this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] JayDee 16 points 6 days ago (2 children)

So, how likely is it that neanderthals and humans just lived in tribes together, and neanderthals just eventually died off within human tribes?

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 17 points 6 days ago (2 children)

I bet it at least ended that way.

They died out during the last ice age when one of the big differences from previous ones they survived was the presence of homo sapiens.

I'm guessing it was from a combination of lack of space, raids, and integration (willing or not).

We (who carry it) have a small amount of Neanderthal DNA, but it's not the same DNA for all of us, it's pretty diverse, so cross breeding events between us weren't limited to just a few times.

[–] 5too@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Iirc, there's speculation that neanderthals needed something like 3000 calories per day just to sustain themselves.

We may have just survived because we can go leaner.

[–] Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 3 points 4 days ago

One difference that I'm aware of is we were using bone needles at that point to make more advanced clothing, which would have helped in an ice age.

[–] JamesBoeing737MAX@sopuli.xyz 4 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

They were probably just genocided like many other minorities in history. And since Homo Sapiens succeeded, everyone promotes how superior we are.

BTW, our genetics apparently just merged, but my theory is probably also true.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I'm not sure what the right word for it would be but I know calling neanderthals minorities isn't it.