Are Neanderthals Human? By Carl Zimmer Posted 09.20.12 NOVA scienceNOW In August 1856, in the German valley of Neander—Neanderthal in German—men cutting limestone for the Prussian construction industry stumbled upon some bones in a cave.
Looking vaguely human, the bones—a piece of a skull, portions of limbs, and fragments of shoulder blades and ribs—eventually made their way to an anatomist in Bonn named Hermann Schaafhausen. Do Neanderthals belong within Homo sapiens? Watch NOVA scienceNOW Online. Watch NOVA scienceNOW Online.