Reply #23: Here's a good article

[frogmarch]

pertaining to the two-year Neanderthal Genome Project that was launched in July, 2006:

http://www.livescience.com/health/061115_neanderthal_dna.html

I don't think attempts at cloning one will happen any time soon. For one thing, a modern human would be the surrogate as well as the oocyte donor, and interspecies cloning is risky for a variety of reasons, including the fact that in interspecies cloning, the mitochondrial DNA of the two species usually "clashes." One possible way to achieve successful Neanderthal cloning would be to add a good dollop of Neanderthal cytoplasm to the enucleated oocyte before SCNT is begun. Another would be to add Neanderthal mitochondrial genes that code for proteins to the Neanderthal nucleus.

I'm not going to hold my breath waiting to see a real, live caveman...er, caveperson.