Once thought to be nothing more than hair-covered brutes, our understanding of Neanderthals has changed much over the last 150 years.

The first recognized Neanderthal remains were discovered in 1856, but claims that a specimen from an ancient human race had been found were immediately discounted. Just a few years later the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species, and the realization that earlier finds of similar remains had occurred in other countries, made it clear that our past was not what we had long thought it to be.

With each passing decade more curious finds would emerge, changing our notions of human history in radical ways:

• Stone tools discovered in a Neanderthal site above the French village of Le Moustier opened our eyes to an advanced, tool-making culture.
• Additional finds extended this culture across Europe and Central Asia, reaching back well over one hundred thousand years.
• Later, careful archeological studies would uncover complex social relationships, including care of the injured and burial rituals.

Yet, perhaps the greatest advance in our understanding of our own past comes from the recent discovery that many of us have Neanderthal DNA embedded in our own modern genetic code. Neanderthals are not just a divergent species; they are part of us.