{"id":373,"date":"2020-11-13T00:32:19","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T00:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/?page_id=373"},"modified":"2025-02-28T02:50:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-28T02:50:50","slug":"disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\/","title":{"rendered":"Disappearance of the Neanderthals (c. 40,000 BCE)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What happened?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Neanderthals (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Homo neanderthalensis)<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the closest relatives of modern humans (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Homo sapiens)<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, lived throughout Europe and parts of Asia from about 400,000 BCE to about 40,000 BCE.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Neanderthals and modern humans last shared a common ancestor in Africa around 800,000 BCE. Ancestral Neanderthals migrated out of Africa into Europe and Asia around 500,000 BCE, after which the two species evolved separately.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Neanderthals hunted large prey, such as mammoths and wooly rhinoceros.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the time of their disappearance around 40,000 BCE, Neanderthals were facing pressures from several factors.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They had a low population density with dwindling genetic diversity.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Modern humans may have been competing with them.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Modern humans migrated out of Africa around 50,000 BCE and came into contact with Neanderthals.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Modern humans grew more slowly and had longer life spans than Neanderthals, allowing them to sustain larger populations.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Because of the pressures Neanderthals were facing, they disappeared around 40,000 BCE.\u00a0 Neanderthals were replaced by or assimilated into modern human populations that they had come into contact with.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The genome of Eurasian people today is made up of about 2% Neanderthal DNA.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Neanderthals are also commonly referred to as <i style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, <\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">or a subspecies of modern humans.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_375\" style=\"width: 619px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-375\" class=\"wp-image-375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2020\/11\/ink-3-300x143.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"609\" height=\"290\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2020\/11\/ink-3-300x143.png 300w, https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2020\/11\/ink-3-624x297.png 624w, https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2020\/11\/ink-3.png 753w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 609px) 100vw, 609px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-375\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Map of Neanderthal range in Europe and eastern Asia. Blue areas mark where evidence of Neanderthals has been found. The black dashed line completes the proposed range (from Hendry, n.d.).<\/p><\/div>\n<h2><strong>How is this related to climate?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Not long after Neanderthals came into contact with modern humans, two very cold, dry periods hit Europe.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The first began around 42,000 BCE and lasted for a thousand years. The second began around 38,800 BCE and lasted for about 600 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The cold climate itself did not cause the Neanderthals to disappear. They had short, stocky bodies that made them well-adapted to cold climates and had survived several cooling events before.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The cold periods transformed central Europe from woodland to an Arctic-like steppe. Because of this, the large animals that Neanderthals relied on for food and supplies migrated south.\n<ul>\n<li>Neanderthals could not adapt to a change in their diet without large prey, putting an additional pressure on an already-shrinking population. While this was not the sole cause of their eventual disappearance, it likely contributed to it.<\/li>\n<li>Evidence suggests that modern humans were able to adapt to rely on different food sources, such as a variety of plants, fish and meat, allowing them to survive the periods of cold climate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\"><strong style=\"font-size: 1.285714286rem\">References and additional resources\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Daley, J. \u201cClimate Change Likely Iced Neanderthals Out Of Existence.\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Smithsonian. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2018. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/modern-humans-didnt-kill-neanderthals-weather-did-180970167\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/modern-humans-didnt-kill-neanderthals-weather-did-180970167\/<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Harvati, K. \u201cWhat Happened to the Neanderthals?\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nature. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2012. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/scitable\/knowledge\/library\/what-happened-to-the-neanderthals-68245020\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/www.nature.com\/scitable\/knowledge\/library\/what-happened-to-the-neanderthals-68245020\/<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hendry, L. \u201cWho were the Neanderthals?\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">National History Museum of London. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">n.d. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhm.ac.uk\/discover\/who-were-the-neanderthals.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">https:\/\/www.nhm.ac.uk\/discover\/who-were-the-neanderthals.html<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">History.com Editors. \u201cNeanderthals.\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">History. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2017. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.history.com\/topics\/pre-history\/neanderthals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">www.history.com\/topics\/pre-history\/neanderthals<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lieberman, B. and Gordon, E. <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Climate change in human history: prehistory to the present<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. London, Bloomsbury Academic, 2018. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\">Williams, F. L., et al. \u201cNeanderthal.\u201d <i style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Encyclopedia Britannica. <\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2020. <\/span><a style=\"font-size: 1rem\" href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Neanderthal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Neanderthal<\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>How to cite this page<\/h3>\n<p><em>Disappearance of the Neanderthals (c. 40,000 BCE)<\/em>. (2023, June 19). Climate in Global Cultures and Histories: Promoting Climate Literacy Across Disciplines. Retrieved Month Date, Year, from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\/\">https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What happened? Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), the closest relatives of modern humans (Homo sapiens), lived throughout Europe and parts of Asia from about 400,000 BCE to about 40,000 BCE.\u00a0 Neanderthals and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":308,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-373","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Disappearance of the Neanderthals (c. 40,000 BCE) - Climate in Arts and History<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Disappearance of the Neanderthals (c. 40,000 BCE) - Climate in Arts and History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What happened? Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis), the closest relatives of modern humans (Homo sapiens), lived throughout Europe and parts of Asia from about 400,000 BCE to about 40,000 BCE.\u00a0 Neanderthals and [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate in Arts and History\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-28T02:50:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/97\/2020\/11\/ink-3-300x143.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.science.smith.edu\\\/climatelit\\\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.science.smith.edu\\\/climatelit\\\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\\\/\",\"name\":\"Disappearance of the Neanderthals (c. 40,000 BCE) - Climate in Arts and History\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.science.smith.edu\\\/climatelit\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.science.smith.edu\\\/climatelit\\\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.science.smith.edu\\\/climatelit\\\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.science.smith.edu\\\/climatelit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/97\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/ink-3-300x143.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-11-13T00:32:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-28T02:50:50+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.science.smith.edu\\\/climatelit\\\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.science.smith.edu\\\/climatelit\\\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.science.smith.edu\\\/climatelit\\\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.science.smith.edu\\\/climatelit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/97\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/ink-3.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.science.smith.edu\\\/climatelit\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/97\\\/2020\\\/11\\\/ink-3.png\",\"width\":753,\"height\":359,\"caption\":\"Map of Neanderthal range in Europe and eastern Asia. Blue areas mark where evidence of Neanderthals has been found. 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Blue areas mark where evidence of Neanderthals has been found. The black dashed line completes the proposed range (from Hendry)."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/disappearance-of-the-neanderthals-c-40000-bp\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Disappearance of the Neanderthals (c. 40,000 BCE)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/","name":"Climate in Arts and History","description":"Promoting Climate Literacy Across Disciplines","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/308"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/373\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2888,"href":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/373\/revisions\/2888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.science.smith.edu\/climatelit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}