Quote: Actually, "Neander" was originally a person. Joachim Neander (1650-1680), teacher and hymnist, who enjoyed nature walks in the secluded Düssel valley. He wrote songs and poems there, and the locals thought him a cute eccentric. In the 19th century, someone named a cave "Neanderhöhle" after him. Later, during the process of quarrying limestone, the cement industry turned the narrow ravine into a large valley ... which was then called "Neanderthal" and the river the "Neander River". In that valley, in 1856, the famous Neanderthal Man was found.
To reinstate the hijack, wasn't it actually Joachim Neuman? I thought his name was Neuman, which means "new man", but being a student of Greek, he chose to use the Greek translation of "new man", which turns out to be "neander". When I originally heard this story I thought it was an interesting twist that they discovered the fossil of a "new" man in a valley named for this guy named "new man".
