Neanderthals Were More Like Us Than We Thought

For most of the twentieth century, Neanderthals were caricatured as dim-witted brutes — the evolutionary dead end that modern humans swept aside. That picture is now almost completely wrong. New discoveries continue to reveal a species of remarkable sophistication, one whose relationship with our ancestors was far more complex and intimate than anyone imagined.

Who Were the Neanderthals?

Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) lived across Europe and western Asia from roughly 400,000 to 40,000 years ago. They were physically robust — stockier than modern humans, with larger brow ridges, bigger noses, and brains that were, on average, slightly larger than ours.

They survived multiple ice ages, hunted large game including mammoths and cave bears, controlled fire, and inhabited a range of environments from Mediterranean coastlines to Siberian steppes.

They Shared Technology With Modern Humans

New research from Tinshemet Cave in the Levant region reveals that Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens didn't just coexist in the same region — they actively exchanged technology.

Both groups were found to have used identical stone tool traditions during the same period, around 100,000 years ago. The tools are so similar that archaeologists cannot reliably distinguish them by appearance alone. This suggests genuine cultural exchange — not just parallel invention, but actual learning from each other.

This finding dramatically pushes back the timeline of meaningful human-Neanderthal interaction and suggests that both species were capable of cultural transmission across group boundaries.

They Are Part of Us

Perhaps the most striking discovery of the genomic era: most people alive today carry Neanderthal DNA. When modern humans migrated out of Africa and into Eurasia, they encountered and interbred with Neanderthals. The result is that people of non-African ancestry carry approximately 1-4% Neanderthal DNA in their genomes.

This DNA isn't just a curiosity — it has real functional effects. Some Neanderthal genetic variants are associated with:

• Immune function — Several Neanderthal-inherited genes help the immune system recognize pathogens. Early modern humans entering Eurasia would have been exposed to diseases Neanderthals had been adapting to for hundreds of thousands of years.
• Skin and hair characteristics — Variants affecting pigmentation and hair texture
• COVID-19 severity — A cluster of Neanderthal-inherited genes on chromosome 3 has been associated with increased risk of severe COVID-19 — one of the most unexpected findings of the pandemic era
• Depression risk — Some Neanderthal variants are associated with altered mental health profiles

We are, in a very real sense, part Neanderthal.

They Made Art and Jewelry

Evidence of Neanderthal symbolic behavior has accumulated over the past two decades:

Shell jewelry — Perforated shells found at Neanderthal sites in Spain, dated to over 115,000 years ago — before modern humans arrived in Europe — show signs of being worn as personal ornaments and colored with pigments.

Cave art — Geometric cave markings in Spain have been dated to over 65,000 years ago, predating the arrival of modern humans in the region by at least 20,000 years. If the dating is correct, Neanderthals were making art.

Burial practices — Multiple Neanderthal sites show evidence of intentional burial, sometimes with associated objects — suggesting some concept of death, identity, and possibly the afterlife.

Eagle talon jewelry — Neanderthals collected and wore eagle talons as jewelry across multiple sites in Europe, suggesting aesthetic sensibility and symbolic thinking.

The Cannibalism Complexity

Not all recent discoveries paint a flattering picture. New evidence from a cave in Belgium reveals that Neanderthals practiced selective cannibalism — specifically targeting outsiders, with women and children showing disproportionate evidence of having been consumed.

This is disturbing, but it's also humanizing in a different way. Intercommunal violence, in-group/out-group distinctions, and the targeting of vulnerable populations are, unfortunately, deeply human behaviors. Finding them in Neanderthals makes them more recognizable as relatives, not less.

What Caused Their Extinction?

Neanderthals disappeared from the fossil record around 40,000 years ago, shortly after modern humans arrived in Europe in large numbers. The cause of their extinction is still debated:

Competition — Modern humans may have been more efficient hunters or better able to exploit a wider range of resources, leading to competitive exclusion.

Disease — Modern humans arriving from Africa may have carried pathogens to which Neanderthals had no immunity.

Climate — A period of extreme cold around 40,000 years ago may have stressed Neanderthal populations already under pressure.

Assimilation — Some researchers argue that Neanderthals didn't go extinct so much as they were absorbed into modern human populations through interbreeding — their genes live on in us.

Most likely, all of these factors played a role.

The Takeaway

The story of Neanderthals is ultimately a story about what it means to be human. They cared for their sick and elderly (evidence of healed injuries requiring long-term care has been found at multiple sites). They grieved their dead. They made art. They fell in love with our ancestors and had children with them.

They were not us — but they were far closer to us than we ever admitted. And in a very real sense, for most people reading this, they are still with us.