The question of the rationality of the Homo species that preceded us is merely a controversy of terms (“What is reason?”). In any case, the Habilis already made stone guns (2.5 million years ago), the late Pitecantropes used fire (500 thousand years ago). Neanderthals buried their dead, performing complex funeral rites, and created works of fine art.

Here is a wonderful plot for lovers of so-called alternative history: 100 thousand. Years ago, Africa was completely isolated from the rest of the world (this will indeed happen in the future, in a couple of millions of years, when the Red Sea Rift will open up to the end) and two civilizations emerged on the planet - the Cro-Manion in Africa and the Neanderthal in Eurasia. If this happened, the flegmatic Neanderthals might have created something more decent than what we see around us. Most likely, the case in this case would end in the Cro-Magnonian conquest with the “final solution of the Neanderthal question”.

Kirill Yeskov