Thanks for the great feedback so far, folks! Capital Kiwi, your National Geographic reference panned-out. I searched the site and found this posting explaining the 'Why': ..."more than 40 people wrote to comment on the spelling of the word "Neadertal" [their spelling!] on the January 1996 cover of National Geographic magazine. We pointed out that in German the word means Neander Valley--the place where the first Neanderthal was discovered in 1856. This century the Germans dropped the "h" in their word for valley [thal/tal] , thus shortening the "Neanderthal" of yesterday." WAIT A MINUTE! According to who (or whom)? I will continue to research for that answer and also the 'When' of it! Because I find that explanation a bit annoying. First of all, that is a SCIENTIFIC NAME! To my knowledge, scientific names, once bestowed, are immutable! That's why they exist, to provide their own original nomenclature for reference. I mean, if the Greek language decided to change the "y" in tyrannos to an "i" would we suddenly start spelling Tyrannosaurus "Tirannosaurus'?...I don't think so! And Neandethal is listed in every good dictionary I've perused with the "H" spelling, and the hard 't' proper-German pronunciation as a second option. Indeed, the German language has dropped the "H" from "thal," but according to my old college German textbook this happened at least as far back as 1970...so 25 years later somebody has a brainstorm to amend the spelling? I found a site, "Neanderthal Heaven," with postings from scientists from as late as last year with no hints or reference to a name change whatsoever. And only one recent site listed used the "H"-less spelling! I also found an "Ask the Experts" page at the Scientific American site where, as a last recourse, I can E-mail a query to the last two parts of this question. But, all in all, I'm holdin' out for "NeandertHal!" And thanks, 'wow,' for your enthusiastic support in joining me on this! When the "Keep the "H" in Neanderthal!" T-shirts are ready, I'll let ya know! I'll report back with the results of my continued investigation (unless, of course, somebody else checks in with the answers first). They changed my "Brontosaurus" to "Apatosaurus"...they're NOT going to get away with this one!
