Not only were these archaic species technologically and culturally on a par with sapiens, but they also mated occasionally with each other and with our own species. Another large-brained but extinct human-like species, the Denisovans, are now also known to have existed in widespread regions of Russia, Asia, and Oceania. Accumulating archaeological and genetic evidence is changing that comfortable picture. Our superiority seemed to be restored by evidence that Neanderthal extinction followed the arrival in Europe of seemingly dominant Homo sapiens from Africa. This view was challenged in the 19th century with the discovery in Europe of the Neanderthals, an extinct large-brained human-like species. We are accustomed to thinking of ourselves as a species mentally superior to all others.
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