Who were the Neanderthals?

•Neanderthals lived during theUpper Pleistocene betweenabout 150,000 to 30,000 yearsago and belong to our speciesHomo sapiens. They aresometimes given the subspeciesdesignation

Homo sapiensneanderthalensis

•The term Neanderthal hastraditionally been used to referto the specialized UpperPleistocene population of Europe and the Middle East

Discovery of the Neanderthals

•Discovered in 1856 by laborersworking at Feldhofer grotto inthe Neander Valley (

Neander Thal

in German)•These were the first fossilsrecognized as being the remainsof different kind of human•Originally the Feldhoferremains were described as thoseof a member of a member of a“barbarous and savage race theoccupied Germany before thearrival of modern humans

Early theories regarding the Neanderthals

•Valley remains weredismissed by some as thoseof some poor “idiot of hermit”•Anther theory was that theywere of a Cassock cavalryman who sufferedfrom rickets•Another idea is that theywere the remains of someone with syphilis.•Others recognized them asthe missing link betweenapes and humans