A potential role for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in Neanderthal extinction.
The Neanderthals were a Eurasian human species of the genus Homo that disappeared approximately 30,000 years ago. The cause or causes of their extinction continues to intrigue specialists and non-specialists alike. Here a contributory role for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) is suggested. TSEs could have infected Neanderthal groups as a result of general cannibalistic activity and brain tissue consumption in particular. Further infection could then have taken place through continued cannibalistic activity or via shared used of infected stone tools. A modern human hunter-gatherer proxy has been developed and applied as a hypothetical model to the Neanderthals. This hypothesis suggests that the impact of TSEs on the Neanderthals could have been dramatic and have played a large part in contributing to the processes of Neanderthal extinction.
Underdown
Simon
S
Human Origins and Palaeoenvironmental Research Group, Department of Anthropology and Geography, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK. sunderdown@brookes.ac.uk
D000818:Animals; D002190:Cannibalism / Q000266:history; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D049690:History, Ancient; D015186:Hominidae; D006801:Humans; D007729:Kuru / Q000266:history / Q000635:transmission; D008954:Models, Biological; D018419:Primate Diseases / Q000266:history* / Q000635:transmission; D017096:Prion Diseases / Q000266:history* / Q000635:transmission