At the same time, the native Siberian mammoths, which may have been around for much of the Middle Pleistocene, completely disappeared.

BBC: Mammoths moved 'out of America'

In recent years, the Neanderthals - who lived across Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia in Pleistocene times - have come to be rehabilitated amid mounting evidence that their abilities had been underestimated.

BBC: Neanderthals used feathers as 'personal ornaments'