The inclination towards religion likely surfaced in Homo sapiens sapiens, or anatomically modern humans, although some experts suggest the presence of Neanderthal belief systems and scattered indications of earlier ceremonial activities. With clear evidence from the Upper Paleolithic dating back around 50,000 years ago, religion started to solidify. The religious practices of the Upper Paleolithic might have been shamanistic, circling around special spiritual leaders slipping into trance states to acquire esoteric spiritual insights. These theories are derived from the intricate and diverse array of art left behind by Paleolithic artists, especially the intricate cave art and enigmatic Venus figurines they crafted.
The transformation brought about by the Neolithic Revolution, establishing agriculture as the primary way of life, occurred roughly around 12,000 BC, heralding the Neolithic era. Neolithic societies evolved into hierarchical and unequal structures compared to their Paleolithic ancestors, marking potential shifts in their religious observances. It’s probable that Neolithic religious practices became more organized and centralized compared to the Paleolithic era, possibly involving ancestor veneration of personal forebears as well as collective group, tribal, and settlement ancestors. A significant aspect of Neolithic religion was the construction of stone circles in the British Isles, with the most famous being Stonehenge today. Proto-Indo-European mythology stands out as a widely known domain of late Neolithic through Chalcolithic religious beliefs, which belonged to the linguistic ancestors of the Proto-Indo-European people, partially reconstructed by identifying shared religious elements among early Indo-European speakers.
Insights into the religious practices of the Bronze Age and Iron Age are primarily derived from archaeological clues, supplemented more than the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras by written records; some communities possessed writing systems during these epochs, documenting those who did not. In our contemporary setting, modern reconstructionists show particular interest in these prehistoric religious periods, with many present-day followers of pagan faiths tracing their origins to the pre-Christian practices of protohistoric Bronze and Iron Age civilizations.
Prehistory refers to the phase in human past that predates documented records. The absence of written proof necessitates reliance on archaeological facts,[1] which poses challenges in drawing definitive conclusions about religious convictions.[2] A significant portion of the examination of prehistoric religion stems from deductions based on conventional (textual) and ethnographic proof, often drawing parallels between the religious traditions of Palaeolithic groups and contemporary hunter-gatherer societies.[3] The utility of analogy in archaeological reasoning is conceptually intricate and contested, yet concerning prehistoric religion, it gains strength from circumstantial evidence; for example, it has been observed that traditions like the use of red ochre held significance to many prehistoric groups and still do for modern hunter-gatherers.[4]
Religion is a ubiquitous facet of all human societies,[5] but the scholarly exploration of prehistoric religion gained traction only towards the conclusion of the nineteenth century. The inception of prehistoric archaeology, spearheaded by nineteenth-century non-religious humanists who perceived religion as a challenge to their evolution-based field of study, may have initially hindered the attribution of religious notions to early humans.[6]
Prehistoric religion differs from the religious frameworks familiar to most individuals in the twenty-first century, centered around orthodox faith and textual study. Instead, prehistoric religious practices, akin to subsequent hunter-gatherer faiths, likely drew inspiration from shamanism and ecstatic experiences,[3][7] along with animism, even though investigations hint at the emergence of animistic beliefs at an earlier juncture.[8] While the nature of prehistoric religion remains speculative, the archaeological remnants compellingly suggest a visionary setting where faith expresses through trance-inducing rituals, personal encounters with deities, and other characteristics akin to shamanism—leading some researchers to propose, echoing the sentiments of shamanism expert Neil Price, that these inclinations and techniques are almost ingrained within the human psyche.[9]
Human Development
The emergence of religion in the evolving human psyche has captivated paleontologists for decades.[10][11] On the whole, neither the archaeological artifacts nor the modern comprehension of the evolution of human intellect imply that early hominins[note 1] harbored the cognitive ability for spiritual convictions. Religion undoubtedly intertwined with the period known as the Upper Paleolithic, lasting from approximately 50,000 to 12,000 years ago, while religionin the Lower and Middle Paleolithic “is considered part of the realm of myth”.[13]
When early investigations took place, Australopithecus, the initial hominins to emerge in the fossil record, were believed to possess advanced hunting strategies. These hunting approaches were inferred from those of contemporary hunter-gatherers, and consequently, specialists in anthropology and archaeology connected Australopithecus and companions to the intricate customs surrounding such hunts. These presumptions were subsequently disproved, and indications implying Australopithecus and companions were competent in utilizing tools like fire were dismissed as coincidental. For many years, a general consensus in prehistoric studies has rejected the notion of a devoted faith in Australopithecus.[13] The earliest indications of rituals emerge within the hominin category of Homo, which originated between 2–3 million years in the past and encompasses present-day humans, their predecessors, and closest relatives.[11][14]
Determining precisely when ritual transitioned into religious belief cannot be easily answered. The periods of the Lower and Middle Paleolithic, led by early Homo hominins, represented an exceptionally lengthy era (from the emergence of Homo until 50,000 years prior to the present) characterized by apparent cultural steadiness.[15] No substantial evidence of religious practices has been identified among Homo habilis, the first hominin to manipulate tools.[13] The narrative becomes more intricate as Homo erectus comes into focus. H. erectus marked the point at which hominins appeared to have developed an understanding of ritual, the mental capacity to mitigate aggression akin to that observed in modern chimpanzees, and a feeling of moral obligation. While the inception of ritual in H. erectus “should not be interpreted as the complete blooming of religious capability”, it indicated a significant and quantitative shift from its predecessors.[16] An area of particular interest among scholars is the supporting evidence for cannibalism and ritualistic mutilation amid H. erectus. Skulls discovered in Java and at the Chinese Zhoukoudian archaeological site showcase signs of tampering with the brain case of the skull in fashions believed to match the removal of the brain for cannibalistic intentions, a practice witnessed in hunter-gatherer societies. More notably, in those sites and others, several H. erectus skulls exhibit indications implying that the skin and flesh were methodically removed from the skull in deliberate patterns. These patterns, improbable to occur by chance, are subsequently linked to ritualistic practices.[11][17]
The lineage that led to anatomically modern humans had its origins approximately half a million years before the current era.[18] Modern humans are taxonomically labeled as Homo sapiens sapiens. This classification has sparked controversy as it deviates from conventional subspecies classifications; no other hominins have been acknowledged as uncontroversial members of H. sapiens. The identification of Homo sapiens idaltu in 2003 brought attention as a rather clear example of a H. sapiens subspecies, which was, however, debated by scholars like Chris Stringer.[16][19] The taxonomic classification of Neanderthals, a close relative of anatomically modern humans, as either Homo neanderthalensis or Homo sapiens neanderthalensis has been a contentious issue for decades. Neanderthals and H. s. sapiens were able to intermix, a trait linked with belonging to the same species, and about 2% of the modern human genetic makeup comprises Neanderthal DNA. Nevertheless, a significant negative selection was directed towards the direct offspring of Neanderthals and H. s. sapiens, in line with the decreased fertility evident in hybrid species like mules; this has been put forth as a recent argument challenging the categorization of Neanderthals as a H. sapiens subspecies.[20]
The examination of Neanderthal rituals serves as a proxy and prelude for religion, focusing on death and burial customs. Neanderthals conducted the earliest verified burials approximately 150,000 years ago. The limitations of the archaeological evidence hinder a direct extrapolation from burials to funeral rites, although signs of grave goods and peculiar marks on bones hint at funerary rituals. Besides funerals, a mounting body of evidence indicates that Neanderthals engaged in bodily adornment through pigments, feathers, and even claws.[21] As this form of adornment is not preserved in the archaeological record, it can only be comprehended through comparisons with present-day hunter-gatherers, where it often aligns with rituals of spiritual implication.[22] Unlike H. s. sapiens over corresponding periods, the Neanderthal society preserved in the archaeological record demonstrates remarkable stability, with minimal alterations in tool patterns over hundreds of thousands of years;[21] Neanderthal cognitive processes, inferred from genetic and skeletal remnants, are deemed inflexible and simplistic compared to those of contemporary, let alone modern, H. s. sapiens.[16] Furthermore, Neanderthal ritual is conjectured to have served as an educational tool resulting in an unaltered culture, by ingraining a learning style where orthopraxy dominated in thought, existence, and culture.[21] This stands in contrast to prehistoric H. s. sapiens religious rituals, which are viewed as an extension of art, culture, and intellectual inquisitiveness.[16]
Archaeologists like Brian Hayden interpret Neanderthal burials as indicative of trust in an afterlife and of ancestor veneration.[23] Hayden also posits that Neanderthals engaged in bear worship, a theory driven by the frequent discovery of cave bear remains near Neanderthal habitats and the prevalence of such practices among cold-weather hunter-gatherer groups. Throughout the twentieth century, cave excavations unraveled numerous bear remains in and around Neanderthal settlements, including arranged skulls, bear bones near human grave sites, and arrangements of skeletal remains suggestive of exhibitions with animal skins.[24] On the flip side, other archaeologists, such as Ina Wunn, find the evidence supporting the “bear cult” less than convincing. Wunn views Neanderthals as a pre-religiousindividuals, and the existence of bear remains around Neanderthal habitats as merely a coincidental association; as cave bears by their very nature reside in caves, it is reasonable to expect their bones to be discovered there.[13] The broader archaeological evidence as a whole indicates that bear veneration did not play a significant role in Paleolithic religion.[25]
In recent times, genetic and neurological studies have broadened the exploration of the origins of religion. In 2018, cultural anthropologist Margaret Boone Rappaport presented her analysis of the sensory, neurological, and genetic variances among the great apes, Neanderthals, H. s. sapiens, and H. s. idaltu. She interprets the H. s. sapiens brain and genome as possessing a distinctive capacity for spirituality due to features like enlarged parietal lobes, enhanced cognitive flexibility, and an exceptionally broad potential for both altruism and aggression. According to Rappaport’s framework, only H. s. sapiens among the hominins has the ability for religion for much the same reasons that the tools and artworks of prehistoric H. s. sapiens are more sophisticated and intricate compared to those of their Neanderthal contemporaries; all are outcomes of a distinctive cognition.[16]
Before Religion: Lower and Middle Paleolithic
The Paleolithic era, often referred to as the Old Stone Age, represents more than 99% of human history. Spanning from around 2.5 million years ago to 10,000 BC, the Paleolithic era encompasses the emergence of the Homo genus, human evolution, and the rise of art, technology, and culture.[26] The Paleolithic period is broadly categorized into Lower, Middle, and Upper phases. The Lower Paleolithic (2.5 mya–300,000 BC) witnesses the development of stone tools, the evolution of Australopithecus, Homo habilis, and Homo erectus, as well as the initial dispersal of humans from Africa; the Middle Paleolithic (300,000 BC–50,000 BC) signifies the apparent beginnings of culture and art alongside the appearance of Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans; the Upper Paleolithic (50,000 BC–10,000 BC) showcases a significant flourishing of culture, the emergence of intricate and elaborate art, jewelry, and clothing, and the global spread of Homo sapiens sapiens.[27][28][note 2]
The existence of religion prior to the Upper Paleolithic is speculative,[13] and specifically, the Lower Paleolithic period lacks clear evidence of religious activities.[27] There is no concrete evidence for rituals even up to 500,000 years ago, although archaeologist Gregory J. Wightman acknowledges that the limitations of the archaeological record prevent ruling out such practices entirely.[31] The early hominins of the Lower Paleolithic, a time predating the emergence of H. s. sapiens, gradually developed the ability to manage and regulate their emotional responses as they began to collaborate and work in groups. Their basic sense of collective identity laid the foundation for the subsequent communal facets of religion.[32]
Australopithecus, the earliest hominins,[note 3] were not inherently spiritual beings. While historian Mircea Eliade from the twentieth century believed that even this earliest branch in human evolution “possessed a certain spiritual awareness,” current understanding of Australopithecene cognition in the twenty-first century does not support the required level of abstract thinking for spiritual encounters.[13][16] Though it is generally believed that the hominins of the Lower Paleolithic lacked spiritual capacity, some interpretations of their behaviors suggest the presence of rituals even as early as Australopithecus. Specialist in archaeology from Durham University, Paul Pettitt, points to the AL 333 fossils, a group of Australopithecus afarensis discovered together near Hadar, Ethiopia, as potentially being deliberately relocated to the area as part of a funerary practice.[35] Subsequent findings from the Lower Paleolithic have also been theorized to be linked with funerary rites, particularly instances of cannibalism. While archaeologist Kit W. Wesler mentions that “there is no evidence in the Lower Paleolithic of the kind of cultural elaboration that would imply a rich imagination or the level of intelligence of modern humans,” she discusses the discovery of Homo heidelbergensis bones at Sima de los Huesos and evidence spanning from Germany to China indicating cannibalistic practices among Lower Paleolithic humans.[36]
Several skulls discovered in archaeological digs at Lower Paleolithic sites across diverse regions have shown significant portions of their braincases missing. Scholars like Hayden suggest that this indicates cannibalistic tendencies of potential religious significance; Hayden, asserting that cannibalism is “the most plausible explanation,” draws parallels between this behavior and accounts of brain consumption among hunter-gatherer tribes found in historical records, where such practices held spiritual connotations. In this context, the damage to the skulls is seen as evidence of ritual practices in the Lower Paleolithic period.[37] On the contrary, Wunn rejects the cannibalism hypothesis as lacking empirical support; she interprets the patterns of damage on the skulls as a result of natural preservation or decay over thousands or millions of years. Even within the framework of cannibalism, she argues that the practice would be more akin to brain consumption in chimpanzees rather than in hunter-gatherer societies.[13] The study of Paleolithic cannibalism in the 2010s became more intricate due to new archaeological interpretation techniques, leading to the conclusion that much of the cannibalism in the Paleolithic era was primarily for nutritional rather than ritual purposes.[38]
During the Upper Paleolithic period, religion was connected with symbolism and sculptural art. Notable remnants from the Upper Paleolithic that capture cultural attention are the Venus figurines, carved statues of unclothed women speculated to symbolize deities, representations of fertility, or ritual fetish objects.[39] Archaeologists have postulated the existence of Lower Paleolithic Venus figurines. One example is the Venus of Berekhat Ram, an extremely speculative figure, a scoria dated back to 300–350 thousand years ago[note 4] with several grooves that have been interpreted as resembling a female torso and head. Utilizing scanning electron microscopy, it was found that the grooves on the Venus of Berekhat Ram matched those made by contemporary flint tools. Pettitt argues that despite the figurine “failing to achieve artistic mastery,” it and other hypothesized Venus figurines from the Lower Paleolithic era, such as the Venus of Tan-Tan, necessitate further investigation for their theological implications.[42] These figurines were likely crafted by H. heidelbergensis, whose brain sizes were not far behind those of Neanderthals and H. s. sapiens, and have been analyzed for their contributions to the artistic understandingof such early human ancestors.[43]
At the end of the Lower Paleolithic era, there was a shift in cognition and culture. Revolutionary advancements like fire and the evolution of human relationships, possibly introduced a new era in cultural evolution. It is within the last few hundred thousand years of this period that evidence in archaeology starts to show early human ancestors impacting their surroundings as much as they are impacted by it. Early Lower Paleolithic hominins constructed wind shelters for protection from the elements, gathered unconventional natural items, and initiated the use of pigments like red ochre. These changes were visible in both H. heidelbergensis and H. erectus.[44] These transformations are interpreted differently by various scholars, with some considering them a spiritual revolution while others view them as merely the initial stages of development. Although the true extent of these changes is hard to grasp, they clearly point towards an advancement in cognitive abilities that eventually laid the foundation for religious beliefs.
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