Cardiff Giant

Record summary

A ten-foot stone figure was unearthed at Cardiff in 1869 and presented by William C. Newell as a petrified ancient man. The discovery attracted crowds and became one of the best-known nineteenth-century American archaeological hoaxes. George Hull later acknowledged that he had commissioned the statue, although debates about publicity, financial partners, and exhibition history remain useful for studying how biblical literalism, popular archaeology, and commercial spectacle shaped interpretations of material finds. The artifact itself survives and can be compared with contemporary newspaper coverage and museum documentation.