Neanderthals

The Neanderthals (or Neandertals, from German: Neandertaler) are an extinct species of human in the genus Homo.

They are closely related to modern humans, differing in DNA by just 0.12%.

Remains left by Neanderthals include bone and stone tools, which are found in Eurasia, from Western Europe to Central and Northern Asia.

The species is named after Neandertal ("Neander Valley"), the location in Germany where it was first discovered.

Neanderthals are generally classified by biologists as the species Homo neanderthalensis, but a minority consider them to be a subspecies of Homo sapiens (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis).

Several cultural assemblages have been linked to the Neanderthals in Europe.

The earliest, the Mousterian stone tool culture, dates to about 300,000 years ago.

Late Mousterian artifacts were found in Gorham's Cave on the south-facing coast of Gibraltar.With an average cranial capacity of 1600 cm3, Neanderthal's cranial capacity is notably larger than the 1400 cm3 average for modern humans, indicating that their brain size was larger.

However, owing to larger body size, Neanderthals are less encephalized.

Males stood 164–168 cm (65–66 in) and females about 152–156 cm (60–61 in) tall.Genetic evidence published in 2014 suggests that Neanderthals contributed to the DNA of anatomically modern humans, probably through interbreeding between 50,000 to 60,000 years ago with a population of anatomically modern humans.

According to the study, by the time that population began dispersing across Eurasia, Neanderthal genes constituted as much as 1–4% of its genome (roughly equivalent to having one Neanderthal great-great-great-grandparent).

Ötzi the iceman, Europe's oldest preserved mummy, was found to possess an even higher percentage of Neanderthal ancestry.

Recent findings suggest there may be even more Neanderthal genes in non-African humans than previously expected: approximately 20% of the Neanderthal gene pool was present in a broad sampling of non-African individuals, though each individual's genome was on average only 2% Neanderthal.In December 2013, researchers reported evidence that Neanderthals practiced burial behavior and intentionally buried their dead.

In addition, scientists reported, for the first time, the entire genome of a Neanderthal.

The genome was extracted from the toe bone of a 130,000-year-old Neanderthal found in a Siberian cave.

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