The Neanderthal theory

Leif Ekblad, Independent Researcher Invented 2001-04-24 Last modified 2019-11-25

Modified reconstruction of Gibraltar Neanderthal child

Contents

Acknowledgements

Karolina

My primary inspiration for creating the theory, as well as discovering mind-to-mind communication and the relationship traits

Elizabeth Morgan

Helped me with background material about various diseases like hemochromatosis, Factor V Leiden, cystic fibrosis, SLE, other autoimmune diseases, and found various links to supportative evidence

Various autistic and ADHD individuals on discussion forums

Helped me with ideas about behavior and provided comments about the theory

Abstract

In the past there have been numerous theories for the cause(s) of neurodiversity conditions like Autism, Asperger's syndrome, ADD/ADHD, OCD, Social phobia, Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Bipolar, Schizophrenia, Tourette and Dyspraxia. Most of these theories can at best explain small parts of these diverse syndromes. Many of them extend their findings in spectacular ways to be able to claim to explain larger parts of neurodiversity with little success.



This theory approaches the problem from a new radical viewpoint. Instead of approaching neurodiversity conditions as disorders, brain defects or the result of poor socialization or parenting, it claims that neurodiversity is fully functional human variation.



All the areas that are central to neurodiversity are related to species-typical adaptations that vary widely between species. These include nonverbal signals, social organization, sensory acuteness, perception, motor skills, general preferences, sexuality, courtship, physical traits and biological adaptations. Some of this diversity is poorly understood and virtually unresearched and therefore is not published in peer-reviewed journals. Because of this lack of research, Aspie Quiz, an online questionnary, is heavily referenced for these traits.



Recent genetic research have demonstrated that Neanderthals contributed at least 1-4% to the non-African genome. Aspie Quiz have demonstrated in a large survey in the US population that Afroamericans have only 1/6 of the autism incidence of non-African groups.



Principal Component Analysis (PCA) of Aspie Quiz yields axes that seems to be related to the first Eurasian Homo, the formation of modern humans in Africa or South Asia and the hybridization between modern humans and Neanderthals in Eurasia. In Caucasians, these axises seems to be 1.8 million years, 150,000 years and 33,000 years. In Asians, they seem to be 1.8 million years, 130,000 years and 44,000 years.

Primate evolution

Primates originally were very small and evolved during the era of the dinosaurs. Higher primates seems to have evolved 40 million years ago in Asia 1. These then spread to all parts of the world 2. Oreopithecus was a swamp-ape that lived 7 to 9 million years ago on an isolated island in today's Italy. It seems to be more similar to the later Australopithecus than to any other primate. Homo is next in similarity to Oreopithecus while the African and Asian apes show the least morphological similarity to Oreopithecus amongst the hominoids. Oreopithecus was bipedal, just like humans, unlike the knuckle-walking African apes 34. Oreopithecus might be very close to the common ancestor of Pan, Homo and Gorilla. If Oreopithecus was the ancestor of Homo, this would also explain a large number of aquatic adaptations found in today's humans, but not in other primate species. Ardipithecus was a bipedal hominin that has been found in Etiopia 4.4 million years ago 5 6. Ardipithecus has many similarities to Oreopithecus, especially in its foot bones. Australopithecus lived in Africa 3 million years ago. It is typically believed to be the ancestor of Homo, but actually cannot be since humans and orangutans both lack a retroviral insertion that was inserted into the genome of all African apes about 3 millions years ago 7. An early Homo species lived in Eurasia (Dmanisi, Georgia) about 1.77 million years ago. It showed some primitive and some derived features of Homo erectus in Africa and was relatively short 8. Homo floresiensis existed on Flores, Indonesia, already 1 million years ago. It is called "the hobbit" because of its short stature 9. The cladistic analysis indicated it branched from other Homo species already at 1.7-1.9 million years ago 10. Denisovans are known from a cave in Siberia. They diverged some 640,000 years ago from Neanderthals and some 800,000 years ago from modern humans 11. Homo erectus has been found in East Asia from about 800,000 years to 400,000 years ago. After that they evolved towards the modern human form, a transition that was complete about 250,000 years ago. This form then is found in the fossil record up until 100,000 years ago, when the fossil record suddenly ends 12.

Homo evolution

The origin of Homo is not clear, but it seems likely that climatic factors played an important role. The start of the ice-ages in Eurasia roughly corresponds to the origin of Homo 13. It seems likely that brain expansion was largely driven by the unstable climate of Eurasia, which required constant adaptations from their inhabitants. These selective pressures never existed in Africa. Africa instead acted a lot like a refugee area where larger populations could survive for extended periods of time. Frequent hybridization between advanced, but sparse, Eurasian Homo and refugee African Homo ensured that Homo evolved larger brains.

Cold adapted Homo

Rather than describing all the species or sub-species paleoanthropology likes us to believe existed in Eurasia, it's more convenient to describe them as one single species evolving from Homo erectus to Neanderthals. The earliest finds of Homo come from Sima del Elefante, Atapuerca, Spain and are 1.1 to 1.2 million years old 14. It is believed to be related to Dmanisi. Another find is from Ceprano, Italy that is dated to between 800,000 and 900,000 years 15.

Warm adapted Homo

This species evolved from Homo erectus to anatomical modern humans (Hss). In the process of increasing their brain size, or maybe as a means of reducing parasite loads, they became naked. They lived a nomadic life-style in larger tribes. Their way of living provided advanced social adaptations. Men were hunters, and women gathered and cared for babies. With those roles, came male alliances and warfare. It was more of a rule to find one's partner within the tribe than in another tribe. This lead to evolution of the modern status concept and hierarchies. It also lead to aggression between males, and provided the basis for ethnocentric ideas and racism. The offspring developed fast, and they could reproduce fast. Hss is a patriarchal species and behaves like chimps in many respects.

Hybrid Homo

At 130,000 years ago, a global warming started. This resulted in the melting of the ice-cores over Eurasia. At 125,000 years ago, we find Neanderthals in Finland 16. In Africa there are a couple of skulls in Herto that are dated to 160,000 years ago, that almost looks like modern humans 17. It is likely that the warm interglacial resulted in migrations of Herto-looking Homo out of Africa and into South Asia and Near East 130,000 years ago, similar to the Neanderthal migrations north.

Based on archaeological evidences, it seems most reasonable to assume that modern humans originated somewhere in Asia. We have evidences of the first truly modern-looking human skull in China around the interglacial (Liujiang) 18. Modern humans formed when they hybridized with the archaic Asian Homo erectus population. As the interglacial ended, the new population was pushed back into refugee areas in Southern Asia and Middle East. We find modern humans at Skhul and Qafzeh in Israel at the end of the interglacial 19. These modern humans also hybridized with Neanderthals in Near East, before being pushed back into Africa.

Today the closest descendants of these people seems to be San/Bushmen of South Africa, and South Asian populations. The Bantu population of Africa quite likely represents hybrids between modern humans and archaic African Homo. It is unknown when San came to Africa, but their similarity to East Asians seems to imply a relatively recent migration into Africa, perhaps 20,000 - 30,000 years ago. At 74,000 years ago most of the genetic diversity in Asia was lost, and Asian modern humans got partitioned into two groups by the Toba eruption. Not until 50,000 years ago had this population picked up enough inventions from neighbouring Neanderthal and Homo erectus groups to be able to survive further north. With the invention of tailor-made cloth and efficient central-heating, it became possible for them to compete with Neanderthals in Europe and Northern Asia. 35,000 years ago, modern humans are found in Europe

Neanderthal, Denisovan and modern human archeological evidence

Social

Hunting

Cold adapation

The cold-adaptations of the northern population probably evolved gradually. It was already present to some extent one million years ago in Iberia. The 500,000 years divergence of mtDNA lineages between Africa & Neanderthals support the idea of a northern cold-adaptation starting before 0.5 million years ago. There are several evidences against the idea that Neanderthal adapted to cool climate with fire and cloth in Eastern Europe 24.

The evidence from fires indicates they were not primarily aimed at keeping warm. In modern human settings in Europe, there is a central fire & evidence of isolated shelters. None of this is seen in Neanderthal's Mousterian technology. Their fires are usually found at arbitrary locations, and there is no evidence of activity constrained to shelters. The evidence seems to indicate Mousterian sites were indeed "open-air", and not built with tents & central heating. There is no evidence for new technology as Neanderthals migrated to colder climates. This seems to indicate their adaptations were not cultural, because this would leave traces of innovations in technology, but rather physiological. Many sites were abondonded by Neanderthals when climate got worse. It's possible this reflects that Neanderthal cold adaptations weren't enough to cope with the changes. Side-scrapers might have been used for hide preparation, although there is more evidence they were used for wood-working in Western Europe. Furs without advanced sewing techniques would be insufficient for cold adaptation, and there is no compelling evidence for Neanderthals sewing.

Polar bear cold adaptation

Switch of diet from predominately vegetarian diet to carnevorious diet Widely different teeth, more adapted for a predator. Year-around activity instead of hibernation Longer neck Different color Thick fur Huge paws

Wolly mammoth cold adaptation

Artic fox cold adaptation

The artic fox split off 3 million years ago 28. They have much the same adaptations we would expect in Neanderthals.

The fur of the arctic fox has the best insulative properties among all mammals Not under any naturally occurring temperatures does it need to increase metabolic rate to maintain homeothermy Arctic foxes change between summer and winter pelage and thereby adjust insulating properties and enhance camouflage Well developed ability to reduce blood flow to peripheral regions of the body In autumn, they can put on more than 50% of their body weight as fat for insulation and as energy reserves

Music

Medical plants

Muscari

Grape hyacinth is a stimulant and diuretic. It's also been used historically to hide the snell of humans to prey.

Althea

Possibly Althea officiinalis or Marsh mallow. Used to treat inflammation, irritations of the mucous membranes, excess stomach acid, peptic ulceration and gastritis. Can also be applied externally to bruises, sprains, aching muscles, insect bites, skin inflammations and splinters.

Senecio

Ragwort or groundsel is used to relieve menstrual cramps and retards bleeding.

Achillea

Yarrow or milfoil is used as a stomach tonic and anti-diarrheal.

Centauarea

Possibly Centaurea cyanus or cornflower. Infusion is a stimulant, improving digestion and possibly supporting liver as well as resistance to infections. Anti-rheumatic.

Ephedra

Symbiotic animal relations

Dog

Genetic research shows that dog and wolf parted 135,000 years ago 32. They also reveal that the dog's ancestor was the European gray wolf. There are wolf remains close to Neanderthals, but not with the prey. This probably means the wolf had a special relation with Neanderthal. There are also big similarities between Neanderthal prey and wolves prey 33. Some people incorrectly believe that dogs must change morph to be dogs and domesticated, but this is related to a power relationship between humans and animals and not a symbiotic relationship. Raymond and Lorna Coppinger believe dogs first appeared at humans campsites as scavengers. This view is compatible with early symbiotic relations between dogs and Neanderthals. What's more, the selection would not be anything like traditional breeding. The tamest animals would be most successful in this new environment, but selection on body-shape would not occur. Those first dogs would not look anything different from their wild wolves cousins in the archeological record. The book "dogs" also describes how difficult it is to make wolves friendly toward humans. They must be taken very early from the den, and trained for months 34.

Cattle

A study comparing Bos indicus and Bos taurus finds a common ancestor 117,000 - 275,000 years ago 35. The now extinct British Bos primigenius is more closely related to Bos taurus than is Bos indicus.

Goat

Genetic evidence shows that three goat lineages go back 201,000 - 282,000 years in time 36.

Horse

Mitochondrial DNA lineages go back at least 300,000 years. A lot of the lineages are considerably older than 10,000 years when the horse was supposedly domesticated 37.

Age and maturity pace

Let's start with children & young adults. That's where his evidence is impressive. On page 185 there is a table estimating the years Between Pech (a very young child) and Le Moustier

Linear or Angular Meassurement Average Rate/Yr Years 1. Michigan Angular Variable 50 0.85 27 2. Bolton Angular No. 13 0.57 26 3. Michigan Linear Variable 88 1.2mm 26 4. Bolton Linear No. 5D 1.2mm 26 5. Bolton Angular No. 3 0.66 27 6. Michigan Linear Variable 182 1.3mm 29 7. Michigan Linear Variable 185 1.8mm 26 Average: 26.7 +/-1

This 7 meassures are different rates of growth, using large modern studies. It's quite remarkable that all of them gives very similar results for the age differences between Le Moustier and Pech. Using dental dating methods, Pech is believed to be between 2 and 2.5 years old. I'll use the mean 2.25 years. Le Moustier is assumed to be between 16 and 18 years old. I'll use 17 for his age. The difference in age based on dental datings therefore is 14.75 years. This would mean there is a discrepancy between general skull growth and teeth growth of 1.81 (26.7 / 14.75). This can be explained by assuming seasonal wear of their teeth. If teeth eruption & wear is proportional to the effective usage-time of teeth, this would be a legal assumption. This means Neanderthals would use their teeth for 1 / 1.81 or 55% of the time, and would not use them for 45%. That translates to 6.5 active months and 5.5 months of hibernation or general inactivity. Using those assumptions, let's calculate the age of various Neanderthals. The general rule for children & young adults would be to multiply the traditional ages by 1.81. This would mean Pech would be 4 years, Gibraltar II 7 years and Le Moustier would be 31 years.

Next, comes the fallacy of Jack's reasoning. Age of adults. The real problem here is that we don't know the exact age of maturity. Le Moustier cannot be assumed to be mature. The exact time of maturity matters a lot, since skull growth in the measures used in the book beyond maturity falls 20 - 30 times. He assumes maturity and Le Moustier is the same thing, but it's most likely not. The most reliable way to calculate age of maturity, is to estimate average life-span. Since Neanderthals matured 81% slower, they should also have lived correspondingly longer. This means realistic life-spans should range between 100 and 150 years. Using that span, it's possible to use 3 of the measures in the book, and estimate an age of maturity that is realistic. Several iterations proved this age is 36, but I won't go into the calculations, just show that it gives reasonable results.

Gonial angle

Gonial angle Estimated age Le Moustier 110 31 years Mature Neanderthal 105.75 36 years La Chapelle 105 65 years La Ferrassie 104 103 years

Lower jaw length

On page 306, variable 194, specifies LM: 116.3, LF: 131.3 and LC;132.3. Rate is 0.071mm/year. On page 180, it's stated that the lower jaw grows 1.8mm/year before maturity. This gives the following table:

Lower jaw length Estimated age Le Moustier 116.3 31 years Mature Neanderthal 125.3 36 years La Chapelle 131.3 120 years La Ferrassie 132.3 135 years

The book claims ages of 211, 225, 231 and 192 for the above. This is because of the assumption of LM being mature. It's very clear you can come up with almost any age with this method, since maturation time is not known. I think 36 +/- 2 of maturation is supported by the data. Outside of this range, age of death of LC and LF is becoming unrealistic.

Lower face height

This is the third measure that can evaluated both in children and adults, as is required when maturity is 5 years after LM. This is the most interesting of them. Neither the traditional dating method, nor the presumed in this book, would explain this. On page 212, there are estimates for this parameter. Modern adults grow 0.063mm/year. Between 16 and 18, there is an increase of 1.98mm, which roughly corresponds to 1mm/year, which I will use as an estimate before maturity. He also discusses the fact that modern humans with heavy tooth-attrition, DECREASE lower facial height. This is because passive tooth eruption is smaller than teeth wear. On page 215, he gives the figures for our Neanderthals. LM: 58.3, LF: 75.8 and LC: 78.7. The problem here is that we have to assume a very high increase in lower facial height of 0.15mm/year to obtain realistic results. Here is a table based on 0.15mm/year:

Lower face height Estimated age Le Moustier 58.3 31 years Mature Neanderthal 63.3 36 years La Chapelle 78.7 139 years La Ferrassie 75.8 120 years

If Neanderthal had such a large growth as 0.15mm/year, which is over twice the modern rate with SOFT diet, how is this possible? I think the answer once more is hibernation. If we assume they had the modern rate during active periods (55%), and only passive eruption during the rest of the year (45%), we could end up at 0.15mm/year. If their passive eruption was 0.25mm/year, this would contribute to 0.112mm/year of growth (0.25 * 0.45), and the active 0.038mm/year (0.07 * 0.55). On page 211, there is an study that gives rates as high as 0.18mm/year for this parameter, with "no wear".



On page 76, there is an excellent summary of Gibraltar II by Dorothy Garrod:

A. Remarkable jaw muscle development old B. Well-worn teeth old C. Infantile forehead slow D. Big head old E. Infantile ear bones slow F. Bulbous upper jaw slow G. Small young-looking lower jaw slow

F and G is explained by slow-developing teeth, and is the reason for the wrong age-estimates by paleoanthropology. Slower ear development might be related to Neanderthals obvious preference for visual information processing instead of verbal (as evidenced by occipital bun). The forehead is most likely explained by a less advanced social system.

Additional evidence comes from a study that found Fibrous Dysplasia, that typically develop with age and is uncommon in human populations before the average lifespan of humans increased recently 39.

Ancient societies

Music and dancing

Special populations

Matriarchal societies are mainly found in Europe, Near East and the Arctic, and usually disappear with agriculture 41.

San/Bushmen

These people's are often believed to be some of the original Africans, but many of their traits speaks against this idea. They resemble, to European eyes at least, east Asians. They have yellowish rather than black skin, epicanthic folds, shovel-shaped incisors, and many newborns have "Mongoloid spots" at the base of the spine. The Asian appearance is not just a perception of Europeans. In the !Kung language there are three kinds of mammals: !a is an edible animal like a warthog or a giraffe, !oma is an inedible animal like a jackal, hyena, black African, or European, and zhu is a person. Vietnamese in Botswana were immediately identifed as zhu by Bushmen. In other words, their perception of their similarity to Asians is the same as ours (i.e. Europeans'). Genetics group Bushmen with Asians 42 and Bushmen lack the signal of expansion present in other African populations 43. Bushmen are thought to have introduced live stock into South Africa 44.

Basque

Many of the Basque-unique alleles are 10,000 to 34,000 years old. The center of this interval matches the bottleneck in Iberia during the ice-age maximum. Basque alleles are also found in Celt, Scandinavians and in North African Berbers 45. In Isturitz in Basque country there is an very old flute. This flute is similar to both the older Neanderthal flute, and the later Basque txistu flute. The Basque language is distinct from all other languages. Their language is also special since it originally didn't contain any abstract words. Basque has also for a long time been leading in musical and other creative activities in Europe. The Basque words for dog, sheep, cow, bull, horse and hen seems unrelated to other Indo-European languages, while cat, pig and duck looks like loan-words. This indicates the first group of animals already were domesticated before the end of the last ice-age.

Berber

Berbers most likely originate from Iberia during the ice-age maximum. Mitochondria-DNA evidence shows that Berbers have U5, U6, pre-V and V haplotypes 46. U5, pre-V and V is believed to be of European origin, and U6 is found in Iberia 47 48.

Guanchos

Guanchos came to the Canaries a long time ago. When first encountered, they used stone-age tools, lived in cave-shelters, and lacked many Neolithic inventions. However, they had dogs, sheep, pig, goat, wheat, barley, pea and bean. They also display many features of Northern Europeans / Celts. It also looks like their language is closely related to the Berber language. Women had high status.

Etruscan

Etruscans according to most sources have lived long in Italy. Probably several thousand years, since their language is not related to other indo-European languages. Women had higher status and were better treated 49 50. This is in conformance with matriarchy. Their sexual activities are quite similar to bonoboo's 51. Many gods were female, and many of the goddesses were not continued by the Romans, while many male gods were The moon is part of their deities The number 13 of the original moon culture had been replaced by 12. Music and dancing is a fundamental part of their life, just as theatre.

Minoans

The Minoan culture flourished on Crete until 1450 BCE when the volcano Santorini erupted. It seems to have been a relatively peaceful culture, and nowhere do we find evidence of warefare 52. It also seems quite likely women occupied important positions in the society. The Minoan culture also seems to have developed a highly accurate calendar, and advanced mathematics 53. They had a non-indoeuropean language, that nobody yet has been able to decipher.

Palaeo Eskimo (the Dorset people)

The Palaeo-Eskimo was the population living in the Canadian arctic between 2000 BC and 1000 AD. They seemed to be a genuinely cold-adapted population 54. They were probably related to other Eskimo population like Tlingits and Saami. Their area of origin might very well be somewhere in Caucasus or Central Asia. The most interesting issue is how these Palaeo-Eskimos survived the winter. This is very relevant to Neanderthals as well. Since these people lived in an area with no trees, and hadn't invented sea mammal fuels, it's unconceivable they could keep themselves warm without some genetic adaptations. In fact, torpor, hibernation or at least months of inactivity must have been their way of surviving. Considering outside temperatures could easily drop to -30 degrees Celsius, with frequent blizzards, and months of total darkness, they would simply die of cold and starvation very fast if they didn't have special adaptations. Indeed, it seems likely they got those special adaptations from Neanderthals. Their region of origin is quite right. As soon as they started to live under extreme conditions in the arctic, individuals lacking those special adaptations would quickly be selected against. The Dorset people's demise is also quite telling, and might in fact be a parallel to what happened to Neanderthals. The large, war-oriented Inuit groups obviously drove out the peaceful Dorset people to less favorable hunting-grounds, and they become extinct after a couple of centuries. There are several indications that the Palaeo Eskimos were matriarchal.

Animal domestication

Dog

There is no evidence for a special dog phenotype older than 14,000 years, and analysis of American historical dogs claim they have an Eurasian origin. They must then have been brought with the settlers that crossed the Bering strait at least 15,000 years ago. It's also unlikely that the common dog psychological traits can have evolved in just a few thousands years. It's quite interesting that dogs are sensitive to human cues 55.

Cattle

The lineages diverged during the Neanderthal era. Mitochondria DNA analysis shows that Bos taurus (domestic cow), has a common ancestor between 10,100 and 37,600 years ago. This matches the bottleneck cattle went through when the European population had to leave at the end of the ice-age. African and European cattle had a common ancestor 22,000 - 26,000 years ago. That matches well with the last glacial maximum 56. It seems conceivable this is the result of cattle and people migrating together from Iberia to North Africa 57. This means there are three primary breeds of domestic cattle:

The primary breed is found in Sumeria. This represent the original East European breed. In Southern Portugal as well as in North Africa there is another breed. This represents the original Iberian breed. The British extinct Bos primigenius.

Goat

The lineages diverged during the Neanderthal era, and similar to the cattle scenario, diverged in a North African, Sumerian and European breed.

Horse

The lineages diverged during the Neanderthal era. European horses were taken to North Africa where they formed Barbs. They couldn't have been introduced from Middle East with agriculture, since this mitochondiral DNA variant is rare in Arabs.

Neurodiversity

Aspie Quiz

Aspie Quiz was created in 2004 with an objective to show that Asperger's syndrome was natural variation rather than a disorder. In 2013, the construction process was published 59.

Defining neurodiversity with factor analysis

In 2006, the dual nature of human variation was discovered with factor analysis. Factor analysis (PCA) of Aspie Quiz always resulted in two major factors that accounted for 2/3 of the variation in the items used. Aspie Quiz defined neurodiverse function as the first factor and neurotypical function as the second factor. In the context of the current theory, the neurodiverse factor relates to Eurasian ancestry (Hn factor), the neurotypical factor relates to African ancestry (Hs factor) and the third factor relates to hybrid vigor (g factor). If age of these factors is proportional to explained variance, and the Hs factor is set to 150,000 years old, then the Hn factor becomes 1.8 million years old and the hybrid vigor factor becomes 37,000 years old. The results in Asia differ slighty, and if the Hn factor still is assumed to be 1.8 million years old, then the Hs factor becomes 130,000 years old and the hybrid vigor factor becomes 44,000 years old. These results can be explained based on the evolution of Homo. The Hn factor relates to the divergence between Eurasia and Africa which started with Homo erectus. The Hs factor relates to the last interglacial 130,000 years ago, which originated the modern human phenotype which later spread to Africa. The hybrid vigor factor shows that hybrization occured first in Asia and later spread to Europe.

Item selection, score distributions and scoring

Factor loadings were used as weight factors for scoring the test, which resulted in an objective scoring method. The neurodiverse score was based on the neurodiverse factor and the neurotypical score was based on the neurotypical factor. The score difference was the difference between the neurodiverse and neurotypical scores, and was used to give classifications. Aspie Quiz selected items based on uniqueness and relevance only, and didn't look at psychiatric diagnosis definitions, which resulted in an objective item selection process. Tests for Autism, ADD/ADHD, Social phobia, Tourette and Schizotypal correlated substantially to the score difference. The score distributions didn't support the idea that neurodiversity was at the extreme end of normal function, rather neurodiverse and neurotypical function had their own overlapping distributions. The neurodiverse and neurotypical scores typically correlated -.96, which indicates that neurodiverse and neurotypical traits are mutually exclusive. Another peculiarity was that traits with higher correlations to the score difference had higher correlations to other random neurodiverse traits. This also means that random neurodiverse traits tend to be correlated even if they have no casual relationship, which is why so many invalid conclusions about casual relationships have been made. In Aspie Quiz, the relationship between traits is estimated by comparing the correlation between the traits and their correlations to the score difference. Only if the correlation between the traits is 90% or higher than the correlation to the score difference are the traits suspected to be related in some way.

Gender and ethnic differences

Unlike in the diagnostic procedure as well as in screening instruments for ASD, Aspie Quiz doesn't have a gender bias in scores and males and females have a similar neurodiversity prevalence. People of African descent in the US had only 1/6 of the interest rate, but among those that participated, scores were similar to those of other groups. Since interest in neurodiversity is the primary reason for doing Aspie Quiz, this means that people of African descent are much less likely to be interested in neurodiversity, probably because they don't feel different from the majority population. Participants from South Africa also were much more likely to be of Caucasian origin compated to their proportion in the general population.

Communication

Problems with reading typical facial expressions and other nonverbal communication is a defining trait of autism spectrum diagnosis, but also a rather common trait in neurodiversity. The typical communication traits are covered by the neurotypical communication group 60. Inability to understand nonverbal communication is highly maladaptive for an individual in a species and so is strongly selected against. On the other hand, nonverbal communication is widely different between species, and so if neurodiverse people are from another species we would expect trouble with understanding nonverbal communication of the majority population.

Facial expressions

Facial expressions are the most important means neurotypical people have to figure out the emotional state of others. As children, some neurodiverse people are not even aware of the importance of facial expressions. The Reading the mind in the eyes (RMET) is a test that tries to match an image of the eyes of a person with a list of predefined emotions 61. There have been conflicting results from studies using the RMET, but neurodiverse people seem to respond slower 62. When the RMET was validated in Aspie Quiz, the z scores correlated .29 to score difference in the child version version and .35 in the adult version. Trying to optimize the RMET in an iterative process by using the same images but optimal emotions that discriminated best between the groups gave a correlation of .45 to the score difference 63. In addition to better discriminative properties, the number of non-answered eyes also decreased considerably. Many of the images gave high relevance when staring was used as one of the emotions, something that many neurodiverse people selected but almost no neurotypical. While there were a few novel differences in the interpretations, there were no general trend that neurodiverse people might have slightly different natural interpretations of facial expressions. None of the faces had a different majority interpretation between neurodiverse and neurotypical people. The differences in interpreting facial expressions could be explained in two different ways. Either facial expressions as a means of communication was shared between Neanderthals and modern humans, but this appears to require that we see some divergence in the meaning of the expressions, or Neanderthals didn't use facial expressions for communication at all. The evidences seems to suggest that Neanderthals didn't use facial expressions to communicate, and that many neurodiverse people have learnt how to interpret neurotypical facial expressions rather than having this as an innate ability. This can explain the slightly lower accuracy as well as the longer response times. Avoiding to look at faces or regarding them as staring, seems to act as a distractor that makes neurodiverse people miss the importance of facial expressions when interacting with neurotypical people.

Stims

Stims provides another possible way to communicate and build up a part of the neurodiverse communication group 64. Stims are called 'repetitive behaviors' in the autism literature and in the diagnostic manuals. Stims are often targeted for removal by treatment programs, probably because they are easy to spot. Many autistics object to the idea that stims would be a pathology, and some do them in private but not in public to avoid the stigma. A related concept is tics, which has been specifically pathologized in the Tourette syndrome diagnosis. Aspie Quiz links stims with tics, and doesn't support the idea that tics are a specific pathology, but instead suggest they are similar and should be treated as a single concept. Stims relate to the hunting traits, and some other emotional differences, and form the neurodiverse communication group in version 3 and 4. The connection between stims and emotions / states was evaluated in an iterative process similar to the RMET optimization of facial expressions 65. A few stims did have a specific emotional connection that was much more common in the neurodiverse population than in the neurotypical, but many stims also related to more generic states like 'for fun'. Thus, it doesn't seem like stims could act like a complete replacement for facial expressions.

Spirituality and mind-to-mind communication

Schizophrenia, psychosis and schizotypal personality all are related to neurodiversity, and it seems like the screening instruments primarily focus on supernatural traits and hearing voices. Since these traits are linked to neurodiversity, and most other traits linked to neurodiversity appears to be evolutionary adaptations, a similar position must be taken towards supernatural traits. Belief in ghosts and the supernatural is slighty more common in neurodiversity 66, while actual experiences with the paranormal 67 and having psychic abilities. 68 shows a strong correlation with neurodiversity. A research study of religious experience in autism concluded that autistics were more likely to be atheists, but also more likely to have spiritual experiences which included paranormal and psychic experiences 69. Another oddity was that being sensitive to electromagnetic fields 70was much more common in neurodiversity, and this trait correlated to psychic abilities.

Based on these evidences, a study in Aspie Quiz asked participants if they could detect somebody's presence without seeing them, which many more neurodiverse people answered 'yes' to. If neurodiverse people can detect presence without using the normal sensory channels, this means they must have some other physical sensory channel. Given the evidences of sensing electromagnetic fields and having psychic abilities, it's assumed that neurodiverse people can use the electromagnetic medium to communicate, and that this might work over large distances.

Passive hunting

Walking on toes - related to sneaking 71 Enjoying spinning in circles - related to an animal trying to get rid of the hunter 72 Enjoying hanging upside-down - yet another way to stay on the animal 73 Having an urge to jump over things - related to jumping up on top of an animal 74 Enjoying digging - related to hiding a large kill 75 Mimicking animal sounds - a way of tricking an animal 76 Enjoying throwing small things - another way of tricking an animal that the hunter is somewhere else 77 Sniffing people or things - related to tracking 78 Enjoying chasing animals or people - close encounter hunting 79 Enjoying biting (people) - a paralysing tactic that Geist proposes 80 Enjoying making traps - this is an obvious addition to Geist’s hypothesis 81

Relationships

Many neurodiverse people have trouble with relationships and dating.

Courtship

Different possible courtship behaviors were researched with Aspie Quiz and then published online 82. In the neurotypical population, it was found that some men would court (or harass, depending on interpretation model used) attractive women with sexual comments (cat calling). This often was done in a group, probably because of the anonymity offered, and the targets were often single women. Some neurotypical women found cat calling interesting, while a large majority of neurodiverse women found it highly disgusting. In the neurodiverse population, it was found that experimenting with public nudity was a lot more common (for both genders, but more so for men). Public nudity is a common problem among lower-functioning autistics in group homes. Exhibitionism is never done as a group activity, and the targets are often a group of women rather than single women. Neurodiverse women were slightly less likely to find exhibitionism disgusting. Other differences included more contact attempts and talking in regards to cat calling compared to exhibitionism. While cat calling is considered wrong in many Western countries, it is still legal, while exhibitionism has been criminalized. Russia is a bit special since it has not criminalized public nudity, and results showed considerably less disgust reactions towards exhibitionism, which indicates that much of the disgust reactions in the West are cultural.



In Aspie Quiz, neurodiverse courtship behaviors are primarily covered by having unusual sexual preferences, which links with public nudity 83and being more sexually attracted to strangers than to people you know well 84.

Sexuality

Sex appears to be a central part of bonding between neurotypical people, but many neurodiverse people, and especially women, identify as asexual 85. Asexuality is a neurotypical relationship trait in the sense that sexuality is a central part of neurotypical relationships, and so being asexual is a 'problem' trait. Asexuality was researched in Aspie Quiz and then published 86. Typically, asexuality is assumed to be a lack of sexual attraction, but this fails to explain the much higher prevalence in neurodiversity. Even with research on typical populations, it seems like masturbation is very common among asexual people, which appears to be inconsistent. In the research study, it was concluded that the alternative description "Do you find sexual intercourse disgusting?" correlated strongly to identifying as asexual, and had the same profile. The study found that asexuality linked with other neurotypical relationship traits, but not with neurodiverse relationship traits, and in particular not with having unusual sexual preferences. Asexual identification as a teenager mediated problems with sexual intimacy later in life. Identifying as asexual only acted as a mediator and not as a outcome, and can be viewed as a disgust reaction towards bonding with sex. Asexuality had much stronger links with dislike for tongue kissing and oral sex (both which are neurotypical relationship traits) in the neurodiverse population.

Infatuation and attachment

Attachment (bonding) is very important for creating long-term stable relationships. Infatuation and attachment was researched in Aspie Quiz and then published 87. Neurodiverse people had much higher infatuation scores, which showed that crushes were far more important for neurodiverse people than neurotypical. Crushes also frequently create a lot of problems for neurodiverse people when they continue even after the other part has already moved on. In the neurodiverse population, people obsessions mediated higher attachment scores, and the primary increase in attachment occured at a distance. In the neurotypical population, the primary increase in attachment occured during dating, quite likely because neurotypical people typically start to have sex after a few dates, and so it might mostly be sexual intercourse that mediates attachment in the neurotypical population. In the neurodiverse population, dating had the effect of drastically reducing infatuation, which led to a stagnating attachment.



In Aspie Quiz, the neurodiverse differences in infatuation and attachment are primarily covered by having stronger than normal attachments 88 and being taken advantage of because of a too strong attachment (infatuation) 89.

Gender Identity

Gender identity issues were researched in Aspie Quiz and then published 90. The primary objective was to check if neurodiverse people that identified as non-cis gender or transgender would show a bias that related to biological sex or their gender identity on items that showed a gender bias. Results showed that although some stereotypical gender traits to some extent had a gender identity bias rather than a biological sex bias, traits that are not widely known to be gender biased had a bias based on biological sex and not gender identity. This was particularly obvious for neurodiverse traits with a gender bias. Neurodiverse people that identified as non-cis gender tended to have neurodiverse relationship preferences. Being part of the LGBT community biased answers to questions about gender identity and asexual identity had a small correlation to non-cis gender in the neurodiverse population. Because of these results, it's more plausible that neurodiverse gender identities are based on different traits than neurotypical gender identities. When many stereotypical neurotypical gender identity traits are irrelevant for neurodiverse people, this might lead some people that dislike the stereotypes to pursue unusual gender identities.

Love at a distance

In the infatuation and attachment study it was found that neurodiverse people's attachment was primarily built at a distance (before people started to talk to each other). Some of these distance love stories had been going on for a long time, sometimes years. Neurodiverse males have a lot of problems to start a conversation with a love interest, and often simply cannot do it even if they train themselves. This is probably an innate blocking aimed at keeping things at a distance. Several neurodiverse relationship traits seems to support the love at a distance scenario: Having an urge to know the routines of people 91, having an habit to observe the habits of humans and animals 92, and liking to follow or walk behind people they are attached to 93, but disliking when other people walk behind them 94. Neurodiverse people are more likely to have completely imaginary relationships 95which seems to be at the extreme end of love at a distance. Spiritual beliefs and the psychic traits suspected to be part of neurodiverse communication are actually linked to neurodiverse relationship traits 96. So, perhaps love at a distance works because neurodiverse people can communicate with each other through the electromagnetic medium and so it is not so much at a distance as it appears to be?

Linking Neanderthal to neurodiversity

Medical plant usage

Climate adaptations

It seems to be more common for neurodiverse than neurotypical people to prefer cold weather 97.

Fur

It's common with more body-hair in Europeans, and especially in neurodiverse people 98. Peeling skin flakes from self or others is also more common among neurodiverse people 99. This seems to be a grooming behavior commonly seen in other primates which indicates an evolutionary past with a fur-coat.

Seasonal affective disorder and hibernation

Seasonal affective disorder is similar to hibernation 100. People with seasonal affective disorder have a seasonal clock 101. It's origin might be as a winter adaptation similar to how a bear would reduce activity and metabolism to survive during the winter. It's very probable that considerably less than 1.7 millions of years is enough to evolve hibernation, given it has a selective advantage. All three of the deepest branches of Mammalians have species that can hibernate 102. This means the genes required for hibernation is part of all mammalian species, and can be turned on rather quickly. There is also an example of a primate species that can enter torpor. Seasonal affective disorder is a neurodiverse trait 103 104.

Collecting

Neanderthals probably collected for the winter season. Excessive collection of similar things is a neurodiverse trait 105.

Activity level

Large short term variation in activity level is associated with ADHD. Longer term (seasonal) variation in activity level is related to Bipolar, but also to neurodiversity 106. Large variation in activity level can be seen as a winter adaptation. It provides a means to lower brain energy consumption.

Overweight and eating disorders

Eating disorders are common in the western society. Unusual eating-patterns are common in neurodiversity 107. Eating disorders have a logical explanation. Seasonal populations depending on a high-meat diet have a more uneven access to food than tropical hunter-gatherers. The ability to eat food fast is important, just as the ability to be without food for a period of time. Is seems like seasonal affective disorder is related to bulimia 108. Overweight is a new problem, whose cause is that we don't have to starve through the winter. For Neanderthals, it was essential to be able to increase weight in summer, and loose it during winter. This is probably why they had a broader pelvis 109. David Comings has associated ADHD and Tourette with weight problems 110.

Glacial floods

A population living near glacial ice might be expected to evolve instincts for detecting extreme floods from glacials. These events would be fatal but yet possibly partly predictable. Autistics have a fascination for slowly flowing water 111, but are afraid of floods and fast running streams 112.

Caves

Most of the finds of Neanderthals are from caves. It's possible that Neanderthals spent a lot of time in caves, or maybe they hibernated there during winter. Autistics have a fascination for caves 113. Many autistics are afraid of the sound of a motor-bike 114. A motor-bike sounds similar to a bear. It is possible that the instintive reaction of autistics when they hear the sound of a motor-bike triggers an ancient fear for cave-bears.

Other differences

There are many other differences in autistics as well. Below is a summary of other differences and their possible original function.

Differencies in vision

Squinting is highly correlated with autism 115 and so is using peripheral vision. 116. Autistics tend to close one or both their eyes in strong sun-light 117.

Prosapagnosia 118

Many neurodiverse people are face blind to some extent. This might either be because the specialized circuit for analyzing faces is adapted to recognizing Neanderthal faces rather than modern human faces, o that faces weren't important for Neanderthals. Aspie Quiz have found that neurodiverse people rate Neanderthal faces as more attractive than neurotypical 119. It's very interesting that face blind people often use hair and hairlines to recognize people, and very seldom facial features. When they look at faces, they seem to just be blank.

Language differences

Language acquisition is different in autism. Autistics lag behind in using the correct language syntax. Low-level "impairments" are suggested by psychiatry 120, but since language acquisition is largely innate, it's much more likely there are innate differences in language skills, and probably syntactic skills. Autistic children are forced to learn an alien set of language rules, and this causes them to lag behind peers. Some autistics also have trouble differentiating personal pronouns 121, which is indicative of adaptation to endogamous groups. Using the electromagnetic medium for communication rather than talking would likely result in language differences as well, especially in relation to coding emotions.

Differences in eye contact

Many primate species regard direct eye contact as a threat. The same thing seems to be happening in autistic children 122. It seems like autistics both are acused of staring and of lacking eye contact 123.

Differences in pain sensitivity

Neanderthals often had "rodeo-type" injuries. This probably was caused by wrestling large (semi) domestic animals. Autistic individuals frequently have unusual sensitivities for pain 124 . They are both more sensitive to touch, and less sensitive to pain. This might have it's origin in sexual selection, and in Neanderthal hunting.

Executive functions

Executive functions are about planning and organisation. It seems like Neanderthals didn't plan and organise their dwellings in the same way as modern humans did. In Desolate landscapes 125 p. 129 it is claimed:

"The mapped occupation floors on the East European Plain reveal a recurrent pattern of randomly distributed artefact and or faunal debris concentrations of varying size and density. Former hearths are associated with some debris concentrations, but also found in isolated contexts; a consistent pattern of linkage between the two features seems to be lacking."

"The occupation floors reveal a low degree of structure or organization in the use of space. The contrast with open-air sites occupied by modern humans during the later Upper Paleolithic (OIS 2) is especially striking. Many of the latter contain highly structured arrangements of former dwellings, hearths, pits, and debris concentrations with parallels to the organization of modern hunter-gatherer camps (see chapter 6)." This same differences are often found in autistics.

Instructions and directions

It seems like many autistics have a hard time to handle verbal directions and instructions 126. Many also find it differcult to instruct or give directions. The evolutionary origin of these traits must have been in larger social settings, with specializations of functions. The traits are commonly used to convey information of where to find things and people. Group isolation in Neanderthals, which in the archaeological record is seen as using resources of local origin, would make these traits less useful. Lack of specialization and the group keeping together at all times, would make them even less useful.

Psychiatry and other theories

Evidence against the defect-theory

Here follows some links against the brain-damage, deficit and disorder theories.

Disassociation between frontal lobe and social abilities127 Disassociation between brain damage and executive functions128 Different brain function in autism129 Neurotypical behavior can be seen as a disorder130

A Motor theory of autism 131

This is a theory from psychiatry, that concentrates on one aspect of autism, speech. There is some interesting information in this theory, despite the negative image it gives of autism. There are interesting parallels between Basque and the unusual language-patterns in autism. Problems with pronouns. They barely exist in Basque. Absence of abstract words. All Basque abstract words are loan-words. In Basque, they often invent new words as they are needed. The same thing can be seen when autistic people invent words the for ones they can't remember. Most interesting is that many linquistics now consider many parts of our language as innate. This can lead to the speculation that autistic people have another innate-language capability that is not fully compatible with our current languages. Those with low IQ then would fail to develop language, since they cannot compensate for this.

A Topological Theory of Autism 132

The topology theory says that in areas with sparse populations, more autism is present. It also says that autism is more common the more to the north you live. This has good correspondence to how Neanderthals lived. Since they had to live mostly on animal diet, they were few and lived far apart in small groups.

A theory of general impairment of gene-expression manifesting as autism 133

This theory has some important implications for how genes operate. If you instead of primates and other non-humans think in terms of Neanderthals and modern humans as factors, some interesting conclusions can be made. It is likely that mental retardation, autoimmune diseases and many other gene-incompability issues in autism could be related to this.

Temperament types 134

An Internet-based study shows that people with ADHD often belong in some of the temperamental groups ENTP, ENFP, INFP, or INTP. 135 These groups are relatively rare in the population, and their total part of the population is only 10%. At the same time, some believe the prevalence of ADHD is around 10%. This means there must be a strong link between ADHD and temperament. There is also considerable overlap between criteria of aspie and INTP.

Thom Hartmanns hunting hypothesis of ADD 136

People with ADHD are characterized by Thom Hartmann, as having very good traits for hunting. This characterization is not quite accurate since motor-problems also is part of ADD and autism, and it is unlikely that Neanderthals were hunters in the modern sense.

References