* Shields are a fairly universal concept - im not talking about wooden roundshields, in fact most shields in history were made of padded wicker with a leather/hide cover. Stone age people could definitely weave sticks together, if they could make stone weapons.
* Teeth have been used as currency in many cultures.
* And Neanderthals died out because Cro-magnon hunted them to extinction. Cro-magnon stood upright - giving them combat advantage, and had more developed brains (not necessarily larger), allowing them to use tactics in combat. They had a more advanced nervous system, allowing them to move and react faster. Basically, all bs darwinism and creationism aside, when two creatures share the same habitat, and eat the same food, they fight each other until one wins out.
Shields would be a common idea in a warfare oriented culture, but we're taliking much earlier than that. The closest it'd come to warfare would be tribal border and territory disputes, so I'd say shields would be unheard of. Most confrontations at this point would be displays of aggression and numbers, as actually risking injury or death would be far too much of a risk to the tribe's ability to hunt and see off aggressors.
Currency would also be a foreign concept at this point, I'd prefer to see a straight barter system if possible. Well made tools and rare status items (carved figures, bone flutes etc.) would have the most value.
As for hunting out of existence, that depends on what you mean. If you mean active extermination of neanderthals by sapiens, that's highly unlikely, it would be an unnecessary risk. More likely would be the out competing for food.
Cro magnon man would (if the need arose) have driven neanderthals off their traditional hunting grounds with numbers (links between sapiens groups were much more developed than with neanderthals, as illustrated by the widespread trades of resources from as far as russia to france) and as you said superior technology (especially bows, allowing them to out rage their opponents by a long way) and more adaptive tactics.
However neanderthals stood just as upright as sapiens, if a little shorter, and were quite a lot stronger and heavier giving them a hand to hand combat advantage.
So basicly, neanderthals had bulk, resilience (thick bones and muscles) and strength against sapiens reach, technology, tactics and numbers.
