Experts suggest Neanderthals are our closest extinct relative. In many ways, we’re alike: We are both hunter gatherers who have mastered the use of stone tools and weapons. But experts also agree that we have our differences.
Those differences are seen in a split from a common ancestor more than half a million years ago. Still, the species that connects us has long eluded scientists.
Searching for the Missing Link in Evolution
Experts thought Homo heidelbergensis was the missing link — an early human species known to be the first to build shelters — but newer research has called this theory into question.
