What Drove Neanderthal Extinction?

Neanderthals Went Extinct 30,000 Years Ago While We Did Not

Sep 19, 2008

The more that's learned about our close, absent cousins, the Neanderthals, the more puzzling it is that they went extinct 30,000 years ago while we did not.

According to Dr. Erik Trinkaus of Washington University in St Louis in “Mystery of the Neanderthal”, National Geographic Channel, an individual with the build of Arnold Schwarzenegger would have been common place among the Neanderthals. They were physically much stronger than we, being stockier and hardier than we were.

They were better adapted to European conditions during the Ice-Age, having lived there for 200,000 years, while modern humans, like ourselves, only arrived in Europe 40,000 years ago.

They were a bit shorter than we, with shorter, stockier limbs, and a deep and wide rib-cage that kept vital organs insulated from the cold. They also had large noses that allowed the rapid cooling of their hard working bodies. All of these are essential adaptations to arctic conditions where sweat freezes and heat loss can be fatal.

Modern humans by comparison, had migrated from subtropical environments in North Eastern Africa, and were tall and slender, with finer features better suited for warmer conditions.

The Neanderthals were highly successful hunters and were capable of taking down game ranging from large and dangerous woolly mammoths, to quick and agile deer.

They had larger brains than we, roughly 20% larger, and were capable of making efficient tools.

Why is it then that they were driven to extinction, while we were able to survive in lands that were a relatively new challenge for us?

The spear heads the Neanderthals made, indicate that they were fastened to much heavier shafts than those associated with throwing spears.

The archaeological record indicates that Neanderthals lived on the out-skirts of forests, using the readily available wood for erecting shelters and for making tools.

They appear to have hunted in the forests in an ambush style, waiting for game to approach, and then thrusting their spears into their quarry at close quarters. In fact, there’s evidence to believe that their bodies were stronger on their right-hand side, precisely as an adaptation to this method of hunting.

According to Prof. Michael Bisson of McGill University in ``The Beast Within``, BBC Video, injuries found on Neanderthal skeletons have been compared to those found on rodeo riders, providing further support to the theory that these hunters came in close, violent contact with large animals.

Excavations of Neanderthal caves in Gibraltar indicate that they did not organize their activities around a hearth like modern humans did, which might also indicate that they did not develop cultural communication and the exchange of ideas in the same way that modern humans did.

According to Professor Bob Franciscus, of Iowa University in “Neanderthal”, Horizon BBC TV, the shape of the bottom portion of their skulls suggests that their larynx did not extend as low into the throat as our does, and may indicate that they were incapable of articulating speech the way that we do.

Although they were apparently not far behind us, having made bone flutes for instance, they did not create cave paintings, or sculpture like modern humans did. This suggests that they did not organize their thoughts symbolically, like we do.

Did this give us the competitive edge over our cousins? The more we learn about Neanderthals, the more sophisticated our view of them has become, and the less easy it is to believe that we simply out-smarted them.

Perhaps the last Ice-Age came to a much quicker end than previously thought, not allowing the Neanderthals, and those large mammals like the woolly mammoths and the woolly rhinos that were best suited for arctic conditions, enough time to adapt.

Indeed, there’s evidence to believe that 45,000 years ago, the climate of Europe went through some very rapid shifts between warm and cold conditions. This change in climate caused the forests to retreat, and the Neanderthals to retreat with them.

Modern humans made much lighter spears which could be throw at a distance, and were accustomed to hunting in the open plains of North Eastern Africa.

Perhaps these advantages meant that modern humans could then exploit the new environments which began to spread across Europe at about the same time that the Neanderthals began to disappear.

Jennifer Viegas, “Neanderthals Conquered Mammoths, Why Not Us?”, Discovery News, Sept. 9, 2008

Ron Bowman, Lisa Fredrickson, Lynn Dougherty, “Mystery of the Neanderthal”, National Geographic Channel, March 20, 2005

The copyright of the article What Drove Neanderthal Extinction? in Anthropology is owned by Colin Sean Teatro. Permission to republish What Drove Neanderthal Extinction? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.