From: Todd Moody
> It seems to me that you have to be carrying a lot of fat for it
> to confer a significant protection against skeletal injuries.

I meant that the dogs were the protective factor.  Many rodeo stars
have
osteoarthritis from repeated injuries to their joints.  The fat was
protective as Man encountered increasingly longer winters as the prime
hunting and scavenging grounds moved north during warming spells.

We know from their DNA that dogs separated from wolves at the same
time that
Man invented weapons that are only useful if one is using dogs during
the
hunt.  Interestingly, skeletal remains recongnizable as dogs appeared
much
later and in the same number of generations that separate the date of
DNA
division of Modern Man from Neanderthals from the first distintively
modern
human skeletons.

With dogs Man could hunt any other animal on earth with little risk of
personal injury.  Many people in the U.S. to this day hunt large bears
with
only spears and dogs.  It's rough on the dogs but people seldom get
hurt.

Ray Audette
Author "NeanderThin"
http://www.neanderthin.com