Religion Before HistorvAke Huhkranrz

Evidence fromarchaeologyMosr religions are known to usthrough wrinen sources. ,prehis-toric' means that we are dealinswith the time before recordeJhislory; thar is, before rhere werewritten records about mvths.rituals and beliefs. Wririns- waideveloped in the ancient citilza-t ions ofrhe Near Easr, China andMiddle America. The l irerate erastarted abour 3000 Bc in rhe Old\Vorld, and shorrly afrer the birthof Chrisr in lhe New lworld. Forthe sake of convenience we mavdesignate al l rel igions befori3000 Bc as prehisroric.

Non-religious man?lhe quesrion of rhe orisins ofreligion will not concern ui h".".Earlier evolurionisrs thought rharrhere had been an orieinll non-rel igious phase in human historv.Their information has, however,proved to be false. All we can sayrs that some groups, lor examplelhe Maasai in Kenya, appear'rolack a belief in life afrer d;arh.

Some students of relision con-sider that man's religious con-scrousness was born during theume when man first appeared.utners nnd traces of .rel igious.Denavtour even in rhe animalkingdom. Despire some starr l ingprogress ln animal-behaviour

studies (erhology) and lhe srudvof ancient man (palaeoanrhropol-ogy), nothing cerrain can be iaidabout these alternatives. All tharwe know is that some earlvhuman cultures seem to havicontained rraces of religiousorlentauon.

Archaeoloeical findsThe main d-ifficufty in any ap-proach- ro prehisloric religionIles, ol course, in rhe absence ofwrltren soulces from this exten_sive period in rhe hisrory of man_kind. The prehisrorian ii referredto silenr survivals of the oast:bone matelial$, stone

"rrjrrse-ments. rough srone figures, roikdrawrngs and similar materials.Such objects are difficulr ro de-cipher. For example, ir is dif-ficult to rell wherher a Danishbog find from rhe Iron Ase-be ira well-preserved human-body ora golden dish-was used as a eiftof offering or not, since there-areno documents from that time toi l luminare whar real ly happened.(some modern archaeologistseven question whether Denmark,or even Scandinavia, had a rel ie-ion during rhe Bronze Agel I Weshall never know for cerra-in wharthe,people of rhose days rhoughr.

ilowever, there are means tocome.closer to an understandingoJ at least some general ideas oflhose clistant times. Let us first

see how the plehistoric sourcematerials can be classified. Thedifficulty of such a classificationrs oovlous: we cannot know if aparticular rype of arrifact-anaxe, say, or a wagon____ever had ari tual purpose. Nevertheless, asurvey ofmaterials which seem toqualify as connecred wirh religioncalls for a division alonq lhefollowing lines:O burial places and burial f inJs;O deposirion of offerings;O represenrarions oi deir '" t ,spir irs and culr ic f igures (carrcdidols,. ret iefs. roc-k painrings.rocK qrawlngs, etc..);O remains of constructions Niftreligious associarions, such asaltars, temples, or foundations ofworld pillars.

Archaeologisrs usuallv Dointout thar this marerial

-cai he

rnrerprered only by analogy. Theprehrstof lc malerial musr beplaced in a context which meysuggest its original meaning. Ofcoulse, all such conclusions arehypothetical. The historv of pre'historic research has seen a iuc'cession of interpretations. Themethods of archaeological recon-struction have becorne morerefined, comparisons wirh theworld of the science of rhepeoples of mankind (ethnolog!)mote restnc[ed ln scoDe. anoecological perspectivej moredecisive. Nevertheless, much oi

"*.-:*"*ffi :'i*"tJ":"*;fJi:llil'itl.s"#,li:i"'iff ff :f i":1

Prehistoric versus

*ff*--*H,id tnrougn imitauve benavlour

f.itu8ls). This somewnal. re-

stricted how much - knowleoge

could be accumulatecl-altnougnit is amazing how much trloalkeeDers oforal tradilions are able

to memorize.tn many Prehistoric socletles

rhe fighr for subsistence may lrke-wise

-have precluded the growrh

of sophisticated religious thoughtlalthough there are examples otDrimEl societies with a good dealbf leisure time at their disposal;.\fe therefore frnd some basicdifferences between representa-tives of prelitemte and literatereligions; for instance, the formervalue repetiiion in myth andritual, the laner develop dogmaand may go in for inrricare specu-rauons.

The pespective of societylhe main differences betweenprehistoric and historic relieionsare, however, that the formeir areorganized around lhe DersDec-rrves of the hunrer. food_Satherer, fisherman or earlvtarmer, whereas historic relieionio-n the other hand. reor"esemtne--world-view of rhe developedclvtuzalions, beeinnine wirhsgYpr, MesoDora;ia ani China.rn other words, Drehistoric relie-rons werear iome in small-scali.;'.'u.r socretres where familv or:l:qolps meanr more ihan

il"i ;Tt'h"".: ifl :'il,,r"i5:I':l

natural forces had a lremendousimDact on dai ly l i fe and rel igionSuih primit ive societ ies st i l llinger on today, and it is Possibleto link the types ofthese societieswith prehistoric periods.

The first period is the Palaeo-lithic, or Old Slone Age, duringwhich peoole were hunters,food-eathereis and fishermen.Lattei-day hunting societies havebeen organized along similarl ines, and the palterns of theirreligions are probably reminis-ceni of rhose of Palaeolithicnmes.

Farmers and herdsmenThe Palaeolithic was followed bYrhe Neolithic, or New Stone Age,about 10,000 Bc. This was thetime when many hunters turnedinto primitive farmers. In thefollowins millennia Pastonlnomadism developed out of thisagriculture in places where theciltivated lands met the grass-lands and deserts. The world ofthe farmers and herdsmen is stillwith us. There is every reason toexpect that thei! religious Prac-ticis resemble those of their Pre-historic predecessors.

These analogies between Pastand present are very rough anoreadv. Ecological, rechnological,sociil and historical differencesmay cast doubts uPon their val-idi ty. But they do Sive us certarnclues on which to base our In-terpretation.

Lower PalaeolithicreligionIt is extremely difflcult to tellfrom the finds at our disposalwhat reiision was like during thelong period called rhe Early orLowei Palaeolithic (before30,000 Bc). This was the rime ofthe Dre-human mernbers of rhefamilv of man, the earlyhomi;ids such as At strabtithecusafticatws, H omo habilis (2,500,000w:), Homo e/ectrs (1,600,000 Bc)and Homo neandefthalenis(100,000-30,000 Bc). Originating

in Africa, perhaps----only Africhas the earliest skeletons andcontinuous succession (species-rhe hominids spread IEurope (where they appearebefore 1,000,000 rc) and to AsiiPeking man and Sangiran man iIndonesia were both representrtives of Homo nectus.

The beginnings of culture\fle have some information abolrhe modest cultural achievemenof early man. For instance, uknow that lwo-and-a-half millicyears ago groups of hominids iEast Africa used choppers, scralers and other stone utensils th.rhey had shaped themselveThev pracrised division of labotbetriein rhe sexes, and foorsharine.

Hoiever, their religious ideaif anv, are unknown to us. Thiss'hai we mighr expect, for tlculrural capacitY of early mtwas crude and he did not expreclear rel igious ideas that can trecosnized as such bY todayarchieologists. We have neithburials, drawings, nor stolmonuments to guide our searcHowever, the tool-makingthese early individuals suggesthat thev had creative lntel l lgenand therefore, very Possibly'form of religion

Pekins manMany

-prehistorians have I

sumed that Peking man, w

lived about half a million.Ye:aqo, had some concePt ol rel lgloi maeic. ln his cave near LhKou f ien he assembled humskulls which wele broken at I

foramen magnum. This glves el

access to the brain, and lt wot

seem that Peking man exuacland are the brain lf rhis was I

case (we can never be sure,

course)) the motive was -rel lg(or magical rather than lor Io(

for Peking man had many,.amals to hunt. Such cannlbal lswhen Praclised in Present-(primal 'societ ies' usual lY rmP

ihe incorPoration ot the ql

man's vigour and Power'

2 4 / I n e u e v e o p r r r e r r t u r ^ E g , ! l

This is a most hyPotheticalinterpretation, and, unfortunate-lv. oiacrically all finds from theI",ower Palaiolithic that lendthemselves to a religious in-terpretation are subiect to thesame difflculty.

Take, for instance, rhe dis-cove es of circles of mammothskulls in Russia and the Ukraine.lfe are familiar with similar skullarangements from North Ameri-ca in historical times, the circlesof buffalo skulls on rhe plainswhich were important in wor-ship. However, the Palaeolithicmammoth skulls najr have servedas weights on rhe tent-clothsinstead of stones. In severalinstances there are bone circlessurounding f,re-places, and inthese cases a religious purpose isprobably out of the question.

Neanderthal manAlmost all rhe early remains rhatmay have religious significanceare associared with Neanderthalman and the lasr 50,000 years ofthe Lower Palaeolirhic-rhe so-called Mousrerian pedod.

Neanderthal man bu ed hislead with proper ceremonies,tnd he seems to have believed inlome kind of life after death. Inthe cave of Shanidar, northemlraq, a dead person was bunedlnoer a heap ot stones, rest ing onr bed of many flowers. Ar TeahikIach in Turkesran. a child was)uned surrounded by f ive oairs)f homs of the mounrain ;oat.tpparently placed in a circl'e. Arave .ar Monre Circeo in ftaly:ontarns a human skull within armall circle of stones; here is one)r the so-called ,skull burials,nat continue throughout the-alaeotl thic period.

Grave gifts are common inoany instances (for example, atta Chapelle-aux-Saints in,rance). Towards the end of theAousterian period the dead wererurled tn a contracted Dosition'tlexed

burials') and painredr'rth red ochre. Both rhese mea_ures may reflecl a belief in auture life: a returl to the womb

they are cave-bears-had died anatural death in their winterlairs. The apparent burial chestswould rhen be due to naturairockfall from the cerling of rhecave. This is a plausible explan3-tion, bur the 'culdc' inrerpreh-tron seems no less plausibleFinds from Dordogle (inFrance) and $(reimar (in Ger-many) suggest delibemre burialof bears-brown bears in thesecases.

The main idea behind bearceremonialism is thar the deadanimal will relum to life, or per-suade its relatives to make then-selves available to the hunter,provided it has received a correctburial. The pattern of burial hasbeen taken from human burials

Modern manNeanderthal man belonsed roEurope, the Middle Easr, NorthAfrica and northern Asia. He tvasslowly replaced by anorherspecies, llon o .rariel6, our owndirecl ancestors, who had alreadvspread over the continents beforethe end of the Lower Palacolithic: Siberian monsoloid oeo-ples entered rhe Nei World asearly as 60,000 years ago, orperhaps even earlier, and Austra-lia received its pooulation fromIndonesia more ihan 30,000years ago. This is of some im-portance for our reconstructionofreligious history. It means thaithe main structures of Americanand Australian huming religionsgo back to the Lower Palaeo-lithic. And ir may even impl,vthat the roremism and hish-soJbeliefs both appearing in rhi.ereligions are just as old.

Upper PalaeolithicreligionAt the beginning of rhe UppcrPalaeolirhic period abour 30,dr0years ago, Neanderthal man hadleft the scene in Europe andmodern man, l1ozro sapiens, tookover. The main periods were theAurignacian (from 30,000 Bc),

trqlxi.rxtJ{*{lii}tlfi?;d.ij$;''iii'l'.T'""$ffi#;;Tili"tu-*;;iffiAmerica are as Yet nlooen rrom

utTh" buri" l customs give evi-

dence of a clear beLlel In. l l re arter

dearh. For examPle' ln .somecaves near Menton In- south-east

France some 'flexecl sKeletons

were found, sErned wltn lron

oxide, adorned with rows oi

Dierced shells and bracelets. andiouipped with quartzlte tools andflint k-nives. Skelerons from Italyto Russia tesrify that the deadwere buried with rheir most Prc-cious property. No doubt, they

were thought to take it with themto another world.

The mother-soddessIr is from this time that thefamous scu lp tu red 'Venus ' -figurines in ivory. bone and stoneappear lGravettian Period.25,000 ect. They are disrr iburedfrom France ro eastern Siberia,and the best-known of them all isrhe Venus from Willendorf inAustria. They all have charac-teristic, disrorted features: theDarts of the body which servesexual and child-bearing func-tions-the breasts, the hips, thebuttocks, rhe ptivate parts-areexcessively enlarged, whereaslittle attention is paid to the face,the arms and the legs.

It has been suggested thatthese fat-rumped (stealopygous)figures are iust representatives ofmortal women, poruayed in thefashion of the time. This is

scarcely probable, however. Theemphasis on the sexual pansshows very clearly that theseVenuses were supposed to repre-sent deities of fertiliiy, growthand fruitfulness. Here we havefor the first time real representa-tions of a deity, the morher-goddess, conceived as one ormany.

There is a seemingly puzzlingquestion here. How could themother-goddess. [orerunner ofIshtar, Cybele and Artemis, besuch a prominent divinity in ahuDting culture? The answer issimple. In recently-studied norrh-ern Eurasian cultures, the

Mag nifi cent cave' painti ngs haveheen discovered ln severalsttes tnsauthen France, dating fram betare10,0AA Bc. Was this simPlY the seltexpression af man the hunter'gatherer? Or werethese caves used(as has been suggested)lar'religiaus' purPoses.

Th i s I i mestane fe ftil ity figu re,dtscovered in Karpathos, dates framaraund 3,500 Bc

of Mother Earrh, a conrinuedexistence in another worldthrough the red 'blood'. Srudiesof certain modern peoples sup-port these -lntetpretations, butothers are of course possible.

From this t ime aiso we havecvjdence of sacred objects: roundfossi ls and preces of iron Dvrites.One round fossi l from'Tara.Hungary, is engraved with twoIines, forming a cross; this couldbe the first clear evidence of rheidea of a quartered universe, a(oncept widely represented inboth Old and New Vorldcosmology.

Bear worshipEven in recent times some Arcticpeoples have worshipped bears.l I ls qutre possible lhar similarreligious beliefs were representedin Central Europe lFrance, Swir-zerland and haly) in Mousteriantimes. Thus, in the DrachenlochCave in Switzerland, bear skullshave been found enclosed in astone coffin covered bv stoneslabs. This looks like a'resularbear burial. Some repuiablescholars roday lKoby, Leroi-Gourhan. Kurten) insist, how-ever, that the bears in question-

FeL gron derore H slory / 25

z o / I n e u e v c a p r r r c r r r v i \ ! s " Re gion Before H story / 27

women had similar biflh goddes-ses protecring them during PreS_nanay and chi ldbirrh. ManySiberian tribes believed in amother of the wild animals, amistress who prorecrs rhe wildcleatures she has given life to.!7e also know rhat women playeda very lmponant role during theSrone Age as mothers, h6use-keepers and gathercrs of rootsand berries.

Do these figlrines prove thatthe concept of a male god wasintroduced later rhan the conceptof a goddess? Such a conclusionseems unwarranted. Before theemergence of rhe Middle Easrerncity-srares, the Supreme Beingwas never represented in an aslar as we can tell. As a diffuse

fauna of rhe frosr-birren Dlains.Reindeer occur only at a latestage, at the same dme as theglaciers made their last Dush for-ward..-The c_omposit ion of theoeauulut. real lst lc animal sceneshas been interpreted in variousways. In spite of some recentspecularions in another direction,Ir . .seems quite reasonable toDeIeve that the animals refer tonunung r irual and huntinemagic. Hunring was the maio;occlpation of Palaeolithic man,ancl ceremonies to secure a sDc_cessful hunt were most certainlvpart of rhe hunting craft, iusr aitney have been among tradit ionalhunters up ro the Dresent dav

Only 4.per cenr of rhe picruredanlmats show arrows (or woundsresutung trom arrows). Does thismean that they cannot be associ_ated wirh hunl ing magic? Notnecessart ly. Among primal peo-ples nuntrng ceremonies are ofrenvery complicated, and realmagic-indicaring rhe andci_pauon ol success io the hunt_isonly parr ofa wider pattern. Themere representation of an animaliorm may lead ro rhe kill_so irwas believed.

more l ikely rhar he was a lord ,, fthe animals, a master of rhlgame.

All these interplerations are ofcourse rentarive. There is a hosior prcrures which do not easi lv/eno themselves to interpretd'-uonj such as piclographs ofhead_less animals (there is even ,sculpture of a bear without 6nead)..o1 women dancing arounda pnalt lc manr and so on. Hou,-ever, such representationssrrenglhen the general tm-pression rhar Upper palaeol irhrchuropean religion was concerncdwtth. the animals and sexuulrentl l ty - natural targets in arelgton chtef ly concerned wirhhlnt ing..\7e can say the sameaoout antmal ceremonial ism inJ-toefla In lhe same era: reindeurskeletons were carefully buried inanatomical order. Such huntinrnles have survived in this ar,:nInlo the lwenlieth century. As rnthe bear r ires, rhe aim haibeen r,,restore the animal to a new Ltc.in this world or hereafter^ From. rhe end of rhtralaeolrthlc. or rhe Mesoli thi(.we have evidence of what aDDerrto have been sacri f ices to' thcs_upernatural rulers of the reincleer In northern Germanv. Rern_deer were submerged in a lakeclose to present-dav Hamburs.and qeighred down'wirh sroncilr rs less l ikely rhar rhese reindccrwere caches for the hunters, asnas been suggested.

Neolithic religionThe Neotirhic is, srr icr lv soeak-ing, rhe period when o6jeirs olstone were no longer chiDDed burground and pol ished. More im-portanr. this is rhe ase. fromabour 10,000 Bc, when ian *"nrover. to producing rather thannunlrng or garhering his ownIooO. I he populat ion of lhcworld was probablv rhen arounJl0 -mil l ion people. The cl imarcnad changed-rhe meltins of thcice was in full flux-a;d rhewarmer weathet made new in_ventions in subsistence possible.

1ffi.""k:Ljilllnfis;:;ffifit":#xftil:',h"r*$*h-"3'rfi-':ffiu+;!$h'i I*us with archaeologlcal inaterlals

from rhe whole world- l nere are

ar leost lhree indepenoent cenMs

where farming began (Jne ls tne

Middle East. more -speclncallythe mountain slopes ot the le lle

Crescent. Wheal and corn werecultivated here, and dogs andqoats were domestlcaleo l neiam.ing of animals slowlY de-veloDed into pastoral nomadlsmon the outskirts of the area lnthe nonh where the grasslandswere wide and open, horse ridingwas introduced in about 900 sc.

Another centre of agriculturewas south-east Asia, homeland ofthe cultivarion of root-crops suchas yams. Close by, in Assam, ricewas introduced as a staole foodthat quickly spread to Cirina andthe surrounding areas.

A lhird centre was CemtalAmerica, where the cuhivarion ofmai?r began around 5000 Bc.

The reiigions of rhe Neolirhicpeoples were closelv adaDted tothese three agricultural ;iviliza-uons and spread with rhem.wnen pasloral nomadism ao-Peared on the scene a new profileol religion was formed rharch€nged the course of worldrelgions.

pealh and buriallI we now concentrate on thewesr Asian-Mediterranean Neo-uuuc religions. it is easv to see

trr{[:i;ltf,x:,?::t[irTff *ilf.'i"Jl"?:L^lj"i"r:,:fi ,:,;,'i;

some cases the bodies wereburied under the floors of thehouses). Graves were providedwith gifts and offerings, such asbeads, shells, utensils like ivorycombs, and female figurines-perhaps symbolizing servants forthe next life, or protective god-desses.

The closer we come to the timeof the developed civilizations, themore differentiated are the bur-ials according to rank or class.Social distinctions (stratification)developed as the political organi-zation based on kinship was suc-ceeded by one based on tefiitory,and a surplus of products made itpossible for some men to becomerelarively rich and importantThis development was reflectedin the burial customs. 'Inhuma-

tion' was now common: man wasinterred in the ground like thegrain, to arise again in anotherworld. Coffins became motecommonly used as time went bY.Towards the end of theNeolithic, cremation was Prac-tised here and there, PerhaPsassociated with a more spiritualview of the afterlife.

In some early Neolirhic burialsthe heads of the dead were re-moved and placed in a circle,facing the centre. This seems tobe the last survival of an oldPalaeolithic tradition. The beliefsbehind this arrangement archidden from us. Perhaps thecircle as a symbol of the universehad something to do with it.

Male and femaleMany female sculptures, fat-rumped and violin-shaped fig-ures in bone, clay and lerracotm,testifY to the prominence of fer-tility- cults.

- Figurines from

Romania (5000 sc) show amother with he! child, later afavourite motif in rhe Egyptianand Christian religions. In someplaces there are also phallic statu-ettes, most certainly representingthe male companion of rhefenility goddess. The femalestatuettes are, however, in themaiority, no doubt reflecting the

elevated position of the woman,and so also the goddess, in amatrilinear agrarian society. Thefunctions of the mother-goddesswere now adapted to farmingneeds: she appearcd as goddessof earth and vegetation.

Other fertility divinities werealso portrayed, sometimesthrough animal masks, some-dmes in sculpture. Serpentinesaround the goddess hint rhat shewas a snake-goddess; in laterCreran culture the goddess raisesher hands holding snakes. Thesnake was a feltility symbol inhistorical times in Europe, theMiddle East, India and China (asthe dragon).

Another divinity is probablyrepresented in the bull effigies\rith human masks in the Balkanarea. The cult ofthe bull, symbolof fertility, seems to have beendistributed over the Mediterm-nean and Middle Eastern world.In historical times, it becameassociated with gods like Baaland Dionysus, with the super-natural master of the bull figuresin Zoroastdan religion, andMithra is represented as killingrhe bull to rejuvenate the world.The bull-fights in south-westernEurope are probably reminisc-ences of ancient rituals in theworship of rhe t'ull-cult.

Priests and templesThis was the time \\'hen a lorm otpriesthood evolved and templesof wood, stone and clay becamecommoo. The casual sacrificialplaces of the earlier nomadichundng culture were succeededby large bui ldings tbr divineservice. Here were kept altars,vessels, inscribed obiects, vaseswilh paintidgs of ritual scenes,sculptures in clay and, later on,copper and gold. All these wereused in the rituals.

In the Ukraine and surround-ins areas archaeologists havefoind remains of remples, andclay models of temples. For in-stance, in rhe southern BugValley, now in Soviet Moldavia,Russian prehislorians have dis-

sky-god he was not easy roplcture.

We know that bull-roarershave been used ro imitare rhevoice of lhe Supreme Beine. orthe voices _of dead ancestor-s, inSome modern primal huntingreuglons_ (tn Austral ia, Southrunca, tsrazil and California).Some perforaled, ornate stoneslabs rhar have been found in-Upper Palaeolirhic caves mavhave_been bull-roarers symboliz-_rng_the presence of the Supremeuocl, or other supernitural

coeerngs. However, this is far from

C.gve paintings^r he mosr telling artistic creationsrrom rhe Upper palaeolithic aretne engravings and paintines oncave walls. They firir aooe-ar inthe . Aurignacian period. burrecerve lheir full develooment intne Magdalenian. Theii focus isrn southern France and nonhern_most spain. The mosl famousano most numerous rock_oainr_rngs,slem from 15.000 ro 11,0006c; rnls ls the t ime ofthe caves ofr-rordogne (Lascaux.), AriiseLNraux j Les Trois_Frere"s.rY.rontespan) and northern Spain(nltamrra).

Four-f,trhs of the fisures areanrmals, and of these most arenorses and bisons, rhe hoofed

Why did rhis animal ceremon-ial ism rake place in caves, ofrenin the depths of scarcelv access_ible inner chambers? !(/e do norKnow, tJut t t may. perhaps, havesomerhlng ro do with rhe fact rhatin widespread rales, recordedeven in this century, the animalsare supposed originally to havecome lrom underground, or tohave otce been secluded incaves.

, Some .wall scenes depictnuman Delngs ln animal disguise.r ney may represent r irual perfor_mers) perhaps magicians or ritualoaDcers, or mavbe mvthicalbeings. Vel l-known is thi .sor-cerer' of the cave Les Trois-freres: a picture of a humanbeing wirh reindeer anrlers. lonsbeard, bear's paws and a horse'itail. He has been inlerprered as asnaman or a god of rhe cave, buthrs posttion in the picture over agreat number ofanimals makes ir

covered a temple at Sabatinovkadating from about 5000 Rc. Bui l tof u,attlc and-daub. it occupiedabout sevenlt ' ' square metres. I tsbig rcctangular room, rvith afloor plastered with cla\'. con-taincd at the back a clav al lar.upon which si\teen fcmalcfigurines \\'ere found. Thcl' hadlarge butlocks and were scatcd onhorn-backed stools. Besidc rhcl] l tar rvas a chair of cla!. perhapsintended for rhe high priest.

European and west AsianNeoli thic developments areparal lcled in cast Asia. and arrdcfinitcly conncctcd wirh lhe(lhinesc Neolithic pcriod. BrLtthe developmenls in south castAsid are more dillicult to foibw.In America the fertility religionof the hort iculturists was simplya transf_er of the hunter's concep-tual world to the planter 's; agra-. inn r i tuals did not vary basical lyirom hunting r i tuals in post-( loi-umbian eastern Norlh America.Holcvcr. some m]lhologicalmoti[s connecled \\ i Ih the 'maizc

moiher' point to communicationsrvith Indoncsia. In large areasoi agricultural . \mcrica theNeoli lhic period continued unti lIhc arr iYal of Columbus. ande|en bevond lhis datc.

Megalithic rnonumentsTou,ards thc cnd of thc Ncoli thicera slructures conrposed of Largestonesr or megali ths, wcrecrected in Europe. Perhaps mostof them were burial slructuresithe str iking rombs (dolmens)consist ing of a large, f lat slonesupportcd on uprights, and thepassage gravcs, found on theislands and shores of the Medi-terranean and \festern Europc.

However. beside thc mcgaIi thic lombs there are also hugcstones in al ignment, or mcnhirs.as at Carnac in Brit tany. Thcirpurpose is hidden from us:perhaps thel marked ritualprocession routes. Some largeconstrucrions. such as ihe HalTanien stone bui ldings in Maha.rvere evidcnth temples. Chalksculptures found in rhem shou,

real ist ic human features andsome kind of gorvns, and ma1'reprcs! 'nl gods and goddessesrnd their pricsts.

()ther f icgrl i thic structuresSive lhc imprcssion crl hal ing hadasrronomrci l l funcl lons. Perhapsrhc\ hlr lped to determine thecalcndar rnd lhc agricuhuralscl ls()ns. t l ! \ 'N\ ' \ ln1pottant toIhc lrrncf. Slonehenge. onSalisburr I) lain in Irngland. forinstaDcc. hrs I circle ol sarsensloncs: ceflNin stoncs l ine uFrvith thc sunrisc ai midsummer-\\rhatelcr cxlcndar purposcStonchengc had. i t rvas also apl irce oi worship. Ircrr i l i ty godsancl gotldcsses \'vcr-c probdbl,vworshrppcLl hcfu, rs has beensuggcslcd hv archacologists.

I legal i thic nronumcnts havebccn l irund I iom l lr i rain in thclvcsl () Ass{nr in the east. andrexchcd soLl lh-ci lst Asit . Poh-ncsir lnd-according to somescholirrs-evcn rhc \eN \\brld.Ocrtainl l . thc I igvptian py ramidsand thc .\ l .r \ a pt rdmrds in Yuca-r| tn do resenrhlc cach orher. andin hoth cases lhev scrvcd rshunal chambcrs. . \ i i o|crI-urlsi ! and r\nrerica. aslrononlers Nnd prchistorians hir\ 'eidcnti l ied stonc conslrucl ions asobser! i l lor ics and meg.rl i thicculcndurs. l l rhis is lruc. i t isalnrosl ccrtr ln lhat aslronomlnas pursLrcd s i thin thc lramc ofrcl igious and ccrcnronial inler

The great civilizations' l he rreg:r l i thic rr lonumenls arc,

l ikc thc IJronze r\ge i inds thatdatc l ionr lpproximatel l ' thesafie l lme, slcpplol l stones to theera oi the great civi l iz l t ions, or'high culturc\ ' . l hc latter slartedon thc r ivcr plains in I igvpt.) lcs()polaf i ia and other NearFlaslern !reas rround J000 Bc.' lh$

introduce the age oi hrs-Ior\ ' . rhi{ i \ . r) l \ \ ' r i ( ing. l- iving inIo\\ 'ns. ccnlrr l pol i l ic! l po\\ er.large econtrmic surplu\es andstr icl chss di l l l rcnt iat ion arc thcchar:rcrcrisi ics ol rhesc ne!\ king-dofis. In lhe rel igious sphere

the! are dist inguished b} sacr,.1kings, a priest lv hierarchl. i l r-|eloped r i tual. hccrtonlbs , Iblood-sacri l ices and inlposrr!tcmple bui ldings.

- l heir rel igir, ,L,

$'orld is populalcd bt grcat ir , , , i \and goddesscs rusuall \ arran!r Ji n h i e ra rch i ca l o rdc r r . l ndc r .Lsup reme god r i l hc i r r ca lm , lthc dcad is slrat i f icd.

\\ :c halc comc'a long v ur ' l i , , 1the simple sronc rrrangcmcnt\ , Ithe Palacol i thic peoples. l)csp| 1l he 'Neo l i t h i c r cvo lu r i on . i l i \ , 1continuous roatl that lcads l i , f Irhe sintple bel icfs of l ' r l reol i t l r Lhunting groups (r thc polvthci:rrof the great ancienl kiDl ldoms

Ih€ M€oe r ih a:r io. t , . r rF.1. j iS icr- . .h; rde aaies ,a. . lhe. . t ' ,Brarze Age i l s thc, ,chi lc r l i r r -neet dsec rcf t.sI.arcr]ia.:Jr :tr.ijrer lorous oufrc-<es

TheMrld'sReligiorx

A COIVIPREHENSIVE GUIDEARTICLES BY EXPERTS

P HOTO G RAPH S, I \1APS, D IAG RA IV]SFACT-FINDER REFERENCE SECI ION