Contramuffin

My understanding (not a historian, don’t quote me on this) is that one of the big explanations for the collapse was particularly bad famine that affected the entire region. It led rural people to migrate into relatively-more-prosperous cities, often by boat (hence “sea people”), but this migration led to increased strain on city infrastructure, especially since the cities were facing the famine as well.

My understanding was that they went extinct because they needed more calories to stay alive (due to their strength) and also they stayed together in smaller groups of ~10-20 people, compared to humans’ ~100 people groups.

When Neanderthals came into contact with humans, they were either absorbed into or outcompeted by human groups

Is there any evidence that Neanderthals were less intelligent than humans at their peak? I was under the impression that recent research has basically completely nullified the idea that Neanderthals were less intelligent, and the current belief is that they’re just as intelligent as humans. Is there newer research that I’m not aware of that contrasts this line of thinking?