While we will never know what really happened in this encounter – or others like it – what we can be sure of is that such a couple did get together. It’s even been suggested, too, that such hook-ups weren’t consensual. Maybe their relationship was of the casual, pragmatic kind, because there just weren’t many people around at the time. Perhaps the woman was actually the Neanderthal and the man belonged to our own species. Of course, it could have been far less like a scene from a steamy romance novel. They had an awkward laugh and, well, we can all guess what happened next. Luckily for him, they didn’t speak the same language. He cleared his throat, looked her up and down, and – in an absurdly high-pitched, nasal voice – deployed his best chat-up line. She had dark skin, long legs, and her hair was worn in braids. She was an early modern human, clad in an animal-skin coat with a wolf-fur trim. Around one of his thick, muscular biceps he wore bracelet of eagle-talons. He had good posture and pale skin, perhaps reddened slightly with sunburn. He was a Neanderthal, and stark naked apart from a fur cape. Their eyes met across the rugged mountain landscape of prehistoric Romania. As we end another extraordinary year and start a new one, BBC Future is taking a look back at some of our favourite stories for our "Best of 2021" collection.
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