For one, modern humans may have beaten them in the competition for resources. Neanderthals could’ve gradually disappeared as they interbred with humans.
Or, they could’ve been less resilient to changes in the environment and climate than humans, so the start of the last ice age might’ve triggered their demise.
Another theory is that infectious diseases played a part in the Neanderthals’ extinction. When Neanderthals and modern humans interbred, the ancestors of modern humans may have introduced infectious diseases to them.
Evidence shows that the two groups exchanged genes linked to disease, spreading infections between their populations.
In the new paper, the researchers tested the remnants of viral DNA from Neanderthal bones to see if infection was what drove the species to extinction.
They found three viruses in one individual. The results of the study do not confirm that viruses led to the Neanderthals’ disappearance, but they do reveal that the species could catch human diseases.
The paper was published on the preprint site bioRxiv.
