Visit to theEspace de l’Homme de Spy

From 40,000 years ago to the present day: the adventure of Spy Man

Dedicated to Spy Man and his Neanderthal congeners, the Spy Man Interpretation Centre offers a scenographic tour covering the discovery ofSpy Man in 1886, the importance of the site and all aspects of the daily life of a Neanderthal over 40,000 years ago.

Spyrou, a disturbinglyhyper-realistic Spy Man, awaits visitors with a touch of mischief in his eyes.

From Spy Man to… Spyrou

Spy Man is a Neanderthal. It is neither the first skeleton to be discovered, nor the most complete. It owes its fame to the circumstances of its discovery in 1886: for the first time, archaeologists had sufficient evidence to admit the existence and antiquity of human beings different from anatomically modern humans.

More than 125 years after its discovery, Spy Man continues to arouse interest. Between 2004 and 2008, it was the focus of an ambitious multidisciplinary research programme led by the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. The bones discovered in 1886 were reallocated: they were in fact two adults and a child under the age of 2, who lived around 40,000 years ago.

In 2011, one of them was scanned, completed, 3D printed and ‘remodelled’. The reconstruction was entrusted to Dutch artists Alfons and Adrie Kennis. Disturbingly hyper-realistic, Spy Man has become Spyrou!

Photo credit: Olivier Lereylac/AWPA