Food for Thought: The Nephilim and Neanderthal

So I've just finished this book - "Remarkable Creatures" - and it it (among many other things) the author makes a compelling case for the existence of Neanderthals (actually - he just assumes they existed and his purpose was to determine if homo sapiens evolved from them - he concludes that we did not). But in the process, the detailing of DNA information and such make it believable for them to have existed. Which made me think:

Could the Nephilim of Genesis 6:4 have been some sort of Neanderthal race, or something similar? The mention of Neanderthal seems to be a time line marker, and there is little description of them. Here are the descriptions:

• they existed when the sons of God and daughters of men had children
• they were mighty men of old
• they were men of renowned.

The author of the book says that Neanderthals were resilient creatures, and many of their bones show signs of repeated breaks (similar to Rodeo riders), indicating that they hunted large animals. This may have gained them respect as mighty and men of renowned.

As for the first description - existing at the time when sons of God and daughters of men had children - it seems that these "sons of God" were different people than the Nephilim. Neanderthals are characterized as slow and dimwitted, but I'm not sure that this is a fair assessment (ie, the skulls look more like apes therefore they are less intelligent).

(Some commentators online suggested that the Nephilim were the off-spring of the Sons of God and Daughters of men, but I'm not really convinced).

Of course, all of this assumes and old earth, and therefore begins contradicting scripture. Fossil records seem to indicate that Humans and Neanderthals existed around 50,000-100,00 years ago. However, if we take the genealogies in scripture as literal, and assume they are, lets say, 50 years apart, that doesn't line up with a 50,000-100,000 year time line.

I asked a friend this question and she said, "Maybe... but I don't really care." Should we care? Maybe not.

But your comments are welcome anyway.