Public Broadcasting's award-winning Nova series has a long-standing reputation for presenting difficult scientific data in plain English. The new Neanderthals on Trial, to be shown on public television this coming Tuesday, January 22, 2002, is no different.

The video considers an intriguing question in archaeology: what was the relationship between Homo sapiens sapiens (modern human beings) and Homo sapiens neanderthalensis (Neanderthals)? For some 20,000 years, we shared our planet with this distant cousin--but how distant a cousin were they? Just what is the Neanderthal place in our past and what is the evidence linking these two hominid species? Lively discussions by current researchers such as Erik Trinkhaus, Svante Paabo, Milford Wolpoff, Ian Tattersall, Jan Simek, Harold Dibble, Daniel Leiberman, and João Zilhão help explain both sides of the debate. A special treat is video shot at the Lagar Velho site in Portugal, where a child's skeleton showing elements of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthal was excavated.

While paleontologists disagree as to the relationship, none would argue that evidence for Neanderthal and Homo sapiens relationship is not difficult and patchy; but the video presents the debate in clearly illustrated fashion. A web site at PBS.org presents additional information for those who seek it.