Paleolithic Religions

In the Paleolithic Era, most people believed that their world was controlled by spirits. Their belief in spirits comes from the fact that no one knew much about their physical world, so they tried to create meaning behind the things that they did not understand. According to Daniel W on atheistnexus.org, the website says, “social behaviors and beliefs of recent contacts with stone-age-like societies, with animism, thought to be the original type of religious thought.” This tells people that by observing stone-age-like societies that have survived and are currently living today, people can determine that early Paleolithic people must have also believed in animism. This is different from Neolithic people who believed that gods controlled and created the physical world. According to an article titled “The Neolithic Era” on humanjourney.us, the website states , “Scholars such as the French archaeologist Jacques Cauvin suggest that

By comparing Neanderthals to humans, I argue that they share the same fundamental characteristics of religion through their burial practices. If the debate that is arguing against whether Neanderthals are capable of abstract thinking, then I counter that with the fact presented above about flower offerings to an intentional grave. Theorists approach this topic as well, citing “Chase and Dibble argue that deliberate burials definitely do occur in Neanderthal contexts. “This is the earliest evidence of such behavior during the course of human evolution.”” (basset) The decision about religion is still up in the air, which makes discerning whether the Homo naledi grave was religious or not all the more difficult. If this statement is true, however, then Homo naledi’s similar burial rituals would become the new earliest evidence of religious burials in all hominins. When looking at this recent find of the new hominin species, there is only one instance of mass burial that I can base my argument from. But, the plethora of evidence found within the Dinaledi Chamber that supports the idea of intentional mass burial and therefore religion is too prevalent to

Religious behaviors developed to what they are today beginning in the pre-historic times of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and the Neolithic. There is evidence of these behaviors in the archaeological artifacts as well as mythological evidence. Religious behaviors evolved as humans evolved.

From the ancient Mesopotamian civilizations to the Muslim world, antiquity has always been filled with religions of all sorts. These religions helped guide how ancient peoples lived life and came about doing even the most common tasks that people like us do today. Religion impacted the civilizations of the ancient world by greatly influencing how peoples of ancient civilizations acted, how they thought about the world around them, how civilizations were organized and maintained, and how they interacted with civilizations of another religion.

The Old World opinions of the wilderness were rooted in fear and ignorance of what laid beyond unexplored lands. The irrational and misguided fear of the wilderness were rooted in folklore and mythological stories that labeled the wild as the enemy of survival. The minds of the Europeans were perverted by conceptions of the wild saturated with dangerous and even demonic images. Juxtaposed to these fears were a set of beliefs that designated the wilderness as a source of opportunity and favor from the Lord. Some saw the wilderness as a gift from the Lord and believed that it was their duty to explore and flourish in it. These antithetical set of beliefs both permeated Old World society and dominated how they interacted with their surroundings.

While Hull spent her time in the Yaxbe Village, she observed their customs and religious practices, mainly the syncretism of Catholics and Mayas. Anthropologists have always been interested in the religious lives of non-Western people and have come to recognize that religions are valid symbolic systems that reflect the cultures and shape the value systems in the societies where they are found. (2004:88) Religion, in an anthropological perspective, is the beliefs of native people and their corresponding rituals. Religion adds supernatural beliefs, such as the origin of the universe, spirits and demons in nature, to explain the unexplainable world through symbols. (2004:88)

Religion played a significant role in the ancient society of Greece. Spartans were well-known for their devotion and commitment to their Gods and Goddesses, so dedicated that they were mortified by other Greek states. With their violent nature and the death of numerous soldiers, religion had a momentous influence in the attitude of the Spartans toward death and their funerary traditions.

Religion is an ideal that is thought to bring people together, in actuality, it is a force that divides nations. Religious groups carry large amounts of power and influence over its followers. To put it differently, these groups have the potential to become dangerous through the supremacy they hold. The religion featured in the fiction The Chrysalids is focused on the control and elimination of deviations through regulatory practices that followers must abide. The characters in this novel written by John Wyndham experience the restricting rules of their religion and consequently, how it destroys them.

Many cultures around the world have beliefs and traditions unique to their way of life. One of the main influences in their culture stems from religious beliefs, that almost always explains the fundamental questions of human existence, purpose and relationship with spiritual beings and nature. These timeless origin stories seem to address these questions in vibrant, creative and powerful ways. They all point to some power, force or being that is responsible for man’s existence and purpose, and in turn determine man’s relationship with them in this world. There is certainly a correlation and influence of the origin stories and their corresponding cultures.

The people of the Paleolithic Era (around 23,000 BCE (BCE = Before Common Era – has been adopted by numerous authors and publishers wishing to be neutral or sensitive to non- Christians because it does not explicitly make use of religious titles for Jesus, such as “Christ”).), believed that the Gods and Goddesses were in everything around them from animals, the weather and its patterns, water and even human life, and so on. The God of the Hunt and the Goddess of Fertility were considered two of the more important Gods and Goddesses, for without successful hunt, humans woulds go hungry, fertile animals were needed to repopulate the animal for both food and use of their furs, which in turn allowed for the continual growth of humans. To ensure

Humans of the Upper Paleolithic era brought about numerous cultural innovations. In this time period we see the first art in the form of paintings in caves (Cyraboski). With the spark of creativity, the roaring fire of the first artistic cultural revolution was born. A wealth of new materials started making their way into the archeological record. For example, clay, used for pots and figurines, and bones, which were carved into beads and necklaces for personal adornment. The greatest culmination of this newly born culture is shown in the burial rites of their dead. This is a brand new cultural trait born in this era.

Yes, I agree, there are different definitions of the word primitive. It’s hard not to see that they meant it in a derogatory way, once you reflect and compare it to the other terms that were being used to describe what is now called, Indigenous Religions. The scholars called it primitive and basic simply because, they were more interested in the religions that were written vice to those that were taught orally. The scholars should have engaged the followers of these religions further. I am sure once they studied them and reviewed their practices; their minds changed about referring to these different religions as primitive. They have been practiced extensively by their members for numerous generations and should be treated with the all due

“Some native religions see everything in the universe as being alive, a concept known as animism. The life force (Latin: anima ) is present in everything and is especially apparent in living things—trees, plants, birds, animals, and human beings—and in the motion of water, the sun, the moon, clouds, and wind. But life force can also be present in apparently static mountains, rocks, and soil. Other native religions, while more theistic, see powerful spirits in nature, which temporarily inhabit natural objects and manifest themselves there” (Molloy,2010). Many religions use things, like water, mountains, fire, trees, the sun, the moon, and other things in nature as a symbolism in their religious beliefs; some even have statues that have symbolic meaning in their religions. For example, water,

Animism derives from the Latin word anima which means soul, spirit, life or breath (Overseas Missionary Fellowship (OMF) International, n.d.). Animism is the belief that non-living objects have souls (life) and those natural phenomena possess supernatural or magical power. Animism encompasses the beliefs that there is no separation between the spiritual and physical or material world. Animism believes that natural physical entities which include animals, plants, and even inanimate objects such as forest, mountains, rivers or village and phenomena possess a spiritual essence. Most Animists even be certain that human beings are spiritual at their core and they will become spirits too in the spirit world upon their physical death (Davis, 2011). The power of the spirits infuses everything. Therefore, the term “animism” can be summed up by “belief in spiritual beings”. It can also be summarized as “all that exists lives” and, sometimes, “all that lives is holy” (Taylor, 2005).

It played a large role in how he theorised the creation of supernatural beliefs, and was arguably the largest contribution he made to religious theory. Tylor reintroduced the idea of ‘animism’ into popular religious thinking, defining it as “the faith in the individual soul of all things, and natural manifestations.” He considered this theory as the first phase in the development of all religions and believed that animism fit into two categories: belief in souls and belief in spirits. This closely linked to his theories of supernatural and the need for explanation in natural phenomena, especially focusing on the theories that ask why primitive people needed to believe in a higher deity and spiritual