Editing Neanderthal extinction (section)

==== Species specific disadvantages ====

Slight [[natural selection|competitive advantage]] on the part of modern humans may have accounted for Neanderthals' decline on a timescale of thousands of years.<ref name="Wynnetal2016">{{cite journal |last1= Wynn |first1= Thomas |last2= Overmann |first2= Karenleigh A |last3= Coolidge |first3= Frederick L |date= 2016 |title= The false dichotomy: A refutation of the Neandertal indistinguishability claim |journal= Journal of Anthropological Sciences |volume= 94 |issue= 94 |pages= 201–221 |doi= 10.4436/jass.94022 |doi-broken-date= 2024-11-02 |pmid= 26708102 }}</ref><ref name=banks>{{cite journal |last1=Banks |first1=William E. |last2=d'Errico |first2=Francesco |last3=Peterson |first3=A. Townsend |last4=Kageyama |first4=Masa |last5=Sima |first5=Adriana |last6=Sánchez-Goñi |first6=Maria-Fernanda |date=24 December 2008 |editor1-last=Harpending |editor1-first=Henry |title=Neanderthal Extinction by Competitive Exclusion |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=3 |issue=12 |pages=e3972 |issn=1932-6203 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0003972 |pmid=19107186 |pmc=2600607 |bibcode=2008PLoSO...3.3972B|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Generally small and widely dispersed fossil sites suggest that Neanderthals lived in less numerous and socially more isolated groups than contemporary ''Homo sapiens''. Tools such as Mousterian flint stone flakes and [[Levallois technique|Levallois points]] are remarkably sophisticated from the outset, yet they have a slow rate of variability and general technological inertia is noticeable during the entire fossil period. Artifacts are of utilitarian nature, and symbolic behavioral traits are undocumented before the arrival of modern humans in Europe around 40,000 to 35,000 years ago.<ref name="Wynnetal2016"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://eol.org/pages/4454114/details |title=Homo neanderthalensis Brief Summary |publisher=EOL |access-date=September 26, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title =Symbolic or utilitarian? Juggling interpretations of Neanderthal behavior: new inferences from the study of engraved stone surfaces | pmid=25020018 | doi=10.4436/JASS.92007 | volume=92 | issue=92 | journal=J Anthropol Sci | pages=233–55 | last1 = Peresani | first1 = M | last2 = Dallatorre | first2 = S | last3 = Astuti | first3 = P | last4 = Dal Colle | first4 = M | last5 = Ziggiotti | first5 = S | last6 = Peretto | first6 = C| year=2014 | doi-broken-date=2024-11-02 }}</ref>

The noticeable morphological differences in skull shape between the two human species also have cognitive implications. These include the Neanderthals' smaller parietal lobes<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bruner |first1=Emiliano |date=2004 |title=Geometric Morphometrics and Paleoneurology: Brain Shape Evolution in the Genus ''Homo'' |journal=Journal of Human Evolution |volume=47 |issue=5 |pages=279–303 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.03.009 |pmid=15530349 |bibcode=2004JHumE..47..279B }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bruner |first1=Emiliano |date=2010 |title=Morphological Differences in the Parietal Lobes with the Human Genus: A Neurofunctional Perspective |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=S77–S88 |doi=10.1086/650729 |s2cid=146587487 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bruner |first1=Emiliano |last2=Manzi |first2=Giorgio |last3=Arsuaga |first3=Juan Luis |date=2003 |title=Encephalization and Allometric Trajectories in the Genus ''Homo'': Evidence from the Neandertal and Modern Lineages |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=100 |issue=26 |pages=15335–15340 |doi=10.1073/pnas.2536671100 |pmid=14673084 |pmc=307568 |bibcode=2003PNAS..10015335B |doi-access=free }}</ref> and cerebellum,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hublin |first1=Jean-Jacques |last2=Neubauer |first2=Simon |last3=Gunz |first3=Philipp |date=2015 |title=Brain Ontogeny and Life History in Pleistocene Hominins |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological Sciences |volume=370 |issue=1663 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2014.0062 |pmid=25602066 |pmc=4305163 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weaver |first1=Anne |date=2005 |title=Reciprocal Evolution of the Cerebellum and Neocortex in Fossil Humans |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=102 |issue=10 |pages=3576–3580 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0500692102 |pmid=15731345 |pmc=553338 |bibcode=2005PNAS..102.3576W |doi-access=free }}</ref> areas implicated in tool use,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Orban |first1=Guy A |last2=Caruana |first2=Fausto |date=2014 |title=The Neural Basis of Human Tool Use |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |volume=5 |page=310 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00310 |pmid=24782809 |pmc=3988392 |doi-access=free }}</ref> visuospatial integration,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bruner |first1=Emiliano |last2=Iriki |first2=Atsushi |date=2016 |title=Extending Mind, Visuospatial Integration, and the Evolution of the Parietal Lobes in the Human Genus |journal=Quaternary International |volume=405 |pages=98–110 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2015.05.019 |bibcode=2016QuInt.405...98B |s2cid=127641606 }}</ref> numeracy,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Piazza |first1=Manuela |last2=Izard |first2=Véronique |date=2009 |title=How Humans Count: Numerosity and the Parietal Cortex |journal=Neuroscientist |volume=15 |issue=3 |pages=261–273 |doi=10.1177/1073858409333073 |pmid=19436075 |s2cid=10271553 }}</ref> creativity,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vandervert |first1=Larry R |last2=Schimpf |first2=Paul H |last3=Liu |first3=Hesheng |date=2007 |title=How Working Memory and the Cerebellum Collaborate to Produce Creativity and Innovation |journal=Creativity Research Journal |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1080/10400410709336873 |s2cid=15247122 }}</ref> and higher-order conceptualization.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Balsters |first1=Joshua H |last2=Whelan |first2=Christopher D |last3=Robertson |first3=Ian H |last4=Ramnani |first4=Narender |date=2013 |title=Cerebellum and Cognition: Evidence for the Encoding of Higher Order Rules |journal=Cerebral Cortex |volume=23 |issue=6 |pages=1433–1443 |doi=10.1093/cercor/bhs127|pmid=22617850 |doi-access=free |hdl=2262/72974 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The differences, while slight, would have possibly been enough to affect natural selection and may underlie and explain the differences in social behaviors, technological innovation, and artistic output.<ref name="Wynnetal2016"/>

[[Jared Diamond]], a supporter of competitive replacement, points out in his book ''[[The Third Chimpanzee]]'' that the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans is comparable to patterns of behavior that occur whenever people with advanced technology clash with people with less developed technology.<ref>Diamond, J. (1992). ''The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal''. New York: Harper Collins, p. 45.</ref>