Climate Change
Studies suggest that the demise of the Neanderthal species could have come as a result of sudden and severe climate changes. Although it is believed that Neanderthals had clothing, it has been proposed that failure to adapt their hunting methods caused their extinction when Europe changed into a sparsely vegetated steppe and semi-desert during the last Ice Age. Requiring more energy to move and hunt than their early modern human counterparts, Neanderthals would have been more susceptible to less food being available as a result of climate change. The success of the Homo sapien population was not simply a result of physiology, but rather both behavioral and strategic innovations. There is evidence to support that the Homo sapiens prevailed through advantages such as a broader ecological niche, better technology, and a more advanced social structure. A string of major volcanic eruptions 40,000 years BP, affecting the region between Italy and the Caucasus Mountains, may have contributed to the Neanderthals' decline by reducing their food supply. Studies of sediment layers at Mezmaiskaya Cave suggest a severe reduction of plant pollen. The damage to plant life would have led to a corresponding decline in plant-eating mammals hunted by the Neanderthals.
In Southern Iberia, the last holdout of the Neanderthals, there were significant and rapid changes to the climate at the time of the disappearance of the species. Studies suggest that between 25 thousand and 24 thousand years before present, the Western Mediterranean Sea experienced its most severe conditions. The ensuing cold periods resulted in a temporary migration of the Neanderthals, and the subsequent colonization by Homo sapiens in the evacuated territory. These area takeovers would take place over a short period of time, resulting in significant changes in the number and distribution of both Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. The removal of the Neanderthals from their territory could have possibly led to weakness and even extinction as a result of the unfavorable weather changes.
Another study suggests that the periods at circa 75 and 45,000 years ago were shown to have had significant drops in temperature and humidity that would have made it difficult for the Mediterranean Levant to have supported a stable hominin population. This study confirms the extinction of Neanderthals and replacement by Homo sapiens, citing the corresponding climate changes as an apparent cause.
Read more about this topic: Neanderthal Extinction Hypotheses
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