Bearing in mind the overwhelming lack of evidence, you might be wondering why anyone still thinks that there is a significant cognitive gap between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. The answer seems to be blind prejudice. One recent academic article argues that it is the result of a “modern human superiority complex,” while an anonymous archeologist quoted in the New York Times refers to “modern human supremacists.”[48] It is true that Neanderthals did not produce anything comparable to the striking beauty and sophistication of the Chauvet cave paintings or the Löwenmensch figurine—but neither
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