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Neanderthals
c. 400,000–40,000 years ago· Event· Europe
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Neanderthals were a stocky, big-brained human species that lived across Europe and western Asia for hundreds of thousands of years.
See it on the History map →What happened
They evolved in Europe from earlier humans by about 400,000 years ago and ranged from Spain to Siberia. Built for cold, they hunted mammoths, deer and bison with stone-tipped spears, controlled fire, made glue from birch tar, cared for injured members, and sometimes buried their dead. Their brains were as large as ours. They disappeared about 40,000 years ago, a few thousand years after modern humans reached Europe.
Why it matters
They show that other kinds of humans shared the planet with us until recently. Most people of non-African descent carry about 1–2% Neanderthal DNA.
How we know
Hundreds of fossils since the 1856 find in Germany's Neander Valley, many cave sites, and a genome read in 2010 by Svante Pääbo's team, work that won him a 2022 Nobel Prize.
Still debated
Why they died out is debated: competition with modern humans, climate swings, small inbred populations, absorption through interbreeding, or a mix of these.
Connections (5)
▸Homo erectus was a likely ancestor of NeanderthalsMostly agreed
The connection
Populations descended from Homo erectus, or a close relative, spread through Africa and Eurasia. In Europe one population, often called Homo heidelbergensis, gradually evolved into Neanderthals. Bones from Spain's Sima de los Huesos, about 430,000 years old, already show early Neanderthal features.
When and how
Africa and Europe, roughly 1 million to 400,000 years ago; key site: the Sima de los Huesos ('Pit of Bones') at Atapuerca, northern Spain.
How sure are we?
Fossil anatomy, plus ancient DNA from Sima de los Huesos, among the oldest human DNA ever read, which links those people to Neanderthals.
Debates and open questions
The middle steps are murky: whether Homo heidelbergensis or Homo antecessor sits in between, and how many lineages there were, is debated.
▸Control of fire was used routinely by NeanderthalsWell documented
The connection
By the time Neanderthals appear, fire use was routine. They kept hearths in caves for warmth, cooking and light, and used heat to make birch-tar glue for fixing stone points to spears, one of the earliest known manufactured materials. Fire helped them survive Ice Age Europe.
When and how
Caves across Europe and western Asia, about 400,000–40,000 years ago; birch tar from Italy about 200,000 years ago.
How we know
Layered hearths, charred bones, cooked plant remains in tooth tartar, and birch-tar lumps bearing tool marks and even a fingerprint.
Debates and open questions
Whether Neanderthals could start fire at will or only captured natural fire is debated; some sites suggest they went without fire for long periods.
▸Out of Africa migration met and interbred with NeanderthalsWell documented
The connection
As modern humans moved through the Middle East and into Europe and Asia, they met Neanderthals and had children with them. The mixing happened mainly about 50,000–45,000 years ago, leaving roughly 1–2% Neanderthal DNA in non-Africans today, including genes affecting immunity and skin.
When and how
Probably western Asia and Europe, about 50,000–45,000 years ago; revealed by genetic work from Svante Pääbo's team and others.
How we know
Neanderthal DNA segments in modern genomes, and in early modern humans such as a man from Oase, Romania, who had a Neanderthal ancestor four to six generations back.
Debates and open questions
How often, where and under what circumstances groups met is unknown; earlier contacts also left modern-human DNA in Neanderthals.
▸Neanderthals were outlasted by Homo sapiens: modern humansWell documented
The connection
Within a few thousand years of modern humans' arrival in Europe, about 45,000 years ago, Neanderthals disappeared, by about 40,000 years ago. Modern humans probably had larger, better-connected groups. Neanderthals did not vanish entirely: their DNA survives in billions of living people.
When and how
Europe and western Asia, about 45,000–40,000 years ago; some argue for later survival in southern Iberia.
How we know
Radiocarbon dates of the last Neanderthal sites and the first modern-human ones, which overlap for several thousand years in Europe.
Debates and open questions
Whether modern humans outcompeted, fought, absorbed or simply outbred them, and what role climate swings played, is still debated.
▸Neanderthals may also have made Ice Age cave art (Sulawesi, Chauvet, Lascaux)Debated
The connection
If Neanderthals painted, art was not unique to our species. Red marks, a hand stencil and dots in three Spanish caves were dated to over 64,000 years ago, before modern humans reached Europe. Neanderthals also used pigments, eagle talons and shells, perhaps as ornaments.
When and how
La Pasiega, Maltravieso and Ardales caves, Spain; dates published in 2018 by a team led by Dirk Hoffmann and Alistair Pike.
How sure are we?
Uranium-series dating of mineral crusts over the paint. Critics argue the method can overestimate ages, so the case is not settled.
Debates and open questions
Whether the dates are right, whether the marks are deliberate symbols, and whether Neanderthals thought symbolically as we do are all contested.