Neanderthals commonly suffered from 'swimmer's ear'

… so now we know why the Neanderthals died out. :wink:

Not really. But it is getting harder and harder to say Neanderthals didn’t suffered from cold weather anomalies just like us. Humanity has been living and suffering from environmental and behavioral caused afflictions for millions of years.

Yes. In my brain when I saw the title of your OP I immediately went to “oh, there must have been some physiological difference that made Neanderthals more susceptible (less “evolved” so to speak) than modern humans” but then the article starts with the assumption that it shows that Neanderthals were around more aquatic environments than previously thought (if I’m reading it right). As I’m learning a lot lately, when it comes to human evolution, so much of what I thought was biological (race, etc.) turns out to be behavioral/environmental/cultural.

1 Like