The article seems to muddy the distinction between whether Neanderthals were mentally or physically incapable of making fire, or whether they were simply ignora

The article seems to muddy the distinction between whether Neanderthals were mentally or physically incapable of making fire, or whether they were simply ignorant. The article talks about chimps, who are incapable of making fire even when modern humans try to teach them. Chimps aren't merely ignorant; they're incapable. In some parts of the world, homo sapiens and neanderthals lived alongside each other for thousands of years, close enough to have hybrid offspring. If earlier neanderthals were merely ignorant, they could have learned how to make fire from homo sapiens. Fire making isn't an innate human behavior, it's something that we teach each other. Since neanderthals obviously had the dexterity and brainpower to nap tools out of flint, which chimps are incapable of, the talk of chimps being unable to make fire doesn't seem particularly relevant. I don't doubt for an instant that some homo sapiens and some neanderthals didn't know how to make fire. But that's a weaker claim than the blanket statement about all neanderthals.