Editing Openai/69177fbb-14c4-800f-bc57-ccb5a1d88c95 (section)

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We have:
* bones
* tools
* DNA
* archaeological sites

We don’t have the behavioral detail needed to map them onto modern psychological profiles. Everything about their social cognition is inferred from indirect evidence, and the picture that emerges—symbolic behavior, group living, care for injured members—does not support the stereotype of “aloof engineers.”

===== Most non-Africans have ~1–2% Neanderthal ancestry on average. That: =====
* isn’t enough genetic influence to explain a complex neurodevelopmental condition
* isn’t structured (e.g., autistic people don’t have more Neanderthal DNA than non-autistic people)

Genome-scale studies looking for such patterns simply don’t find them.

===== Autism arises from: =====
* hundreds of genes
* gene–environment interactions
* many de novo mutations

…and the genes involved appear to be conserved and present long before the Neanderthal–Sapiens split. There’s no “Neanderthal cluster” associated with autism.

===== It’s fun, but: =====
* not validated like the AQ or SRS
* contains items influenced by RDOS’s evolutionary narrative
* cannot be used to deduce ancient population traits

It’s more of a community-created personality inventory than a diagnostic tool.