Modern Mysteries

I think the most conclusive proof can be historical influence. Ultimately, the Neanderthals’ fate continues through and resides in archeology and anthropology. They might have even contributed to mythology and socialism. In the short time it took for modern humans to colonize Europe, Neanderthals must have had some kind of influence. Negotiations between the primitive breeds might have been comical, until they found something in common. Neanderthals might have made a powerful ally for modern humans in a lawless time.
Genetic influence remains inconclusive. Some could be found in modern racial distinctions. If that is the case, Neanderthals may have been incorporated along with other archaic breeds. If one thing is conclusive about Neanderthals, maybe it is that they were no match for the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution. It might have contributed to Neanderthal genetic selection. A force as powerful as a technological revolution could easily select the most industrious candidates from an existing population. As the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution reached the Neanderthals and other archaic populations, it would have demanded that new traits were developed.
Along with Europe’s other predators, Neanderthals had to compete for the continent’s resources with the arrival of modern humans. Cave men everywhere must have thought, ‘we’re gonna need a bigger cave!’ Modern humans brought more sophisticated shelter but a good cliff dwelling can be tough to beat and Cro-Magnon Man seems to have adopted continental cave life too. Sometime before agriculture was developed and shires caught on, modern humans left portraits on the walls of caves. Between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon Man, a culture of cave life was shared. Europe’s later inhabitants moved out of the caves and wild.
Whatever happened to the Neanderthals, Europe had no more cave-men. I guess you can do a little more with a lodge than you can with a cave. Neanderthals that couldn’t meet the demands of progress and industry would become ‘extinct’, just like any of the other breeds of human kind that the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution crossed. I might make the distinction between ‘modern humans’ and ‘modern Neanderthals’ for any who survived the revolution. They both would have been modern by then but a ‘modern Neanderthal’ is a bit of a contradiction. It’s like saying ‘modern archaic’, or ‘modern throwback’. But any Neanderthals that were incorporated by the Upper Palaeolithic Revolution would have become just that.