GENERAL KNOWLEDGE 4
NEANDERTHALS
Homo neanderthalensis’s close affinity to modern humans and European stronghold meant that it was the first fossil hominid to attract attention (discovered in Germany’s Neander valley in 1857). The Neanderthals seen to have settled after the first wave of hominid migration from Africa and to have persisted until about 40,000 years ago. Homo sapiens, meanwhile, may have arrived from Africa 60,000 years ago, so could have played a major role in Neanderthal extinction. DNA evidence for interbreeding is as yet inconclusive.
Scientists originally surmised that Neanderthals were unintelligent, hunchbacked beings, largely because one of the first skeletons found was of an arthritic man. More recent finds have shown that they were physically powerful, and evidence is increasing of abstract reasoning and large cerebral capacity. Physically capable of limited speech, they had sophisticated flint tools and religious rites –many burial sites have been found