Q 01/05

Roughly when did Neanderthals become extinct?

A) About 10,000 years ago

B) About 200,000 years ago

C) About 4,000 years ago

D) About 40,000 years ago

Answer · why

D) About 40,000 years ago

Populations in Gibraltar and southern Spain may have held on for several thousand years longer.

Q 02/05

In which country was the first recognised Neanderthal fossil, Neanderthal 1, discovered in 1856?

A) Croatia

B) France

C) Belgium

D) Germany

Answer · why

D) Germany

Schoolteacher Johann Carl Fuhlrott recognised the bones from the Kleine Feldhofer Grotte as distinct from modern humans.

Q 03/05

After whom was the Neander Valley named?

A) A geologist

B) A local duke

C) A hymn writer

D) A coal miner

Answer · why

C) A hymn writer

Joachim Neander's grandfather had changed the family name from Neumann to its Greek form, meaning "new man".

Q 04/05

What did the family name Neander originally mean before it was Hellenised from Neumann?

A) Old man

B) Wise man

C) Cave man

D) New man

Answer · why

D) New man

That makes "Neanderthal" a fitting name for a newly recognised kind of human.

Q 05/05

Which German spelling change explains why the valley is now Neandertal while the species keeps the "th"?

A) The one of 1901

B) The one of 1871

C) The one of 1848

D) The one of 1996

Answer · why

A) The one of 1901

The scientific name Homo neanderthalensis keeps the th under the principle of priority.