It is no surprise to nonevolutionists.
Neanderthals could talk, walked upright, had fire, their brain was larger than ours though less developed frontal lobe, they had religious beliefs about the afterlife (as evidenced by their funerary/burial practices), and they took care of their elderly/sick (unlike some modern people). Their postcranial body was fully modern (ref Pears), and they are considered Homo Sapiens. News some years ago claimed their Mousterian tools were in some ways "superior" to the Upper Palaeolithics ones. Neanderthal tooth enamel "very similar to ... living Europeans". Kolosimo reckons there are still "Neanderthals" in modern north Africa. The caricature was based on one old man who had rickets or arthritis. AIG reckoned Neanderthals skulls were due to longevity as in Genesis?
There are finds of more modern type humans that date older than the less advanced fossil men in the supposed evolutionary tree. Progressive Neanderthals like Swanscombe are more modern be are dated before Classic Neanderthals.
The meanings of the names of the sons of Japheth in Genesis 10 maybe match the prehistoric periods with Togarmah maybe matching Classical Neanderthals.