Neanderthal extinction by competitive exclusion.
BACKGROUND
Despite a long history of investigation, considerable debate revolves around whether Neanderthals became extinct because of climate change or competition with anatomically modern humans (AMH).


RESULTS
We apply a new methodology integrating archaeological and chronological data with high-resolution paleoclimatic simulations to define eco-cultural niches associated with Neanderthal and AMH adaptive systems during alternating cold and mild phases of Marine Isotope Stage 3. Our results indicate that Neanderthals and AMH exploited similar niches, and may have continued to do so in the absence of contact.


CONCLUSIONS
The southerly contraction of Neanderthal range in southwestern Europe during Greenland Interstadial 8 was not due to climate change or a change in adaptation, but rather concurrent AMH geographic expansion appears to have produced competition that led to Neanderthal extinction.
Banks
William E
WE
Institut de Préhistoire et de Géologie du Quaternaire, UMR 5199-PACEA, Université Bordeaux 1, CNRS, Talence, France. w.banks@ipgq.u-bordeaux1.fr
d'Errico
Francesco
F
Peterson
A Townsend
AT
Kageyama
Masa
M
Sima
Adriana
A
Sánchez-Goñi
Maria-Fernanda
MF
D000220:Adaptation, Biological / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D001106:Archaeology; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002980:Climate; D017753:Ecosystem; D005060:Europe; D053476:Extinction, Biological; D005580:Fossils; D015186:Hominidae / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D011157:Population Dynamics; D012641:Selection, Genetic; D012919:Social Behavior