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The "first" Neanderthal fossil was found in 1856 in the Neander Valley, near Dusseldorf in Germany, hence Neanderthals. But there were scientists of Gibraltar that dug up Neanderthal fossil’s 8 years earlier in 1848, and then the name would have been quite different! Alas, the fossils were put aside for years and the Germans “got in first”. The first Neanderthal skull was actually found in Gibraltar, some 8 years before the Neander Valley find, that a name was suggested, but that its remarkable meaning was not realized and the skull was put away in a cupboard until news of the German discovery broke As the skull was generally longer and wider, the average cranial capacity of the Neanderthals is found to be slightly larger than that of modern humans; 1500 c.c. compared to 1375 c.c. We can't necessarily say that the Neanderthals were smarter because they had bigger brains