We Are Not Alone: William King and the naming of the Neanderthals
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 2017-04-07

One hundred and fifty three years ago, it was announced for the first time, at a meeting of scientists in Newcastle, that humans had not always been alone in their genus. The announcement in question was given by a man himself originally from the North East, who had grown up in Sunderland. William King, the Anglo-Irish geologist, was the first person to recognise Neanderthals as a separate species of Homo. He did not live long enough to see his proposition or name (Homo neanderthalensis) become accepted, and even now, with his foresight on the matter widely recognised, he is rarely afforded much more than a cursory description as a footnote in the history of Neanderthal research. This presentation provides a timely reflection of King, his roots in the northeast, contextualises his contribution to Neanderthal studies—a watershed moment in the study of human evolution—and examines the moment (and the man) who helped us realise that we are, or at least were, not alone.

James Walker, University of Cambridge; David Clinnick, National Library of Singapore; and Mark White, University of Durham