ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Part one (ancestor archetype totem?): ref, ref, ref, ref
Part two (archetype “femaleness” tutelary spirit protector?): ref, ref, ref, ref
Part three (protector tutelary goddesses?): ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Bottom right map figurines: ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Sitting Female statuette: Paleolithic (30,000-12,000 years ago) Totem Venuses become the later Goddesses of the Neolithic (12,000-4,000 years ago) and beyond? I believe there are deep similarities and cultural connections.
A So-Called “Venus” Figurine: Prehistoric Female Statuette
I think it may have started as an ancestor archetype totem, then archetype “femaleness” spirit protector, then finally protector goddesses…?
NEOLITHIC FIGURINES: SOME GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
“Statuettes of human beings and animals, mostly small and made of clay, elements of the Neolithic world of symbols and imagery. Although at first glance they seem quite diverse, the greater part of clay statuettes nonetheless follows an imaging scheme that was already developed during the 11,000-10,000 years ago. Figures of the Palaeolithic period with common bent legs can-not stand; their heads were bowed/lowered.” ref
“Neolithic figures, in contrast, are commonly free-standing and their view is often directed upwards, as can be observed in the statuette from Mureybet. Aside from free-standing figures, there are also several seated figures in Neolithic statuary, like-wise with the head tilted back and the face directed forward or upwards. Emerging here, in contrast to Palaeolithic statuettes, is something new in form, which presumably should also express something new in the way of thinking as well as execution.” ref
“The Neolithic invention of depiction was very successful. Corresponding statuettes were produced for over five thousand years, until at the end of the 7,200-6,000 years ago the production of anthropomorphic art was completely abandoned in many regions or was replaced regionally by new conceptions. Clay figurines were created in the crescent of Neolithic cultures in the Near East, Anatolia, and Southeastern Europe.” ref
“Yet, their emergence was not ubiquitous. No clay statuettes were produced in the distribution areas of pottery with cardial and impresso decoration, especially in Northern Africa, Spain, and Southern France. The invention of the figural pictorial scheme during the Early Neolithic (Pre-Pottery Neolithic A) constitutes the foundation for the entire further history of Neolithic clay figures. Within a geographic sphere, extending from the Tigris to the Middle Danube Rivers, this pictorial scheme varied within a narrow range.” ref
“The position of the arms was variable, so that different types of images can be discerned. General and basic characteristics of figural art to underscore here are axial symmetrical structure, frontality, and stylization. Axial symmetry dwindled only in seated figures with legs folded to the side, especially in Anatolia and Greece. However, attempts to lessen axial symmetry did not catch on in the Balkan Peninsula.” ref
“The restriction of Neolithic figurines to only a few representational types implies that they were not just secondary decorative works or children’s toys. They were far more an expression of the self-perception and the self-reassurance of these early farming communities. A new economic basis of subsistence was not the sole great change effected by the “Neolithic revolution”; transformation from hunter-gatherer societies to rural farming societies was a more complex process, associated with it was also a basic transformation in thinking and a change in the system of social symbols.” ref
“The dissemination of an agricultural way of life towards the West followed, as of around 9,000-8,000 years ago, in a new model of village organization. No special cult houses that replaced large communal buildings for cultic purposes are attested in Neolithic villages of the following times. Quite the opposite: the structures are all of almost the same size and shape. And in the emerging bundle of different innovative techniques, through which the farming economy and way of life spread abroad, were also anthropomorphic figurines. Clay figures still appear in settlements of the Pottery Neolithic period, but their form is clearly more elaborate. Further, there is a greater variety in the types of Halaf art, as noticeable in the finds from Domuztepe.” ref
“This variety in types is displayed in several small collections of figurines, for example, in the settlement of Girikihaciyan. In Tülintepe, east of Elazığ, two settlement phases could be distinguished: one phase of the early and one phase of the Late Chalcolithic period. The figurines found there, thought to be females because of their breasts, have marked elongated heads. The face is shown with protruding eyes, eyebrows, and a nose in relief. The same can be noted in the head of a statuette found in TilHuzur-Yayvantepe. Even in details, statuettes from the sphere of the Halaf culture display the same configuration.” ref
Tutelary Deities
“A tutelary (also tutelar) is a deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of “tutelary” expresses the concept of safety and thus of guardianship. In late Greek and Roman religion, one type of tutelary deity, the genius, functions as the personal deity or daimon of an individual from birth to death. Another form of personal tutelary spirit is the familiar spirit of European folklore.” ref
Facts should lead your beliefs not your beliefs leading your facts.
Around 500,000 – 233,000 years ago, Oldest Anthropomorphic art (Pre-animism) is Related to Female
Around 500,000 – 233,000 years ago, Oldest Anthropomorphic art (Pre-animism) is Related to Female. The world’s oldest sculpture Venus of Berekhat Ram; archaeology reveals the earliest sculptures discovered and enhanced by hominid hand.
Pre-animism: Anthropology; “A stage of religious development supposed to have preceded animism, in which material objects were believed to contain spiritual energy.” ref
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to abstract concepts such as nations, emotions and natural forces like seasons and the weather. Both have ancient roots as storytelling and artistic devices, and most cultures have traditional fables with anthropomorphized animals as characters. People have also routinely attributed human emotions and behavioral traits to wild as well as domestic animals. From the beginnings of human behavioral modernity in the Upper Paleolithic, about 40,000 years ago, examples of zoomorphic (animal-shaped) works of art occur that may represent the earliest evidence we have of anthropomorphism. One of the oldest known is an ivory sculpture, the Löwenmensch figurine, Germany, a human-shaped figurine with the head of a lioness or lion, determined to be about 32,000 years old. It is not possible to say what these prehistoric artworks represent. A more recent example is The Sorcerer, an enigmatic cave painting from the Trois-Frères Cave, Ariège, France: the figure’s significance is unknown, but it is usually interpreted as some kind of great spirit or master of the animals. In either case, there is an element of anthropomorphism. This anthropomorphic art has been linked by archaeologist Steven Mithen with the emergence of more systematic hunting practices in the Upper Palaeolithic (Mithen 1998). He proposes that these are the product of a change in the architecture of the human mind, an increasing fluidity between the natural history and social intelligences, where anthropomorphism allowed hunters to identify empathetically with hunted animals and better predict their movements.
The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic, Late Stone Age) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago (the beginning Holocene), roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity and before the advent of agriculture. Anatomically modern humans (i.e. Homo sapiens) are believed to have emerged around 200,000 years ago, although these lifestyles changed very little from that of archaic humans of the Middle Paleolithic, until about 50,000 years ago, when there was a marked increase in the diversity of artifacts. This period coincides with the expansion of modern humans throughout Eurasia, which contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals. The Upper Paleolithic has the earliest known evidence of organized settlements, in the form of campsites, some with storage pits. Artistic work blossomed, with cave painting, petroglyphs, carvings and engravings on bone or ivory. The first evidence of human fishing is also noted, from artifacts in places such as Blombos cave in South Africa. More complex social groupings emerged, supported by more varied and reliable food sources and specialized tool types. This probably contributed to increasing group identification or ethnicity. By 50,000–40,000 BP, the first humans set foot in Australia. By 45,000 BP, humans lived at 61° north latitude in Europe. By 30,000 BP, Japan was reached, and by 27,000 BP humans were present in Siberia above the Arctic Circle. At the end of the Upper Paleolithic, a group of humans crossed the Bering land bridge and quickly expanded throughout North and South America. Both Homo erectus and Neanderthals used the same crude stone tools.
Archaeologist Richard G. Klein, who has worked extensively on ancient stone tools, describes the stone tool kit of archaic hominids as impossible to categorize. It was as if the Neanderthals made stone tools, and were not much concerned about their final forms. He argues that almost everywhere, whether Asia, Africa or Europe, before 50,000 years ago all the stone tools are much alike and unsophisticated. Firstly among the artifacts of Africa, archeologists found they could differentiate and classify those of less than 50,000 years into many different categories, such as projectile points, engraving tools, knife blades, and drilling and piercing tools. These new stone-tool types have been described as being distinctly differentiated from each other; each tool had a specific purpose. The invaders commonly referred to as the Cro-Magnons, left many sophisticated stone tools, carved and engraved pieces on bone, ivory and antler, cave paintings and Venus figurines. The Neanderthals continued to use Mousterian stone tool technology and possibly Chatelperronian technology.
These tools disappeared from the archeological record at around the same time the Neanderthals themselves disappeared from the fossil record, about 40,000 years ago. Settlements were often located in narrow valley bottoms, possibly associated with the hunting of passing herds of animals. Some of them may have been occupied year round, though more commonly they appear to have been used seasonally; people moved between the sites to exploit different food sources at different times of the year. Hunting was important, and caribou/wild reindeer “may well be the species of single greatest importance in the entire anthropological literature on hunting.” Technological advances included significant developments in flint tool manufacturing, with industries based on fine blades rather than simpler and shorter flakes. Burins and racloirs were used to work bone, antler, and hides. Advanced darts and harpoons also appear in this period, along with the fish hook, the oil lamp, rope, and the eyed needle. The changes in human behavior have been attributed to the changes in climate during the period, which encompasses a number of global temperature drops. This meant a worsening of the already bitter climate of the last glacial period (popularly but incorrectly called the last ice age).
Such changes may have reduced the supply of usable timber and forced people to look at other materials. In addition, flint becomes brittle at low temperatures and may not have functioned as a tool. Some scholars have argued that the appearance of complex or abstract language made these behavior changes possible. The complexity of the new human capabilities hints that humans were less capable of planning or foresight before 40,000 years, while the emergence of cooperative and coherent communication marked a new era of cultural development. In religion and mythology, anthropomorphism refers to the perception of a divine being or beings in human form or the recognition of human qualities in these beings. Ancient mythologies frequently represented the divine as deities with human forms and qualities. They resemble human beings not only in appearance and personality; they exhibited many human behaviors that were used to explain natural phenomena, creation, and historical events. The deities fell in love, married, had children, fought battles, wielded weapons, and rode horses and chariots. They feasted on special foods and sometimes required sacrifices of food, beverage, and sacred objects to be made by human beings. Some anthropomorphic deities represented specific human concepts, such as love, war, fertility, beauty, or the seasons. Anthropomorphic deities exhibited human qualities such as beauty, wisdom, and power, and sometimes human weaknesses such as greed, hatred, jealousy, and uncontrollable anger.
Greek deities such as Zeus and Apollo often were depicted in human form exhibiting both commendable and despicable human traits. Anthropomorphism, in this case, is referred to as anthropotheism. From the perspective of adherents to religions in which humans were created in the form of the divine, the phenomenon may be considered theomorphism, or the giving of divine qualities to humans. Anthropomorphism has cropped up as a Christian heresy, particularly prominently with the Audians in third century Syria, but also in fourth-century Egypt and tenth century Italy. This often was based on a literal interpretation of Genesis 1:27: “So God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them”. Figure Stones? “A shell etched by Homo erectus is by far the oldest engraving ever found, challenging what we know about the origin of art and complex human thought. A right-handed individual and used a shark’s tooth. They had a remarkably steady hand and a strong arm. Half a million years ago, on the banks of a calm river in central Java, they scored a deep zigzag into a fossilized freshwater clam, by far the oldest engraving ever found. The date also means it was made two to three hundred thousand years before our own species evolved, by a more ancient hominin, Homo erectus.” ref
If the artifact was intended to replicate a female figure, it would be the earliest example of representational art in the archaeological record. Rather than being made by modern humans, it would have been made by Homo erectus, hunter-gatherers and Acheulean tool users. There is some other evidence of an aesthetic sensibility during the period although compelling examples do not appear in the archaeological record until the emergence of behaviorally modern humans around 50,000 years ago. ref, Ref
“Venus of Berekhat Ram”
The Berekhat Ram sculpture (above right) has a groove around the neck and on the sides which have been shown to be deliberate modifications absent from other scoria found in the area. The archaeologist Alexander Marshak examined the pebble using an electron microscope. He concluded that it had been made, or enhanced, by hominid hand, the hominins who found and worked on their respective pieces would have been unaware of their future significance.
The Venus of Berekhat Ram is a pebble found at Berekhat Ram on the Golan Heights, Israel. The base object is an anthropomorphic red tufic pebble, 35 mm (1.4 in) long, which has had at least three grooves, possibly incised on it by a sharp-edged stone. One is a deep groove that encircles the narrower, more rounded end of the pebble, two shallower, curved grooves run down the sides. These grooves can be interpreted as marking the neck and arms of a figure. Because it was found between two layers of ash, it has been dated by tephrochronology to at least 230,000 years before the present but is at a range of 500,000 – 233,000 Years Ago.
Moreover, if the artifact was intended to replicate a female figure, it would be the earliest example of representational art in the archaeological record. Rather than being made by modern humans, it would have been made by Neanderthals or perhaps by Homo erectus, hunter-gatherers and Acheulean tool users. There is some other evidence of an aesthetic sensibility during the period although compelling examples do not appear in the archaeological record until the emergence of behaviorally modern humans around 50,000 years ago. The venus of Berekhat Ram is a red stone figure with symbolic intent and possibly intended to represent an anthropomorphic female figure. The surface is a bright high red with a large hole lined with black volcanic glass is at the approximate position of a ‘navel.’ Venus figurines are often found in different elements or mediums from limestone, serpentine, ivory, clay, and bone ash and are dispersed from western Europe to Siberia.
These figurines are often faceless with downturned heads, large breasts, buttocks (many-extreme fat), some possibly pregnant, several stuck into the ground, and found near cave walls or in hearths. So what are the possible explanations of Venus figurines? They could be some kind of good luck charms (evidence of polish), symbols of fertility, cult objects, art, Paleolithic porn, or representations of women by women or men (some look like modern pregnant bodies and some very skinny) but overall there may be no one reason. These figurines may have been created for several different reasons depending on time, place, and people but we just do not know. Though calling them all goddesses or venus is at least misleading if not outright uncalled for because of mythologizing motivated by current projections and this is true even if a few were seen as some kind of goddesses.
However, the venus of Berekhat Ram even if just anthropomorphic art (i.e. ascribing human form or attributes to a thing not human) could be seen as possibly the earliest known archaeological manifestations of any kind of elements that later become more defined religious belief systems. This is reasonable because anthropomorphic character design in art is a symbolic use of design to portray personality and thus, natural objects resembling the human body (or parts of it) which have received minor amounts of intentional modification in order to bring out the similarity further for the desired purpose. One could possibly even surmise that for some, there may have been a character that can play a possible part in telling stories.
Thus, anthropomorphic art, such as Venus figurines, may connect or be a larger growing fantasy of symbolism, superstitions, and supernaturalism thus to socio-cultural-religious transformations or evolution. Although one cannot at present rule out a purely fortuitous association with the venus of Berekhat Ram and the piece can hardly be described as artistic, the possibility remains that it can be placed in the figures category as unambiguous indicators of early symbolism, let alone ritual, and we should not write it off as casual ‘lithic art’. Instead, the appearance of precocious lithic technologies such as end-scrapers and stone chisels at Berekhat Ram, symbolism (and by extension perhaps ritual) drifted in and out of use over evolutionary time. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Ref: Insoll, T. (2012). The Oxford handbook of the archaeology of ritual and religion. Oxford, United Kingdom. Oxford University Press.
Read more in the Art of the Ice Age section: Link
Subjectivity in Stone Age artworks such as figure stones, engravings, sculptures, effigies and curated manuports and icons have been realized in portable rock media since the dawn of humanity. Here, archaeologists and art historians are becoming aware of these forsaken artifacts. “And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything.” -in W. Shakespeare, As You Like It, 1599.
Is this just art or a form of ancestor veneration?
Pre-animism ideas seen in rock art, such as that expressed in portable anthropomorphic art that could have related to so kind of ancestor veneration, which may be a magical thinking but stem from social or non-religious function of ancestor veneration is to cultivate kinship values, such as filial piety, family loyalty, and continuity of the family lineage. Ancestor veneration occurs in societies with every degree of social, political, and technological complexity, and it remains an important component of various religious practices in modern times. Ancestor reverence is not the same as the worship of a deity or deities. In some Afro-diasporic cultures, ancestors are seen as being able to intercede on behalf of the living, often as messengers between humans and the gods. As spirits who were once human themselves, they are seen as being better able to understand human needs than would a divine being. In other cultures, the purpose of ancestor veneration is not to ask for favors but to do one’s filial duty. Some cultures believe that their ancestors actually need to be provided for by their descendants, and their practices include offerings of food and other provisions.
Others do not believe that the ancestors are even aware of what their descendants do for them, but that the expression of filial piety is what is important. Although there is no generally accepted theory concerning the origins of ancestor veneration, this social phenomenon appears in some form in all human cultures documented so far. David-Barrett and Carney claim that ancestor veneration might have served a group coordination role during human evolution, and thus it was the mechanism that led to religious representation fostering group cohesion. Humans are not the only species which bury their dead; the practice has been observed in chimpanzees, elephants, and possibly dogs. Intentional burial, particularly with grave goods, signify a “concern for the dead” and Neanderthals were the first human species to practice burial behavior and intentionally bury their dead, doing so in shallow graves along with stone tools and animal bones. Exemplary sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel and Krapina in Croatia. The earliest undisputed human burial dates back 100,000 years with remains stained with red ochre showing ritual intentionality similar to the Neanderthals before them. ref, ref
“Primal Religion (Pre-Animism/Animism?)” or at least burial and thoughts of an afterlife may have been transferred from Neanderthals to arcane humans when they bread with them. Neanderthals, also interbred with Homo erectus, the “upright walking man,” Homo habilis, the “tool-using man,” and possibly others which means they could have possibly learned some pre-animism ideas from one of them like that expressed in portable anthropomorphic art that could have related to so kind of ancestor veneration as well. ref
The earliest European hominin crania associated with Acheulean handaxes are at the sites of Arago, Atapuerca Sima de los Huesos, and Swanscombe, dating to around 500,000 to 400,000 years ago. The Atapuerca fossils and the Swanscombe cranium belong to the Neandertal clade, whereas the Arago hominins have been attributed to an incipient stage of Neandertal evolution, to Homo heidelbergensis, or to a subspecies of Homo erectus A recently discovered cranium (Aroeira 3) from the Gruta da Aroeira (Almonda karst system, Portugal) dating to 436,000 to 390,000 years ago provides important evidence on the earliest European Acheulean-bearing hominins as well as could show a transfer of ideas. ref
Homo erectus, the “upright walking man,” Lived: Between about 1.89 million and 143,000 years ago, whereas, early African Homo erectus fossils (sometimes called Homo ergaster) are the oldest known early humans to have possessed modern human-like. The earliest evidence of hearths (campfires) occur during the time range of Homo erectus. While we have evidence that hearths were used for cooking (and probably sharing) food, they are likely to have been places for social interaction, and also used for warmth and to keep away large predators, possibly even relating to Primal Religion “Pre-Animism, which may have included Fire Sacralizing and/or Worship. ref
Neanderthals used fire 400,000 years ago and there is evidence of a 300,000-year-old ‘campfire’ from Israel not that surprising after our human ancestors controlled fire from 1.5 million to 300,000 years ago and beyond. The benefits of fire are not only to cook food and fend off predators, but also extended their day and added to the community by how a fire in the middle of the darkness mellows and also flames excite people, possibly inspiring pre-animism’s “animistic superstitionism.” Sun-worshipping baboons rise early to catch the African sunrise and race each other to the top for the best spots. Thus, we may rightly ponder how much did fireside tales aid to the socio-cultural-religious transformations or evolution. In the dark under flickering lights both above and below, was the scene a mix of wonder, fear, and mystery that superstition was expanded and religion further imagined?
It would seem that superstition was expanded and religion further imagined because both heavenly lights and flickering fire have been sacralized. Which does seem to be somewhat supported by a researcher who spent 40 years studying African Bushmen who gathered evidence of the importance of gathering around a nighttime campfire might be a universally applicable time for bonding, social information, many shared emotions, in fireside tales if we can ascertain a correlation that our prehistoric ancestors likely lived in a similar way to how the Bushmen current do.
Although we cannot directly peer into the past, or fully know the past from the indigenous Bushmen, these people do live in a way that our ancient ancestors lived for around 99% of our evolution. Therefore, we can somewhat draw some reasonable parallels such as how daytime conversations focused mainly on social relationships with only a small percentage of stories, whereas the evening conversations around campfires centered on storytelling, especially the adding of stories about the spirit world adding possible credence to the thinking that nighttime and its darkness full of fear and or wonder in the flickering lights of fireside allows for more mystical thinking and the tales such an environment can produce which could have aided in socio-cultural-religious transformations or evolution.
The importance of water and fire can be a set of hidden factors to human evolution and socio-cultural-religious transformations and involved in many religious themes; lingering primitive animism still seen in current religions. Fire as sacred or magic can be seen in consuming fire, volcanos/lightning as gods power/vengeance, holy fire, fire as a means of transformation or magical purification or just a magical being itself as well as used in fire worship/worshiping the sun or punishment (hell: lake of fire which could be seen as mixing fire and water if only symbolically) used in ceremonies like bonfires, eternal flames, or sacred candles/incense/lights/lamps are in one form or another incorporated in many faiths such as judaism, christianity, islam, hinduism, buddhism, sikhism, bahaism, shintoism, taoism, etc. All this worship of fire/sun are hardly special certain primates worship thunderstorms, others fire or sunrises. We have forgotten how nature worship, animistic superstitionism, animistic somethingism, or animistic supernatralism is presented in today’s religion. The mega religions now think they are removed from animistic superstitionism, which they have not. Their rituals, beliefs, and prayers have a connection to animism nature worship but are more hidden or stylized, such as burning candles which is worshipping fire. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
* “animist” Believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife (you are a hidden animist/Animism : an approximately 100,000-year-old belief system Qafzeh: Oldest Intentional Burial of 15 individuals with red ocher and Border Cave: intentional burial of an infant with red ochre and a shell ornament (possibly extending to or from Did Neanderthals teach us “Primal Religion (Animism?)” 120,000 Years Ago, as they too used red ocher? well it seems to me it may be Neanderthals who may have transmitted a “Primal Religion (Animism?)” or at least burial and thoughts of an afterlife they seem to express what could be perceived as a Primal “type of” Religion, which could have come first is supported in how 250,000 years ago Neanderthals used red ochre and 230,000 years ago shows evidence of Neanderthal burial with grave goods and possibly a belief in the afterlife. Think the idea that Neanderthals who may have transmitted a “Primal Religion” as crazy then consider this, it appears that Neanderthals built mystery underground circles 175,000 years ago. Evidence suggests that the Neanderthals were the first humans to intentionally bury the dead, doing so in shallow graves along with stone tools and animal bones. Exemplary sites include Shanidar in Iraq, Kebara Cave in Israel and Krapina in Croatia. Or maybe Neanderthals had it transmitted to them Evidence of earliest burial: a 350,000-year-old pink stone axe with 27 Homo heidelbergensis. As well as the fact that the oldest Stone Age Art dates to around 500,000 to 233,000 Years Old and it could be of a female possibly with magical believed qualities or representing something that was believed to)
Yes, Your Male God is Ridiculous
Let’s address a few blaring facts summed up, the oldest anthropomorphic Repersinitive art is related to female at around a range of 500,000 – 233,000 years ago and the oldest totem at around 40,000 years ago or the oldest shaman with the oldest portrait carving at around 31,000 – 20,000 years ago all are female, does this not seem odd that there is no male as god until after the beginning of full-fledged and developed paganism, a little closer to the present time, after 7,000 years ago, not an ancient truth. Sedentism and the Creation of goddesses around 12,000 years ago as well as male gods after 7,000 years ago. The Sumerian Creator Being was a Female, not Male possibly around 6,000 years ago or more. and the first monotheistic male god may have connections to Confucianism’s Tiān (Shangdi): Supernaturalism, Pantheism or Theism? So, to me, it could be that the first monotheism god was from Aisa, not the middle east possibly around 4,000 years ago? What is early monotheism, are Zoroastrianism (around 2,600 – 2,100 to possibly 4,000 years ago) and Atenism (around 2,140 years ago) totally monotheistic? and Single God Religions (Monotheism) = Man-o-theism started around 4,000 years ago? this new thrust around 4,000 years ago was a male attack on feminism and this seems referenced in Kultepe? An archaeological site with a 4,000 years old women’s rights document. Are you aware that there are religions that worship women as gods, explain now religion tears women down? (Sun and Moon Goddesses). 12,400 – 11,700 Years Ago – Kortik Tepe (Turkey) Pre/early-Agriculture Cultic Ritualism as well as understanding that J DNA is involved in the Spread of Agricultural Religion (paganism) at least 10,000 years ago. And to put things in context, The BIBLE: written less than 3,000 years ago, provable to 2,200 years ago. Lastly, let’s not forget Jews, Judaism, and the Origins of Some of its Ideas.and this will help too, Animistic, Totemistic, and Paganistic Superstition Origins of bible god and the bible’s Religion.
Around 500,000 – 233,000 years ago, Oldest Anthropomorphic art (Pre-animism) is Related to Female
The Berekhat Ram (anthropomorphic Repersinitive art is related to female) sculpture, has a groove around the neck and on the sides which have been shown to be deliberate modifications absent from other scoria found in the area. The archaeologist Alexander Marshak examined the pebble using an electron microscope. He concluded that it had been made, or enhanced, by hominid hand, the hominins who found and worked on their respective pieces would have been unaware of their future significance. The Venus of Berekhat Ram is a pebble found at Berekhat Ram on the Golan Heights, Israel. The base object is an anthropomorphic red tufic pebble, 35 mm (1.4 in) long, which has had at least three grooves, possibly incised on it by a sharp-edged stone. One is a deep groove that encircles the narrower, more rounded end of the pebble, two shallower, curved grooves run down the sides. These grooves can be interpreted as marking the neck and arms of a figure. Because it was found between two layers of ash, it has been dated by tephrochronology to at least 230,000 years before the present but is at a range of 500,000 – 233,000 Years Ago. Moreover, lf the artifact was intended to replicate a female figure, it would be the earliest example of representational art in the archaeological record. Rather than being made by modern humans, it would have been made by Neanderthals or perhaps by Homo erectus, hunter-gatherers and Acheulean tool users. There is some other evidence of an aesthetic sensibility during the period although compelling examples do not appear in the archaeological record until the emergence of behaviorally modern humans around 50,000 years ago. The venus of Berekhat Ram is a red stone figure with symbolic intent and possibly intended to represent an anthropomorphic female figure.
The surface is a bright high red with a large hole lined with black volcanic glass is at the approximate position of a ‘navel.’ Venus figurines are often found in different elements or mediums from limestone, serpentine, ivory, clay, and bone ash and are dispersed from western Europe to Siberia. These figurines are often faceless with downturned heads, large breasts, buttocks (many-extreme fat), some possibly pregnant, several stuck into the ground, and found near cave walls or in hearths. So what are the possible explanations of Venus figurines? They could be some kind of good luck charms (evidence of polish), symbols of fertility, cult objects, art, Paleolithic porn, or representations of women by women or men (some look like modern pregnant bodies and some very skinny) but overall there may be no one reason. These figurines may have been created for several different reasons depending on time, place, and people but we just do not know. Though calling them all goddesses or venus is at least misleading if not outright uncalled for because of mythologizing motivated by current projections and this is true even if a few were seen as some kind of goddesses. However, the venus of Berekhat Ram even if just anthropomorphic art (i.e. ascribing human form or attributes to a thing not human) could be seen as possibly the earliest known archaeological manifestations of any kind of elements that later become more defined religious belief systems.
This is reasonable because anthropomorphic character design in art is a symbolic use of design to portray personality and thus, natural objects resembling the human body (or parts of it) which have received minor amounts of intentional modification in order to bring out the similarity further for a desired purpose. One could possibly even surmise that for some, there may have been a character that can play a possible part in telling stories. Thus, anthropomorphic art, such as Venus figurines, may connect or be a larger growing fantasy of symbolism, superstitions, and supernaturalism thus to socio-cultural-religious transformations or evolution. Although one cannot at present rule out a purely fortuitous association with the venus of Berekhat Ram and the piece can hardly be described as artistic, the possibility remains that it can be placed in the figures category as unambiguous indicators of early symbolism, let alone ritual, and we should not write it off as casual ‘lithic art’. Instead, the appearance of precocious lithic technologies such as end-scrapers and stone chisels at Berekhat Ram, symbolism (and by extension perhaps ritual) drifted in and out of use over evolutionary time. Ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Read more in the Art of the Ice Age section: Link
40,000 years ago “first seeming use of a Totem” ancestor, animal, and possible pre-goddess worship?
40,000 – 35,000 years ago “first seeming use of a Totem” ancestor and possible pre-goddess worship? There is, to me, evidence of possible ‘ancestor and possible pre-goddess worship’ at Hohles Fels cave Site, such as a small bird figurine around 33,000 years old is one of three carvings important as well as relatable to later times, which had been cited as evidence of shamanism, the belief that spirits can be influenced by priests known as shamans. A female fertility figurine ( pre-goddess Venus of Hohle Fels), a bird in addition to bird-bone flute— from a griffon vulture wing dated to around 35,000 years ago as well as around 40,000 years old mammoth-ivory flutes and the 40,000 years old the Lion man of the Hohlenstein Stadel. as well as “first seeming use of a Totem” as the female fertility figurine may have been worn as an amulet, along with seeming ancestor, animal, and possible pre-goddess worship. (the oldest known wooden sculpture Shigir Idol “totem pole” 17 feet high and approximately 11,500 years old and the Shigir Idol’s decoration has been thought by scholars to be similar to that of the oldest known monumental stone ruins, at Gobekli Tepe in Turkey.) ref
31,000 – 20,000 years ago Oldest Shaman was Female, Buried with the Oldest Portrait Carving
31,000 – 20,000 years ago, Oldest Shaman was Female (Dolni Vestonice, Czech Republic) Buried with the Oldest Portrait Carving. Dolní Věstonice (often without diacritics as Dolni Vestonice) refers to an Upper Paleolithic archaeological site near the village of Dolní Věstonice, Moravia in the Czech Republic. The site is unique in that it has been a particularly abundant source of prehistoric artifacts (especially art) dating from the Gravettian period, which spanned roughly 27,000 to 20,000 B.C. In addition to the abundance of art, this site also includes carved representations of men, women, and animals, along with personal ornaments, human burials, and enigmatic engravings. ref
One of the burials, located near the huts, revealed a human female skeleton aged to 40+ years old, was found at Dolni Vestonice in an elaborate burial setting, ritualistically placed beneath a pair of mammoth scapulae, one leaning against the other. Also found was a carved ivory figure in the shape of a female head. The left side of the figure’s face was distorted. These and other items were found with the woman seemed to have had a profound impact on the interpretation of the social hierarchy of the people at the site, as well as indicating an increased lifespan for these inhabitants. The remains were covered in red ochre, a compound known to have religious significance, indicating that this woman’s burial was ceremonial in nature. Also, the inclusion of a mammoth scapula and a fox may indicative of what could be shamanistic ritual and/or a high-status burial. Surprisingly, the left side of the skull was disfigured in the same manner as the aforementioned carved ivory figure, indicating that the figure was an intentional depiction of this specific individual. The bones and the earth surrounding the body contained traces of red ocher, a flint spearhead had been placed near the skull, and one hand holding the body of a fox.
This evidence suggests that this was the burial site of a shaman. This is the oldest site not only of ceramic figurines and artistic portraiture but also of evidence of female shamans. In the Upper Paleolithic, anatomically modern humans began living longer, often reaching middle age, by today’s standards. Rachel Caspari argues in “Human Origins: the Evolution of Grandparents,” that life expectancy increased during the Upper Paleolithic in Europe (Caspari 2011). She also describes why elderly people were highly influential in society. Grandparents assisted in childcare, perpetuated cultural transmission, and contributed to the increased complexity of stone tools (Caspari 2011). The woman found at Dolni Vestonice was old enough to have been a grandparent. Although human lifespans were increasing, elderly individuals in Upper Paleolithic societies were still relatively rare. Because of this, it is possible that the woman was attributed with great importance and wisdom, and revered because of her age. Because of her advanced age, it is also possible she had a decreased ability to care for herself, instead of relying on her family group to care for her, which indicates strong social connections. Furthermore, a female figurine was found at the site and is believed to be associated with the aged woman, because of remarkably similar facial characteristics.
The woman was found to have deformities on the left side of her face. The special importance accorded with her burial, in addition to her facial deformity, makes it possible that she was a shaman in this time period, where it was “not uncommon that people with disabilities, either mental or physical, are thought to have unusual supernatural powers” (Pringle 2010). In 1981, Patricia Rice studied a multitude of female clay figurines found at Dolni Vestonice, believed to represent fertility in this society. She challenged this assumption by analyzing all the figurines and found that, “it is womanhood, rather than motherhood that is symbolically recognized or honored” (Rice 1981: 402). This discovery challenged the widely held assumption that all prehistoric female figurines were created to honor fertility. The fact is that we have no idea why these figurines proliferated nor of their purpose or usage. ref
- Early Shamanism around 30,000 to 20,000 years ago: Sungar (Russia) and Dolni Vestonice (Czech Republic)
- Shamanism: an approximately 30,000-year-old belief system
- Black, White, and Yellow Shamanism?
- Similarity in Shamanism?
- Sky Burials: Animism, Totemism, Shamanism, and Paganism
- ‘Sky Burial’ theory and its possible origins at least 12,000 years ago to likely 30,000 years ago or older.
- Paganism: an approximately 12,000-year-old belief system
- 12,000 – 10,000 years old Shamanistic Art in a Remote Cave in Egypt
- 12,000 – 7,000 Years Ago – Paleo-Indian Culture (The Americas)
- 12,000 – 2,000 Years Ago – Indigenous-Scandinavians (Nordic)
- Horned female shamans and Pre-satanism Devil/horned-god Worship? at least 10,000 years ago
- Shamanistic rock art from central Aboriginal Siberians and Aboriginal drums in the Americas
- 9,000-8,500 year old Female shaman Bad Dürrenberg Germany
Where did the god come from? Well, to me, it likely connects to the area of the Altai Mountains, a mountain range in Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan the heart of ancient shamanism.
The Shaman is a kind of a priest or medium who acts as a conduit between the human world and the realm of the gods, demons, and spirits of ancestors. The experience of death and rebirth is the most important condition for obtaining the power of shamanizing: only after this experience does a shaman reach the level at which his spirit-assistant sees fit to appear to him. in Siberian and Mongolian “petroglyphic art” there are some examples to support a thesis that these anthropomorphic figures may represent shamans and, since in Siberia the local shamanic folklore was continuous, have several types of symbols referencing the sun, skeletonized humans, horned figures may represent the proto-shamans. As signs, these anthropomorphic figures may represent an important, non-ordinary member of the community.considers the question of the antiquity of shamanism in Central Asia and outlines several lines of inquiry into the issue. It analyses both linguistic and archaeological data with particular emphasis on ancient rock art. In the sphere of rock art studies, it focuses on methodological questions connected with identifying shamanism in visual arts. Historical records from different times and parts of Asia clearly show that shamanism is an archaic belief system of Asian peoples. Although shamanic beliefs and practices have been documented in different parts of Asia, many studies still consider Siberia to be the land of their most classic forms. Furthermore, there is no single word for shaman across Siberia and Central Asia. Almost every culture has its own name for this spiritual practitioner, and even in a single language group the names for shaman differ regionally. And, research concludes that most convincing traits of shamanic symbolism, which characterizes Central Asian tradition, can be deciphered in the art dated to four thousand years. ref, ref
To understand fully read thess:
- Kurgan 6,000 years ago/dolmens 7,000 years ago: funeral, ritual, and other?
- Ziggurats (multi-platform temples: 4,900 years old) to Pyramids (multi-platform tombs: 4,700 years old)
- 4,250 to 3,400-Year-old Stonehenge from Russia: Arkaim?
Art as Evidence
Stone Shamans and Flying Deer of Northern Mongolia – Smithsonian
Mongolia’s Bronze Age deer stones are one of the most striking expressions of early monumental art in Central Asia, yet their age, origins, relationships, and meaning remain obscure. Speculation about Scythian connections has stimulated recent research in Mongolia that has begun to peel away their mysteries and reveals connections to Scytho-Siberian and northern art. Radiocarbon-dated horse skulls indicate pre-Scythian ages of “classic Mongolian” deer
stones as well as firm association with the Late Bronze Age khirigsuur [kurgan] burial mound complex. – Smithsonian
A 4,000-year-old art gallery found in Siberia, of ancient images of humans, a bull, trees, and birds (could this relate to sky-burials: ‘Sky Burial’ theory and its possible origins at least 12,000 years ago to likely 30,000 years ago or older. This (Sky Burials: Animism, Totemism, Shamanism, and Paganism) I believe sky-burials also somehow relates to shaman rituals of when a would-be shaman goes into a trance in order to undergo the mystical dismemberment of his body by spirits, the loss of his flesh, and to contemplate his own skeleton., which explains the connections of tres that reach the heavens where the birds live and the birds eat the dead taking the spirits of ancestors to the heaves such as the treetops and the believed heavens above and I also think there is a connection of stars to ancestors as well possibly. There is a practice of hanging bulls from trees as well and I image the birds would eat them too and the bull’s horns have connections to beliefs of them representing the moon in the heavens or the sun represented as a believed spiritual/magical energy-spirit of the sun between the horns holding it. The Tibetan sky-burials appear to have evolved from ancient practices of defleshing corpses as discovered in archeological finds in the region.
These practices most likely came out of practical considerations, but they could also be related to more ceremonial practices similar to the suspected sky burial evidence found at Göbekli Tepe (11,500 years before present) and Stonehenge (4,500 years ago). Moreover, there is a 4,000-year-old art gallery found in Siberia contained 20-plus ‘perfectly preserved’ petroglyphs in a remote spot in the Transbaikal region. Most intriguing in the newly revealed rock art is a figurine and nearby a human-like image is a circle, seemingly a sign of the sun. Scientist Sergei Alkin said: ‘We can assume that the figure with the solar sign depicts a shaman with a drum.’ 4,000 years ago (2000 BC) — we see the Seima-Turbino Phenomenon originating in the Altai Mountains leads to rapid and massive migrations westward across the Urals into north-eastern Europe and eastward into China and South-east Asia. Seima-Turbino phenomenon refers to a pattern of burial sites dating from 2100 BCE to 1900 BCE found across northern Eurasia, from Finland to Mongolia, which has suggested a common point of cultural origin, advanced metalworking technology, and unexplained rapid migration. The buried were nomadic warriors and metal-workers, travelling on horseback or two-wheeled chariots. These cultures are noted for being nomadic forest and steppe societies with metal working, sometimes without having first developed agricultural methods. The development of this metalworking ability appears to have taken place quite quickly.
The Altai Mountains in what is now southern Russia and central Mongolia have been identified as the point of origin of the cultural enigma of Seima-Turbino Phenomenon. The Altai Mountains have been identified as being the point of origin of a cultural enigma termed the Seima-Turbino Phenomenon which arose during the Bronze Age around the start of the 2nd millennium BC and led to a rapid and massive migration of peoples from the region into distant parts of Europe and Asia. In regard to religion, some of the Altay remain Altai people Shamanists. The name “Altai” means “Gold Mountain” in Mongolian; “alt” (gold) and “tai” (suffix – “with”; the mountain with gold) and also in its Chinese name, derived from the Mongol name (Chinese: 金山; literally: “Gold Mountain”). In Turkic languages, altın means gold and dağ means mountain. The culture spread from these mountains to the west. Artifact types such as spearheads with hooks, single-bladed knives and socketed axes with geometric designs traveled west. Although they were the precursor to the much later Mongol invasions, these groups were not yet strong enough to attack the important social sites of the Bronze Age. It is conjectured that changes in climate in this region around 2000 BC and the ensuing ecological, economic and political changes triggered a rapid and massive migration westward into northeast Europe, eastward into China and southward into Vietnam and Thailand across a frontier of some 4,000 miles.
This migration took place in just five to six generations and led to peoples from Finland in the west to Thailand in the east employing the same metalworking technology and, in some areas, horse breeding and riding. However, further excavations and research in Ban Chiang and Ban Non Wat, Thailand argue the idea that Seima-Turbino brought metal workings into southeast Asia is based on inaccurate and unreliable radiocarbon dating at the site of Ban Chiang. It is now agreed by virtually every specialist in Southeast Asian prehistory, that the Bronze Age of Southeast Asia is too late to relate to Seima-Turbino, and the cast bronzes are quite different. It is further conjectured that the same migrations spread the Uralic group of languages across Europe and Asia: some 39 languages of this group are still extant, including Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian and Sami. However, recent genetic testings of sites in south Siberia and Kazakhstan (Andronovo horizon) would rather support a spreading of the bronze technology via Indo-European migrations eastwards, as this technology was well known for quite a while in western regions. “Radiocarbon Chronology of Complexes With Seima-Turbino Type Objects (Bronze Age) in Southwestern Siberia.”
The religion of altai, the main and the most ancient religion of Altai region was shamanism. The traditional religion of the native Altaians is Tengrist shamanism, revived by modern Tengrist movements and Burkhanism. First, written sources about shamanism belongs to the second half of the 6th century. The religion originated in Altai and emphasized the “white” (could this relate to snow-covered mountains in the region?) aspect of shamanistic practice. Black, White, and Yellow Shamanism? Burkhanism remains an important component of Altai national consciousness and is currently being revived in several forms along with indigenous Altai culture in general. Characteristics of shamanic drums and costumes of ancestors of modern Tuva formed in the second half of the 1st millennium. Peoples of South Siberia and Mongolia have been already used developed shamanic cults with a characteristic feature as a priest chosen to communicate with spirits, using a tambourine during the ritual, falling into trance and traveling to the spirit world. Archaeological materials of Bronze Age, monumental sculptures, rock paintings show the complexity of the religious beliefs of tribes inhabiting the territory of the Altai Mountains (3 millennium BC. – 9 century BC.).
They allow to see elements of Indo-European mythological tradition, images of shamans and spirits of patrons. Iconography images associated as with unique images related with early Buddhist subjects, so with Tibetan Buddhism, which originated on the basis of pre-Buddhist religion of Tibet Bon, also known as yundrun Coupons – “tradition of eternal wisdom”. The outlook of tribes inhabiting Altai represented a synthesis of several religious courses, which was reflected in funeral ceremony and arts in the Scythian period (8-2 centuries BC). Scythian culture mixed shaman, Zoroastrian and Buddhist ideas. Symbiosis of Indo-European and shamanic burial vividly presented at the funeral ceremony in Altai Pazyryk barrows (Tuekta, Bashadar, Pazyryk).
Despite a high degree of religious beliefs of that period, the tribes have preserved the cult of fire, sun, ancestors, as well as elements of magic and witchcraft. Archaeologists have found strands of human hair sewn into skin, nails and various charms in Pazyryk burial mounds. Archaeological evidence confirms the presence of special techniques of ecstasy, ritual fumigation and using of ritual drink “catfish” in the religious practices. Huns had extensive political and economic relations with countries which had a Buddhism as a main religion since 2 in. BC. Chinese source “Wei Shu” (506-572 AD.) mentioned that the Huns had worshiped to Buddhist statue of the great deity and smoked incense in 121 BC. But it is difficult to prevent widespread Buddhism among Huns because of lack of other historical documents. Altai tribes were descendants of ancient tribes and other great cultures at various times. They interacted with the Buddhist world: ancient Turkic period, western Mongols (Oirat), then a period of gradual strengthening of Buddhism in North-Western Mongolia and formation of Burkhanism. The indigenous Altai culture holds the lands of Altai to be sacred. The indigenous (Turkic) languages are focused on the stewardship of the lands. The Altai oral history is transmitted by throat-singers. Altai shamanism representation about “a double” is the dominant concept which explains the mechanism of the main religious ritual practice a Kam. Representation about individual double reflects the faith of the cycle of human existence.
Every human life begins in the heavenly area of the universe, yet it has not an anthropomorphic shape, then it is sent to the Earth in physical form. For example, in the form of a shooting star or a ray of sunlight. These embryos are falling through the smoke hole in the center of a yurt, and then fall to a woman. So the fetal period of human life begins. It is concerned with a female deity called Umai. “A double” has the ability to separate from the body into a form of small lights and to travel to different places and back to the body during sleep. A man should behave especially cautious in mountains. He should be wary of a double output during sleep. If a person has a guilt, then the spirit of the mountains or taiga can catch and leave his double. This often happens. I is believed that ony a shaman can return a double. Shaman continues to possess special properties even after death of his double. Ordinary people double backs to the deity.
A Kam double remains on the Earth. He lives in the mountains or taiga, and he is not associated with the burial place of the shaman. The Double determines the fate of the new Kama among any of his descendants. The double will serve as one of his hereditary patrons. Another important provision of Altai Shamanism in additional to «a double concept” is faith in spirits of shaman, composing its sacred magical power. This position keeps religious practice, the entire cult of shamanism. Shamans know that nobody can be a kam without kam-intermediary spirits. Nobody dares to go to such a dangerous journey as a kam is without the support of spirits. All religious activities that make by a shaman, and achieved results are carried out with the help of the spirits, which called him at the beginning of each ritual. Every shaman has his own spirits. Spirits are divided into groups called «strata”. The first group included Protector Spirits, the second group is helper spirits. Patrons are spirits of high rank such are the God of fire, the Gods of sacred mountains etc. Helpers perform two groups. The first called “Tos”, uniting shaman ancestors being kams during its life. The second group included ministering spirits, called during ritual by tambourine blowing.
These spirits attend a shaman during his travels to one or another sphere of the Universe. Tambourine ministering spirits called as “chalular” consist the real strength of a shaman. Shaman appreciates and seeks to increase these spirits, convokes ancestors of shamans. Personal spirits of shaman determine its religious and magical power. The deity of fire differs among patron spirits. It is called Ot-Ana — mother fire in Altai. This deity has entered the pantheon of Altai shamanism heritage from ancient times. Altai kama begins kam ritual celebrating, treating and turning to Ot-Ana calling. Shamans ask Ana to give companions for upcoming travels and always receive the assistance. Spirits of sacred mountains are also high patrons of shaman.
They give tambourines for special prayer rituals to shamans. Shamans treated spirits of sacred mountains with different requests of welfare for family, for Ulus and people. A Kama receives shamanic mission, shamanic inherited gift from spirits of shaman ancestors. If the Altai shows the signs of a shaman, so it is said: “Tosi (ancestors spirit) comes». Cult of ancestor shaman provides continuity of shamanism and explains the mechanism of occurrence and formation of shamans. Tambourine and shaman ritual vestments are sacred objects of worship since it serves as a refuge for spirit helpers. When the shaman strikes tambourine, spirits rush towards him. Some of them place in the drum, the other place on the ritual vestments. Others, the most important, move into shaman himself, who gathers them by a deep breath. Tambourine connected with not only ritual activities but also with shaman life. If tambourine skin breaks or blood appears during the ritual, it means spirits came to punish the shaman and he dies soon. Tambourine is the main ceremonial instrument which given as a certificate for ritual from the supreme deity. Having made a tambourine, shaman shows it to deity.
The ceremony of manufacturing and reviving tambourine continues for several days with a large crowd. After the ritual shaman goes to the spirit of the sacred mountain and there, showing the drum, gets permission to kam until he will make next tambourine. After the ceremony shaman kams alone. He hides a chula (a double of animal from which tambourine was made) from other shamans and hostile forces. If the drum is made of deerskin, so shaman hides it in taiga, if it is made of horse skin, so he hides in a tree hollow. A kam calls on spirits beating a drum at night to consult with them, to find out their wishes. Shaman makes spirits to watch the book “Sabyr Bichik.” Which help to find things that do not require a large ritual, for example, any prediction. Ritual vestments are necessary to communicate with the spirits. Production is carried out by instructions of the spirits-protectors. Vestments have a complex appearance. It includes braids, hundreds of different pendants, small chunks of tissue, ribbons, fringe, animal skins and their parts (claws, feathers, beaks, wings); rag anthropomorphic images of snakes, monsters. Suit serves as a refuge for shaman spirits which protect a kam during the ritual. Making shaman costume is collective women engagement. It takes place at the specific time and is accompanied by a special ceremony.
This ceremony is held with a large crowd and is used to remove filth from vestments, which can be left after a touch of the hands of bad people. But the main aim of the ceremony is to determine the suitability of the suit. A kam ritual differs by acting, songs, Gods which summoned by a shaman. Every shaman has his god and kams to it him. Only Ulgen and Erlik gods are common to all Altaian. The ritual has to express the journey of a shaman and his retinue of spirits to the distant abode of the deity. If a deity lives in heaven, for example, Ulgen, the mystery of Kam should clearly describe the journey to heaven, and shaman has to move from one sky to another until he reaches the last sky. If a deity lives underground, such as Erlik, the mystery shows how the shaman descends to the underworld. Idolatry of Altai peoples came to symbolic representation of a good and an evil. Horses, bulls, and sheep sacrificed to gods, barbarously slayed dissecting animal chest and squeezing the heart by hands to stop beating. However, all this comes with extraordinary rapidity, the animal dies instantly.
Then the victim will be roasted and eaten. Primitive representations of deity forces shamans to look at the sacrifices as a contract binding both parties by mutual obligations. The UNESCO World Heritage Site “Golden Mountains” protects the Ukok Plateau, on which there are many standing stones and kurgans. Although archaeologists consider kurgans to be burial sites, the indigenous people believe that they are highly refined magnetic instruments for directing the flow of cosmic energy into the Earth. Thus, there is great local indignation about the excavation and removal of the Siberian Ice Maiden, an extraordinary 2,500-year-old mummy that had been preserved in permafrost. The mummified remains of the “Ice Maiden,” a Scytho-Siberian woman who lived on the Eurasian Steppes in the 5th century BC, were found undisturbed in a subterranean burial chamber. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Need to Mythicized: gods and goddesses
The question should not just be is there a god, but which gods we are to contemplate, the new ones or old ones. Not that it really matters much in the end, as they all eventually cease to exist or replaced for something new. If there were a true god deity, would he not make himself known as soon as hominoids could think or at least by around 100,000 years ago when the first confirmed human burial took place or at least, by around 50,000 years ago when it is thought we fully achieved modern behavioral and cognitive traits? However, this is not the case at all, instead, the male god myths do not seem to exist for tens of thousands of years or must have held less status until around 6,000 or so years ago. What was prominent before the male god myths seem to be female goddesses and animals or aspects of nature, which were held as spirits or something like deities.
Female goddesses and not male gods seemingly starting after 12,000 years ago for sure, but maybe go back to 40,000 years ago or even longer, who knows hypothetically in some fashion to possibly over 200,000 years ago, but maybe not. So not much credibility can be given prehistorically for the male gods, thus why add any credence to them now. Therefore, male gods prominent in the current religions of the world today have a shelf-life of only around 6,000 or so years ago, not much of a showing if it is a male god who supposedly created everything. Why wait through 95% of human existence to make yourself known? A little over 5,000 years is when it looks like god deities really develop or finally leave the shadows and are promoted in a way that can be identified today. The male god deities, so many now hold faith in today, such as in the abrahamic religions said to start around 4,000 years ago or less with judaism’s patriarch Abraham was a late bloomer to say the least, as this abrahamic male god did not really beginning to be written down until after around 3,000 years ago.
And why, we must wonder did it take so long to start writing the jewish holy book, which as you may know took around 1,000 years to finish. Well because other peoples had to create and spread written language, for the Israelites to borrow from, as their god did not I guess, put big stock in literacy or would not the jews be the first ones with writing if only their god was real. Moreover, one must ask if real, why did he not do anything to become known even when the creation of other male gods started. Nevertheless, it was not until around 2,000 years ago that the prospects of the male god deity became the most popular supplanting and completely surpassing female goddesses such as it is in the present day. Reality is naturalistically godless, yes it is natural through and through, not one shred of magic. In fact, the scientific method assumes Methodological Naturalism, because that is all that has ever been found and is the most likely thing that ever will be found. As religion is not intended to represent the world as it is but instead what it is not the stupid supernatural, which is the thing of fantasy, wishful thinking, and delusion. ref, ref, ref
Could be that the first monotheism god was from Aisa,
not the middle east around 4,000 years ago?
Monotheism is distinguished from henotheism, a religious system in which the believer worships one god without denying that others may worship different gods with equal validity, and monolatrism, the recognition of the existence of many gods but with the consistent worship of only one deity. Monotheism has been defined as the belief in the existence of only one god that created the world, is all-powerful and intervenes in the world. A broader definition of monotheism is the belief in one god. A distinction may be made between exclusive monotheism, and both inclusive monotheism and pluriform (panentheistic) monotheism which, while recognizing various distinct gods, postulate some underlying unity. The broader definition of monotheism characterizes the traditions of Bábism, the Bahá’í Faith, Balinese Hinduism, Cao Dai (Caodaiism), Cheondoism (Cheondogyo), Christianity, Deism, Eckankar, Hindu sects such as Shaivism and Vaishnavism, Islam, Judaism, Mandaeism, Rastafari, Seicho no Ie, Sikhism, Tengrism (Tangrism), Tenrikyo (Tenriism), Yazidism, and Zoroastrianism, and elements of pre-monotheistic thought are found in early religions such as Atenism, ancient Chinese religion, and Yahwism. Quasi-monotheistic claims of the existence of a universal deity date to the Late Bronze Age, with Akhenaten‘s Great Hymn to the Aten. A possible inclination towards monotheism emerged during the Vedic period in Iron-Age South Asia. The Rigveda exhibits notions of monism of the Brahman, particularly in the comparatively late tenth book, which is dated to the early Iron Age, e.g. in the Nasadiya sukta. Since the 2,600 years ago, Zoroastrians have believed in the supremacy of one God above all: Ahura Mazda as the “Maker of All” and the first being before all others. Nonetheless, Zoroastrianism was not strictly monotheistic because it venerated other yazatas alongside Ahura Mazda. Ancient Hindu theology, meanwhile, was monist, but was not strictly monotheistic in worship because it still maintained the existence of many gods, who were envisioned as aspects of one supreme God, Brahman. Numerous ancient Greek philosophers, including Xenophanes of Colophon and Antisthenes believed in a similar polytheistic monism that came close to monotheism, but fell short. Judaism was the first religion to conceive the notion of a personal monotheistic God within a monist context. The concept of ethical monotheism, which holds that morality stems from God alone and that its laws are unchanging, first occurred in Judaism, but is now a core tenet of most modern monotheistic religions, including Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, and Bahá’í Faith. Around 2,800 years ago, the worship of YHWH in Israel was in competition with many other cults, described by the Yahwist faction collectively as Baals. The oldest books of the Hebrew Bible reflect this competition, as in the books of Hosea and Nahum, whose authors lament the “apostasy” of the people of Israel, threatening them with the wrath of God if they do not give up their polytheistic cults. Ancient Israelite religion was originally polytheistic; the Israelites worshipped many deities, including El, Baal, Asherah, and Astarte.
YHWH was originally the national god of the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. As time progressed, the henotheistic cult of Yahweh grew increasingly militant in its opposition to the worship of other gods. Later, the reforms of King Josiah imposed a form of strict monolatrism. After the fall of Judah to Babylon, a small circle of priests and scribes gathered around the exiled royal court, where they first developed the concept of YHWH as the sole God of the world. Amenhotep IV initially introduced Atenism in Year 5 of his reign (3,348/3346 years ago) during the 18th dynasty of the New Kingdom. He raised Aten, once a relatively obscure Egyptian Solar deity representing the disk of the sun, to the status of Supreme God in the Egyptian pantheon. The orthodox faith system held by most dynasties of China since at least the Shang Dynasty (3,766 years ago) until the modern period centered on the worship of Shangdi (literally “Above Sovereign”, generally translated as “God”) or Heaven as an omnipotent force.
This faith system pre-dated the development of Confucianism and Taoism and the introduction of Buddhism and Christianity. It has features of monotheism in that Heaven is seen as an omnipotent entity, a noncorporeal force with a personality transcending the world. From the writings of Confucius in the Analects, it is known Confucius believed that Heaven cannot be deceived, Heaven guides people’s lives and maintains a personal relationship with them, and that Heaven gives tasks for people to fulfill in order to teach them of virtues and morality. However, this faith system was not truly monotheistic since other lesser gods and spirits, which varied with locality, were also worshiped along with Shangdi. Still, later variants such as Mohism (2,470 – 2,391 years ago) approached true monotheism, teaching that the function of lesser gods and ancestral spirits is merely to carry out the will of Shangdi, akin to angels in Abrahamic religions. The first – 上, Shàng – means “high”, “highest”, “first”, “primordial”; the second – 帝, Dì – is typically considered as a short hand for huangdi （皇帝）in modern Chinese, the title of the emperors of China first employed by Qin Shi Huang, and is usually translated as “emperor”. The word itself is derived from Three “Huang” and Five “Di”, including Yellow Emperor (Huangdi 黃帝), the mythological originator of the Chinese civilization and the ancestor of the Chinese race. However, 帝 refers to the High God of Shang, thus means “deity” (manifested god). Thus, the name Shangdi should be translated as “Highest Deity”, but also have the implied meaning of “Primordial Deity” or “First Deity” in Classical Chinese.
The deity preceded the title and the emperors of China were named after him in their role as Tianzi, the sons of Heaven. In the classical texts, the highest conception of the heavens is frequently identified with Shang Di, who is described somewhat anthropomorphically. He is also associated with the pole star. The conceptions of the Supreme Ruler (Shang Di) and of the Sublime Heavens (Huang-t’ien)afterward coalesce or absorb each other. The earliest references to Shangdi are found in oracle bone inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty in the around 4,000 years ago, although the later work Classic of History claims yearly sacrifices were made to him by Emperor Shun, even before the Xia Dynasty. “Shang Di” is the pinyin romanization of two Chinese characters that in modern Chinese, the title of the emperors of China first employed by Qin Shi Huang, and is usually translated as “emperor”, the mythological originator of the Chinese civilization and the ancestor of the Chinese race. However, 帝 refers to the High God of Shang, thus means “deity” (manifested god). Thus, the name Shangdi should be translated as “Highest Deity”, but also have the implied meaning of “Primordial Deity” or “First Deity” in Classical Chinese. In the classical texts, the highest conception of the heavens is frequently identified with Shang Di, who is described somewhat anthropomorphically. He is also associated with the pole star. The conceptions of the Supreme Ruler (Shang Di) and of the Sublime Heavens (Huang-t’ien) afterward coalesce or absorb each other.
Under Shangdi or his later names, the deity received sacrifices from the ruler of China in every Chinese dynasty annually at a great Temple of Heaven in the imperial capital. Following the principles of Chinese geomancy, this would always be located in the southern quarter of the city. During the ritual, a completely healthy bull would be slaughtered and presented as an animal sacrifice to Shangdi. It is important to note that Shangdi is never represented with either images or idols. Instead, in the center building of the Temple of Heaven, in a structure called the “Imperial Vault of Heaven”, a “spirit tablet” (神位, shénwèi) inscribed with the name of Shangdi is stored on the throne, Huangtian Shangdi (皇天上帝). During an annual sacrifice, the emperor would carry these tablets to the north part of the Temple of Heaven, a place called the “Prayer Hall For Good Harvests”, and place them on that throne. It was during Ming and Qing dynasty, when Roman Catholicism was introduced by Jesuit Priest Matteo Ricci, that the idea of “Shangdi” started to be applied to the Christian conception of God. While initially, he utilized the term Tianzhu, Ricci gradually changed the translation into “Shangdi” instead. His usage of Shangdi was contested by Confucians, as they believed that the concept of Tian and “Shangdi” is different from that of Christian’s God: Zhōng Shǐ-shēng, through his books, stated that Shangdi only governs, while Christian’s God is a creator, and thus differ. Ricci’s translation also invited the displeasure of Dominicans and that of the Roman Curia; On March 19, 1715, Pope Clement XI released the Edict Ex Illa Die, stating that Catholics must use “Tianzhu” instead of “Shangdi” for Christianity’s God. ref, ref
Feminist atheists as far back as the 1800s?
Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük
“The Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük (also Çatal Höyük) is a baked-clay, nude female form, seated between feline-headed arm-rests. It is generally thought to depict a corpulent and fertile Mother goddess in the process of giving birth while seated on her throne, which has two hand rests in the form of feline (lioness, leopard, or panther) heads in a Mistress of Animals motif. The statuette, one of several iconographically similar ones found at the site, is associated to other corpulent prehistoric goddess figures, of which the most famous is the Venus of Willendorf. It is a neolithic sculpture shaped by an unknown artist, and was completed in approximately 6000 BCE.” ref
Kubaba
“Kubaba is the only queen on the Sumerian King List, which states she reigned for 100 years – roughly in the Early Dynastic III period (ca. 2500–2330 BCE) of Sumerian history. A connection between her and a goddess known from Hurro–Hittite and later Luwian sources cannot be established on the account of spatial and temporal differences. Kubaba is one of very few women to have ever ruled in their own right in Mesopotamian history. Most versions of the king list place her alone in her own dynasty, the 3rd Dynasty of Kish, following the defeat of Sharrumiter of Mari, but other versions combine her with the 4th dynasty, that followed the primacy of the king of Akshak. Before becoming monarch, the king list says she was an alewife, brewess or brewster, terms for a woman who brewed alcohol.” ref
“Kubaba was a Syrian goddess associated particularly closely with Alalakh and Carchemish. She was adopted into the Hurrian and Hittite pantheons as well. After the fall of the Hittite empire, she continued to be venerated by Luwians. A connection between her and the similarly named legendary Sumerian queen Kubaba of Kish, while commonly proposed, cannot be established due to spatial and temporal differences. Emmanuel Laroche proposed in 1960 that Kubaba and Cybele were one and the same. This view is supported by Mark Munn, who argues that the Phrygian name Kybele developed from Lydian adjective kuvavli, first changed into kubabli and then simplified into kuballi, and finally kubelli. However, such an adjective is a purely speculative construction.” ref
Cybele
“Cybele (Phrygian: “Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother”, perhaps “Mountain Mother”) is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest neolithic at Çatalhöyük, where statues of plump women, sometimes sitting, have been found in excavations. Phrygia‘s only known goddess, she was probably its national deity. Greek colonists in Asia Minor adopted and adapted her Phrygian cult and spread it to mainland Greece and to the more distant western Greek colonies around the 6th century BCE. In Greece, Cybele met with a mixed reception. She became partially assimilated to aspects of the Earth-goddess Gaia, of her possibly Minoan equivalent Rhea, and of the harvest–mother goddess Demeter. Some city-states, notably Athens, evoked her as a protector, but her most celebrated Greek rites and processions show her as an essentially foreign, exotic mystery-goddess who arrives in a lion-drawn chariot to the accompaniment of wild music, wine, and a disorderly, ecstatic following.” ref
“Uniquely in Greek religion, she had a eunuch mendicant priesthood. Many of her Greek cults included rites to a divine Phrygian castrate shepherd-consort Attis, who was probably a Greek invention. In Greece, Cybele became associated with mountains, town and city walls, fertile nature, and wild animals, especially lions. In Rome, Cybele became known as Magna Mater (“Great Mother”). The Roman State adopted and developed a particular form of her cult after the Sibylline oracle in 205 BCE recommended her conscription as a key religious ally in Rome’s second war against Carthage (218 to 201 BCE). Roman mythographers reinvented her as a Trojan goddess, and thus an ancestral goddess of the Roman people by way of the Trojan prince Aeneas. As Rome eventually established hegemony over the Mediterranean world, Romanized forms of Cybele’s cults spread throughout Rome’s empire. Greek and Roman writers debated and disputed the meaning and morality of her cults and priesthoods, which remain controversial subjects in modern scholarship.” ref
“Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion believed to help the dead enter the afterlife. She was usually portrayed in art as a human woman wearing a throne-like hieroglyph on her head. During the New Kingdom (3,550–3,070 years ago), as she took on traits that originally belonged to Hathor, the preeminent goddess of earlier times, Isis came to be portrayed wearing Hathor’s headdress: a sun disk between the horns of a cow. Likewise, the expression of moon disks headdress: a moon disk between the horns of a cow. Her reputed magical power was greater than that of all other gods, and she was said to protect the kingdom from its enemies, govern the skies and the natural world, and have power over fate itself. Whereas some Egyptian deities appeared in the late Predynastic Period (before 5,100 years ago), neither Isis nor her husband Osiris were clearly mentioned before the Fifth Dynasty (4,494–4,345 years ago). The hieroglyphic writing of her name incorporates the sign for a throne, which Isis also wears on her head as a sign of her identity. Like other goddesses, such as Hathor, she also acted as a mother to the deceased, providing protection and nourishment. Thus, like Hathor, she sometimes took the form of Imentet, the goddess of the west, who welcomed the deceased soul into the afterlife as her child.” ref
“Isis is treated as the mother of Horus even in the earliest copies of the Pyramid Texts. Yet there are signs that Hathor was originally regarded as his mother, and other traditions make an elder form of Horus the son of Nut.” ref
“Egyptian mythology, Nut was the goddess of the sky, she was seen as a star-covered nude woman arching over the earth, or as a cow. The ancient Egyptians believed that Nut swallowed the sun-god, Ra, every night and gave birth to him every morning. In direct contrast to most other mythologies which usually develop a sky father associated with an Earth mother (or Mother Nature), she personified the sky and he the Earth. Nut was Mistress of All or “She who Bore the Gods”: Originally, Nut was said to be lying on top of Geb (Earth) and continually having intercourse. Nut was the goddess of the sky and all heavenly bodies, a symbol of protecting the dead when they enter the afterlife. According to the Egyptians, during the day, the heavenly bodies—such as the sun and moon—would make their way across her body. Then, at dusk, they would be swallowed, pass through her belly during the night, and be reborn at dawn. Nut is also the barrier separating the forces of chaos from the ordered cosmos in the world. She was pictured as a woman arched on her toes and fingertips over the earth; her body portrayed as a star-filled sky. Nut’s fingers and toes were believed to touch the four cardinal points or directions of north, south, east, and west.” ref
I think most represent a Goddess as well as it is possible, a some could relate to a Demigoddesses/Grandmother-Mother Ancestor Spirits.
“ A demigoddess or demi-goddess is a minor deity, or a mortal or immortal who is the offspring of a god and a human, or a figure who has attained divine status after death.” ref
First Patriarchy: Split of Women’s Status around 12,000 years ago
& First Hierarchy: fall of Women’s Status around 5,000 years ago.
12,000 Years old Birth of the Sexualized Fertility Goddess Archetype,
The rise of Patriarchy, and the Split of Women’s Status
To me, the possibility of goddess symbolism as well as the beginnings of patriarchy which may go as far back as around 12,000 years ago as a point leading to its beginning. And yet the first written establishment of women’s rights is around 4,000 years ago and at the same time, from around 12,000 years ago women who were somewhat respected or in admiration (such as shamans) and existed in relative egalitarianism in general but this began to change and began to increasingly not be seen as special or magical but as an object, since animals were being domesticated and humans started understanding birthing women in a general way started to be seen as an object to domesticate with the beginnings of patriarchy. At this time, it seems the female goddess figurines/archetypes/avatars are seen to split into two different personalities: Good girl (most of them) and Bad girl (especially later in India), domesticated and undomesticated. Most archetype of sexualized fertility goddess symbolism or features seem to be that of the domestic woman and only a few are the undomesticated highly sexualized and highly powerful, from the extremes of feminism to highly promiscuous.
Around 13,000 years ago, most likely all goddesses originate but the domesticated one may have originated thousands of years ago with all the venus figurines that go why back to the beginnings of human totemistic religion expression presumably the venus of Hohle Fels dated to between around 40,000 to 35,000 years ago though it is likely more akin to an artifact of hunting magic, a spirit or ancestor who knows. Although some of those figurines could have been seen as toys or for some other unknown reason, however, the difference around 12,000 years ago, a new and very non-toy like set of images and figurines were found that are highly sexualize and seems more like pornography instead toys for children. Moreover, around 12,000 years ago there seems to be increased development of fertility cults and the beginnings of the birth/sex goddess paganistic symbolism. There seemed to be many of the “bad girl/undomesticated woman” expressed in lajja gauri/sheila-na-gig styles of sexualized fertility cult goddesses, which are similar as well as recurring and seemingly both connected and disconnected to the mother goddess religious beliefs or religious beliefs. Shaktism cults are connected to the early depictions of lajja gauri found on Indus Valley seals. The Indus/ Harappan script dates to between around 5,500 to 3,900 years ago. Shaktism (doctrine of the goddess) is a major tradition of hinduism female is considered to comprise metaphysical reality and the goddess is supreme and includes a variety of goddesses, all considered aspects of the same supreme goddess.
Shaktism’s goddesses evolved more adding to its pantheon of goddesses after the decline of buddhism in India, wherein hindu and buddhist goddesses were combined to form the Mahavidya, a list of ten goddesses. Shaktism encompasses a nearly endless variety of beliefs and practices from primitive animism to the philosophical paganistic seeking to access the Shakti (divine energy) considered to comprise metaphysical reality of the goddesses’ nature. Similar ideas to the shaktism religious thinking is found in Jainism (vidya and shasana devis), in buddhism (tantric buddhism), in sikhism (Shakta goddesses, particularly chandi seen as a fierce warrior) and I am not trying to say that lajja gauri or Shaktism where at the beginning from around 12,000 years ago, just they offer a similar frame of reference to add in conceptual understanding of the ideas involved in this early expression of ritualistic/cultural behaviors in relation to the possibility of the beginnings of patriarchy.
This archetype of sexualized fertility goddess seems to embody other goddesses, she has a sexualized aspect, but she can be a mother or warrior too. However, it is how she is different from the others, not just mothers, protectors, or leaders, this goddess is associated with abundance and fertility involving erotic pleasure and sexual intercourse. Furthermore, this goddess archetype’s artistic representations, most often, involves a nude fertility cult goddess/ancestor/spirit who offers herself with her legs apart and a prominently available vulva (presumably for sex but for some berthing could also apply. Further, most fertility goddesses the world over are not completely similar but many are shown as headless, faceless and some are even dead faced, while giving prominent focus to the genitals. Here are a few possible ideas to explain why a female/goddess figurine would be headless, faceless or dead faced. One reason is there where totemistic objects referencing a spirit, force of nature (such as fertility), or clan ancestor/shaman that were are in time went on seen as something to control, domesticate and dominate and thus females became generally seen as just objects. Another reason is that it could have ties with the skull cult, which saw removing the head as removing the essence of the person.
Therefore, the fact that a goddess would be represented without a head or face could symbolize she was not human or a dead human. This archetype of sexualized fertility goddess at times is displayed with arms bent, usually upwards, which could be seen as connecting bull’s horns or expressing moon cycles. After 12,000 years ago paganism likely gets polytheism where this style of an archetype of sexualized fertility goddess seems to split some from the mother/birth goddess cult. She starts off as looking female then becomes more stylize and symbolic in some regions such as a frog as well as a symbol; such as a swastika or is expressed more sexualized and has been sometimes interpreted as the creator deity and the oldest representation in some countries. Though the swastika archetype is not always an archetype sexualized fertility goddess representation, its origins are interconnected with this archetype and other female deities and animal spirits as far back as 12,000 years ago in Mezin, Ukraine and likely used as a type of magic in rituals. The four arms of the swastika may represent the four 4 aspects of nature: sun/fire, wind, water, or soil, the four seasons, or crude symbolized lunar crescent calendar which is similar to the lunar crescent that is common later in islam. The jewish/kabbalah “star of David” hexagram has been used, without identifying a male, to represent a jewish mystical concept which is why it is thought to originate as a symbol of a calendar system, representing the 12 months of a year. The first archetype sexualized fertility goddess, as a swastika reference, seems clearer in a 9,000 years old green frog goddess swastika pendant from the Balkans. Around 7,500 to 6,800 years ago in northern Mesopotamia/Iraq and in the Hassuna-Samarra of the north and east Fertile Crescent where the swastika archetype is depicted on pottery as four goddesses or four animals.
The archetype of sexualized fertility goddess was found as a 12,000 years old carving on a rock floor at Gobekli Tepe Turkey, around 9,000 to 8,000 years old represented wall figures at Catal Huyuk, Turkey, around 9,000 years old clay figurine at Hacilar, Turkey, around 8,300 years old figurine in Greece, around 8,300 to 8,000 years old figurine in Serbia, around 6,600 to 6,500 years old stone pendant in Macedonia, around 6,000 years old figurine and pottery art in China, around 5,000 years old rock carving in Croatia, around 5,000 years old rock art in Philippines, around 5,000 years old figures, statues, carvings, paintings, and textiles in India, and around 4,000 years old gold figures and a gold seal in Turkmenistan just to stylistically reference but a few archetype of sexualized fertility goddesses. After 4,000 years, there are many countries and/or cultures around the world with similar archetype of sexualized fertility style goddess designs or connected hidden symbolic iconography such as a swastika archetype used by Sumerians, Mediterranean, and Indus Valley Civilization as well as the Turkey, India, Iran, Armenia, Nepal, China, Japan, Korea, and Europe. This symbolism was most widely used by hindus, jainas, buddhists, and Celtic as brigit’s cross for the Celtic goddess brigit, also used by wiccans. For some, there is a distinction between right-hand “clockwise” swastikas and left-hand “counterclockwise” swastikas or sauvastikas, which stands for goddess, and magical practices. The right-hand swastika is considered a solar symbol or sun cross, whereas the left-hand swastika often represents the goddess lakshmi “wellbeing” or goddess kali, both positive and aggressive.
5,500 Years old birth of the State, the rise of Hierarchy, and the fall of Women’s status
My thoughts on Religion Evolution with external links for more info:
- (Pre-Animism Africa mainly, but also Europe, and Asia at least 300,000 years ago), (Pre-Animism – Oxford Dictionaries)
- (Animism Africa around 100,000 years ago), (Animism – Britannica.com)
- (Totemism Europe around 50,000 years ago), (Totemism – Anthropology)
- (Shamanism Siberia around 30,000 years ago), (Shamanism – Britannica.com)
- (Paganism Turkey around 12,000 years ago), (Paganism – BBC Religion)
- (Progressed Organized Religion “Institutional Religion” Egypt around 5,000 years ago), (Ancient Egyptian Religion – Britannica.com)
- (CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS after 4,000 years ago) (Origin of Major Religions – Sacred Texts)
- (Early Atheistic Doubting at least by 2,600 years ago) (History of Atheism – Wikipedia)
“Religion is an Evolved Product” and Yes, Religion is Like Fear Given Wings…
Atheists talk about gods and religions for the same reason doctors talk about cancer, they are looking for a cure, or a firefighter talks about fires because they burn people and they care to stop them. We atheists too often feel a need to help the victims of mental slavery, held in the bondage that is the false beliefs of gods and the conspiracy theories of reality found in religions.
Understanding Religion Evolution:
- Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago)
- Animism (Africa: 100,000 years ago)
- Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago)
- Shamanism (Siberia: 30,000 years ago)
- Paganism (Turkey: 12,000 years ago)
- Progressed organized religion (Egypt: 5,000 years ago), (Egypt, the First Dynasty 5,150 years ago)
- CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS (after 4,000 years ago)
- Early Atheistic Doubting (at least by 2,600 years ago)
“An Archaeological/Anthropological Understanding of Religion Evolution”
It seems ancient peoples had to survived amazing threats in a “dangerous universe (by superstition perceived as good and evil),” and human “immorality or imperfection of the soul” which was thought to affect the still living, leading to ancestor worship. This ancestor worship presumably led to the belief in supernatural beings, and then some of these were turned into the belief in gods. This feeble myth called gods were just a human conceived “made from nothing into something over and over, changing, again and again, taking on more as they evolve, all the while they are thought to be special,” but it is just supernatural animistic spirit-belief perceived as sacred.
Quick Evolution of Religion?
Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago) pre-religion is a beginning that evolves into later Animism. So, Religion as we think of it, to me, all starts in a general way with Animism (Africa: 100,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in supernatural powers/spirits), then this is physically expressed in or with Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in mythical relationship with powers/spirits through a totem item), which then enlists a full-time specific person to do this worship and believed interacting Shamanism (Siberia/Russia: 30,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in access and influence with spirits through ritual), and then there is the further employment of myths and gods added to all the above giving you Paganism (Turkey: 12,000 years ago) (often a lot more nature-based than most current top world religions, thus hinting to their close link to more ancient religious thinking it stems from). My hypothesis is expressed with an explanation of the building of a theatrical house (modern religions development). Progressed organized religion (Egypt: 5,000 years ago) with CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS (after 4,000 years ago).
Historically, in large city-state societies (such as Egypt or Iraq) starting around 5,000 years ago culminated to make religion something kind of new, a sociocultural-governmental-religious monarchy, where all or at least many of the people of such large city-state societies seem familiar with and committed to the existence of “religion” as the integrated life identity package of control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine, but this juggernaut integrated religion identity package of Dogmatic-Propaganda certainly did not exist or if developed to an extent it was highly limited in most smaller prehistoric societies as they seem to lack most of the strong control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine (magical beliefs could be at times be added or removed). Many people just want to see developed religious dynamics everywhere even if it is not. Instead, all that is found is largely fragments until the domestication of religion.
Religions, as we think of them today, are a new fad, even if they go back to around 6,000 years in the timeline of human existence, this amounts to almost nothing when seen in the long slow evolution of religion at least around 70,000 years ago with one of the oldest ritual worship. Stone Snake of South Africa: “first human worship” 70,000 years ago. This message of how religion and gods among them are clearly a man-made thing that was developed slowly as it was invented and then implemented peace by peace discrediting them all. Which seems to be a simple point some are just not grasping how devastating to any claims of truth when we can see the lie clearly in the archeological sites.
I wish people fought as hard for the actual values as they fight for the group/clan names political or otherwise they think support values. Every amount spent on war is theft to children in need of food or the homeless kept from shelter.
Here are several of my blog posts on history:
- To Find Truth You Must First Look
- (Magdalenian/Iberomaurusian) Connections to the First Paganists of the early Neolithic Near East Dating from around 17,000 to 12,000 Years Ago
- Natufians: an Ancient People at the Origins of Agriculture and Sedentary Life
- Possible Clan Leader/Special “MALE” Ancestor Totem Poles At Least 13,500 years ago?
- Jewish People with DNA at least 13,200 years old, Judaism, and the Origins of Some of its Ideas
- Baltic Reindeer Hunters: Swiderian, Lyngby, Ahrensburgian, and Krasnosillya cultures 12,020 to 11,020 years ago are evidence of powerful migratory waves during the last 13,000 years and a genetic link to Saami and the Finno-Ugric peoples.
- The Rise of Inequality: patriarchy and state hierarchy inequality
- Fertile Crescent 12,500 – 9,500 Years Ago: fertility and death cult belief system?
- 12,400 – 11,700 Years Ago – Kortik Tepe (Turkey) Pre/early-Agriculture Cultic Ritualism
- Ritualistic Bird Symbolism at Gobekli Tepe and its “Ancestor Cult”
- Male-Homosexual (female-like) / Trans-woman (female) Seated Figurine from Gobekli Tepe
- Could a 12,000-year-old Bull Geoglyph at Göbekli Tepe relate to older Bull and Female Art 25,000 years ago and Later Goddess and the Bull cults like Catal Huyuk?
- Sedentism and the Creation of goddesses around 12,000 years ago as well as male gods after 7,000 years ago.
- Alcohol, where Agriculture and Religion Become one? Such as Gobekli Tepe’s Ritualistic use of Grain as Food and Ritual Drink
- Neolithic Ritual Sites with T-Pillars and other Cultic Pillars
- Paganism: Goddesses around 12,000 years ago then Male Gods after 7,000 years ago
- First Patriarchy: Split of Women’s Status around 12,000 years ago & First Hierarchy: fall of Women’s Status around 5,000 years ago.
- Natufians: an Ancient People at the Origins of Agriculture and Sedentary Life
- J DNA and the Spread of Agricultural Religion (paganism)
- Paganism: an approximately 12,000-year-old belief system
- Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism)
- Shaman burial in Israel 12,000 years ago and the Shamanism Phenomena
- Need to Mythicized: gods and goddesses
- 12,000 – 7,000 Years Ago – Paleo-Indian Culture (The Americas)
- 12,000 – 2,000 Years Ago – Indigenous-Scandinavians (Nordic)
- Norse did not wear helmets with horns?
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic Skull Cult around 11,500 to 8,400 Years Ago?
- 10,400 – 10,100 Years Ago, in Turkey the Nevail Cori Religious Settlement
- 9,000-6,500 Years Old Submerged Pre-Pottery/Pottery Neolithic Ritual Settlements off Israel’s Coast
- Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city” around 9,500 to 7,700 years ago (Turkey)
- Cultic Hunting at Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city”
- Special Items and Art as well as Special Elite Burials at Catal Huyuk
- New Rituals and Violence with the appearance of Pottery and People?
- Haplogroup N and its related Uralic Languages and Cultures
- Ainu people, Sámi people, Native Americans, the Ancient North Eurasians, and Paganistic-Shamanism with Totemism
- Ideas, Technology and People from Turkey, Europe, to China and Back again 9,000 to 5,000 years ago?
- First Pottery of Europe and the Related Cultures
- 9,000 years old Neolithic Artifacts Judean Desert and Hills Israel
- 9,000-7,000 years-old Sex and Death Rituals: Cult Sites in Israel, Jordan, and the Sinai
- 9,000-8500 year old Horned Female shaman Bad Dürrenberg Germany
- Neolithic Jewelry and the Spread of Farming in Europe Emerging out of West Turkey
- 8,600-year-old Tortoise Shells in Neolithic graves in central China have Early Writing and Shamanism
- Swing of the Mace: the rise of Elite, Forced Authority, and Inequality begin to Emerge 8,500 years ago?
- Migrations and Changing Europeans Beginning around 8,000 Years Ago
- My “Steppe-Anatolian-Kurgan hypothesis” 8,000/7,000 years ago
- Around 8,000-year-old Shared Idea of the Mistress of Animals, “Ritual” Motif
- Pre-Columbian Red-Paint (red ochre) Maritime Archaic Culture 8,000-3,000 years ago
- 7,522-6,522 years ago Linear Pottery culture which I think relates to Arcane Capitalism’s origins
- Arcane Capitalism: Primitive socialism, Primitive capital, Private ownership, Means of production, Market capitalism, Class discrimination, and Petite bourgeoisie (smaller capitalists)
- 7,500-4,750 years old Ritualistic Cucuteni-Trypillian culture of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine
- Roots of a changing early society 7,200-6,700 years ago Jordan and Israel
- Agriculture religion (Paganism) with farming reached Britain between about 7,000 to 6,500 or so years ago and seemingly expressed in things like Western Europe’s Long Barrows
- My Thoughts on Possible Migrations of “R” DNA and Proto-Indo-European?
- “Millet” Spreading from China 7,022 years ago to Europe and related Language may have Spread with it leading to Proto-Indo-European
- Proto-Indo-European (PIE), ancestor of Indo-European languages: DNA, Society, Language, and Mythology
- The Dnieper–Donets culture and Asian varieties of Millet from China to the Black Sea region of Europe by 7,022 years ago
- Kurgan 6,000 years ago/dolmens 7,000 years ago: funeral, ritual, and other?
- 7,020 to 6,020-year-old Proto-Indo-European Homeland of Urheimat or proposed home of their Language and Religion
- Ancient Megaliths: Kurgan, Ziggurat, Pyramid, Menhir, Trilithon, Dolman, Kromlech, and Kromlech of Trilithons
- The Mytheme of Ancient North Eurasian Sacred-Dog belief and similar motifs are found in Indo-European, Native American, and Siberian comparative mythology
- Elite Power Accumulation: Ancient Trade, Tokens, Writing, Wealth, Merchants, and Priest-Kings
- Sacred Mounds, Mountains, Kurgans, and Pyramids may hold deep connections?
- Between 7,000-5,000 Years ago, rise of unequal hierarchy elite, leading to a “birth of the State” or worship of power, strong new sexism, oppression of non-elites, and the fall of Women’s equal status
- Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite & their slaves
- Hell and Underworld mythologies starting maybe as far back as 7,000 to 5,000 years ago with the Proto-Indo-Europeans?
- The First Expression of the Male God around 7,000 years ago?
- White (light complexion skin) Bigotry and Sexism started 7,000 years ago?
- Around 7,000-year-old Shared Idea of the Divine Bird (Tutelary and/or Trickster spirit/deity), “Ritual” Motif
- Nekhbet an Ancient Egyptian Vulture Goddess and Tutelary Deity
- 6,720 to 4,920 years old Ritualistic Hongshan Culture of Inner Mongolia with 5,000-year-old Pyramid Mounds and Temples
- First proto-king in the Balkans, Varna culture around 6,500 years ago?
- 6,500–5,800 years ago in Israel Late Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Period in the Southern Levant Seems to Express Northern Levant Migrations, Cultural and Religious Transfer
- KING OF BEASTS: Master of Animals “Ritual” Motif, around 6,000 years old or older…
- Around 6000-year-old Shared Idea of the Solid Wheel & the Spoked Wheel-Shaped Ritual Motif
- “The Ghassulian Star,” a mysterious 6,000-year-old mural from Jordan; a Proto-Star of Ishtar, Star of Inanna or Star of Venus?
- Religious/Ritual Ideas, including goddesses and gods as well as ritual mounds or pyramids from Northeastern Asia at least 6,000 years old, seemingly filtering to Iran, Iraq, the Mediterranean, Europe, Egypt, and the Americas?
- Maykop (5,720–5,020 years ago) Caucasus region Bronze Age culture-related to Copper Age farmers from the south, influenced by the Ubaid period and Leyla-Tepe culture, as well as influencing the Kura-Araxes culture
- 5-600-year-old Tomb, Mummy, and First Bearded Male Figurine in a Grave
- Kura-Araxes Cultural 5,520 to 4,470 years old DNA traces to the Canaanites, Arabs, and Jews
- Minoan/Cretan (Keftiu) Civilization and Religion around 5,520 to 3,120 years ago
- Evolution Of Science at least by 5,500 years ago
- 5,500 Years old birth of the State, the rise of Hierarchy, and the fall of Women’s status
- “Jiroft culture” 5,100 – 4,200 years ago and the History of Iran
- Stonehenge: Paganistic Burial and Astrological Ritual Complex, England (5,100-3,600 years ago)
- Around 5,000-year-old Shared Idea of the “Tree of Life” Ritual Motif
- Complex rituals for elite, seen from China to Egypt, at least by 5,000 years ago
- Around 5,000 years ago: “Birth of the State” where Religion gets Military Power and Influence
- The Center of the World “Axis Mundi” and/or “Sacred Mountains” Mythology Could Relate to the Altai Mountains, Heart of the Steppe
- Progressed organized religion starts, an approximately 5,000-year-old belief system
- China’s Civilization between 5,000-3,000 years ago, was a time of war and class struggle, violent transition from free clans to a Slave or Elite society
- Origin of Logics is Naturalistic Observation at least by around 5,000 years ago.
- Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State)
- Ziggurats (multi-platform temples: 4,900 years old) to Pyramids (multi-platform tombs: 4,700 years old)
- Did a 4,520–4,420-year-old Volcano In Turkey Inspire the Bible God?
- Finland’s Horned Shaman and Pre-Horned-God at least 4,500 years ago?
- 4,000-year-Old Dolmens in Israel: A Connected Dolmen Religious Phenomenon?
- Creation myths: From chaos, Ex nihilo, Earth-diver, Emergence, World egg, and World parent
- Bronze Age “Ritual” connections of the Bell Beaker culture with the Corded Ware/Single Grave culture, which were related to the Yamnaya culture and Proto-Indo-European Languages/Religions
- Low Gods (Earth/ Tutelary deity), High Gods (Sky/Supreme deity), and Moralistic Gods (Deity enforcement/divine order)
- The exchange of people, ideas, and material-culture including, to me, the new god (Sky Father) and goddess (Earth Mother) religion between the Cucuteni-Trypillians and others which is then spread far and wide
- Koryaks: Indigenous People of the Russian Far East and Big Raven myths also found in Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and other Indigenous People of North America
- 42 Principles Of Maat (Egyptian Goddess of the justice) around 4,400 years ago, 2000 Years Before Ten Commandments
- “Happy Easter” Well Happy Eostre/Ishter
- 4,320-3,820 years old “Shimao” (North China) site with Totemistic-Shamanistic Paganism and a Stepped Pyramid
- 4,250 to 3,400 Year old Stonehenge from Russia: Arkaim?
- 4,100-year-old beaker with medicinal & flowering plants in a grave of a woman in Scotland
- Early European Farmer ancestry, Kelif el Boroud people with the Cardial Ware culture, and the Bell Beaker culture Paganists too, spread into North Africa, then to the Canary Islands off West Africa
- Flood Accounts: Gilgamesh epic (4,100 years ago) Noah in Genesis (2,600 years ago)
- Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism)
- When was the beginning: TIMELINE OF CURRENT RELIGIONS, which start around 4,000 years ago.
- Early Religions Thought to Express Proto-Monotheistic Systems around 4,000 years ago
- Kultepe? An archaeological site with a 4,000 years old women’s rights document.
- Single God Religions (Monotheism) = “Man-o-theism” started around 4,000 years ago with the Great Sky Spirit/God Tiān (天)?
- Confucianism’s Tiān (Shangdi god 4,000 years old): Supernaturalism, Pantheism or Theism?
- Yes, Your Male God is Ridiculous
- Mythology, a Lunar Deity is a Goddess or God of the Moon
- Sacred Land, Hills, and Mountains: Sami Mythology (Paganistic Shamanism)
- Horse Worship/Sacrifice: mythical union of Ruling Elite/Kingship and the Horse
- The Amorite/Amurru people’s God Amurru “Lord of the Steppe”, relates to the Origins of the Bible God?
- Bronze Age Exotic Trade Routes Spread Quite Far as well as Spread Religious Ideas with Them
- Sami and the Northern Indigenous Peoples Landscape, Language, and its Connection to Religion
- Prototype of Ancient Analemmatic Sundials around 3,900-3,150 years ago and a Possible Solar Connection to gods?
- Judaism is around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (“Paleo-Hebrew” 3,000 years ago and Torah 2,500 years ago)
- The Weakening of Ancient Trade and the Strengthening of Religions around 3000 years ago?
- Are you aware that there are religions that worship women gods, explain now religion tears women down?
- Animistic, Totemistic, and Paganistic Superstition Origins of bible god and the bible’s Religion.
- Myths and Folklore: “Trickster gods and goddesses”
- Jews, Judaism, and the Origins of Some of its Ideas
- An Old Branch of Religion Still Giving Fruit: Sacred Trees
- Dating the BIBLE: naming names and telling times (written less than 3,000 years ago, provable to 2,200 years ago)
- Did a Volcano Inspire the bible god?
- Dené–Yeniseian language, Old Copper Complex, and Pre-Columbian Mound Builders?
- No “dinosaurs and humans didn’t exist together just because some think they are in the bible itself”
- Sacred Shit and Sacred Animals?
- Everyone Killed in the Bible Flood? “Nephilim” (giants)?
- Hey, Damien dude, I have a question for you regarding “the bible” Exodus.
- Archaeology Disproves the Bible
- Bible Battle, Just More, Bible Babble
- The Jericho Conquest lie?
- Canaanites and Israelites?
- Accurate Account on how did Christianity Began?
- Let’s talk about Christianity.
- So the 10 commandments isn’t anything to go by either right?
- Misinformed christian
- Debunking Jesus?
- Paulism vs Jesus
- Ok, you seem confused so let’s talk about Buddhism.
- Unacknowledged Buddhism: Gods, Savior, Demons, Rebirth, Heavens, Hells, and Terrorism
- His Foolishness The Dalai Lama
- Yin and Yang is sexist with an ORIGIN around 2,300 years ago?
- I Believe Archaeology, not Myths & Why Not, as the Religious Myths Already Violate Reason!
- Archaeological, Scientific, & Philosophic evidence shows the god myth is man-made nonsense.
- Aquatic Ape Theory/Hypothesis? As Always, Just Pseudoscience.
- Ancient Aliens Conspiracy Theorists are Pseudohistorians
- The Pseudohistoric and Pseudoscientific claims about “Bakoni Ruins” of South Africa
- Why do people think Religion is much more than supernaturalism and superstitionism?
- Religion is an Evolved Product
- Was the Value of Ancient Women Different?
- 1000 to 1100 CE, human sacrifice Cahokia Mounds a pre-Columbian Native American site
- Feminist atheists as far back as the 1800s?
- Promoting Religion as Real is Mentally Harmful to a Flourishing Humanity
- Screw All Religions and Their Toxic lies, they are all fraud
- Forget Religions’ Unfounded Myths, I Have Substantiated “Archaeology Facts.”
- Religion Dispersal throughout the World
- I Hate Religion Just as I Hate all Pseudoscience
- Exposing Scientology, Eckankar, Wicca and Other Nonsense?
- Main deity or religious belief systems
- Quit Trying to Invent Your God From the Scraps of Science.
- Archaeological, Scientific, & Philosophic evidence shows the god myth is man-made nonsense.
- Ancient Alien Conspiracy Theorists: Misunderstanding, Rhetoric, Misinformation, Fabrications, and Lies
- Misinformation, Distortion, and Pseudoscience in Talking with a Christian Creationist
- Judging the Lack of Goodness in Gods, Even the Norse God Odin
- Challenging the Belief in God-like Aliens and Gods in General
- A Challenge to Christian use of Torture Devices?
- Yes, Hinduism is a Religion
- Trump is One of the Most Reactionary Forces of Far-right Christian Extremism
- Was the Bull Head a Symbol of God? Yes!
- Primate Death Rituals
- Christian – “God and Christianity are objectively true”
- Australopithecus afarensis Death Ritual?
- You Claim Global Warming is a Hoax?
- Doubter of Science and Defamer of Atheists?
- I think that sounds like the Bible?
- History of the Antifa (“anti-fascist”) Movements
- Indianapolis Anti-Blasphemy Laws #Free Soheil Rally
- Damien, you repeat the golden rule in so many forms then you say religion is dogmatic?
- Science is a Trustable Methodology whereas Faith is not Trustable at all!
- Was I ever a believer, before I was an atheist?
- Atheists rise in reason
- Mistrust of science?
- Open to Talking About the Definition of ‘God’? But first, we address Faith.
- ‘United Monarchy’ full of splendor and power – Saul, David, and Solomon? Most likely not.
- Is there EXODUS ARCHAEOLOGY? The short answer is “no.”
- Lacking Proof of Bigfoots, Unicorns, and Gods is Just a Lack of Research?
- Religion and Politics: Faith Beliefs vs. Rational Thinking
- Hammer of Truth that lying pig RELIGION: challenged by an archaeologist
- “The Hammer of Truth” -ontology question- What do You Mean by That?
- Navigation of a bad argument: Ad Hominem vs. Attack
- Why is it Often Claimed that Gods have a Gender?
- Why are basically all monotheistic religions ones that have a male god?
- Shifting through the Claims in support of Faith
- Dear Mr. AtHope, The 20th Century is an Indictment of Secularism and a Failed Atheist Century
- An Understanding of the Worldwide Statistics and Dynamics of Terrorist Incidents and Suicide Attacks
- Intoxication and Evolution? Addressing and Assessing the “Stoned Ape” or “Drunken Monkey” Theories as Catalysts in Human Evolution
- Sacred Menstrual cloth? Inanna’s knot, Isis knot, and maybe Ma’at’s feather?
- Damien, why don’t the Hebrews accept the bible stories?
- Dealing with a Troll and Arguing Over Word Meaning
- Knowledge without Belief? Justified beliefs or disbeliefs worthy of Knowledge?
- Afrocentrism and African Religions
- Crecganford @crecganford offers history & stories of the people, places, gods, & culture
- Empiricism-Denier?
I am not an academic. I am a revolutionary that teaches in public, in places like social media, and in the streets. I am not a leader by some title given but from my commanding leadership style of simply to start teaching everywhere to everyone, all manner of positive education.
Hinduism around 3,700 to 3,500 years old. ref
Judaism around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (The first writing in the bible was “Paleo-Hebrew” dated to around 3,000 years ago Khirbet Qeiyafa is the site of an ancient fortress city overlooking the Elah Valley. And many believe the religious Jewish texts were completed around 2,500) ref, ref
Judaism is around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (“Paleo-Hebrew” 3,000 years ago and Torah 2,500 years ago)
“Judaism is an Abrahamic, its roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Some scholars argue that modern Judaism evolved from Yahwism, the religion of ancient Israel and Judah, by the late 6th century BCE, and is thus considered to be one of the oldest monotheistic religions.” ref
“Yahwism is the name given by modern scholars to the religion of ancient Israel, essentially polytheistic, with a plethora of gods and goddesses. Heading the pantheon was Yahweh, the national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah, with his consort, the goddess Asherah; below them were second-tier gods and goddesses such as Baal, Shamash, Yarikh, Mot, and Astarte, all of whom had their own priests and prophets and numbered royalty among their devotees, and a third and fourth tier of minor divine beings, including the mal’ak, the messengers of the higher gods, who in later times became the angels of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Yahweh, however, was not the ‘original’ god of Israel “Isra-El”; it is El, the head of the Canaanite pantheon, whose name forms the basis of the name “Israel”, and none of the Old Testament patriarchs, the tribes of Israel, the Judges, or the earliest monarchs, have a Yahwistic theophoric name (i.e., one incorporating the name of Yahweh).” ref
“El is a Northwest Semitic word meaning “god” or “deity“, or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, ‘ila, represents the predicate form in Old Akkadian and in Amorite. The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic *ʔil-, meaning “god”. Specific deities known as ‘El or ‘Il include the supreme god of the ancient Canaanite religion and the supreme god of East Semitic speakers in Mesopotamia’s Early Dynastic Period. ʼĒl is listed at the head of many pantheons. In some Canaanite and Ugaritic sources, ʼĒl played a role as father of the gods, of creation, or both. For example, in the Ugaritic texts, ʾil mlk is understood to mean “ʼĒl the King” but ʾil hd as “the god Hadad“. The Semitic root ʾlh (Arabic ʾilāh, Aramaic ʾAlāh, ʾElāh, Hebrew ʾelōah) may be ʾl with a parasitic h, and ʾl may be an abbreviated form of ʾlh. In Ugaritic the plural form meaning “gods” is ʾilhm, equivalent to Hebrew ʾelōhîm “powers”. In the Hebrew texts this word is interpreted as being semantically singular for “god” by biblical commentators. However the documentary hypothesis for the Old Testament (corresponds to the Jewish Torah) developed originally in the 1870s, identifies these that different authors – the Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, and the Priestly source – were responsible for editing stories from a polytheistic religion into those of a monotheistic religion. Inconsistencies that arise between monotheism and polytheism in the texts are reflective of this hypothesis.” ref
Jainism around 2,599 – 2,527 years old. ref
Confucianism around 2,600 – 2,551 years old. ref
Buddhism around 2,563/2,480 – 2,483/2,400 years old. ref
Christianity around 2,o00 years old. ref
Shinto around 1,305 years old. ref
Islam around 1407–1385 years old. ref
“Theists, there has to be a god, as something can not come from nothing.”
Well, thus something (unknown) happened and then there was something. This does not tell us what the something that may have been involved with something coming from nothing. A supposed first cause, thus something (unknown) happened and then there was something is not an open invitation to claim it as known, neither is it justified to call or label such an unknown as anything, especially an unsubstantiated magical thinking belief born of mythology and religious storytelling.
While hallucinogens are associated with shamanism, it is alcohol that is associated with paganism.
The Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries Shows in the prehistory series:
Show two: Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show tree: Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show four: Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show five: Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show six: Emergence of hierarchy, sexism, slavery, and the new male god dominance: Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves!
Prehistory: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” the division of labor, power, rights, and recourses: VIDEO
Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism): VIDEO
Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves: VIEDO
Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State): VIEDO
Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism): VIEDO
I do not hate simply because I challenge and expose myths or lies any more than others being thought of as loving simply because of the protection and hiding from challenge their favored myths or lies.
The truth is best championed in the sunlight of challenge.
An archaeologist once said to me “Damien religion and culture are very different”
My response, So are you saying that was always that way, such as would you say Native Americans’ cultures are separate from their religions? And do you think it always was the way you believe?
I had said that religion was a cultural product. That is still how I see it and there are other archaeologists that think close to me as well. Gods too are the myths of cultures that did not understand science or the world around them, seeing magic/supernatural everywhere.
I personally think there is a goddess and not enough evidence to support a male god at Çatalhöyük but if there was both a male and female god and goddess then I know the kind of gods they were like Proto-Indo-European mythology.
This series idea was addressed in, Anarchist Teaching as Free Public Education or Free Education in the Public: VIDEO
Our 12 video series: Organized Oppression: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of power (9,000-4,000 years ago), is adapted from: The Complete and Concise History of the Sumerians and Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia (7000-2000 BC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szFjxmY7jQA by “History with Cy“
Show #1: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Samarra, Halaf, Ubaid)
Show #2: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power
Show #3: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Uruk and the First Cities)
Show #4: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (First Kings)
Show #5: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Early Dynastic Period)
Show #6: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power
Show #7: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Sargon and Akkadian Rule)
Show #9: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Gudea of Lagash and Utu-hegal)
Show #12: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Aftermath and Legacy of Sumer)
The “Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries”
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ Atheist Leftist @Skepticallefty & I (Damien Marie AtHope) @AthopeMarie (my YouTube & related blog) are working jointly in atheist, antitheist, antireligionist, antifascist, anarchist, socialist, and humanist endeavors in our videos together, generally, every other Saturday.
Why Does Power Bring Responsibility?
Think, how often is it the powerless that start wars, oppress others, or commit genocide? So, I guess the question is to us all, to ask, how can power not carry responsibility in a humanity concept? I know I see the deep ethical responsibility that if there is power their must be a humanistic responsibility of ethical and empathic stewardship of that power. Will I be brave enough to be kind? Will I possess enough courage to be compassionate? Will my valor reach its height of empathy? I as everyone, earns our justified respect by our actions, that are good, ethical, just, protecting, and kind. Do I have enough self-respect to put my love for humanity’s flushing, over being brought down by some of its bad actors? May we all be the ones doing good actions in the world, to help human flourishing.
I create the world I want to live in, striving for flourishing. Which is not a place but a positive potential involvement and promotion; a life of humanist goal precision. To master oneself, also means mastering positive prosocial behaviors needed for human flourishing. I may have lost a god myth as an atheist, but I am happy to tell you, my friend, it is exactly because of that, leaving the mental terrorizer, god belief, that I truly regained my connected ethical as well as kind humanity.
Cory and I will talk about prehistory and theism, addressing the relevance to atheism, anarchism, and socialism.
At the same time as the rise of the male god, 7,000 years ago, there was also the very time there was the rise of violence, war, and clans to kingdoms, then empires, then states. It is all connected back to 7,000 years ago, and it moved across the world.
Cory Johnston: https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/04/cory-johnston-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftist/?v=32aec8db952d
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist (YouTube)
Cory Johnston: Mind of a Skeptical Leftist @Skepticallefty
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist By Cory Johnston: “Promoting critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics by covering current events and talking to a variety of people. Cory Johnston has been thoughtfully talking to people and attempting to promote critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics.” http://anchor.fm/skepticalleft
Cory needs our support. We rise by helping each other.
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ @Skepticallefty Evidence-based atheist leftist (he/him) Producer, host, and co-host of 4 podcasts @skeptarchy @skpoliticspod and @AthopeMarie
Damien Marie AtHope (“At Hope”) Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist. Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Poet, Philosopher, Advocate, Activist, Psychology, and Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Historian.
Damien is interested in: Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Ethics, Humanism, Science, Atheism, Antiteism, Antireligionism, Ignosticism, Left-Libertarianism, Anarchism, Socialism, Mutualism, Axiology, Metaphysics, LGBTQI, Philosophy, Advocacy, Activism, Mental Health, Psychology, Archaeology, Social Work, Sexual Rights, Marriage Rights, Woman’s Rights, Gender Rights, Child Rights, Secular Rights, Race Equality, Ageism/Disability Equality, Etc. And a far-leftist, “Anarcho-Humanist.”
I am not a good fit in the atheist movement that is mostly pro-capitalist, I am anti-capitalist. Mostly pro-skeptic, I am a rationalist not valuing skepticism. Mostly pro-agnostic, I am anti-agnostic. Mostly limited to anti-Abrahamic religions, I am an anti-religionist.
To me, the “male god” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 7,000 years ago, whereas the now favored monotheism “male god” is more like 4,000 years ago or so. To me, the “female goddess” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 11,000-10,000 years ago or so, losing the majority of its once prominence around 2,000 years ago due largely to the now favored monotheism “male god” that grow in prominence after 4,000 years ago or so.
My Thought on the Evolution of Gods?
Animal protector deities from old totems/spirit animal beliefs come first to me, 13,000/12,000 years ago, then women as deities 11,000/10,000 years ago, then male gods around 7,000/8,000 years ago. Moralistic gods around 5,000/4,000 years ago, and monotheistic gods around 4,000/3,000 years ago.
To me, animal gods were likely first related to totemism animals around 13,000 to 12,000 years ago or older. Female as goddesses was next to me, 11,000 to 10,000 years ago or so with the emergence of agriculture. Then male gods come about 8,000 to 7,000 years ago with clan wars. Many monotheism-themed religions started in henotheism, emerging out of polytheism/paganism.
Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):
Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist, Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Jeweler, Poet, “autodidact” Philosopher, schooled in Psychology, and “autodidact” Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Pre-Historian (Knowledgeable in the range of: 1 million to 5,000/4,000 years ago). I am an anarchist socialist politically. Reasons for or Types of Atheism
My Website, My Blog, & Short-writing or Quotes, My YouTube, Twitter: @AthopeMarie, and My Email: damien.marie.athope@gmail.com