The Neanderthal (Neandertal) is a small valley of the river Düssel in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, near the city of Mettmann. It is best known for the fact that in 1856, fossils of the Homo neanderthalensis were found there.
In 1901 an orthographic reform in Germany changed the spelling of Thal (valley) to Tal. The scientific name and the English spelling of the Neanderthal man were not affected by this change.
The Neandertal was originally a scenic limestone canyon with waterfalls and caves. However, industrial mining during the 19th and 20th centuries removed almost all of the limestone and dramatically changed the shape of the valley. It was during such a mining operation that the bones of the original Neandertal man were found in a cave. Neither the cave nor the cliff in which it was located exist anymore.
The valley was named after Joachim Neander, who lived nearby and loved the valley to give him the inspiration for his compositions. The former name was "Das Gesteins" ("The Rocks").
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