than normal people mentioned in text

Prehistoric Mexican City; New York Times July 24, 1897
Part 1 – Part 2
No giants, no larger than normal people mentioned in text

A Layer of Human Bones; Greensboro Telegram (Greensboro, North Carolina) Wed, Dec 22, 1897

No giants, no larger than normal people mentioned in text

Finds a Vast Charnel House; Argus Leader (Sioux Falls, South Dakota) Dec. 24, 1897

No giants, no larger than normal people mentioned in text

Omitlan, a Prehistoric City of Mexico; pages 217-222
The American Antiquarian and Oriental Journal, Volume 19;
No giants, no larger than normal people mentioned in text

1899
Discoveries in Mexico; Fort Wayne News – May 27, 1899

No giants, no larger than normal people mentioned in text

1904
Relics of Old Mexican Races; Muskogee Democrat August 9, 1904

1910
Find Remains of Old Race; Gettysburg Times Apr 12, 1910

No giants, no larger than normal people

Traces of Race Preceding the Toltecs; Buffalo Evening News, Apr 12, 1910

No giants, no larger than normal people

Ruins of Ancient Mexico City Found; The Inquirer (Lancaster, Pennsylvania) Sat, Oct 22, 1910

Claims to Have Found Aztec Wolf God; San Antonio Light And Gazette November 3, 1910

1911
Find Aztec Relics; Middlebury Independent May 19, 1911

No giants, no larger than normal people mentioned in text

5 Strange Discoveries – 1 An American Pompeii – Smothered in Volcanic Ashes 50,000 Years Ago; The San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California) Sun, Nov 19, 1911

No giants, no larger than normal people

1912
Ancient American History; El Paso Herald (El Paso, Texas) Sat, Mar 2, 1912

Part 1 – part 2
No giants, no larger than normal people

City of 3000 B.C. Found in Mexico; The New York Times (New York, New York) Sun, Dec 1, 1912

Mentions the tomb of a “man of not more than five feet in height”

City of 3000 B.C. Found in Mexico; Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, North Dakota) Wed, Dec 4, 1912

No giants, no larger than normal people mentioned in text

1913
Lost City is Found; Enterprise-Times (Perry, Oklahoma) Tue, Jan 14, 1913

Excavations in Old Mexico Show People of the Orient Once Lived on Our Continent; Arkansas Democrat (Little Rock, Arkansas) Mon, Nov 17, 1913

Mentions a room with the “bones of a man who had been of gigantic stature.”

1914
Mexico Powerful Nation 5000 Years Ago; American Excavators’ Amazing Discoveries in Mexico City as War Gathers; Muskogee Times-Democrat (Muskogee, Oklahoma) Fri, Apr 24, 1914

Article shows picture of large skull, however the article states that Niven placed the skull in his canvas bag, so it must not be as large as the picture implies.

1917
Wonders of Prehistoric Mexico; The Morning Union (Grass Valley, California) Sun, May 27, 1917

No giants, no larger than normal people

There is an article mentioning bones of A man of gigantic stature; however that doesn’t indicate a race of giants lived in Mexico or prove Hills’ version of Mormon history.
One thing to consider is the Mexican Revolution lasted from 1910 to 1920 and at times became very bloody and dominated the news.

If there are other writings from or about Niven’s work that reference giants, please send a link via email.
I will update the posting and maybe my findings.

Recently a copy of Historical Data from Ancient Records and Ruins of Mexico and Central America (1919) by Louis E. Hills was posted to social media. My interest was the possibility of further information on William Niven’s discoveries since it was published around the same time period. I was not disappointed and found two references to William Niven:

Page 10
RECENT DISCOVERIES IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO
Now late and important evidences come from the valley of Mexico, in an article from Professor William Niven (a man of considerable fame), whose article was published in the San Antonio Express.
“He tells of discoveries of world-wide interest, that promise to change history, and which startlingly corroborate legends supposed to be pure myths, that have come down to us from the dim, dim past
“He has found evidences of three distinct civilizations that have inhabited the Valley of Mexico at different periods, “classed by me,” he says, “as Aztec, Pre-Aztec, and primitive.”
This extract from his article I call especial attention to: “Some of the bones show a race of people over the average of the ordinary size.” Here, then, is the latest evidence of a large race of people once living upon this continent, called Quinames, or giants, in the traditions, and they were the primitive colony who landed at Panuco, built Tula, settled in the Valley of Mexico, and built Cholula and the great pyramid still to be seen there.
San Antonio (Texas) Express, April 14, 1918

Page 47
BABYLONIAN DESIGNS AND STRANGE CHARACTERS FOUND IN THE VALLEY OF MEXICO.
By Prof. Wm. Niven
“Archaeological discoveries in excavations now being made in the Valley of Mexico.”
“The valley lies a vast emerald oval, surrounded by towering mountains, wonderfully beautiful is the scene of softly sloping and fertile country.”
“In all the localities where archaeological ruins abound in this country there is probably none of such vast importance for the student and explorer as in the Valley of Mexico.”
“Some of the bones (of the primitive people) show a race over the average of the ordinary size. Many of these pre-historic persons have been more than six feet in height. Very, very few arrow heads are found, needles made from bone are plentiful, the needles with a hole near the point show they knew the art of knitting. Spindle whorls, similar to those found in Troy, were found in vast numbers, and all of them have strange characters and designs, which are more highly artistic than those found in Egypt. Eagle heads are also plentiful, with curious Babylonian characters and Grecian decorations. Cylinders for the rolling of manuscript with Babylonian designs are found. No doubt they knew the art of writing and printing, as is shown by seals which are found in quantities.”
San Antonio (Texas) Express, April 14, 1918

Looking at the document as a whole, author Hills uses many references to provide proof of giants as the original primitive peoples of Mexico and Central America, which he also calls Quinames. According to Wikipedia, the Quinametzin from Aztec mythology populated the world during the previous Sun of Rain era and are described as ten feet tall and weighing 650 pounds.

Louis E Hills

A little bit of digging shows that Louis Hills was a researcher of the Reformed Church of Later Day Saints. He also believed that Hill Cumorah was in Central America instead of New York. I am not a scholar of the Book of Mormon or a Mormon, so the significance is lost on me. However, Hills’ evidence purports to support the location of this iconic hill in Central America and/or Mexico. Supposedly, the evidence of giants in Mexico and Central America indicates the Nephites, (one of the people in the Book of Mormon who left Jerusalem in 600 BCE and lived in the Americas,) were the Nephilim, sometimes translated as giants. Archaeological evidence doesn’t support the existence of giants in Mexico or Central America.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to find the original article referenced by Mr. Hills.

Niven’s declaration of ‘some of the bones show a race over the average of the ordinary size’ and ‘many of these pre-historic persons have been more than six feet in height’ does not actually provide solid evidence for giants; merely that some of the prehistoric peoples he discovered in his excavations were larger than normal.

On the other hand, Niven did write about his theories of the buried cities of Mexico and that his most advanced civilization was found at the lowest of three layers he discovered. This lowest layer of archaeological material was described by Niven as bearing a resemblance to ancient Egypt and Babylon. He also wrote about the many figurines of many different peoples also unearthed from his excavations.

In part 2, I’ll provide some more information on the articles that William Niven wrote and where he was mentioned prior to 1919.