A simple analytical model for Neanderthal disappearance due to genetic dilution by recurrent small-scale immigrations of modern humans
Journal: Scientific Reports
Year: 2025

The disappearance of Neanderthals remains a subject of intense debate, with competing hypotheses attributing their demise to demographic decline, environmental change, competition with Homo sapiens, or genetic assimilation. Here, we present a mathematical model demonstrating that small-scale Homo sapiens immigrations into Neanderthal populations, providing recurrent gene mixing, could have led to almost complete genetic substitution over 10,000-30,000 years. Our model, grounded in neutral specie