Neanderthal

A Neanderthal tomb burial from La Chapelle aux Saints, France, dating from about 50,000 years ago (Anthropological Institute, Turin, Italy). The extreme infirmities of the skeleton of an old man found at La Chapelle suggest that he was cared for by other members of his clan, or he would not have survived as long as he did. Such discoveries helped to change the original perception of Neanderthals as being brutish and ape-like.

Neanderthal skull from La Ferrassie, France, dating to approximately 35,000 years ago. The archaeological site at La Ferrassie in the Dordogne has one of the best examples of Neanderthal collective burial places.

Hominid of the Mid-Late Palaeolithic, named after the Neander Tal (valley) near Düsseldorf, Germany, where a skeleton was found in 1856. Homo sapiens neanderthalensis lived from about 150,000 to 35,000 years ago and was similar in build to present-day people, but slightly smaller, stockier, and heavier-featured with a strong jaw and prominent brow ridges on a sloping forehead. The condition of the Neanderthal teeth that have been found suggests that they were used as clamps for holding objects with the hands.

A genetic analysis carried out on mitochondrial DNA extracted from fossil Neanderthal bones indicated in 1997 that Neanderthals shared a common ancestor with modern humans no later than 600,000 years ago, suggesting that they are not direct ancestors.

Recent evidence suggests their physical capacity for the sounds of speech. They were replaced throughout Europe by, or possibly interbred with, Homo sapiens sapiens.