"..the best brainwashing though is the series of apes becoming neanderthals and then people..."
You need to revisit the theory of evolution, which theories that neanderthals and homo sapiens coexisted, both having evolved from a common ancestor.
Interbreeding, although maybe a possibility was improbable, probably due to their yellow ugly teeth, it would put me off. No paper bags available back in the 'old days'.
Seems likely that homo sapiens outcompeted/killed off the neanderthals, although I sometimes wonder if a few did not survive and joinned the Labor Party.
