SHARE:
submit to reddit



Climate change did not cause extinction of Neanderthals
mongabay.com
September 12, 2007





Researchers in Europe have found evidence that rules out a "single climatic event" as a factor in the extinction of Neanderthals.

Mapping radiocarbon dates of Neanderthal bones from Gorham's Cave in Gibraltar directly onto a "well-dated palaeoclimate archive", researchers show that Neanderthal extinction "did not coincide with any of the extreme climate events that punctuated the last glacial period."

"Until now, there have been three limitations to understanding the role of climate in the Neanderthal extinction: uncertainty over the exact timing of their disappearance; uncertainties in converting radiocarbon dates to actual calendar years; and the chronological imprecision of the ancient climate record," said lead author Chronis Tzedakis, a palaeoecologist at the University of Leeds.


La Ferrassie Homo neanderthalensis skull. Courtesy of Wesleyan University Archaeology & Anthropology Collections.
The researchers use their new method to show that dates of possible Neanderthal extinction from Gorham's Cave did not correlate with known climate shifts.

"Our findings suggest that there was no single climatic event that caused the extinction of the Neanderthals," concludes palaeonthropologist Katerina Harvati of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. "Only the controversial date of 24,000 radiocarbon years for their disappearance, if proven correct, coincides with a major environmental shift. Even in this case, however, the role of climate would have been indirect, by promoting competition with other human groups."

The researchers say their work is applicable to other research involving the fossil record.

"Our approach offers the huge potential to unravel the role of climate in critical events of the recent fossil record as it can be applied to any radiocarbon date from any deposit," said paleoclimatologist Konrad Hughen of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The conclusions leave competition with humans as the leading culprit for the demise of Neanderthals.

CITATION: Tzedakis, P.C., Hughen, K.A., Cacho, I. & Harvati, K (2007). Placing late Neanderthals in a climatic context. Nature Sept 13, 2007


Related

Global warming killed Neanderthals in Spain April 30, 2007
New research fingers climate change, not humans, as the culprit for the extinction of Neanderthals on the Iberian Peninsula. The research contradicts prevailing theory which holds modern humans responsible for their demise.
Comments?



News options

SHARE THIS ARTICLE:



News index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home


Advertisements:


Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing




SAVE $3 on mongabay shirts from Zazzle thru Aug 23!
Warning: hallucinogenic frog t-shirts
Warning: hallucinogenic frog
Wildlife of Madagascar T-shirt
Wildlife of Madagascar T-shirt
Bold and Dangerous - Pygmy tyrant t-shirts
Bold and Dangerous - Pygmy tyrant
Orangutan: "I'm just here to look pretty" t-shirts
Orangutan: "I'm just here to look pretty"
Baby sea turtle shirt II
Baby sea turtle shirt II
Save gorillas T-Shirt
Save gorillas T-Shirt
Snake eating frog T-shirt
Snake eating frog T-shirt
Will you miss me?  Baby Orangutan t-shirts
Will you miss me? Baby Orangutan
Love me before I'm gone - Gladiator frog t-shirts
Love me before I'm gone - Gladiator frog
Licking this frog may make you crazy t-shirts
Licking this frog may make you crazy



MONGABAY.COM
Mongabay.com seeks to raise interest in and appreciation of wild lands and wildlife, while examining the impact of emerging trends in climate, technology, economics, and finance on conservation and development (more)

CONTENTS
Rainforests
Tropical Fish
News
Madagascar
Pictures
Kids' Site
Languages
TCS Journal
About
Archives
Topics | RSS
Newsletter



WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
Email:


INTERACT
Facebook
Contact
Twitter
Interns
Zenfolio
Help


SUPPORT
Help support mongabay.com when you buy from Amazon.com



POPULAR PAGES
Rainforests
Rain forests
Amazon deforestation
Deforestation
Deforestation stats
Why rainforests matter
Saving rainforests
Deforestation stats
Rainforest canopy

News
Most popular articles
Worth saving?
Forest conservation
Earth Day
Poverty alleviation
Cell phones in Africa
Seniors helping Africa
Saving orangutans in Borneo
Palm oil
Amazon palm oil
Future of the Amazon
Cane toads
Dubai environment
Investing to save rainforests
Visiting the rainforest
Defaunation
Blue lizard
Amazon fires
Extinction debate
Extinction crisis
Malaysian palm oil
Borneo

News topics
Amazon
Biofuels
Brazil
Carbon Finance
Climate Change
Deforestation
Energy
Happy-upbeat
Interviews
Oceans
Palm oil
Rainforests
Solutions
Wildlife
MORE TOPICS




T-SHIRTS


  • Madagascar Wildlife
  • Dancing lemurs
  • Don't fall asleep the sloths will eat you
  • Sucking on this frog may make you insane


    CALENDARS

  • Mount Kenya
  • East Africa Safari Wildlife
  • Kenya's Turkana People
  • Peru
  • African Wildlife
  • Alaska
  • China
  • Madagascar Chameleons


    CANVAS BAGS

  • Hallucinogenic frog bag
  • Madagascar wildlife bag










  • Copyright mongabay 2009