Extinction of our Last Rivals,Homo Neanderthalensis

Levi Johnston

Hypothesis Models

• What led to the extinction ofHomo Neanderthalensis?– Disease Model– Interbreeding Model– Genocide Model– Competition Model

Disease ModelWolff & Greenwood

• Cannibalism– Kuru

• Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies– “Mad Neanderthal

Disease”

Interbreeding ModelR.E. Green, et al.

• Human-Neanderthal hybrid

• European ancestry– Up to 4%

genomic similarity

Genocide Model

• Competitive disadvantages– Shorter legs– Larger joints• Friction

– Thicker bones• Heavier

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Competition Model

Extinction

Human Population

Trap

Coexistence

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Neanderthal Population

Competition ModelJ.R. Faria

Conclusion

“There was nothing inevitable nothing inevitable about the triumph of the Moderns, and a twist of Pleistocene fate could have left the Neanderthals occupying Europe to this day.”

-Dr. Stringer & Dr. Gamble

Bibliography• Faria, J. R. 2000. What happened to the Neanderthals? – The

survival trap. Intl. Review for Social Sciences. 63:151-172.• Green, R. E., et al. A draft sequence of the Neanderthal genome.

Science. 328:710-722.• Smith, F. H., I. Jankovic, and I. Karavanic. 2005. The assimilation

model, modern human origins in Europe, and the extinction of Neandertals. Quaternary Intl. 137:7-19.

• Stringer, C., and W. Davies. 2001. Those elusive Neanderthals. Nature. 413:791-792.

• Tattersal, I., and J. H. Schwartz. 1999. Hominids and hybrids: The place of Neanderthals in human evolution. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 96:7117-7119.

• Wolff, H., and A. D. Greenwood. 2010. Did viral disease of humans wipe out Neandertals?. Medical Hypotheses. 75:99-105.