Speculative Fact #157: Human/Neanderthal Hybrids

    Ever since the first Neanderthal skull was discovered (in the Neander valley, Germany) the mysterious species has been the subject of everything from crude
cartoons to speculation on their nature.
    Like humans they were hominids. Like humans they walked upright. Like humans they used tools, hunted, and might have even had complex languages. One of the most interesting facts is that at one point humans and Neanderthals existed at the same time and have interacted.
    One of the most contentious postulations suggest that the two species interbred
(approximately 1-4% of European and Asian DNA is shared between the two
species).
    Speculative fiction like Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear depicts archaic humans and Neanderthals interacting, but what if our genetic cousins never went extinct? What if they somehow survived through hybridization, creating a species somewhere in between? How would that society compare to ours?

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