In the Sumerian Legend of Gilgamesh there is reference to creature not quite human but very similar to us. This being was called Enkidu and was a friend of Gilgamesh. While the story was transcribed only thousands of years ago, perhaps it conveys in it the last vestiges of an oral tradition that stretches back tens of thousands of years perhaps to a time when man interacted with the Neanderthals?
You might not need to go back that far. Consider Jay Matternes' reconstruction of the neanderthal:
And then consider the sort of image which Sir Mortimer Wheeler called a "priest/king type" found in Indus Valley sites:
Notice any sort of a resemblence?