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The first recorded Neanderthal fossil of a partial skull and some associated fragments, later dubbed Engis 2 was discovered in 1829 by Dutch physician and naturalist Philippe-Charles Schmerling in the Awirs Cave, just north of the Belgian municipality Engis^[43] and professionally described in 1833.^[44][45] The second fossil Gibraltar 1, was discovered by Captain Edmund Flint in the Forbes' Quarry of Gibraltar in 1848. Both findings received only little attention and were misunderstood as to represent early forms or pathologically developed, abnormal human individuals.^[46] A universal definition of species-specific characteristics of species in the genus Homo did not exist in the early 19th century. Methodical recognition of distinct and extinct species only began after Charles Darwin's publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859.^[47]

The 1856 in a limestone quarry - the Kleine Feldhofer Grotte in the Neandertal discovered type specimen consisted of a skull cap, two femora, three bones from the right arm, two from the left arm, part of the left ilium, fragments of a scapula, and ribs. These quickly came into possession of local teacher and amateur naturalist Johann Carl Fuhlrott, who studied the fossil in co-operation with anatomist Hermann Schaaffhausen. The jointly made publication in 1857 represents the beginning of paleoanthropology as a scientific discipline.^[48][49] The scholarly community remained divided for another 30 years until the discovery of two well preserved and almost complete Neanderthal skeletons in Spy/Belgium in 1886 lead to general recognition of the species.^[50]

Origin

Altamura Man (between 128.000 and 187.000 years old) is the oldest fossil of the Neanderthal lineage, that has yielded a reliable DNA sequence.^[51] Older specimen are until recently interpreted and classified based on morphology and metric analyses. 430.000 years old skull fossils recovered from the Sima de los Huesos cave have proto-Neanderthal features, such as "the beginning of a prominent brow ridge, a distinctive jaw shape and patterns of cusps on the teeth, [but] lack other traits that define the species — notably a large cranium".^[52][53][54] DNA tests confirm that these skulls represent early Neanderthals.^[55] Anthropologists debate over whether the species evolved from Homo heidelbergensis, or from what some researchers call "a controversial species" - Homo antecessor.^[56]

"Not quite Neanderthals, the Sima de los Huesos humans probably represent one of many small, isolated groups that dotted the European continent at the time, notes Jean-Jacques Hublin, a palaeoanthropologistat at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Such isolation is ideal for anatomical features to be established by chance, and this genetic drift could explain many of the attributes that would later define Neanderthals."

Fossils found in Tourville-la-Rivière,^[57] the 400.000 year old Tautavel Man, the 600.000 year old mandible Mauer 1 and the Petralona skull have all been attributed to the Neanderthal lineage, although only based on morphological and metric analyses.^[58]

Classification

Scientists to this day debate over whether Neanderthals should be classified as a distinct species - Homo neanderthalensis - or as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, the latter placing Neanderthals as a subspecies of H. sapiens.^[59][60] During the early 20th century the prevailing view has been heavily influenced by Arthur Keith and Marcellin Boule, who wrote the first scientific description of a nearly complete Neanderthal skeleton. ^[61] Senior members of their respective national paleontological institutes and among the most eminent paleoanthropologists of their time,^[62][63] both men argued that this "primitive" Neanderthal could not be a direct ancestor of modern man. This idea was reflected in an erroneous and inaccurate reconstruction of the Neanderthal findings of La Chapelle-aux-Saints, mounted in a crooked pose with a deformed and heavily curved spine and legs buckled.^[64]

During the 1930s scholars Ernst Mayr, George Gaylord Simpson and Theodosius Dobzhansky reinterpreted the existing fossil record and came to different conclusions.^[65] Neanderthal man was classified as Homo sapiens neanderthalensis - an early subspecies of what was now called Homo sapiens sapiens. The obviously unbroken succession of fossil sites of both subspecies in Europe was considered evidence that there was a slow and gradual evolutionary transition from Neanderthals to modern humans. Contextual interpretations of similar excavation sites in Asia lead to the hypothesis of multiregional origin of modern man in the 1980s.^[66]

Contemporary views

Current scientific ideas hold that both species evolved from a common African ancestor - Homo erectus. Fossil and tool finds support the idea that during the first migration wave of around 2 million years ago small groups of Homo erectus left Africa via the Levant, the Black Sea area into Georgia (fossils of Dmanisi) and possibly via North-western Africa towards southern Spain. The 1.2 million years old fragmented finds in Spain are referred to as Homo antecessor by their discoverers and considered to be the ancestors of Neanderthal. This interpretation, however, is controversial.

Some 600,000 years ago a second propagation wave of African Homo erectus took place. Skulls from that period found in Spain for example, suggest a brain volume of between 1100 ccm to 1450 ccm. The brain volume of fossils from the first propagation wave is however estimated only to be slightly above 1000 ccm. Homo erectus that arrived in Europe in the second wave of colonization developed into Neanderthals through the intermediate Homo heidelbergensis. Since about 200,000 years ago in Africa the so-called early anatomically modern humans descended from the local Homo erectus through the intermediate Homo rhodesiensis. Evidence from mitochondrial DNA studies has been interpreted as evidence Neanderthals were not a subspecies of H. sapiens.^[67] Others, for example University of Cambridge Professor Paul Mellars, say "no evidence has been found of cultural interaction".^[68]

Debated remains the period when the Neanderthal lineage separated from the lineage that lead to modern man. In 2010 a period between 440,000 - 270,000 years B.P. was calculated by the

Timeline of discovery and research

Neanderthals are after H. sapiens the best documented hominin species as they habitually occupied limestone caves and rock shelters, locations with a high fossilization and preservation ratio for bones, artefacts and fire places. The bones of over 400 specimen have been found since the early 19th century.^[69]

Timeline and locations of discovery, specimen age, associated research and data
Year	Discovery	Research	Fossil age	Location	Notability	Image
1829	Engis 2 by Philippe-Charles Schmerling	described in 1833 but not specified		Awirs Cave, Belgium	first fossil discovery
1848	Gibraltar 1 Skull by Captain Edmund Flint			Forbes' Quarry Gibraltar
1856	Johann Karl Fuhlrott	described as a separate species and published in 1857, but not universally recognized	40.000 BP.	Neandertal, Germany	first paleo-anthropologic publication,
1864		William King introduces the species name Homo neanderthalensis
1880	The Šipka cave mandible by Karel Jaroslav Maška	first discovery of Neanderthal remains in their cultural context		Šipka, Czech Republic	first Mousterian tools discovered
1886	The Spy Skeletons by Marcel de Puydt and Max Lohest	discovery lead to international scientific recognition of the existence of more than one human species		Spy Cave, Belgium	cave site was also occupied by H. sapiens, who might have lived alongside Neanderthal
1899	The Krapina Fossils by Dragutin Gorjanović-Kramberger	over eight hundred fossil remains discovered, first evidence for morphological variations		Hušnjakovo Hill, Krapina, Croatia	fossils prove Neanderthal evolution
1908	La Chapelle-aux-Saints 1 by Jean and Amédée Bouyssonie, L. Bardon[70]	discovery of over 1,000 pieces of stone (flint) and bone tools, Mousterian assemblages	60,000 years BP.	La Chapelle-aux-Saints, France	first recognized burial of a Neanderthal
1909	La Ferrassie Skull by Denis Peyrony and Louis Capitan	Eight buried Neanderthals have been found in La Ferrassie, including infants and two fetuses in a cave flanked by two rock shelters	70–50,000 years BP.	Savignac-de-Miremont, Dordogne, France.	The La Ferrassie 1 skull is the largest and most complete Neanderthal skull ever found
1909	Le Moustier skull with a large nasal cavity and a somewhat less developed brow ridge and occipital bun, as might be expected in a juvenile.	The site are two rock shelters near a village in the Dordogne, first excavated from 1863 by the Englishman Henry Christy and the Frenchman Édouard Lartet.	45,000 years BP.	Peyzac-le-Moustier, Dordogne, France.	The Mousterian tool culture is named after this site
1926	Skull fragments of Gibraltar 2, a four-year-old Neanderthal girl, discovered by Dorothy Garrod			Devil's Tower cave, Gibraltar
1953–1957	Ralph Solecki uncovered nine Neanderthal skeletons in Shanidar Cave, Kurdistan	A Mousterian layer which contained hundreds of stone tools including points, side-scrapers, flakes and bones, good condition of fossils yields data and information on individual specimen.	35,000 to 65,000 years BP.	Irak	Shanidar 1, survived severe injuries attributed to care from other members of his band, Shanidar 4, lay beside a flower that might be explained as evidence of burial rituals - or animal action.
1961-1964	Amud 1 - the skeleton of an adult male about 25 years old by University of Tokyo expeditions	Amud 1 has a cranial capacity of about 1,740 cubic cm (106 cubic inches), which is significantly larger than the average capacity of modern humans. Nonetheless, the skull has Neanderthal features, with browridges and a receding forehead.	50,000 to 70,000 years BP.	Nahal Amud Upper Galilee	evidence of Neanderthal habitation and Mousterian toolmaking were revealed, including flaked blades and points as well as deer, cattle, horse, pig, and fox remains.[71]
1975	Erik Trinkaus' study of Neanderthal feet confirmed they walked like modern humans.
1981	Teeth and part of a jawbone at the Bontnewydd Palaeolithic site by Dr Stephen Aldhouse Green	The teeth show evidence of taurodontism, enlarged pulp cavities and short roots, which is characteristic of Neanderthals, and although it is not unique to them it is one of the reasons that the species was identified as Neanderthal	230,000 years BP.	near St Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales	the most north-western fossil site in Eurasia.
1982-1987	"Moshe" skeleton discovered in 1982 by Professor Ofer Bar-Yosef	In 1987 Thermo-luminescence results date Neanderthals at Kebara ("Moshe") to 60,000 BP. Electron spin resonance (ESR) date Es Skhul to 80,000 BP.	60,000 to 80,000 years BP.	Es Skhul, Israel	Neanderthals present in the region from 200,000 to 45,000 BP.
1991	The Tabun Cave contains a Neanderthal-type female	ESR dates showed the Tabun Neanderthal was contemporaneous with modern humans from Skhul and Qafzeh.	120,000 years BP.	Nahal Me'arot Nature Reserve, Israel	The cave was occupied intermittently during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic ages (500,000 to around 40,000 years ago).
1993	The Scladina Neanderthal child.	The specimen includes a partial cranium and jaw bone, yielding a 127,000 years DNA sample extracted from a tooth molar. He or she is thought to be 8 years and 17 days old at the time of death	100–127,000 years BP.	Scladina, Andenne, Belgium	Two Neanderthal occupations were identified: one dating from 130,000 years, and the other 40 000 years.
1994	The Sidrón Cave Neanderthal discovery	remains of least 12 individuals: three men, three adolescent boys, three women, and three infants inadvertently uncovered. In 2009 Neanderthal ancient mtDNA was partially sequenced in HVR region for three distinct Neanderthals there.		Piloña municipality, Asturias, northwestern Spain	The first sequencing of the Neanderthal Y chromosome was successfully completed from a specimen from Sidrón Cave[72][73]
1997		Matthias Krings et al. are the first to amplify Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) using a specimen from the Feldhofer grotto in the Neander valley[74]		Germany
1997–2000		During new excavations in the Neandertal, additional bone fragments are found, some of which fit the fragments found in 1856, thus pinpointing the exact location of the original find. The exact location had previously been unknown, as the site of the find (the „Kleine Feldhofer Grotte“) was destroyed by limestone mining.[75]		Germany
1998	The Lapedo child by archeologist João Zilhão	an early Upper Paleolithic human burial in which provided evidence of early modern humans from the west of the Iberian Peninsula. The remains, a largely complete skeleton of an approximately 4-year-old child, buried with pierced shell and red ochre[76]	24,500 years BP.	Abrigo do Lagar Velho, Portugal	The cranium, mandible, dentition, and postcrania present a mosaic of European early modern human and Neanderthal features.
2000	Neanderthal infant of Mezmaiskaya Cave by Igor Ovchinnikov et al.	Ancient DNA was recovered for a mtDNA sequence showing 3.48% divergence from that of Neanderthal 1, some 2,500 km (1,553 mi) to the west. Phylogenetic analysis places the two in a clade distinct from modern humans, suggesting that their mtDNA types have not contributed to the modern human mtDNA pool.[77]	29,195 ± 965 years B.P..	Russian Republic of Adygea, Caucasus Mountains
2005	The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology launched the Neanderthal genome project[78]	In co-operation with Connecticut-based 454 Life Sciences and the Institute of Quaternary Paleontology and Geology in Zagreb, Croatia. In 2009, the Max Planck Institute announced the "first draft" of a complete Neanderthal genome is completed.[79]
2010		Comparison of Neanderthal genome with modern humans from Africa and Eurasia shows that 1–4% of modern non-African human genome might come from the Neanderthals.
2010		Discovery of Neanderthal tools far away from the influence of H. sapiens indicate that the species might have been able to create and evolve tools on its own, and therefore be more intelligent than previously thought. Furthermore, it was proposed that the Neanderthals might be more closely related to Homo sapiens than previously thought and that may in fact be a subspecies of it. Evidence has more recently emerged that these artifacts are probably of H. sapiens sapiens origin.[80][81]				[[File:|100 px|]]
2012		Charcoal found next to six paintings of seals in the Nerja caves, Malaga, Spain, has been dated to be between 42,300 and 43,500 years old. The paintings themselves have not been dated until 2014 and if their pigment matches the date of the charcoal, they would be the oldest known cave paintings. José Luis Sanchidrián at the University of Cordoba, Spain believes the paintings are more likely to have been painted by Neanderthals than early modern humans.[82][83]
2013	An individual’s jaw, which was unearthed at the Riparo di Mezzena rock-shelter[84]	The jawbone has features intermediate between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens suggesting it could be a hybrid. The mitochondrial DNA is Neanderthal.	40,000-30,000 years BP.	Riparo di Mezzena, Monti Lessini region, Italy.
2014	Researchers at the University of Colorado Museum in Boulder	Neanderthals were not less intelligent than modern humans and "single-factor explanations for the disappearance of the Neandertals are not warranted any more."[85]				[[File:|100 px|]]
2014	Prof Thomas Higham of the University of Oxford	The most comprehensive dating of Neanderthal bones and tools ever carried out, which demonstrated that Neanderthals died out in Europe between 41,000 and 39,000 years ago.[86][87]				[[File:|100 px|]]

Chronology

Behavior

The behavioral patterns of the Neanderthals are inferred from their anatomy in combination with the fossil record, the remains and debris they left behind at caves, rock shelters and a number of open air settlements. On the contrary behavior has become the key factor in explaining the variability of the archaeological record.

Neanderthals shared a number of important characteristics with modern humans, such as large brains, manual dexterity and bipedal walking ability, tool use and production, which requires a certain degree of social sophistication. However, Neanderthals lived in relatively small and territorial more isolated groups. Generally small sites and the considerable depth of bone and debris pits suggests that they frequently migrated but retured to the same locations often.^[100]

The materials left behind show only minor variations among sites and their foraging systems were considerably less efficient than those of modern human hunter-gatherers, without planned differential use of the landscape necessitating more-muscular limbs and greater endurance.^{[101][102][103]}

Regional differences

Habitat and culture of "classical Neandertals" since about 125,000 years ago stretched from western Europe all the way to the Levant in the Middle East and beyond the Crimean Peninsula towards Siberia.^[104] Behavior was influenced by climate, terrain, seasonal access to drinking water, the presence of game and other food-resources. Migrations patterns were influenced by the search for raw materials for stone tools.

Elmenteitan

Elmenteitan

Alternative names	Elmenteitan Culture
Geographical range	Kenya, Africa
Period	Mesolithic, Neolithic
Dates	around 3,300 to 1,300 BP
Type site	Gamble's Cave
Major sites	Gamble's Cave, Gogo Falls, Njoro River Cave
Preceded by	Kenya Stillbay, Highland Savanna PN
Followed by	Kenya Wilton

The Elmenteitan culture was a prehistoric lithic industry and pottery tradition with a distinct pattern of land use, hunting and pastoral practice that appeared on the western plains of Kenya, East Africa during the Mesolithic.^[105]

Since the late Neolithic continuous food-production, animal domestication and morturary rituals are documented. Progress and growth and continuity is related to wetter periods of increased precipitation, caused by pleistocene fluctuations and retreaing ice sheets.^[106][107]

It was named by Louis Leakey after Lake Elmenteita (also Elementaita), a soda lake, located in the Great Rift Valley, about 120 km (75 mi) northwest of Nairobi.^[108]

Typical object and artifact

The Elmenteitan was first described in 1931 by Louis Leakey who excavated at the Gamble's Cave and in 1938 at the Njoro River Cave. Leakey had noticed a locally distinct cluster of the lithic industry and a universal pottery tradition in a restricted area on the plains west of the central Great Rift Valley and at the Mau Escarpment.^[112] Many tool types are present that were common during the Aurignacian, but the Elmenteitan is distinguished by the high percentage of long symmetrical two-edged obsidian blades which were used unmodified and also served as blanks for a great variety of smaller tools.^[113]

All Elmenteitan excavation sites are associated with potsherds where pottery was fully developed. Ceramic vessels are mainly undecorated. Several rare, but very distinctive ornamental designs such as irregular punctuations and rim millings were found. Occationally small bowls with outturned rims, handles with holes or horizontal lugs were discovered. ^[114]

Canadian Arctic Tundra
Auyuittuq National Park, Baffin Island
Area: 1,420,000 km2 (550,000 sq mi)
climate : ET
biome: Tundra
elevation: max. 2,500 m (8,200 ft)
coordinates: N 83°4′N 74°10′W / 83.067°N 74.167°W / 83.067; -74.167, S 62°22′N 79°38′W / 62.367°N 79.633°W / 62.367; -79.633, E 66°37′N 61°17′W / 66.617°N 61.283°W / 66.617; -61.283, W 72°2′N 125°37′W / 72.033°N 125.617°W / 72.033; -125.617
Geology:
Canadian tundra (light grey area)
Country: Canada
Protection:

The Canadian Arctic Tundra occupies the immediate regions north of the

Being part of the global tundra belt of the northern hemisphere Canada's tundra is characterized by extreme conditions with year round frozen grounds, long, cold winters, a very short growing season and precipitation lower than most deserts. The fact of low precipitation requires the classification of the tundra as a (cold) desert, yet permafrost causes even lower degrees of drainage and evaporation and as a result the ground, lakes and glaciers hold large quantities of fresh water.

Harsh environmental and weather conditions, slow growth, poor soils, lacking resources and nutrients, barly any variants of land forms support to highly adapted and migratory life forms only. Biodiversity is one dimensional and only sustainable for brief periods of appropriate conditions. Hundreds of species of flowering plants reproduce by budding and division rather than by interaction with insects. ^[116][117]

Prolonged periods without sun light, frozen soils and strong winds prevent substantial tree growth.

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Western imperialism in Asia

Part of a series on
New Imperialism
History
Western imperialism in Asia Great Game Scramble for Africa Historiography of the British Empire
Theory
The Expansion of England Gentlemanly capitalism The Imperialism of Free Trade Imperialism: A Study Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism Porter–MacKenzie debate
See also
Imperialism Colonialism Decolonization
v t e

Western imperialism in Asia has its origins in European traders seeking unrestricted and independent trade with India and the Southeast Asian spice islands or the East Indies after the Ottoman empire had completely shut the Eurasian trade routes in the eastern Mediterranean by the late 15th century. This the Age of Discovery, and the introduction of early modern warfare into what was then called the Far East. By the early 16th century the Age of Sail greatly expanded Western European influence and development of the Spice Trade under colonialism. There has been a presence of Western European colonial empires and imperialism in Asia throughout six centuries of colonialism, formally ending with the independence of the Portuguese Empire's last colony East Timor in 2002. The empires introduced Western concepts of nation and the multinational state. This article attempts to outline the consequent development of the Western concept of the nation state.

The thrust of European political power, commerce, and culture in Asia gave rise to growing trade in

Before the