Abstract

The permanent settlement of Eurasia by Homo sapiens coincides with the decline and eventual “disappearance” of other human populations. Recent archaeological discoveries, improved chronology and advances in paleogenetics, climate reconstruction and climate modelling have rekindled debates surrounding these events. It is now generally accepted that H. sapiens coexisted and interbred successfully with other species of human for several thousand years in Eurasia. Since these allied human species possessed a demonstrated ability to adapt to climate change through technological and social innovation, the question persists: what drove them to extinction? In this research we use species distribution modelling to investigate the climate resilience of Neanderthals and H. sapiens populations in Europe in a context of rapid climate change during MIS 3 in an attempt to answer this question.