Neanderthal Extinction

Neanderthal populations were very stable in Europe for more than 60,000 yr nevertheless, 40,000 yr before our epoch, they were replaced by Early Modern Men. Although it remains unclear whether the interaction was direct or not, we consider here the case where both species compete for the same ecological niche composed by limited resources and territory [134]. Let /0 express the density of Neanderthal individuals and the density of Early Modern Men. If we assume that the Neanderthals are sedentary, the reaction-diffusion system reads 

A stability analysis of the uniform steady states (p , p ) of the system yields 

The steady state (7.38c) represents the final state of the evolution of the invasion process and the extinction of the Neanderthal individuals. A linear stability analysis around (7.38c) shows that the Neanderthal population decays like with 

---

Annalee Newitz, What Modem Humans Can Leam from the Neanderthals Extinction, Popular Science, May 16,2013. 

Chapter 15 brings the emphasis to the human scale as it describes the use of U-series chronometers to date the history of human evolution. U/Th dating provides one of the few chronometers for a crucial period of such evolution which saw the emergence of modem humans, the extinction of both Neanderthals and H. erectus, and a great deal of environmental change. Recently developed tools, described in this chapter, look set to put the time scales for such change onto a much more secure footing. 

Neanderthals become extinct Homo sapiens remains the single surviving human species... 

There has been discussion for many years about the fate of the Neanderthals who occupied part of what is now Europe for a few hundred thousand years until they became extinct about 30,000 years ago. Most authorities believe that modem humans simply outcompeted the Neanderthals for food and other resources, leading to their ultimate demise. A central question remains did modem humans and the Neanderthals interbreed Do we carry some Neanderthal genes as a result ... 

Figure 7.22. Placing Neanderthal on an Evointionary Tree. Comparison of DNA sequences revealed that Neanderthal is not on the line of direct descent leading to Homo sapiens but, instead, branched off earlier and then became extinct.

Neanderthal 2006 3000 Mb The extinct cousin of human, more than a million base pairs sequenced. 

A) Assuming first-order kinetics for the rate of occurrence of random mtDNA SNPs,estimate the number of mtDNA SNPs between toda/s European population Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis, who split away about 465 kyr ago and are believed to have become extinct. Fig. 10.2... 

Genetic engineering techniques could resurrect life for extinct animals, such as mammoths, or extinct human species, such as Neanderthals. Although farming DNA that is viable for such use is difficult, theoretically such feats could be accomplished. A film that was based on this possibility is Jurassic Park (1993), based on a novel of the same name hy Michael Crichton. 

Tattersall, Ian. The Last Neanderthal The Rise, Success, and Mysterious Extinction of Our Closest Human Relatives. New York Macmillan, 1995. 

---