Neanderthal
The
Neanderthals or
Neandertals [3] are an extinct species of human in the genus
Homo, possibly a subspecies of
Homo sapiens.[4] They are very closely related to modern humans,[5][6] differing in DNA by only 0.12%.[7] Remains left by Neanderthals include bones and stone tools, which are found in Eurasia, from Western Europe to Central and Northern Asia. The species is named after Neandertal, the location in Germany where it was first discovered. Neanderthals are generally classified by palaeontologists as the species
Homo neanderthalensis, but a minority consider them to be a subspecies of
Homo sapiens.[8] The first humans with proto-Neanderthal traits are believed to have existed in Eurasia as early as 600,000–350,000 years ago.[9] The exact date of their extinction is disputed. Fossils found in the Vindija Cave in Croatia have been dated to between 33,000 and 32,000 years old, and Neanderthal artifacts from Gorham's Cave in...