What really killed off the Neanderthals?

The key point to understand with regard to Neanderthal man, is that they did not evolve in Africa, unlike most or all of our other pre-human ancestors. They evolved in a very specific and very harsh ecological niche in Northern Eurasia, and were hyper-specialized to this niche. As long as that niche didn't change a great deal, they were alright, although their numbers were never very great, due to the demands and limitations of this harsh climate, and the biological limitations on their fertility, imposed by these biological adaptations. However, once the climate changed enough to make this niche no longer feasible, which it did tens of thousands of years before the arrival of modern man into Neanderthal territory in Eurasia, the Neanderthals were already in deep trouble as a species. They had extraordinary strength and intelligence, considerably greater than modern man. However, their bulky bodies and brains put severe limitations on fertility rates. It was hard for Neanderthal women to bear children, and to keep them alive, considerably harder than for modern women. So, once their natural habibat deteriorated enough to threaten them and reduce their numbers and force them to move to new territory, they were in deep trouble simply due to inbreeding and the genetic limitations this inevitably leads to. And, then came along modern man, with new and dangerous pathogens from Africa which they had no immunity to. They still survived another 20,000 years here and there, and they inbred to some degree with modern men, particularly due to male Neanderthal on human female couplings, which is why we all have 1-4% Neanderthal DNA in our modern human bodies. However, there is no need whatsoever to assume any particular human genocide of Neanderthals, or any direct active human competition with Neanderthals, to account for their extinction. Our mythologies have memories of Neanderthals, particularly in terms of the elves, the mythical, wise, loving ancient men who disappeared to the islands of the West, leaving men with great sadness. But, also, the Cyclops, a story estimated by specialists to be 50,000 years old, the great, God-like, powerful beings that terrified and attempted to control modern man. Modern men did not destroy the Neanderthals, the climate destroyed the Neanderthals. #anthropology #biology #sociology #history #prehistory #philosophyofhistory #neanderthals #homosapiens #mythology