The first Neanderthal skull was found on Gibraltar on March 3, 1848. Subsequent findings suggest that Neanderthals were still living there some 5,000 years after it was thought they had died out.

Many think that Neanderthal should be called 'Gibraltar Man'. This is because the skull found near Düsseldorf, in Neander Valley, in 1856 was found eight years after the Gibraltar discovery. The British, who had the Gibraltar skull, dithered over announcing their find, and missed out on the nomenclature.