The Neanderthal Museum in Germany says that after difficult bidding it has managed to buy the site near the city of Dusseldorf where the first Neanderthal Man remains were discovered last century.

The cave where the thirty-thousand year-old remains were found has since disappeared because of quarrying work, and until recently the site was used as a car salvage yard.

The museum's director told the BBC an international architecture and design competition would be launched to restore the site's atmosphere.

The museum is planning an international workshop next year to focus on mankind in central and eastern Europe in the Neanderthal period.