Becoming Neanderthal

The vexata quaestio of Neanderthals’ cognitive capacity in comparison with anatomically modern humans – and the role this may have played in their demise as a separate species – has attracted extensive attention in archaeological studies of the past half-century. In contrast, other aspects of Neanderthal life and thought have received far less interest. Following an initial review of cognitive aspects and their ramifications, necessary to clarify the author’s opinion on this debated matter, the paper attempts to expand the horizon and break this ‘cognitive circle’ by examining Neanderthal ways of being-in-the-world, based on the available archaeological record and selected theoretical approaches in anthropology from a comparative perspective.