The extinct human relatives known as Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) have long been described as brutish and dumb. This conception is often traced to paleontologist Marcellin Boule (1861-1942), who published a detailed analysis on a Neanderthal skeleton in the early twentieth century. The conventional historical narrative claims that Boule made an error in his analysis, causing the Neanderthals to be considered brutish. This essay challenges the narrative of "Boule's error," arguing instead that the brutish Neanderthal concept originated much earlier in the history of Neanderthal research and was, in fact, an invention of the earliest analyses of the first specimen recognized as a Neanderthal in the mid-nineteenth century. I argue that temporally relocating this conception of Neanderthals allows for a better understanding of the interconnected nature of the study of fossil humans and the science of living human races during the nineteenth century. This new view of the brutish Neanderthal sheds light on the earliest phases of the science that became paleoanthropology, while examining the racial, cultural, and political attitudes about race and extinction that accompanied the science at that time. By inspecting the ways in which the Neanderthals' image was a product of a particular time and place, we gain a perspective that provides a new basis for thinking about the conceptions of hominin fossil species.

中文翻译：

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以黑暗为特征：重新思考野蛮尼安德特人的起源

已灭绝的人类近亲尼安德特人（Homo neanderthalensis）长期以来一直被描述为野蛮和愚蠢的。这一概念通常可以追溯到古生物学家 Marcellin Boule (1861-1942)，他在 20 世纪初发表了对尼安德特人骨骼的详细分析。传统的历史叙述声称布尔在他的分析中犯了错误，导致尼安德特人被认为是野蛮的。这篇文章挑战了“布勒的错误”的叙述，而是认为野蛮的尼安德特人概念起源于尼安德特人研究历史的更早，实际上是对中期被认为是尼安德特人的第一个标本的最早分析的发明-十九世纪。我认为，在时间上重新定位尼安德特人的这一概念可以更好地理解 19 世纪化石人类研究和现存人类科学之间相互关联的本质。这种对野蛮尼安德特人的新观点揭示了科学成为古人类学的最早阶段，同时检查了当时伴随科学而来的关于种族和灭绝的种族、文化和政治态度。通过检查尼安德特人的形象是特定时间和地点的产物的方式，我们获得了一个视角，为思考人类化石物种的概念提供了新的基础。这种对野蛮尼安德特人的新观点揭示了科学成为古人类学的最早阶段，同时检查了当时伴随科学而来的关于种族和灭绝的种族、文化和政治态度。通过检查尼安德特人的形象是特定时间和地点的产物的方式，我们获得了一个视角，为思考人类化石物种的概念提供了新的基础。这种对野蛮尼安德特人的新观点揭示了科学成为古人类学的最早阶段，同时检查了当时伴随科学而来的关于种族和灭绝的种族、文化和政治态度。通过检查尼安德特人的形象是特定时间和地点的产物的方式，我们获得了一个视角，为思考人类化石物种的概念提供了新的基础。