Student Article
The Last Days of the Neanderthals: When and Why Our Ancient Cousins Disappeared
Radiocarbon (noun): A radioactive form or carbon used to determine the age of ancient objects.
Interbreeding (verb): Breeding between different groups or species.
Diluted (verb): Weakened or reduced the strength of something.
Instability (noun): Lack of consistency or predictability.
Legacy (noun): Something handed down from the past, especially from previous generations.
A long time ago, before cities or smartphones, another kind of human walked the Earth — the Neanderthal.
Who were the Neanderthals?
Neanderthals were an intelligent and resourceful human species who thrived across Europe and parts of Asia for hundreds of thousands of years. They crafted tools, made cave art, and practiced burial rituals. Although long misunderstood as brutish and unintelligent, new research shows they were complex, social beings closely related to modern humans.
The great Neanderthal disappearance
Their extinction, dated to roughly 40,000 years ago, remains a topic of active debate. Radiocarbon dating of tools and remains from caves in Iraq, Croatia, Spain, and Gibraltar all point to this period. No evidence has yet emerged to suggest Neanderthals lived beyond this point, though scientists continue searching.
Was it competition? The mystery of interbreeding
Why they vanished isn’t clear-cut. One major theory is competition with Homo sapiens. As our species moved into Neanderthal regions, both likely competed for resources. Some researchers suggest humans may have unintentionally spread diseases to Neanderthals. Others believe interbreeding may have diluted their population. In fact, genetic evidence shows that many people today carry 1-2% Neanderthal DNA.
Cold, harsh realities: Environmental challenges
Another factor may have been climate instability. Neanderthals lived through the Ice Age, enduring extreme cold and shifting ecosystems. These changes may have made food like mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses scarce, disrupting their way of life. The forests and grasslands they depended on transformed into harsher landscapes, making survival even harder.
The Neanderthal puzzle: A mix of factors
It’s likely that a combination of environmental stress, human migration, interbreeding, and dwindling populations led to their decline. While Neanderthals disappeared as a distinct species, their legacy endures — not just in science, but in the very genes of modern humans.
© James Osborne / www.historyextra.com
Radiocarbon (noun): A radioactive form or carbon used to determine the age of ancient objects.
Interbreeding (verb): Breeding between different groups or species.
Diluted (verb): Weakened or reduced the strength of something.
Instability (noun): Lack of consistency or predictability.
Legacy (noun): Something handed down from the past, especially from previous generations.