What’s in a name?
Edna Baker died just short of her 99th birthday.
No, she lived too recently to be considered Neanderthal. But she was a dear sister in the Lord and I loved visiting her where she lived in a retirement village in Kingaroy, not far from where she grew up.
I would usually visit on a Monday, when I was still slightly brain-dead from the weekend’s ministry. But you couldn’t afford to doze off in her presence, sitting in the front room in the afternoon sun – she remained sharp as a tack until the last few years of her life.
It was a pleasant three hour drive from Brisbane to Kingaroy. Sometimes Eileen would accompany me for the day out; sometimes, on my own, I would listen to sermons or an audio book in the car.
Sometimes a diversion on the way would take me through the sparsely populated village of Villeneuve. “Villeneuve”: French for “Newtown”.
It always struck me as odd the way we give our towns foreign sounding names to make them sound more exotic, more appealing.
But I suppose “Villeneuve” does sound more attractive than “Newtown” – especially the “Newtown” I knew 50 years ago, which was one of the less salubrious inner city suburbs back then, near the route I took walking every weekday from the train to Uni.
Which is why Joachim Newman’s grandfather changed their family name.
Joachim Newman (“Neumann” in German) was a great hymn writer of the early German Reformed Church.
Why a Christian parent would name their child after one of the last, and most evil, kings of Judah I do not know. But as he was named after his father (another Joachim) I guess his grandfather was to blame.
In any case his grandfather was more concerned with their ordinary-sounding family name. So, following the fashion of the times, he changed it to the more refined sounding “Neander”, the Greek form of “New man”.
Ever since, his grandson has been known as: Joachim Neander.
Joachim: the Original Neanderthal Man
German student life in the 17th century was anything but refined, and as a teenager Neander seems to have been as riotous and as fond of questionable pleasures as most of his fellows.
But in July 1670, when Neander turned 20, Theodore Under-Eyck, a leader in the Pietist movement, came to Bremen as pastor of St. Martin’s Church.
Neander, with two like-minded comrades, went to his service there one Sunday – not to listen, but to criticise and to mock. But the earnest words of Under-Eyck touched his heart; he subsequently sought out Under-Eyck and in conversations with him his life was changed.
In the spring of 1671, as tutor to five young men, sons of wealthy merchants at Frankfurt-am-Main, Neander accompanied them to the University of Heidelberg.
There, for the next two years, he came to appreciate and love the beauties of God’s creation.
In the spring of 1674 he was appointed 
Rector of the Latin school at Düsseldorf.
There, he used to wander along the secluded Düssel River valley, a deep ravine between rock faces and forests, with numerous caves, grottos and waterfalls.
Admiring the beauties of God’s creation Neander was inspired to write many of his poems.
He also held gatherings and services of his own there.
The school was under the control of the minister and elders of the Reformed Church at Düsseldorf.
But Neander’s popularity with the common people caused problems with the church administration. The minister, though reportedly a man of ability and earnestness, became jealous. Neander worked harmoniously with him at first, frequently preaching in the church, and assisting in the visitation of the sick. But as the minister became more and more quarrelsome Neander’s life became more and more difficult.
Things did not improve when Neander started to hold prayer meetings of his own, without informing or consulting minister or elders. Then he began to absent himself from Communion, on the ground that he could not conscientiously participate with the largely nominal, unconverted membership; and others started to follow this example.
As a result he was suspended from school and pulpit until he signed a full and definite declaration by which “without mental reservations” he bound himself not to repeat any of the acts complained of. Only then was he permitted to resume his duties as rector though not as assistant minister.
He must have felt keenly such a humiliation.
But, thrown back on himself, he found consolation in communion with God in His creation.
As he wandered the lovely valley with its high rocky sides, where the little river Düssel flowed, he took pleasure in composing hymns to his Creator.
Finally, in 1679, Under-Eyck invited Neander to join him as unordained assistant at St. Martin’s Church, Bremen.
The post was regarded merely as a stepping stone to further preferment, the remuneration being scant and his Sunday duty being a service with sermon at the extraordinary hour of 5 a.m.
Had he lived, Under-Eyck would doubtless have done his best to get him appointed at a nearby church. But before then Neander contracted tuberculosis and fell into a decline.
He died at Bremen May 31, 1680.
He was 30 years old.
In 1850 the small valley through which river Düssel flows was renamed in his honour as the Neander Valley (German: Neanderthal, now Neandertal).
Six years later, in 1856, the bones and part of a skull of a man were found in a cave in the valley.
Neanderthal 1: the First Recognized Early Human Fossil
Scientists did not know what to make of these bones at first: the oval shaped skull with a low, receding forehead and distinct browridges.
In 1864 this collection of bones was named “Neanderthal Man”.
Just five years before, Darwin had published his “Origin of Species”, an attempt to establish a scientific basis for the theories of Evolution then around.
Men jumped at the thought that Neanderthal Man was just part of that evolutionary process, perhaps even the “missing link” between apes and men.
The irony cannot be lost. Here was a valley named for a man who saw all around him such abundant evidence of God’s creation that he composed hymns of praise to his Creator.
Yet, in their blindness, others employed what they found there to destroy belief in a Creator.
“At the time, Neanderthals were considered more brawn than brains, with one scientist even suggesting that they be classified as Homo Stupidus. But since the 1950s, researchers have jettisoned the knuckle-dragging stereotypes.”
A recent issue of Creation 
Magazine (CM 42.1 2020) states:
“The picture is not one of primitive ‘apemen’, but of distinctly human people who were smart, inventive, creative, and loving.”
Some lived in caves (as some people still do today), but:
“They divided the cave into rooms, built wind breaks to keep the draft out, and strategically placed hearths for cooking and warmth. The stone dividers that survive could have supported barriers made of skin or other materials that simply didn’t survive to the present day.” (CM 42.1)
Another source states:
“Archaeologists have also discovered sites where Neanderthals camped in the open [and] pitched large circular tents around a central hearth area”.
They were also “skilled hunters and tool makers” and hunted “horses, reindeer and mammoths” as well as “hares and smaller mammals”.
They used their tools “to butcher animals, prepare vegetable foods, scrape animal hides and carve wood.”
“They had a variety of cooking methods. For example, just like we do today, they seasoned their meat with herbs to enhance the taste… They also ate quite a large range of plant-based foods like pine nuts, moss, legumes, and palm dates, as well as a selection of nonpoisonous mushrooms. And they ate the seeds of grasses which are comparable to early versions of barley, wheat, and rye.” (CM 42.1)
Also:
“Neandertal remains show evidence of medical procedures applied to crushed limbs, fractured skulls, and tooth abscesses. Many of these individuals survived these conditions, indicating that Neandertals gave their injured and sick effective medical care… Neandertals were seemingly able to dress wounds, manage fevers, and call on a surprising number of plants for their ‘cave man’ pharmacy.” (CM 42.1)
They buried their dead. As one author noted:
“In Neanderthal sites throughout Europe and the Middle East, archaeologists have uncovered the carefully buried skeletons of women, men and children.”
[The author who wrote this naively wonders: “Anthropologists do not understand why the Neanderthals adopted this custom.”!]
With a brain as large as, or larger than, yours or mine Neanderthals were also creative. They took time to indulge in the arts.
“Neandertals had an eye for beauty as shown by their jewellery. Bone, stone, and shell pendants have been found in which a hole was drilled. A leather strap could have been threaded through these, allowing them to be worn as a necklace.” (CM 42.1)
In three caves scattered across Spain, researchers recently found more than a dozen examples of wall paintings. Two years ago two new studies were published in Science and Science Advances, in which the researchers laid out the case that these works of art were the work of Neanderthals.
“Long before Picasso, these ancient artists were making creative works of their own, mixing pigments, crafting beads out of seashells, and painting murals on cave walls.”
João Zilhão, one of the researchers and an archaeologist from the University of Barcelona, has concluded that Neanderthals were cognitively indistinguishable from modern man.
John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison concludes:
“Neanderthals appear to have had a cultural competence that was shared by modern humans. They were not dumb brutes, they were recognizably human.”
Evidence of evolution?
No, but creativity as evidence of a Creator.
“The picture is not one of primitive ‘apemen’, but of distinctly human people who were smart, inventive, creative, and loving. They, like you, were made in the image of God, and were descendants of Adam through Noah.” (CM 42.1)
Neanderthal Man, being dead, still speaks.
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,
the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy
health and salvation!
All ye who hear,
Now to His temple draw near;
Sing now in glad adoration!
. – Joachim Neander (1650-1680)