So I was watching this [documentary](https://youtu.be/8p8tFcIQ8K4?si=N48hW93UoRJfKk5w) on NEANDERTHALS and needed some explanation on how the scientists figured out the following.
1. Groups of Neanderthals would meet regularly at certain places once a year and exchange information/people. There are evidences in the sidron cave in Spain that they would exchange women too.
2. If Neanderthals inbred with Homo Sapiens, then why are we saying Neanderthals got extinct slowly. Should’t some of us have Neanderthals genes as well?
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For the first point, you can trace movements and interactions by regional artifacts. Tribes from coastal areas would have a lot of shells and fish bones and whatnot in their archaeological sites. Tribes from inland would have more large fauna bones and wood.
In sites with both, you can reason that someone must have traveled to bring these distant artifacts together.
As for the Neanderthal DNA – most people of non-African descent do have some Neanderthal heritage.
I can answer question 2. There is the mixing of the DNA. Neandertal DNA has been mapped so we can measure the amount in modern humans. The result is 1-4% Neandertal DNA in European and Asian populations.
2022 noble prize in medicine was given to Svante Pääbo that wa the lad for the team that fist mapped Neanderthal DNA https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Nobel_Prize_in_Physiology_or_Medicine
We do not just have skeletal remains. We are examining the remains of their homes. This means cave paintings, tools, remains of meals, artwork, etc. So we have quite a lot of information about their culture and technology.
As for your second question, the theory that the Neanderthals got extinct have indeed been disproved. The concept of Neanderthals as a separate species is stretching the definitions of species. They were isolated groups of humans who evolved for the European climate and conditions but a similar thing can be said about most modern races, although not to the same extent. And Neanderthals were not the only such isolated group at the time who were later reintegrated.
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