@vic: 
"Just to give perspective- many years ago i tried to go a modified high prot low carb diet. couldnt sustin it- not because i got tired of it but, there was no way to avoid carbs in social situations" 
 
Absolutely the biggest impediment to the diet you described. I was able to push through because my family events (meat & potatoes) allowed me to at least eat the meat and skip the potatoes.

There is also something to be said about being able to play all year round.

@chemdude, 
I like the aquatic ape theory, too, but only for purely emotional reasons (i.e. the literary, non-rational side of me is haunted by water). The proponents for it that I've read or heard (one has a speach at Ted) seem to gloss over a lot of stuff or really fudge facts.

So William Jennings Bryant was right! We aren't descended from apes! The lot of us are just descended from some other monkey. ;)

One of my step brothers had a brief job out of college. The job consisted of sitting in a trailer in West Texas doing nothing except for once every hour checking a meter and adjusting a valve if need be. (apparently something to do with the oil industry, or course) 
My step-brother used the extra time to read or paint. They would only higher college grads for this task. Apparently, the less educated previous workers would get bored and eventually get into some kind of trouble. 
 
Personally, I'm more apt to get bored at social events if the conversation is dull than alone (though I'm desperate not to become a hermit).

Cyrus the Great? There's an app for that. 
 
sorry, I just find that hilarious and wonderful at the same time.

Razib, what was the name of that history of the sassanid empire? Also, can you suggest any good histories of the old Persian empires?

very interesting, thanks

I could be wrong, but I believe that the Tocharians were a Caucasoid group that spread across Asia and spoke the Indo-European language Tocharian and some have associated them with the Tarim mummies and with the early spread of Buddhism out of India. They're gone now, I figured through mixture of Turkic groups (like the recent Uigurs), but I wonder if the Tocharian culture and language drifted away in this manner. 
 
Actually, perhaps the Kashars (as they aren't really Greek) are descended from the same group.

I wonder how often this has happened across Asia. Could this have been the fate of the Tocharians?

If you're reading "Inheritance of Rome" (as I am), you might also like "Lost to the West". "Lost" deals with the Byzantine empire from Diocletian to the end. Part of the author's thesis is that Byzantine contribution to Christianity and the Classics is underplayed, partially due to Renaissance thinkers bias against the East.  
One interesting fact the author brings up is that IIRC, 70% of classical texts that we have now were preserved by the Eastern Roman Empire. This kind of fits with your thesis that a civilization was needed to preserve religion, you just need to look a little further east. 
 
It's a great read and I would highly recommend it.

I can't recommend enough the Aubrey-Maturin series of books written by Patrick O'Brian. There is adventure and plot enough there for those looking for it, but a closing reading also reveals a subtle wit (often ribald) and a deep understanding of the average persons personal failings, often succumbing to the base emotions at their own expense. Some of it is quite touching, most of it is rip-roaring. 
 
Listening to the series (particularly the books narrated by Patrick Tull) really adds to the sense of being there, though be warned. I've found it has affected my speech patterns slightly.