“Modern Humans” seem to start around 50,000 years ago, Helped by Feminization

by | Oct 24, 2016 | Blog

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

 

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Self-domestication of Anatomically Modern Humans?

“People have always wondered why our species Homo sapiens, which evolved in Africa about 200,000 years ago, seemed to do nothing special for the first 150,000 years. Because it is not until about 50,000 years ago that the first sign of creative thinking emerged with beautiful cave paintings found in Spain, France, and Indonesia. Around the same time, a new sub-species referred to as anatomically modern humans or Homo sapiens sapiens appears. Anatomically modern humans were more slender than their earlier ancestors; they had less hair, and smaller skulls. They looked basically like us. But these changes weren’t just cosmetic. Two recent papers throw some light on how the revolutionary development of smaller and more fine-boned humans influenced the growth of cooperative culture, the birth of agriculture, and human dominance of the planet. The first is an analysis of the fossilized skulls of our ancestors during this transitional period, carried out by a team led by Robert Cieri at the University of Utah and published in the journal Current Anthropology. Cieri and colleagues found the brow ridge (the bony bit above the eye sockets) became significantly less prominent and male facial shape became more similar to that of females. They referred to this as craniofacial feminisation, meaning that as Homo sapiens slimmed down their skulls became flatter and more “feminine” in shape.” ref

“They think this must have been due to lower levels of testosterone, as there is a strong relationship between levels of this hormone and long faces with extended brow ridges, which we may perceive today as very “masculine” features. People with lower levels of testosterone are less likely to be reactively or spontaneously violent, and therefore this enhanced social tolerance. This has a huge knock-on effect. As seen among humans today, we live in populations with extremely high densities with an incredible amount of social tolerance. So a reduction in reactive violence must have been an essential prerequisite for us to be able to live in larger groups and develop cooperative culture. The idea that humans became more feminine, less aggressive and thus could cooperate in large groups is certainly very intriguing as it would have allowed individuals with different skills to be valued and be reproductively successful due to the reduction of particularly male-male violence. In most primates the physically strongest male tends to dominate, but in early humans the smartest or the most creative males may have come to the forefront.” ref

“The question remains, how did we become more feminine, less violent, and more creative? A second paper in the journal Animal Behaviour led by Brian Hare at Duke University may throw some light on to this. He and colleagues compared chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) in West Africa, two closely related species living in very similar environmental conditions on either side of the Congo River. One key distinction between the two species is the size difference between males and females, their “dimorphism”. Male chimps are significantly larger than females, whereas the difference in bonobos is much smaller. This difference is driven by different levels of testosterone. The size is just one manifestation of deeper differences that also show up in how the animals interact with one another. Chimpanzees, particularly males are very aggressive, but violence within or between groups is almost non-existent among bonobos. As both these species have a common ancestor there must have been strong selection going on to feminise the bonobos.” ref

“Hare and colleagues suggest a process of self-domestication whereby violent individuals are punished and prevented from reproducing. The traits exhibited by bonobos are very similar to the changes observed in species that humans have domesticated such as dogs, cows, guinea pigs and foxes. They postulate the reason why bonobos were able to feminise and chimpanzees did not, is because on the Eastern side of the Congo where the chimps live they are in direct competition with gorillas, whereas the bonobos on the western side have no competition. Harvard professor Richard Wrangham, a co-author of the Hare paper, suggested in a recent talk that the same process may have happened to early humans.” ref

Equality improves Networking

“This feminisation through self-domestication may not only have made humans more peaceful and evenly sized, but may have also produced a more sexually equal society. A recent study in the journal Science by colleagues of mine at UCL showed that in hunter-gatherer groups in the Congo and the Philippines decisions about where to live and with whom were made equally by both genders. Despite living in small communities, this resulted in hunter-gatherers living with a large number of individuals with whom they had no kinship ties. The authors argue this may have proved an evolutionary advantage for early human societies, as it would have fostered wider-ranging social networks, closer cooperation between unrelated individuals, a wider choice of mates, and reduced chances of inbreeding. The frequent movement and interaction between groups also fostered the sharing of innovations, which may have helped the spread of culture. As Andrea Migliano, the leader of the study points out, “sex equality suggests a scenario where unique human traits, such as cooperation with unrelated individuals, could have emerged in our evolutionary past.” ref

“It may have only been with the rise of agriculture that an imbalance between the sexes reemerged, as individual men were suddenly able to concentrate enough resources to maintain several wives and many children. Indeed the Robert Cieri led study does show slightly more masculine facial shapes emerging in recent agriculturalists relative to early humans and recent human foragers. So at the moment we have some tentative hints of what may have happened between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago. Humans may have undergone self-domestication and over many generations weeded out those individuals that were unable to control their reactive violence. This is not as far-fetched as it sounds – studies of the Gebusi tribe in Papua New Guinea by Bruce Knauft showed significant levels of male mortality due to the tribe deciding that an individual’s behaviour is so intolerable that for the good of the tribe they must be killed. So human proactive violence – that is, thought out, discussed and planned violence – is used to curb, control and cull reactively violent individuals. This process combined with female mating choices over thousands of years could have selected for males with lower testosterone and more feminine features, which leads to a much more gender-equal society and the start of our cumulative culture.” ref

Pre-Animism Emergence is No Accident at Least by 300,000-year Ago Was Aided by Evolution

 Pre-Animism: “animistic superstitionism”, I surmise, leads to the animistic somethingism, or animistic supernatralism is presented in today’s religions and is a representation of general Animism that is at least 100,000 years old. ref

 The Blue on the outside references the size difference to modern human brains and the inside to illustrate regions with surface size increase associated with this gradual shape changes. ref

 300,000-year-old Moroccan, North African skulls look shockingly that of Modern Humans and these skulls hold a combination of advanced and archaic features suggesting that these skulls may represent the very root of our Modern Human species. This is further supported in how all Homo sapiens ever found even far beyond Africa trace their ancestral linkages to the Moroccan, North African skulls or at least point as it where in that direction. And seemingly Homo sapiens could have been living across Africa and sem9ingly engaging in extensive movement, which could have involved exchange both in ideas, technology as well as even genetics. ref

 300,000-year-old wolf tooth pendant from Repolust Cave, Austria. ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago)

Pre-Animism: Portable Rock Art Figure Stones

Ancient handaxe figure stone Niger, around 800,000 to 300,000 years ago. ref

“Right eye open, left eye missing”a common theme in Paleolithic art motif found in the Netherlands context around 300,000 years ago. ref

Neanderthal figure stone, Fontmaure, France, around 150,000 to 50,000 years ago. ref, ref

Hamburg, Germany around 200,000 years ago with the common primal theme of one eye open, one eye closed or partly closed. ref

750,000 years ago at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov in northern Israel, is found some of the earliest known evidence of social organization, communication, and divided living and working spaces—all considered hallmarks of modern human behavior. The former hunter-gatherer encampment dates back as far as 750,000 years ago, and must have been built by Homo erectus or another ancestral human species. ref

Homo heidelbergensis likely emerged at least 600,000 years ago, left Africa between 300,000 to 400,000 years ago and is also believed to have lived in huts, utilised fire, use stone-tipped spears, and there is some evidence that they may have buried their dead which if confirmed, thought by some doubted, would be an indication of symbolic / abstract thought. Red ochre has also been found at some Homo heidelbergensis sites. The Homo heidelbergensis that remained in Africa would later evolve into Homo sapiens approximately 130,000 years ago. ref

500,000 years ago Chichibu, north of Tokyo Homo erectus semi permanent living shelter. It consists of what appear to be 10 post holes, forming two irregular pentagons which may be the remains of two huts. Thirty stone tools were also found scattered around the site. ref

400,000 years ago there is evidence of twelve huts found in Nice, France (the question is who made this, and the ideas rang from Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis to even possibly Neanderthals as all three are believed to make and live in Hut shelters at least at sometimes). They where oval shelters ranged from 26 feet to 49 feet in length and were between 13 feet and 20 feet wide. They were built of 3-inch in diameter stakes and braced by a ring of stones. Longer poles were set around the perimeter as supports. The huts had hearths and pebble-lined pits and were defined by stake holes. ref

350,000 years ago near Bilzingsleben, East Germany Homo erectus that lived and constructed shelters similar to those of Bushmen in southern Africa. Circular bone and stone foundations were discovered for three huts between 9 and 13 feet across. In the middle of on circle, archaeologist found an elephant tusk, which they speculated was a center post. ref

Anthropomorphic Pre-animism “Human Face” Art

Figure-stones present in additional objects from the same context as the Belgian Kempen, Belgium, like these stone faces dated to around 450,000 to 300,000 years old. They indicate the eye concavities are natural features but the overall shape of the piece possibly was worked to the final head shape. ref 

430,000 years ago, Sima de los Huesos, “Pit of Bones”, Atapuerca, Spain, seeming evidence of intentional storing of 28 individuals in a cave chamber pit (a symbolic pseudo-womb?) and a reddish quartzite tool found with the bodies, seems like a kind of ritual funeral offering in this possibly early cemetery. Fossil remains of 430,000-400,000-years-old 28 individuals, 6,500 bone fragments and 500 teeth, in one of several important sections of the Cueva Mayor-Cueva del Silo cave system in north-central Spain. The bone pit is at the bottom of the cave, beneath an abrupt vertical shaft measuring between 6.5-13 feet in diameter, and located about .1/3 of a mile in down a 42.5 ft shaft and it is possibly an expression of mortuary practices. ref

With a high representation of adolescents and prime-age adults and a low percentage of adults between 20 and 40 years of age. Only one individual was under 10 at the time of death, and none were over 40-45 years old: statistically, say the scholars, there should be more children. ref

Sima de los Huesos represents a purposeful burial, based partly on the recovery of a single quartzite Acheulean handaxe and the complete lack of stone tool waste or other habitation waste at all. Moreover, evidence suggesting that at least one of the individuals in the pit died as a result of interpersonal violence. Cranium 17 has multiple impact fractures thus is believe to have been dead at the time s/he was dropped into the shaft and seemingly placing dead bodies into the pit was indeed a social practice of the community. ref

A large variety in cranial capacity and other characteristics were detailed possibly the population was evolutionarily related to Neanderthals as a sister group, and could best fit into the then-refined species of Homo heidelbergensis or more likely it is thought the fossils represented an archaic form of Neanderthal, rather than Homo heidelbergensis. Studies highlight that the Sima de los Huesos population shares some DNA with the Denisovans, rather than the Neanderthals. 17 complete skulls have numerous Neanderthal-like characteristics so less likely to be a Homo heidelbergensis this groups dates are close to the age predicted for when the split in hominid species creating the Neanderthal and Denisovan lineages occurred. ref

This cave artifacts are dated to around 300,000 to as much as 400,000 to even maybe 500,000 years ago Acheulean stone tool culture made of red stone tool offering in the ear;y cemetery, was nicknamed, Excalibur. ref

Finally, genetic analysis of the Sima de los Huesos fossils seems to suggest that Homoheidelbergensis in its entirety should be included in the Neanderthal lineage, as “pre-Neanderthal” or “archaic Neanderthal” or “early Neanderthal”, while the divergence time between the Neanderthal and modern lineages has been pushed back to before the emergence of H. heidelbergensis, to about 600,000 to 800,000 years ago, the approximate time of disappearance of Homo antecessor. ref

An archaeological site in Schöningen, Germany contained eight exceptionally well-preserved ~400,000-year-old spears for hunting, and various other wooden tools. 500,000-year-old hafted stone points used for hunting are reported from Kathu Pan 1 in South Africa, tested by way of use-wear replication. This find could mean that modern humans and Neanderthals inherited the stone-tipped spear, rather than developing the technology independently. mitochondrial DNA samples from three caves Sima de los Huesos revealed that they are “distantly related to the mitochondrial DNA of Denisovans rather than to that of Neanderthals.” ref

Fossils from Morocco suggest the Homo sapiens lineage became distinct as early as 350,000 years ago, adding as much as 150,000 years to our species’ history, as before it was assumed our Human line emerged around 200,000 years ago. ref

Pre-Animism Emergence is No Accident at Least by 300,000-year Ago Was Aided by Evolution

 Pre-Animism: “animistic superstitionism”, I surmise, leads to the animistic somethingism, or animistic supernatralism is presented in today’s religions and is a representation of general Animism that is at least 100,000 years old. ref

 The Blue on the outside references the size difference to modern human brains and the inside to illustrate regions with surface size increase associated with this gradual shape changes. ref

 300,000-year-old Moroccan, North African skulls look shockingly that of Modern Humans and these skulls hold a combination of advanced and archaic features suggesting that these skulls may represent the very root of our Modern Human species. This is further supported in how all Homo sapiens ever found even far beyond Africa trace their ancestral linkages to the Moroccan, North African skulls or at least point as it where in that direction. And seemingly Homo sapiens could have been living across Africa and sem9ingly engaging in extensive movement, which could have involved exchange both in ideas, technology as well as even genetics. ref

300,000-year-old wolf tooth pendant from Repolust Cave, Austria. ref

Around a million years ago, I surmise that Pre-Animism, “animistic superstitionism”, began, Around 400,000 Years ago shows Sociocultural Evolution, and then led to the animistic somethingism or animistic supernaturalism, which is at least 300,000 years old and about 100,00 years ago, it evolves to a representation of general Animism, which is present in today’s religions. There is also Homo Naledi and an Intentional Cemetery “Pre-Animism” dating to around 250,000 years ago. And, Neanderthals “Primal Religion (Pre-Animism/Animism?)” Mystery Cave Rings 175,000 Years Ago. Neanderthals were the first humans to intentionally bury the dead, around 130,000 years ago at sites such as Krapina in Croatia.

Pre-animism ideas can be seen in rock art such as that expressed in portable anthropomorphic art, which may be related to some kind of ancestor veneration. This magical thinking may stem from a social or non-religious function of ancestor veneration, which cultivates 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.

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 ago with remains stained with red ochre, which show ritual intentionality similar to the Neanderthals before them. ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Animism (such as that seen in Africa: 100,000 years ago)

Did Neanderthals teach us “Primal Religion (Pre-Animism/Animism?)” 120,000 Years Ago? Homo sapiens – is known to have reached the Levant between 120,000 and 90,000 years ago, but that exit from Africa evidently went extinct. 100,000 years ago, in Qafzeh, Israel, the oldest intentional burial had 15 African individuals covered in red ocher was from a group who visited and returned back to Africa. 100,000 to 74,000 years ago, at Border Cave in Africa, an intentional burial of an infant with red ochre and a shell ornament, which may have possible connections to the Africans buried in Qafzeh.

Animism is approximately a 100,000-year-old belief system and believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife. If you believe like this, regardless of your faith, you are a hidden animist.

The following is evidence of Animism: 100,000 years ago, in Qafzeh, Israel, the oldest intentional burial had 15 African individuals covered in red ocher was from a group who visited and returned back to Africa. 100,000 to 74,000 years ago, at Border Cave in Africa, an intentional burial of an infant with red ochre and a shell ornament, which may have possible connections to the Africans buried in Qafzeh, Israel. 120,000 years ago, did Neanderthals teach us Primal Religion (Pre-Animism/Animism) as they too used red ocher and burials? ref, ref

It seems to me, it may be the Neanderthals who may have transmitted a “Primal Religion (Animism)” or at least burial and thoughts of an afterlife. The Neanderthals seem to express what could be perceived as a Primal “type of” Religion, which could have come first and is supported in how 250,000 years ago, the Neanderthals used red ochre and 230,000 years ago shows evidence of Neanderthal burial with grave goods and possibly a belief in the afterlife. ref

Do you think it is crazy that the Neanderthals may have transmitted a “Primal Religion”? Consider this, it appears that 175,000 years ago, the Neanderthals built mysterious underground circles with broken off stalactites. This 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. Other evidence may suggest the Neanderthals had it transmitted to them by Homo heidelbergensis, 350,000 years ago, by their earliest burial in a shaft pit grave in a cave that had a pink stone axe on the top of 27 Homo heidelbergensis individuals and 250,000 years ago, Homo naledi had an intentional cemetery in South Africa cave. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago)

Did Neanderthals Help Inspire Totemism? Because there is Art Dating to Around 65,000 Years Ago in Spain? Totemism as seen in Europe: 50,000 years ago, mainly the Aurignacian culture. Pre-Aurignacian “Châtelperronian” (Western Europe, mainly Spain and France, possible transitional/cultural diffusion between Neanderthals and Humans around 50,000-40,000 years ago). Archaic–Aurignacian/Proto-Aurignacian Humans (Europe around 46,000-35,000). And Aurignacian “classical/early to late” Humans (Europe and other areas around 38,000 – 26,000 years ago).

Totemism is approximately a 50,000-year-old belief system and believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife that can be attached to or be expressed in things or objects. If you believe like this, regardless of your faith, you are a hidden totemist.

Toetmism may be older as there is evidence of what looks like a Stone Snake in South Africa, which may be the “first human worship” dating to around 70,000 years ago. Many archaeologists propose that societies from 70,000 to 50,000 years ago such as that of the Neanderthals may also have practiced the earliest form of totemism or animal worship in addition to their presumably religious burial of the dead. Did Neanderthals help inspire Totemism? There is Neanderthals art dating to around 65,000 years ago in Spain. ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Was it Just Us, at Origin of Modern Mind 75,000 Years Ago?

It doesn’t look so, thus we need to rethink our ideas about the evolving mind of the Neanderthal skulls (right) are elongated from front to back like a football. Modern human adult has a basketball-like shape skulls (left) and Modern human infants also have somewhat elongated skulls, but by the time they reach adulthood, their heads have rounded out into a basketball-like shape. Analyzing Neanderthal DNA in Europeans identifies two Neanderthal gene variants linked to the head shape and also influence brain organization, in evolution acting on the brain might have reshaped the skull. Therefore, the Neanderthal DNA had a direct effect on brain shape and, presumably, brain function in humans today but infants start life with elongated skulls, somewhat like Neanderthals. ref

Evidence shows that Neanderthals had a complex culture although they did not behave in the same ways as the early modern humans who lived at the same time. Neanderthal dead were often buried, although there is no conclusive evidence for full ritualistic behavior, though at some sites, objects have been uncovered that may represent grave goods. ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Some of the oldest burials seem ro express a belief in life after death can be placed in the period between about 52,000 and 32,000 years ago. ref

The earliest human burial practices in Eurasia varied widely, with some graves clearly more lavish while the vast majority were fairly plain. ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref

40,000 to 50,000 years ago, the Emergence of Norm Violations

The oldest masks are around 9,000-year-old made of stone and are thought to have been made to resemble the spirits of dead ancestors.

Around 50,000 to 40,000 years ago there seems to be the emergence of norm violations relating to what I think is totemistic cultural influenced behavior, on what research suggests is moral disgust. This early moralistic totemism or “taboo” beliefs, which, to me, relates to genetic evidence of possible moral disgust with genetics showing that after 40,000 years ago there is an extreme lowering of incest behaviors also coinciding with the emergence of more complex cave art, figurines, and personal adornments around 50,000 to 40,000 years ago. All this and more offers some confirming evidence of my thoughts on totemism’s emergence around 50,000 years ago in western Europe, seen in the Pre-Aurignacian Neanderthal “Châtelperronian” and/or by the Early Aurignacian or Proto-Aurignacian times.

In the video “Robert Sapolsky: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst” (17 or so minutes in) states the emergence of norm violations of moral disgust occurred around 40,000 to 50,000 years ago which is about the time that genetics shows after 40,000 years ago there was an extreme lowering of insect behaviors coinciding with the emergence of more complex cave art, figurines, and personal adornments all confirming my thoughts on totemism emerging after 50,000 years ago in Europe by the Early Aurignacian or Proto-Aurignacian stage. And in the video “DNA Mammoths, Neanderthals, and Your Ancestors,” it also quickly including the evidence for early people following incest taboos, are clearly evident after 40,000 years ago by genetics. Which, to me, likely connects to the motivations adopted by societies believing in Totemism. ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art 

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Châtelperronian Culture

“The Châtelperronian is a proposed industry of the Upper Palaeolithic, the existence of which is debated. It represents both the only Upper Palaeolithic industry made by Neanderthals and the earliest Upper Palaeolithic industry in Central and Southwestern France, as well as in Northern Spain. It derives its name from Châtelperron, Allier, France (the closest commune to the type site, the cave La Grotte des Fées). It is preceded by the Mousterian industry, and lasted from c. 45,000 to c. 40,000 years ago. The industry produced denticulate stone tools, and a distinctive flint knife with a single cutting edge and a blunt, curved back. The use of ivory at Châtelperronian sites appears to be more frequent than that of the later Aurignacian, while antler tools have not been found. It is followed by the Aurignacian industry. Scholars who question its existence claim that it is an archaeological mix of Mousterian and Aurignacian layers. The Châtelperronian industry may relate to the origins of the very similar Gravettian culture. French archaeologists have traditionally classified both cultures together under the name Périgordian, Early Perigordian being equivalent to the Châtelperronian and all the other phases corresponding to the Gravettian, though this scheme is not often used by Anglophone authors.” ref

Aurignacian Culture

“Key Issues/Current Debates: Variants of the Aurignacian Across Time and Space… Today, the Aurignacian is separated into many variants that are thought to be temporally or spatially meaningful. The first is the Protoaurignacian (i.e., Proto-Aurignacian, Fumanian) characterized by the production of large (c. 30–45 mm), straight bladelets (subtype
Dufour) from prismatic and pyramidal cores seen by some as the oldest phase of the Aurignacian. In southwest France, northern Italy, and Spain, when found together, the ProtoAurignacian is always superimposed by the Classic (Early)
Aurignacian where bladelets are generally produced from carinated cores. This production method resulted in smaller bladelets (c. 15–20 mm) with characteristic “twisted” profiles that were often retouched into Dufour bladelets (subtype Roc du Combe). However further east, where the ProtoAurignacian is less known, Classic Aurignacian assemblages often
directly follow the Middle Paleolithic and so-called transitional industries and are associated with radiocarbon dates as old as the first occurrence of the ProtoAurignacian in the Mediterranean thus making it difficult to simply consider the two assemblages as successive stages of the same cultural unit. It is also thought by some that the Classic Aurignacian later grew into the Late (Evolved) Aurignacian that is defined as having a larger, more varied tool kit including (backed) micro-
blades. However, such assemblages often share many cultural traits associated with the Gravettian, possibly relating to mechanical admixture, or suggesting that they represent a distinct cultural phenomenon.” ref

“The Aurignacian is an archaeological industry of the Upper Paleolithic associated with European early modern humans (EEMH) lasting from 43,000 to 26,000 years ago. The Upper Paleolithic developed in Europe some time after the Levant, where the Emiran period and the Ahmarian period form the first periods of the Upper Paleolithic, corresponding to the first stages of the expansion of Homo sapiens out of Africa. They then migrated to Europe and created the first European culture of modern humans, the Aurignacian. An Early Aurignacian or Proto-Aurignacian stage is dated between about 43,000 and 37,000 years ago. The Aurignacian proper lasts from about 37,000 to 33,000 years ago. A Late Aurignacian phase transitional with the Gravettian dates to about 33,000 to 26,000 years ago. The type site is the Cave of Aurignac, Haute-Garonne, south-west France. The main preceding period is the Mousterian of the Neanderthals.” ref

“One of the oldest examples of figurative art, the Venus of Hohle Fels, comes from the Aurignacian or Proto-Gravettian and is dated to between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago (though now earlier figurative art may be known, see Lubang Jeriji Saléh). It was discovered in September 2008 in a cave at Schelklingen in Baden-Württemberg in western Germany. The German Lion-man figure is given a similar date range. The Bacho Kiro site in Bulgaria is one of the earliest known Aurignacian burials. A “Levantine Aurignacian” culture is known from the Levant, with a type of blade technology very similar to the European Aurignacian, following chronologically the Emiran and Early Ahmarian in the same area of the Near East, and also closely related to them. The Levantine Aurignacian may have preceded European Aurignacian, but there is a possibility that the Levantine Aurignacian was rather the result of reverse influence from the European Aurignacian: this remains unsettled.” ref

“Anatomically modern humans start around 50,000 years ago and our feminization helped.” 

The fossil record suggests that modern human morphology evolved in Africa between 150,000 and 50,000 years ago, when the sole inhabitants of Eurasia were the Neanderthals and other equally nonmodern people. However, the earliest modern or near-modern Africans were behaviorally (archaeologically) indistinguishable from their nonmodern, Eurasian contemporaries, and it was only around 50,000-40,000 years ago that a major behavioral difference developed. Archaeological indications of this difference include the oldest indisputable ornaments (or art broadly understood); the oldest evidence for routine use of bone, ivory, and shell to produce formal (standardized) artifacts; greatly accelerated variation in stone artifact assemblages through time and space; and hunting-gathering innovations that promoted significantly larger populations. As a complex, the novel traits imply fully modern cognitive and communicative abilities, or more succinctly, the fully modern capacity for Culture. The competitive advantage of this capacity is obvious, and preliminary dates suggest that it appeared in Africa about 50,000 years ago and then successively in western Asia, Eastern Europe, and western Europe, in keeping with an African origin. Arguably, the development of modern behavior depended on a neural change broadly like those that accompanied yet earlier archaeologically detectable behavioral advances. This explanation is problematic, however, because the putative change was in brain organization, not size, and fossil skulls provide little or no secure evidence for brain structure. Other potential objections to a neural advance in Africa 50,000-40,000 years ago or to the wider “Out-of-Africa” hypothesis include archaeological evidence (1) that some Neanderthals were actually capable of fully modern behavior and (2) that some Africans were behaviorally modern more than 90,000 years ago.  ref

Cultural and technological boom

50,000 years ago linked with less testosterone.

“Archaeological findings around the world have revealed a cultural and technological boom around 50,000 years ago in which making art and advanced tools became widespread. A new study appearing in the journal Current Anthropology has found that human skulls changed in ways that indicate a lowering of testosterone levels at around the same time that culture was blossoming.” ref

Totemism: an approximately

50,000-year-old belief system?

In a general way, Totemism is sacralizing relationships expressed

by metaphorical connection imparted items or behavior with people.

Seen most commonly in current religious food taboos and sacrifice as well as sacred art

(whether real or metaphorical and be it a behavior, thing, or person being sacrificed).

“A totem is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe.” – Wikipedia

Totemism | religion | Britannica.com

 “Totemism, a system of belief in which humans are said to have kinship or a mystical relationship with a spirit-being, such as an animal or plant. The entity, or totem, is thought to interact with a given kin group or an individual and to serve as their emblem or symbol. The term totemism has been used to characterize a cluster of traits in the religion and in the social organization of many peoples. Totemism is manifested in various forms and types in different contexts and is most often found among populations whose traditional economies relied on hunting and gathering, mixed farming with hunting and gathering, or emphasized the raising of cattle. The term totem is derived from the Ojibwa word ototeman, meaning “one’s brother-sister kin.” The grammatical root, ote, signifies a blood relationship between brothers and sisters who have the same mother and who may not marry each other. In English, the word totem was introduced in 1791 by a British merchant and translator who gave it a false meaning in the belief that it designated the guardian spirit of an individual, who appeared in the form of an animal—an idea that the Ojibwa clans did indeed portray by their wearing of animal skins. It was reported at the end of the 18th century that the Ojibwa named their clans after those animals that live in the area in which they live and appear to be either friendly or fearful. The first accurate report about totemism in North America was written by a Methodist missionary, Peter Jones, himself an Ojibwa, who died in 1856 and whose report was published posthumously.” ref

“According to Jones, the Great Spirit had given toodaims (“totems”) to the Ojibwa clans, and because of this act, it should never be forgotten that members of the group are related to one another and on this account may not marry among themselves. Totemism is a complex of varied ideas and ways of behavior based on a worldview drawn from nature. There are ideological, mystical, emotional, reverential, and genealogical relationships of social groups or specific persons with animals or natural objects, the so-called totems. It is necessary to differentiate between group and individual totemism. These forms share some basic characteristics, but they occur with different emphases and in different specific forms. For instance, people generally view the totem as a companion, relative, protector, progenitor, or helper, ascribe to it superhuman powers and abilities, and offer it some combination of respect, veneration, awe, and fear. Most cultures use special names and emblems to refer to the totem, and those it sponsors engage in partial identification with the totem or symbolic assimilation to it. There is usually a prohibition or taboo against killing, eating, or touching the totem. Although totems are often the focus of ritual behavior, it is generally agreed that totemism is not a religion. Totemism can certainly include religious elements in varying degrees, just as it can appear conjoined with magic.” ref

“Totemism is frequently mixed with different kinds of other beliefs, such as ancestor worship, ideas of the soul, or animism. Such mixtures have historically made the understanding of particular totemistic forms difficult. Social or collective totemism is the most widely disseminated form of this belief system. It typically includes one or more of several features, such as the mystic association of animal and plant species, natural phenomena, or created objects with unilineally related groups (lineages, clans, tribes, moieties, phratries) or with local groups and families; the hereditary transmission of the totems (patrilineal or matrilineal); group and personal names that are based either directly or indirectly on the totem; the use of totemistic emblems and symbols; taboos and prohibitions that may apply to the species itself or can be limited to parts of animals and plants (partial taboos instead of partial totems); and a connection with a large number of animals and natural objects (multiplex totems) within which a distinction can be made between principal totems and subsidiary ones (linked totems). Group totems are generally associated or coordinated on the basis of analogies or on the basis of myth or ritual. Just why particular animals or natural things—which sometimes possess no economic worth for the communities concerned—were originally selected as totems is often based on eventful and decisive moments in a people’s past. Folk traditions regarding the nature of totems and the origin of the societies in question are informative, especially with regard to the group’s cultural presuppositions.” ref

“For example, a group that holds that it is derived directly or indirectly from a given totem may have a tradition in which its progenitor was an animal or plant that could also appear as a human being. In such belief systems, groups of people and species of animals and plants can thus have progenitors in common. In other cases, there are traditions that the human progenitor of a kin group had certain favorable or unfavorable experiences with an animal or natural object and then ordered that his descendants respect the whole species of that animal. Group totemism was traditionally common among peoples in Africa, India, Oceania (especially in Melanesia), North America, and parts of South America. These peoples include, among others, the Australian Aborigines, the African Pygmies, and various Native American peoples—most notably the Northwest Coast Indians (predominantly fishermen), California Indians, and Northeast Indians. Moreover, group totemism is represented in a distinctive form among the Ugrians and west Siberians (hunters and fishermen who also breed reindeer) as well as among tribes of herdsmen in north and Central Asia. Individual totemism is expressed in an intimate relationship of friendship and protection between a person and a particular animal or a natural object (sometimes between a person and a species of animal); the natural object can grant special power to its owner.” ref

“Frequently connected with individual totemism are definite ideas about the human soul (or souls) and conceptions derived from them, such as the idea of an alter ego and nagualism—from the Spanish form of the Aztec word naualli, “something hidden or veiled”—which means that a kind of simultaneous existence is assumed between an animal or a natural object and a person; i.e., a mutual, close bond of life and fate exists in such a way that in case of the injury, sickness, or death of one partner, the same fate would befall the other member of the relationship. Consequently, such totems became most strongly tabooed; above all, they were connected with family or group leaders, chiefs, medicine men, shamans, and other socially significant persons. Studies of shamanism indicate that individual totemism may have predated group totemism, as a group’s protective spirits were sometimes derived from the totems of specific individuals. To some extent, there also exists a tendency to pass on an individual totem as hereditary or to make taboo the entire species of animal to which the individual totem belongs. Individual totemism is widely disseminated. It is found not only among tribes of hunters and harvesters but also among farmers and herdsmen. Individual totemism is especially emphasized among the Australian Aborigines and the American Indians. Among the Wiradjuri, an Aboriginal people who traditionally lived in New South Wales (Australia), totem clans are divided among two subgroups and corresponding matrilineal moieties. The group totem, named “flesh,” is transmitted from the mother.” ref

“In contrast to this, individual totems belong only to the medicine men and are passed on patrilineally. Such an individual totem is named bala, “spirit companion,” or jarawaijewa, “the meat (totem) that is within him.” There is a strict prohibition against eating the totem. Breach of the taboo carries with it sickness or death. It is said: “To eat your jarawaijewa is the same as if you were to eat your very own flesh or that of your father.” The medicine man identifies himself with his personal totem. Every offense or injury against the totem has its automatic effect upon the man who commits it. It is a duty of the totem to guard the ritualist and the medicine man while he is asleep. In the case of danger or the arrival of strangers, the animal goes back into the body of the medicine man and informs him. After the death of the medicine man, the animal stands watch as a bright flickering light near the grave. The individual totem is also a helper of the medicine man. The medicine man emits the totem in his sleep or in a trance so that it can collect information for him. In this tradition, sorcery may also be practiced by the medicine man. By singing, for instance, the medicine man can send out his totem to kill an enemy; the totem enters the chest of the enemy and devours his viscera.” ref

“The transmission of the individual totem to novices is done through the father or the grandfather, who, of course, himself is also a medicine man. While the candidate lies on his back, the totem is “sung into” him. The blood relative who is transmitting the totem takes a small animal and places it on the chest of the youngster. During the singing, the animal supposedly sinks slowly into his body and finally disappears into it. The candidate is then instructed on how he has to treat the animal that is his comrade, and he is further instructed in song and the ritual concentration that is necessary to dispatch the totem from his body. Among the Nor-Papua of New Guinea, patrilineal, exogamous groups (consanguineous sibs) are spread over several villages and are associated with animals, especially fish. They believe that they are born from totems, and they make them taboo. Children are given an opportunity to decide during their initiation whether they will respect the paternal or maternal totem. Each group of relatives has a holy place to which the totem animal brings the souls of the dead and from which the souls of children are also believed to come. Totem animals are represented in various manifestations: as spirit creatures in sacred flutes, in disguises, and in figures preserved in each man’s house. At the end of initiation ceremonies, the totems are mimicked by the members of the group. Among the Iban of Sarawak (Malaysia), individual totemism has been the tradition. Particular persons dream of a spirit of an ancestor or a dead relative; this spirit appears in a human form, presents himself as a helper and protector, and names an animal (or sometimes an object) in which he is manifested. The Iban then observe the mannerisms of animals and recognize in the behavior of the animals the embodiment of their protector spirit (ngarong).” ref 

“Sometimes, members of the tribe also carry with them a part of such an animal. Not only this particular animal, but the whole species, is given due respect. Meals and blood offerings are also presented to the spirit animal. Young men who wish to obtain such a protector spirit for themselves sleep on the graves of prominent persons or seek out solitude and fast so that they may dream of a helper spirit. Actually, only a few persons can name such animals as their very own. Individuals with protector spirits have also attempted to require from their descendants the respect and the taboo given the animal representing the spirit. As a rule, such descendants do not expect special help from the protector spirit, but they observe the totemistic regulations anyway. The Birhor, a people that were traditionally residents of the jungle of Chotanagpur Plateau in the northeast Deccan (India), are organized into patrilineal, exogamous totem groups. According to one imperfect list of 37 clans, 12 are based on animals, 10 on plants, 8 on Hindu castes and localities, and the rest on objects. The totems are passed on within the group, and tales about the tribe’s origins suggest that each totem had a fortuitous connection with the birth of the ancestor of the clan. The Birhor think that there is a temperamental or physical similarity between the members of the clan and their totems.” ref

“Prohibitions or taboos are sometimes cultivated to an extreme degree. In regard to eating, killing, or destroying them, the clan totems are regarded as if they were human members of the group. Moreover, it is believed that an offense against the totems through a breach of taboo will produce a corresponding decrease in the size of the clan. If a person comes upon a dead totem animal, he must smear his forehead with oil or a red dye, but he must not actually mourn over the animal; he also does not bury it. The close and vital relationship between the totem and the clan is shown in a definite ceremony: the yearly offering to the chief spirit of the ancestral hill. Each Birhor community has a tradition of an old settlement that is thought to be located on a hill in the area. Once a year, the men of each clan come together at an open place. The elder of the clan functions as the priest who gives the offering. A diagram with four sections is drawn on the ground with rice flour. In one of these, the elder sits while gazing in the direction of the ancestral hill. The emblem of the particular totem is placed in one of the other sections of the diagram; depending on the circumstances, this emblem could be a flower, a piece of horn or skin, a wing, or a twig. This emblem represents the clan as a whole. If an animal is needed for such a ceremony, it is provided by the members of another clan who do not hold it as a totem. The Birhor show great fear of the spirits of the ancestral hill and avoid these places as far as possible. Among the Kpelle people of Liberia there is not only group totemism but also individual totemism. Both kinds of totems are referred to variously as “thing of possession,” “thing of birth,” or “thing of the back of men.” These phrases express the idea that the totem always accompanies, belongs to, and stands behind one as a guide and warner of dangers. The totem also punishes the breach of any taboo.” ref 

“Kpelle totems include animals, plants, and natural phenomena. The kin groups that live in several villages were matrilineal at an earlier time, but during the 20th century, they began to exhibit patrilineal tendencies. The group totems, especially the animal totems, are considered as the residence of the ancestors; they are respected and are given offerings. Moreover, a great role is played by individual totems that, in addition to being taboo, are also given offerings. Personal totems that are animals can be transmitted from father to son or from mother to daughter; on the other hand, individual plant totems are assigned at birth or later. The totem also communicates magical powers. It is even believed possible to alter one’s own totem animal; further, it is considered an alter ego. Persons with the same individual totem prefer to be united in communities. The well-known leopard confederation, a secret association, seems to have grown out of such desires. Entirely different groups produce patrilineal taboo communities that are supposedly related by blood; they comprise persons of several tribes. The animals, plants, and actions made taboo by these groups are not considered as totems. In a certain respect, the individual totems in this community seem to be the basis of group totemism.” ref

* “totemist” Believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife can be attached to or be expressed in things or objects (you are a hidden totemist/Totemism: an approximately 50,000-year-old belief system (though it may be older as there is evidence of what looks like a Stone Snake in South Africa which may be the “first human worship” dating to around 70,000 years ago)  (possibly extending to or from Neanderthals Likewise a number of archeologists propose that Middle Paleolithic societies — such as that of the Neanderthals — may also have practiced the earliest form of totemism or animal worship in addition to their (presumably religious) burial of the dead. Emil Bächler in particular suggests (based on archeological evidence from Middle Paleolithic caves) that a widespread Neanderthal bear-cult existed. Animal cults in the following Upper Paleolithic period — such as the bear cult — may have had their origins in these hypothetical Middle Paleolithic animal cults. Animal worship during the Upper Paleolithic intertwined with hunting rites. For instance, archeological evidence from art and bear remains reveals that the bear cult apparently had involved a type of sacrificial bear ceremonialism in which a bear was shot with arrows and then was finished off by a shot in the lungs and ritualistically buried near a clay bear statue covered by a bear fur, with the skull and the body of the bear buried separately. 100,000 to 50,000 years ago – Increased use of red ochre at several Middle Stone Age sites in Africa. Red Ochre is thought to have played an important role in ritual. 42,000 years ago – Ritual burial of Mungo Man at Lake Mungo in Australia. The body is sprinkled with copious amounts of red ochre. 40,000 years ago – Upper Paleolithic begins in Europe. An abundance of fossil evidence includes elaborate burials of the dead, Venus figurines (depiction of female) and cave art also involving red ochre. Aurignacian figurines have been found depicting faunal representations of the time period associated with now-extinct mammals, including mammoths, rhinoceros, and Tarpan, along with anthropomorphized depictions that may be interpreted as some of the earliest evidence of religion. Many 35,000-year-old animal figurines were discovered in the Vogelherd Cave in Germany. One of the horses, amongst six tiny mammoth and horse ivory figures found previously at Vogelherd, was sculpted as skillfully as any piece found throughout the Upper Paleolithic. The production of ivory beads for body ornamentation was also important during the Aurignacian. There is a notable absence of painted caves, however, which begin to appear within the Solutrean. Venus figurines are thought to represent fertility. The cave paintings at Chauvet and Lascaux are believed to represent religious thought. The oldest cave art is found in the Cave of El Castillo in Spain, in early Aurignacian dated at around 40,000 years, the time when it is believed that homo sapiens migrated to Europe from Africa. The paintings are mainly of deer. The next oldest cave paintings are found in the Chauvet Cave in France, dating to around 37,000 to 33,500 years ago and the second from 31,000 to 28,000 years ago with most of the black drawings dating to the earlier period. Chauvet Cave appears to have been used by humans during two distinct periods: the Aurignacian and the Gravettian. Most of the artwork dates to the earlier, Aurignacian, era (30,000 to 32,000 years ago). The later Gravettian occupation, which occurred 25,000 to 27,000 years agoThe paintings feature a larger variety of wild animals, such as lions, panthers, bears and hyenas. It’s strange to think that these animals were roaming around France at that time. There are no examples of complete human figures in these cave paintings. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

50,000 – 40,000 Years Ago – (Africa), found evidence of a marked increase in the diversity of artifacts including art appear along with diversity of food accusation with evidence of human fishing. The artifacts of Africa that can be classified as less than 50,000 years become more differentiated and technologically advanced such as projectile points, engraving tools, knife blades, and drilling and piercing tools. Likewise, by this time humans had evolved the traits associated with modern human behavior and findings suggests that cave art became somewhat common by around 40,000 years ago and after. Modern human behavior includes abilities such as modern language, abstract thought, symbolism, and some form of early religion. Like most behaviors that are found in societies throughout the world, some form of religion must have been present in the ancestral human population before the dispersal from Africa. ref, ref, ref, ref

50,000 – 40,000 Years Ago – Le Moustier (France), found evidence of Neanderthal cave burials covered in red ochre, with many stone tools and two young Neanderthal children fossils. In Europe some 50,000 years ago can be seen as the beginning of large bodied animal extinction, so too did their predators shortly after which seems to also include Neanderthals. This extinction of large bodied animal contributing in some party to the eventual extinction which includes Neanderthals is because of their almost total dependence on large bodied animals for fat and protein needs. One of the reasons this is hypothesized beyond just associated animal bones it is inferred in their body structure which had been triggered by an Ice-Age diet. This Ice-Age diet of fat and high-protein intake from large animals by Neanderthals had caused physical changes specifically wider pelvises and rib-cages compared to modern human. While one of the main causes hypothesized for large bodied animal extinction is natural climate change one of the other is overkill by humans, who appeared as early as 48,000 years ago evidenced in modern human artifact found in South-Central and possibly Eastern Europe similar to artifact probably made by modern humans in the Levant at an earlier date and apparently represent a population movement traveling through Turkey into then the Balkans during a warm climate interval. The earliest known human remains in Europe date to around 42,000 years ago. And 40,000 years ago a second population movement may be represented by a diverse set of artifact termed Proto-Aurignacian culture found in the Balkans, parts of Southwest Europe, and probably in Eastern Europe are also similar to those made by modern humans in the Levant. After 40,000 years ago is the beginning of Aurignacian culture artifacts which seems to have developed in Europe, spreading throughout the continent. Lastly this modern human migration did not just likely assisting in animal extinction but also started a ”creative explosion” associated with the wonderful cave paintings in Chauvet Cave in France 36,000 years ago. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

50,000 – 35,000 Years Ago – (southeast Asia), found evidence humans who arrived over 50,000 years ago brought with them an artistic skill, produced paintings of naturalistic animals in rock shelters in southwest China, Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Malaysia. Moreover, early Indonesian rock art seems to show the artistic practice that was brought to Asia and Europe comes from Africa, because the oldest rock art of Southeast Asia is more often found in rock shelters rather than deep caves like in Europe. This significantly supports ideas that the origins of art making are a fundamental human behavior which began with our most ancient ancestors in Africa rather than Europe. If the considerations of the evidence is right it has implications not only for Southeast Asian and European rock art but Australian rock art as well. This is because Australia’s oldest surviving rock art also consists of naturalistic animals, which could show it to was brought from Africa as well. Putting this seeming global connectedness in rock art is then to consider the origins and functions of the art in terms of two very broad categories: art intended to portray visionary or altered states of consciousness imagery (shamanic); and motifs made to illustrate other subjects and/or created for other reasons (non-shamanic). This distinction roughly, but imperfectly, parallels the difference between shamanic and non-shamanic religions. Shamanistic rock art commonly portrays visionary imagery; symbolizing, in a general sense, a supernatural experience or event. Despite this commonality and depending upon cultural context, the shamanistic rock art was made for a variety of purposes by a full range of social and gender groups beyond the shaman alone. Shamanism is part of a broader trend in early prehistory and is still found in contemporary peoples as well. The common aspects of many shamanic belief systems are: 1) the concept of the three-tiered world with an upper world (world of spirits), middle world (world of living), and underworld (world of the dead) often linked by some natural aspect as a representation such as a tree, pillar, mountain, lake, or river; 2) the world is perceived as inhabited by supernatural beings; 3) nature is perceived as a ‘giving environment’, lacking the dichotomization of nature and culture of modern worldviews; 4) ideas of reciprocal relations with animals and the animals need to be treated with respect in order that they continue to give themselves up to the hunter; 5) the concept of the soul as possessed by both humans and animals; 6) the shaman or shamaness (female shaman) is preceded as a religious specialist and mediator between the worlds; and 7) the importance of animals. ref, ref

45,000 Years Ago – Ust’-Ishim (western Siberia), found evidence of an early modern human male, who’s DNA shows he belonged to the same group of early humans as the Mal’ta boy, who lived 24,000 years ago, part of the Mal’ta-Buret’ culture (24,000 to 15,000). The Mal’ta people belonged to a population which may have made a substantial contribution to the genetic ancestry of the American Indians. The Ust’-Ishim man’s DNA is more closely related to the East Asians of today than to today’s Europeans and the evidence shows that his ancestors mixed with Neanderthals close to the time of the major expansion of modern humans out of Africa and the Middle East. They found that between one and two mutations per year have accumulated in the genomes of populations in Europe and Asia since the Ust’-Ishim man lived. This is similar to recent estimates from counting genetic differences between parents and children but lower than more traditional, indirect estimates based on fossil divergences between species. (108)  ref

43,500 – 42,300 Years Ago – Malaga (Spain), found evidence of Neanderthal red looking cave paintings as well as charcoal remains found beside six of the paintings. Modern humans are believed to have also been in the area at the time, arriving about 41,500 years ago and although this does add credence to the case for Neanderthal art it does not prove that it was made by Neanderthals. ref, ref

43,000 Years Ago – “Lion Cave” Swaziland (southern Africa), found evidence of one of the oldest known mines and in contrast to the majority of prehistoric mines, was a red ochre mine not mined for materials for standard utilitarian items for tool making but can and where used in ritualistic concepts. This is leads us to ponder the motivation of such a mine red ochre which although it had widespread use in prehistoric it was often in what could lend some support to a religious connotation when used in burial rituals and shamanistic cave art. There are similar age flint mines in Hungary and chert (lower quality flint) mine in Bulgaria believed to be connected to our cousins the Neanderthals who shared about 99.84 % of their DNA with us and seemed to have mined for weapons and tools. Many Neanderthal sites show them to be more masteries then we typically think such as how such Neanderthal archeological sites include red ochre sometimes worn down in a way that could have been used in an artistic or ritualistic way but we may never know. For too long the term Neanderthal has been conceived as a label of slow thinking brutish nonhuman creatures with human looking features. However, quite the opposite Homo sapiens Neanderthalensis, although still largely unknown, mysterious, or unidentified do show themselves to be more like fellow humans should no longer be seen as mentally inferior to modern humans. The support for this rational involves evidence seeming to show advanced thinking beyond just the craftsmanship of tools belong to utilitarian evidence they had or seem to demonstrates abstract thinking with ritualistic graves, made body ornaments (fathers, animal-tooths or claws and shells pendants), engraved symbols or spots and hand stencils like those in El Castillo cave, Spain as well as others. Although it must be understood that there is in general only limited evidence relating to Neanderthal culture. There are good circumstantial reasons for thinking that Neanderthals not only had advanced thinking they possibly had some form of language, as some of their advanced technology, rituals and hunting tactics would have been difficult to learn and execute without some form of language, though this is not some full proof it is interesting. Moreover, Neanderthal do also have relatively advanced brains with such things as a well-developed Broca’s area, and in their DNA we find the FOXP2 gene involved in speech production and by the way is carried by modern humans and in us too is required for proper development of speech and language. The FOXP2 gene is more active in females than in males, and mutations of FOXP2 in humans causes a severe speech and language disorder. Versions of FOXP2 exist in similar forms in animals such as in songbirds. Unfortunately, none of this reveals anything specific about Neanderthal language, socio-cultural, or religious for that matter. And although the full extent of socio-cultural-driven gene-culture coevolution (interaction between genes and culture) is unknown some evidence suggest that such effects were and likely are profound. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

42,000 – 35,000 Years Ago – Hohle Fels (Germany), found a mammoth ivory female figurine called “The Venus of Hohle Fels” may have had some fertility connection and was discovered among flint chips and burnt animal bones. This figurine is about two and a half inches and has a polished nob with a hole like a hoop in place of a head. This top hoop could demonstrate that it may have worn some kind of amulet or pendant. Also a 35,000 years old flute was found made of vulture bone and is thought to be one of the oldest crafted musical instrument in the world. ref, ref, ref

42,000 – 17,000 Years Ago – Ucagizli Cave (southern Turkey), found evidence includes the production and use of large numbers of ornamental shells showing evidence of extended use and appearing to be selected for quality rather that as just as food. There are hundreds shell ornaments alongside well-defined stone, bone tools, and one incised talon probably frim a vulture. A focus on basket-shaped shells changed little over thousands of years, despite significant changes in other technology which almost certainly reflecting the influence of cultural norms suggesting elements of design traditions or symbol systems reflective expression of human communication. ref, ref

40,800 Years Ago – El Castillo Cave (Spain), found evidence of cave paintings that could have been made by Neanderthals. Red colored cave art consisting of hand stencils and disks made by blowing paint onto the wall of the cave, possibly showing more evidence that Neanderthals were possibly some of the first cave painters. ref

40,000 Years Ago – Teimareh (Iran), found evidence engraved rock art petroglyphs mainly depict various hand patterns and cup-shaped motifs that may refer to ritual, a special shrine of some kind or perhaps exhibit a place of sacredness totemism or early shamanism. Moreover, it is acknowledged that the patterns of the petroglyphs are seen on ancient pottery and bronze sculptures discovered in the region. ref

40,000 Years Ago – Hohlenstein-Stadel cave (Germany), found evidence of a figurine labeled the Lion man, which is a lion-headed figurine made of mammoth ivory one of the oldest known zoomorphic (animal-shaped) and anthropomorphic (human-traits) sculpture in the world, and is associated with the archaeological titled Aurignacian culture. Also identified was a similar, but smaller, and cruder or warn lion-headed human sculpture dated to around 32,000 to 30,000 years ago, along with other animal figurines found in another cave in the same region of Germany. This leads to the possibility that such figurines may in some way have played an important role in the symbolism or mythology of early humans or may have been seen as a spirit helper or amulet that gave power or safety or the like. I think the belief in spirits came long before the idea of goddesses or gods. Following these discoveries, female figurines from approximately the same prehistoric period, such as the Venus of Hohle Fels, where discovered in the same mountainous area of Germany. ref

40,000 – 30,000 Years Ago – Laura, Queensland (Australia), found evidence at Sandy Creek Shelter cupules “cut cup-holes” and cut marks thought to represent vulva-forms are found through the world on every continent and some of the oldest rock art is linear grooves and cupules, often ignored as utilitarian rock markings. Engraved or incised cups or pits may hold different, similar, or connected meaning and within the limits of Native California alone there seems to have been three ritual origins and known purposes. In Northern California, cupules were called ‘rain-rocks’ and they were made by shamans to bring either rain or the wind ceremony conducted by shamans making non-visionary rock art. In Central California (in the San Francisco Bay region), so-called ‘pit-and-groove’ rocks known as ‘baby rocks’ were created during a private fertility rite. This shamanistic ritual was done mainly by women having a difficulty conceiving who would rub the rocks collect the dust as there was a belief supernatural power existed within rocks, which was placed in the woman’s vagina and sometimes on other parts of both people prior to intercourse. In south-central California and the Great Basin girls also made cupules during puberty initiations by grinding briefly in all of the cups on a given rock, the girls were said to reconnect with all of the earlier and older women of the tribe. All of this represents non-visionary art created by shamans and non-shamans within the context of shamanistic cultures and thus means hypothetically we can conceive that other cupules may be more than just art and may have some connections too religion. Moving further we can look to Hawaiian women perform a ritual following childbirth for the baby’s health by preserving the umbilical cord and creating cupule symbolic of the bellybutton and thus the child’s connection to its mother. Again we can see cupules and similar kinds of rock art worldwide many also have ritual origins or functions. The vulva-form motifs are mostly seen as engravings on stone, bone, or ivory as well as paintings and though found worldwide are almost invariably interpreted as evidence of fertility rituals of some kind. To support this reasoning we can look to Polynesian girls’ puberty ceremonies involved a ‘clitoris stretching’ ceremony, for example, after which an engraved ‘portrait’ of the girl’s genitalia was created. ref, ref, & ref

40,000 – 10,000 Years Ago – (Europe), found evidence of several figurines mostly female, although a few are known which are no gendered or (fewer still) definitely male thus the title of ‘venus’ is often attached to the figurines found, implying female sexuality and believed goddess status though this is more speculative then confirmed. Although some proclaimed, the first god was a goddess which I believe is a likely possibility the socio-cultural-religious meaning or use of these figures may never be known. So even if they were believed to be goddess this did not mean that there was full equality of women, any more then Barack Obama being president means there is no more racism. For the most part even where this could be so that meaning or use of these figures was as goddess and that a first theme in religion was woman as the first god believed indicated by the figurines, it still could possibly be presumed to serve male purposes, and more rightly be related to fertility and sexuality than a valuing of female status as some think such things would confirm. ref

39,000 Years Ago – Gorham’s Cave (Spain) found markings considered Neanderthal “abstract art” in a natural sea cave located in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. This art was presumably done not just by Neanderthals but buy some of the last known Neanderthals habitations in Europe and where they left some strange markings that while unrepresentative of direct representation but as it took effort must of been some meaning; possibly art, ritual or some reflective design. There are three levels of design: visceral (what nature does), behavioral (all about use), and reflective (all about the message). That said what the markings may mean, however, is anyone’s guess. It can be certain it was not Humans as they did not show up for more than 10,000 years later which is long after Neanderthals were gone. We cannot get into the minds of these people but it looks geometric with a crisscross patterning and perhaps it represents some kind of art, map or ritual. However, what is clear is that it is abstract, deliberate, and speaks to their cognition identifying a symbolic behavior on the part of Neanderthals. There are three other caves are the nearby one of which is Vanguard Cave supplied evidence that Neanderthals diet included fish such as Bluefin tuna and marine animals like monk seal, dolphin, mollusks, and sea urchins. Neanderthals were driven into extinction because of modern humans who might have competed with or simply assimilated Neanderthals into their populations when they appeared in southern Europe about 42,000 years ago. It is either modern humans caused, directly or indirectly, led to the end of Neanderthals. It is also possible that Neanderthals may have been near extinction before modern humans arrived (decline in genetic diversity) even if they assisted in Neanderthal extinction after they arrived. Moreover, modern humans having a greater technological and cultural development along with group size is also thought to have a factor in Neanderthal extinction not that Neanderthals didn’t have some culture but also tended to have much smaller clans. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

39,900 – 35,400 Years Ago – Sulawesi (Indonesia), found cave art including stencils of hands one of which is 39,900 years old and a painting of a babirusa, or pig-deer which is 35,400 years old. Also found crude stone tools are thought to date to perhaps 50,000 years old. A modern human settlement dated to 30,000 years old is the main proof of occupation but the island almost certainly formed part of the land bridge used for the settlement of Australia and New Guinea by at least 40,000 years ago. Cave art and harpoon tips seem to point to likely African roots and that as well as other cave painting suggests that art may have been universal among early modern people, including those who left Africa and traveled across southern Arabia to Indonesia and Australia within the past 50,000 years. ref, ref, ref

I found this quote about totemism funny and it shows the redicoulessness of religion in general, “The dream-totem may be revealed to the future mother when she feels the first symptoms of pregnancy, sometimes after eating some meat which because of its unusual fattiness is taken to have a supernatural character.” – Totemism: Claude Levi-Strauss

If you are a religious believer, may I remind you that faith in the acquisition of knowledge is not a valid method worth believing in. Because, what proof is “faith”, of anything religion claims by faith, as many people have different faith even in the same religion?

Religious Sexism

Feminization (biology)?

 

“In biology and medicine, feminization is the development in an organism of physical characteristics that are usually unique to the female of the species. This may represent a normal developmental process, contributing to sexual differentiation. Feminization can also be induced by environmental factors, and this phenomenon has been observed in several animal species. In the case of transgender hormone therapy, it is intentionally induced artificially.” ref

“In animals, when feminization occurs in a male, or at an inappropriate developmental age, it is often due to a genetic or acquired disorder of the endocrine system. In insects, feminization can occur through inheritance of reproduction-manipulating endosymbionts. This promotes the inheritance of the endosymbionts because the endosymbionts are passed on by mothers to their eggs. As such, the more endosymbiont-infected females there are in a population, the more the endosymbionts are passed on to the next generation.” ref

“In humans, one of the more common manifestations of abnormal feminization is gynecomastia, the inappropriate development of breasts which may result from elevated levels of feminizing hormones such as estrogens. Deficiency or blockage of virilizing hormones (androgens) can also contribute to feminization. In some cases, high levels of androgens may produce both virilizing effects (increased body hair, deepened voice, increased muscle mass, etc.) and feminizing effects (gynecomastia) since androgens can be converted to estrogens by aromatase in the peripheral tissues.” ref

Early humans had to become more feminine before they could dominate the planet?

“I have always wondered why our species Homo sapiens, that evolved in Africa about 200,000 years ago, seemed to do nothing special for the first 150,000 years. Because it is not until about 50,000 years ago that the first sign of creative thinking emerged with beautiful cave paintings found in Spain, France, and Indonesia. Around the same time a new sub-species referred to as anatomically modern humans or Homo sapiens sapiens appears. Anatomically modern humans were more slender than their earlier ancestors; they had less hair, smaller skulls. They looked basically like us.” ref

“But these changes weren’t just cosmetic. Two recent papers throw some light on how the revolutionary development of smaller and more fine-boned humans influenced the growth of cooperative culture, the birth of agriculture, and human dominance of the planet. The first is an analysis of the fossilised skulls of our ancestors during this transitional period, carried out by a team led by Robert Cieri at the University of Utah and published in the journal Current Anthropology.” ref

“Cieri and colleagues found the brow ridge (the bony bit above the eye sockets) became significantly less prominent and male facial shape became more similar to that of females. They referred to this as craniofacial feminisation, meaning that as Homo sapiens slimmed down their skulls became flatter and more “feminine” in shape. They think this must have been due to lower levels of testosterone, as there is a strong relationship between levels of this hormone and long faces with extended brow ridges, which we may perceive today as very “masculine” features.” ref

“People with lower levels of testosterone are less likely to be reactively or spontaneously violent, and therefore this enhanced social tolerance. This has a huge knock-on effect. As seen among humans today, we live in populations with extremely high densities with an incredible amount of social tolerance. So a reduction in reactive violence must have been an essential prerequisite for us to be able to live in larger groups and develop cooperative culture.” ref

The idea that humans became more feminine, less aggressive, and thus could cooperate in large groups is certainly very intriguing as it would have allowed individuals with different skills to be valued and be reproductively successful due to the reduction of particularly male-male violence. In most primates the physically strongest male tends to dominate, but in early humans the smartest or the most creative males may have come to the forefront.” ref

“The question remains, how did we become more feminine, less violent, and more creative? A second paper in the journal Animal Behaviour led by Brian Hare at Duke University may throw some light on to this. He and colleagues compared chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) in West Africa, two closely related species living in very similar environmental conditions either side of the Congo River.” ref

“One key distinction between the two species is the size difference between males and females, their “dimorphism”. Male chimps are significantly larger than females, whereas the difference in bonobos is much smaller. This difference is driven by different levels of testosterone. The size is just one manifestation of deeper differences that also show up in how the animals interact with one another. Chimpanzees, particularly males are very aggressive, but violence within or between groups is almost non-existent among bonobos. As both these species have a common ancestor there must have been strong selection going on to feminise the bonobos.” ref

“Hare and colleagues suggest a process of self-domestication whereby violent individuals are punished and prevented from reproducing. The traits exhibited by bonobos are very similar to the changes observed in species that humans have domesticated such as dogs, cows, guinea pigs, and foxes. They postulate the reason why bonobos were able to feminise and chimpanzees did not, is because on the Eastern side of the Congo where the chimps live they are in direct competition with gorillas, whereas the bonobos on the western side have no competition. Harvard professor Richard Wrangham, a co-author of the Hare paper, suggested in a recent talk that the same process may have happened to early humans.” ref

“This feminisation through self-domestication may not only have made humans more peaceful and evenly sized, but may have also produced a more sexually equal society. A recent study in the journal Science by colleagues of mine at UCL showed that in hunter-gatherer groups in the Congo and the Philippines decisions about where to live and with whom were made equally by both genders. Despite living in small communities, this resulted in hunter-gatherers living with a large number of individuals with whom they had no kinship ties.” ref

The authors argue this may have proved an evolutionary advantage for early human societies, as it would have fostered wider-ranging social networks, closer cooperation between unrelated individuals, a wider choice of mates, and reduced chances of inbreeding. The frequent movement and interaction between groups also fostered the sharing of innovations, which may have helped the spread of culture. As Andrea Migliano, the leader of the study points out, “sex equality suggests a scenario where unique human traits, such as cooperation with unrelated individuals, could have emerged in our evolutionary past.”

“It may have only been with the rise of agriculture that an imbalance between the sexes reemerged, as individual men were suddenly able to concentrate enough resources to maintain several wives and many children. Indeed the Robert Cieri led study does show slightly more masculine facial shapes emerging in recent agriculturalists relative to early humans and recent human foragers. So at the moment we have some tentative hints of what may have happened between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago. Humans may have undergone self-domestication and over many generations weeded out those individuals that were unable to control their reactive violence.” ref

“This is not as far-fetched as it sounds – studies of the Gebusi tribe in Papua New Guinea by Bruce Knauft showed significant levels of male mortality due to the tribe deciding that an individual’s behavior is so intolerable that for the good of the tribe they must be killed. So human proactive violence – that is, thought out, discussed, and planned violence – is used to curb, control, and cull reactively violent individuals. This process combined with female mating choices over thousands of years could have selected for males with lower testosterone and more feminine features, which leads to a much more gender-equal society and the start of our cumulative culture.” ref

Back to Prehistory

“Early Homo sapiens originated some 200,000 years ago, ushering in the Middle Palaeolithic. Anatomic changes indicating modern language capacity also arise during the Middle Palaeolithic. During the Middle Palaeolithic Era, there is the first definitive evidence of human use of fire. Sites in Zambia have charred bone and wood that have been dated to 61,000 years ago. The systematic burial of the dead, music, early art, and the use of increasingly sophisticated multi-part tools are highlights of the Middle Paleolithic.” ref

“Throughout the Palaeolithic, humans generally lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers. Hunter-gatherer societies tended to be very small and egalitarian, although hunter-gatherer societies with abundant resources or advanced food-storage techniques sometimes developed sedentary lifestyles with complex social structures such as chiefdoms, and social stratification. Long-distance contacts may have been established, as in the case of Indigenous Australian “highways” known as songlines.” ref

“The Mesolithic period began at the end of the Pleistocene epoch, some 10,000 BP, and ended with the introduction of agriculture, the date of which varied by geographic region. In some areas, such as the Near East, agriculture was already underway by the end of the Pleistocene, and there the Mesolithic is short and poorly defined. In areas with limited glacial impact, the term “Epipalaeolithic” is sometimes preferred. Remains from this period are few and far between, often limited to middens. In forested areas, the first signs of deforestation have been found, although this would only begin in earnest during the Neolithic, when more space was needed for agriculture.” ref 

“Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the last ice age ended have a much more evident Mesolithic era, lasting millennia. In Northern Europe, societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands fostered by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviors that are preserved in the material record, such as the Maglemosian and Azilian cultures. These conditions also delayed the coming of the Neolithic until as late as 4000 BCE (6,020 years ago) in northern Europe.” ref

“The Mesolithic is characterized in most areas by small composite flint tools: microliths and microburins. Fishing tackle, stone adzes, and wooden objects, e.g. canoes and bows, have been found at some sites. These technologies first occur in Africa, associated with the Azilian cultures, before spreading to Europe through the Ibero-Maurusian culture of Northern Africa and the Kebaran culture of the Levant. However, independent discovery is not ruled out.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref

Craniofacial Feminization, Social Tolerance,

and the Origins of Behavioral Modernity

“The past 200,000 years of human cultural evolution have witnessed the persistent establishment of behaviors involving innovation, planning depth, and abstract and symbolic thought, or what has been called “behavioral modernity.” Demographic models based on increased human population density from the late Pleistocene onward have been increasingly invoked to understand the emergence of behavioral modernity. However, high levels of social tolerance, as seen among living humans, are a necessary prerequisite to life at higher population densities and to the kinds of cooperative cultural behaviors essential to these demographic models. Here we provide data on craniofacial feminization (reduction in average brow ridge projection and shortening of the upper facial skeleton) in Homo sapiens from the Middle Pleistocene to recent times. We argue that temporal changes in human craniofacial morphology reflect reductions in average androgen reactivity (lower levels of adult circulating testosterone or reduced androgen receptor densities), which in turn reflect the evolution of enhanced social tolerance since the Middle Pleistocene.” ref

Early Humans Had To Become More Feminine

Before They Could Dominate The Planet

“I have always wondered why our species Homo sapiens, which evolved in Africa about 200,000 years ago, seemed to do nothing special for the first 150,000 years. Because it is not until about 50,000 years ago that the first sign of creative thinking emerged with beautiful cave paintings found in Spain, France, and Indonesia. Around the same time, a new sub-species referred to as anatomically modern humans or Homo sapiens-sapiens appears. Anatomically modern humans were more slender than their earlier ancestors; they had less hair, and smaller skulls. They looked basically like us. But these changes weren’t just cosmetic. Two recent papers throw some light on how the revolutionary development of smaller and more fine-boned humans influenced the growth of cooperative culture, the birth of agriculture, and human dominance of the planet. The first is an analysis of the fossilized skulls of our ancestors during this transitional period, carried out by a team led by Robert Cieri at the University of Utah and published in the journal Current Anthropology. Cieri and colleagues found the brow ridge (the bony bit above the eye sockets) became significantly less prominent and male facial shape became more similar to that of females. They referred to this as craniofacial feminisation, meaning that as Homo sapiens slimmed down their skulls became flatter and more “feminine” in shape. Human skulls showing feminization in the late Stone Age. Cieri et al They think this must have been due to lower levels of testosterone, as there is a strong relationship between levels of this hormone and long faces with extended brow ridges, which we may perceive today as very “masculine” features. People with lower levels of testosterone are less likely to be reactively or spontaneously violent, and therefore this enhanced social tolerance. This has a huge knock-on effect. As seen among humans today, we live in populations with extremely high densities with an incredible amount of social tolerance. So a reduction in reactive violence must have been an essential prerequisite for us to be able to live in larger groups and develop a cooperative culture. The idea that humans became more feminine, less aggressive, and thus could cooperate in large groups is certainly very intriguing as it would have allowed individuals with different skills to be valued and be reproductively successful due to the reduction of particularly male-male violence. In most primate,s the physically strongest male tends to dominate, but in early humans, the smartest or the most creative males may have come to the forefront.” ref

Self-Domestication Of Humans

“The question remains, how did we become more feminine, less violent, and more creative? A second paper in the journal Animal Behaviour led by Brian Hare at Duke University may throw some light on to this. He and colleagues compared chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) in West Africa, two closely related species living in very similar environmental conditions either side of the Congo River. One key distinction between the two species is the size difference between males and females, their “dimorphism”. Male chimps are significant larger than females, whereas the difference in bonobos is much smaller. This difference is driven by different levels of testosterone. The size is just one manifestation of deeper differences that also show up in how the animals interact with one another. Chimpanzees, particularly males are very aggressive, but violence within or between groups is almost non-existent among bonobos. As both these species have a common ancestor there must have been strong selection going on to feminise the bonobos. Primate paradise? Bonobos are peaceful and egalitarian. Mark Dumont, CC BY-NC Hare, and colleagues suggest a process of self-domestication whereby violent individuals are punished and prevented from reproducing. The traits exhibited by bonobos are very similar to the changes observed in species that humans have domesticated such as dogs, cows, guinea pigs and foxes. They postulate the reason why bonobos were able to feminise and chimpanzees did not, is because on the Eastern side of the Congo where the chimps live they are in direct competition with gorillas, whereas the bonobos on the western side have no competition. Harvard professor Richard Wrangham, a co-author of the Hare paper, suggested in a recent talk that the same process may have happened to early humans.” ref

Equality Improves Networking

“This feminisation through self-domestication may not only have made humans more peaceful and evenly sized, but may have also produced a more sexually equal society. A recent study in the journal Science by colleagues of mine at UCL showed that in hunter-gatherer groups in the Congo and the Philippines decisions about where to live and with whom were made equally by both genders. Despite living in small communities, this resulted in hunter-gatherers living with a large number of individuals with whom they had no kinship ties. The authors argue this may have proved an evolutionary advantage for early human societies, as it would have fostered wider-ranging social networks, closer cooperation between unrelated individuals, a wider choice of mates, and reduced chances of inbreeding. The frequent movement and interaction between groups also fostered the sharing of innovations, which may have helped the spread of culture. As Andrea Migliano, the leader of the study points out, “sex equality suggests a scenario where unique human traits, such as cooperation with unrelated individuals, could have emerged in our evolutionary past.”It may have only been with the rise of agriculture that an imbalance between the sexes reemerged, as individual men were suddenly able to concentrate enough resources to maintain several wives and many children. Indeed the Robert Cieri led study does show slightly more masculine facial shapes emerging in recent agriculturalists relative to early humans and recent human foragers. So at the moment, we have some tentative hints of what may have happened between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago. Humans may have undergone self-domestication and over many generations weeded out those individuals that were unable to control their reactive violence. This is not as far-fetched as it sounds – studies of the Gebusi tribe in Papua New Guinea by Bruce Knauft showed significant levels of male mortality due to the tribe deciding that an individual’s behavior is so intolerable that for the good of the tribe they must be killed. So human proactive violence – that is, thought out, discussed, and planned violence – is used to curb, control, and cull reactively violent individuals. This process combined with female mating choices over thousands of years could have selected for males with lower testosterone and more feminine features, which leads to a much more gender-equal society and the start of our cumulative culture.The Conversation By Mark Maslin is a Professor of Climatology at UCL.  Read the original article.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Low Gods “Earth” or Tutelary deity and High Gods “Sky” or Supreme deity

“An Earth goddess is a deification of the Earth. Earth goddesses are often associated with the “chthonic” deities of the underworld. Ki and Ninhursag are Mesopotamian earth goddesses. In Greek mythology, the Earth is personified as Gaia, corresponding to Roman Terra, Indic Prithvi/Bhūmi, etc. traced to an “Earth Mother” complementary to the “Sky Father” in Proto-Indo-European religion. Egyptian mythology exceptionally has a sky goddess and an Earth god.” ref

“A mother goddess is a goddess who represents or is a personification of nature, motherhood, fertility, creation, destruction or who embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother. In some religious traditions or movements, Heavenly Mother (also referred to as Mother in Heaven or Sky Mother) is the wife or feminine counterpart of the Sky father or God the Father.” ref

“Any masculine sky god is often also king of the gods, taking the position of patriarch within a pantheon. Such king gods are collectively categorized as “sky father” deities, with a polarity between sky and earth often being expressed by pairing a “sky father” god with an “earth mother” goddess (pairings of a sky mother with an earth father are less frequent). A main sky goddess is often the queen of the gods and may be an air/sky goddess in her own right, though she usually has other functions as well with “sky” not being her main. In antiquity, several sky goddesses in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Near East were called Queen of Heaven. Neopagans often apply it with impunity to sky goddesses from other regions who were never associated with the term historically. The sky often has important religious significance. Many religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, have deities associated with the sky.” ref

“In comparative mythology, sky father is a term for a recurring concept in polytheistic religions of a sky god who is addressed as a “father”, often the father of a pantheon and is often either a reigning or former King of the Gods. The concept of “sky father” may also be taken to include Sun gods with similar characteristics, such as Ra. The concept is complementary to an “earth mother“. “Sky Father” is a direct translation of the Vedic Dyaus Pita, etymologically descended from the same Proto-Indo-European deity name as the Greek Zeûs Pater and Roman Jupiter and Germanic Týr, Tir or Tiwaz, all of which are reflexes of the same Proto-Indo-European deity’s name, *Dyēus Ph₂tḗr. While there are numerous parallels adduced from outside of Indo-European mythology, there are exceptions (e.g. In Egyptian mythology, Nut is the sky mother and Geb is the earth father).” ref

Tutelary deity

“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

“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Korean shamanism, jangseung and sotdae were placed at the edge of villages to frighten off demons. They were also worshiped as deities. Seonangshin is the patron deity of the village in Korean tradition and was believed to embody the Seonangdang. In Philippine animism, Diwata or Lambana are deities or spirits that inhabit sacred places like mountains and mounds and serve as guardians. Such as: Maria Makiling is the deity who guards Mt. Makiling and Maria Cacao and Maria Sinukuan. In Shinto, the spirits, or kami, which give life to human bodies come from nature and return to it after death. Ancestors are therefore themselves tutelaries to be worshiped. And similarly, Native American beliefs such as Tonás, tutelary animal spirit among the Zapotec and Totems, familial or clan spirits among the Ojibwe, can be animals.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Austronesian beliefs such as: Atua (gods and spirits of the Polynesian peoples such as the Māori or the Hawaiians), Hanitu (Bunun of Taiwan‘s term for spirit), Hyang (Kawi, Sundanese, Javanese, and Balinese Supreme Being, in ancient Java and Bali mythology and this spiritual entity, can be either divine or ancestral), Kaitiaki (New Zealand Māori term used for the concept of guardianship, for the sky, the sea, and the land), Kawas (mythology) (divided into 6 groups: gods, ancestors, souls of the living, spirits of living things, spirits of lifeless objects, and ghosts), Tiki (Māori mythology, Tiki is the first man created by either Tūmatauenga or Tāne and represents deified ancestors found in most Polynesian cultures). ” ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

Mesopotamian Tutelary Deities can be seen as ones related to City-States 

“Historical city-states included Sumerian cities such as Uruk and Ur; Ancient Egyptian city-states, such as Thebes and Memphis; the Phoenician cities (such as Tyre and Sidon); the five Philistine city-states; the Berber city-states of the Garamantes; the city-states of ancient Greece (the poleis such as Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth); the Roman Republic (which grew from a city-state into a vast empire); the Italian city-states from the Middle Ages to the early modern period, such as Florence, Siena, Ferrara, Milan (which as they grew in power began to dominate neighboring cities) and Genoa and Venice, which became powerful thalassocracies; the Mayan and other cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (including cities such as Chichen Itza, Tikal, Copán and Monte Albán); the central Asian cities along the Silk Road; the city-states of the Swahili coast; Ragusa; states of the medieval Russian lands such as Novgorod and Pskov; and many others.” ref

“The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BCE; also known as Protoliterate period) of Mesopotamia, named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization. City-States like Uruk and others had a patron tutelary City Deity along with a Priest-King.” ref

“Chinese folk religion, both past, and present, includes myriad tutelary deities. Exceptional individuals, highly cultivated sages, and prominent ancestors can be deified and honored after death. Lord Guan is the patron of military personnel and police, while Mazu is the patron of fishermen and sailors. Such as Tu Di Gong (Earth Deity) is the tutelary deity of a locality, and each individual locality has its own Earth Deity and Cheng Huang Gong (City God) is the guardian deity of an individual city, worshipped by local officials and locals since imperial times.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Hinduism, personal tutelary deities are known as ishta-devata, while family tutelary deities are known as Kuladevata. Gramadevata are guardian deities of villages. Devas can also be seen as tutelary. Shiva is the patron of yogis and renunciants. City goddesses include: Mumbadevi (Mumbai), Sachchika (Osian); Kuladevis include: Ambika (Porwad), and Mahalakshmi. In NorthEast India Meitei mythology and religion (Sanamahism) of Manipur, there are various types of tutelary deities, among which Lam Lais are the most predominant ones. Tibetan Buddhism has Yidam as a tutelary deity. Dakini is the patron of those who seek knowledge.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) The Greeks also thought deities guarded specific places: for instance, Athena was the patron goddess of the city of Athens. Socrates spoke of hearing the voice of his personal spirit or daimonion:

You have often heard me speak of an oracle or sign which comes to me … . This sign I have had ever since I was a child. The sign is a voice which comes to me and always forbids me to do something which I am going to do, but never commands me to do anything, and this is what stands in the way of my being a politician.” ref

“Tutelary deities who guard and preserve a place or a person are fundamental to ancient Roman religion. The tutelary deity of a man was his Genius, that of a woman her Juno. In the Imperial era, the Genius of the Emperor was a focus of Imperial cult. An emperor might also adopt a major deity as his personal patron or tutelary, as Augustus did Apollo. Precedents for claiming the personal protection of a deity were established in the Republican era, when for instance the Roman dictator Sulla advertised the goddess Victory as his tutelary by holding public games (ludi) in her honor.” ref

“Each town or city had one or more tutelary deities, whose protection was considered particularly vital in time of war and siege. Rome itself was protected by a goddess whose name was to be kept ritually secret on pain of death (for a supposed case, see Quintus Valerius Soranus). The Capitoline Triad of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva were also tutelaries of Rome. The Italic towns had their own tutelary deities. Juno often had this function, as at the Latin town of Lanuvium and the Etruscan city of Veii, and was often housed in an especially grand temple on the arx (citadel) or other prominent or central location. The tutelary deity of Praeneste was Fortuna, whose oracle was renowned.” ref

“The Roman ritual of evocatio was premised on the belief that a town could be made vulnerable to military defeat if the power of its tutelary deity were diverted outside the city, perhaps by the offer of superior cult at Rome. The depiction of some goddesses such as the Magna Mater (Great Mother, or Cybele) as “tower-crowned” represents their capacity to preserve the city. A town in the provinces might adopt a deity from within the Roman religious sphere to serve as its guardian, or syncretize its own tutelary with such; for instance, a community within the civitas of the Remi in Gaul adopted Apollo as its tutelary, and at the capital of the Remi (present-day Rheims), the tutelary was Mars Camulus.” ref 

Household deity (a kind of or related to a Tutelary deity)

“A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in paganism as well as in folklore across many parts of the world. Household deities fit into two types; firstly, a specific deity – typically a goddess – often referred to as a hearth goddess or domestic goddess who is associated with the home and hearth, such as the ancient Greek Hestia.” ref

“The second type of household deities are those that are not one singular deity, but a type, or species of animistic deity, who usually have lesser powers than major deities. This type was common in the religions of antiquity, such as the Lares of ancient Roman religion, the Gashin of Korean shamanism, and Cofgodas of Anglo-Saxon paganism. These survived Christianisation as fairy-like creatures existing in folklore, such as the Anglo-Scottish Brownie and Slavic Domovoy.” ref

“Household deities were usually worshipped not in temples but in the home, where they would be represented by small idols (such as the teraphim of the Bible, often translated as “household gods” in Genesis 31:19 for example), amulets, paintings, or reliefs. They could also be found on domestic objects, such as cosmetic articles in the case of Tawaret. The more prosperous houses might have a small shrine to the household god(s); the lararium served this purpose in the case of the Romans. The gods would be treated as members of the family and invited to join in meals, or be given offerings of food and drink.” ref

“In many religions, both ancient and modern, a god would preside over the home. Certain species, or types, of household deities, existed. An example of this was the Roman Lares. Many European cultures retained house spirits into the modern period. Some examples of these include:

“Although the cosmic status of household deities was not as lofty as that of the Twelve Olympians or the Aesir, they were also jealous of their dignity and also had to be appeased with shrines and offerings, however humble. Because of their immediacy they had arguably more influence on the day-to-day affairs of men than the remote gods did. Vestiges of their worship persisted long after Christianity and other major religions extirpated nearly every trace of the major pagan pantheons. Elements of the practice can be seen even today, with Christian accretions, where statues to various saints (such as St. Francis) protect gardens and grottos. Even the gargoyles found on older churches, could be viewed as guardians partitioning a sacred space.” ref

“For centuries, Christianity fought a mop-up war against these lingering minor pagan deities, but they proved tenacious. For example, Martin Luther‘s Tischreden have numerous – quite serious – references to dealing with kobolds. Eventually, rationalism and the Industrial Revolution threatened to erase most of these minor deities, until the advent of romantic nationalism rehabilitated them and embellished them into objects of literary curiosity in the 19th century. Since the 20th century this literature has been mined for characters for role-playing games, video games, and other fantasy personae, not infrequently invested with invented traits and hierarchies somewhat different from their mythological and folkloric roots.” ref

“In contradistinction to both Herbert Spencer and Edward Burnett Tylor, who defended theories of animistic origins of ancestor worship, Émile Durkheim saw its origin in totemism. In reality, this distinction is somewhat academic, since totemism may be regarded as a particularized manifestation of animism, and something of a synthesis of the two positions was attempted by Sigmund Freud. In Freud’s Totem and Taboo, both totem and taboo are outward expressions or manifestations of the same psychological tendency, a concept which is complementary to, or which rather reconciles, the apparent conflict. Freud preferred to emphasize the psychoanalytic implications of the reification of metaphysical forces, but with particular emphasis on its familial nature. This emphasis underscores, rather than weakens, the ancestral component.” ref

“William Edward Hearn, a noted classicist, and jurist, traced the origin of domestic deities from the earliest stages as an expression of animism, a belief system thought to have existed also in the neolithic, and the forerunner of Indo-European religion. In his analysis of the Indo-European household, in Chapter II “The House Spirit”, Section 1, he states:

The belief which guided the conduct of our forefathers was … the spirit rule of dead ancestors.” ref

“In Section 2 he proceeds to elaborate:

It is thus certain that the worship of deceased ancestors is a vera causa, and not a mere hypothesis. …

In the other European nations, the Slavs, the Teutons, and the Kelts, the House Spirit appears with no less distinctness. … [T]he existence of that worship does not admit of doubt. … The House Spirits had a multitude of other names which it is needless here to enumerate, but all of which are more or less expressive of their friendly relations with man. … In [England] … [h]e is the Brownie. … In Scotland this same Brownie is well known. He is usually described as attached to particular families, with whom he has been known to reside for centuries, threshing the corn, cleaning the house, and performing similar household tasks. His favorite gratification was milk and honey.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

My thoughts on Religion Evolution with external links for more info:

“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: Animism, Totemism, Shamanism, Paganism & Progressed organized religion”

Understanding Religion Evolution:

“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:

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. 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref

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

Sikhism around 548–478 years old. ref

Bahá’í around 200–125 years old. ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

Knowledge to Ponder: 

Stars/Astrology:

  • Possibly, around 30,000 years ago (in simpler form) to 6,000 years ago, Stars/Astrology are connected to Ancestors, Spirit Animals, and Deities.
  • The star also seems to be a possible proto-star for Star of Ishtar, Star of Inanna, or Star of Venus.
  • Around 7,000 to 6,000 years ago, Star Constellations/Astrology have connections to the “Kurgan phenomenon” of below-ground “mound” stone/wood burial structures and “Dolmen phenomenon” of above-ground stone burial structures.
  • Around 6,500–5,800 years ago, The Northern Levant migrations into Jordon and Israel in the Southern Levant brought new cultural and religious transfer from Turkey and Iran.
  • “The Ghassulian Star,” a mysterious 6,000-year-old mural from Jordan may have connections to the European paganstic kurgan/dolmens phenomenon.

“Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindus, Chinese, and the Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the Islamicate world and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person’s personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems.” ref 

Around 5,500 years ago, Science evolves, The first evidence of science was 5,500 years ago and was demonstrated by a body of empirical, theoretical, and practical knowledge about the natural world. ref

Around 5,000 years ago, Origin of Logics is a Naturalistic Observation (principles of valid reasoning, inference, & demonstration) ref

Around 4,150 to 4,000 years ago: The earliest surviving versions of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, which was originally titled “He who Saw the Deep” (Sha naqba īmuru) or “Surpassing All Other Kings” (Shūtur eli sharrī) were written. ref

Hinduism:

  • 3,700 years ago or so, the oldest of the Hindu Vedas (scriptures), the Rig Veda was composed.
  • 3,500 years ago or so, the Vedic Age began in India after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization.

Judaism:

  • around 3,000 years ago, the first writing in the bible was “Paleo-Hebrew”
  • around 2,500 years ago, many believe the religious Jewish texts were completed

Myths: The bible inspired religion is not just one religion or one myth but a grouping of several religions and myths

  • Around 3,450 or 3,250 years ago, according to legend, is the traditionally accepted period in which the Israelite lawgiver, Moses, provided the Ten Commandments.
  • Around 2,500 to 2,400 years ago, a collection of ancient religious writings by the Israelites based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament is the first part of Christianity’s bible.
  • Around 2,400 years ago, the most accepted hypothesis is that the canon was formed in stages, first the Pentateuch (Torah).
  • Around 2,140 to 2,116 years ago, the Prophets was written during the Hasmonean dynasty, and finally the remaining books.
  • Christians traditionally divide the Old Testament into four sections:
  • The first five books or Pentateuch (Torah).
  • The proposed history books telling the history of the Israelites from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon.
  • The poetic and proposed “Wisdom books” dealing, in various forms, with questions of good and evil in the world.
  • The books of the biblical prophets, warning of the consequences of turning away from God:
  • Henotheism:
  • Exodus 20:23 “You shall not make other gods besides Me (not saying there are no other gods just not to worship them); gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.”
  • Polytheism:
  • Judges 10:6 “Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.”
  • 1 Corinthians 8:5 “For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords.”
  • Monotheism:
  • Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.

Around 2,570 to 2,270 Years Ago, there is a confirmation of atheistic doubting as well as atheistic thinking, mainly by Greek philosophers. However, doubting gods is likely as old as the invention of gods and should destroy the thinking that belief in god(s) is the “default belief”. The Greek word is apistos (a “not” and pistos “faithful,”), thus not faithful or faithless because one is unpersuaded and unconvinced by a god(s) claim. Short Definition: unbelieving, unbeliever, or unbelief.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Expressions of Atheistic Thinking:

  • Around 2,600 years ago, Ajita Kesakambali, ancient Indian philosopher, who is the first known proponent of Indian materialism. ref
  • Around 2,535 to 2,475 years ago, Heraclitus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor or modern Turkey. ref
  • Around 2,500 to 2,400 years ago, according to The Story of Civilization book series certain African pygmy tribes have no identifiable gods, spirits, or religious beliefs or rituals, and even what burials accrue are without ceremony. ref
  • Around 2,490 to 2,430 years ago, Empedocles, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. ref
  • Around 2,460 to 2,370 years ago, Democritus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher considered to be the “father of modern science” possibly had some disbelief amounting to atheism. ref
  • Around 2,399 years ago or so, Socrates, a famous Greek philosopher was tried for sinfulness by teaching doubt of state gods. ref
  • Around 2,341 to 2,270 years ago, Epicurus, a Greek philosopher known for composing atheistic critics and famously stated, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?” ref

This last expression by Epicurus, seems to be an expression of Axiological Atheism. To understand and utilize value or actually possess “Value Conscious/Consciousness” to both give a strong moral “axiological” argument (the problem of evil) as well as use it to fortify humanism and positive ethical persuasion of human helping and care responsibilities. Because value-blindness gives rise to sociopathic/psychopathic evil.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref, ref, ref 

Animism: Respecting the Living World by Graham Harvey 

“How have human cultures engaged with and thought about animals, plants, rocks, clouds, and other elements in their natural surroundings? Do animals and other natural objects have a spirit or soul? What is their relationship to humans? In this new study, Graham Harvey explores current and past animistic beliefs and practices of Native Americans, Maori, Aboriginal Australians, and eco-pagans. He considers the varieties of animism found in these cultures as well as their shared desire to live respectfully within larger natural communities. Drawing on his extensive casework, Harvey also considers the linguistic, performative, ecological, and activist implications of these different animisms.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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 one: Prehistory: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” the division of labor, power, rights, and recourses.

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!

Show seven: Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State)

Show eight: Paganism 4,000 years old: Moralistic gods after the rise of Statism and often support Statism/Kings: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism)

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 (Eridu “Tell Abu Shahrain”)

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 (King/Ruler Lugalzagesi)

Show #7: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Sargon and Akkadian Rule)

Show #8: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Naram-Sin, Post-Akkadian Rule, and the Gutians)

Show #9: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Gudea of Lagash and Utu-hegal)

Show #10: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Third Dynasty of Ur / Neo-Sumerian Empire)

Show #11: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Amorites, Elamites, and the End of an Era)

Show #12: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Aftermath and Legacy of Sumer)

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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. 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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

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