Caveman in the mirror

Growing up I used to devour books on evolution and ancient animals.  One of the most fascinating was the Neanderthals.  A mysterious race of near human barbarians that lived hundreds of thousands of years ago and suddenly vanished.  Like the Anasazi Indians or the Easter Island natives an entire nation of people completely gone without a clear clue why or how.  Years ago the Neanderthal were seen as knuckle dragging, furry monstrosities who would more resemble an ape then human.  We could justify destroying their entire civilization and that's what most anthropologists believed, they were another casualty of the human race and natural selection. 

Until recent genetic analysis we have not been able to see what happened to the Neanderthal species.  Researchers have found interbreeding with another group of hominids (human like primates) formed what we consider most people of European descent.  If you have pale skin there is a very good chance you are related the furry monstrosities and you have Neanderthal traits.  Like thicker bones, a more resilient immune system, less sensitivity to cold and more hair.  There are other traits like red hair and freckles that were also possibly passed from our cousins. 

Neanderthals weren't a monstrosity however, some anthropologists have found sophisticated art, burials, tool making and communication that weren't seen in other hominid species at that time.  They were wild and had to be to live in a frigid, harsh environment so there is some evidence the hominids that interbred with them were a stabilizing force.   

There have also been more recent hominids like the Denivosians that perhaps bred to form what we know of as some people of Asian Descent and there are many other concurrent species like the tiny Homo Florensis or the hobbit like man which are questions about their disappearence. 

Now when I look in the mirror I can think that this is the descendent of what I thought was a vanished tribe of weird ape men hundreds of thousands of years ago.