Neanderthals Weren’t So Bad After All

A study published last Wednesday concludes Neanderthals have been getting a bad rap. Long considered inferior to Homo Sapiens in cognitive, technological, language, and hunting capabilities, Neanderthals became extinct about 40,000 years ago. But the study found they hunted in groups, using cliffs and other landscape features to hunt large animals – a capability that evidences their ability to plan, communicate, and cooperate. Their diet – previously considered limited and as such a contributor to their demise when food sources changed – was found to have been much broader than what has long been believed.
Researchers Paola Villa of the University of Colorado Museum and Wil Roebroeks of Leiden University also noted that previous studies compared Neanderthals not to their contemporaries, but to the Homo Sapiens of today. Says Villa, “It would be like comparing the performance of Model T Fords … to the performance of a modern-day Ferrari and conclud(ing) that Henry Ford was cognitively inferior to Enzo Ferrari.”
While concluding general inferiority to Homo Sapiens wasn’t the reason for Neanderthals’ extinction, the study doesn’t offer a single evidential cause. It does suggest genetic depression due to inbreeding and lower fertility rates in Neanderthal/Homo Sapiens offspring could have been a contributor.