NEANDERTHAL MUSEUM
Hangin’ with the Caveman near Dusseldorf
New
discovery! Did Neanderthal Man have television?! Well, no, but he does
have a new museum. At least, new in caveman years. The Neanderthal
Museum a few miles from the North Rhine Westphalia capital of Dusseldorf
has been telling the Neanderthal story since 1996. It was the discovery
of skeletal bone fragments in a limestone cave, found while mining in
the Valley of the Neander (Neander Tal) in 1856, that marked the beginning
of human
paleontology as a science.
The discovery was pretty much ignored until
the publishing of Darwin’s “Origin
of Species” two years later and
the excitement of proof of an earlier relative of man ignited the search
for others.
It was the discovery of “Neanderthal Man” in the Feldhofer
Cave that earned man’s earlier relative the nickname “Caveman”.
If other discoveries of early humanoids had come at the time, early man
might be called “Field Man” or “Gully Man”, "Riverside
Man" or even "Stuck in the Mud Man" but caveman has a
nice ring to it, and makes for a pretty funny TV ad campaign.
Exhibits of the Neanderthal Museum
The Neanderthal
Museum has
five floors of exhibits following a spiral ramp walkway through interactive
exhibitions, models, diagrams
and artifacts.
The museum, perhaps a loose interpretation of the word, does not have
a major collection of actual bones. Those were long ago claimed by other
museums around the world. The skeletons and bones that are on display
are replicas and this
exhibition space is more a telling of the story of human evolution and
history
of the Neanderthal discovery 
site. The exhibits expand beyond
the Neander to other evolutionary discoveries and megalith sites, to
represent five phases of human development - Life
and Survival, Tools and Knowledge, Myth and Religion, Environment and
Nutrition, Communication and Society. Life size figures of the Neanderthals
are represented throughout the space, providing an opportunity to come
face-to-face with an early long lost relative. (Family alert, there is
a naked cave lady, but she's kinda ugly and cave women apparently had
no fashion sense). Audio-visual
displays and hands on scientist boxes allow
for
an explorative
approach
to the
experience.
Kids at the Neanderthal Museum
The
museum is very popular and fun for wide-eyed kids and families. A photo
booth in the gift shop will morph you into the image
of a cave dweller. A Stone Age Handcrafts Workshop allows children a
chance to make their own stone
age tools,
advance reservation
for this
activity
is advised. Audio tour guides are available
in English and tour groups can be arranged.
Neanderthal Discovery Site
The site of the actual discovery
is a few hundred yards
from to museum, down a footpath following the Dussel River. The actual
cave, the Feldhoffer Grotte, was destroyed long ago, but its location
is marked by a grid of where the finds were made, and the discovery site
is now pretty much a small park with some benches to sit on and contemplate
our humble beginnings. Earphones from the museum will explain facts about
the valley and its history.
Visiting the Neaderthal Muesum
The Neanderthal Museum, between the towns of Erkrath and Mettman, is
open Tuesday through Sunday 10am to 6pm. Admission is €11 for adults, €9 for students and seniors, €7
for children, with a family discount of 20%. It can be reached by car
off
the
A3 Motorway
from
Dusseldorf
to Wuppertal at the Hilden exit or the A46 Haan-West exit. By train,
the S28 runs to the Neanderthal stop, 5 minutes walk or the S8 stops
at Hochdahl, 15 minutes walk.
Okay, the exhibit with
the caveman in front of a television is not meant to suggest that Neanderthal
Man watches his own caveman
TV commercials.
It just shows a movie demonstrating how early man made his tools. Neanderthal
Man did not have television. That's silly. He mostly watched DVDs,
back in the old days before Ipads. Or he might be watching news about
himself, as scientists have recently discovered some of his DNA genome
in modern
European
man. © Bargain
Travel Europe
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Neanderthal
Museum
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FAIR
STUTTGART
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