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Neanderthals

In 1856, quarrymen made an exciting discovery in a cave in the Neander Valley, near Dusseldorf, Germany. They found the remains humans who were very different from us. Scientists later learned that "Neanderthal" humans inhabited Europe and parts of Asia and North Africa from about 125,000 to about 40,000 years ago.

Fossils indicate that Neanderthals looked somewhat like humans, but they had heavy ridges above their eyes. Their skulls were larger than modern humans, indicating that they had bigger brains. Bones in the throats of Neanderthal fossils led archaeologists to believe that their verbal communication probably consisted only of grunts. They apparently could not use words they way we do today.

Neanderthals lived side-by-side in many places with modern humans, then apparently became extinct. The mystery of what happened to the Neanderthals still puzzles scientists today. There are many theories to explain what happened, but nobody knows what caused the extinction of the Neanderthals.

How do you spell that? Neanderthal is also commonly spelled Neandertal. The word derives from the Neander Valley near Düsseldorf, Germany. The pronounciation (and consquenntly the spelling) of the word depends on your dialect. Most english speaking people feel more comfortable pronouncing the th sound, but if you ask about Neanderthals in Germany, you’ll definitely sound like a foreigner!

To cite this page:
Dowling, Mike, "Neanderthals at mrdowling.com," available from http://www.mrdowling.com/602-neanderthal.html; Internet; updated Saturday, October 23, 2004 . ©2008, Mike Dowling. All rights reserved.