‘ Climate change caused Neanderthal extinction’

◗ Scientists found a complete absence of archaeological artefacts from the species during cold periods

London: Climate change may have played an important role in the extinction of Neanderthals, say scientists who found a complete absence of archaeological artefacts from the species during cold periods.

Researchers, including those from the Northumbria University in the UK, produced detailed new natural records from stalagmites that highlight changes in the European climate more than 40,000 years ago.

The study, published in the journal PNAS, found several cold periods that coincide with the timings of a near- complete absence of archaeological artefacts from the Neanderthals, suggesting the impact that changes in climate had on the longterm survival of Neanderthal man.

Stalagmites grow in thin layers each year and any change in temperature alters their chemical composition. The layers therefore preserve a natural archive of climate change over many thousands of years.

The researchers examined stalagmites in two Romanian caves, which revealed more detailed records of climate change in continental Europe than had previously been available.

The layers of the stalagmites showed a series of prolonged extreme cold and excessively dry conditions in Europe between 44,000 and 40,000 years ago. They highlight a cycle of temperatures gradually cooling, staying very cold for centuries to millennia and then warming again very abruptly.

The researchers compared these palaeoclimate records with archaeological records of Neanderthal artefacts and found a correlation between the cold periods — known as stadials — and an absence of Neanderthal tools. This indicates the Neanderthal population greatly reduced during the cold periods, suggesting that climate change played a role in their decline.

“The Neanderthals were the human species closest to ours and lived in Eurasia for some 350,000 years,” said Vasile Ersek, senior lecturer at Northumbria University.

“However, around 40,000 years ago — during the last Ice Age and shortly after the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe — they became extinct,” said Ersek. For many years scientists have wondered what could have caused their demise.