Many of the men discovered in the graveyard measured 1.8 metres (5ft 11in) tall and would have seemed like giants to the average person 5,000 years ago.

One of the men in the ancient burial ground measured 1.9 metres (6ft 3in), making him a 'giant' of his day.

“This is just based on the bone structure. If he was a living person his height would certainly exceed 1.9 metres,” Fang Hui, head of Shandong University's school of history and culture, told China Daily.