14 DAY TRIAL // According to a team of Russian archaeologists, it would appear that volcanic eruptions may have played an important part in the extinction of Neanderthals, the hominid species most closely related to our own, Homo sapiens.
Over the years, scientists have proposed a variety of explanations for why these individuals disappeared from Europe and other places around the world.
A leading idea is that the Neanderthals were wiped out when they entered in direct competition with our ancestors, who were a lot better equipped to adapt and survive.
But the Russian group says that the early Homo sapiens may have gotten a little help from three volcanic eruptions that took place in Europe and western Asia.
Naturally, factors such as diets, poor adaptation to the environment and climate change still remain a valid explanation for the extinction event.
Experts are starting to come to terms with the idea that, most likely, no single cause killed off the Neanderthals. Most likely, a series of events contributed to their demise.
The scientists behind the new investigation say that, 40,000 years ago, the three volcanoes erupted in the area which housed the largest number of Neanderthals.
The conclusion was derived after the group conducted a series of investigations on the Mezmaiskaya Cave, in the Caucasus Mountains. The team was led by expert Liubov Golovanova.
Archaeological evidences show that the hominids most likely lived near and around the cave, which is located at the very border between Europe and Asia, in southwestern Russia.
Inside the cave system, the expert and his team discovered sediments covering a time span that extends back more than 50,000 years, Science News reports.
Within the layers covering a period of time from 45,000 to 50,000 years ago, the Russian scientists discovered trace remnants of two volcanic eruptions.
“For the first time, we have identified evidence that the disappearance of Neandertals in the Caucasus coincides with a volcanic eruption approximately 40,000 years ago,” Golovanova says.
Thus far, expeditions conducted in the cave have harvested more than 10,000 artifacts belonging to the ancient species, which were calculated to be at least 40 millennia old.