they were discovered by scientists in the mid 1800's who wanted to prove that humankind came from Europe not 'Darkest' Africa. They were SEVERELY racist and when they displayed the bones, they mismounted them. The 43 or so year old specimen was missing part of an arm to injury, was deeply hurt and had arthritis. they hung him up stupidly, dressed him in skins without a thought that -70 weather would require, oh say PANTS AND SLEEVES! they made them look stupid because Neanderthals were inconvenient to their racist narrative. Consider this man's age and condition. He was cared for by his family and clan and lived an ungodly age for his time. That means they had values, character and love.
They were however a great deal to us and our current genetics. THey are being scoped out by the DNA people as the root of our immune system. Without their genetic cross breeding with us, we would be in trouble. The average european human has neanderthal DNA in their makeup. It is a fact that they did live together and propagate together because how the hell else would it get there?
They had language because they had a hyoid bone and their activities would require speech together. To assume it was rudimentary speech when their physique for speaking is not different from ours is stupid and bigoted. They hunted big fauna so they had strategies, could speak in delineated language together and were organized. Almost every skeleton found and there aren't many have broken bones because of hunting big fauna. They were smart. Their brains were bigger than our own by a lot and they probably carried their culture in their heads.
The fact that there isn't much material culture to be found could be accounted for the fact of sea rise because they lived in the north where most of the water was in glaciers. They were brilliant at living in the harshest climate in the world and did so for hundreds of thousands of years.
The first evidence that any human species thought about the world beyond their own lives comes from them. They have the oldest burials and in some of the graves they find pollen suggesting that they buried their dead with tenderness and regret. They have music because they've found flutes. If they put their thinking and thought on skins like American indians that would be lost to the elements. Because that might be so, people believe they had no culture. How can they live together for hundreds of thousands of years and have no culture?!
If you believe they were half naked shambling idiots who walked around in sub zero weather with bare arms and legs, had no language and no regard for much then you perpetuate the racist stereotypes that the discoverers created in their zeal to make humankind European rather than 'subhuman beings' from Africa. They couldn't stand Neanderthal because he was US and he was inconvenient to their theories of the superiority of the white man. This thinking continues even among scientists to this day. The bar for proving neaderthal theories is gigantically high and even in the most modern depictions, they still have them staggering around ugly, unkept and wearing nothing on their arms and legs even in freezing weather. Contrast that with the moment when they first see modern humans -you and me- and the moderns are wearing sewn clothes with adornments and hair styles that make sense because OBVIOUSLY they are our forerunners and they had to be, right?
I live an arctic life here in Alaska. They would have DIED if they were living that way. They were good people because they were us, our beginnings too and I honor all of my ancestors. I OWE them. They deserve respect and because a lot of us have ancestry from them, love. I love them because they were survivors, lived their lives in a world so harsh that very little survived as well and they live on in me and many others.
Fuck the racists that made them a joke. They aren't. Check the new research on them. You will be amazed at how great a people they were.
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