Human hunting weapons not behind demise of Neanderthals

The demise of Neanderthals may have nothing to do with innovative hunting weapons carried by humans from west Asia, according to a new study.
The researchers, from Nagoya University and The University of Tokyo, said their findings mean that we may need to rethink the reasons humans survived and Neanderthals did not.
The researchers looked at innovative stone weapons used by humans about 42,000 to 34,000 years ago.
Traditionally, anthropologists believed that innovation in weapons enabled humans to spread out of Africa to Europe.
However, the new study suggests that the innovation was not a driving force for humans to migrate into Europe as previously thought - they were no better equipped than the Neanderthals.

"We're not so special, I don't think we survived Neanderthals simply because of technological competence," said Dr Seiji Kadowaki, first author of the study from Nagoya University.

Anatomically modern humans expanded the geographic area they inhabited out of Africa during a period of time 55,000-40,000 years ago - this event made a huge impact on the biological origin of people living today.
Previous models assumed that anatomically modern humans - our direct ancestors - were special in the way they behaved and thought. These models considered technological and cultural innovation as the reason humans survived and Neanderthals did not.
The researchers studied stone tools that were used by people in the Early Ahmarian culture and the Protoaurignacian culture, living in south and west Europe and west Asia around 40,000 years ago.

They used small stone points as tips for hunting weapons like throwing spears. Researchers previously considered these to be a significant innovation - one that helped the humans migrate from west Asia to Europe, where Neanderthals were living.
However, the new research reveals a timeline that does not support this theory. If the innovation had led to the migration, evidence would show the stone points moving in the same direction as the humans.
But at closer inspection, the researchers showed the possibility that the stone points appeared in Europe 3,000 years earlier than in the Levant, a historical area in west Asia.

"We looked at the basic timeline revealed by similar stone points, and it shows that humans were using them in Europe before they appeared in the Levant - the opposite of what we'd expect if the innovation had led to the humans' migration from Africa to Europe," said Kadowaki.
"Our new findings mean that the research community now needs to reconsider the assumption that our ancestors moved to Europe and succeeded where Neanderthals failed because of cultural and technological innovations brought from Africa or west Asia," Kadowaki said.