Our Gods, Our Ancestors, The Cavemen. ???
What if all of the history made sense, but the narrative about it didn't.
Just Picture This…
Imagine modern humans migrating into Europe around 40,000 - 50,000 years ago. They almost immediately encounter Neanderthals, a stockier, more muscular hominin species adept at surviving the harsh glacial climate.
Modern humans, smaller and less accustomed to the cold, are awestruck by the Neanderthals' physical prowess. Neanderthals might appear god-like - able to fell mammoths, cave bears, and large predatory cats, along with navigating treacherous terrains with ease. They witnessed the Neanderthal being able to leap, and fall from much greater distances than humans, they also had the ability to throw spears twice as hard and far, they would certainly have appeared to them, like a super human being at the very least.
Over some time, Neanderthals and modern humans may have interacted on a small scale, before the eventual interbreeding. The small scale would have been simple things like the trading of goods and basic ideas, weapon crafting, also observations on local wildlife, and hunting methods.
Once they progressed to interbreeding the scales had been tipped, leading both groups to have full on cultural exchange. Art, Music, and even their ideas of creation and each groups origins could be told in common languages. Religions were created or exchanged, we still do not have certain proof. Imagine modern humans had just spotted them, across a valley a tribe of Neanderthal were hunting. One of them goes into a cave mouth, and comes running out with a 2,000 pound short nosed cave bear chasing him. Outside the cave, 2 of the other hunters have their spears poised, not to throw they are ready to thrust. Their fellow hunter passes their spear points, and the bear has one go through each of his sides, instantly piercing its lungs. As big as the beast is, it's pinned by only two of these hunters while it gives a show of its best, but very last few seconds of primal survival fighting instinct. In its last attempt to free itself of the spears, it stands upright. It towers over the extremely muscular hunters, but they never eased up, it falls into a pile of dead weight.
To the humans first witnessing it, there is no doubt that the Neanderthal tool-making techniques, or hunting implements and strategies, could have been misconstrued as mystical powers or super human abilities. Their sheer strength, and rugged build could also have certainly added to this mystique.
Evidence - Lots of Evidence.
Other than the few Musical instruments, and Religious Idols shown above, there are also cave paintings, carvings, and physical remains by the truckload. Not to mention the spear points, sewing implements, grinding tools, the knifes with a specific utility, like bark scrapers, and fleshing blades, and the many other mysterious “advances” that occurred prior to, and during the very pivotal Aurignacian period.
When you factor in these other things, like the actual physical evidence, and take away the “feelings” and speculation, it paints a very vivid picture. One where these Ancestors to all Indo-European, Asian, and Aboriginal people had a very big role. The fact that the first (oldest) bone flutes we have found, along with some highly detailed cave art, and carved idol figures all date back to periods in those areas, when (modern humans) had not yet migrated there, is an inconvenience to Academia's New “Aliens” theory. Aliens that we have no physical evidence for, but we do have evidence of a neanderthal presence there in the correct time frame. 😀 Just sayin…
The Neander valley for which the Neanderthal are named, is a perfect example. Then there are the findings by the Smithsonian, who corroborates with Harvard, and both are now directly opposing this idea. Claiming that stone tools, and paintings all thought to be created by Neanderthal, could not have been. That humans must have made it there earlier than they were previously believed to. Mind you it's also their research in the controversial Harvard study, claiming that Aliens are living among us, and that Faeries, Dwarves, and Gnomes are different types of alien species.
Take Their Opinions, and Bias With a Grain of Salt.
As Neanderthals eventually died out, at least according to them, it was perhaps due to disease or resource competition. We have known for over a century, that Modern Humans and Neanderthals both occupied the same areas in Europe, and Asia. We have known for decades that they both occupied many of these areas during the same periods of time. We have known for over a decade, that most European, and Asian descendants carry Neanderthal DNA in their genetic lineage. The Smithsonian, and Harvard have held, and have cited studies claiming these very things. But.. in this 2024 article, they say maybe??
They “might have even interbred”… ummm 🧐
It wasn't until several individuals like myself, began pointing out publicly, that according to their own statements, research studies, and piles of archaeological evidence, it all seemed to indicate that Neanderthals had created the oldest bone flutes, which by the way are the oldest musical instruments ever found, discovered in some areas where humans had allegedly yet to migrate. Until now… 🤷🏼♂️
Were They Our Gods ?
Either way we look at it, their memory might have literally been deified by humans, myths, and legends of extremely strong beings born from what they witnessed and lived through. The Neanderthals physical strength and mastery of the frigid environment, could actually be immortalized in our modern human Religions, Spoken Histories, Myths, Lore, and Legends. Think about it, beings like Hercules, Sampson, and Thor’s tales of super human strength, are a perfect example. They were living right here beside humanity, and we were watching them do things that no person could.
In traditions like Odinism, there are tales of the entire population being wiped out, bringing the population down to just 6 hybrid children of the gods, and 2 humans. The reason that Odin is referred to as All-Father, is the 6 surviving Gods were his children and grandchildren. Those Surviving Ragnarok are Magni, and Modi, the sons of Thor, making them the grandchildren of Odin. Then we have Odin’s sons, Baldur, and Hodr, along with Vidar, and Vali who also survived. The two humans Lif, and Lifthrasir, may both have been women, one was said to have already been pregnant, thus the name Lifthrasir meaning “full of life” or “lover of life.” Etymologist argue over the exact translation, but most center around “filled with life.”
The two humans survived in the grove while the remainder of the world was burning. This bottle neck, or one very similar to it actually happened. Scientists, and Historians, and Scholars tell us that at one point, our entire human genetic tree was cut down to somewhere between a dozen at the very least, and forty people at the most. Ironically enough, that same type of tale is found in several other regional religions. Many of the other religious histories were involving floods, and a few with walls of ice, depending on their location that makes a lot of sense. They could all very easily be explaining the same event. For example, the Tribes of people living hundreds of miles inland, and high up in land locked mountain ranges, would have been far less likely to see the global flooding. Instead they would have seen ice walls (glaciers,) and fire consuming everything, could have easily been inland volcanoes going off, or even fires caused by global droughts. No matter how you look at it, or from what cultural or religious perspective, the fact still remains that they survived.
We know that most of the worlds cultural, and religious histories, all share several key moments that were witnessed through the best, and worst moments in the very jagged human timeline. These events have not only shaped our stories and religions, but have taken part in molding our very DNA. Ensuring that every one of your ancestors survived, through ice ages, volcanic eruptions, famines, and plagues, so that you could open your digital device, and read this article today. For that, I thank you, and your ancestors greatly. We all should thank them far more often, than we currently do.
They were after all our greatest Gods.
Links and Image Sources :
Hohle Fels Location : Hohle Fels Schelklingen https://g.co/kgs/BdnMJ3x
Hohle Fels Finds : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hohle_Fels
The 40,000 year old Lion God : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lion-man
The First Venus : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_of_Hohle_Fels
BBC - Oldest Instrument Ever Found : https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-18196349
https://kids.britannica.com/students/article/Lif-and-Lifthrasir/312183