Climate change in Europe between 90 and 50 kyr BP and Neanderthal territorial habitability

the Balkans region and especially the Danube plain have high values during this period (Fig 11). In addition, the Anatolian Peninsula and Caucasian region seem to have been slightly more suitable, as was the Middle East. While the total area of suitable niches with a probability greater than 0.8 slightly decreased (only 3.2%), niches with the highest probability decreased (1%) compared to the earlier periods. Fig 3. Heat maps of Maxent modelling results: Estimated probability of suitable conditions for the Neanderthal, for period P2 (83 kyr– 69 kyr). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308690.g003 Fig 4. Heat maps of Maxent modelling results: Estimated probability of suitable conditions for the Neanderthals, for period P3 (69 kyr– 64 kyr). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308690.g004 Fig 5. Heat maps of Maxent modelling results: Estimated probability of suitable conditions for the Neanderthals, for period P4 (64 kyr– 51 kyr). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308690.g005 PLOS ONE Neanderthal habitability PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308690 February 26, 2025 7 / 17