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Procedures for Identifying Infectious Prions After Passage Through the Digestive System of an Avian Species
Published on: November 6, 2013
A potential role for transmissible spongiform encephalopathies in Neanderthal extinction
1Human Origins and Palaeoenvironmental Research Group, Department of Anthropology and Geography, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, UK. sunderdown@brookes.ac.uk
Medical Hypotheses
|February 19, 2008
Summary
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) may have contributed to Neanderthal extinction. Cannibalism and tool use could have spread these prion diseases among Neanderthal populations.
Area of Science:
- Paleoanthropology
- Neuroscience
- Epidemiology
Background:
- Neanderthals, a Eurasian Homo species, went extinct around 30,000 years ago.
- The reasons for Neanderthal extinction remain a subject of scientific debate.
Observation:
- This study proposes Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs) as a potential factor in Neanderthal extinction.
- TSEs are neurodegenerative diseases caused by prions, often linked to consuming infected nervous tissue.
Findings:
- Neanderthals may have contracted TSEs through cannibalistic practices, particularly the consumption of brain tissue.
- Continued cannibalism and the sharing of infected tools could have facilitated disease transmission within Neanderthal groups.
Implications:
- A hypothetical model using modern human hunter-gatherer proxies suggests TSEs could have had a devastating impact.
- This hypothesis posits that TSEs played a significant role in the extinction of Neanderthals.
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