Who were the Neanderthals? How closely related to us were they
and why did they die out? The Natural History Museum’s evolution
expert, Professor Chris Stringer, reveals the facts about
Neanderthals when he speaks at the world-famous AAAS science
conference in Chicago, USA, this Friday. On Thursday, scientists
at the same conference announced the first draft of the
Neanderthal genome. An important step in helping us to
understand more about the similarities and differences between
modern humans and Neanderthals. Model head of a Neanderthal man
Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis, are our best-known extinct
relatives. These ancient people were closely related to, but a
distinct species from us, Homo sapiens. ‘Neanderthals are
particularly interesting because they and modern humans
overlapped and may have crossed paths, particularly in Europe
between 35–40,000 years ago,’ says Stringer. ‘However, around
30,000 years ago Neanderthals disappeared, and the scientific
jury is still out as to the reason why.’ Resear