It is highly likely that the Biblical giants refer to a late surviving population of people with archaic traits, but they would not have been Neanderthals. We have evidence of Balangoda Man in South Asia, the Red Dear Cave people in East Asia, several specimens in Mongolia, and the Giant of Castelnaugh in Europe as examples of Neolithic archaics. These are entire populations of people existing into the Neolithic with hyper robust skeletons and archaic traits.
Before the world take-over of agriculturalists from 10 to 5 thousand years ago, much more diversity existed in the human genome. Groups existed with males averaging at least 7 feet. There are even populations of modern humans in Sichuan and among the Native Americans with males averaging 7 to 7 1/2 feet in the last 5000 years.
I have read that the word Nephilim in Hebrew does not directly translate to giant, but that there were giants among the Nephilim. They were the offspring of the B’nai Elohim, which means Sons of God (or gods) . Clearly this indicates the “Other,” a different race than the offspring of Adam and Eve or the wives of their sons. The phrase “Sons of God(s)” carries a respect beyond the more general terms “gentile” or ”goyim.”
Legends of our veneration for archaic rulers and “giants” are near universal, from the Greek Titans and Norse giants to the Anaste of America and the hairy Lords of the Forest in the Himalayas. In all of these legends, the archaic people are known for stealing human women or taking them as lovers. In most, the wives of giants are normal size and attractive.
Gilgamesh appears in ancient Sanskrit and the Hebrew Book of Giants as an offspring of gods (or b’nai Elohim) who has the right of First Night with any bride married in his kingdom (Sumerian).
The earliest Sumerians in Ur practiced cranial deformation, recalling the skull shape of the tall Eastern Neanderthals from nearby Shanidar.
We know Neanderthals in Siberia started importing Homo Sapien women from South West Asia as early as 70 thousand years ago by studying DNA extracted from their fossils.
It’s interesting to note that in most of the northern hemisphere, modern female mtDNA haplogroups entered the region 10,000 or more years before the earliest male y DNA haplogroups entered the same area. For example, the oldest female lineage present in Tibet entered the plateau 20 thousand years ago, but the oldest male lineage only entered 10 thousand years ago. So who were the earlier males the women were reproducing with between the two migrations?
According genetics, their earlier mates were an ethnic group comprised of Neanderthal, Denisovan, and archaic Paleo-Siberians. In Tibetan lore, they were terrible giants who claimed descent from a creature called the Theurang.
Between 10 and 5 thousand years ago, 90% of male or y DNA haplogroups went extinct in a pattern consistent with the spread of agriculture. Do the legends associated with our earliest agricultural societies speak of farmers Fighting with archaic people over land and mates? Did the agriculturalists “reclaim” Homo Sapien women from hybrid hunter gatherer groups with archaic traits?
I think it’s a highly reasonable suspicion.
Also, while Classic Neanderthals only averaged 5’4 (though hyper robust), the Eastern Neanderthals and Denisovans seem to have been much taller. Female specimens of both lineages have been estimated as 6 foot tall, suggesting the males were giants.
A 7 foot tall Neanderthal would take up much more space than a modern wrestler due to the robust frame. And the truth is we don’t know how long they survived in Shanidar and Teshik-Tash. There aren’t any Neanderthal bones deposited after 40 thousand years ago, but there aren't any Homo Sapiens bones either, Lithics and waste deposits show that paleolithic people lived there until 10000 when agriculturalists showed up. The burials from that time are of Homo Sapiens who practice cranial deformation, just like the Neanderthals from the same cave. those Neanderthals were once suspected of the same practice(before we found the shape to be natural in their population).
Are biblical references to giants possibly our species' collective memory of living along side Neanderthals?
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