LCA of Neanderthals and Denisovans. A 2021 study by Chris Stringer found Steinheim sits as a sole sister to a group containing H. antecessor and H. longi, plus H. sapiens. Together they are considered as sister to the Neanderthals. Discovery Prior to discovery of the Steinheim skull in the gravel pit, many objects such as bones of elephants, rhinos and wild horses had been unearthed. Therefore, the archaeologists excavating the site were already sensitized to possible skeletal remains in the quarry. Fritz Berckhemer traveled on the same day of the skull's discovery and reviewed the still hidden skull in the wall. The next day, together with Max Bock, he began the careful excavation. It was clear, on the basis of the shape and dimensions of the skull, that it was not a monkey, as had initially been suspected. It turned out to be a human skull from the Pleistocene. The skull was roughly cleaned, hardened and plastered so it would arrive safe and sound in the Museum of Natural History. The find in Steinheim turned up no other artifacts. There were no artifacts from the people as well as no other skeletal remains found. There were also no tools such as stone tools or bone implements discovered at the site. It can be assumed, however, that the hominin would have been capable of creating tools and using them for different purposes. For example, evidence of this can be found around the same time frame of “Swanscombe man", where they found some fist wedges from the Acheulean tool culture. l Brain tumor The investigations completed at the Eberhard Karls University of Tuebingen in 2003 by Alfred Czarnetzki, Carsten M. Pusch and Erwin Schwaderer, showed that the owner of the skull suffered from a meningioma, which is an arachnoid tumor. Meningiomas are a diverse set of tumors that arise from the meninges, which is the membranous layers surrounding the central nervous system. The slow-growing tumor had a size of 51 mm × 43 mm × 25 mm and a volume of . It is believed that this tumor may have caused headaches. It is also possible that no neurological deficiencies were suffered, due to the slow growing nature of meningiomas. Whether the tumor should be considered the cause of death cannot be determined from the remains. Having the rest of the skeleton would be necessary for further investigation into a possible cause