Neanderthal remains have been found from France and Spain in the west, to Israel and Uzbekistan in the east, and from Germany in the north to the Mediterranean. They appeared perhaps 350,000 years ago, and were the dominant humans in Eurasia for millennia. About 30,000 years ago, they disappeared. Ever since their remains were first identified about 150 years ago, we've been trying to understand who the Neanderthals were, and what they mean to us.

In the last decade or so, scientists have been re-evauating Neanderthals, revising our estimation of their abilities. By using both old and new techniques, they're on verge of answering some of the great mysteries about them, decoding not just their genome, but some of their behavior.

Ideas producer Dave Redel digs into the mysteries of the Neanderthals and discovers that knowing them is really about knowing ourselves. 

 

Books

The Neandertal Enigma: Solving the Mystery of Modern Human Origins
by James Shreeve, published by Harper Collins, 1995.

In Search of the Neanderthals: Solving the Puzzle of Human Origins,
by Christopher Stringer & Clive Gamble, published by Thames & Hudson, 1993.

The Last Neanderthal: The Rise, Success, and Mysterious Extinction of Our Closest Human Relative by Ian Tattersal, published by MacMillan, 1995.

The Neandertals: Changing The Image of Mankind by Erik Trinkaus & Pat Shipman, published by ACLS Humanities E-Book, 1993.

Les Néandertaliens : Biologie et cultures by Bernard Vandermeersch & Bruno Maureille, ed. Published by Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques, 2007.

The Neanderthal's Necklace by Juan Luis Arsuaga, published by Four Walls Eight Windows, 2004.

The Grisly Folk by H. G. Wells (can be found on the web through Project Gutenburg)

Related Websites

The Max Planck Institute - Department of Human Evolution

The Neanderthal Museum

The Natural History Museum - Palaeontology

Les évolutions des l'hommes

Discover Magazine - Human Orgins