Some hypothesized that a connection may exist between the CI eruption and the disappearance of Neanderthals in Europe. It is suggested that the CI eruption triggered a bio-cultural revolution, enabling modern humans to outcompete the Neanderthals. This has been rejected based on stratigraphical evidence that the cultural transition from Mousterian to Uluzzian or Proto-Aurignacian (indicating the replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans in archaeology) began below the CI tephra. In 2021, the timing of Neanderthal extinction has also been re-calibrated to year BP, thus predating the CI eruption.
