🪓The Neanderthals | c. 60,000 BC Who they were: Neanderthals lived across Europe and western Asia from about 400,000–40,000 years ago. Stocky, broad-faced hominins built for Ice Age cold. Origins: They split from a common ancestor with modern humans 500,000–600,000 years ago, evolving in Eurasia while humans developed in Africa. Daily life: Caves like Shanidar (Iraq) and Sidrón (Spain) sheltered them from predators and weather. They hunted big game, shared work, kept fires, and prepared hides. Fire and tools: They struck flint for sparks and crafted stone hand axes, scrapers, and bone tools. At some sites, they made birch tar to haft stone tips onto handles. Diet: Mostly meat from large herbivores—plus marrow, fat, plants, and nuts. Roasting meat over cave hearths was routine. Art and rituals: They used ochre pigment, made cave markings, and buried their dead. At Bruniquel Cave (France), they built ring structures from stalagmites—signs of symbolic behavior. Relationship with h...