Are Neanderthals extinct because they are eaten by smart people?

According to the French scientist, the disappearance of the Neanderthals 30,000 years ago is due to their being eaten by the wise. This idea raises controversy in the scientific community.

The leader of the research group, Fernando Rozzi, of the Paris National Center for Scientific Research, said: 'The Neanderthals have encountered a violent end by the hands of modern people, in caves, we have eat them '.

Fernando Rozzi believed that the jaw bone was found to provide evidence that Neanderthals were attacked and killed by humans, then the body was taken back to the cave for food, teeth and skulls were used. like spoils.

The basis for this affirmation is the signs on a Neanderthal jaw bone found in Les Rois, southwestern France in a study published in the Journal of Anthropology.

Similar cuts in the jaw bone have been found in deer bones, animals hunted and eaten by humans during the Stone Age. Scientists believe that the flesh of Neanderthals has been eaten and the teeth are used to make a necklace.

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A French anthropological group discovered a trace of systematic "purge" in Neanderthals.


The new hypothesis is proposed by French researchers to cause debates in the scientific community.

Unable to agree with the new hypothesis, Professor Francesco d'Errico, Institute of History of Bordeaux, France, said: 'Only a few signs of cuts cannot create sufficient evidence'. According to him, humans can find Neanderthal bones and use their teeth to make a necklace.

Professor Christ Stringer, Natural History Museum, London said: 'It is necessary to have an extremely important investigation. We need more evidence. "

According to Professor Stringer, the discovery of the French science group only revealed that modern and Neanderthals used to live together in the same time in Europe, between them had effects affecting each other and some of those influences. may be hostile.

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Neanderthals are a branch in the development of primates, including humans.


'However, it does not prove that the wise have systematically destroyed Neanderthals or that we often eat them. But it adds evidence for competition from modern humans that have contributed to the Neanderthal extinction , 'said Professor Stringer.

Neanderthals live throughout Europe around 300,000 years ago. They tried to adapt and survive some time after the ice age before becoming extinct about 30,000 years ago, along with the time when modern humans migrated to continents from Africa. They have a nose protruding on a big face with a massive forehead and no chin.

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There are many theories regarding the Neanderthal extinction.


One hypothesis for the Neanderthals' disappearance is that they cannot compete with modern humans with far more intelligence, more sophisticated tools to hunt for a source of abundance like food. Scientists once believed that Neanderthals were vulnerable to changes in the earth's climate.