# Any evidence of Neanderthals in North America? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 14, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967 "2002-06-14T02:26:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dr\_hermes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dfb087/32.png) [@dr\_hermes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dr_hermes)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/1 "2002-06-14T02:26:32Z")
I always thought this would make a terrific book or movie. Settlers in the Southwest hear rumours from the Navaho of the “Old Ones” - not the Anasazi, but men with long arms and protruding brows and a language no tribes understand. A handful of reckless cowboys go into the mountains and encounter a surviving colony of Neanderthals. Take it from there. ``` Any evidence that this is possible? You'd have to line up the periods where travel across the Bering Strait into North America was accessible with when the Neanderthals (or similar early humans) flourished. I just think it could be an exciting story as the three groups interact. ``` ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/2 "2002-06-14T02:43:25Z")
I remember reading a good twenty years ago a similar idea. The Europeans were the first H. saps to reach the Americas. The homonid that walked over was (basically) H. erectus. The author was Turtledove (I think) and the stories started in the 1800s while Europeans were colonizing the West. The major theme was how “White men” would treat a human species which really was inferior intellectually. Personally I don’t think he thought through the biogeography fully. There should have been mentions of surviving mastodonts and mammuths, as I don’t think erectus would have been as effective in megafaunal extirpation. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/3 "2002-06-14T03:18:25Z")
[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=5](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=5) Pick a thread, …any thread. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Motog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85e7bf/32.png) [@Motog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motog)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/4 "2002-06-14T03:33:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\*[http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=5](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=5) > > Pick a thread, …any thread. :rolleyes: \*\* **samclem** I clicked on the thread without recognising what it was at first. Took a moment for me to appreciate what you meant then ROTFLMAO ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/5 "2002-06-14T03:44:48Z")
It doesn’t appear likely, based on what I’ve read. Here’s a discussion on the spread of modern man and _perhaps_ Neandertal man in Central and East Asia: [http://www.neanderthal-modern.com/casiasib.htm](http://www.neanderthal-modern.com/casiasib.htm) But as a hijack, check out Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead, which deals with your scenario of relictual Neandertal populations, only set in early medieval Scandinavia. The IMHO underrated film, _The 13th Warrior_, was based on it. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![zen101](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c68b51/32.png) [@zen101](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zen101)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/6 "2002-06-14T04:22:11Z")
There are also scrapbooks from my various family reunions which clearly show some lower hominids engaged in lawn darts and other lawn activities. ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/7 "2002-06-14T15:14:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tamerlane \* > \*\* > But as a hijack, check out Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead, which deals with your scenario of relictual Neandertal populations, only set in early medieval Scandinavia. The IMHO underrated film, _The 13th Warrior_, was based on it. > > - Tamerlane \*\* Wow. That Ibn Fadlan manuscript looks like it would be excellent. Anyone know where I can get a copy? The best lead I found was a photocopy of a translation done as PhD. thesis, currently residing at Carleton College (a bit for from NYC for my purposes). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/8 "2002-06-14T15:21:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrFidelius \* > \*\* > Personally I don’t think he thought through the biogeography fully. There should have been mentions of surviving mastodonts and mammuths, as I don’t think erectus would have been as effective in megafaunal extirpation. \*\* In Turtledove’s stories, there is megafauna. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/9 "2002-06-14T15:24:24Z")
It’s here [http://www.vikinganswerlady.org/ibn\_fdln.htm](http://www.vikinganswerlady.org/ibn_fdln.htm) ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/10 "2002-06-14T16:23:23Z")
Superb! Thanks. Though the page seems to be buggy … I can read the text in the HTML source code, but it doesn’t come up on my screen (just that papyrus-y background shows…). Odd. ---
**Author:** ![shelbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@shelbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shelbo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/11 "2002-06-14T16:50:55Z")
There is a really, really bad book called . . . **Neanderthal**! Look [here](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/8408027255/qid=1024073208/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-3780999-5847009) if you want, but _please_ don’t buy it. ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/12 "2002-06-14T18:52:57Z")
Some have postulated that the Sasquatch or Bigfoot is some kind of Neaderthal reminant. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/13 "2002-06-14T19:44:43Z")
The Paiutes told of a tribe of red-haired giants called the Si-Te-Cahs. Do a Google on that and you’ll get some pages. (Mostly paranormal or creationist though. Also, the pages I checked were about bones that whites attribute to Si-Te-Cahs rather than the Paiute tale itself.) ---
**Author:** ![Papermache\_Prince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f05b48/32.png) [@Papermache\_Prince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Papermache_Prince)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2002, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/14 "2002-06-14T20:46:09Z")
Does anyone remember [“Turok - Son of Stone”](http://www.toonopedia.com/turok.htm), a comic book from the Fifties? “. . .Turok and his young friend, Andar, pre-Columbian Indians, were out on a hunting expedition. They stumbled into a large valley surrounded by unscalable cliffs, where dinosaurs (which they called “honkers”) still lived, and couldn’t find their way back out.” They also battled “primitive cave men” who could have been Neanderthals, I suppose. Yeah - I **know** it’s only a comic book. ---
**Author:** ![Gregor\_Samsa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a6a055/32.png) [@Gregor\_Samsa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gregor_Samsa)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/15 "2002-06-15T01:24:50Z")
It’s certainly not impossible - some say the Kennewick Man skeleton may have been Neaderthal, or a descendent of Neaderthal. [More on this here.](http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/neanderthal000218.html) ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/16 "2002-06-15T03:16:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Papermache Prince \* > **Does anyone remember [“Turok - Son of Stone”](http://www.toonopedia.com/turok.htm), a comic book from the Fifties?** You know, that was my first thought when I saw this thread. Maybe this post belongs [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=120074). ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/17 "2002-06-15T03:52:09Z")
My notes from a cult archaeology class state that the one incident where Neanderthal relics were found in North America were proven to be brought over from abroad as part of a ship’s ballast. I’m afraid that I didn’t note the year, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![biker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ce7236/32.png) [@biker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biker)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/18 "2002-06-15T05:56:03Z")
* * * \*\*Any evidence of Neanderthals in North America? \*\* * * * have you ever been to kentucky? ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2002, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-evidence-of-neanderthals-in-north-america/113967/19 "2002-06-15T08:29:16Z")
It seems to me that Neanderthals lived only in Europe and not even in Asia…So, I suppose, there’s quite no chance they could have made it through the Bering strait…