New perspectives on the Neanderthals

I believe that recent research is finally establishing that the Neanderthals were fully human, but were also quite different from Homo sapiens. On morphological grounds, it appears justified to regard the Neanderthals as representing a different species, Homo neanderthalensis. Data from many different skeletal elements demonstrate that the Neanderthals show a distinct, and in some cases unique, mosaic of primitive and derived morphologies when compared with other members of the genus Homo. However, archaeological evidence of major behavioral differences between Neanderthals and early H. sapiens is much more equivocal.