Neanderthals may have vanished after being swallowed up by stone-age “globalisation”, according to a new theory.

Rather than being driven into extinction, they lost their identity after interbreeding with early modern humans and adopting their culture, it is claimed. In the end they disappeared, leaving only a reminder of their presence in the genes of present-day Europeans.

Neanderthals, a human subspecies, had already lived in Europe for hundreds of thousands of years when Homo sapiens arrived on the scene from Africa.

The two co-existed for 10,000 years or more, but by around 30,000 years ago no Neanderthals remained. Lack of intelligence and adaptability have been blamed for Neanderthals losing the survival war with modern humans.

But this has been challenged by evidence that Neanderthals were much more sophisticated, for instance in their use of tools, than previously thought. DNA studies have also confirmed that Neanderthals and early modern humans interbred. Many people living in Europe today still have remnants of Neanderthal DNA in their genes.

The new study, published in the journal Human Ecology, used archaeological data to track behavioural change among Neanderthals and early modern humans in Western Eurasia more than 100,000 years.

As the last Ice Age tightened its grip, both populations ranged more widely across Eurasia in search of food. Computer simulations showed how these migrations led to more cultural interaction – and interbreeding – between them.

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