Due to a host of incredible archeological discoveries about its former inhabitants, the Italian island of Sardinia has been referred to by many as the Land of the Giants…

In March 1974, a local farmer was plowing his fields on the island's western coast when he stumbled across a large statue fragment that would lead to eight years of archeological excavations and investigations.

In all, archeologists recovered more than 5,000 pieces of carved sandstone. They set about reconstructing the pieces and soon realized that they were assembling an army of stone, as these statues were representing boxers, archers, and warriors.

Up to 44 individual statues have been found. However, most astounding is not their numbers, nor the identity of their creators, but their sheer scale.

These stone giants measure up to 2.5 meters in height, and some weigh up to 400 kilograms in their fully reassembled form.

Equally impressive is their anatomical precision - despite being more than 8 feet tall, the geometric details, particularly of the faces, have been meticulously carved. The eyes, for instance, consist of perfect concentric circles, which has led many to describe them as ‘alien’ in appearance.

It has been determined that the giants are carved from local sandstone and that they likely date back to around 3,000 years ago. Many have claimed that the discovery of these stone giants - known as the Giants of Mont’e Prama - lends weight to theories of ancient astronauts and alien intervention.