Neanderthals were a species that existed on Earth during human prehistory.
Biology
Physically very like humans, they had jutting brow ridges, large noses and stooped postures. However, while stereotyped as brutish by later humans, Nimrod showed intelligence and spoke articulately. (TV: Ghost Light)
Culture
The tribe which Nimrod originally belonged to herded mammoths during the summer for food. They considered the fang of the cave bear to be a sign of wisdom. The tribal elders "spoke with the voice of the Burning One", namely Light. The actions of the Seventh Doctor implied that, at some time in the past, the Doctor had encountered the Neanderthal species some time before. (TV: Ghost Light)
According to the the Fourth Doctor, the Neanderthals could knock up a good Mammoth casserole. (PROSE: The Romance of Crime)
History
Neanderthals evolved in Eurasia around the same time as humans did in Africa, from the same ancestor species. The Neanderthals were mostly wiped out by the humans, with the help of the Dæmons, who for unknown reasons favoured humanity. (TV: The Dæmons) They were believed to be wiped out around 26,000 BC. (PROSE: Only Human)
The Eleventh Doctor arrived with Amy Pond in Birmingham during the Ice Age just in time to save a Neanderthal man from a sabre-toothed tiger. (COMIC: Snow Globe)
Some Neanderthal societies, such as Enkidu's, survived well past the palaeolithic Ice Ages. (PROSE: Timewyrm: Genesys)
Nimrod was preserved as the last specimen of his species as part of the Catalogue of Life by the alien survey team headed by Light. In 1883, Josiah Samuel Smith awoke him and employed him as his butler. (TV: Ghost Light)
A Neanderthal named Das was accidentally transported from 29,185 BC to Bromley in 2006. (PROSE: Only Human)
The Fifth Doctor hoped to observe the point of first contact between the Neanderthals and the Cro-Magnons circa 40000 BC. He failed to witness the event, not realising that his observation of them was the cause of the first contact. (PROSE: Observation)
Other planets
Jack Harkness used the term "neanderthals" to describe primitive humanoid inhabitants of Traxis that coexisted with dinosaurs, mammoths and robots due to a fracture in time. (COMIC: Weapons of Past Destruction)
