The fearsome cave bear (Ursus spelaeus) likely became extinct around 27,800 years ago, according to recent fossil reassessments.

Rather than a single cause, a combination of factors is believed to have led to its extinction. While overhunting by humans has largely been dismissed—since human populations at the time were too small to pose a significant threat—evidence suggests that cave bears and humans may have competed for shelter, particularly in caves.

Mitochondrial DNA research indicates that the cave bear's genetic decline began long before its extinction, ruling out climate change-induced habitat loss as the direct cause. However, a recent DNA study suggests that cave bear populations started declining around 50,000 years ago, coinciding with an increase in human populations.

Unlike its close relative, the brown bear, the cave bear was highly dependent on a vegetarian diet, making it less adaptable to environmental changes. Additionally, evidence suggests that cave bears exclusively used caves for hibernation, unlike brown bears, which could hibernate in thickets or other natural shelters. This specialized hibernation behavior likely contributed to high winter mortality when suitable caves were unavailable.

As human populations gradually expanded, both Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans increasingly occupied caves as living quarters, reducing the availability of essential hibernation sites for cave bears. Over time, this competition for shelter may have contributed to their gradual extinction.

Interestingly, cave bears are rarely depicted in prehistoric cave paintings, leading some researchers to speculate that human hunters may have avoided them, or that their habitat preferences simply did not overlap with early human settlements.

Collections of bear bones at several widely dispersed sites suggest that Neanderthals may have worshiped cave bears, especially at Drachenloch above Vättis, in Switzerland, where a stone chest was discovered with a number of bear skulls stacked upon it.

Neanderthals, who also inhabited the entrance of the cave, are believed to have built it.

A massive stone slab covered the top of the structure.

At the cave entrance, seven bear skulls were arranged with their muzzles facing the cave entrance, while deeper in the cave, a further six bear skulls were lodged in niches along the wall.

Next to these remains were bundles of limb bones belonging to different bears.

Neanderthal Burial and Bear Remains at Le Regourdou, France

At Le Regourdou, a prehistoric site in the Dordogne region of southern France, archaeologists will uncover a massive stone slab covering the remains of at least twenty bears, arranged in a rectangular pit. Nearby, the remains of a Neanderthal will be found in a separate stone-lined pit, accompanied by a collection of objects that suggest a deliberate burial.

Possible Ritual Significance

• The Neanderthal burial included items such as a bear humerus, a scraper, a core, and some flakes, which have been interpreted as grave offerings.
• The close proximity of Neanderthal remains and bear remains has led to speculation about a symbolic or ritual connection between Neanderthals and bears, possibly indicating:
  • A ritualistic association with bears, perhaps related to beliefs about the afterlife.
  • A functional use of bear remains in burial practices.
  • A coincidence of site usage, where Neanderthals and bears occupied the same shelter at different times.

A Rare Glimpse into Neanderthal Culture

The Le Regourdou site provides compelling evidence of Neanderthal burial customs and potentially ritual behavior. Whether the bear remains were intentionally placed or coincidental, the site's structured layout and the presence of grave goods suggest that Neanderthals practiced deliberate burial and had symbolic or spiritual concepts.

This discovery reinforces the view that Neanderthals were not merely survival-driven hominins but had complex cultural and cognitive abilities, challenging earlier assumptions about their intellectual and social sophistication.

As humans develop more advanced skills and techniques, evidence of early construction begins to emerge.

Fossil remains of Cro-Magnons, Neanderthals, and other Homo sapiens subspecies have been found alongside foundation stones and stone pavements arranged in the shape of houses, suggesting a shift toward settled lifestyles and increasing social stratification.

In addition to building on land, early humans also develop seafaring technology. The proto-Australians appear to be the first known people to cross open water to an unseen shore, ultimately peopling Australia—a remarkable achievement in early maritime exploration.

Around 55,000 years ago, global weather patterns begin to fluctuate dramatically, shifting from extreme cold to milder conditions and back within just a few decades.

By 50,000 years ago, the Wisconsin glaciation (known in Europe as the Würm glaciation) is well advanced. Expanding ice sheets in North America and Europe push climatic zones southward, transforming the temperate regions of Europe and North America into Arctic tundra-like landscapes. Meanwhile, rain bands typical of temperate zones shift south, reaching as far as northern Africa.

Neanderthals and Climate Adaptation

The Neanderthals, well adapted to cold climates with their barrel chests and stocky limbs, are better suited than Cro-Magnons to retain body heat. However, the rapid and unpredictable climate fluctuations cause ecological upheavals, replacing familiar plants and animals within a single lifetime—a shift to which Neanderthals struggle to adapt.

One major challenge is the replacement of forests by grasslands during the Mousterian Pluvial, an effect of the last Ice Age’s climatic shifts. This change disrupts the Neanderthals’ ambush-based hunting techniques, making it harder for them to secure food. As a result, large numbers of Neanderthals likely perish due to food scarcity and environmental stress, with the crisis peaking around 30,000 years ago.

Neanderthal Burial and Final Strongholds

Despite their decline, Neanderthals appear to be the first humans to intentionally bury their dead, often in simple graves. The last known traces of Mousterian culture, though lacking human remains, have been discovered at Gorham’s Cave on Gibraltar’s remote south-facing coast, dating between 30,000 and 24,500 years ago.

Possible Scenarios for Neanderthal Extinction

Several hypotheses attempt to explain the disappearance of the Neanderthals from the fossil record around 25,000 years ago:

1. Complete Extinction and Replacement: Neanderthals were a separate species from modern humans and became extinct due to climate change and/or competition with Homo sapiens, who expanded into their territories starting around 80,000 years ago. Anthropologist Jared Diamond suggests that violent conflict and displacement played a role in their demise.

2. Interbreeding and Absorption: Neanderthals were a contemporary subspecies that interbred with modern humans, gradually disappearing through genetic absorption.

3. Volcanic Catastrophe: A Campanian Ignimbrite super-eruption around 40,000 years ago, followed by a second eruption a few thousand years later, may have severely impacted Neanderthal populations. Evidence from Mezmaiskaya Cave in the Caucasus Mountains of southern Russia supports this theory, with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) analysis showing a distinct Neanderthal lineage separate from modern humans.

Energy Needs and Survival Challenges

Neanderthals had higher caloric requirements than any other known human species. They required 100 to 350 more calories per day than an anatomically modern human male (68.5 kg) or female (59.2 kg). This higher energy demand may have made them especially vulnerable when food sources became scarce, further contributing to their extinction.

Ultimately, by 25,000 years ago, Neanderthals disappear from the fossil record, leaving behind traces of their culture—but no direct descendants in the modern human genetic lineage.

Many regions of Northern Africa are well watered, bearing lakes, swamps, and river systems during an extended wet and rainy period in the climate history of North Africa from around fifty thousand to around thirty thousand years before the present called the Mousterian Pluvial.

What is now the Sahara desert supports typical African wildlife of grassland and woodland environments: herbivores from gazelle to giraffe to ostrich, predators from lion to jackal, even hippopotamus and crocodile, as well as extinct forms like the Pleistocene camel.

The Mousterian Pluvial resembles the earlier Abbassia Pluvial in these respects; the later Neolithic Subpluvial is a weaker reiteration of the same pattern.

At least three species of human live in Southern Siberia around 40,000 years before the present: Homo sapiens, Homo neanderthalensis, and the Denisovans (identified as a separate species in 2010 through DNA evidence.).

Siberia has paleontological significance, as it contains bodies of prehistoric animals from the Pleistocene Epoch, preserved in ice or in permafrost.

Specimens of Goldfuss cave lion cubs, Yuka the mammoth and another woolly mammoth from Oymyakon, a woolly rhinoceros from the Kolyma, and bison and horses from Yukagir have been found.

One of the largest-known volcanic events of the last 251 million years of Earth's geological history formed the Siberian Traps.

Volcanic activity continued here for a million years and some scientists consider it a possible cause of the "Great Dying" about 250 million years ago, estimated to have killed 90% of species existing at the time. 

 

Mitochondrial haplogroups A, B, and G originated fifty thousand years ago, and the bearers subsequently colonized Siberia, Korea and Japan, by thirty five thousand years ago.

Parts of these populations migrate to North America.

Pech Merle: A Window into Prehistoric Art and Life

Located in the Lot département of the Midi-Pyrénées region, near Cabrerets, Pech Merle is one of the few prehistoric cave painting sites in France still open to the public. This vast cave system, extending more than a mile from its entrance, preserves some of the most stunning murals of the Upper Paleolithic period.

Prehistoric Art at Pech Merle

• The cave features dramatic murals dating from the Gravettian culture (c. 25,000 BCE), though some engravings and paintings may be from the Magdalenian era (c. 16,000 BCE).

• Seven chambers contain lifelike depictions of:

  • Woolly mammoths
  • Spotted horses and single-color horses
  • Bovids and reindeer
  • Human figures and handprints

• One of Pech Merle’s most famous images is the "Spotted Horses" panel, depicting two horses with distinctive black spots, surrounded by hand stencils—a masterpiece of prehistoric symbolic expression.

Cave Use and Preservation

• During the Ice Age, the cave likely served as a refuge for prehistoric peoples, offering shelter from the Arctic climate and extreme conditions.
• A great river once flowed through the region, cutting underground passages that were later used by early humans.
• Children’s footprints, preserved in ancient clay half a mile underground, provide rare evidence of human movement deep within the caves.

A Sealed Time Capsule of Prehistoric Life

• Over time, earth movements and rain sealed the cave entrances, preserving the artwork in near-perfect condition until its discovery in the 20th century.
• Within a six-mile radius of Pech Merle, there are ten other caves with Upper Paleolithic art, though none are open to the public.

Pech Merle stands as a remarkable testament to early human creativity and survival, offering a rare glimpse into the artistic, cultural, and environmental realities of Ice Age Europe.

The specifics of Paleo-Indian migration remain subject to ongoing research. The traditional 'Clovis First' theory placed human arrival around 13,000 years ago via the Beringia land bridge. However, recent evidence suggests humans reached North America between 15,000-20,000 years ago, with some sites like White Sands potentially dating to 21,000-23,000 years ago.

Two main migration routes are proposed: an inland ice-free corridor between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets, and a Pacific coastal route. The coastal route is supported by evidence that ice-free coastlines existed earlier than inland corridors. Any early coastal archaeological evidence would indeed be submerged by post-glacial sea level rise.

Current archaeological evidence indicates widespread human habitation occurred during the late glacial period (roughly 16,000-13,000 years ago), well after the Last Glacial Maximum (26,500-19,000 years ago).