Mystery of Neanderthal extinction may have been solved as scientists blame common childhood illness

THE EXTINCTION of Neanderthals is shrouded in mystery but a team of scientists now thinks it was due to a common childhood illness.

Experts have proposed that complications from simple ear infections could have killed off the ancient species, including respiratory infections, hearing loss and pneumonia.

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Today, ear infections can be treated with simple modern medicines like antibiotics.

Unfortunately for the Neanderthals they would have had no such solution

In a published in The Anatomical Record journal, researchers have revealed that all Neanderthals had ears that were a similar size to modern humans.

This would make them more likely to get ear infections because small ears provide a smaller space for bacteria to get trapped in.

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One of the researchers, Professor Samuel Marquez of the Downstate Health Sciences University in New York, explained: "It may sound far-fetched, but when we, for the first time, reconstructed the Eustachian tubes of Neanderthals, we discovered that they are remarkably similar to those of human infants.

"Middle ear infections are nearly ubiquitous among infants because the flat angle of an infant's Eustachian tubes is prone to retain the otitis media bacteria that cause these infections – the same flat angle we found in Neanderthals."

Humans eventually grow bigger ears but the Neanderthals would have had small ones for their whole lives.

This would have affected them in many different ways.

Marquez added: "It's not just the threat of dying of an infection.

"If you are constantly ill, you would not be as fit and effective in competing with your Homo sapien cousins for food and other resources.

"In a world of survival of the fittest, it is no wonder that modern man, not Neanderthal, prevailed."

Neanderthals are thought to have lived on a vast region of the planet including in Britain, Siberia and Iraq.

It is thought that they first appeared around 450,000 years and died out around 40,000 years ago as Homo sapiens took over.

Another recent study suggested that Neanderthals were plagued by lifelong earache because they were susceptible to the painful condition 'swimmer's ear'.

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The study focused on abnormal bony growths in the ear canals of 77 Neanderthal skulls.

In modern humans, dense bony growths protruding into the ear canals is a condition known as swimmer's ear.

This condition is associated with constant exposure to water and cold air but people can also be genetically predisposed to get it.

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In other archaeology news, scientists have reconstructed the face of an ancient human cousin from a little-known species that died out 50,000 years ago.

The ancient face of a Neolithic woman has been painstakingly recreated by archaeologists and sculptors using a 7,500-year-old skull.

And, Tutankhamun's "cursed" golden sarcophagus has been pictured outside the boy king's tomb for the first time ever.

What do you think of this Neanderthal theory? Let us know in the comments...

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