Let's start with the basics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal
Read everything below, with ADHD in mind.
Build
Though Neanderthals are often imagined as short and stocky, they were on average the same height as pre-industrial Europeans, or even slightly taller.
The Neanderthal chest was deep and wide, with a proportionally expansive thoracic cavity, and possibly stronger lung performance and much higher caloric demands. The limbs are proportionally short. The body plan has traditionally been explained as a "hyper-arctic" adaptation (Allen's rule). Neanderthals would also have been effective sprinters: stronger lungs, and shorter limbs would have boosted efficiency.
Pathology
Neanderthals suffered a high rate of traumatic injury, with an estimated 79–94% of specimens showing evidence of healed major trauma, of which 37–52% were severely injured, and 13–19% injured before reaching adulthood. One extreme example is Shanidar 1, who shows signs of an amputation of the right arm likely due to a nonunion after breaking a bone in adolescence, osteomyelitis (a bone infection) on the left clavicle, an abnormal gait, vision problems in the left eye, and possible hearing loss (perhaps swimmer's ear).
Social structure
It is difficult to infer Neanderthal group size, but indirect data generally suggests small bands of 10 to 30 individuals.
Food
Though once thought of as scavengers, Neanderthals are now considered apex predators.
The arts
Neanderthals collected non-functional, uniquely-shaped objects, namely shells, fossils, and gems. It is unclear if these objects were simply picked up for their aesthetic qualities, or if some symbolic significance was applied to them. Some shells may have been painted.
Anatomy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal_anatomy
Neanderthals were the first modern humans to arrive in Europe. They adapted to a Europe that was covered in snow. Small communities, a cave = a band, brain was wired for social interactions with 30 people. All senses were heightened at the expense of social skills part.
Vision
The orbits (eye sockets) of Neanderthals, and possibly also the eyeballs, were bigger than those of Cro-Magnons and modern humans. Neurologically, Neanderthals had a proportionally large occipital lobe compared to Cro-Magnons, associated with visual processing.
The functional implications of these traits are inconclusive, but altogether, they could indicate a preference for activity in dimmer light conditions. This may have been advantageous in northerly latitudes where daylight hours are much shorter especially in winter, and low-light or nighttime hunting would enhance ambush tactics when pursuing large game. Neanderthal-derived alleles near ASB1 and EXOC6 are associated with being an evening person, narcolepsy and day-time napping.
Hearing
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5068335/pdf/pnas.201605881.pdf
Using micro-CT scans and 3D shape analysis on the largest Neandertal ossicle sample yet (22 ossicles from 14 individuals), the authors found that the malleus, incus, and stapes of Neandertals differ from those of modern humans as much as, or more than, human ossicles differ from those of chimpanzees and gorillas.
Lie number 1
Neanderthals disappeared.
No, we did not. We were admixed. Small population faced with a bigger population. We interbred.
"It's kind of fun to think that there are currently some six billion people walking around with about 2% Neanderthal genomes," Platt said. "To the extent that that's equivalent to 120 million Neanderthals' worth of genomes, they're doing better than ever."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interbreeding_between_archaic_and_modern_humans
Some of the first confirmed hybrids were found in a cave nearby Anina, in Romania: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peștera_cu_Oase
Others, not far away:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vindija_Cave
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-22376-6
The mathematical model we presented provides a plausible explanation for the gradual disappearance of Neanderthals, suggesting that their genetic assimilation with H. sapiens, a demographically much larger species, may have been a significant factor in their decline.
Lie number 2
We are barbarians.
No, we are not. We are neurodivergent. Wired differently. We see, we hear, we feel differently. We are "diagnosed" with autism or ADHD, or AutADHD, when we are in fact, just different.
Raise your level and start reading about NeanderScore.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5524936/
I will do a short presentation of the study above, since it might be too technical for the average Joe.
What they did: The researchers took 221 healthy adults of European ancestry who had both genetic data and brain MRI scans and calculated a "NeanderScore" for each person, which is essentially the percentage of Neanderthal-derived DNA variants that individual carries. Then they checked whether that score lined up with skull shape and brain structure.
What they found:
- People with more Neanderthal DNA had slightly more Neanderthal-like skulls: longer front-to-back, with expansion across the back and sides of the head, in the same regions where fossil Neanderthal skulls differ from modern ones. This served as a sanity check that the method works.
- Directly beneath those skull areas, the brain differed too: a deeper groove in the right parietal lobe (the intraparietal sulcus, a region important for spatial processing and tool use), and more folding plus more gray matter in the primary visual cortex at the back of the brain.
- A follow-up genetic scan pointed to one stretch of Neanderthal-derived DNA on chromosome 10 containing the gene GPR26, which is active mainly in the brain, as a possible contributor.
The bottom line: Neanderthal DNA isn't just an inert leftover in our genomes. The authors argue it still appears to influence skull and brain structure in living humans, particularly in the visual and spatial-processing systems.
Raise your level ever more.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7248073/
The puzzle they started from: ADHD causes real problems in people's lives, yet it affects around 5% of children and is strongly inherited. From an evolutionary standpoint that's odd, since natural selection should have weeded out the genes involved. The popular explanation is the "mismatch" idea: ADHD traits were useful in the past (say, for hunter-gatherers) and only became a disadvantage once farming and modern life arrived. Nobody had tested this with actual DNA.
What they did: They took the ADHD-linked genetic variants identified in a large study (about 20,000 people with ADHD and 35,000 without), then checked how common those variants were in ancient European genomes spanning roughly 45,000 to 2,500 years ago, in modern Europeans and Africans, and in DNA inherited from Neanderthals.
What they found:
- The variants linked to ADHD sit disproportionately in genes that the body can't afford to have broken, which is a sign these genes matter and are under selective pressure.
- ADHD-risk variants tend to be the older, ancestral version of the gene rather than a newer mutation.
- Their frequency has been steadily dropping in Europe since the Paleolithic. Older skeletons carried more of them, and the decline shows up even in the last 2,000–3,000 years.
- This drop isn't an artifact of population mixing. Neanderthal-derived DNA is actually enriched for ADHD-risk variants, and neither African ancestry nor hunter-gatherer versus farmer ancestry explains the trend.
The bottom line: Natural selection appears to have been working against ADHD-risk variants for at least 45,000 years, not just since agriculture began about 10,000 years ago.
Funny, isn't it? Yet we are the crazy ones.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8454493/
The question: Schizophrenia has long been suspected to be a uniquely human condition, since nothing like it appears in other species. Neanderthals were our closest relatives, so the authors asked: does carrying more Neanderthal DNA relate to schizophrenia risk, and if so, how?
What they did and found, in three parts:
- In four separate datasets totaling about 9,400 people of European descent, those with schizophrenia carried slightly less Neanderthal DNA than people without it. The difference was small and only reached statistical significance when the datasets were pooled, but it pointed the same direction in all four.
- In 49 hospitalized patients studied while temporarily off their medication, those with more Neanderthal DNA had milder "positive" symptoms (hallucinations and delusions). There was also a weaker hint that they improved less when put back on antipsychotics. No link was found with "negative" symptoms like emotional flatness.
- In about 170 healthy adults given a PET scan that measures dopamine production, more Neanderthal DNA went with lower dopamine synthesis in the striatum and pons. That matters because excess dopamine signaling is central to psychosis, and antipsychotic drugs work by blocking dopamine.
The bottom line: The results fit the idea that schizophrenia is a modern-human condition that arose after our lineage split from Neanderthals. People with more Neanderthal ancestry appear to have slightly lower risk and milder psychotic symptoms, and the dopamine finding offers a plausible biological route for why.
Let's talk about art.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_art
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_painting
Cro-Magnon is the Neanderthal – Sapiens hybrid. Prove me wrong.
Lie number 3
We are dumb.
Funny how that big red circle from the first picture leads to this:
Jewish Nobel laureates consist of 22% of Nobel Prizes across all scientific categories, while Jewish people comprise only 0.2% of the global population, at roughly 15.8 million people.
Even funnier when 1350cc dares to say that to the 1500+cc.
Want to see the closest thing to Neanderthals still living? Go to Basque Country.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basques
A language unrelated to any other in the area:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_language
https://aphasia.studentorg.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Neanderthal-Paper.pdf
Most recent Neanderthal fossils are found in Iberian Peninsula:
Let's analyze the Basque stereotypes
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Direct communication: Basque culture values honesty and plain speaking. This directness can be mistaken for anger or rudeness by people from more indirect cultures.
Direct communication is essential for effective band hunting in the harshest environment.
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Initial reserve: Basques are often perceived as introverted or closed off at first meeting. They generally take time to trust outsiders.
Small community bias.
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Deep loyalty: Once a relationship or friendship is established, Basques are known for being exceptionally loyal and reliable.
Small community, loyalty to the band was essential for survival of all.
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Community-focused: Social life is built around shared traditions, such as food societies (txokos), rural sports, and community festivals.
United groups had an advantage over the groups that were not that united.
Let's dive into a self-description:
1. We eat a lot
Higher caloric demands
6. Long surnames
They can be short, like Goikoetxea (The house above), or they can be long like Malaxetxebarria, Ostaikoetxea or Merikaetxebarria, or they can be even longer like Iturrigorrigoikoerrotakoetxea ("The red spring of the windmill house from above").
Poetry
17. We drink a lot
Partying is sacred to us. Wherever there's a party, no matter how far it is, we'll be there.
No comment
18. We're dumb
We can be dumb when it comes to deciding to act on an idea (we often have so many "bright ideas" that we can act on a lot of them and not regret having carried them out). We can also be coarse and shameless, but we are good people.
Impulsive