Neanderthal fun day for families at the Great North Museum

Families are being invited to go Neanderthal to mark a scientific first on Tyneside 150 years ago

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On August 26, 1863, the British Association for the Advancement of Science opened its event in Newcastle - the forerunner of the British Science Festival which starts in the city on September 7.

At the 1863 happening, Prof William King gave a paper on the subject of Neanderthals, which lost out in the evolutionary race with the ancestors of today’s human race.

Prof King served as curator of the Natural History Society’s museum in Newcastle, whose collections are now part of the Great North Museum in the city.

It was at the Newcastle event that Prof King first put forward the scientific name for Neanderthals.

Now the Great North Museum is to mark the 150th anniversary by staging a Neanderthal day tomorrow from 11am-3pm. [...] thejournal.co.uk/