Homo Neanderthalensis

The other human

At the beginning of the last Ice Age, about 28,000 years ago, those prehistoric people lived in Central Europe who today are proverbially associated with the Stone Age: the Neanderthals. The popular name Neanderthal goes back to the so-called Neander Valley in what is now the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. In 1856, the partial skeleton of a prehistoric human, the Neanderthal, was found.

He lived in small groups, and possessed only very primitive tools and had a comparatively less complex culture compared to Homo sapiens. Signs of creativity are few and far between. Grave goods were found, such as flowers and minerals. And evidence that the flesh of the deceased was removed from the body before burial. To this day, it is not clear whether this was a ritual for the Neanderthals or cannibalism.

Homo Neanderthalensis evolved from Homo Erectus, the common ancestor of Homo sapiens and Neanderthal man. Shortly before the Neanderthal extinction, Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens lived side by side in Europe. To this day, archaeologists debate their relationship.

A skeleton of a child found in 1998 in the Lapedo Valley in Portugal shows characteristics of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. The head is very similar to that of Homo sapiens, but there are three features that point to Neanderthals: the receding lower jaw, certain attachments to the pectoral muscles, and relatively short lower legs. This suggests that the two were so closely related that they could produce offspring. DNA samples from Neanderthals, however, suggest that these offspring were not capable of procreation.

It is more likely that Homo sapiens pushed Neanderthals back, leading to their extinction. Whether this was deliberate, or unconscious is debatable. Recent research suggests that Neanderthal man, like many other mammals, was unable to adapt quickly enough to climate change at the end of the last ice age.