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Science 7 March 2003:
Vol. 299. no. 5612, pp. 1525 - 1527
DOI: 10.1126/science.1082025
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Perspectives

PALEOANTHROPOLOGY:
Whither the Neanderthals?

Richard G. Klein

Thousands of Neanderthal fossils and artifacts are known, making Neanderthals the best-characterized fossil humans. It is becoming increasingly clear that the Neanderthals and their modern human successors did not mix and that the Neanderthals are an extinct side branch of humanity. Yet, as Klein explains in his Perspective, it remains unclear why they disappeared shortly after modern humans arrived in Europe and west Asia. Archaeological studies show that Neanderthals shared many advanced behaviors with modern humans, but that they were not as culturally advanced. Neither archaeology nor fossils can reveal Neanderthal cognitive capacity, but genetic studies may shed light on whether the demise of the Neanderthals can be attributed to limited cognitive ability.

The author is with the Program in Human Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. E-mail: rklein{at}stanford.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Analysis of Aurignacian interstratification at the Chatelperronian-type site and implications for the behavioral modernity of Neandertals.
J. Zilhao, F. d'Errico, J.-G. Bordes, A. Lenoble, J.-P. Texier, and J.-P. Rigaud (2006)
PNAS 103, 12643-12648
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Lack of phylogeography in European mammals before the last glaciation.
M. Hofreiter, D. Serre, N. Rohland, G. Rabeder, D. Nagel, N. Conard, S. Munzel, and S. Paabo (2004)
PNAS 101, 12963-12968
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Inaugural Article: Biography of Richard G. Klein.
E. Klarreich (2004)
PNAS 101, 5705-5707
   Full Text »    PDF »
Neandertal faces were not long; modern human faces are short.
E. Trinkaus (2003)
PNAS 100, 8142-8145
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)