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The Neanderthals got exterminated after the early humans with "cultural superiority" arrived in Europe from Africa, says a team of researchers from Stanford University and Meiji University.

Earlier, research showed that the Neanderthals were in Europe for "hundreds of thousands of years" before they vanished about 50,000 years ago, which totals to five thousand years after the arrival of the modern humans.

A number of theories have explained the reasons for the modern humans replacing the earlier ones. They include diseases, mass killings and the inability of the Neanderthals to adapt. It is the new study that shows how the extinction was undertaken due to the "cultural advantages of modern humans" that made the survival of the "culturally underdeveloped Neanderthals" not possible, said a press release.

With a computer model that earlier reflected the interspecies competition, the scientists arrived at their new theory. They also added elements that considered cultural and technical abilities too.

Hence, while the cultural advance may displace another species, the model also proposed that a feedback loop should be created. With increasing dominance, the cultural advantage would increase.

Cultural and technological advancement led to the extinction of Neanderthals, as they were unable to win the competition for natural resources. It is not clear why the Neanderthals did not copy the cultural and technological processes that the early humans employed for their victory.

The study was published in Dec. 21,2015 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.