By: Zoran Radosavljevic
KRAPINA (REUTERS).- Forensic science and computer simulations are just a couple of the high tech tools used to explain one branch of the evolutionary tree at a new museum in Croatia. The Neanderthal Museum opened last week and was built on the site where scientists have found the greatest concentration in Europe of Neanderthal remains, the bones, skulls, tools and other effects of an extinct offshoot of mankind who inhabited parts of Asia and Europe until 30,000 years ago. The museum’s concept — which sums up evolution in a 24-hour period displayed on a winding track along the museum’s two floors — highlights the late starting time of 23:52 for the first appearance of any of mankind’s relations. The museum, built with help from U.S. and British natural history museums and others, displays many of the bones and artifacts excavated here in the late 19th century.