Sites: La Chapelle-aux-Saints, St Césaire, Vindija, La Ferassie (Europe); Tabun, Kebara, Shanidar (Middle East)
Age: 400 000 to 30 000 years ago (Late Pleistocene) Type specimen: Neander Valley Specimens: Tabun, La Chapelle-aux-Saints, Shanidar 1, Krapina Cranial capacity: ± 1520 cm3 Cranial architecture: Large cranial capacity. Large, long, low skull which bulges at the sides. Occipital bun. Browridges are non-continuous, arches over orbits. Projecting face with large nose. Absent or slight chin. Dentition: Decreasing size. Postcranial: Very robust, barrel-chested, very muscled, short limbs. Environment: Length and weight: Avg. male height ± 165cm. Tools: Mousterian culture with refined stone tools. Open sites or caves. Successful hunters. Symbolic behaviour, with deliberate burials. Capable of speech. Ancestor: H. erectus or early archaics Descendants: Probably none. General: Occurred in Europe and the Middle East only. Co-existed with anatomically modern humans. Probably a dead-end. |