Might the selection pressure have been fire related, without necessarily being just the use of fire?
If, for one speculative example, Neanderthals mostly used fire outdoors, while modern humans used it indoors with correspondingly thicker smoke concentrations, wouldn't that account for the difference? Or perhaps only a few Neanderthals out of any given population used it regularly (for crafting tools, say), while almost all modern humans could have used it for cooking food.
If, for one speculative example, Neanderthals mostly used fire outdoors, while modern humans used it indoors with correspondingly thicker smoke concentrations, wouldn't that account for the difference? Or perhaps only a few Neanderthals out of any given population used it regularly (for crafting tools, say), while almost all modern humans could have used it for cooking food.