Neanderthals came to live in smaller and more isolated groups, within more scarce food-rich ecological niches, leading to inbreeding and a further loss of genetic diversity. This put them at a greater competitive disadvantage when early Homo Sapiens entered Europe 50 to 60,000 years later. Plus HS probably had a superior social organization and weapons technology within a larger encroaching population----pushing the Neanderthals into ever poorer ecological zones.