Climate Change Killed <br />Off Neanderthals, Study Says How the closest relative of <br />humans died out around 40,000 <br />years ago has long been debated. Researchers studying <br />stalagmites in Romania Dr. Vasile Ersek, study co-author, via Fox News Stalagmites are cave rocks <br />that form over a long periods of time. The rings contained in stalagmites <br />can reveal important information <br />about the climate of the past. Neanderthals lived in Eurasia for <br />around 350,000 years before abruptly <br />dying out during the last Ice Age. It's thought that severe <br />cold and dry spells in Europe Dr. Vasile Ersek, study co-author, via Fox News