Neanderthals have fascinated scientists since they were first discovered in the 19th century. Their long heads and low brow ridges initially convinced experts that Neanderthals were some kind of evolutionary wrong turn that ended up in European caves.
It took more than a century for researchers to prove that Neanderthals were actually quite intelligent and that they interbred with modern humans (Homo sapiens). The number of discoveries related to Neanderthals' biology and culture has skyrocketed in recent years — and 2025 was a noteworthy year. While we learned that Neanderthals had biological features that were strikingly different from modern humans', this year's discoveries also showed that some aspects of their behavior and culture were similar to ours.
