"CRUDE, boorish and slow- witted" - even dictionaries give Neanderthals a hard time. But our prehistoric cousins were in reality just as smart as we are and did not die out as a result of a lack of brain power, according to a new archaeological study.
Until now, the leading theory of why the Neanderthals disappeared has been that a lack of intelligence meant they were less efficient hunters.
But a team of US archaeologists believe they met their evolutionary end because of a failure to maintain social links with other groups, unlike modern humans, who travelled widely, making the friends who would help them during hard times.
That makes some sense. Not sure of what's been done on the question of language among Neander's, but the ability to speak in a complex language and combine that sort of symbolic communication to create group identity and facilitate social relations among different groups seems like a sensible explanation. Kind of hard to demonstrte though.