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  • 14 hours ago
A recent study has revealed that Neanderthals did not primarily go extinct because of climate shifts or direct rivalry with Homo sapiens. Instead, the research highlights a crucial distinction in social connectivity — Homo sapiens developed larger and more adaptable social networks that allowed for sharing information, trading resources, and collaborating over long distances, capabilities that Neanderthal groups could not replicate. The researchers stress that Neanderthals were not less intelligent; they crafted advanced tools and displayed artistic behaviours. However, their smaller and more isolated social groups hindered their ability to adapt collectively to environmental challenges. This study marks a considerable change in the established scientific perspective regarding one of the most contentious enigmas in human prehistory.

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00:00Scientists have spent a century debating why Neanderthals disappeared.
00:04A new study published this week has the most compelling answer yet.
00:08Climate, competition, and violence were all blamed.
00:11But new research says the real answer is something more fundamental.
00:16Social connectivity.
00:18Homo sapiens built larger, more flexible social networks,
00:21able to share information, trade, and cooperate across much greater distances than Neanderthals managed.
00:28Neanderthals were not inferior.
00:31Their tools were sophisticated.
00:32Their art was real.
00:34But their social units appear to have been smaller and more isolated.
00:38When climate pressures came, Homo sapiens survived by networking.
00:43Neanderthals, without that wider web, could not adapt quickly enough.
00:4840,000 years ago, the most connected species won.
00:51It was never about strength.
00:53It was always about who could build the better network.
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