Neanderthals: Facts, news, features and articles about our extinct human relatives
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Neanderthals cannibalized 'outsider' women and children 45,000 years ago at cave in BelgiumFragmented Neanderthal bones discovered in a cave in Belgium show that one group cannibalized the women and children of another group.
By Kristina Killgrove Published
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Did Neanderthals have religious beliefs?Whether Neanderthals had religious beliefs is a subject of ongoing debate.
By Owen Jarus Published
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Crimean Stone Age 'crayons' were used by Neanderthals for symbolic drawings, study claimsScientists have discovered Stone Age "crayons" in Crimea, hinting that Neanderthals may have used them for symbolic drawings or markings. But not everyone agrees.
By Sophie Berdugo Published
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Did Neanderthals eat anything other than meat?Neanderthals were meat eaters, but new analyses show that their diets included other morsels.
By Clarissa Brincat Published
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Neanderthals were more susceptible to lead poisoning than humans — which helped us gain an advantage over our cousins, scientists sayHumans and our ancestors have been exposed to lead for 2 million years, but the toxic metal may have actually helped our species to develop language — giving us a key advantage over our Neanderthal cousins, scientists claim.
By James Price Published
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Mysterious 300,000-year-old Greek cave skull was neither human nor Neanderthal, study findsResearchers have dated the mysterious skull from Petralona Cave in Greece to 300,000 years ago and concluded that the fossil belonged to an ancient human group that lived alongside Neanderthals.
By Patrick Pester Published
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Gene that differs between humans and Neanderthals could shed light on the species' disappearance, mouse study suggestsA gene called ADSL, which helps synthesize DNA, differs between modern humans and our extinct human relatives. The findings could shed light on why Neanderthals vanished.
By Charles Q. Choi Published
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'It makes no sense to say there was only one origin of Homo sapiens': How the evolutionary record of Asia is complicating what we know about our speciesAs experts study the human fossil record of Asia, many have come to see it as telling a different story than what happened in Europe and Africa.
By Kristina Killgrove Published
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Neanderthal genes may explain disorder where brain bulges out of the skullNeanderthal genes may explain why some people have Chiari malformation type I, a condition in which the brain bulges out of the back of the skull.
By Charles Q. Choi Published
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