In 1856, some miners had the unenviable task of clearing out a small cave in the quarry where they were working.

As they did so, they came across some bones, arm bones, leg bones and ribs, and the top of a skull.

As far as the miners were concerned, these remains were not human, but bare.

And that assumption was not unreasonable, but bare they were not.

Within a year they had been identified as something more human than bear, but not quite the same as us.

That was the view of a local schoolteacher who, with the support of a university anthropologist,

identified the remains as belonging to an archaic human species.

It was certainly closer to us than any ape, and like us, walked on two legs.

But its shape and frame were outside the range of any known homo sapiens, outside the range of us.

A different view was again put forward in the 1870s by a pathologist, who thought that the bones did belong to one of us, but to an unfortunate

individual who suffered deformity. By the early 20th century, it was the schoolteacher's view

that had prevailed.

The species itself was named from the Neander Valley in Germany, where the discovery had been made, giving us Homo Neanderthalus, Neanderthal Man.

Once the initial discovery was made,

older discoveries were identified as belonging to the same species,

and further remains were found.

In comparison to Homo sapiens,

the Neanderthals had heavy-set projecting brows,

swept back cheekbones,

smaller chins, bigger chests, and flaring pelvices.

On present evidence, the Neanderthals were largely confined to Europe,

but also present in the Middle East and into Western Asia.

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