The biggest myths about Neanderthals

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Bruce Hardy |

TED-Ed

• February 2026

In 1856, quarriers working in Germany’s Neander Valley discovered several mysterious fossils. The remains changed hands until being identified as the skullcap and femur bones of something ancient and human, but not quite us. It soon became clear they belonged to an extinct human species— the first ever known to science: Neanderthals. Bruce Hardy explores what happened to our evolutionary cousins. [Directed by Daniel Harisberger, Team Tumult, narrated by Adrian Dannatt, music by Ardie Son, Francesco D'Andrea, Bishara Haroni, Roie Shpigler, Borrtex, Nobou].