Over the past couple of decades, however, it has become increasingly clear that Neanderthals were capable of all sorts of sophisticated behaviors that until recently were only associated with Homo sapiens. There is archeological evidence that Neanderthals manufactured stone tools requiring cognitive skill and dexterity,[31] made fire on demand,[32] sailed from mainland Europe to Crete and the Ionian Islands,[33] produced glue from the bark of the birch tree,[34] and appear to have treated maladies with medicinal plants that had anesthetic and antibiotic properties: traces of DNA from poplar
...more
