Ella Al-Shamahi

You know, some of them were clearly like, no, they look weird.

And others were like, I mean, I've seen stranger things.

And it's so weird being a paleoanthropologist because I know everybody talks about the tech revolution and how like now is the moment for tech, et cetera, et cetera.

Like now is the moment to be studying paleoanthropology because like there's a new discovery like every week and it's,

They're not even small discoveries anymore.

They're the kind of discoveries which are so big that they make you question so many things, including who on earth the Neanderthals are, you know.

And so it's just a fascinating time to also be studying this, because I feel like if I had been studying this even 40 years ago, the conversations would be so boring by comparison.

Whereas like literally we are now having a conversation about, oh, we think it was probably Neanderthal males and Homo sapien females interbreeding, which is just a fancy word for having sex.

And I'm just like, well, how have we got to this point, you know, where we're discussing this now?

But that is the state of the research.

Yeah.

And that's the terrifying thing when you're writing a book, by the way.

I'm writing a book and I'm like, oh my God.

Oh God, I'm going to have to be careful about this.

I'm going to have to be careful about this.

Because as soon as that book is published, it will be out of date.

What's really funny is so many of us who study Neanderthals or talk about Neanderthals to the public, a lot of us give talks or what have you.

And I have to say that it is not uncommon, to the point where I've now had to tell people to stop doing it, for women basically to drag up their poor husbands and be like, could you please feel his skull?

Because I'm convinced he's a Neanderthal.

And I'm like, oh my...