In Chapter 12, Kolbert visits a valley in Germany called Das Neandertal. Here, she explores the theories of what exactly happened to the neanderthals. Theories include that they died due to climate, homo sapiens killed them off, or homo sapiens interbred with them. Scientific investigation points to the theory that humans interbred with neanderthals because it was found that homo sapiens have very similar DNA to neanderthals. This touches on the theme that science is a process and that it changes the way we see the world because even though there were so many theories on the disappearance of neanderthals, looking at the DNA of the two creatures can actually provide a factual explanation of what happened. This also connects to the theme that humans alter natural systems because if it weren’t for humans, neanderthals would have kept breeding as neanderthals if not wiped out by some other natural circumstance.
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