Becoming Neanderthal
Journal: Ethnographisch-archäologische Zeitschrift/Ethnographisch-archäologische Zeitschrift
Year: 2025

The vexata quaestio of Neanderthals’ cognitive capacity in comparison with anatomically modern humans – and the role this may have played in their demise as a separate species – has attracted extensive attention in archaeological studies of the past half-century. In contrast, other aspects of Neanderthal life and thought have received far less interest. Following an initial review of cognitive aspects and their ramifications, necessary to clarify the author’s opinion on this debated matter, the