Regions of the World Where Neanderthals Lived

First Discovery

Darwin's theory of evolution caused great controversy and changed scientific perception forever.Photos.com/Photos.com/Getty Images

At first, it was believed that the bones found in the Neander River Valley were from some kind of bear. When German paleontologists and medical pathologists examined the fossils, they speculated that the bones belonged to a Russian czar from the Napoleonic Wars or perhaps a Dutchman or a Central Asian soldier. The idea that the remains belonged to a pre-historic species of human was inconceivable to them. It was not until after Charles Darwin's "Origin of the Species" in 1859 that scientists began looking at the fossil remains from a new perspective. Subsequently, the remains of more than 400 Neanderthals have been discovered throughout Europe, Western Asia and the Middle East.

An important genetic study published in 2009, headed by Virginie Fabre, Silvana Condemi and Anna Degioanni at the Laboratoire d'Anthropologie Bio-culturelle, Université de la Méditerranée in Marseille, France suggested that there were three genetically distinct populations of Neanderthals living in western Asia, western Europe and southern Europe.

The oldest Neanderthal fossils were found in Italy.Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images

While the second oldest Neanderthal fossils were found in Saccopastore, Italy (129,000 years old), other remains found at Mt. Circeo, Italy dated back 32,000 years. Neanderthal fossils in Gibraltar were found at Forbe's Quarry that dated back 70,000 years and at Gorham's Cave to 32,000.

The Neanderthals lived throughout the Middle East 130,000 years agoHemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images

The oldest Neanderthal fossils, dating back 130,000 years, were discovered in Krapina, Croatia. Neanderthal remains between 47,000 and 103,000 years old were discovered in Israel, in the areas of Tabun, Kebara and Amud. In the Obi-Rakhmat and Anghilak region of Uzbekistan, Neanderthal fossils date from 53,000 to 100,000 years old. In Shanidar, Iraq, they date back to between 35,000 to 65,000 years. Fossils found in Mezmalskaya, Russia dated back to between 60,000 and 70,000 years and in Romania, to 32,000 years ago.

Neanderthal remains in France date as far back as 75,000 years in La Ferassie and La Quina, to 56,000 years in La Chapelle-aux-Saints, to 40,000 year in Le Moustier and 36,000 years in St Césaire.

Interbreeding between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens took place in southwest Asia.Hemera Technologies/AbleStock.com/Getty Images

When the Neanderthal genome study was compete in 2009, it was discovered that Neanderthal and modern human genomes began to diverge about 800,000 years ago and that Neanderthals and modern man became "genetically distinct" only 300,000 years ago. The genome study also indicated that that some interbreeding took place about 50,000 to 80,000 years ago, most likely in southwest Asia (modern day Iraq and Israel), between the Homo sapiens migrating out of Africa and the Neanderthals migrating east from Europe. Richard Green of the University of California, Santa Cruz announced the results of his genetic studies that modern Europeans and Asians have between 1 to 4 percent of Neanderthal DNA.