Staring into the gloom, I imagine the cave's ancient inhabitants, wrapped in
bear skins, huddled near a fire. The haunches of a reindeer roast in the fire.
A mother nurses her infant. Children playfully throw pieces of bone into
the flames. An old woman tends the wounds of a hunter with an herbal
ointment. The strong smells of smoke, unwashed bodies, and rotting
carcasses thicken the air.
Until recently, nobody would have assumed that the above passage (Rick Gore,
pp.6) was about how the Neandertals lived. However, recent studies have shown that
Neandertals are…
