this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2025
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[–] bulwark@lemmy.world 32 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

I first read it as neanderthals are less aggressive so they must focus now on weapons. I'm pretty sure the intention is that the guys working on the wheel have to stop because the current leadership are neanderthals.

I think neanderthals were less war-like than humans because humans eradicated all of them, but I'm probably reading too much into it.

[–] zloubida@sh.itjust.works 32 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I think neanderthals were less war-like than humans because humans eradicated all

Akchually, Neanderthals were humans and we don't know why they disappeared. The idea that homo sapiens eradicated them all is probably a wrong one; their decline begun before the arriving of homo sapiens.

[–] purplemonkeymad@programming.dev 26 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The most recent suggestion I saw is that there were just more sapiens when they started interacting. Interbreeding must have happened, but with new groups of sapiens continuously arriving from the middle east, the neanderthal DNA just got more and more dilute. Eventually "pure" neanderthals no longer existed.

[–] GreenMartian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

with new groups of sapiens continuously arriving from the middle east, the neanderthal DNA just got more and more dilute

I can't tell if you're being serious, or making fun of the great replacement ~~theory~~ conspiracy...

[–] Mirror Giraffe@piefed.social 16 points 2 days ago

It is considered true but the"replacement" took place over thousands of years and the neanderthal population was very small in comparison to the ones they were bedding.

[–] then_three_more@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Akchsually if you look at the genetic markers in modern populations its pretty clear what happened. 🍆💦 👶

[–] Tylerdurdon@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They ate egg plant, at which point there were heavy rains which did them in?

[–] egrets@lemmy.world 15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The combination of eggplant and deluge turned them all into babies. Unable to hunt or communicate, they were wiped out.

[–] lagoon8622@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

Babies are actually pretty good communicators 🤓

As I recall one theory is that Neanderthals was absorbed into homo sapiens.

[–] VindictiveJudge@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Europeans and Asians also have roughly 2% Neanderthal DNA on average, so it's likely we absorbed a significant chunk of their population into our own.

[–] raspberriesareyummy@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago

Pretty sure those 2% refer to the subsection of the genome that is unique to homo sapiens. We have >98% shared DNA among all great apes (including humans)

[–] Jesus_666@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

We also might simply have outbred them. Remember that modern humans have what appears to be detectable Neanderthal DNA so interbreeding has apparently occurred; we might simply have diluted them into perceived extinction. Besides, there doesn't seem evidence for large-scale war.

Of course that's all speculation.

[–] Revan343@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 day ago

Neanderthals were also comparatively expensive, which is great when food is plentiful, but gave us the edge when food was scarce

[–] garbagebagel@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Huh I never thought about Neanderthals that way, but it makes sense. Crazy that now we refer to them as "less civilized" or more "savage", considering what war is.

[–] transientpunk@sh.itjust.works 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

To add to that, evidence suggests that, not only were their brains larger than ours, but they likely had a higher capacity to learn than we do. Not to mention them being bigger and stronger than us too. We most certainly were the savages. It seems some things never change.

https://www.fortinberrymurray.com/todays-research/were-the-neanderthals-smarter-than-we-are

[–] pupbiru@aussie.zone 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

actually it’s a bit the opposite: neanderthals were slightly less cognitively developed, likely in tool use, creativity, and also social structures

(Species specific disadvantages on the wikipedia page)

[–] Email@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

It's also known, from an invasive frog (cane toad) in Australia, that adaptation can occur due to rate of travel. I'm not sure that's relevant here, it's just another example of how we've found quirks of evolution.