Humans are the only living species of hominin, a tribe of great apes that also includes our shorter, stockier, stronger – and extinct – cousins, the Neanderthals. These prehistoric relatives originated in Europe, colonised Asia and were successful for almost 250,000 years. But within 10,000 years of ‘anatomically modern humans’ appearing in Eurasia, following our last migration out of Africa over 50,000 years ago, Neanderthals had disappeared.
While the cause of extinction remains controversial, many academics believe our ancestors outcompeted Neanderthals by being smarter. Archaeological evidence tells us that we had burial rituals, cave art and tools that surpassed anything created by the Neanderthals – all thanks to an ability to innovate. “We could solve novel problems better,” says Prof Fred Coolidge, a psychologist at the University of Colorado, Colorado…