Theory: Nephilim were Neanderthal man

I’d like to explore the idea that the Nephilim mentioned in the bible were Neanderthal man, a distant memory, or perhaps a clan of Neanderthal that actually survived and lived in Canaan. I have four points to support my theory.

#1. The first thing I’d like to point out is that people “of great size” does not necessarily mean tall “giant” people.

The term “Nephilim” occurs just twice in the Hebrew Bible, both in the Torah. The first is Genesis 6:1-4, immediately before the Noah’s ark story:

… The Nephilim were on the earth in those days—and also afterward—when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. They were the heroes of old, men of renown. …

The second is Numbers 13:32-33, where the Hebrew spies report that they have seen fearsome giants in Canaan:

And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.

We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

The reference could refer to strength, not height. Neanderthal men were of great size, and powerful. Even the women were powerful:

“… even Arnold Schwarzenegger at his muscular peak no match for a Neanderthal woman … Regarding the inadequacy of Schwarzenegger, McAllister studied the remains of “La Ferrassie 2″, a Neanderthal lass discovered in a French cave in 1909. She boasted ten per cent more muscle than modern European men, and her upper arm strength was more than enough to “slam him to the table without a problem”. – link

#2. The second point is the location of the sighting mentioned in the bible.

… The Mount Carmel caves outside Haifa set the geographical limits for Neanderthal fossils. One skeleton found buried in the Kebara cave is so well preserved that it has provided the best data yet on Neanderthal anatomy and led scholars to reassess the function of the Neanderthal pelvis and linguistic capabilities, following the discovery of the hyoid bone in the throat.  … – link

The obvious question: Was Kebara Cave, Mt Carmel, Israel in what was known as  Canaan? According to this map, Mt. Carmel is very close to Galilee in ancient Israel. And according to worldatlas.com “Israel occupies about 75% of an area long known as Canaan.”

Below is a map of Canaan. In what was called Asher, you can see Mt. Carmel where the Neanderthal bones were found. Neanderthal man was in Canaan, and so were the Nephilim!

 

#3. The third supporting point is that the bible states that some men were descendants of the Nephilim and we now know that Neanderthal man interbred at least twice with Homo sapiens. The bible says, “We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim).” Who was Anak?

Anak … was a well known figure, and a forefather of the Anakites who have been considered “strong and tall,” they were also said to have been a mixed race of giant people, descendants of the Nephilim. ‘ – wiki

“Using projected rates of genetic mutation and data from the fossil record, the researchers suggest that the interbreeding happened about 60,000 years ago in the eastern Mediterranean and, more recently, about 45,000 years ago in eastern Asia.” – nature.com

Yes, Israel (Canaan) is considered to be in the eastern Mediterranean.

#4. Fourth the phrase “The land we explored devours those living in it.” and “We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them,” I think, are references to cannibalism.  Having worked with locusts in some of my research, I can definitely tell you that they eat each other. It is revolting. It is something you never forget.  This would not have escaped the observation of early men, for whom locusts (super grasshoppers) devouring your crops were one of the worst things that could happen.

We now know from archaeological research that our ancestors ate Neanderthal men.

… fossil expert Fernando Rozzi of Paris’s Centre National de la Récherche Scientifique, … based [the conclusion that we ate Neanderthal men] on a jawbone from a Neanderthal clearly butchered for food by someone with Homo Sapiens tools…  – link

Ancient men seemed to be saying, “We are cannibals. We know it, and our food knows it.” We ate them!

Did Neanderthal man eat Homo sapiens? Perhaps not. Perhaps the tricky Homo sapiens felt guilt at his behavior and blamed his own “sins” on the enemy he killed and ate.  The winners of a war get to rewrite history.

Once the giant Nephilim hybrids were born, these legendary warriors (Titans) of renowned fierceness began to kill off all the humans from the earth. In Numbers 11 we are told that they were not only giants but cannibals as well.  The book of Enoch states that they ate the flesh and drank the blood of the people on earth. They were also the number one enemy of Israel.”

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron. Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings

In fact, rather than them killing off all of the humans, it was our human ancestors who killed off all of the Titans, if “the Titans” is, as I suspect, another name for Neanderthal. And we at them.  I tend to think the book of Enoch is a guilty historical rewrite.

#5. The fifth point of evidence is the fate of Neanderthal and the meaning of the word “Nephilim”.

“Nephilim” (נְפִילִים) probably derives from the Hebrew root npl (נָפַל), “to fall” which also includes “to cause to fall” and “to kill, to ruin”. The Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon gives the meaning as “giants”[1] Robert Baker Girdlestone argued the word comes from the Hiphil causative stem. Adam Clarke took it as passive, “fallen”, “apostates”. Ronald Hendel states that it is a passive form “ones who have fallen”, equivalent grammatically to paqid “one who is appointed” (i.e. overseer), asir, “one who is bound”, (i.e. prisoner) etc.

via Nephilim – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

The large powerful Neanderthal men were eventually wiped out. They were the fallen, the ruined, the killed, and it would not be a stretch to believe that they were once made prisoners by their more tricky, more deceptive, better planning Homo sapien cousins.  Genesis says, “The Nephilim were on the earth in those days”. Now the Nephilim, like the Neanderthal, are no longer on the earth.

Arguments Against the Nephilim being Neanderthal Man

The major problem with my theory, if you accept that “giant” could just mean “a bit taller and much more muscular,” is, of course, the timing.  Could a story in Genesis really be describing something that happened 60,000 years ago? When did the spies of Israel see the Nephilim in Canaan? One source puts the conquest of Canaan at 1406 to 1399 BC. Another says The Conquest of Canaan by Joshua took 6 years from 1487 to 1493 BC.

The 7 nations that confronted Joshua were GIANTS and they were like the sands of the sea in number. The Lord told Joshua to completely destroy these corrupt nations

 

Evidence suggests that dates in the bible must be wrong:

A 1401 BC date of the beginning of the conquest is supposed to violate the assured results of archeological findings in Palestine, notably at Ai, Lachish, and Debir. The problem of Ai is indeed acute, if the mound of et Tell is actually the biblical city. Excavation of the site by Mme. Judith Marquet-Krause in 1933 and 1934 has shown that there was an occupational gap in the history of the mound from about 2200 BC until after 1200 BC, so that supposedly there was nothing but a ruin there when Joshua and Israel are said to have captured and destroyed it… – theology.edu

For my theory to hold, the story of the Conquest of Canaan in Genesis would be drawn, in part, on more ancient sources than anyone has so far believed. Genesis, fantastically, may tell of the defeat of the last Neanderthals who survived as late as up to 24,000 years ago.

After wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, Moses handed over leadership to Joshua, whose responsibility it was to bring the nation of Israel into the promised land of Canaan. After entering Canaan, Joshua had to go to war with the people who occupied the land. – link

Perhaps Neanderthal man was around in the time of Moses, but there is, so far, no evidence for Neanderthal being around after 24,000 years ago. Another possibility is that an older story was woven into the real Conquest of Canaan.

Neanderthals, prehistoric cousins of humans, ate grains and vegetables as well as meat, cooking them over fire in the same way homo sapiens did. … The squat, low-browed Neanderthals lived in parts of Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East for around 170,000 years but all evidence of them disappears some 28,000 years ago, their last known refuge being Gibraltar. Why they died out is a matter of debate, because they co-existed alongside modern man. – physorg

Neanderthal died out because they were out planned and because they were not deceptive cannibals like “modern” man.

 

NASA tests Mars space suit in Argentine Antarctica

A NASA team has tested a space suit in a setting with extreme conditions akin to some of those found on Mars — an Argentine base in Antarctica — for possible use on a visit to the Red Planet.

The NDX-1 space suit, designed by Argentine aerospace engineer Pablo de Leon, endured frigid temperatures and winds of more than 47 mph as researchers tried out techniques for collecting soil samples on Mars.

“This was the first time we took the suit to such an extreme, isolated environment so that if something went wrong we couldn’t just go to the store” and buy a repair kit, De Leon told Reuters recently after returning from the one week expedition.

The $100,000 prototype suit, created with NASA funds, is made out of more than 350 materials, including tough honeycomb Kevlar and carbon fibers to reduce its weight without losing resistance.

During the “Mars in Marambio” mission, named after the Argentine air force base, a team of NASA scientists went on simulated spacewalks, operated drills and collected samples while wearing the gear.

De Leon himself wore the pressurized suit, which he said was bound to make anyone feel claustrophobic with its helmet and built-in headset for communicating with the outside world. …

via NASA tests Mars space suit in Argentine Antarctica | Reuters.

Jacob Barnett, 12, with “higher IQ than Einstein” develops own theory of relativity

A 12-year-old child prodigy has astounded university professors after grappling with some of the most advanced concepts in mathematics.

Jacob Barnett has an IQ of 170 – higher than Albert Einstein – and is now so far advanced in his Indiana university studies that professors are lining him up for a PHD research role.

The boy wonder, who taught himself calculus, algebra, geometry and trigonometry in a week, is now tutoring fellow college classmates after hours.

And now Jake has embarked on his most ambitious project yet – his own ‘expanded version of Einstein’s theory of relativity’.

His mother, not sure if her child was talking nonsense or genius, sent a video of his theory to the renowned Institute for Advanced Study near Princeton University.

According to the Indiana Star, Institute astrophysics professor Scott Tremaine -himself a world renowned expert – confirmed the authenticity of Jake’s theory.

In an email to the family, Tremaine wrote: ‘I’m impressed by his interest in physics and the amount that he has learned so far.

‘The theory that he’s working on involves several of the toughest problems in astrophysics and theoretical physics.

‘Anyone who solves these will be in line for a Nobel Prize.’

But for his mother Kristine Barnett, 36, and the rest of the family, maths remains a tricky subject.

Speaking to the paper, Mrs Barnett said: ‘I flunked math. I know this did not come from me.’ …

via Jacob Barnett,12, with higher IQ than Einstein develops his own theory of relativity | Mail Online.

Calculus isn’t that hard once you “get it”.

Calculus is the study of how things change. It provides a framework for modeling systems in which there is change, and a way to deduce the predictions of such models. – mit.edu

Jake can play Ludwig van Beethoven Moonlight Sonata from memory too.

Having a 170 IQ can make life difficult in some ways. For example, brilliant people can be below average in some specific areas. People don’t understand this. 

Praising a smart son or daughter for his or her intelligence may make the youngster anxious and ill-equipped to deal with failure, a team of psychologists has found. It is much better to praise a child for effort, said Claudia Mueller and Corol Dweck, researchers at Columbia University.

-via borntoexplore

The title of this article is misleading. I could easily say that I have an IQ higher than Albert Einstein too. No one could prove me wrong because Einstein never took an IQ test.  His IQ will never be unknown.

Quantum physics explanation for smell gains traction

The theory that our sense of smell has its basis in quantum physics events is gaining traction, say researchers.

The idea remains controversial, but scientists reporting at the American Physical Society meeting in Dallas, US, are slowly unpicking how it could work.

The key, they say, is tiny packets of energy, or quanta, lost by electrons.

Experiments using tiny wires show that as electrons move on proteins within the nose, odour molecules could absorb these quanta and thereby be detected.

If the theory is right, by extending these studies, an “electronic nose” superior to any chemical sensor could be devised….

The means by which a detected molecule is translated into a smell within the brain has already been the subject of Nobel prize-winning research.

But how precisely an odorant molecule is detected remains a mystery.

As with the picture of molecular interactions that drives our understanding of enzymes and drugs, the very shape of odorant molecules has been assumed to be the way it is detected in the nose.

In this scenario, molecules are seen to be the “key” that fits neatly into a detector molecule in the nose that acts as a lock.

But in 1996, Luca Turin, now of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US, suggested that the “vibrational modes” of an odorant were its signature.

Molecules can be viewed as a collection of atoms on springs, and energy of just the right frequency – a quantum – can cause the spring to vibrate.

Since different assemblages of molecules have different characteristic frequencies, Turin proposed, these vibrations could act as a molecular signature.

The idea has been debated in the scientific literature, but presentations at the American Physical Society meeting put the theory on firmer footing. …

via BBC News – Quantum physics explanation for smell gains traction.