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The Neandertals: Evolutionary Dead Ends or Ancestors of Modern People?

The role of Eurasian Neandertals in modern human origins continues to be debated. The nature of the debate twenty-five years ago is compared to the nature of the debate today, and the changes and similarities in how Neandertals were then and are now viewed are discussed. Adaptive explanations for the existence of Neandertals and the origin of modern people are also reviewed. It is concluded that Neandertal morphology is likely the result of accelerated prenatal growth in order to produce large infants. It is further concluded that Neandertals shared genes with both contemporary and succeeding populations and thus should not be regarded as an extinct sideline with no connection to modern humans.