We Got Neanderthal Brains All Wrong

Several recent studies have confirmed that the Neanderthal frontal region showed no differences in shape or size compared to modern humans. This is because the forehead of the Neanderthal skull is sloping rather than upright because of their huge browridges, but the internal structure of the skull is actually more upright than you would expect. A crucial point regarding Neanderthal brains is that cranial shape, including the famous sloped forehead and elongated vault, has very little to say about brain complexity. The brain fills the space available to it. Modern humans display enormous variation in skull shape, many with pronounced slopes, yet no anthropologist argues that these individuals are cognitively diminished. When Neanderthals and modern humans are compared internally, the space for higher order association cortex appears remarkably similar. SOURCES: Reconstructing the Neanderthal brain using computational anatomy https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159... Comparing frontal cranial profiles in archaic and modern Homo by morphometric analysis https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/1... The Poor Brain of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis https://www.columbia.edu/~rlh2/1985Po... https://www.newscientist.com/article/... Join this channel to get access to perks:    / @highlycompelling