What kill off the Neanderthals ? It ’s often posed that the Neanderthals , our heavy - browed cousins that stomped around Europe and western Asia until 40,000 years ago , were fight into extermination by humans . However , new research has perhaps let us off the hook .
or else of being outcompeted by human race , the fresh study argue that pocket-sized populations and inbreeding , together with “ a fortuity of unfit luck , ” were creditworthy for the dying of the Neanderthals .
Reporting in the journalPLOS ONE , a team from the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands used data from present - sidereal day hunting watch - gatherer population to develop model of Neanderthal population .
The team modeled populations of various sizes ( 50 , 100 , 500 , 1,000 , or 5,000 individual ) and assess how they fared in different fortune . The scenario for the most part centered around three different factors : levels of inbreeding , lifelike wavering in birth , deaths , and sexual urge ratio , and the Allee event ( where reduced universe size negatively impacts individuals ' fitness ) .
According to the models , inbreeding alone was unlikely to have moderate to extinction . However , inbreeding combined with Allee effects and demographic shifts in the population would be enough to trigger off the demise .
Still , the enquiry stay , what pass about 40,000 years ago to put the final nail in the coffin ? Is it mere coincidence that anatomically modern human reached Europe around 40,000 years ago ?
The introduction of humans to the neighborhood undoubtedly made life harder for the aboriginal loutish population in terms of competition , however , it looks like the critical shock might have just been bad luck .
" Did Neanderthals go away because of us ? No , this study propose . The specie ' demise might have been due simply to a virgule of high-risk , demographic lot , " the researchersexplain .
“ Our results are consistent with a scenario in which a modest universe of Neanderthals persists for several G of years , and then , due to a stroke of sorry luck , disappears , ” the researchers write in the discipline .
It ’s deserving commend that this is just one of many possibility out there . The doubt of why the Neandthernals ' extinction remains a hotly debated topic , with researchers declare oneself a range of explanations , include competitor by immigrating human being , inbreeding , climate alteration , disease , and – the most probable scenario – a combining of these factors .
Neandertal are often stigmatise as behind - witted lumbering early human being . However , an increase amount of grounds is suggest that they were surprisingly level-headed and deeply originative , just like us . investigator now trust that much of Europe ’s cave fine art was , in fact , painted by Neandethernals . We also know that Neanderthalscrafted jewelryand ornaments out of bird of Jove talons .
Humans and Neanderthals alsointerbred with each other , leaving behind a genetic legacy than can still be seen today in the DNA of all non - African populations . In fact , there ’s unassailable evidence to intimate that these " boorish factor " may even influence risk ofdepression , heart attack , and a range of other health problems .
