In August 1856, mine workers were excavating the Feldhofer Grotto in the western part of Germany. The cave was one of many in a narrow gorge cut by the Düssel River through limestone outcrops. Here, workers discovered what they believed were human bones. An amateur naturalist from the nearby town of Elberfeld, Johann Carl Fuhlrott, heard about the find and decided to take a look at the remains, which were said to be very old. This discovery would ultimately reshape our understanding of human evolution, though that realization would take many decades to unfold.

Fuhlrott examined the bones, which were many thousands of years old. They were similar to human bones, but also notably different. Fuhlrott took the bones to a professor of anatomy at the University of Bonn, Hermann Schaaffhausen, who agreed that these appeared to be the remains of a primitive human. In 1857, the two men announced their find and identified the remains as Homo neanderthalensis (after the Neander Valley in which they had been found). Their discovery was initially greeted with indifference and even hostility. The scientific community's resistance reflected the prevailing worldview of the era, where the biblical account of human creation still held considerable sway. However, as more similar remains were found in the decades that followed, it became accepted that the Neanderthal was a hominid that predated modern humans, Homo sapiens.

At first, it was generally accepted that the Neanderthals were primitive, brutish beings who were superseded by more advanced humans. It is only relatively recently that we have discovered that Neanderthal people had an advanced culture, and that most people today carry traces of Neanderthal DNA! This is the fascinating and surprising story of the Neanderthals.