Neanderthal

Etymology

!The site of [Kleine Feldhofer Grotte where Neanderthal 1 was discovered](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c6/Neanderthalexcavationsite.JPG/250px-Neanderthalexcavationsite.JPG)

Discovery

![Skullcap) of Neanderthal 1, the type specimen, at the Musée de l'Homme, Paris](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c8/Calottecr%C3%A2nienne%2Ctypedel%27esp%C3%A8ceHomoneanderthalensis%2Cvall%C3%A9edeN%C3%A9ander.jpg/250px-Calottecr%C3%A2nienne%2Ctypedel%27esp%C3%A8ceHomoneanderthalensis%2Cvall%C3%A9edeN%C3%A9ander.jpg)

Discovery

A number of Neanderthal fossils had been discovered before their antiquity was fully understood. The first Neanderthal remains—Engis 2 (a skull)—were discovered in 1829 by Dutch/Belgian prehistorian Philippe-Charles Schmerling in the Grottes d'Engis, Belgium. He concluded that these "poorly developed" human remains must have been buried at the same time and by the same causes as the co-existing remains of extinct animal species. In 1848, Gibraltar 1 from Forbes' Quarry was presented to the Gibraltar Scientific Society by their Secretary Lieutenant Edmund Henry Réné Flint, but was thought to be a modern human skull.

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