The Neanderthal had a distinctive skull. "[A] long, low skull with strong brow ridges in front and a bony ledge across the nape of the neck, the Neanderthal 'bun' or 'chignon'" (22). So writes Ronald Wright in his A SHORT HISTORY OF PROGRESS (Text Publishing, 2004).
Where have they gone? One theory says that they (homo sapiens neanderthalensis) were killed off by us, homo sapiens sapiens. If it were truly the case, it would be "the first genocide," as Wright puts it. He quotes the anthropologist Milford Wolpoff: "You can't imagine one human population replacing another except through violence." (25)
But could there be some "inheritors," following the scenario depicted by William Golding in his novel THE INHERITORS?
Says Wright: "I also have personal evidence that Neanderthal genes may still be with us. A few modern people have telltale ridges on their heads. I happen to have one--a bony shelf across the back of the skull that looks and feels like the Neanderthal bun. So until new findings come along to settle the matter, I choose to believe that Neanderthal blood still flows, however faint, in the Cro-Magnon tide." (26)
Genocide may be in our genes. What we need to counter such an agressive nature is the power of fiction.
