Since 2004 this doctored image has helped give legs to tall tales of ancient giant humans.

At least one version of the story published in the March 2007 issue of India's Hindu Voice monthly and cited in countless blog entries and emails this year claims that a National Geographic Society team helped make the "discovery" in India.

The picture, however, is an innocent fake.

These images were lifted from Worth1000, a Web site that hosts contests for digital artists. Created by an artist using the alias IronKite, the picture placed third in a 2002 competition titled "Archaeological Anomalies 2," which asked contestants to create a hoax archaeological discovery.