Old Stone Age · 400,000-40,000 years ago

Neanderthals: our closest cousins

For hundreds of thousands of years Europe and western Asia belonged to another kind of human. Students meet the Neanderthals through the caves where they lived, and find out what their DNA in us reveals.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
45 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, 20000 BC
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

For hundreds of thousands of years Europe and western Asia belonged to another kind of human. Students meet the Neanderthals through the caves where they lived, and find out what their DNA in us reveals.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Describe who the Neanderthals were, where they lived and when they died out.
  • Use evidence from caves and DNA to explain how we know about Neanderthals.
  • Weigh at least two explanations for why the Neanderthals disappeared.
2

Explore the map

12 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

20000 BC

An Ice Age Europe

Open the map in 20,000 BC and turn on Ice Age Seas. Neanderthals lived through several ice ages like this one. Which seas have shrunk, and where has new land appeared off the coasts of Europe?

Open this view on the map
b

20000 BC

The Neander Valley

Zoom in east of the Rhine near Düsseldorf. In the Neander Valley, quarry workers found bones in 1856 that gave the Neanderthals their name. Which big river flows close by?

Open this view on the map
c

20000 BC

East to Siberia

Travel east to the Altai Mountains in Siberia. In Denisova Cave scientists found the DNA of another group of humans, the Denisovans. Why do you think cold caves keep old bones so well?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

14 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. Neanderthals made stone tools, controlled fire and cared for injured members of their group. What does that tell us about them?
  2. For a long time Neanderthals were drawn as brutish cavemen. Why do you think that picture has changed?
  3. Many people today carry a small amount of Neanderthal DNA. What does that show about how our ancestors met them?
  4. Scientists disagree about why the Neanderthals died out. Which explanation seems most likely to you, and why?
  5. How can DNA from a tiny piece of bone tell us about a whole group of people?
4

Game round

9 min

Rule History has no Stone Age rulers; its earliest ruler is Hatshepsut, about 3,500 years ago. Play one round as Hatshepsut and compare: she ruled a whole kingdom, while a Neanderthal group was probably a small band of relatives. How would decisions be made in such a small group?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.