Once again, the Times misses the obvious question. From Olivia Judson’s contemplation of Neanderthal-Homo sapien mating:
The idea of Neanderthal ancestry brings a vividness to the distant past. Were the men exotic and sexy? What were half-Neanderthal, half-human children like? Were they extra-beautiful, as people with mixed ancestries often are? Did they have an unusual hungering for red meat? Did we learn Neanderthal customs, or languages?
Did they argue over holidays? Did they get along with the in-laws? Was it Homo-sapien day school, or just two hours Sundays, exercising opposable thumbs?
Judson kind of answers her own question a couple of grafs down:
Perhaps they died of mad Neanderthal disease, owing to a habit of feasting on one another’s brains.
"Honey, why? I slave all day over the brisket, and this is what you bring home? And Glunk wasn’t that bright anyway — what’s the point?"
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