Size and weight being the same doesn't mean they weren't far strong than homo sapiens. We are quite a bit bigger and heavier than chimps, but chimps are about twice as strong as a typical human.
> We are quite a bit bigger and heavier than chimps, but chimps are about twice as strong as a typical human.
How is strength measured here? Because that sounds strange for two species that close genetically speaking to have such a big difference on how muscles work. I would expect 1kg of chimp muscle to have roughly the same strength as one 1kg of human muscle, and having a muscle/whole body mass ratio in the same ballpark. But our muscles are localized fairly differently, with much more muscles in our lower body so depending how you measure, you could get really different results.
Also, the typical industrial-world-human is pretty weak compared to what the average humans can be under the right conditions so it may bias the measure too.
We are also far more closely related to Neanderthals than to chimps. Also it’s not like there’s any correlation between % Neanderthal DNA and physical strength.
The probable explanation is that they were extremely human in nearly all respects.
