[StAnDeliver]

If you read all of SunkenCiv's posts on Neanderthals (thanks!), you can only conclude that they were a cloistered race but one that was also networked as widely as some combo of peak Holy Roman empire venned with Alexander the Great's kingdom, plus more of central Eurasia. (search it on Duck Duck Go, it looks like a boomerang lol)

So while a Gibraltar Neanderthal sect never made it to the Neanderthal Disney on the Black Sea, maybe there was still just enough ritual travel to, say, pre-historic Gaul to keep the bloodlines from producing a one-eyed Centaur. Maybe.

Think of them as medieval monastery sects. Well, those relied on one another, and when a sufficient number in the network failed or were overrun, so did the whole.

My personal belief is that they were intentionally snuffed out by Cro-magnon in some 500-year event, for their treasure, their locales/caves, and the elimination of competition.

[SunkenCiv]

The fact that most people carry DNA found in the relatively few Neander-samples means, they are our among our honored ancestors. Period.