Neanderthals
TopicHeard in 2 episodes across 2 shows since Aug 2026
Neanderthals are an extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. They became extinct roughly 40,000 years ago following the migration of anatomically modern humans into their territories, though genetic evidence shows significant interbreeding occurred between the two groups.
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Public PodLume episodes featuring it, over the last year.
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| Month | Episodes |
|---|---|
| Nov 2025 | 0 |
| Dec 2025 | 0 |
| Jan 2026 | 0 |
| Feb 2026 | 0 |
| Mar 2026 | 0 |
| Apr 2026 | 0 |
| May 2026 | 0 |
| Jun 2026 | 0 |
| Jul 2026 | 0 |
| Aug 2026 | 2 |
| Sep 2026 | 0 |
| Oct 2026 | 0 |
What experts have said about Neanderthals
4 statements · 3 positive · 1 mixed
Neanderthals cultivated and used wild plants medicinally, including as painkillers.
“We see Neanderthals doing that a long, long time ago, like cultivating wild plants and using them as painkillers and stuff like that.”
Open the episode · #2546 - Michael ButtonListen at 2:20:38
Neanderthal modern-human ancestry may indicate deeper cultural or biological modernity than expected.
“5% is actually a sign of something much more impactful, that is that somehow Neanderthals are in some sense deeply modern in some ways.”
Open the episode · David Reich – Why the Bronze Age was an inflection point in human evolutionListen at 1:19:55
Neanderthals may be culturally closer cousins of modern humans than genome-wide relationships suggest.
“the actual correct way to think about them may be in an important sense somehow the relations or the close cousins of modern humans.”
Open the episode · David Reich – Why the Bronze Age was an inflection point in human evolutionListen at 1:33:15
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
Episodes
2 episodes featuring Neanderthals, newest first
