Competition and not climate change was responsible for the extinction of Neanderthals

Written by Thomas Hesselberg

Saturday, 03 January 2009

3D reconstruction of a Neanderthal child from a skull found in Gibraltar (from Wikimedia Common, created by Prof. Christoph P.E. Zollikofer from the University of Zurich).

A new study published in PLoS ONE shows that the rapid climate change seen in the last glacial period between 60,000 and 30,000 years ago did not contribute to the extinction of the Neanderthals. Instead the Neanderthals were probably out-competed by modern humans.

The Neanderthals were humanoids that were shorter and more powerful build than modern humans. Some evidence suggests that they belonged to the same species as modern humans (Homo sapiens), whereas other evidence places them in a separate species (Homo neanderthalensis). Neanderthal remains are found in Europe and Central Asia dating back around 150,000 years. They became extinct around 30,000 years ago. In recent years, the reason for this extinction has been much debated.

Two main theories exist. The climate change hypothesis blames the many rapid shifts in temperature during the glacial period between 60,000 to 30,000 years ago. The competition hypothesis says that modern humans, who first appeared in Europe around 45,000 years ago, out-competed the Neanderthals.

A team consisting of mainly French scientists used newly developed computer models to investigate the two hypotheses.

They used a genetic algorithm model which in combination with climatic and archaeological data was used to predict the distribution and spread of the Neanderthals’ ecological niches during the glacial period. The developed model showed that, in contrast to the predictions of the climate change hypothesis, the potential habitats for the Neanderthals actually grew in the period.

Thus the scientists conclude that the Neanderthals did not go extinct as a consequence of changes in climate. Instead all evidence, including the fact that the Neanderthals went extinct short after the arrival of modern humans, suggests that Neanderthals were out-competed by our forefathers, perhaps due to the better tool technology of the latter.

Source
Banks WE, d’Errico F, Peterson AT, Kageyama M, Sima A, et al. (2008) Neanderthal Extinction by Competitive Exclusion. PLoS ONE 3(12): e3972.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0003972

Tag it:

Add as favourites (19) |

Quote this article on your site | Views: 1948 | E-mail

Be first to comment this article

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.