existed there as long as 200,000 to 250,000 years ago, but Neanderthals only date back 150,000 years. Bar-Yosef suggests that the Neanderthals may have migrated from Europe to the Near East, where modern man was already living. He postulates that sudden cold snaps which occurred between 115,000 and 65,000 years ago might have induced this migration (Bar-Yosef, 1993, p. 99).
Bar-Yosef points to signs of deliberate burials at Qafzeh, Skhul, Amud and Kebara, perforated marine shells found in Skhul and Qafzeh, and red ochre used in those two caves and in Hayonim cave as attesting to symbolic behavior among Neanderthals (Bar-Yosef, 1993, p. 100).
Neanderthals and modern humans lived in the Middle East near Mount Carmel around the same time, yet the Neanderthals died out and the modern humans survived. In Europe, too, as evidenced by findings in France, Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon man live at the same time, and may have engaged in trade (Begley, 1996, p. 61). A theory has been put forward as to why the Neanderthals died out (Gibbons, 1996, p. 586). A study of the arm bones of Neanderthals and modern man shows that those of Neanderthals had more rigorous use, maybe because they were less efficient at hunting than modern man. Their teeth sho
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