// not any evidence that humans and Neanderthals actually coexisted as families. //
There is not much evidence, but it's going too far to say there's no evidence. The evidence is their genetic heritage in us. There are many ways that that genetic heritage could have got there, ranging from rape to adoption to romeo-and-juliet style romances. The genetic admixture is evidence for all these routes.
// IMHO the simplest explanation: Neanderthal men occasionally raped modern human women //
That's one way it could happen, but we don't have anywheres near enough evidence to conclude that was the only way it happened, or even that it was the most common way it happened. All other hypothesis are still on the table.
And, certainly the first generation hybrids were welcomed in human families. Don't forget, in the Pleistocene, there was no such thing as being alive without being a member of a family.
There is not much evidence, but it's going too far to say there's no evidence. The evidence is their genetic heritage in us. There are many ways that that genetic heritage could have got there, ranging from rape to adoption to romeo-and-juliet style romances. The genetic admixture is evidence for all these routes.
// IMHO the simplest explanation: Neanderthal men occasionally raped modern human women //
That's one way it could happen, but we don't have anywheres near enough evidence to conclude that was the only way it happened, or even that it was the most common way it happened. All other hypothesis are still on the table.
And, certainly the first generation hybrids were welcomed in human families. Don't forget, in the Pleistocene, there was no such thing as being alive without being a member of a family.