The estate of Dr. Grover Krantz has granted us exclusive license to produce several important casts from his personal collection: his reconstruction of the skull of Gigantopithecus blacki, his reconstruction of the skull of Meganthropus (Sangiran 31) and his engraved reconstruction of the skeletal structure on casts taken from Sasquatch or Bigfoot footprints.

Dr. Krantz, a noted scholar of physical and cultural anthropology and an active Professor of Anthropology at Washington State University until shortly before his death, was the first, and for years the only, serious academic to conduct research into the question of whether the North American "Sasquatch" or "Bigfoot" is an animal that exists in fact, in addition to legend.

Not one to shy away from controversial subjects, Dr. Krantz believed in the importance of inquiry until research could substantiate or refute a given thesis. Presented with the Bigfoot question, Dr. Krantz was first skeptical, but after research and investigation concluded that at a minimum the subject warranted further inquiry.

After interviews and study of physical material, particularly a pair of footprint impressions found in North America, Dr. Krantz published papers on the anatomy of the Sasquatch Foot in which he concludes that the impressions were made by a non-human foot, are consistent with a large-massed bipedal animal, and would be difficult, if not impossible to fake.

Dr. Krantz then studied some of the lesser known Sangiran skull remains and reconstructed the skulls of Gigantopithecus blacki (from the jaw of a large adult male found in China) and Meganthropus (Sangiran 31), and published a paper entitled "A reconstruction of the skull of Gigantopithecus blacki and its comparison with a living form" in which he presents the theory that G. blacki may be extant, and the subject of "Bigfoot" sightings.

Though no skeletal remains had been found, Dr. Krantz proposed that the North American footprints alone could be used to describe this species, and cited other non-skeletal material used to describe fossil species as precedent. He further proposed that the footprints found and cast be referred to as Gigantopithecus blacki, with the caveat that classification could be adjusted as needed should future evidence suggest it. Although linking a supposed, but unverified extant animal to a known, but presumably extinct one, Dr. Krantz believed that scientific inquiry was merited. Since Dr. Krantz's pioneering efforts, other researchers in the academic community have joined the inquiry.

In addition to books and articles on the subject of "Bigfoot" or "Sasquatch", and Gigantopithecus blacki, Dr. Krantz also authored books and articles on aspects of human physical and cultural evolution such as: Climatic Races and Descent Groups (1980), The Process of Human Evolution (1982, 1995) and Geographical Development of European Languages (1988), and his many articles cover such subjects as pelvic evolution, Neanderthal winter survival and taxonomy, tooth wear, mastoid function, language origins, precision gripping of stone tools, non-migrations of hunting peoples, mammal extinctions and sea-level changes. Overall, Dr. Krantz wrote or co-authored 10 books and over 60 articles.

Dr. Krantz was one of the physical anthropologists to examine the "Kennewick Man" skeleton found in Oregon before it was confiscated, and agreed with Dr. James Chatters's (Grover's former student) overall opinions about its early age, "European" traits, and belonging to a group that does not inhabit the area now. He supported continued study of this skeleton to further our understanding of human evolution and migration.

During his entire career Dr. Grover Krantz maintained an innate curiosity about how things worked, and encouraged the same in others.

Dr. Krantz is remembered affectionately by students, his department chair and the Dean of the College of Liberal Arts. To quote Barbara Couture, Dean, College of Liberal Arts, Washington State University: "We will miss greatly this devoted teacher and scholar."