Across the Fence: Neanderthal

The most curious coincidences create lasting impressions and terminology. In 1856, in a German valley between the towns of Erkrath and Mettmann, Italian lime miners excavated bones that looked as if belonging to a human skeleton. The valley’s name was Neandertal – back then written as Neanderthal –, pronounced nay-‘under-tul, which means valley of Neander. Joachim Neander, a composer of sacred music and a theologian, had often celebrated services and convents in this valley as well as simply enjoyed it in his leisure time. The ancient bones that had been found were classified as belonging to a homo neanderthalensis. As the skull shape differed from that of the homo sapiens, the modern human beings as we are, it became clear pretty fast that this was an ancient stage in the human development, a prehistoric man.

The find became an international sensation, and the Latin classification was shortened to Neanderthal as in the English language. The German term is Neandertaler – the English language kind of amputated the syllable -er (meaning “from”) from the Germanism. Research about the prehistoric people of Neanderthal has been going on ever since. And as much as we know about them today, it still remains mere speculation why they suddenly went extinct around 40,000 years ago. A museum on site shows finds all kinds and tells visitors more about the development of mankind: https://www.neanderthal.de/en/home.html .

What is known about Neanderthals is that they used tools made from wood and stone, that they hunted and ate mostly meat, that they knew how to make use of fire, had a language, and even used symbols as a way of communication. They were supposedly the first human beings to create clothing, to twist a kind of yarn to sew it together, and to wear shoes. They used pigments and various items for body decoration and created the first cave paintings. As some Neanderthal remnants were found in the Greek islands, they are even supposed to have known how to travel across water. Neanderthals buried their dead in caves, which is why the finds that have been made ever since were all very well preserved. DNA samples even show that some mixed with the homo sapiens already.

Apart from using the term Neanderthal/Neandertaler as an anthropological classification, we also use it in derogatory ways to describe a person deficient in intelligence and maybe even using brute force, in other words, somebody who is acting less civilized than should be expected. As in a caveman. Interestingly enough, this unkind use of the term started almost immediately after the first scientists looked into the bone finds. German physician Rudolf Virchow thought that the skull with its heavy fleeing brow, big nose, and protruding upper jaw belonged to a mentally deficient homo sapiens. And he was not alone in this. Mentally deficient equaled morally deficient in the mindset of those days, as well. The term Neanderthal has since then added the meanings of being barbaric, unenlightened, or of very old-fashioned ideas. In a word, backward and crude. Also simply, a caveman in appearance.

Personally, I think it pretty amazing how early a people figured out how to create tools and deal with a world full of wildlife that we only know from prehistoric museums. To be sure, if we were to encounter one of the critters from back then, we’d probably survive less likely than any Neanderthal.