Neanderthals

Our stocky, toolmaking cousins who ran the cold half of the Ice Age and still show up in your DNA.

By Greg Goodwin · Published October 24, 2026

Cheat Sheet

Named in 1864 after the Neander Valley in Germany, where a skeleton was found in 1856.
Brain size: one 2013 Oxford sample averaged about 1,474 cubic centimeters for Neanderthals versus 1,474 for modern humans, nearly identical raw volume.
Shanidar 3, a Neanderthal skeleton from Iraq, is held by the Smithsonian; the La Ferrassie 1 skull is described as the largest and most complete Neanderthal skull found.
Their tool tradition is called Mousterian, built around flaked stone points and scrapers.
A 2014 Max Planck study put Neanderthal ancestry in non-African people at roughly 1.8 to 2.6 percent, a bit above older estimates.
The first draft Neanderthal genome appeared in 2010; Svante Paabo won the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for ancient DNA work.

The 60-Second Version

Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis, were ancient humans who lived across Europe and southwestern to central Asia from roughly 400,000 to 40,000 years ago, according to the Smithsonian. They were stocky, strong, and built for cold climates, with brains as large as ours or often larger. They made stone tools, used fire, built shelters, and buried at least some of their dead. Rather than being our ancestors, they were our closest extinct relatives: the two lineages split roughly 500,000 to 550,000 years ago, and later met again, often enough that many people with ancestry outside Africa carry about 1 to 4 percent Neanderthal DNA. Why Neanderthals vanished by about 40,000 years ago is still debated, with climate swings, small populations, and competition or absorption by modern humans all on the list of suspects.

The Long Version

Discovery and a Famous Name

The species takes its name from the Neander Valley near Dusseldorf, Germany, where workers uncovered a skeleton in 1856. Scientists argued for years over whether the bones belonged to a diseased modern human or something different, and in 1864 the geologist William King proposed the name Homo neanderthalensis. Since then, fossils have turned up from Spain and Britain to the Middle East and Central Asia, giving the Smithsonian's picture of a species that ranged across Europe and southwestern to central Asia for hundreds of thousands of years. The early image of a hunched, brutish caveman came from a badly interpreted skeleton and has been thoroughly retired.

Built for the Cold

Neanderthals had broad, stocky bodies with short limbs, a shape that holds heat well in cold climates. Their faces were large, with prominent brow ridges and wide noses, and their skulls were long and low rather than domed. Their brains were as large as ours or often larger, and a 2013 Oxford study found raw average brain volumes that were practically identical, about 1,474 cubic centimeters for both groups. The same team argued that more of the Neanderthal brain was devoted to vision and body control, but other researchers caution that brain size and shape cannot be tied firmly to behavior, so that question remains open.

Tools, Fire, and Burial

The Smithsonian describes Neanderthals as skilled toolmakers who controlled fire, built shelters, wore clothing, and sometimes buried their dead, occasionally with flowers. Their characteristic tool kit, called Mousterian, relied on carefully prepared stone cores that produced flakes shaped into points and scrapers. Fossils also show how they cared for one another: the Shanidar 3 skeleton from Iraq, now in the Smithsonian collection, belongs to a Neanderthal whose injuries point to a hard life. The La Ferrassie 1 skull from France is described as the largest and most complete Neanderthal skull found.

Genes and Interbreeding

In 2010 researchers published the first draft Neanderthal genome, a landmark that helped earn Svante Paabo the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The data showed that people with ancestry outside Africa carry Neanderthal DNA, which the Smithsonian places at about 1 to 4 percent. A 2014 Max Planck study using a Neanderthal genome from Vindija Cave in Croatia refined that to roughly 1.8 to 2.6 percent. Other work uncovered the Denisovans, another archaic group that also interbred with our ancestors. Some inherited Neanderthal gene variants have been linked to traits such as immune response and skin or hair features, though exact effects are still being studied.

The Disappearance

By about 40,000 years ago, according to the Smithsonian, Neanderthals no longer appear in the fossil record. No single cause is settled. Candidates include rapid climate swings, small and scattered populations vulnerable to inbreeding and bad luck, competition with modern humans arriving in Europe, and gradual absorption into larger groups of modern humans, which would explain why their DNA persists. Because the evidence is thin and dates are hard to pin down, researchers describe the question as unsettled, and the likely answer is a combination of factors rather than a single villain.

Why People Care

Neanderthals are the closest thing we have to a mirror from another human species, and their story changes how we think about what makes us distinct. Knowing the basics lets you spot popular myths, like the dim-witted caveman, and follow new DNA discoveries as they reshape the human family tree.

Glossary

Hominin: A member of the human branch of the family tree, including modern humans and extinct relatives such as Neanderthals.
Denisovans: A separate group of archaic humans, first identified in 2010 and known mostly from DNA and a few fossils, related to Neanderthals.
Introgression: The movement of genes from one population or species into another through interbreeding.
Ancient DNA: Genetic material recovered from old bones or teeth, which lets scientists compare extinct humans with living ones.
Mousterian: The stone-tool tradition most closely linked with Neanderthals, named after the site of Le Moustier in France.

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