Gunshot to a Neanderthal?

http://www.shieldsgazette.com/opinion/columnists/wraithscape/was-neanderthal-shot-by-a-time-traveller-1-6786186

A cool mystery!  While not having any education in forensic medicine and analysis, I would ask this - Could such wounds be accounted for by the use of slings with lead pellets?  At close range, the things are damnably devastating, and even long range, (a couple hundred yards, apparently), they can kill.