Neanderthals Almost Extinct in Europe When Homo Sapiens Arrived

A new scientific study indicates that most Neanderthals already were largely extinct across most of Europe 50,000 years ago - long before our Homo sapien ancestors first arrived on the continent.

An international team of researchers says its findings contradict the long-held notion that Neanderthal populations were stable in Europe for hundreds of thousands of years until modern Homo sapiens arrived. The researchers made their findings from the analysis of DNA taken from the fossil teeth of 13 Neanderthal individuals who lived in what is northern Spain.