cyclops

Throughout history, many cultures have told of mythic creatures of enormous size. The cyclopes are some of the most famous. These one-eyed giants were said to live on the island of Sicily, where the ancient Greeks found strange skulls with a large center hole. In fact, these skulls belonged to extinct elephants that once roamed the island. The hole was not a massive eye socket, but the place where the trunk attached.

Image credits: main image, AMNH/Sean Murtha; Laurel Kendall: courtesy of AMNH.