The Neanderthal pictured. A study of how well the image material of the Neanderthals match up with the knowledge about them

Sammanfattning: Images can make us believe something to be true, that never has been, which is something the study in this report will show. The starting-point was to examine of it is true that new images are based on older ones, and that it is difficult to change the image that has become accustomed to and accepted. The first chapter studies and analyzes scientific images of the Neanderthals. The purpose was to find out how well the world of science have managed to change the description of the Neanderthals since the first trend-setting images were made. The answer was: it has succeeded, but during a slow process which just recently has caught up. The second chapter studied the general publics’ opinion of the looks of the Neanderthals in relation to the knowledge about them. The chapter also looked at surrounding reasons to why about half of those who participated in this chapter’s surveys still believed the Neanderthals looked like a monkey-man. Some of the reasons believed to be because of the news media is spreading incorrect images in lack of scrutinizing the image material; image agencies reports old, parsimonious and/or wrong information about the images of Neanderthals they are selling; and because of the world of scientists not acting upon the incorrect image material still being spread.