Life › Human evolution › The genus Homo
Neanderthals
c. 400,000–40,000 years ago· Organism or group· Human ancestors & us
Well establishedStrong fossil, genetic or geological evidence.
A human species closely related to us that lived in Europe and western Asia about 400,000–40,000 years ago.
See it on the Life map →What happened
Named after the Neander Valley in Germany, where bones were found in 1856, Neanderthals had stocky bodies, large noses, heavy brows and brains as large as ours or larger. They made skilled stone tools, hunted large animals, used fire, made birch-tar glue, wore eagle-talon ornaments and sometimes buried their dead. They ranged from Spain to Siberia's Altai Mountains and disappeared about 40,000 years ago, after modern humans arrived. Their DNA lives on in people today.
Why it matters
They are our closest known extinct relatives, proof that complex human behavior was not unique to our species. Interbreeding left about 1–2% Neanderthal DNA in people outside Africa.
The evidence (fossils, genes, rocks)
Remains of hundreds of individuals from sites across Europe and western Asia, abundant tools and hearths, a draft genome in 2010 and high-quality genomes since 2014.
Still debated
Why they died out (competition, small populations, climate swings or absorption into modern humans) and how far they shared our capacity for symbolic thought.
Inside this (2)
Connections (6)
▸Homo heidelbergensis probably led to NeanderthalsDebated
The connection
European fossils assigned to heidelbergensis gradually gain Neanderthal traits. At Sima de los Huesos, Spain, skeletons about 430,000 years old have Neanderthal-like faces and teeth, and their DNA places them on the Neanderthal line, suggesting Neanderthals grew out of Europe's heidelbergensis-like population.
When and how
Europe, about 600,000–250,000 years ago; Sima de los Huesos ('pit of bones') at Atapuerca, Spain, with about 28 individuals, whose DNA was published in 2016.
How sure are we?
Ancient DNA from the Sima fossils ties them to Neanderthals; skulls show a piecemeal shift toward Neanderthal anatomy over time.
Debates and open questions
If early Neanderthals already existed 430,000 years ago, the Mauer jaw and others may belong to their line rather than to a shared ancestor. The naming is unsettled.
▸Neanderthals passed genes to us through Interbreeding with Neanderthals & DenisovansWell established
The connection
When modern humans entered western Asia and Europe, they met Neanderthals and sometimes had children together. Those hybrids' descendants carried Neanderthal DNA forward. As a result, people outside Africa today carry about 1–2% Neanderthal DNA, including variants affecting immunity, skin and hair, and some disease risks, such as severe COVID-19.
When and how
Mainly, probably in western Asia, about 50,000–45,000 years ago; also earlier contact, including a modern-human gene flow into Neanderthals about 250,000–200,000 years ago.
The evidence
Neanderthal genomes sequenced from bones since 2010, compared with modern genomes; Romania's Oase man, about 40,000 years old, had a Neanderthal ancestor four to six generations back.
Debates and open questions
Why some chromosome stretches have almost no Neanderthal DNA (perhaps reduced hybrid fertility), and whether mixing happened mostly in one region or many.
▸Svante Pääbo sequenced the genome of NeanderthalsWell established
The connection
Svante Pääbo spent decades learning to extract and read the damaged, contaminated DNA in old bones. His team first read Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA in 1997, then a draft of the full genome in 2010, revealing that people outside Africa carry Neanderthal DNA.
When and how
University of Munich (1997 sequence, from the original Neander Valley bones) and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig (2010 draft genome); Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2022.
The evidence
Results were confirmed by higher-quality genomes from Siberian and Croatian Neanderthals and by other labs; damage patterns and contamination checks show the DNA is genuinely ancient.
Debates and open questions
How much Neanderthal DNA natural selection purged, and what the surviving Neanderthal gene variants do for health and traits today, are active research questions.
▸Neanderthals may have made their own Cave art (Sulawesi, Chauvet, Lascaux)Debated
The connection
In 2018, dating of mineral crusts over red markings in three Spanish caves, La Pasiega, Maltravieso and Ardales, gave minimum ages above 64,000 years, before modern humans reached Europe. If correct, Neanderthals made them. The marks are simple lines, dots and a hand stencil, not animal pictures like Chauvet's.
When and how
Spain, more than 64,000 years ago (claimed); work by Dirk Hoffmann, Alistair Pike, João Zilhão and colleagues, published in Science in 2018.
How sure are we?
Uranium-thorium dating of thin calcite layers that formed over the paint gives minimum ages; a 2021 study showed the Ardales pigment was applied on purpose.
Debates and open questions
Critics argue the crusts were dated wrongly or that some marks are natural stains; whether Neanderthals thought symbolically like us remains debated.
▸Control of fire was used routinely by NeanderthalsWell established
The connection
Neanderthals used fire routinely: their caves hold hearths, burned bones and thick ash layers. They used it for warmth, cooking and making birch-tar glue to fix stone points to handles, a process that needs carefully controlled heat.
When and how
Across Europe and western Asia, about 400,000–40,000 years ago; hearths at sites such as Abric Romaní, Spain; birch tar at Campitello, Italy, about 200,000 years ago.
The evidence
Hearths, burned residues, cooked starches in tooth tartar and tar-coated tools. Wear on some handaxes suggests they struck them with pyrite to make sparks.
Debates and open questions
How often they made fire at will rather than gathering it from wildfires is debated; some French sites show little fire use in the coldest periods.
▸Pleistocene ice ages shaped the cold-adapted bodies of NeanderthalsStrong evidence
The connection
Neanderthals lived in Europe and western Asia through repeated glacial cycles. Their short, stocky bodies, wide chests and short forearms and shins reduce surface area and conserve heat, a pattern seen in cold-climate mammals and in Arctic peoples today.
When and how
Europe and western Asia, about 400,000–40,000 years ago, spanning several glacial and warm phases.
How sure are we?
Body-proportion comparisons with recent cold-adapted peoples, following known biological rules linking body shape and climate, plus climate records from their sites.
Debates and open questions
Some features, like big noses and heavy builds, may reflect diet, activity or chance rather than cold. Neanderthals also thrived in warm periods.