Roughly 45,000 to 35,000 years ago in Western Europe, despite a temperate climate and food-rich habitat, the Neanderthal population was dwindling while modern humans were flourishing. Why couldn't Neanderthals and modern humans coexist?
Many theories have attempted to explain the eventual extinction of the Neanderthal. One popular explanation has been that Neanderthals could not keep pace with the drastic fluctuations in weather and food supply.
A recently published study inserted existing data on weather and topography into a climate simulation and concluded that there was sufficient habitat for Neanderthals and humans to coexist. The study's authors hypothesize that Neanderthals were competitively excluded by modern humans and were not the victims of climatic fluctuations.
