I recently read Danny Vendramini’s Them and Us and Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead, both of which feature scary neanderthals. Them and Us is pretty much entirely pseudoscience, but does raise some interesting points about how we probably underestimate the differences between humans and neanderthals. I’m fairly convinced they were a lot hairier and less human-looking than typical reconstructions show them. Evidence for casual cannibalism, with the bones being tossed into the same waste pile as those of other prey species suggests a certain degree of inhuman disregard for the dead. Unfortunately, Vendramini doesn’t stop there, but starts with wild speculation about them being nocturnal, with slit pupils, and ape-like noses, then goes on to complete crank theory about human race memories. Eaters of the Dead is a work of fiction, written well before Vendramini’s work, but the ‘wendel’ are basically similar to his neandethals, if vaguely described. Both are covered in black hair, ...