Who was Neanderthal-man?

Fresh off the press at Nature, is news that geneticists are hoping to sequence out Neanderthal DNA for comparison with humans and chimps. The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology has put a two year goal on the idea.

With the NGHRI planning on sequencing all major primate species, it means that scientists will be able to compare these with Neanderthal's and get a clearer picture of its ancestry - and its relative position to us.

The only problem is that most (barring Encino Man) Neanderthals are fossils, and fossils don't have a good track record of giving viable genetic data for complete sequences. But Neanderthals are young, so maybe there is a little hope. Although I have a feeling it's about as realistic as Mammoth Park.