This is from the Washington Post

Bloomsbury Sigma; Skull 17 from the Sima de los Huesos site in Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain. (Photo by Javier Trueba/Madrid Scientific Films)

Exasperated with the governors of Texas and Mississippi for lifting coronavirus restrictions, President Biden said, “The last thing we need is Neanderthal thinking” (story). I realize Biden is angry at Republicans’ chronic mismanagement of the pandemic, but that’s no reason to impugn the dignity and intelligence of Neanderthals. 

I’ve developed an intense appreciation for these distant relatives since reading Rebecca Wragg Sykes’s new book, “Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art.” It’s a revelatory investigation into the bipeds who interbred with us more than 50,000 years ago (story). Sykes’s book includes not only the latest, fascinating discoveries about Neanderthal bodies and customs, but also the history of our evolving attitudes toward these “Most Hench Hominins.” The result is a delightfully accessible work of anthropology and cultural criticism. 

“Fundamentally, the long obsession over the Neanderthals’ fate reflects our deep dread of annihilation,” Sykes writes. “In the face of obliteration, we desire comforting parables where we are always the Ones Who Lived. What's more, we want to feel special: most of the stories we've told about Neanderthals have been narcissistic reassurances that we ‘won’ because we're outstanding, destined to survive. Yet the Neanderthals were never some sort of highway service station en route to Real People. They were state-of-the art humans, just of a different sort.”