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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.

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. 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. 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.

The Neanderthal Museum at Mettman is open Tuesday through Sunday 10am to 6pm. It can be reached by car off the A3 Motorway between Dusseldorf and 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. Admission is €8 for adults, €4 for children, with a family discount of 20%.

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. © Bargain Travel Europe

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See Also:

BOPPARD WINE VILLAGE ON THE RHINE

STUTTGART MUSEUMS

GERMAN WINE ROAD - WEINSTRASSE

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