Neanderthal
Sign in to saveNeanderthals ( ; Homo neanderthalensis or sometimes Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) are an extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. Neanderthal extinction occurred roughly 40,000 years ago with the immigration of modern humans (Cro-Magnons), but Neanderthals in Gibraltar may have persisted for thousands of years longer.
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Neanderthals were an extinct group of early humans who lived in Europe and parts of Asia during the Middle to Late Pleistocene period until roughly 40,000 years ago, when they disappeared around the time modern humans arrived in their territories. They matter because studying them helps us understand human evolution and what happened when our species encountered and potentially interacted with other human groups, though some Neanderthal populations in Gibraltar may have survived several thousand years longer than others.
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Article
29 sectionsContents
- Taxonomy
- Etymology
- Discovery
- Research history
- Classification
- Evolution
- Demographics
- Range
- Population
- Anatomy
- Skull
- Build
- Pathology
- Culture
- Social structure
- Food
- The arts
- Technology
- Language
- Burials and religion
- Interbreeding<span class="anchor" id="Interbreeding"></span>
- Extinction
- In popular culture
- See also
- Footnotes
- References
- Sources
- Further reading
- External links
Neanderthals ( ; Homo neanderthalensis or sometimes Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) are an extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. Neanderthal extinction occurred roughly 40,000 years ago with the immigration of modern humans (Cro-Magnons), but Neanderthals in Gibraltar may have persisted for thousands of years longer.
The first recognised Neanderthal fossil, Neanderthal 1, was discovered in 1856 in the Neander Valley, Germany. At first, Neanderthal 1 was considered to be one of the lower races in accord with historical race concepts. As more fossils were discovered through the early 20th century, Neanderthals were characterised as a unique species of underdeveloped human, in particular by Marcellin Boule. By the mid-twentieth century, it was believed that human evolution progressed from an ape-like ancestor through a "Neanderthal phase" to modern humans. This gave way to the "Out of Africa" theory in the 1970s. Sequencing of the Neanderthal genome in 2010 revealed that Neanderthals interbred with modern humans.