Old Stone AgeLife & Evolution Neanderthals disappear c. 40,000 BCEMajor The last Neanderthals vanish. Soon Homo sapiens is the only human species on Earth. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → Habitual fire and cooking → Homo sapiens appears → Complex language → Modern humans leave Africa → Modern humans enter Europe → Neanderthals disappear Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesDocumentnature.comThe timing and spatiotemporal patterning of Neanderthal disappearance (Higham et al., Nature 2014) ↗Editor's pickBookRebecca Wragg SykesKindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art ↗Editor's pickBookClive FinlaysonThe Humans Who Went Extinct ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubewhy did Neanderthals go extinct ↗Editor's pick