10 theories about the cause of the Neanderthals' extinction

Homo sapiens and Neanderthal Man. Humans and Neanderthals. They descended from a common ancestor, Homo erectus, which existed 700,000 years ago. Our family split off completely 300,000 years ago.

Compared to humans, the average Neanderthal was shorter but heavier in build. He had sloping cheekbones, heavy brow ridges and a wide nose. Like humans, Neanderthals created tools, knew how to make a fire, and buried their dead. And, although they are often portrayed as stupid savages, scientists believe they were no less intelligent than humans.

They lived in Eurasia, from Spain to western Siberia, and although there is debate about when they became extinct, it is believed that it happened between 30,000 and 42,000 years ago. The cause of their extinction is one of the greatest mysteries in evolutionary science. So why did our kin become extinct?

10. People were more skillful hunters

The Neanderthals became extinct shortly after humans migrated from Africa to Eurasia. Since they dominated Europe for a long time, but died out shortly after the arrival of people there, and therefore many scientists believe that the two events are somehow interconnected.

One theory claims that the reason for the extinction of the Neanderthals was that humans were the best hunters. This was important, since the sources of food were limited, and there was a struggle for them. The best hunters could get more food, while the rest got less. This led to a sharp decline in the number of Neanderthals, while the number of people only increased.

9. People destroyed them

Throughout history, distinct groups of people have conquered and enslaved or exterminated other distinct groups. Perhaps the ancients did the same when faced with the Neanderthals.

When humans migrated from Africa, they may have been more aggressive and more brutal than Neanderthals because this contributed to their hunting method. Meanwhile, one theory suggests that Neanderthals were less violent because they didn't hunt in the same way. Instead of hunting and chasing large animals, they got their protein from insects.

If they were truly peaceful in nature, the Neanderthals simply would not have been able to defend themselves against the growing population of more aggressive humans invading their territory.

8. Volcanic eruption

A violent volcanic eruption can lead to radical changes on Earth. The eruption throws millions of tons of ash and soot into the atmosphere, and the clouds formed from them can block sunlight and cause significant temperatures to fall.

39,000 years ago, around the same time that the Neanderthal extinction began, a supervolcano erupted in the Phlegrean Fields west of present-day Naples. It was the largest eruption in Europe in 200,000 years, and about a quarter of a million cubic kilometers of ash was thrown into the atmosphere.

This should have had a devastating effect on the Neanderthals. The sun was hidden for months, if not years. Temperatures dropped across Europe, and acid rains were constantly falling. In such conditions, the Neanderthals could simply not survive. When the ash finally began to dissipate, people migrating to Europe could easily drive them out.

7. People have tamed wolves

Around the time Neanderthals became extinct, there were three main predators competing for food in Europe: Neanderthals, humans, and wolves. According to anthropologist Pat Shipman of Pennsylvania State University, the alliance between wolves and humans led to the extinction of the Neanderthals. Her theory is that humans have learned to tame and breed wolves. These wolf dogs helped herd large animals such as mammoths so humans could finish them off. Finishing off a hunted animal was the most dangerous part of the hunt.

In addition, after killing the animal and starting to butcher it, the hunters had to drive away the scavengers, but the wolves could smell them from afar and drive them away. In turn, humans fed the wolves, making the situation mutually beneficial for the two main predators.

Meanwhile, there is no evidence that wolves were used by Neanderthals for hunting. Without their help, the hunt would have been more dangerous, and they had to exert more strength. This, in turn, meant that the Neanderthals needed more food to sustain themselves. Consequently, it was more difficult for Neanderthals to maintain and increase their population, while their two main competitors have teamed up to fight for the same resources.

6. Human culture was more advanced

According to the Stanford University mathematical model, the reason humans are still here and the Neanderthals are no longer is because humans had a higher level of culture. With a stronger culture, they were able to hunt and gather food over a larger area than Neanderthals. This culture would also lead to better tool-making skills and enable them to create better weapons. For example, the ax has become an incredibly useful tool and deadly weapon.

According to this model, a small human population with a more advanced culture could prevail over a larger, but less developed population of Neanderthals.

5. Division of labor

The Neanderthal diet was not difficult. They hunted large animals, which was a dangerous task. They also hunted differently from humans. Neanderthal men, women and children were all involved in the hunt. At the same time, people have developed different tasks for different genders and ages. This division of labor allowed them to obtain a variety of products, and then they could process and cook them.

The ability to eat a wide variety of cooked foods could give humans an evolutionary advantage in two ways. First, it meant more food sources. Second, more sophisticated diets and cooking methods not only allowed humans to survive, but also contributed to the evolution of the human brain and helped make humans what they are today.

4. The frontal lobes of the brain in Neanderthals were smaller than in humans

One of the prevailing misconceptions about Neanderthals is that they had an underdeveloped brain. Scientists believe that their brains were no less than those of humans, but they were constructed differently. The Neanderthal brains were designed to control large bodies and track movement. Humans had large frontal lobes, which are the areas of the brain where decision making, social behavior, creativity, and abstract thinking are controlled. Ultimately, it's entirely possible that these qualities gave us an evolutionary advantage over the Neanderthals.

For example, using abstract thinking, people realized that by processing food, such as breaking a cooked yam, they could save energy during the eating process, since it would take less energy to chew food. Abstract thinking was especially important when raising children. In addition, developed frontal lobes contributed to the rapid diffusion of new technologies. It was easier for people to learn from each other. This also contributed to the formation of large social groups that made technology more accessible to all developing humanity.

Saving energy for day to day tasks such as eating and using tools gave humans an evolutionary advantage that allowed them to survive while Neanderthals became extinct.

3. Climate change

The argument against the theory that humans drove out Neanderthals is that humans had nothing to do with the extinction of Neanderthals. Humans first left Africa about 100,000 years ago and moved to the Middle East, and then, about 60,000 years ago, reached Australia. However, humans only migrated to Europe, the homeland of the Neanderthals, 45,000 years ago. The question is, why did people go all the way to Australia before reaching Europe, which is almost a stone's throw from the Middle East? It is possible that humans were only able to migrate there by the time the Neanderthals had already begun to die out.

But why did they die out? Perhaps the reason was the dramatic climatic changes. With the extinction of the Neanderthals, the last ice age was coming to an end, and Eurasia had unstable weather conditions that dramatically changed its landscape. For example, in Italy, at a time when the Neanderthals became extinct, forests turned into open plains in some 100 years. The bodies of Neanderthals simply could not evolve fast enough to survive in the new environment.

Neanderthals have adapted to hunt in the forests. The trees helped them sneak up on the game in order to catch it. Their bodies were not designed to hunt fast and dangerous game in open fields.

Humans, in turn, were well adapted to the flat terrain, similar to the African savannas, where humanity was born. While the number of Neanderthals was rapidly falling, our ancestors simply took their place.

2. Epidemic

Why Neanderthals lived in Eurasia for tens of thousands of years, but became extinct after some 1000 - 5000 years after the first contact with humans, is one of the most discussed topics in anthropology. The obvious conclusion would be that humans have something to do with their extinction, but no one is sure how or why humans caused it.

One theory is that when Neanderthals migrated from Africa and settled in Eurasia, their immune systems fully adapted to their new environment. However, when people migrated from Africa, they brought African pathogens with them, and this led to diseases such as tuberculosis, herpes, tapeworms and stomach ulcers. The immune system of the Neanderthals simply could not cope with these diseases, and they became extinct. Yes, you are not mistaken. Humans infected the Neanderthals with herpes, killing them all.

Evidence of this is that the same thing happened when Europeans began arriving in America beginning in 1492. They brought with them diseases such as smallpox and malaria, which proved fatal to people in the Americas. Because the immune systems of Native Americans were not adapted to fight these diseases, it is estimated that 20 million Native Americans have died in the years since first European contact, or nearly 95 percent of the population in the Americas.

1. People assimilated them

One theory of the extinction of the Neanderthals states that they are not extinct at all. They simply merged with the human population through incest. Perhaps one of the reasons described above led to a significant decrease in their numbers, but, instead of extinction, they simply gradually disappeared into a much larger human population.

This is supported by the fact that people of non-African descent have from 1.5 to 2.1 percent of DNA of Neanderthal origin. But, interestingly, these genes can be different in different people. In two people born in the same country and having 2% Neanderthal DNA, that 2% may be responsible for different sets of genes. Scientists believe that humanity may have inherited up to 20 percent of the genetic code of the Neanderthals. Neanderthals are not extinct - they just become a part of us.