Neanderthal Intelligence: Skull Shape Doesn't Prove Cognitive Inferiority

New research published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences challenges the long-held assumption that Neanderthals were less intelligent than early modern humans due to skull shape differences. Led by anthropologist Tom Schoenemann of Indiana University, the study compared brain anatomy variations between ethnic Han Chinese individuals and Americans of European ancestry. In 9 of 13 brain regions, differences between these modern populations exceeded those between Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens. The researchers argue that any cognitive differences would have been subtle and evolutionarily insignificant, undermining the theory that Homo sapiens outcompeted Neanderthals through superior intelligence. Instead, they propose Neanderthal extinction resulted from demographic factors like genetic swamping through interbreeding, isolation, and lack of genetic diversity. The study aligns with growing archaeological evidence of Neanderthal intelligence, including artistic expression, sophisticated tool use, and genetic capacity for language. Co-author John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison notes Neanderthals were "not dumb brutes" but "recognizably human."