From what I remember from college (many many many years ago) is that Neanderthals had quite sophisticated belief systems and were far more artistically inclined than the humans of that time. (I realize the article speaks of homo sapiens) but the point I'm trying to make is that primitive man was more sophisticated as a culture than we give them credit for.
Everytime I see a certain insurance commercial with the Neanderthalers having emotional crises because of how they're portrayed in society, I laugh, because it probably describes them pretty closely to how they would have been if they would have survived (unless they were absorbed, but that's a whole different thread.)

On another note, the idea of human sacrifice as a form of communion with the absolute gives me the heebie-jeebies for many many reasons.