Neanderthal settlement. Artwork of men and women in a Neanderthal settlement carrying out tasks such as building a shelter, cooking, preparing animal furs, making beads, starting a fire, and hunting for food. Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) inhabited Europe and western Asia between 230MB,000 and 29,000 years ago. They did not use complex tools but had mastery of fire and built shelters. It is thought that they had language and a complex social structure, living in small family groups and hunting for food. It is not known why Neanderthals became extinct, but one theory is that they were outcompeted by modern humans (Homo sapiens).