Neanderthals' lack of art skills led to their extinction

Neanderthal art is not known for being impressive. Neanderthals never demonstrated the ability to draw recognizable images unlike early modern humans, who created vivid renderings of animals and figures Neanderthals existed mainly in Eurasia between 120,000 and 35,000 years ago and used thrusting spears at close range to kill horses, reindeer, bison, and other large game that had not developed an innate wariness of humans. The theory that Neanderthals practised art is based on small number of examples, such as one found in the back of Gorham’s Cave, Gibraltar Researchers think the artistic differences between Neanderthals and early modern humans may be down to the way they hunt, and it could explains why humans became smarter than Neanderthals. The traditional view The traditional 'Out of Africa' model suggests that modern humans evolved in Africa and then left in a single wave around 60,000 years ago. Neanderthals, whose ancestors left Africa for Eurasia before modern human ancestors, used thrusting spears at close range to kill bison and other large game that had not developed a wariness of humans 'Neanderthals could mentally visualize previously seen animals from working memory, but they were unable to translate those mental images effectively into the coordinated hand-movement patterns required for drawing,' Coss writes.