Sorry if I'm duplicating here, but I wanted to add that I first heard about this Neanderthal theory in Jen Birch's book, Congratulations! It's Asperger Syndrome. I have not read the original link posted here, but I REALLY liked this theory as soon as I read about it in this book.
I also wanted to comment on Batman's creativity post. It has always irked me that one of the diagnostic criteria for autism includes some badly worded phrase that means we lack creativity. Every time I read such nonsense I am compelled to begin to list all of the amazing acts of creativity attributed to autistics, from art and literature all the way through to science and math. Rigid thinking and creativity are not opposites. Social conformity is the opposite of creativity, if you ask me. It just reminds me of the "hypocritical ad hominem," accusing the other person of not being able to do what you cannot do yourself, but claim you can, or accusing the other person of doing publicly the very same thing you are doing privately, and getting away with it. (Sorry no examples come to mind.)
Yes Jewelie, I was referring to a lot of those articles/statements written about AS which (personally) strike me to be somewhat true: a lack of spontaneous ability in expression of self... the articles I refer to call this "lack of social imagination." Social imagination is one "type" of imagination, and there is a bridge between imagination and creativity... to some extent.
Furthermore, I feel that a lot of Aspergians have some degree of difficulty with abstract thinking (myself included... reading between the lines in fiction/poetry is very difficult for me.) To me, this can be interpreted as either a lack of creativity (which those articles/diagnostic criteria mention), or a simple "cognitive roadblock" that NTs aren't familiar with. To me, still, this is a deficiency.
And yet... Perhaps it is the fact that we have this "abstractification difficulty," paradoxically, that makes us so creative. We live without the convenient NT filter, the "automatic template" that everyone seems to have access to... except for those with AS.
So, those with AS have to find meaning and order manually, and consider everything mindfully... every thought/item/concept in our world is considered separately, and compared to everything else. One can see how this "mindful integration" can lead to some very unique interpretations... hence, potential for great creativity.
In summary, I do agree that Aspies can have extraordinary/unusual creativity, and this is one of our greatest strengths. But at the same time, I think that problems with abstract/symbolic thinking can be considered a kind of "detractor" of creativity in some ways... and this very problem has stifled my attempts at creative expression, time and time again.
There's quite a lot of aspie's that work in Graphic design, so I don't think that bears out the idea that aspies are lacking in any three of these area's. I love our infinity symbol.