1932

Abstract

In this article, I first provide an overview of the Neandertals by recounting their initial discovery and subsequent interpretation by scientists and by discussing our current understanding of the temporal and geographic span of these hominins and their taxonomic affiliation. I then explore what progress we have made in our understanding of Neandertal lifeways and capabilities over the past decade in light of new technologies and changing perspectives. In the process, I consider whether these advances in knowledge qualify as so-called Black Swans, a term used in economics to describe events that are rare and unpredictable and have wide-ranging consequences, in this case for the field of paleoanthropology. Building on this discussion, I look at ongoing debates and focus on Neandertal extinction as a case study. By way of discussion and conclusion, I take a detailed look at why Neandertals continue to engender great interest, and indeed emotion, among scientists and the general public alike.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anthro-052621-024752
2023-10-23
2024-11-07
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/anthro/52/1/annurev-anthro-052621-024752.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anthro-052621-024752&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Agustí J, Rubio-Campillo X. 2016. Were Neanderthals responsible for their own extinction?. Quat. Int. 431:232–37
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Aubert M, Brumm A, Huntley J. 2018. Early dates for ‘Neanderthal cave art’ may be wrong. J. Hum. Evol. 125:215–17
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Auel J. 1980. Clan of the Cave Bear New York: Crown Publ.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Baquedano E, Arsuaga JL, Pérez-González A, Laplana C, Márquez B et al. 2023. A symbolic Neanderthal accumulation of large herbivore crania. Nat. Hum. Behav. 7:342–52
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Barras C. 2017. Neanderthals may have medicated with penicillin and painkillers. New Scientist March 8. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2123669-neanderthals-may-have-medicated-with-penicillin-and-painkillers/
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Bello SM. 2021. Boning up on Neanderthal art. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 5:1201–2
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Blanco G, Sánchez-Marco A, Negro JJ. 2021. Night capture of roosting cave birds by Neanderthals: an actualistic approach. Front. Evol. Ecol. 9:733062
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Botha R. 2020. Neanderthal Language: Demystifying the Linguistic Powers of Our Extinct Cousins Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Bowler PJ. 1989. Evolution: The History of an Idea Oakland: Univ. Calif. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Breyl M. 2021. Triangulating Neanderthal cognition: a tale of not seeing the forest for the trees. WIREs Cogn. Sci. 12:2e1545
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Cann R, Stoneking M, Wilson AC. 1987. Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution. Nature 325:31–36
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Chang ML, Nowell A 2020. Conceiving of them, when before there was only us. Archaeologies of the Heart K Supernant, N Lyons, J Baxter, S Atalay 205–23. New York: Springer
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Chazan M. 2019. Ratchets and replacement: the potential role of cultural accumulation in the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans. Learning among Neanderthals and Palaeolithic Modern Humans Y Nishiaki, O Jöris 207–12. Replace. Neanderthals Mod. Hum. Ser Singapore: Springer
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Chen L, Wolf AB, Fu W, Li L, Akey JM. 2020. Identifying and interpreting apparent Neanderthal ancestry in African individuals. Cell 180:4677–87
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Chiarelli B. 2004. Spongiform encephalopathy, cannibalism and Neanderthal extinction. J. Hum. Evol. 19:81–91
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Churchill SE, Keys K, Ross AH. 2022. Midfacial morphology and Neandertal-modern human interbreeding. Biology 11:81163
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Columbu A, Chiarini V, Spötl C, Benazzi S, Hellstrom J et al. 2020. Speleothem record attests to stable environmental conditions during Neanderthal-modern human turnover in southern Italy. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 4:1188–95
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Compton T, Skinner MM, Humphrey L, Pope M, Bates M et al. 2021. The morphology of the Late Pleistocene hominin remains from the site of La Cotte de St Brelade, Jersey (Channel Islands). J. Hum. Evol. 152:102939
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Conard N 2022. Forward. See Romagnoli et al. 2022a xv–xvi
  20. Conde-Valverde M, Martínez I, Quam RM, Rosa M, Velez AD et al. 2021. Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had similar auditory and speech capacities. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 5:609–15
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Condemi S, Mazières S, Faux P, Costedoat C, Ruiz-Linares A et al. 2021. Blood groups of Neandertals and Denisova decrypted. PLOS ONE 16:7e0254175
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Cooper A, Turney CSM, Palmer J, Hogg A, McGlone M et al. 2021. A global environmental crisis 42,000 years ago. Science 371:6531811–18
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Cooper JH. 2000. Did cannibalism and spongiform encephalopathy contribute to the demise of the Neanderthals?. Mank. Q. 41:2175–80
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Crossland Z. 2020. Unknowability and indeterminacy: Neanderthal histories. Soc. Res. 87:175–100
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Dediu D, Levinson SC. 2018. Neanderthal language revisited: not only us. Curr. Opin. Behav. Sci. 21:49–55
    [Google Scholar]
  26. De la Fuente MF, Souto A, Albuquerque UP, Schiel N. 2022. Self-medication in nonhuman primates: A systematic evaluation of the possible function of the use of medicinal plants. Am. J. Primatol. 84:11e23438
    [Google Scholar]
  27. de March CA, Matsunami H, Abe M, Cobb M, Hoover KC. 2023. Genetic and functional odorant receptor variation in the Homo lineage. iScience 26:1105908
    [Google Scholar]
  28. Devièse T, Abrams G, Hajdinjak M, Pirson S, De Groote I et al. 2020. Reevaluating the timing of Neanderthal disappearance in Northwest Europe. PNAS 118:12e2022466118
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Djakovic I, Key A, Soressi M. 2022. Optimal linear estimation models predict 1400–2900 years of overlap between Homo sapiens and Neandertals prior to their disappearance from France and northern Spain. Sci. Rep. 12:15000
    [Google Scholar]
  30. Dockrill P. 2021. Neanderthals had blood types just like we do, surprise discovery reveals. Science Alert Aug. 2. https://www.sciencealert.com/surprise-neanderthal-blood-discovery-hints-at-their-origins-and-downfall
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Drell JR. 2000. Neanderthals: a history of interpretation. Oxford J. Archaeol. 19:1–24
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Ebert R. 1986. The Clan of the Cave Bear. RogerEbert.com Febr. 21. https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-clan-of-the-cave-bear-1986
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Enard D, Petrov DA. 2018. Evidence that RNA viruses drove adaptive introgression between Neanderthals and modern humans. Cell 175:360–71
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Finlayson C. 2009. Humans Who Went Extinct: Why Neanderthals Died Out and We Survived Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Finlayson C. 2019. The Smart Neanderthal: Bird Catching, Cave Art, and the Cognitive Revolution Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Frayer D. 2019. Neandertals and the black swan. PaleoAnthropology 2019:350–61
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Frayer D, Radovčić J, Radovčić D. 2020. Krapina and the case for Neandertal symbolic behavior. Curr. Anthropol. 61:6713–31
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Froehle AW, Churchill SE. 2009. Energetic competition between Neandertals and anatomically modern humans. PaleoAnthropology 2009.96116
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Fu Q, Li H, Moorjani P, Jay F, Slepchenko S et al. 2014. Genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern human from western Siberia. Nature 514:7523445–49
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Galway-Witham J, Cole J, Stringer C. 2019. Aspects of human physical and behavioural evolution during the last 1 million years. J. Quat. Sci. 34:355–78
    [Google Scholar]
  41. García-Diez M, Ochoa Fraile B, Barandiarán Maestu I 2013. Neanderthal graphic behavior: the pecked pebble from Axlor Rockshelter (Northern Spain). J. Anthropol. Res. 69:3397–410
    [Google Scholar]
  42. García-Martínez D, Bastir M, Gómez-Olivencia A, Maureille B et al. 2020. Early development of the Neanderthal ribcage reveals a different body shape at birth compared to modern humans. Sci. Adv. 6:41eabb4377
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Gaudzinski-Windheuser S, Kindler L, MacDonald K, Roebroeks W. 2023. Hunting and processing of straight-tusked elephants 125.000 years ago: implications for Neanderthal behavior. Sci. Adv. 9:5eadd8186
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Goldfield AE, Booton R, Marston JM. 2018. Modeling the role of fire and cooking in the competitive exclusion of Neanderthals. J. Hum. Evol. 124:91–104
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Gómez-Roble A. 2019. Dental evolutionary rates and its implications for the Neanderthal-modern human divergence. Sci. Adv. 5:5eaaw1268
    [Google Scholar]
  46. Green RE, Krause J, Briggs AW, Maricic T, Stenzel U et al. 2010. A draft sequence of the Neandertal genome. Science 328:5979710–22
    [Google Scholar]
  47. Green RE, Krause J, Ptak SE, Briggs AW, Ronan MT et al. 2006. Analysis of one million base pairs of Neanderthal DNA. Nature 444:7117330–36
    [Google Scholar]
  48. Hakan T. 2022. Philosophy of science and black swan. Child's Nerv. Syst. 38:1655–57
    [Google Scholar]
  49. Hardy BL, Moncel MH, Kerfant C, Lebon M, Bellot-Gurlet L, Mélard N. 2020. Direct evidence of Neanderthal fibre technology and its cognitive and behavioral implications. Sci. Rep. 10:4889
    [Google Scholar]
  50. Hardy K. 2022. The use of plants by Neanderthals as food, medicine, and raw materials. See Romagnoli et al. 2022a 145–61
  51. Harmon A. 2018. Why white supremacists are chugging milk (and why geneticists are alarmed). New York Times Oct. 17. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/us/white-supremacists-science-dna.html
    [Google Scholar]
  52. Hawks J. 2021. Accurate depiction of uncertainty in ancient DNA research: the case of Neandertal ancestry in Africa. J. Soc. Archaeol. 21:2179–96
    [Google Scholar]
  53. Henry AG, Brooks AS, Piperno DR. 2010. Microfossils in calculus demonstrate consumption of plants and cooked foods in Neanderthal diets (Shanidar III, Iraq; Spy I and II, Belgium). PNAS 108:2486–91
    [Google Scholar]
  54. Higgitt R. 2021. Neanderthal and the fossilization of the Third World. Soc. Stud. Sci. 51:439–62
    [Google Scholar]
  55. Hoffmann DL, Angelucci DE, Villaverde V, Zapata J, Zilhão J. 2018a. Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals 115,000 years ago. Sci. Adv. 4:2 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aar5255
    [Crossref] [Google Scholar]
  56. Hoffmann DL, Standish CD, García-Diez M, Pettitt PB, Milton JA et al. 2018b. U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art. Science 59:6378912–15
    [Google Scholar]
  57. Hoffmann DL, Standish CD, García-Diez M, Pettitt PB, Milton JA et al. 2020. Response to White et al.’s reply: “Still no archaeological evidence that Neanderthals created Iberian cave art. .” J. Hum. Evol. 44:102810
    [Google Scholar]
  58. Hoffmann DL, Standish CD, Pike AWG, García-Diez M, Pettitt PB et al. 2018c. Dates for Neanderthal art and symbolic behaviour are reliable. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2:1044–45
    [Google Scholar]
  59. Holden C. 1998. How much like us were the Neandertals?. Science 282:53931456
    [Google Scholar]
  60. Jaouen K, Villalba-Mouco V, Smith GM, Montes L. 2022. A Neandertal dietary conundrum: insights provided by tooth enamel Zn isotopes from Gabasa, Spain. PNAS 119:43e2109315119
    [Google Scholar]
  61. Kabukcu C, Hunt C, Hill E, Pomeroy E, Reynolds T. 2022. Cooking in caves: Palaeolithic carbonised plant food remains from Franchthi and Shanidar. Antiquity 97:39112–28
    [Google Scholar]
  62. Keel TD 2017. Neanderthal-human hybridity and the frontier of critical race studies. Red and Yellow, Black and Brown: Decentering Whiteness in Mixed Race Studies JL Rondilla, RP Guevarra, P Spickard 201–18. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  63. King W. 1864. The reputed fossil man of the Neanderthal. Q. J. Sci. 1:88–97
    [Google Scholar]
  64. Kochiyama T, Ogihara N, Tanabe HC, Kondo O, Amano H et al. 2018. Reconstructing the Neanderthal brain using computational anatomy. Sci. Rep. 8:6296
    [Google Scholar]
  65. Koller J, Baumer U, Mania D. 2001. High-tech in the middle Palaeolithic Neandertal-manufactured pitch identified. Eur. J. Archaeol. 4:385–97
    [Google Scholar]
  66. Kozowyk PRB, Poulis JA. 2019. A new experimental methodology for assessing adhesive properties shows that Neandertals used the most suitable material available. J. Hum. Evol. 137:102664
    [Google Scholar]
  67. Kozowyk PRB, Soressi M, Pomstra D, Langejans GHJ. 2017. Experimental methods for the Palaeolithic dry distillation of birch bark: implications for the origin and development of Neandertal adhesive technology. Sci. Rep. 7:8033
    [Google Scholar]
  68. Kubicka AM, Wragg-Sykes R, Nowell A, Nelson E. 2022. Neanderthal sexual behaviour. The Cambridge Handbook of Evolutionary Perspectives on Sexual Psychology, Vol. 4 TK Shackelford 516–60. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  69. Leder D, Hermann R, Hüls M, Russo G, Hoelzmann P et al. 2021. A 51,000-year-old engraved bone reveals Neanderthals’ capacity for symbolic behavior. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 5:1273–82
    [Google Scholar]
  70. Macciardi F, Martini F. 2022. The Neanderthal brain: biological and cognitive evolution. See Romagnoli et al. 2022a 89–108
  71. Madison P. 2020. Characterized by darkness: reconsidering the origins of the brutish Neanderthal. J. Hist. Biol. 53:493–519
    [Google Scholar]
  72. Madison P. 2021. Brutish Neanderthals: history of a merciless characterization. Evol. Anthropol. 30:6366–74
    [Google Scholar]
  73. Mahoney P, McFarlane G, Smith BH, Miszkiewicz JJ, Cerrito P et al. 2021. Growth of Neanderthal infants from Krapina (120–130 ka), Croatia. Proc. R. Soc. B 288:20212079
    [Google Scholar]
  74. Majkić A, d'Errico F, Stepanchuk V. 2018. Assessing the significance of Palaeolithic engraved cortexes: a case study from the Mousterian site of Kiik-Koba, Crimea. PLOS ONE 13:5e0195049
    [Google Scholar]
  75. Marean CW. 2015. An evolutionary anthropological perspective on modern human origins. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 44:533–56
    [Google Scholar]
  76. Mariotti Lippi M, Aranguren B, Arrighi S, Attolini D, Benazzi S et al. 2023. New evidence of plant food processing in Italy before 40ka. Quat. Sci. Rev. 312:108161
    [Google Scholar]
  77. Marquet J-C, Holm Freiesleben T, Jørkov Thomsen K, Murray AS, Calligaro M et al. 2023. The earliest unambiguous Neanderthal engravings on cave walls: La Roche-Cotard, Loire Valley, France. PLOS ONE 18:6e0286568
    [Google Scholar]
  78. Mayoral E, Díaz-Martínez I, Duveau J, Santis A, Rodríguez Ramírez A et al. 2021. Tracking late Pleistocene Neandertals on the Iberian coast. Sci. Rep. 11:4103
    [Google Scholar]
  79. Meneganzin A, Bernardi M. 2023. Were Neanderthals and Homo sapiens ‘good species’?. Quat. Sci. Rev. 303:107975
    [Google Scholar]
  80. Meyer M, Arsuaga JL, De Filippo C, Nagel S, Aximu-Petri A et al. 2016. Nuclear DNA sequences from the Middle Pleistocene Sima de los Huesos hominins. Nature 531:504–7
    [Google Scholar]
  81. Mora-Bermúdez F, Kanis P, Macak D, Peters J, Naumann R et al. 2022. Longer metaphase and fewer chromosome segregation errors in modern human than neanderthal brain development. Sci. Adv. 8:30eabn7702
    [Google Scholar]
  82. Moro Abadía O, González Morales MR 2010. Redefining Neanderthals and art: an alternative interpretation of the multiple species model for the origin of behavioural modernity. Oxf. J. Archaeol. 29:3229–43
    [Google Scholar]
  83. Morton T. 2018. Being Ecological Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
    [Google Scholar]
  84. Nabais M, Zilhão J. 2019. The consumption of tortoise among Last Interglacial Iberian Neanderthals. Quat. Sci. Rev. 217:225–46
    [Google Scholar]
  85. Neubauer S, Hublin J-J. 2012. The evolution of human brain development. Evol. Biol. 39:4568–86
    [Google Scholar]
  86. Niekus MJLTh, Kozowyk PRB, Langejans GHJ, Ngan-Tillard D, van Keulen H et al. 2019. Middle Paleolithic complex technology and a Neandertal tar-backed tool from the Dutch North Sea. PNAS 116:4422081–87
    [Google Scholar]
  87. Nowell A 2013. Cognition, behavioral modernity and the archaeological record of the Middle and Early Upper Paleolithic. The Evolution of Mind, Brain, and Culture G Hatfield, H Pittman 236–62. Philadelphia: Univ. Pa. Mus. Archaeol. Anthropol. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  88. Nowell A 2016. Childhood, play and the evolution of cultural capacity in Neandertals. The Nature of Culture M Haidle, N Conard, M Bolus 87–97 Vertebr. Paleobiol. Paleoanthropol. Ser New York: Springer
    [Google Scholar]
  89. Nowell A. 2021. Growing Up in the Ice Age: Fossil and Archaeological Evidence of the Lived Lives of Plio-Pleistocene Children Oxford, UK: Oxbow Books
    [Google Scholar]
  90. Nowell A, Chang ML. 2014. Science, the media, and interpretations of Upper Paleolithic figurines. Am. Anthropol. 16:3562–77
    [Google Scholar]
  91. Nowell A, Cooke A 2021. Culturing the body: adornment and ornamentation. Oxford Handbook of Human Symbolic Evolution A Lock, C Sinha, N Gontier Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  92. Papagianni D, Morse MA. 2015. The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science Is Rewriting Their Story London: Thames & Hudson
    [Google Scholar]
  93. Pearce DG, Bonneau A. 2018. Trouble on the dating scene. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 2:925–26
    [Google Scholar]
  94. Peeters S, Zwart H. 2020. Neanderthals as familiar strangers and the human spark: how the “golden years” of Neanderthal research reopen the question of human uniqueness. Hist. Philos. Life Sci. 42:33
    [Google Scholar]
  95. Pelletier M, Desclaux E, Brugal J-P, Texier P-J. 2019. The exploitation of rabbits for food and pelts by last interglacial Neandertals. Quat. Sci. Rev. 224:105972
    [Google Scholar]
  96. Peresani M, Dallatorre S, Astuti P, Dal Colle M, Ziggiotti S, Peretto C. 2014. Symbolic or utilitarian? Juggling interpretations of Neanderthal behavior: new inferences from the study of engraved stone surfaces. J. Anthropol. Sci. 92:233–55
    [Google Scholar]
  97. Petr M, Hajdinjak M, Fu Q, Essel E, Rougier H et al. 2020. The evolutionary history of Neanderthal and Denisovan Y chromosomes. Science 369:1653–56
    [Google Scholar]
  98. Pettitt PB. 2022. Neanderthals: how a carnivore diet may have led to their demise. The Conversation Novemb. 3. https://theconversation.com/neanderthals-how-a-carnivore-diet-may-have-led-to-their-demise-193764
    [Google Scholar]
  99. Picin A, Moroni A, Benazzi S. 2022. The arrival of Homo sapiens in the Near East and Europe. See Romagnoli et al. 2022a 321–47
  100. Pinson A, Xing L, Namba T, Kalebic N, Peters J et al. 2022. Human TKTL1 implies greater neurogenesis in frontal neocortex of modern humans than Neanderthals. Science 377:6611
    [Google Scholar]
  101. Pitarch Martí A, Zilhão J, d'Errico F, Ramos-Muñoz J 2021. The symbolic role of the underground world among Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals. PNAS 118:33e2021495118
    [Google Scholar]
  102. Pons-Branchu E, Sanchidrián JL, Fontugne M, Medina-Alcaide MA, Quiles A et al. 2020. U-series dating at Nerja cave reveal open system: questioning the Neanderthal origin of Spanish rock art. J. Archaeol. Sci. 117:105120
    [Google Scholar]
  103. Power RC, Salazar-García DC, Rubini M, Darlas A, Harvati K et al. 2018. Dental calculus indicates widespread plant use within the stable Neanderthal dietary niche. J. Hum. Evol. 119:27–41
    [Google Scholar]
  104. Radovčić D, Oros Sršen A, Radovčić J, Frayer DW. 2015. Evidence for Neandertal jewelry: modified white-tailed eagle claws at Krapina. PLOS ONE 10:3e0119802
    [Google Scholar]
  105. Ramos-Muñoz J, Cantalejo P, Blumenröther J, Bolin V, Otto T et al. 2022. The nature and chronology of human occupation at the Galerías Bajas, from Cueva de Ardales, Malaga, Spain. PLOS ONE 17:6e0266788
    [Google Scholar]
  106. Rampelli S, Turroni S, Mallol C, Hernandez C, Galván B et al. 2021. Components of a Neanderthal gut microbiome recovered from fecal sediments from El Salt. Commun. Biol. 4:169
    [Google Scholar]
  107. Reeve E. 2016. White nonsense: alt-right trolls are arguing over genetic tests they think “prove” their whiteness. Vice News Oct. 8. https://news.vice.com/en_us/article/vbygqm/alt-right-trolls-are-getting-23andme-genetic-tests-to-prove-their-whiteness
    [Google Scholar]
  108. Rios-Garaizar J, Iriarte E, Arnold LJ, Sánchez-Romero L, Marín-Arroyo AB et al. 2022. The intrusive nature of the Châtelperronian in the Iberian Peninsula. PLOS ONE 17:3e0265219
    [Google Scholar]
  109. Rodríguez-Vidal J, d'Errico F, Pacheco FG, Blasco R, Rosell J et al. 2014. A rock engraving made by Neanderthals in Gibraltar. PNAS 111:3713301–6
    [Google Scholar]
  110. Roebroeks W, MacDonald K, Scherjon F, Bakels C, Kindler L 2021. Landscape modification by last interglacial Neanderthals. Sci. Adv. 7:51eabj5567
    [Google Scholar]
  111. Roebroeks W, Soressi M. 2016. Neandertals revised. PNAS 113:236372–79
    [Google Scholar]
  112. Rogers AR, Harris NS, Achenbach AA. 2020. Neanderthal-Denisovan ancestors interbred with a distantly related hominin. Sci. Adv. 6:eaay5483
    [Google Scholar]
  113. Romagnoli F, Rivals F, Benazzi S, eds 2022a. Updating Neanderthals: Understanding Behavioural Complexity in the Late Middle Palaeolithic. London: Academic
    [Google Scholar]
  114. Romagnoli F, Rivals F, Benazzi S. 2022b. Updating Neanderthals: taking stock of more than 160 years of studies. See Romagnoli et al. 2022a 1–15
  115. Rosas A, Martínez-Maza C, Bastir M, García-Tabernero A, Lalueza-Fox C et al. 2006. Paleobiology and comparative morphology of a late Neandertal sample from El Sidrón, Asturias, Spain. PNAS 103:5119266–71
    [Google Scholar]
  116. Salazar-García DC, Power RC, Rudaya N, Kolobova K, Markin S et al. 2021. Dietary evidence from Central Asian Neanderthals: a combined isotope and plant microremains approach at Chagyrskaya Cave (Altai, Russia). J. Hum. Evol. 156:102985
    [Google Scholar]
  117. Sandel AA, Negrey JD, Arponen M, Clark IR et al. 2023. The evolution of the adolescent growth spurt: urinary biomarkers of bone turnover in wild chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes). J. Hum. Evol. 177:103341
    [Google Scholar]
  118. Sano K, Arrighi S, Stani C, Aureli D, Boschin F et al. 2019. The earliest evidence for mechanically delivered projectile weapons in Europe. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 3:1409–14
    [Google Scholar]
  119. Sansalone G, Profico A, Wroe S, Allen K, Ledogar J et al. 2023. Homo sapiens and Neanderthals share high cerebral cortex integration into adulthood. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 7:42–50
    [Google Scholar]
  120. Schmidt P, Blessing M, Rageot M, Iovita R, Pfleging J et al. 2019. Birch tar production does not prove Neanderthal behavioral complexity. PNAS 116:3617707–11
    [Google Scholar]
  121. Schmidt P, Koch TJ, Blessing MA, Karakostis A, Harvati K et al. 2023. Production method of the Königsaue birch tar documents cumulative culture in Neanderthals. Archaeol. Anthropol. Sci. 15:84
    [Google Scholar]
  122. Seghers E. 2018. A tale of two species: the origins of art and the Neanderthal challenge. Evol. Stud. Imagin. Cult. 2:283–102
    [Google Scholar]
  123. Shea JJ. 2008. Transitions or turnovers? Climatically-forced extinctions of Homo sapiens and Neanderthals in the east Mediterranean Levant. Quat. Sci. Rev. 27:23–242253–70
    [Google Scholar]
  124. Shipman P. 2015. The Invaders: How Humans and Their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction Cambridge, MA: Belknap
    [Google Scholar]
  125. Shipman P. 2021. Our Oldest Companions: The Story of the First Dogs Cambridge, MA: Belknap
    [Google Scholar]
  126. Skov L, Peyrégne S, Popli D, Lasi LNM, Devièse T et al. 2022. Genetic insights into the social organization of Neanderthals. Nature 610:519–25
    [Google Scholar]
  127. Slimak L, Fietzke J, Geneste J-M, Ontañón R. 2018. Comment on “U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals neandertal origin of Iberian cave art. .” Science 361:6408eaau1371
    [Google Scholar]
  128. Slimak L, Zanolli C, Higham T, Frouin M, Schwenninger JL. 2022. Modern human incursion into Neanderthal territories 54,000 years ago at Mandrin, France. Sci. Adv. 8:6eabj9496
    [Google Scholar]
  129. Slon V, Mafessoni F, Vernot B, de Filippo C, Grote S et al. 2018. The genome of the offspring of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father. Nature 561:113–16
    [Google Scholar]
  130. Smith FH. 2013. The fate of the Neandertals. J. Anthropol. Res. 69:2167–200
    [Google Scholar]
  131. Smith FH, Janković I, Karavanić I. 2005. The assimilation model, modern human origins in Europe, and the extinction of Neandertals. Quat. Int. 137:17–19
    [Google Scholar]
  132. Soressi M 2016. Neanderthals built underground. Nature 534:43–44
    [Google Scholar]
  133. Staubwasser M, Drăguşin V, Onac BP, Assonov S, Ersek V et al. 2018. Impact of climate change on the transition of Neanderthals to modern humans in Europe. PNAS 115:379116–21
    [Google Scholar]
  134. Stent GS. 1972. Prematurity and its uniqueness in scientific discovery. Sci. Am. 227:84–93
    [Google Scholar]
  135. Stewart JR, García-Rodríguez O, Knul MV, Sewell L, Montgomery H et al. 2019. Palaeoecological and genetic evidence for Neanderthal power locomotion as an adaptation to a woodland environment. Quat. Sci. Rev. 217:310–15
    [Google Scholar]
  136. Stringer C, Crété L. 2022. Mapping interactions of H. neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens from the fossil and genetic records. PaleoAnthropology 2022:2401–12
    [Google Scholar]
  137. Taleb NN. 2010. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable New York: Random House
    [Google Scholar]
  138. Tattersall I. 2002. The Monkey in the Mirror: Essays on the Science of What Makes Us Human Oxford, UK: Oxford Univ. Press
    [Google Scholar]
  139. Timmermann A. 2020. Quantifying the potential causes of Neanderthal extinction: abrupt climate change versus competition and interbreeding. Quat. Sci. Rev. 238:106331
    [Google Scholar]
  140. Tobias PV. 1991. The species Homo habilis: example of a premature discovery. Ann. Zool. Fenn. 28:3/4371–80
    [Google Scholar]
  141. Trujillo CA, Rice ES, Schaefer NK, Chaim IA, Wheeler EC et al. 2021. Reintroduction of the archaic variant of NOVA1 in cortical organoids alters neurodevelopment. Science 371:6530eaax2537
    [Google Scholar]
  142. Vaesen K, Dusseldorp GL, Brandt MJ. 2021. An emerging consensus in palaeoanthropology: Demography was the main factor responsible for the disappearance of Neanderthals. Sci. Rep. 11:4925
    [Google Scholar]
  143. Vaesen K, Scherjon F, Hemerik L, Verpoorte A. 2019. Inbreeding, Allee effects and stochasticity might be sufficient to account for Neanderthal extinction. PLOS ONE 14:11e0225117
    [Google Scholar]
  144. Vahdati AR, Weissmann JD, Timmermann A, Ponce de León M, Zollikofer CPE. 2022. Exploring Late Pleistocene hominin dispersals, coexistence and extinction with agent-based multi-factor models. Quat. Sci. Rev. 279:107391
    [Google Scholar]
  145. Vernot B, Gómez-Olivenci A, Jacobs Z, Slon V, Mafessoni F et al. 2021. Unearthing Neanderthal population history using nuclear and mitochondrial DNA from cave sediments. Science 372:6542eabf1667
    [Google Scholar]
  146. Villa P, Roebroeks W. 2014. Neandertal demise: an archaeological analysis of the modern human superiority complex. PLOS ONE 9:4e96424
    [Google Scholar]
  147. Villanea FA, Schraiber JG. 2019. Multiple episodes of interbreeding between Neanderthal and modern humans. Nat. Ecol. Evol. 3:39–44
    [Google Scholar]
  148. Weasel L. 2022. How Neanderthals became White: the introgression of race into contemporary human evolutionary genetics. Am. Nat. 200:1129–39
    [Google Scholar]
  149. Weyrich LS, Duchene S, Soubrier J, Arriola L, Llamas B et al. 2017. Neanderthal behaviour, diet, and disease inferred from ancient DNA in dental calculus. Nature 544:357–61
    [Google Scholar]
  150. White R, Bosinski G, Bourrillon R, Clottes J, Conkey MW et al. 2020. Still no archaeological evidence that Neanderthals created Iberian cave art. J. Hum. Evol. 144:102640
    [Google Scholar]
  151. Wragg Sykes RW 2015. To see a world in a hafted tool: birch pitch composite technology, cognition and memory in Neanderthals. Settlement, Society, and Cognition in Human Evolution: Landscapes in Mind F Coward, R Hosfield, M Pope, F Wenban-Smith 117–37. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  152. Wynn T, Coolidge FL. 2019. The expert performance model of Neandertal cognition. Learning Among Neanderthals and Palaeolithic Modern Humans Replacement of Neanderthals by Modern Humans Series, ed. Y Nishiaki, O Jöris 23–34. Replace. Neanderthals Mod. Hum. Ser Singapore: Springer
    [Google Scholar]
  153. Yates JAF, Velsko IM, Aron F, Posth C, Hofman CA et al. 2021. The evolution and changing ecology of the African hominid oral microbiome. PNAS 118:20e2021655118
    [Google Scholar]
  154. Yustos M, Sainz de los Terreros JY. 2015. Cannibalism in the Neanderthal world: an exhaustive revision. J. Taphon. 13:133–52
    [Google Scholar]
  155. Zhang S. 2016. Will the alt-right promote a new kind of racist genetics?. Atlantic Dec. 29. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/12/genetics-race-ancestry-tests/510962/
    [Google Scholar]
  156. Zilhão J. 2019. Tar adhesives, Neandertals, and the tyranny of the discontinuous mind. PNAS 116:4421966–68
    [Google Scholar]
  157. Zwir I, Del-Val C, Hintsanen M, Cloninger KM, Romero-Zaliz R et al. 2022. Evolution of genetic networks for human creativity. Mol. Psychiatry 27:354–76
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anthro-052621-024752
Loading
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anthro-052621-024752
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error