At first the German workmen thought they had found the remains of an extinct cave bear. Quarrying for limestone on a summer day in 1856, they had blasted open a small cave on the side of a gorge called Neanderthal (Neander Valley), near Dusseldorf, and were digging up the cave floor with pickaxes when they came upon the strange skull and sturdy bones. Setting the skeletal remains aside, they kept digging, never dreaming that their discovery would soon spark confusion, dismay and heated debate that has continued to this day.
Those bones (and others since unearthed as far away as England...
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