Neanderthals and the Origin of Religiosity:

Was Homo neanderthalensis already a Homo religiosus with a Soul?

Abstract

In this paper we want to go deeper into the current scientific data on Homo neanderthalensis in order to elucidate, from the biological, anthropological, anatomical, physiological and, finally, theological dimensions, the possibility that Neanderthals could have some form of spirituality or religiosity. Although God the Creator, moved by his universal salvific will, wanted to establish, by grace, a relationship with all human beings from their origins, we show in this work that the Neanderthals, those hominids contemporary to the first anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens), could have had some form of spirituality or religiosity, from their intellectual, abstractive and symbolic capacity, could have –and had– a primitive and rudimentary religious behavior. Although they were not yet capable of explicit divine revelation, they were on the way to get a transcendent capacity. So the temporal origin of that human-divine relationship (in addition to the dependence on Creation) and of the gift of divine grace should be placed beyond 200,000 years.