There have been numerous theories on the extinction of Neanderthals, everything from genocide to global warming (or cooling).
“But a recent study introduces another explanation: Stone Age feminism,” a Boston Globe online story reveals. “Among Neanderthals, hunting big beasts was women’s work as well as men’s, so it’s a safe bet that female hunters got stomped, gored, and worse with appalling frequency. And a high casualty rate among fertile women – the vital “reproductive core” of a tiny population – could well have meant demographic disaster for a species already struggling to survive among monster bears, yellow-fanged hyenas, and cunning Homo sapien newcomers.”
And you thought they were neanderthal?