The Neanderthal, short for Neanderthal man and sometimes spelled Neandertal, the modern spelling of the location in Germany where the species was first discovered, is an extinct member of the genus Homo known from Pleistocene specimens.
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Neanderthals evolved from early Homo along a path either identical or very similar to modern man, deriving from a chimp-like ancestor between five and 10 million years ago. Neanderthals are related to Australopithecus, H. habilis, and H. ergaster; however, the exact descent remains uncertain. The last common ancestor between anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals appears to be Homo rhodesiensis, typified by an archaic human fossil (Broken hill 1, Kabwe 1) discovered in the territory of Rhodesia in 1921.