Largest Skull Ever Discovered

In 1937, a site along Potomac Creek in Stafford County, Virginia yielded a skull “which far exceeds in brain capacity any skull previously recorded.” The Washington Post reported: 

A primitive Algonquin Indian who hunted and fished along the Potomac River 300 years ago and was probably a friend of the princess Pocahontas, probably was the brainiest man the world has ever seen. The skull of this man, which far exceeds in brain capacity any skull previously recorded, was found in Stafford County, Va., by presiding judge W. J. Graham, of the United States Count of Customs and Patent Appeals, a prominent amateur archaeologist. He announced his discovery yesterday.

Judge Graham found the skull about two weeks ago. It was in several pieces, and he sent it, as he has his other archaeological finds, to the Smithsonian Institution. There it was assembled and officials were astounded to find that it exceeds the brain capacity of any skull on record.

Judge Graham said when he saw the skull after its mounting, he was astounded. “It looked almost as big as a watermelon,” he said. Its owner would have had a hat size well over eight, he estimated.

Examination of the skull shows it was healthy and not an abnormality, Judge Graham said. The skeleton of the mental giant was found, but it has not yet been assembled and measured, so the scientists do not know whether the bearer of the skull was also a man of tremendous stature. Of all the 16,000 skulls of all races of people at the Smithsonian only one approaches the capacity of Judge Graham’s discovery. That is the skull of a prehistoric American found on a lonely Aleutian Island by Dr. Ales Hrdlička. It has a brain capacity of 2000 cubic centimeters.

The skull discovered by Judge Graham has a capacity of 2,200 cubic centimeters. The man who possessed it would have been a mental giant when compared with most persons today who have only 600 to 800 cubic centimeters of brain space.

Although intelligence is said to be in part dependent upon the amount of blood reaching to the brain, large brain size is also needed for great mental powers, scientists say. They point to two great men who are among those with largest brain capacity known, Napoleon Bonaparte and Count Leo Tolstoy, the Russian novelist.

The site where Judge Graham is excavating was once the village of “Patowoameke,” largest Indian settlement on the Potomac. This was the way in which the Indian name for both the village and the river was originally spelled by the early explorers.

Captain John Smith visited the village and described it as a place housing about 1,500 souls.

More than 300 years ago the princess Pocahontas visited the chief of the village. It was while she was at Patowoameke that Capt. Argyle, an early explorer, kidnapped her, history declares.

Judge Graham has been interested in archaeology for many years. He has done explorations in Illinois and at Port Tobacco, Md. He published a book on his findings at the latter place. 

Washington Post. “Largest Skull Ever Recorded Is Discovered by Archaeologist in Stafford County, Virginia.” June 4, 1937.

Although it was never determined if the skull belonged to a person of great physical stature, one would have to think that such a large skull would need to be supported by a proportionally large frame. It is interesting to note that scientific papers and other writings speak extensively about archaeological finds at the site, including large ossuaries filled with human bones, but there is little to no mention of the enormous skull.

I discussed this find in my book Strange Tales from Virginia's Mountains. For an in-depth look at the worldwide legends and lore of giants, check out my book Giants: Men of Renown.

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