There is genetic confirmation for smaller Neanderthal than modern human population sizes from the fact that the diversity of their genomes was about four times smaller. A history of small size is problematic for the genetic health of a population, because the fluctuations in mutation frequency that occur every generation are substantial enough to allow some mutations to spread through the population even in the face of the prevailing wind of natural selection that tends to reduce their frequencies.42 So in the half million years since Neanderthals and modern humans separated, Neanderthal
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