Scientists at the University of Bologna in Italy has denied the version according to which the Neanderthals disappeared because of climate change. About the study revealing the truth about the extinction of an ancient people and published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, according to a press release on Phys.org.
the researchers analyzed samples of stalagmites collected in caves in the Italian region of Puglia. This allowed them to reconstruct the climate of the last glacial epoch, which ended about 11.7 thousand years ago. The content of isotopes of carbon and oxygen in stalagmites, you can set the amount of rainfall and the condition of the soil during certain periods of time.
it Turned out that climate change 42-45 thousand years ago, when on a plateau Murg was inhabited by the Neanderthals coexisted with Homo sapiens, were minor and there was no severe and prolonged drought. According to scientists, this refutes the assumption on the influence of climate on the extinction of the Neanderthals in this and other similar areas of the Mediterranean.
the Hypothesis about the extinction of the Neanderthals 42 thousand years ago due to climate change is widespread among the scientific community. Confirm sharp changes of weather conditions were found in the analysis of ice cores in Greenland and Europe. However, in the Mediterranean, the climate was still mild.
