I cannot think of any way of proving this conjecture, but I wonder if H. sapiens sapiens out-competed H. sapiens neanderthalis because the neanderthals didn't have dogs and the modern humans had a mutually beneficial hunting relationship with canines.
I fully realise that I could have made an equally unprovable assertion on pretty well any property that is not likely to be archeologically testable like: modern humans out-competed neanderthals because we had access to cannabis for pain relief during childbirth and the neanderthals didn't!:-)
I cannot think of any way of proving this conjecture, but I wonder if H. sapiens sapiens out-competed H. sapiens neanderthalis because the neanderthals didn't have dogs and the modern humans had a mutually beneficial hunting relationship with canines.
:-)
I fully realise that I could have made an equally unprovable assertion on pretty well any property that is not likely to be archeologically testable like: modern humans out-competed neanderthals because we had access to cannabis for pain relief during childbirth and the neanderthals didn't!
Still, I like dogs.