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Ark of Secrets - Neolithic spirit alive in the Middle Ages

Visiting the Past: Finding and Understanding Britain's Archaeology

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Neandertal bei Mettmann - Ancient Village or Settlement in Germany in North Rhine-Westphalia

Submitted by Andreas on Sunday, 19 June 2011  Page Views: 6681

Mesolithic, Palaeolithic and EarlierSite Name: Neandertal bei Mettmann
Country: Germany Land: North Rhine-Westphalia Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Town: Mettmann  Nearest Village: Hochdahl
Latitude: 51.226940N  Longitude: 6.950560E
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
1 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
4 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
3

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Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Andreas : view to Neanderthal Museum (photo from June 2011) (Vote or comment on this photo)
In 1856 two quarrymen found 16 bones in one of the several little caves of the Neandertal ("Neander Valley"). This particular cave, located about 20 metres above the ground level, was known as Kleine Feldhofer Grotte ("Little Feldhofer grotto").


The owner of the quarry immediately informed the teacher and natural scientist Johann Carl Fuhlrott (1803-1877), who defined the bones as the remains of a prehistorical human.
Decades later, after a harsh controverse which demonstrated the embarassingly low scientific standard of some of the most reputed German natural scientists at this time, the discovery including Fuhlrott's definition of the find was finally accepted. The members of this human subspecies became known as Neanderthals.

The valley's name relates to the theologian and hymn writer Joachim Neander (1650-1680). One of Neander's ancestors, following a fashion of his time, had changed his German name (Neumann) into the greek variation "Neander". Otherwise the prehistoric humans would probably have had been named as "Neumannsthals" respectively "Neumannstaler".
The valley itself had been a beautiful landscape. Already since the early 18th century it was known as a popular excursionists' area.
However, in spite of this, in the second half of the 19th century the neighbouring rocks were almost completely destroyed due to the exploitation of limestone, whereas exhorting voices were ignored. Just some small remains of the rocks survived. One of them is situated about 130 m southeast of the find place. It's known as Rabenstein ("Ravens Stone"). According to a local legend a robber-baron named Veit used the rock as his observation tower.

At least 9 caves, as well as the potentially belonging remains of paleolithic settlements were totally destroyed.
After the destruction of the area the exact place of discovery was thought to be lost. However, during an excavation in 1997 and 2000 several middle paleolithic artefacts, among them handaxes, knifes and scrapers, as well as several bone fragments of three individuals were found. Surprisingly some of these fragments were remains of the same individual as the bones from 1856. So the place of discovery was found again. Moreover, the name-giving Neanderthal's skeleton got some additions.

This Neanderthal was a man between (probably) 50 and 60 years.
His left arm showed traces of a heavy injury and a following handicap. However, in spite of this, he reached a rather old age. This seems to be an example for a kind of social care and solidarity of the Neanderthals.

The dead was not only buried at this site. Furthermore the site, situated about 30-35 m south of the small Düssel river, had been used as a "resting place" (or the like) by one or more groups of Neanderthals.

A few years ago a hypothetical reconstruction of this man was produced. This reconstruction seems to be much better than the older attempts which mostly showed a foolishly appearing muscle man, usually with a wooden club. (Of course there had never been any archaeological evidence for a club or something similar.)
The new reonstruction-attempt, as well as copies of his bones and lots of palaeolithic artefacts, is exhibited in the Neanderthal Museum at Mettmann.
The actual bones had been sold to Rheinisches Landesmuseum at Bonn in the year 1877.

The find place is situated about 300 metres west of Neanderthal Museum. It has been elaborated as a symbolic "archaeological park".
(The coordinates above relate to the museum.)

The acivities of the "local" Neanderthals seem to date from about 40-45.000 BP.
Later, as several found tools from upper paleolithic show, the site was reused by some Cro-Magnon people (about 30.000 BP).


References:
R.W.Schmitz/ G.C.Weniger: Das Neandertal- eine faszinierende Erinnerungslandschaft, Köln 2003
G.C. Weniger: Mettmann- Fundort Neandertal, in: H.G.Horn (Ed.): Neandertaler + Co., Eiszeitjägern auf der Spur- Streifzüge durch die Urgeschichte Nordrhein-Westfalens, Mainz 2006, p. 183-187
R.W.Schmitz: Aktuelle Forschungen am Neandertaler von 1856 und die Wiederentdeckung seiner Fundstelle, in: Roots//Wurzeln der Menschheit, Bonn/ Mainz 2006, p. 117-122
etc.
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Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Harald_Platta : This is Kina. Her face was reconstructed based on the skull of an approximately seven year old Neanderthal girl. She was named after La Quina (France), where she and 19 other Neanderthals were deposited under a ledge, indicating a possible burial site. She died 65,000 years ago. Kina was reconstructed by Adrie und Alfons Kennis for the Neanderthal Museum (Mettmann, Germany) in 2015. The face ... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Creative Commons : This is Oase 2. Oase 2 is the reconstruction of an early (between 37,000 and 42,000 years old) European Homo sapiens based on bones found in the cave Peştera cu Oase (Romania). This upper Palaeolithic human exhibited around 7.3% Neanderthal DNA from an ancestor four to six generations back. The figure is shown in the Neanderthal Museum in Mettmann, Germany. Daniela Hitzemann (photograph), CC... (Vote or comment on this photo)

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Jonik : Animals that are 'back bred' to resemble the aurochs, according to the museum. These are in the adjoining Ice Age animal park. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Jonik : Display. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Harald_Platta : Stamp from 2006, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the discovery of the Neanderthal. "Zum Jahr des Neanderthalers 2006 (1856 – 2006) 150 Years of Neanderthal." (Vote or comment on this photo)

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Andreas : human bones and palaeolithic tools, shown in the museum (photo from June 2011)

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Andreas : Rabenstein, situated in the close neighbourhood of the place of discovery, is one of the very last remains of a formerly picturesque rock formation. It's said that a local robber-baron had used it as his observation tower. (photo from June 2011)

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Harald_Platta : This is Mister 4%. The scientific reconstruction of a male Neanderthal is called Mister 4% as a reminder that modern humans outside of Africa exhibit 4% Neanderthal DNA. Even though the anatomic aspects of the figure are based on Neanderthal data, modern hairstyle and clothing was chosen to underline the similarities with modern Homo sapiens. The “classical” and dated idea of a Neandertal...

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Harald_Platta : This is Kina. Her face was reconstructed based on the skull of an approximately seven year old Neanderthal girl. She was named after La Quina (France), where she and 19 other Neanderthals were deposited under a ledge, indicating a possible burial site. She died 65,000 years ago. Kina was reconstructed by Adrie und Alfons Kennis for the Neanderthal Museum (Mettmann, Germany) in 2015. The face ...

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Harald_Platta : This is Mister 4%. The scientific reconstruction of a male Neanderthal is called Mister 4% as a reminder that modern humans outside of Africa exhibit 4% Neanderthal DNA. Even though the anatomic aspects of the figure are based on Neanderthal data, modern hairstyle and clothing was chosen to underline the similarities with modern Homo sapiens. The "classical" and dated idea of a Neandertal can...

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Jonik : Models from display

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Jonik : Skull bone fragments and cast of original type specimen's skull cap.

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Andreas : cleavers (left) and handaxes (right), between 200.000 and 500.000 years old, found in the neighbourhood of the site (photo from June 2011)

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Andreas : This masterpiece from 1928, made by a local sculptor, is located about 300 metres east of the place of discovery. Obviously it shows the Neanderthal's older image, a club-swinging cliché. However, due to its age, meanwhile the monument is accepted as a part of the site's cultural heritage. (photo from 2010)

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Andreas : hypothetical but well done Dermoplastic reconstruction of the name-giving Neanderthal (photo from 2010) (2 comments)

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Andreas : A copy of the name-giving Neanderthal's skeleton can be seen in the Mettmann museum. The original bones are exhibited at Rheinisches Landesmuseum at Bonn. (photo from June 2011)

Neandertal bei Mettmann
Neandertal bei Mettmann submitted by Andreas : the place of discovery (photo from June 2011)

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