Neanderthals went extinct about 30,000 years ago. They lived successfully in Europe, Asia, and Africa for hundreds of thousands of years. Homo sapiens left Africa about 70,000 years ago and entered France about 55,000 years ago and Germany about the same time. Many anthropologists see the entry of Homo sapiens into Europe and the Neandertal extinction as no mere coincidence—that is, Homo sapiens moving into Europe had something to do with the Neandertal extinction. This video reveals one possibility for the Neanderthal extinction: They had a penchant to cannibalize each other.
When Neandertals were alone in Europe, cannibalism would serve at least two purposes: One, it would reduce competition for limited resources. … Given times of limited food sources, eliminating the competition of other Neanderthals might be an effective strategy. A second hypothesis is that eating other Neanderthals might also be an additional source of food.
