"Did Climate Cause the Neanderthals' Extinction?"

Interview: Katerina Harvati

13 Sep, 2007 10:36 am

comment(s) 1

A new study published today in Nature pinpoints the climatic background at the time of the Neanderthals' disappearance in Europe some time around 24,000 years ago. Dr Katerina Harvati, co-author of the study, answers Scitizen's questions.

There is a controversy on the end of the Neanderthals. You have investigated three proposed dates...

How do you explain their extinction?

How did you come to that conclusion?

Katerina Harvati is a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Interview by Clementine Fullias

Reference:

Tzedakis P., et al, Relics: Pinpointing the end of Neanderthals, Nature, September 13

Key words :

evolution,

climate change

neanderthals

évolution

extinction

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1 comment(s)

[1]

Comment by Dr Donald mcMiken

19 Sep, 2007 01:44 am

This study is very convincing. The next question now is what happened when the Neanderthals moved south and came into conflict with anatomically-modern humans? In my opinion the fossil data of trauma to Neanderthal skeletons coupled with our conflictual predelections, that are clear from our historical past, are sufficient to conclude we hastened their demise. We did of course have some other clear advantages: our broader food base, family/kin group social structure, nomadic hunting, running anatomy, projectile weapons and so on.
Any takers?
Cheers, Donald McMiken

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