Neanderthal Doesn’t Mean Dumb Anymore
The word “Neanderthal” is so associated with dumbness that it’s mostly used as an insult. Many an awkward, bookish adolescent has made himself feel better by referring to a physically superior peer as a Neanderthal, just not so loud that the other kid can hear them. Well, kiss that point of pride goodbye. Researchers now argue there’s no evidence that Neanderthal’s were dumb at all. According to recent research published by University of Colorado Boulder researcher Paola Villa and co-author Wil Roebroeks, an archaeologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands, there is no evidence to support the long held idea that Neanderthal’s were dumber and more primitive thinkers than “anatomically modern humans.” “The evidence for cognitive inferiority is simply not there,” said Villa, a curator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. “What we are saying is that the conventional view of Neanderthals is not true.” The researchers took a look at some of the common theories for why Neanderthal’s, after thriving from 350,000 to 40,000 years ago, died