Dr. Genevieve von Petzinger

Our ancestors interbred with them.

Well, now we need to rethink what is a Neanderthal?

Like, if our ancestors are sleeping with these people, then, like, how ape-like were they?

Like, you know, you're probably not going to go run off to the bushes with some guy who's, like, grunting and, you know, sort of scratching his lice.

Like, woman, oh.

So, you know, it's, like, suddenly...

almost for our own like, oh, dear Lord, what did our ancestors do?

They were like, okay, well, maybe we need to revisit what is this Neanderthal thing that we're talking about?

So that's the fast forward through.

Well, and because it is such a, I mean, art is a form of communication, right?

So I think to think about that as well is that it is actually a way that provides potential connection between people, right?

Because art is part of culture.

And so this is kind of where I think we could see it that way.

We should probably back up for the listeners slightly because I would like this huge like round.

Here is the latest evidence, and I say this in a field where we can whiplash with new genetic information.

So this is what we know.

We are a sister species with Neanderthals, meaning we have a common ancestor who we believe to be Homo erectus.

We do not have genetics back that far, so we can't prove prove it, okay?

But everything points to Homo erectus as being sort of the common point.

They moved out onto the other continents.