For over 400,000 years, Neanderthals thrived across the European continent. Recent discoveries in Southern Europe are shedding new light on their culture and fate, prompting a paradigm shift in the way we perceive our closest relatives. Many of the answers to unresolved questions are emerging from archaeological sites in Portugal, Spain, and Gibraltar.

These latest findings have allowed us to reconstruct the life of a species that inhabited the southern Iberian Peninsula more than anywhere else in the world, making this region the Neanderthals’ final refuge. Modern geological research, DNA analysis, and advanced 3D archaeology reveal that Neanderthals buried their dead, foraged for shellfish along southern Iberian beaches, cared for the sick, and interbred with modern humans. Recent studies suggest they were capable of symbolic thought, as evidenced by one of the oldest Neanderthal cave paintings ever discovered, found in southern Spain. Yet one key question remains unanswered: Why are they no longer here?

“The last traces of the Neanderthal” is an emotional journey through time, unraveling the mysteries of our closest ancestors while following a new generation of scientists at the cutting edge of knowledge.

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