Thanks for the references.
Are they solid science? all I have personally come across about the paleo diet is unconvincing and does not stand up to scrutiny.
"I want to believe" would be my stance.
If you look for more references and science debate, I suggest 'Good Calories Bad Calories' from Taubes. 'The Primal Blueprint' has some references but it is more focused on the practical matter. I can say that it worked very well for me and 2 other friends that tried it.
If you want to go old school you can check out the Hacker's Diet (free online, and recently got an epub version): http://www.fourmilab.ch/hackdiet/
After a lifetime of thinking that diets had to be permanent and results were only possible through hours of exercise this book turned me around. I lost 50 lbs in eight months and haven't looked back.
Good Calories, Bad Calories has over a hundred pages of citations in the back so it's at least well referenced. I have yet to read it though so I can't comment on the quality.