We first learned about Neanderthals in 1856. At that time the miners of the Neander Valley in Germany were working. At this time, they found a strange skull, not quite like a human skull. Archaeologists named it 'Homo neanderthalensis' as it was found in the Neander Valley. Researchers initially thought Neanderthals were barbarians, but over 150 years of archaeological and genetic evidence has made it clear that they were more advanced than we first thought.

Neanderthal

Neanderthals could make tools. Perhaps they were skilled in art work as well. Decorate the body with feathers or jewelry. The dead were buried. They also used language to communicate, although it was a more primitive, primitive type of language than modern humans. In addition, they managed to survive in the harsh climate of northern Europe and Siberia for thousands of years.

From the archaeological evidence in many places from Russia to the Iberian Peninsula, we know that modern humans and Neanderthals lived together for many years in Europe. Then they disappeared. As a result, the question arises whether modern people have killed them or not.

Telling the story of the life and extinction of Neanderthals, University of Vienna archaeologist Tom Higham says that modern humans came to many places in Europe where there were no Neanderthals. Again there are many places where Neanderthals lived. Modern humans have coexisted with them. Now we know that they also interbreed.

The first evidence of that inbreeding came in 2010, from the genome sequence of a Neanderthal. Further genetic analysis revealed that Neanderthals and modern humans were more genetically related than geographically. Every modern human today has some Neanderthal genes in their bodies. (The 2023 Nobel Prize in Biology has been awarded for this research.)