The Sunday Read: ‘Neanderthals Were People, Too’

<p>In the summer of 1856, workers quarrying limestone in a valley outside Düsseldorf, Germany, found an odd looking skull. It was elongated and almost chinless.</p><p>William King, a British geologist, suspected that this was not merely the remains of an atypical human, but belonged to a typical member of an alternate humanity. He named the species Homo neanderthalensis: Neanderthal man.</p><p>Guided by racism and phrenology, he deemed the species brutish, with a “moral ‘darkness.’” It was a label that stuck.</p><p>Recently, however, after we’d snickered over their skulls for so long, it became clear we had made presumptions. Neanderthals weren’t the slow-witted louts we’d imagined them to be.</p><p><i><strong>This story</strong> <strong>was written by Jon Mooallem and recorded by Audm</strong>. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times,</i><a href="https://www.audm.com/?utm_source=nytmag&utm_medium=embed&utm_campaign=neanderthals_were_people_too" target="_blank"><i> download Audm for iPhone or Android</i></a><i>.</i></p>