Neanderthals The Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) were a separate species, or possibly a race, of ‘archaic’ humans who occupied Europe and the adjacent parts of western Asia from around 300 000 to 30 000 years ago. They probably descended directly from the earlier Homo erectus populations of the same areas. Discoveries of buried skeletal remains (mostly in caves) show that they were heavily built, muscular individuals, with heavy-browed faces, large noses and jaws, and receding chins. They seem to have been adapted partly to survive in the cold conditions of the last two European glacial periods, and partly to a strenuous lifestyle with a much more limited technological repertoire than that of Homo sapiens. Their brains were of similar size to ours (about 1400 ml on average), but could well have been differently organized. They were clearly proficient at the manufacture of quite complex stone tools (mostly from flint, quartzite, and similar rocks) and the production of certain wooden tools, such as spears. But, unlike their Homo sapiens successors, they produced virtually no recognizable tools in bone or antler. Most striking of all is the virtual absence of any evidence for artistic representation, or the use of ‘ornamental’ items, among the Neanderthals. All of this has been interpreted to mean that the Neanderthals had a very limited capacity for ‘symbolic’ or abstract thought, and either no formal language or a significantly simpler form of language than that of modern humans. The disappearance of the Neanderthals around 30 000 years ago was probably due mainly to competition with the rapidly expanding populations of anatomically and behaviourally ‘modern’ humans (Homo sapiens), which seem, from recent studies of DNA patterns, to have originated and dispersed from Africa shortly before this time. A sample of mitochondrial DNA recovered from bones of an original Neanderthal skeleton (found near Dusseldorf in Germany) is so different from that of modern Europeans that it suggests that there was very little if any interbreeding between the ‘native’ Neanderthal populations of Europe and the new, intrusive Homo sapiens. However, a few skeletons have been found that have been claimed to show a mixture of Neanderthal and modern features — as in the case of a recently-discovered skeleton from Lagar Velho in Portugal. Periods of overlap between the Neanderthals and modern humans of up to 5 000 years have been documented in some areas of Europe, during which the final Neanderthals apparently adopted or copied some features of more ‘modern’ behaviour.

Paul Mellars

Bibliography

Mellars, P. (1996). The Neanderthal legacy: an archaeological perspective from Western Europe. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

Ne·an·der·thal / nēˈandər[unvoicedth]ôl/ • n. (also Neanderthal man) an extinct species of human (Homo neanderthalensis) that was widely distributed in ice-age Europe between c.120,000 and 35,000 years ago, with a receding forehead and prominent brow ridges. ∎ fig. an uncivilized, unintelligent, or uncouth person, esp. a man.• adj. of or relating to this extinct human species. ∎ fig. (esp. of a man) uncivilized, unintelligent, or uncouth.

Neanderthal Middle Palaeolithic variety of human, known from fossils in Europe and Asia. Neanderthals were discovered when a skeleton was unearthed in the Neander Valley in w Germany in 1856. The bones were thick and powerfully built and the skull had a pronounced brow ridge. Neanderthals are now considered to be a separate species of human, possibly a local adaptation during the Ice Ages, and are not thought to be ancestral to modern humans. Neanderthals predated modern humans in Europe, but were superseded by them c.35,000 years ago. See also human evolution

Neanderthal man A form of fossil human that lived in Europe and western Asia between about 200 000 and 30 000 years ago, when the climate was much colder than today. Neanderthals were thought to be a subspecies of Homo sapiens but are now generally regarded as a distinct species, H. neanderthalensis. The fossil remains indicate that Neanderthals were fairly short, strongly built, and had low brows but that the brain size was the same as, or larger than, modern humans'. They were nomadic cave dwellers who buried their dead. Neanderthals became extinct abruptly; they may have been exterminated by incoming modern humans, with their more advanced stone tool technology. The name is derived from the site in the Neander valley, Germany, where fossils were found in 1856.

Neanderthal an extinct human that was widely distributed in ice age Europe between c.120,000–35,000 years ago, with a receding forehead and prominent brow ridges. The Neanderthals were associated with the Mousterian flint industry of the Middle Palaeolithic.

In figurative use, the name may be applied to someone considered uncivilized, unintelligent, or uncouth.

The name comes (in the mid 19th century) from Neanderthal, the name of a region in Germany, where remains of Neanderthal man were found.