Together with an Asian people known as Neanderthals are our closest relatives. Scientific evidence suggests Neanderthals and Homo sapiens shared a common ancestor.
Current evidence from both fossils and DNA suggests that Neanderthal and modern human lineages separated at least 500,000 years ago. Some genetic calibrations place their divergence at about 650,000 years ago.
Both dating issues and fossil anatomy mean that scientists are currently uncertain whether the last common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans was Homo heidelbergensis or another species.
Neanderthals lived alongside early modern humans for at least part of their existence. We now know that some encounters were very intimate - some of us have inherited around 2% Neanderthal DNA.
When did Neanderthals live?
The Neanderthals have a long evolutionary history. The earliest known examples of Neanderthal-like fossils are around 430,000 years old. The best-known Neanderthals lived between about 130,000 and 40,000 years ago, after which all physical evidence of them vanishes.
Where did Neanderthals live?
Neanderthals evolved in Europe and Asia while modern humans - our species, Homo sapiens - were evolving in Africa.
Judging from fossil evidence from northern Spain and in Kent, the Neanderthal lineage was already well-established in Europe by 400,000 years ago.
The species ranged widely in Eurasia, from Portugal and Wales in the west across to the Altai Mountains of Siberia in the east.
Neanderthal intelligence and behavior
Despite their reputation as being primitive 'cavemen', Neanderthals were actually very intelligent and accomplished humans. These were no 'ape-men'. So it's unfair to them that the word Neanderthal is used as an insult today.
The brain size of late Neanderthals ranged from at least 1,200cm3 to 1,750cm3. This is larger than the modern average, but in proportion to their body size. Homo sapiens skulls from around 30,000 years ago also had larger brains on average than people today.
Neanderthals vs Homo sapiens
Because many Neanderthal fossils and artifacts have been found in caves, the species became synonymous with the idea of cavemen. But many early modern humans also lived in caves - some of the most famous example being the original Cheddar Man, who was found in Gough's Cave and lived in Somerset around 10,000 years ago.
Archaeological evidence shows that some Neanderthals looked after their sick and buried their dead, which suggests they were social and even compassionate beings.
What happened to Neanderthals?
What happened to the Neanderthals is one of the most-enduring questions in science, and it has been addressed in the early 21st century by applying genetic techniques to compare DNA from hundreds of living humans and ancient DNA recovered from Neanderthal fossils. The earliest genetic studies of Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA supported the idea that the origin of modern humans was a speciation event. More recently, however, it was reported that Eurasians generally carry about 2 percent Neanderthal nuclear DNA, which suggests that modern humans and Neanderthals interbred and thus were not two different biological species, despite most classifications treating them as such. It was previously argued on the basis of morphology that modern humans are distinct from Neanderthals, although the question of “how different is different” has always plagued debates on the apparent uniqueness of this fossil human group. When single specimens of Neanderthals and modern humans are compared, Neanderthals can easily be distinguished. When a broad range of individuals are examined, however, the variation observed fails to isolate Neanderthals as a group that is completely distinct from modern humans for every trait. Like Neanderthal fossils, early modern human fossils are robust in physical form, although they tend to differ from Neanderthal fossils in that they have a more juvenile, but large cranial vault coupled with a smaller face and a distinct mental trig one (chin).
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