Neanderthals did exist in the near East, just across the Sinai in Israel, as near as 55,000 years ago. And their genetic material does appear in people to this day; this is not "Eurocentric" thinking, this is scientific fact. Homo sapiens and Neanderthals crossbreed in ancient times. If any of Apocalypes's host bodies had a drop of Neanderthal ancestry, this devolution would makes sense.
Further, Apocalypses's original body was born in Akkaba/Aqaba, which is in present day Jordan, and thus would be well within Neanderthal territory.