During the 2.5 million years of human evolution, there have been several developmental offshoots. The different hominid branches, however, may be blurred by interbreeding. One European subspecies, Neanderthal, appeared approximately 125,000 years ago. Whether this subspecies eventually gave rise to modern humans is currently a topic of considerable controversy. On one side, researchers argue that modern Homo sapiens evolved gradually from existing hominid populations throughout the world. In contrast, others postulate that H. sapiens developed in Africa 200,000 years ago, and then replaced other archaic hominid types. The truth may be that both arguments are partially correct.
The human lineage began with the emergence of Homo habilis: a hominid that walked upright, had a relatively large brain, and used stone tools. Then, about 1.6 million years ago, H. habilis gave rise to new species, Homo erectus. H. erectus had an even larger brain than his ancestor. This enabled the hominid to migrate out of Africa into much of the Near East, Asia, and Europe. As time passed, the processes of natural selection eventually led to further evolution within the regional H. erectus populations. In Europe, H. erectus gave rise to an essentially modern variety of H. sapiens, Neanderthal.
Named after the location of its original discovery--the Neander Valley in Germany--Neanderthal made tools, used fire, and buried its dead. In fact, analyses of fossil skulls has indicated that Neanderthal brain structure was essentially modern. Their brains were even slightly larger than those of today's humans. The subspecies may, therefore, have had the capacity for primitive language.
Physically, Neanderthal was shorter and more powerfully built than modern humans. The "classic" Neanderthal features include a large head and face, a low-sloping skullcap, a heavy browridge that curves over the eye sockets, receding cheekbones, a weak ch...