Neanderthals in the News

[Dark Lightning]

It would have been an unpleasant situation, all around. I remember having a tooth extracted that I could taste the pus when I pushed on it with my tongue. Not a pleasant taste. I was 11 years old, and pretty sure I didn't even have a toothbrush. We were poor. I honestly don't know how the dentist got paid. That would have been in '63; I think that the parents signed for a second mortgage that year by candle light, because the power (and gas heat) had already been turned off.

[Recusant]

Yes, a bit amazing (pun intended) and I think indirect evidence of language capacity in the Neanderthal, though I think that question is already in the past. I think without language it would be excessively difficult if not impossible to convey the idea of grinding a sharp rock in somebody's tooth to (eventually!) relieve the pain.