Last Neanderthals Near the Arctic Circle?

ScienceDaily (May 13, 2011) — Remains found near the Arctic Circle characteristic of Mousterian culture(1) have recently been dated at over 28,500 years old, which is more than 8,000 years after Neanderthals are thought to have disappeared. This unexpected discovery by an international multi-disciplinary team, including researchers from CNRS(2), challenges previous theories. Could Neanderthals have lived longer than thought? Or had Homo sapiens already migrated to Europe at that stage?

The results are published in Science of 13 May 2011.

The distinguishing feature of Mousterian culture, which developed during the Middle Palaeolithic (-300,000 to -33,000 years), is the use of a very wide range of flint tools, mainly by Neanderthal Man in Eurasia, but also by Homo sapiens in the Near East.

This culture is considered to be archaic, and not sufficiently advanced to allow Neanderthals to settle in the most extreme northern climates. It is thought to have brought about their demise some 33,000 to 36,000 years ago. They seem to have made way for modern humans, who appear to have occupied the whole of Eurasia thanks to their mastery of more advanced technologies.

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http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110513112527.htm

So it would be perfectly reasonable to retreat north as we pushed them out.

oral and written stories of the Northern Europeans. What really was that troll under the bridge? (and I don't mean the internet version)

There are tons of stories in the myths of European culture of "the Old Ones" that sound like descriptions of Neandertals.

Generally known as "Almas" - one theory is that these guys represented relic neanderthal populations, the memory of which found its way into folklore.

Of course, folks are still claiming to see them. The Wikipedia page has a good summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almas_%28cryptozoology%29

Neanderthals died off 29,000 years EARLIER than previously thought? That was fast.