Homo neanderthalensis

Overview

Neanderthals are our closest known relatives, and the first extinct human species ever recognised, from an 1856 discovery in Germany. For hundreds of thousands of years they were the masters of Ice Age Europe and western Asia.

Far from the brutish cliché, Neanderthals were intelligent, skilled and cultured — and the genomes of nearly all living people outside Africa carry a small but real Neanderthal inheritance.

Anatomy & Body

Neanderthals were stocky and powerfully muscled, with a barrel chest, short limbs and a large projecting midface and nose — a build well suited to conserving heat in glacial climates. Their braincase was long and low but held a brain as large as, or larger than, our own.

Many had pale skin and some had red hair, inferred from ancient DNA.

Brain & Cognition

With brains of 1,200–1,750 cc, Neanderthals matched or exceeded modern humans in raw volume, though brain shape differed. They planned complex hunts, adapted to extreme environments, and cared for the injured and elderly over long periods.

Behavior & Culture

Neanderthals made refined Mousterian tools, hafted stone points to spears, used fire and birch-bark tar adhesive, wore pigments and feathers, and almost certainly buried their dead. Cave markings in Spain dated to before modern humans arrived suggest a capacity for symbolic expression.

Key Fossils

• Neanderthal 1 (Feldhofer, Germany) — the 1856 type specimen.
• La Chapelle-aux-Saints (“the Old Man”) — an aged, arthritic individual who was cared for.
• Vindija & Altai genomes — high-quality ancient DNA that rewrote our shared history.

Genetics & Legacy

Modern humans and Neanderthals interbred around 50,000–55,000 years ago. Today, most people of non-African descent carry roughly 1–2% Neanderthal DNA, influencing traits from immunity to skin and hair. Their extinction by ~40,000 years ago likely stemmed from a combination of climate stress, competition, and the demographic fragility of small populations — not a single catastrophe.