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There are many examples of this claim on the web

In 1936 Larson Kohl, the German paleontologist and anthropologist, found the bones of gigantic men on the shore of Lake Elyasi in Central Africa. Other giant skeletons were later found in Hava, the Transvaal and China. The evidence for the existence of giants is incontrovertible. "A scientifically assured fact," says Dr. Louis Burkhalter.

--http://www.thetallestman.com/whoisthetallest/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=567&start=10

Were giant skeletons found in 1936 as described or at all?

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  • In order to make this question on topic for the site, I've removed any trace of the "troiesme humanite" because it's a work of fiction, and haven't found claims otherwise. I've reduced the question to one claim which I found to be very commonly held as true in forums and elsewhere.
    – Sklivvz
    Jan 6, 2014 at 0:12
  • Well my above comment was removed as it discussed Troiesme Humanite. However I would restate some things I did mention in it, including that, firstly, there have not been any verified giant human skeletons, least of all by actual scientists, and secondly that beyond a certain point the giant would run into serious problems without a dramatically altered skeleton.
    – Uncle
    Jan 6, 2014 at 0:18
  • Related question: Was there a giant red-haired race in North America? - Is this actually the same claim? I didn't read either carefully.
    – Oddthinking ♦
    Jan 6, 2014 at 0:58
  • @uncle, please use the comment section only to discuss how to improve question. Answers should be ...answers, and must be supported by references.
    – Sklivvz
    Jan 6, 2014 at 1:39
  • @odd no, I think this is a different claim.
    – Sklivvz
    Jan 6, 2014 at 1:40

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Larson Kohl's Wikipedia page does state that he found human ancestral remains, but it was Australopithecus afarensis (the same species as the famous Lucy) but nothing about giants.

The place described at the passage is Mumba Cave, which is located on the shore Lake Eyasi (not Elyasi) in Tanzania and was excavated by Kohl and his wife margit in the 1930s. The findings in the cave, by Kohl and his wife, and by later archaeologists are described in this Indiana University Article and it doesn't say anything even remotely close to giants.

There are also published scientific articles regarding Mumba cave, none of them depicts giants. Google Scholar results for Mumba Cave

The quote that is attributed to Dr. Louis Burkhalter was not said regarding the supposed findings of Larson Kohl, but on other findings, that didn't include skeletons or any other human (or other creature) remains at all:

He is also notable in some fringe circles for suggesting the existence of giants as a "scientific fact" in the Acheulean period when commenting on the gigantic lithic finds of Denis Saurat at Sasnych in Syria. Later review of his suggestion notes that large lithics found could have been used for stunning and traps and present no evidence for giant populations.

from Wikipedia

Wikipedia sources the quote to a french book by Burkhalter himself:

Burkhalter, Louis., "Bibliographie préhistorique (suite et fin)" in Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth. Tome IX, 1949-1950

And the rebatle to him is sourced to a french article:

Edeine, Bernard., Monuments mégalithiques détruits ou en voie de disparition dans le bac de Caux, Annales de Normandie, 1957

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