Some researchers argue the globular modern human brain configuration is linked to enhanced integration between brain regions, contributing to the kind of flexible, recursive cognition that underlies language, planning, and symbolic culture.

Others caution that we cannot reliably map specific cognitive functions onto gross brain morphology in fossils, and that behavioral evidence must carry more weight than brain shape alone.

What the behavioral evidence shows — from multiple Neanderthal sites across Europe and western Asia — is increasingly rich.

Neanderthals controlled fire.

They used a variety of stone-tool technologies that required planning, multi-stage preparation, and the transmission of technical knowledge across generations.

They sometimes used pigments, including ochre.