The most well known late archaic humans. They lived mostly in Europe and the Near East from 150,000 years ago or even earlier until at sometime after 28,000 years ago. There is an on-going debate as to whether they should be considered Homo sapiens or a distinct but related species. If they were members of our species, they were a different variety or race (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis). On the other hand, if they were different enough to be a distinct species, they should be considered to be Homo neanderthalensis.