Neanderthals had simply melded into the greater human genetic pool,
well that can still be true, it's not necessarily debunking that, but it's just scratching out the idea that there were, say, 10,000 vs 10,000 and humans dominated in whatever way. Why didnt humans meld into the neanderthal genetic pool, giving a mere 2% presence in Europeans, but vice versa? Because there were more of us!
And yeah 'self fabricated pedestal' - great phrase! Gonna use it =P