The remarkable artistic accomplishments that seemingly emerged from nowhere between 40,000 and 30,000 years ago in western Europe may have occurred when Neanderthals and Homo sapiens began to mix and exchange ideas after being separated for several hundred thousand years.[49] While the hypothesis that Neanderthals inspired Homo sapiens’ creative explosion is speculative, it is certainly plausible. The American geneticist David Reich cites evidence that Neanderthals borrowed tool-making technology from Homo sapiens.
