The Neanderthal genome project is a project for the sequencing of the Neanderthal genome . The project was announced by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and 454 Life Sciences in the United States in July 2006 . The Neanderthal genome project is a collaboration of scientists coordinated by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and 454 Life Sciences in the United States to sequence the Neanderthal genome .