This changes things. Did Neanderthal threaten any incursion by Homo Sapiens for that long ?

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...ture15696.html

Notably, although fully modern humans were already present in southern China at least as early as ~80,000 years ago, there is no evidence that they entered Europe before ~45,000 years ago. This could indicate that H. neanderthalensis was indeed an additional ecological barrier for modern humans, who could only enter Europe when the demise of Neanderthals had already started.