Neanderthals and Climate Change - a good read

[wnylib]

5. I don't see how a colder trend in climate

40,000 years ago would have caused the decline of Neanderthal since they were around for the more extreme cold hundreds of thousands of years earlier.

It seems more likely that the appearance of Homo sapiens in Europe 40,000 years ago would have meant more hominins (related human types) needing and using the same resources. That would mean not enough meat and plant resources for everyone. The most skilled and innovative ones would survive better.

Since Neanderthal genes are found everywhere except sub Saharan Africa, it looks like interbreeding was part of the reason for Nranderthal decline. If waves of the "newer model" of humans coming out of Africa outnumbered the already existing Neanderthal in Europe, then interbreeding would account for a large part of the cause of Neanderthal decline.