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Homo neanderthalensis, commonly called "Neanderthal Man," was discovered in 1856 in Neander Valley, Germany. It is probably the most famous of all the fossil hominids that have been named thus far. Initially, they were thought to be asinine savages that could manufacture only the simplest of stone tools. However, now scientists understand that Neanderthals were relatively advanced, and buried their dead, performed rituals, and had a large cranial capacity.
Neanderthals were adapted to the cold climates of Ice Age Europe. They were a stockily built and short people. Another adaptation to the cold weather is the long and projecting nose, with larger nostrils to warm the cold air during breathing. Their skulls were low, meeting with a distinct browridge. At the end of the skull was an occipital bun--an arched section of the back of the cranium. Despite the fact that the average Neanderthal brain size is 1500 cc, 100 cc larger than ours', it seems they were less advanced than humans. Scientists do not yet know why Homo neanderthalensis had such a large brain, yet made little use of it. Their bones were much more robust, as a Neanderthal expert stated, "these guys were built like Arnold Schwartznegger naturally."
The tools used by Neanderthals are known as belonging to the Mousterian industry, a tool kit that was more advanced than the Acheulean industry, which was used by Homo erectus and ergaster. It included choppers, scrapers, hand-axes, spear points, denticulates, and stone knives. Another, younger, industry has also been discovered to have been invented by the Neanderthals: the Chatelperronian. It was in usage from 32,000 to 30,000 years ago. Many paleoanthropologists believe that, by this time, Neanderthals were mimicking the tools of Cro-Magnon, also living in Ice Age Europe.
Homo neanderthalensis led a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Their life was rough and strenuous. Because of such an arduous life, very few rarely ever lived beyond more than 40, and two out of five Neanderthals suffered from malnutritional diseases. They killed their prey from close ranges, using stabbing spears. They must have also been able to walk extremely long distances, for they had phenomenal stamina.
The Neanderthals were definitely uncapable of a high level of language. Their larynxes were much too flat for them to produce much of an array of sounds. If you were to grade the Neanderthal language capacity from 1 to 10, with 1 being the worst and ten, the best, they would receive a 5 or a 6, which is close to that of Homo erectus. However, a new find made in the Middle East, of a Neanderthal hyoid bone, shows that it is nearly identical to that of a modern human. This means that this particular Neanderthal could speak just as well as you and me. Nevertheless, this is still contradicted by other hyoid bones that display a primitive level of speech.
Suddenly, the Neanderthals mysteriously disappeared around 30,000 years ago. No one is sure exactly why. However, a number of theories have been put forth as a possible explanation. Some reason that the Neanderthal birth-rate was slower, and thus had to work harder, to keep their species from extinction, than the faster-reproducing Cro-Magnons. Others believe that Cro-Magnon introduced new and contagious diseases to the Neanderthals, who died out eventually. Another theory suggests that the Neanderthals did not actually "die out." Instead, they interbred with the Cro-Magnons. Because the Cro-Magnon genes were more favorable, natural selection chose to pass the latter's traits onto the offspring, thus absorbing the Neanderthals into Homo sapiens.
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