Neanderthals

Neanderthals' ancient toolkit included hammers, blades made from rhino teeth, study finds

Dental microwear analysis, which allows for the microscopic study of surface textures, confirmed that the marks were made after the animals' deaths, ruling out chewing or dietary wear and tear.

Rupert van Der Werff from Summers Place Auctions with a rare skeleton of a long-extinct woolly rhinoceros in Billingshurst, England, March 5, 2019; file photo.
Views from five different angles of a molar of an adult Neanderthal individual, discovered at Chagyrskaya Cave in the Siberia region of Russia and dating to about 59,000 years ago, seen in this undated image released on May 13, 2026.

Neanderthal tooth from Siberian cave shows signs of earliest-known invasive dental surgery - study

 Neanderthal life. Illustration.

Extremely painful: Evidence suggests Neanderthals performed root canals 59,000 years ago

 Neanderthal communities in prehistoric Europe. How were they linked? (Illustrative)

Central-Eastern Europe's oldest Neanderthal group identified by DNA taken from teeth - study


Remains from Israel’s North show Neanderthal children grew faster than modern humans - study

According to the study, Amud 7’s remains date to approximately 51,000 and 56,000 years ago and belong to the most complete skeleton of a Neanderthal infant ever found.

 World's oldest Neanderthal fingerprint found on 43,000-year-old pebble in Spain. Illustration.

Neanderthal children in central Europe may have hunted turtles for materials, not for food - study

The study also floated the possibility that the turtles had been hunted for “their taste or for an assumed medicinal value.” 

A European pond turtle next to the foot of a European straight-tusked elephant, April 16, 2026; illustrative.

Neanderthals who lived in Siberian cave millenia apart were distant relatives, study finds

Further analysis of the genetic similarity showed that Neanderthals in the Altai region likely lived in groups of fewer than 50 people.

 World's oldest Neanderthal fingerprint found on 43,000-year-old pebble in Spain. Illustration.

'Fat factories': Neanderthals orchestrated massive elephant kills 125,000 years ago

New findings show that they systematically managed resources and reveal what they hunted, something even scientists did not expect.

 World's oldest Neanderthal fingerprint found on 43,000-year-old pebble in Spain. Illustration.

Study: Neanderthal-human interbreeding mostly male Neanderthals, female humans

Most people of non-African ancestry carry about 2% Neanderthal DNA, and researchers report a mirror image pattern with more human DNA on the Neanderthal X chromosome.

 World's oldest Neanderthal fingerprint found on 43,000-year-old pebble in Spain. Illustration.

Human hand outline may be oldest rock art in the world, researchers say

The 67,800-year-old reddish-colored stenciled image has become faded over time and is barely visible on a cave wall, but nonetheless embodies an early achievement of human creativity.

THE FAINT image of a hand stencil, a negative outline of a human hand created by placing a hand against a rock wall surface and spraying pigment paint around it, that has been dated to 67,800 years ago, in a limestone cave called Liang Metanduno on Muna.

Oldest-known fire-making found in Britain, pushing Neanderthal mastery back 415,000 years

"We think humans brought pyrite to the site with the intention of making fire. And this has huge implications, pushing back the earliest fire-making," said archaeologist Nick Ashton.

Neanderthals ate maggots from rotting meat, new research finds. Illustration.

Neanderthals were selectively targeted for cannibalism in Ice Age Europe, study reveals - study

Research focused on human remains found at the Troisième caverne of Goyet, a cave site in present-day Belgium that contains one of the largest known assemblages of Neanderthal bones in northern EU.

 Neanderthal communities in prehistoric Europe. How were they linked? (Illustrative)

Crimean Neanderthal ochre crayon reveals earliest symbolic artistry

The shaped and reused crayons, engraved patterns, and tool marks suggest that some ochre materials were intentionally used for symbolic activities.

.

Kenyan find narrows Australopithecus-Neanderthal gap, reshaping 2M years of hand evolution

Dated to about 1.5 million years ago, the bones display a long robust thumb, short fingers and a mobile little finger, hinting at tool use and precision grips beyond the genus Homo.

Australopithecus-to-Neanderthal gap narrows as Kenyan discovery.