In this video, Stephan Milo talks about the variety of primitive hominids that existed in Europe starting at around 1.8 million years ago, where extreme cold eventually eliminated all of them except for Neanderthals 250,000 years ago.

Following are points from the video:

— Milo mentions a book “The Neanderthals Rediscovered,” which he calls one of the best archeology books he’s read.

— Neanderthals evolved in Europe, but they were not the first to reach Europe.  Hominids have been found in Spain from 1.2 to 1 million years ago, they have been found in the Republic of Georgia from 1.8 to 1.7 million years ago, and they have been found in Happisburgh, UK from 800,000 to 1 million years ago.  Those Hominids came when it was a warm and wet climatic period, and they likely didn’t have good mastery of fire yet, therefore when the climate in Europe cooled at around 650,000 year ago they either had to migrate or they were killed by the cold.  After that point there was no hominids active in Europe until 40,000 years later.  Those hominids are called “Homo Antecessor,” and only a few fossils (from eight to fourteen) exist.  They also didn’t even use hand-axes.

— Homo Heidelbergensis then came back to Europe when the weather improved, dating between 600,000 to 450,000 years ago, with fossil evidence all over Africa and Europe for the species.  DNA tests suggests that they were early or proto-Neanderthals, which pushes back the common ancestor of humans and Neanderthals to about 800,000 years ago.

— Since 600,000 years ago, there has been a permanent hominin presence in Europe no matter how cold the climate got.  At 470,000 years ago, the ice sheet was even as far south as the English Channel.

— From 450,000 to 400,000 years ago, we start to see the emergence of the Neanderthals distinct from the Homo Heidelbergensis in the region of what is now France.  They had large brains, large eyes, larger noses, a recessed chin, a protruding bun on the back of their head, they were shorter, and they had thicker bones.  There were intelligent, cared for their sick and elderly, made tools, and buried their dead.

— More primitive hominids still occasionally entered Europe, but they stopped doing so at about 250,000 years ago, leaving only Neanderthals.