Scientists Reveal Surprising New Reasons For Neanderthal Extinction

In this video we look at the new research and hypothesis to explain why our closest ancient relatives the Neanderthals disappeared, if they were so similar to modern humans then what caused their demise.Scientists are using modern gene editing tools to find out the reasons.Was it climate or disease or an entirely new reason that led to their eventual decline ?

[robertfindley]

One of the best, most informative and thought-provoking videos I've ever seen.

[michaelpcoffee]

We're not extinct. We assimilated the newcomers.

[PhillipYewTree]

Why would climatic changes be detrimental to neanderthals, but not sapiens? The territories overlapped, so why would neanderthals disappear when sapiens flourished?

[farber]

39, 000 years ago, volcano Campi Flagrie, erupted, ash found at many sites.

[stephenbesley]

We know Neanderthal diet was protein heavy. You think the loss of so much larger prey and sapien competition were factors in their disappearance?'

[oldschool]

1. Climate change- Nope- Neanderthals went through a half dozen ice ages over the course of their development. With hundreds of thousands of years experience of changing climates, there is no logical reason why they would suddenly just stand around and let the glaciers cover them over.
2. Disease- Unlikely because human migrations and interactions happened over a very long span of time and shared immunities would have been common, unlike the interaction between Europeans and Native Americans which occurred in an instant of time.
3. Tribal communities- Neanderthal cave art and other artifacts show that they had a tribal culture- It is highly unlikely that an isolated family of Neanderthals would have the motivation and resources for this type of art- it is indicative of a society with some abstract thinking.
4. Technology and weapons- Neanderthals were hunting mega fauna for millennia and would have had equal or even better weapons than migrants arriving from different climates and surviving in a colder climate would have required sophisticated methods of housing and heating.
5. Genetics and interbreeding- Most likely scenario in my opinion. I tribal cultures, warfare and raiding are common as it was with native Americans. The victor in a tribal war usually meant the men were killed or driven away and the women captured. The women would then bear children of the tribe that held them captive. Most primitive tribes have a high infant mortality, perhaps it was higher among Neanderthals than homo sapiens for some physical reason. Consider that perhaps the offspring of Neanderthals and homo sapiens for some reason were healthier or stronger at birth and had a lower mortality rate. Over many thousands of years, these hybrid children would have a population advantage and each generation of the hybrid population would grow larger than the original distinct species until both pure homo sapiens and Neanderthals were displaced by this new breed of humans.

[t.a.ackerman]

The number ranges between 10 and 11 genus? So there might be 10 1/2?

[harrietharlow]

Very, very interesting and thought-provoking hypothesis. I certainly wouldn't rule it out, given sapiens' violent tendencies.

[stuartdryer]

Alternatively, Neandertals were on the way out even before sapiens arrived. If they had some some VERY small percentage of disadvantage, maybe immunological or metabolic, this coild cause them to disappear and also to be absorbed by sapiens communities. As a neuroscientist, I think jumping from organoid data to cognition is a gigantic leap that I don't think can be justified.

[paddy]

If they had survived into our era, would they have been enslaved, or widely hated for being different? We'd have definitely attempted to exploit them economically unless they were numerous enough to dominate. We're the most vicious predator that has ever existed. Could they have been worse?

[jrrarglblarg]

One vector by which climate change would have pressured the Neandertals is the reduction of megafauna in the landscape when their grazing terrain was disrupted. It’s part of why there are no cameloids or elephants in North America.
The Neandertal diet and thus culture appears to be heavily dependent on megafauna hunting to the exclusion of other things in the diet such as small game and fish. At least one site along the Mediterranean appears to have been a starvation event in spitting distance of fish and shellfish. Lack of twisted fiber cordage, both string itself and the varied toolset/skillset it can create, is thought to explain their inability to make use of plentiful but smaller protein sources around them.
It seems safe to approach the evidence with an assumption that ALL the pressure factors played a part in their extinction, to varying degrees over time, and that one site may represent more of one pressure than another, just from distribution through space and time. Some were a meal on a cold dark winter, some became aunt Betty after a cold dark winter. Some spawned the stories of dwarves and trolls and other small or dark or Otherbeing humanoids by being occasionally spotted in the terrain at a distance.

[clay-twgc]

Even though Sapians had superior weapons and consequently could outfight Neandertals, that does not explain why Neandertals had inferior weapons.

Physically, Neandertals were just as strong as us.

Cognitively, their brains were notably larger than ours. So, they were most likely more cognitively capable than us. Their occipital lobe which is the main visual brain processing center was larger than ours. Combined with their larger eyes, they could most certainly see better during the day and night than us.

Therfore, they were both physically and cognitively just as capable if not better than us; they were quite capable of developing advanced tools and weapons too. But they didn't.

The only real explanation as to why we outsurvived them is social. There are indications that Neandertals lived in small groups of a hundred or less. Whereas, we Sapians tended to live in larger groups. This gave us two advantages.

First, larger groups tend to dominate over smaller groups.

Second small groups tend to be very conservative relative to new ideas while larger groups tend to be more accepting of new ideas. This is because small groups cannot afford to allow individuals to waste valuable time and skills to nonessential efforts. All efforts must without fail be used for food, shelter and clothing. However, larger groups can allow a few people to work on some novel tool and/or method that could improve the group's hunting, farming or living standards.

Both the larger groups and better technology most likely gave Sapians a huge advantage over the Neandertals.

[oscarwalton]

I always wondered if disease played a role in the demise of the Neanderthal given they lived in isolated groups maybe they couldn't deal with new diseases brought in by the homosapians like when the Spanish came to the America's bringing diseases that the natives had no immunity to.

[jarradhurley]

I think they were largely assimilated over time. Numbers got smaller and smaller, and then they bread into us and became a part of us. The last neanderthal was a neanderthal/sapien hybrid.

[EKA-jf]

I read some time ago that their larger eyes used up more calories than ours and it made them literally need more food than us.

[PhillipYewTree]

Herpes, papilloma and adenovirus have been identified in neanderthal tissues. The assertion is that neanderthals were not resistant to them, unlike sapiens, which led to their demise. These viruses remain troublesome - but not fatal to sapiens. Maybe Neanderthals will be resurrected sometime, and given protection from viruses?

[jackbrown]

I've always favored the theory that Neanderthals disappeared because a large number of them were taken by extraterrestrials. Perhaps ETs figured Neanderthals were the better species and had uses for them in other parts of the galaxy?

[josephturner]

I think we are their problem. Which is why they avoid us. Gilgamesh killed Humbaba. Beowulf killed Grendel. Odin cleared the Frost Giants from Scandinavia, maybe. They may have taken part in the Winter war on the Fins side. They get spotted from time to time.

[ferengiprofiteer]

Between 10 and 11 human species?
Okay, I'm guessing 10.72.

[angryanne]

How do you explain American Congress member, Marjory Taylor Green then?