The Sunday Read: ‘Neanderthals Were People, Too’
The Daily23 Mai 2021

The Sunday Read: ‘Neanderthals Were People, Too’

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.

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.

Guided by racism and phrenology, he deemed the species brutish, with a “moral ‘darkness.’” It was a label that stuck.

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.

This story was written by Jon Mooallem and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episoder(2838)

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017

Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2017

Wendy Cleland-Hamnett, a former Environmental Protection Agency official, fought for years to protect American consumers from toxic chemicals found in everyday products. Nancy B. Beck, a scientist who...

24 Okt 201723min

Monday, Oct. 23, 2017

Monday, Oct. 23, 2017

“It’s horrible what I went through, horrible what my family went through,” Bill O’Reilly said of the sexual harassment allegations that cost him his job at Fox News. Mr. O’Reilly spoke on the record t...

23 Okt 201722min

Friday, Oct. 20, 2017

Friday, Oct. 20, 2017

Foreign Service officers often serve for decades, carrying their knowledge and relationships from one administration to the next. But in just a few months, a new boss has fired or driven out many of t...

20 Okt 201725min

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017

Thursday, Oct. 19, 2017

Its de facto capital is falling. Its territory has shriveled to a handful of outposts. Its surviving leaders are on the run, and its fighters are surrendering. Is the Islamic State losing its war, or ...

19 Okt 201721min

Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017

Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2017

Shannon Mulcahy’s job at an Indiana steel plant moved to Mexico. Donald Trump vowed to keep factory jobs inside the United States. We discuss how the president’s promise of “America First” has met the...

18 Okt 201736min

Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017

Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017

As a candidate for president, Donald J. Trump called Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl a “dirty rotten traitor” for walking off his base in Afghanistan in 2009, and said,”I don’t want him. Maybe we can send him back...

17 Okt 201723min

Monday, Oct. 16, 2017

Monday, Oct. 16, 2017

President Trump has disavowed the Iran nuclear deal, and he has threatened to leave it altogether if Congress does not amend it to permanently block Tehran from building nuclear weapons. Today, a top ...

16 Okt 201718min

Friday, Oct. 13, 2017

Friday, Oct. 13, 2017

“I’m not quitting today. I don’t believe — and I just talked to the president — I don’t think I’m being fired today,” John F. Kelly, President Trump’s chief of staff, said at a surprise news conferenc...

13 Okt 201724min

Populært innen Politikk og nyheter

giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
aftenpodden-usa
forklart
stopp-verden
popradet
det-store-bildet
nokon-ma-ga
fotballpodden-2
rss-gukild-johaug
dine-penger-pengeradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-ness
hanna-de-heldige
aftenbla-bla
rss-espen-lee-usensurert
rss-dannet-uten-piano
rss-penger-polser-og-politikk
frokostshowet-pa-p5
bt-dokumentar-2