[bobdsmith]

Neandertal has not been ruled out as a human ancestor for being too primitive. I am not expert but I understand Neandertal lived alongside cro-magnon man for thousands of years. That much has been known for a while. So Neandertal are considered cousins of humans - the question is where they went. Did they merge into cro-magnon populations or were they driven to extinction? The mDNA comparisons suggest the latter. The page you linked to says nothing about "primitiveness".

[tomzz]

Here's one that does:

Comparisons with the DNA of modern humans and of apes showed the Neanderthal was about halfway between a modern human and a chimpanzee.

I know, you probably don't think chimpanzees are primitive. Try to get one to explain the fundamental theorem of calculus for you.