“This is a complex being,” Gurche says of Neanderthal, Homo neanderthalensis, who disappeared some 30,000 years ago after a nearly 200,000-year run. “Some people argue that Neanderthals were as sophisticated as we are.” They buried their dead and likely used pigments to decorate their bodies and clothes. This particular Neanderthal, Gurche points out, is the only hominid in the museum series that appears to have styled its hair.
“A lot of the features of the Neanderthal face were related to cold adaptation,” Gurche says. “They have really large noses, and some people have argued that this is to warm and humidify cold, dry air as it comes in.”