Scientists will never give up on trying to discover as many things as possible about the species of human beings which had lived long before us. Some recent researches suggested that the Neanderthals might have been killed by the climate change. It’s a fact that this climate change represents a great threat for many species and this might have been what really finished off our previous evolutionary cousins.

History reveals the fact that the Neanderthals lived in the territory we now call Europe for almost 40,000 years. They used to hunt mammoth and bison and managed to survive every Ice Age living in caves. It thus made it very hard for the researchers to find out what really killed this powerful population. Other historical information shows that they had vanished 35,000 years ago from most part of Europe’s territory. Yet, scientists might have found one specific clue about their disappearance.

They even found the evidence that a small population of Neanderthals who survived the big disappearance wave used to live in Iberia, the territory which now hosts Spain, Portugal and Gibraltar. But the most awkward thing is that they supposedly lived until more recent times. Researchers found radiocarbon dates which they had obtained from the camp fires the Neanderthals had in Gorham’s Cave, a natural shelter cut into the Rock of Gibraltar.

According to Professor Clive Finlayson, who led the research, the Neanderthals might have lived until 24,000 years ago. This result approaches our era much more and as Finlayson added, this means more recent than the latest estimates which put the Neanderthals disappearance far back at 35,000.

Professor Jose Carrion, who researches ancient ecosystems at the University of Murcia, Spain, commented upon the subject and said that the southern part of Iberia used to be a very rich area. Apparently, the southern coastal shelf, where the Neanderthals lived, was full of biodiversity and resources, through which they found the food and water they needed.

As Carrion also said, the Neanderthals used to live in “open spaces such as grasslands, dry lands, but also mixed oak, pine and juniper forests, savannah, rocky habitats.”

These discoveries showed that the part of Europe which was inhabited by the Neanderthals was a much better place to live then than it is today. Yet, the Neanderthals were gone and the scientists have kept on wondering what made the species disappear. Clive Finlayson's team might have found a piece of the answer two years ago.

The author of “The Humans Who Went Extinct,” Finlayson, stated that he and his team found out that there had been a climatic change in the marine core somewhere offshore from the Iberian margin. Further discoveries showed that it was exactly the moment when the temperatures of the sea surface are the lowest for the previous quarter of a million years.

The scientists have called this event Heinrich Event 2. This brought severe drought conditions on the Iberia territory and the supplies of food and water isolated the Neanderthals hunters.

The debate over the extinction of the Neanderthals will always remain an open subject for the fact that this population represented a great proof of human strength.