Uomo di Neandertal o Neanderthal è un ominide affine ad'Homo sapiens che visse in un periodo compreso tra i 300 000 ei 30000 years ago. It takes its name from the Neander valley (Neanderthal) near Düsseldorf in Germany, where the first fossil remains were found in 1856. It was widespread in a vast territory that goes from Western Europe to Siberia, and from Northern Europe to the Middle East. From a morphological point of view, the classic Neanderthal has a voluminous and "elongated" antero-posterior brain case, with a marked supraorbital torus, followed by a receding forehead and a general lateral and occipital bone swelling called chignon. the Neanderthal has extremely robust bones with very marked muscular insertions, probably the result of a strong selective pressure induced by the harsh climate, as a basically stocky build is more advantageous for maintaining body heat. The average height was about 160 cm and a body mass of about 72 kg. However, regional morphological variations are observed, such as for example in the contexts of the Near East, where some morphological traits of the skeletal, cranial and post-cranial systems are less marked than those found in Europe. Late Pleistocene Neanderthals represent the archaic human group for which important genetic information is available. In addition to data relating to small fragments of mitochondrial DNA obtained from numerous specimens, about twenty individuals were also sequenced ten complete genomes. These data have allowed us to reconstruct the evolutionary relationships between Neanderthals and Sapiens, estimating a time of divergence of the two lineages in a period between 750-550 thousand years ago. Furthermore, the study of the Neanderthal genome has also made it possible to highlight phenomena of hybridization with other species. In fact, it is observed that the current non-African populations share with the Neanderthals a percentage of their genome that is between 1.4 and 2.4%; this evidence is related to the fact that hybridization between Neanderthals and Sapiens presumably occurred before the divergence between Europeans, Asians and Papuans, in a period of time between 60 and 50 thousand years ago. Evidence of other hybridizations have also been documented between Neanderthals and Denisovans (extinct human form that lived mainly in the current area of the Altai mountains in China). Numerous cultural aspects are observed in the Neanderthals including the importance of fire in everyday life (documented by numerous hearths, burnt bone remains, as well as by the processing of wooden tools and the heating of birch tar for fixing stone tools). In some sites, for example, the Neanderthal appropriately organized the living space, with areas dedicated to the consumption of animal foods, the production of stone tools, and probably to rest. The study of the traces of wear on the lithic tools indicates their use for butchering and scraping the hides but not only: they were used to carve vegetables for food and even therapeutic purposes as evidenced by the discovery of poplar DNA (which contains acetyl salicytic acid) and of Penicillium in Neanderthal Tartarus The exploitation of the claw feathers of large birds of prey and, more rarely, of shells are some of the main evidences not attributable to the utilitarian sphere of the Neanderthals. Furthermore, some rock art manifestations in three Spanish caves have recently been attributed to the Neanderthal which, if confirmed, would denote cognitive abilities similar to those we are accustomed to recognizing in Sapiens even if there are still uncertainties about the dating (about 60 thousand years ago), and therefore on the attribution of these testimonies to the Neanderthal. The relationship that the Neanderthal had with death is another very important aspect that goes from the burial of the dead to the practice of cannibalism. The reasons that led the Neanderthals to feed on their own kind are not yet clear, but on the basis of ethnographic comparisons, it is thought that they can be traced back to ritual manifestations or more probably to a state of necessity generated by the scarcity of food. The disappearance of the Neanderthals, which occurred about 40 thousand years ago, remains a hotly debated topic. Many hypotheses have been proposed. However, the most accredited are three. The first refers to demographic factors, the second, to environmental factors, such as infectious agents brought to Europe by African Sapiens groups, or by the arid and cold conditions which, on the whole, have caused rapid change in the environment, the third, instead, suggests that the cause of the extinction of the Neanderthals is due to the arrival of the Sapiens and the consequent competition that developed for the exploitation of the same resources.