Neanderthal extinction

[7] Stone tools that have been proposed to be linked to Neanderthals have been found at Byzovya (ru:Бызовая) in the polar Urals, and dated to 31,000 to 34,000 years ago,[8] but is also disputed.

The catastrophic impact of Eurasian viruses on Native American populations in the historical past offers a sense of how modern humans may have affected hominin predecessor groups in Eurasia 40,000 years ago.

Mathematical models have been used to make forecasts for future investigations, giving information about inter-species interactions during the shift between the Middle and Upper Paleolithic eras.

[16][17] Generally small and widely dispersed fossil sites suggest that Neanderthals lived in less numerous and socially more isolated groups than contemporary Homo sapiens.

Tools such as Mousterian flint stone flakes and Levallois points are remarkably sophisticated from the outset, yet they have a slow rate of variability and general technological inertia is noticeable during the entire fossil period.

Artifacts are of utilitarian nature, and symbolic behavioral traits are undocumented before the arrival of modern humans in Europe around 40,000 to 35,000 years ago.

These include the Neanderthals' smaller parietal lobes[20][21][22] and cerebellum,[23][24] areas implicated in tool use,[25] visuospatial integration,[26] numeracy,[27] creativity,[28] and higher-order conceptualization.

Both male and female Neanderthals participated in the single occupation of hunting big game, such as bison, deer, gazelles, and wild horses.

This hypothesis proposes that the Neanderthal's relative lack of labour division resulted in less efficient extraction of resources from the environment as compared to Homo sapiens.

[31] Researchers such as Karen L. Steudel of the University of Wisconsin have highlighted the relationship of Neanderthal anatomy (shorter and stockier than that of modern humans) and the ability to run and the requirement of energy (30% more).

[32] Nevertheless, in the recent study, researchers Martin Hora and Vladimir Sladek of Charles University in Prague show that Neanderthal lower limb configuration, particularly the combination of robust knees, long heels, and short lower limbs, increased the effective mechanical advantage of the Neanderthal knee and ankle extensors, thus reducing the force needed and the energy spent for locomotion significantly.

[44] Due to the lack of genetic diversity, Neanderthal populations would have become more vulnerable to climatic changes, diseases, and other stressors, which may have contributed to their extinction.

"The fact that Neanderthals in Western Europe were nearly extinct, but then recovered long before they came into contact with modern humans came as a complete surprise to us," said Love Dalén, associate professor at the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm.