Finger marks on cave walls are among the earliest Neanderthal art
21 June 2023
Symbols have been found carved on the walls of a cave in France that was inhabited by Neanderthals before being sealed off at least 57,000 years ago
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Premium
Ancient bacteria genome reconstructed from Neanderthal tooth gunk
4 May 2023
Researchers pieced together the genomes of two unknown species of green sulphur bacteria from DNA fragments found in ancient calcified tooth plaque
Early risers may have inherited faster body clocks from Neanderthals
15 February 2023
Modern humans who have inherited genetic variants related to circadian rhythms from extinct hominins are more likely to be morning people
Neanderthals hunted enormous elephants that fed 100 people for a month
1 February 2023
The extinct straight-tusked elephant was even larger than modern African elephants, making it unclear if Neanderthal hunters could take one down, but a newly analysed trove of bones suggests it was possible
Antibiotics encoded in Neanderthal DNA could help us fight infections
1 December 2022
A search of the ancient DNA of Neanderthals and Denisovans has revealed coding for extinct bacteria-killing proteins that we could revive to fight infections
Neanderthal family life revealed by ancient DNA from Siberian cave
19 October 2022
DNA from 11 individuals who lived in Chagyrskaya cave around 51,000 years ago suggests women moved between groups and also shows a high level of inbreeding
When did humans start making art and were Neanderthals artists too?
15 July 2022
On a visit to see ancient cave art in Spain, Michael Marshall explores why it's so hard to calculate the age of early human artworks and whether other hominins might also have created art.
Neanderthals may have cleared a European forest with fire or tools
15 December 2021
When Neanderthals lived at a site called Neumark-Nord in Germany, the region had far fewer trees than surrounding areas, suggesting they may have cleared the forest on purpose
Neanderthals may have grown their baby teeth faster than we do
24 November 2021
A tooth from a Neanderthal child who lived 120,000 years ago suggests that our cousin species began cutting their baby teeth at 4 months – earlier than for the average modern human
Prehistoric elephant nursery probably made easy prey for Neanderthals
16 September 2021
Fossil footprints reveal that the extinct straight-tusked elephant raised its young with groups of adult females and no adult males, just as modern elephants do – and that they were probably hunted by Neanderthals
