Human ancestry can hold some truly surprising, and often hilarious, secrets.

When one man discovered his DNA connected him more closely to Neanderthals than almost anyone else, he embraced it with open arms and a sense of humor.

It turned into a story that everyone around him now loves to retell.

You’ll want to keep reading for this one!

My neighbor is a literal caveman

So a few months back, my neighbor, a longtime family friend, decided to take a 23andMe DNA test.

He soon got his results, and there was nothing out of the ordinary — it said he descended from Germanic and Middle Eastern bloodlines.

But he would soon discover the results showed something pretty extraordinary.

A few more weeks passed, and all of a sudden he got a call out of the blue.

The man over the phone excitedly identified himself as a researcher at 23andMe.

And boy did this researcher have something to say.

He told my neighbor that his genome is one of the most closely related to Neanderthals in the world that they know of.

Apparently, the average is somewhere between 1-2%, while his came out well into the 4%s.

They want to bring him in for interviews and to do further research on him.

This guy really leaned in to his newfound heritage.

He thinks it’s absolutely hilarious.

He does caveman talk constantly now, refers to Lucy as his aunt, and has a Fred Flintstone painting on his wall because it’s “part of my cultural heritage.”

His wife is less amused.

Life’s much better with a sense of humor!

What did Reddit think?

This commenter is disappointed they’re not more Neanderthal.

This guy must be a hoot at parties.

Neanderthals really get a bad rep.

This user’s got jokes.

His reaction proves that even the quirkiest discoveries can be a source of joy.

Not everyone can say they carry a piece of ancient history with them every day.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.