[Junior]

I don't think this theory is new. I remember hearing of this in high school more than 20 years ago.

[SunkenCiv]

The example that always comes to my mind (from my college years, uh, 25+ years ago) is found in Bernal Diaz' "Conquest of New Spain"; I couldn't find an online version of that book, but did find this reference to that passage:

A New Jersey Mastodon
by Glenn L. Jepsen
1960

In 1519 Bernal Diaz del Castillo, an officer in the army of Cortez, was given a large bone, probably part of a mastodon leg, by Indians from the village of Tlascala, near Mexico City, as evidence of the former presence there of giants. Diaz accepted this explanation, which continued to be a common belief for nearly two hundred years, and sent the bone to Spain "for his majesty's inspection." This was probably the first fossil to be noticed by Europeans in North America, and the first American fossil to be taken to Europe. Mastodon bones are still being exposed by erosion in the stream valleys near Tlascala and, a few years ago, I saw several teeth and dark brown bones of the "underground giants" in a glass case in the lobby of an inn in the village. Perhaps Diaz saw some of the same bones four and one-half centuries ago.

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