Paleontology Skulls
Homo neanderthalensis
Neanderthal Man
$220

Description	:	Although first discovered in 1829, Homo neanderthalensis was not described as a separate species until the Neander Valley, Germany find of 1856. Since this find there has raged a heated debate about the Neanderthals place in modern humans evolutionary history. Many believe them to have been a "dead end" species, while others claim they were no more than an invading Homo sapiens population from Africa. They are easily describable by their heavy brow, lack of chin, and flattened lambdoidal bone. Neanderthals lived from 200,000 to 30,000 years ago. Notable members of H. neanderthalensis are La Chapelle-Aux Saint, Teshik-Tash, and La Ferrassie. The Teshik-Tash skull, discovered in 1938 and estimated be 70,000 years old, is believed to have been from a nine year old boy. This specimen was excavated in Uzbekistan and represents the eastern most range of the Neanderthals. This specimen was reconstructed from over 150 individual skull fragments. The La Chapelle-aux-Saints specimen was an aged individual excavated in 1908 in France and was the most complete Neanderthal skull found at the time. The La Ferassie specimen, also discovered in France in 1909, is considered to be the "classic Neanderthal" representative.