the press release and the abstract are very intriguing. The central group adapted ideas from both traditions but the other zones did not. I wonder if these more "cosmopolitan" Neanderthals lasted longer than the other tool cultures.
That is an excellent question, hopefully they will find answers.
For so many years the anthropologists have been claiming that its the limited aspect of Neanderthal social culture that allowed modern humans to overtake them.
Now we are learning more and more that Neanderthal man was not so 'limited.'