Monster, Mage, Medicine Man, or Myth? Neanderthal Representations in Popular Culture from 1865 to the Present Day

Early archaeological discoveries of Homo Neanderthalensis took place amid concerns of degeneration and racial imperialism, constructing the Neanderthal as uncultured and brutish, a view that survived into 20th century fiction, such as H.G. Wells’s ‘The Grisly Folk’. Neanderthal as Monster held strong until the late 20th century, when discoveries of Neanderthals’ symbolic behaviour led to novels such as Jean M. Auel’s The Clan of the Cave Bear (1980), which incorporate a softer, sympathetic, and spiritual Neanderthal as Mage, however not without overt Othering of Neanderthals due to perceived inferiority. While Western medical knowledge improved into the 21st century, so did our awareness of Neanderthal medicinal practice: their extraction of Poplar trees’ Salicylic acid as painkiller, successful amputations, and bone-healing abilities transformed beliefs around the Neanderthal. Neanderthal as Scientist emerged, such as in Robert J. Sawyer’s The Neanderthal Parallax trilogy (2002-2003), however, this did not reproduce enough in literary, artistic, and filmic representations. Instead, Neanderthal as Monster resurged, this time overtly emphasizing cannibalism and degeneration to dehumanise the Neanderthal—such as in Grendel’s Neanderthalic depiction in Sturla Gunnarsson’s Beowulf & Grendel (2005) and horror film Out of Darkness (2024); instead, Neanderthal has become Gothic Monster, Menace, and Myth.