In Milford Wolpoff's book, Race And Human Evolution, he says that all the features that are used to describe Neanderthals can be found in Modern Humans today. For example, he said that the brow ridges used in describing Neanderthals can be found in the Australian Aborigines alive today...some Aborigine brow ridges are more severe than Neanderthals. Other features are found in other human populations alive today. So....
I am aware of the morphological similarities. Some of those are more a function of ruggedness and size than lineal descent. If you look, males tend to have more of those traits than females.
I think though that the recent DNA evidence is more convincing than morphology. It suggests that there was no close relationship of modern humans with Neanderthal, and that the split was some 350-400,000 years back.
I am rather proud of my prominent brow ridges.
The Neandertal EnigmaFrayer's own reading of the record reveals a number of overlooked traits that clearly and specifically link the Neandertals to the Cro-Magnons. One such trait is the shape of the opening of the nerve canal in the lower jaw, a spot where dentists often give a pain-blocking injection. In many Neandertal, the upper portion of the opening is covered by a broad bony ridge, a curious feature also carried by a significant number of Cro-Magnons. But none of the alleged 'ancestors of us all' fossils from Africa have it, and it is extremely rare in modern people outside Europe." [pp 126-127]
by James Shreeve