Decoding Neanderthals

Over 60,000 years ago, the first modern humans—people physically identical to us today—left their African homeland and entered Europe, then a bleak and inhospitable continent in the grip of the Ice Age. But when they arrived, they were not alone: the stocky, powerfully built Neanderthals had already been living there for hundred of thousands of years.

Virtual autopsies paint remarkably informative pictures of a body's post-mortem condition. Watch Dr. Anders Persson and his team get under the virtual skin of a victim in order to uncover more information about his death.

The world’s first industrial process likely began with the Neanderthals. In this video, watch as NOVA reenacts the Neanderthal technique of pitch extraction through a complex called dry distillation.

Until recently, scientists have encountered scant evidence of Neanderthal ritual or religious practice. A new discovery, though, suggests that Neanderthals—much like today’s bear hunters—ceremoniously cut off panther paws and kept them as trophies.