According to scientists, the main reason for the extinction of Neanderthals is associated with a drop in the birth rate.
Neanderthals lived at the same time as the ancestors of modern people and were very similar to them. For example, their growth reached 160-165 cm, the physique was massive, and the skull box had an elongated shape. The size of the skull was slightly larger than that of the ancestors of homo sapiens. Neanderthals had long elongated limbs and a short neck. These factors contribute to the fact that modern scientists do not stop studying the history of Neanderthals.
There is an assumption that the first ancestors of homo sapiens, belonging to the early Neanderthals, lived in Europe about 600 thousand years ago. As for the time of extinction of the last representatives of this hominid, it dates back 40 thousand years ago.
Several theories of the death of Neanderthals are known. For example, according to one of them, the main reason is climate change, and the other is the development of the ancestors of modern people. All scientists are unanimous only in the fact that the genes of Neanderthals mixed with the genes homo sapiens.
Today, another theory of the death of Neanderthals, put forward by scientists from France, became known. They are sure that Neanderthals became extinct due to a decrease in their birth rate. They wrote about this scientific work, which was published in the publication Plos One.
The article mentions that the birth rate of Neanderthals fell by 2.7%, which led to their extinction in the next 4 thousand years.In their view, fertility has fallen as a result of food shortages and competition with modern people. Equally important for the decline in fertility is also mixing with modern people. This is confirmed by the discovery in China of the skull of an ancient Neanderthal man who had a lot of similarities with homo sapiens.
