The real reason Neanderthals went belly-up: Inferior Achilles tendons?

[bassrique]

In a nutshell [so the theory goes], Homo sapiens could hunt by ambush or by long distance pursuit, while the Neanderthals were only adept at the former, as they weren't good runners because of their heel structure. When the last ice age hit Europe turning the forests into tundra, the ambush strategy didn't work so well, and the Neanderthals couldn't adapt.

For the details:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...in-a-race.html

Would anyone care to poke holes in this idea?

[Thunderscreech]

Or maybe they were genetically altered to die off by time-traveling Humans from a future where Neanderthals evolved to be superior and enslaved Humans, so the humans from the future broke into a research lab and set someone back in time on a suicide mission to destroy Neanderthals forever.


Or something like that. But this theory you posted actually looks pretty viable.

[bassrique]

Originally Posted by Thunderscreech

Or maybe they were genetically altered to die off by time-traveling Humans from a future where Neanderthals evolved to be superior and enslaved Humans, so the humans from the future broke into a research lab and set someone back in time on a suicide mission to destroy Neanderthals forever.


Or something like that. But this theory you posted actually looks pretty viable.

Maybe it was this guy:

Police said Mr Cole, who was wearing a bow tie and rather too much tweed for his age, would not reveal his country of origin. "Countries do not exist where I am from. The discovery of the Higgs boson led to limitless power, the elimination of poverty and Kit-Kats for everyone. It is a communist chocolate hellhole and I'm here to stop it ever happening."

Hadron Collider would-be saboteur claims to be from the future.

Or it could be the tendons.

[hbarcat]

Sounds plausible. But I'm guessing their extinction was a bit more complicated than the simple explanation given in the article.

[Thunderscreech]

Originally Posted by hbarcat

Sounds plausible. But I'm guessing their extinction was a bit more complicated than the simple explanation given in the article.

Maybe they were also very bad at basketball and the humans beat them in a "loser-gets-sacrificed-to-the-heathen-gods" basketball game.

[jonathan_matos5]

Originally Posted by Thunderscreech

Maybe they were also very bad at basketball and the humans beat them in a "loser-gets-sacrificed-to-the-heathen-gods" basketball game.

organized by the Globetrotters from the Globetrotter planet.

[bassrique]

Originally Posted by jonathan_matos5

organized by the Globetrotters from the Globetrotter planet.

That planet is named Xenu, and it is ruled by the evil Lord Curly, who gained control after the bloody coup that deposed Lord Meadowlark.

[nsureit]

My youngest daughter is a forensic anthropologist. She has dug up and studied a few Neanderthals in Europe. I'll ask her what she thinks. Her current project is diggin' up Bronze Age folks in Romania.