I really wonder what legends, tales, symbolism, remnant memories etc. came from the brief time (comparatively speaking) when our homo sapiens sapiens ancestors came in contact with the Neanderthals.
It has always intrigued me.
What must they have looked like to our ancestors? did they appear uncommonly stupid, or cunning, or like giants or what?
guess I’ll never know.
The average Neatherdal was about 5’5, so they weren’t giants by no means, but their bone structure and density shows that the were incredibly strong.
I’ve read estimates that they were upwards of 30 percent stronger than our decathletes, which puts them being able to bench 350 lbs to 450 lbs.
But the reason why we could outcompete the brutes was that our caloric needs were much less, which allowed us to gather resources more quickly, have more kids, etc.
I think that the evidence that only the very early modern humans mated with them says something about this. Once there were lots of other modern humans to mate with the genetic exchange seems to of diminished then stopped. I think that would point to them being unattractive perhaps even troll like, if even the long hunters were not shacking up with them. Lone males generally will have sex with about anything and anybody.