Who would have thought ...

...that within a 45 minute drive from our apartment, would lie Neanderthal -- yes the real valley ('thal') in which was found the first Neanderthal bones.  Well not quite the first, since the first apparently were found somewhere in Belgium, but nobody realized what they were.

So off we went on our Sunday excursion.
The Neander valley is in Mettmann which is near Duesseldorf and the Duessel River is the one that can be seen here.


When first you arrive, you see the Neander Bistro plus an artist's representation of a Neanderthal.  See if you can tell apart the neanderthal from the modern human.

Here's the museum and a map of the region.

The area is named after this guy, Joachim Neumann (1650 - 1680) who, after the fashion of the day, changed his name to the Greek version, namely Neander.

The Neanderthal bones were first discovered in a cave in 1856. The valley was altered by limestone and marble miners, including the cave and only a flat site remains with some stakes in it, showing roughly where the bones were found. Since "On the Origin of Species" was published just 3 years after the Neanderthal bones were discovered, people started putting two and two together.

The museum itself contains mostly reproductions.  In fact, I'm not sure if any of the bones were original, though there must have been some.  It was a walk through evolution, climate change (ice age), burying of dead, art, the wheel, that sort of thing.  I found this little description of the discoverer to be a bit sad.

But most striking were the 'real life' depictions of Neanderthals according to how they are currently conceived.  Here are some museum pieces.  Again, see if you can tell the Neanderthals  from the Homo Sapiens.

Above: Light skull = Homo Sapiens, Dark Skull = Neanderthal

Above: Left = Neanderthal, Right = Neanderthal

Above: Photo with 2 people = Neanderthal on left and Homo Sapiens on Right; Photo with many people = Conglomeration of people drawn on paper except for the real lady sitting on the couch.

Above:  All Neanderthals.

Above:  All juvenile Homo Sapiens


And below:  A skull showing that this unfortunate individual was killed from behind by an axe to the head -- perhaps the Neanderthals weren't quite as warm and fuzzy as we have been led to believe.

We found a nearby pub to have lunch and sat outside, basking in the sunlight and marvelling at how far we have come as a species -- from an axe-blow to the head -- to an afternoon Skype with Alex and Irene half a world away.