Varför försvann neandertalmänniskorna? Moderna teorier, tester och tolkningar.

Sammanfattning: Since the type fossil was found, 153 years ago, the Neanderthal man has fascinated researchers and laymen alike. The Neanderthals lived in Eurasia for maybe 200,000 years but disappeared around the time when modern humans moved into Europe around 35,000 BP. New studes of bones and artifacts, and intriguing results of new DNA-technology, indicate that Homo neanderthalensis was a separate species- but probably the closes relative we will ever be able to know in detail- with a useful language, efficient lithic culture and various types of cognitive behaviours such as the use of pigments, funerals and complex technology. So why did they become extinct? The answer is multifactorial, and may include very rapid ("whiplash") climate deteriorations, followed by isolation of small groups of people in regions with a milder climate, e.g. on the Iberian peninsula, possibly resulting in inbreeding problems, which made them die out - unless they were exterminated by the modern invaders- before 25,000 BP.