In my prehistory art in this blog, I offer my speculations relating to art with possible religious/supernatural thinking which I think are justified or reasoned speculations/conjectures.
My thoughts on speculations/conjectures:
Unreasoned speculations/conjectures
Wild speculations/conjectures
Lose speculations/conjectures
Justified speculations/conjectures
Reasoned speculations/conjectures
Sound/proven speculations/conjectures
First a Little on the More Common Vulva in Stone Age Art
“Over 2000 figurines, reliefs and sculptures of female images from the Paleolithic have been found in caves and habitation sites extending from Europe to Asia. There are some male figures in caves as well as in La Marche in France , but there are very few male statuettesthat I am aware of—very few penises, but an abundance of vulvas.” ref
“The vulva is well represented in Palaeolithic art. It is mostly seen as engravings on stone, bone or ivory. The representation is obviously a well known one that has become abstracted to the point where it is often no more than an oval or circle with a single mark at its center or at its lower edge. Although many examples are from Europe, and from the upper Palaeolithic, it occurs over a broad time range, and a very large area, including not just Europe, but Australia as well.” ref
“The vagina/vulva have been depicted in art from prehistory representing the female genitals as long ago as 35,000 years ago, people sculpted Venus figurines that exaggerated the abdomen, hips, breasts, thighs, or vulva. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional representations of the vulva, i.e. paintings and figurines, exist from tens of millennia ago. They are some of the earliest works of prehistoric art. The cave of Chufín located in the town of Riclones in Cantabria (Spain) has prehistoric rock art which may be a depiction of the vulva. The cave was occupied at different periods, the oldest being around 20,000 years ago. Aside from schematic engravings and paintings of animals, there are also many symbols, such as a those known as “sticks”. There is also a large number of drawings using points (puntillaje), including one which has been interpreted as a representation of a vulva.” ref
“A Venus figurine is an Upper Paleolithic statuette portraying a woman. Most have been unearthed in Europe, but others have been found as far away as Siberia, extending their distribution across much of Eurasia. Most of them date from the Gravettian period (28,000–22,000 years ago), but examples exist as early as the Venus of Hohle Fels, which dates back at least 35,000 years to the Aurignacian, and as late as the Venus of Monruz, from about 11,000 years ago in the Magdalenian.” ref
“An engraving of what might be female genitalia (inset) from France’s Abri Castanet clocks in at 37,000 years, at least as old as the famous Chauvet Cave.” ref
“Paleolithic paintings contain many signs, which cannot be interpreted as pictures or figures. The transition between iconic signs and abstract signs (symbols) occurs first with very frequent contents. Two human body-parts appear regularly in the paintings and engravings: the human hand and the female vulva. Small pictures as in portable art could have triggered the abstraction. The miniature signs were conventionalized and later added to full-scale pictures in the cave paintings. This is basically the same process as the one observed in the evolution of early writing systems (e.g. in Egypt). Some of the small signs assimilate the form of spearheads, i.e. they copy traits of their support.” ref
“A selection of small signs from Leroi-Gourhan associates these signs with the male sex (as phallic symbols). Full signs are associated with the female sex. Either they are derived from the form of the vulva, or from a female profile (without head and feet). The signs called “tecti-forms” or rectangular that look like huts or shelters and could refer secondarily to the domain of females. The punctuated signs can be related to a basic technique of painting and engraving, i.e. to aligned points, which produce a curve or two rows of them, which fill a surface. It is thus a discrete variant in the representation of lines and surfaces. There is some evidence that counting or representing ritualized mathematical structures may underlie these signs then just simple art. From symbolic signs a first pathway leads to ornaments and a second to writing systems, in which the individual signal looses its pictorial character whereas the sequence of signs still has a content (in contrast to pure ornaments). As the Nilotic cultures melted into the civilization of early Egypt, there was continuity (in the Mesolithic period) between Paleolithic art in Northern Africa and early writing systems (e.g. in Egypt). The hieroglyphic characters are pictorial (although schematized) and sequential, i.e. they are at the level of semi-symbolic signs in the hierarchy. As soon as signs for a word with one consonant were used as signs for this consonant, a consonantal alphabet could be created.” ref
European Paleolithic Decorated Phallic Items.
“Researchers report that in European Paleolithic art, a total of just 702 full-body human representations (as opposed to partial depictions—a handprint, for example) have been discovered and only 74 of these representations can be classified as unambiguously male. Scholars have described at least 60 prehistoric archaeological pieces with a suggestive phallic form in European Paleolithic art from a registry of 462 partial elements. From our perspective 42 of these representations can be considered unequivocal male genital forms. More curious still is the observation that 30 of the 42 portable phalli appear to be decorated with a variety of intricate designs, including concentric lines; geometric protrusions; series of carefully arranged dots; and naturalistic forms (including humans and animal figures) — all of which, it bears mentioning, resemble designs found in caves adorned with symbolic, Paleolithic wall art. The designs observed on 30 of the 42 portable phalli, explain the researchers, “probably represent decoration produced by skin scarification, cutting, piercing and tattooing,” and could very well “provide a clue to the anthropological origin of current genital tattooing and piercing.” ref
“Drawings, carvings and sculptures from the Upper Paleolithic showing human beings are scarce with fewer than a hundred males depicted, of which approximately a third are rep-resented in erection. Moreover, a few phalli carved on horn, bone or stone with variable morphology have survived to our day and are all represented in erection. This collection also reveals the existence of a culture beyond frontier limits that explicitly worshiped the male genital organ. Although the evidence available throughout millennia is still sketchy,erection appears clearly represented in Paleolithic art in almost all unequivocally masculine figures and in many everyday, decorative, portable art objects. These pieces show evidence of a culture that favored preputial retraction. Upper Paleolithic humans could have even practiced circumcision, which would explain the scarcity of phimotic phallic representations shown in caves or museums.” ref
“There is no doubt that from a technical point of view lithic technology had been developed to achieve clean cutting and, furthermore, knowledge of the curative proper-ties of ointments and creams made of natural elements could have facilitated the development of this curative medical practice. The researchers present evidence supporting the hypothesis that human beings in the Upper Paleolithic era performed interventions on the phallus apart from circumcision, such as ritual and decorative cutting and scarification, single or multiple piercing and tattooing. To the researchers knowledge these procedures represent the first evidence of surgery performed on the male genital organ, possibly for ornamental purposes. The researchers discuss the meaning and sense of these practices based on the available Paleolithic graphic registry and on the knowledge of similar practices performed by some primitive humans.” ref
36,000 years old Phallus from Abri Blanchard, Southwestern France.
“This is a very interesting phallus carved from a bison horn from Abri Blanchard. The carving is about 36 000 years old and must be one of the largest such phallus shapes ever found. The carving shows clearly the cleft at the end of the phallus, seen especially in the photo on the right.” ref
30,700 year old Vogelherd, France Phallic Anthropomorphic Statuette.
“The Vogelherd anthropomorphic statuette was in this milieu that a number of quality works of art were collected, a large series of animal sculptures in ivory (mammoth, horse, bison, bears, reindeer, wolf, panther?), and in the upper layer 4, a human figure. Unfortunately it is not know the exact position of discovery of the statue in the stratigraphy of layer 4, that is to say in the most recent Aurignacian layer. It is not forbidden to think, under these conditions, it may have been associated with the Gravettian points, and it could be contemporaneous with female statuettes of the Western Upper Perigordian. The fact should be emphasised, however, that this model – which has some similarities with that of Trou-Magrite, Belgium – is not likely to be formally considered feminine. Vogelherd cave is located on the edge of the Lone valley, about 1 km northwest of Stetten and northeast of the Alb-Donau county (Alb-Donau-Kreis). The cave covers an area of 170 square meters. This extremely important site, rich in finds.” ref
14,000 years old Mas d’Azil, France Phallus Pendant
“Phallus from Mas d’Azil which is generally regarded as a pendant because of two holes in the piece. Moreover, at the distal phalliform end, a third, broken perforation could be the remains of the hole of a bâton percé. At the proximal end shown at right are eight contiguous lines of cords shown in relief denoting the ‘whipping’ denoted by carving. Like the harpoon from Kniegrotte, Dobritz (Germany), shown below, it seems that the attention to detail was extended to include the strands of the cord.” ref
Vermelhosa’s panel 3 bird headed warriors and decorated phallus Iron Age Art (1st Millennium BC) from Vermelhosa, Portugal.
“Besides the figures attributable to the Palaeolithic times there are also petroglyphs that can be dated to the Iron Age (1st Millennium BC; 3,000-2,000 years ago). These figures are engraved scratching the rock surface, sometimes with a stone, other times with a metal tool, as it is possible to note from the outlining. The Iron Age figures are warriors standing with the weapons upraised, duellists armed with spears and shields, and riders, probably hunters armed with spears. Among the figures there are also animals: horses and dogs, wild or domesticated. The weaponry utilised by the warriors is usually a spear where it is possibly to see not only the spearhead but also the ferrule; the shields represented are usually seen with a concavity towards the outside. But the weapons are represented in a too schematic way and it is not possible to compare the figures with real objects. One of the riders has the representation of a helmet that can be interpreted as a Celtic helmet.” ref
“The analysis of the style of the figures gives more chronological information: it is possible to note that there are two main styles in the anthropomorphic figures, one where the bust is represented as trapezoidal, the upper part of the legs are longer compared to the lower part. In the other style the bust is drawn in a sort of eight, like a bi-triangle but with curved shaped angles. There is always the representation of a belt with parallel and horizontal lines. From the chronological point of view the warriors can be compared with a representation of warriors in painted Iberian pottery as in Numantine vases or the famous Liria vases of the last centuries of the 1st millennium BC. ” ref
“Vermelhosa’s panel 3 presents a remarkable group of representations. In the center of the panel there is a big human figure with a birdlike head, with a well define eye, armed with spear and round shield. To its left there is a second bird headed figure carrying a vase on its head. To the right, in the middle of tangled lines there is a necrophagous bird with its beak ending in an undulating double line. Bellow another human with a bird shaped head near a bird of prey. Under the large warrior, two other bird headed warriors fight in a duel, armed with spears and caetra. One of them has the reins of a horse tied to his waist. Another bird headed human figure carries a vase on his head bellow this scene, and near the ground level two necrophagous birds eat a fish. From its comparison with Iberian iconography, we interpret this type of images as representations of the warrior chiefs’ heroization after death. This art would define a border, eventually between populi, but also between the living and the dead. It would work as a social reproduction mechanism, naturalizing an ideology of power, defining space and attributing meaning to it.” ref
Phallic Decoration in Paleolithic Art: Genital Scarification, Piercing and Tattoos
Study Purpose:
“The primitive anthropological meaning of genital ornamentation is not clearly defined and the origin of penile intervention for decorative purposes is lost in time. Corporeal decoration was practiced in the Upper Paleolithic period. The study discusses the existing evidence on the practice of phallic piercing, scarring, and tattooing in prehistory.” ref
Materials and Methods:
“The researchers studied the archaeological and artistic evidence regarding explicit genital male representations in portable art made in Europe approximately 38,000 to 11,000 years ago with special emphasis on decorations suggesting genital ornamentation.” ref
Results:
“Archaeological evidence that has survived to our day includes 42 phallic pieces, of which 30 (71.4%) show intentional marks to a different extent with a probable decorative purpose. Of these ornamental elements 18 (60%) were recovered from the upper Magdalenian period (11,000 to 12,700 years ago) in France and Spain, and 23 (76.7%) belong to the category of perforated batons. Decorations show lines (70% of objects), plaques (26.7%), dots/holes (23.3%) or even human/animal forms (13.3%). These designs most probably represent skin scarification, cutting, piercing and tattooing. Notably there are some technical similarities between the motifs represented and some designs present in symbolic cave wall art. This evidence may show the anthropological origin of current male genital piercing and tattooing.” ref
“Noticeably 30 of the 42 phalli (71.4%) mentioned show marks of a different kind that suggest genital ornamentation. They were excavated from a wide territory, mostly in France, rarely in Spain, and exceptionally in Germany and Ukraine. Multiple pieces were recovered from the same archeological site in Roc de Marcamps, Gironde; Isturitz, Pyrénées- Atlantiques; Farincourt, Haute-Marne; La Garenne, In-dre; Le Placard, Charente; Mas d’Azil, Ariège; Bru-niquel, Tarn-et-Garonne; La Madeleine, Dordogne;and El Pendo, Cantabria. Also, isolated examples were found at other settlements, such as Laugerie-Basse or Gorge d’Enfer and Forne du Diable, Dor-dogne; Rigney, Doubs; El Rascaño, Cantabria; Cuetode la Mina, Asturias; Vogelherd, Baden-Württem-berg; and Mézine, Novgorod-Severskyi.” ref
“In regard to chronological data only 2 pieces (6.7%) are considered Gravettian or older (more than 20,000 years ago), 4 (13.3%) are considered early Magdalenian/ Solutrean (20,000 to 16,000 years ago) and 6 (20%) are considered middle Magdalenian (16,000 to 12,700 years ago) while 18 (60%) were definitely recovered from an upper Magdalenian context, ie they were made 11,000 to 12,700 years ago. The ivory statuette from Vogelherd is possibly the one of the oldest obvious decorated phallus with an age of more than 30,000 years.” ref
“Its shaft was pierced by 6 series of deep, equidistant dots. Possibly the most popular piece is a fragmented baton found in Gorged’Enfer. It is a double penis filled with plaques and marks suggesting scarification. Curiously despite its age of 12,000 years it is a reminder of the classic Roman representation of Fascinus as a protector from witchcraft and bad luck. One of the most richly decorated objects is an ivory pendant found in the Mas d’Azil cave by Édouard Piette. This phallus, aged approximately 14,000 years, has the anatomical details depicted and is fully decorated. Multiple lines of small dots cross thepenile glands. Each side of the balanopreputial sul-cus is pierced and from these tiny perforations 2lines, made of multiple marks, descend to the base of the penis.” ref
“These lines are circumscribed by 8 paral-lel lines formed by triangles. Other oblique linescross the body of the penis and coalesce over theurethra. If this representation is naturalistic, asshould be expected, this decoration is a beautifulexample of tattooing. These 3 examples of piercing,scarring and tattooing are some of the most notice-able pieces. However, many others are examples of elaborate genital decoration, as evidenced in imagesavailable in classic publications (fig. 2).In practical terms the usefulness of these arti-facts is totally unknown, although 23 (76.7%) belongto the category of pierced batons and 7 (23.3%) areisolated decorative elements. Some have differentdesigns.” ref
“A series of lines is present in 21 objects(70%), protruding geometric plaques are shown in 8(26.7%), different sized holes are seen in 7 (23.3%)and naturalistic forms (human or animal figures)appear in 4 (13.3%). These designs probably repre-sent decoration produced by skin scarification, cut-ting, piercing and tattooing. Noticeably there aresome technical similarities among the geometricalmotifs represented, including structures comprisingseries of dots or lines (fig. 3), and some designspresent in caves with Paleolithic symbolic cave wallart in different places in France and Spain, eg Alta-mira, Monte Castillo, Chufín and Niaux. Thus, wethought that this evidence may provide a clue to the anthropological origin of current genital tattooingand piercing.” ref
Conclusions:
“European Paleolithic art shows decoration explicitly represented in a high proportion of portable art objects with a phallic form that have survived to our day. Decorative rituals of male genital tattooing, piercing and scarification may have been practiced during Paleolithic times.” ref
Paleolithic legacy: From Genital Decoration to Penile Mutilation
“Although human depictions are, generally speaking, seldom seen in prehistory (before written language), female genital representations are relatively common motifs in prehistoric times all over the world, often preserved on cave walls and rock shelters. Not often seen or depicted, male genitals were also represented on cave wall art, both as isolated forms or as complete human male images, commonly known as ithyphallics. Moreover, female and male genitalia were sculptured on pieces obtained from excavations of archeological sites. These vulvar or phallic portable elements were etched (or carved) in stone, bone or antler. It should also be noted that humans and their genitals were also sometimes depicted as fine carvings in the decoration of bone fragments and small stones.” ref
“The most antique representations in prehistory date from the Upper Paleolithic (approximately 40,000-12,000 years ago and were found in Western Europe, especially Iberia and France. However, wall art is a phenomenon present all over the world and both human figures and genital motives can be seen in every continent. Classically, anthropologists and Paleolithic art experts have related the erectile status depicted in prehistoric art to rituals of fertility, possibly influenced by male deities in Levant Neolithic (9,000-6,000 years ago) and also by Chalcolithic Atlantic culture (6,000-4,000 years ago) that transformed the landscape building megalithic tombs and setting menhirs with phallic shape in many places in Europe. In those late prehistoric times humans have ceased being hunter gatherers and settled in a territory. Their future depended on the fertility of the land, crops and animals. However, in more ancient times, during the Paleolithic period, the meaning of penile representations was much richer and more diverse.” ref
“A Paleolithic penis can be represented as part of a human or animal form and also as an isolated figure by itself. The size of the phallic representation seems an important issue. It is true that the phallus sometimes appears more important than the human form and is the optic clue that determines the representation as an outstanding part of the whole. However, the size of the penis is not always that exaggerated and sometimes the penis is represented but almost hidden to the eyes of the observer or timidly suggested.” ref
“Human and animal erection captivated the artist’s minds and possibly implied virility and strength, not opposed to the feminine but to nature itself. Man or animal against nature or even better defined, the individual and its seeding or reproductive capacity against an adverse natural world, of which, paradoxically, the individual is also part of. Many ithyphallic men share animal and human characteristics; that is, they mixed details of different animal species, according to what has been called anthropomorphic thinking which was characteristic of the Paleolithic mind. They are usually represented alone, not as part of a scene in very noticeable places in caves, and often referred to as sorcerers although there is no evidence of religious feeling behind these representations.” ref
“In rarer examples these ithyphallics were a part of a composition of figures. In several of these, male erection is associated with serious danger or death. Erection could mean virility and strength, not fertility as in Neolithics, and I dare say not opposed to the feminine but to nature and the animal world. The link between erection and dangerous situations has been interpreted as a representation of the transition to death, possibly a shamanistic interpretation of the physiologic phenomenon of male orgasm linked to the loss of the soul.” ref
“Among others we have some beautiful examples of this dreadful association in the Lascaux cave where a hunter lies dead on the ground in front of an eviscerated bison (Montignac, France) or in the Addaura cave (Palermo, Sicily) where a group of men are about to be suffocated and surrounded by a group of executor dancers. In fact, the erect hunted hunter in Lascaux lies dead on the ground near an eviscerated bison (Montignac, France). Sometimes males and male genitals are represented close to females or female genitals, and these representations recall mating rituals. Even coital scenes are also depicted. These representations are more frequent between animals than humans. Possibly the oldest human intercourse were represented in Los Casares cave (Guadalajara, Spain) and in a stone block detached from the Laussel shelter (Dordogne, France) (Gravettian- Solutrean, around 20,000 years ago).” ref
“Other coital scenes which are absolutely naturalistic and, sexually speaking, diverse were represented in some stone blocks in the La Marche cave (Vienne, France) and in Enlène cave (Midi-Pyrénées, France) (Magdalenian, around 12,000 years years ago). In some blocks from La Marche several scenes represent sex, but definitely not leading to reproduction. Also in Ribeira do Piscos (Foz Coa, Portugal) are thousands of Paleolithic representations which were produced in the open air on river banks and tributaries to the Douro river, also at Magdalenian time, where an ejaculating large size human figure was depicted with a prominent penis and its emission carved on a vertical rock. His mouth is open, with rays shining out or irradiating from his head, representing orgasm. In another very curious carving in open air at the Coa Valley, rear penetration with a condom was represented! However, it must be noted that this image is post-Paleolithic.” ref
“Ritualistic phallic forms Many portable art elements are batons on antler or bone and have the form and size of the penis. A collection of such instruments with phallic forms done with antler, bone, or stone have been recovered in the context of habitation from different excavations, most of them in France (Figure 4). All over Europe, other bone instruments of unknown use with prominent phallic decorations have also been found. This material was far from being waste itself, because it could have been used to make valuable spear points or pendants instead. Some believe they constitute dildos or domestic masturbating devices, but they could also have been used in rituals. The real meanings of these devices are totally unknown, but indicate that erection was important enough in these people’s minds to merit a depiction and preservation.” ref
“Several Paleolithic phallic instruments recovered from different excavations in France. These pieces show evidence of a culture that favored prepuce retraction. If Upper Paleolithic humans would have practiced circumcision, that would explain the scarcity of phallic representations that show phimosis. Also from a technical point of view, lithics had been developed to achieve clean cutting, and knowledge of the curative properties of ointments and creams made of natural elements could have facilitated the development of curative medical knowledge as well. Of course not all Paleolithic penises appear circumcised. On cave walls sometimes phimosis is evident in the depictions of some ithyphallics with sharpened or point-ending erectile phalluses (Murat, Gabillou, Tuc d’Audoubert, Les Trois-Frères, Les Combarelles, and as mentioned previously, in Lascaux and Addaura) an there is also an example with para-phimosis (Fronsac).” ref
“However, the majority of Paleolithic penises on portable art do not show phimosis. One of the batons recovered from Roc-de- Marcamps (Gironde, France) displays concentric lines on the preputial skin that covers the gland, possibly signaling the mark where to cut if circumcision was to be performed. Curiously, this is one of two portable art phalli represented with phimosis. The other example recovered in Fourneau-du-Diable (Dordogne, France) reveals partial preputial skin retraction However, we cannot ascertain that Paleolithic people practiced circumcision, but these observations favor a general culture of penile foreskin retraction, genital hygiene care and very likely the practice of circumcision. Although no specific ritual of circumcision has been represented in Paleolithic art, these data provide indirect evidence of its practice; possibly for decorative purpose or as a body mark, it may also have become fashionable.” ref
Body decoration
“There is archeological evidence that modern humans, and even Neanderthals, performed rituals of body decoration. Colors have been used as skin paint and make-up and hair dying were also applied. It should therefore not be surprising that some types of permanent corporal decorations may also have been performed. In fact, engravings with human representations and statuettes also provide evidence that body scars were considered aesthetical throughout the Upper Paleolithic.” ref
“Phallic decoration with a series of dots and lines is explicitly represented in European Palaeolithic art for identification or ornamental purposes. Scars, holes and marks appear intentionally and were made on the surface of the penis. Therefore, circumcision, male genital tattooing, piercing and scarification may have been decorative surgeries practiced during Paleolithic times. Most of the archaeological evidences of decorated phalli are Magdalenian elements that were recovered in France, but these designs could have been performed several thousand years earlier in Eastern Europe. It is therefore impossible to state the real origins of these peculiar prehistoric decorative rituals, but they could have taken place during a long time span between 38,000 to 11,000 years ago.” ref
“Among those prehistoric rituals of prepuce retraction, circumcision, sub-incision, dorsal cutting, piercing, tattooing and scarification, only circumcision has continued, possibly because this practice is not only fashionable but also useful. Other practices, the intention of which was also to segregate individuals from the collective and to a specific marked group, have outlived very occasionally and remain purely anecdotal and decorative, and mainly among marginal individuals. The same happens in modern primitives today; the roots behind body decoration were most probably spiritual, such as animist superstitions, based on a belief that ink and body art can protect the body from evil. Possibly, prehistoric tattooing and other forms of body decoration may have followed similar patterns of behavior.” ref
Genital decoration
“Otzi, the Neolithic man recovered from ice in the Alps gives definite proof that body tattoo was practiced in the final phases of European prehistory. Also during the metal ages, there is evidence of genital decoration in the warriors struggling in Vermelhosa (Foz Coa, Portugal) represented in a fine open air carving and also in the human representation in a stela from Badajoz (Spain) in the late Bronze age (3,200-2,700 years ago). These late prehistoric images represent penile infibulation, a form of penile mutilation that prevented warriors from losing their energy in penetration. This is another intervention in the penis, consisting of the insertion of a fibula that closes the preputial skin and interrupts male erection and intercourse. This same procedure has been performed in some modern primitive beings in Asia, Africa and America.” ref
“In conclusion, the representation of the penis throughout the different phases of prehistory is amazingly varied and rich. Far from being a nasty graffiti, the depiction of the phallus has captivated prehistoric artists and is a very important graphical motif that gives us many indirect clues on how our ancestors behaved and thought.” ref
A Phallic Representation Where common in the Magdalenian
“Middle Magdalenian Period (about 14,000 years ago) baguette demi-ronde, possibly one half of a projectile point that together with another similar one would form a specific point. The Magdalenian refers to one of the later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic in western Europe, dating from around 17,000 to 12,000/11,000 years ago or so. It is named after the type site of La Madeleine, a rock shelter located in the Vézère valley, commune of Tursac, in the Dordogne department of France. the Magdalenian is synonymous in many people’s minds with reindeer hunters, although Magdalenian sites also contain extensive evidence for the hunting of red deer, horses, and other large mammals present in Europe toward the end of the last ice age. The culture was geographically widespread, and later Magdalenian sites have been found from Portugal in the west to Poland in the east. Most remarkable is the evidence La Madeleine affords of prehistoric art. Numbers of bones, reindeer antlers, and animal teeth were found, with crude pictures carved or etched on them of seals, fishes, reindeer, mammoths, and other creatures. The best of these is a mammoth engraved on a fragment of its own ivory; a dagger of reindeer antler, with a handle in form of a reindeer; a cave-bear cut on a flat piece of schist; a seal on a bear’s tooth; a fish drawn on a reindeer antler; and a complete picture, also on reindeer antler, showing horses, an aurochs, trees, and a snake biting a man’s leg. The man is naked, which, together with the snake, suggests a warm climate in spite of the presence of the reindeer. There is extensive debate about the precise nature of the earliest Magdalenian assemblages, and it remains questionable whether the Badegoulian culture is, in fact, the earliest phase of the Magdalenian. Similarly, finds from the forest of Beauregard near Paris often have been suggested as belonging to the earliest Magdalenian. The earliest Magdalenian sites are all found in France. The Epigravettian is a similar culture appearing at the same time. Its known range extends from southeast France to the western shores of the Volga River, Russia, with a large number of sites in Italy. The later phases of the Magdalenian are also synonymous with the human re-settlement of north-western Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum during the Late Glacial Maximum. Research in Switzerland, southern Germany, and Belgium has provided AMS radiocarbon dating to support this. Being hunter gatherers, Magdalenians did not simply re-settle permanently in north-west Europe, however, as they often followed herds and moved depending on seasons. ref, ref
“Male genital representations appears to have been most common in France and Spain around 12,000 years ago. The meaning of the symbols remains a mystery, but many match images found on cave art from the same period. Warriors at Vermelhossa (Vila nova de Foz Coa, Portugal). Men in prehistoric Europe scarred, pierced and tattooed their penises, likely for ritualistic and social group reasons, according to a new study. The alteration, or surgery, might have just been for ornamental purposes, or a piercing, the researchers suggest. Phallic decoration became prevalent among men of the Magdalenian culture in France and Spain about 12,000 years ago.” ref
“The tattooing and manipulation of body parts have always functioned as a way for people to express themselves. Many of the marks are geometric shapes, such as triangles or circles appear to match those of figures seen within Paleolithic cave art from the same regions. This suggests that the symbols may have held important meanings for people then, these designs are part of an unknown code,” though some of them might have been made exclusively for a decorative purpose. Other possible explanations for the symbols include “territorial signs or landmarks, shamanistic repetitive marks in the passage to an unconscious world, some forms of primitive counting, the investigation of non-figurative artistic expression playing with spaces and light and darkness. Who knows? What is clear is that phallic decoration became more prevalent among men of the Magdalenian Culture in France and Spain about 12,000 years ago. Earlier humans of the Gravettian culture, known for characteristic tools such as carving blades, appear to have favored more exaggerated depictions of sexuality, as is evident in many of their “Venus” figurines of naked women. The Magdalenians, on the other hand, had a more naturalistic concept of beauty.” ref
“Is the proposed art referred to as the swimming Reindeer a possible phallus? From France, it is a 13,000-year-old (Magdalenian) sculpture of two swimming reindeer ornately carved from the tusk of a mammoth. sted with mammoths. The evidence for coexistence with mammoths came not only from the reindeer but also from a carved spear thrower which was found in the same location. This device was used to gain extra leverage when throwing a spear. In this case, it was made from a piece of reindeer antler that had been carved into the shape of a mammoth. The sculpture shows a female reindeer closely followed by a larger male reindeer. The larger male is indicated by his size, antlers, and genitals, whilst the female has her teats modeled. The reindeer are thought to be swimming in illustration of the migration of deer that would have taken place each autumn. It is known that it would be autumn as both reindeer are shown with antlers, and only during autumn do both male and female reindeer have antlers. At this time of year, reindeer would be much easier to hunt, and the meat, skin, and antlers would be at their best. Each of the reindeer has been marked with a burin to show different coloring and texture in the deer’s coat. Oddly there are ten deeper cuts on each side of the back of the leading female reindeer. These may have been intended to indicate colored markings, but their purpose is unclear.” ref, ref,
“Montastruc decorated stone (possible female in a rather phallic expression to it) on a slab of limestone around 13,000 years old, with a scratched or engraved human figure on a piece of limestone – which appears to be female –used as a lamp. From Courbet Cave, France. The piece was excavated from Courbet Cave, Montastruc, Tarn-et-Garonne, Midi-Pyrénées, France, on the northern bank of the river Aveyron, a tributary of the Tarn. It is dated to around 11,000 BCE, locally the Late Magdalenian culture during the Upper Palaeolithic, towards the end of the last Ice Age. The engraving seems to have been made after the stone lamp broke, as the figure is neatly centered on the fragment. The headless figure is shown from the side, bending to the right, with the large rounded buttocks and thigh carefully drawn. The thin torso features a small sharp triangle that may indicate the breasts, or perhaps arms held out. The two lines defining the front and rear of the profile are continuous and “confidently drawn”, though they converge at knee level. Extra lines below the waist may represent an apron or skirt. Similar characteristics can be found in engraved figures from Neuwied in Germany.” ref
“Pinhole Cave Man (a 12,000 years old male representation), or Pin Hole Cave Man (Pin Hole Cave Cave or Rock Shelter), has become the common name for an engraving of a human figure on a woolly rhinoceros rib bone. Pin Hole man was described as an engraving of a masked human figure in the act of dancing a ceremonial dance. The piece was found in Pin Hole Cave, Creswell Crags, Derbyshire, England. The Pinhole Caveman or Pin Hole Cave Man is the common name for an engraving of a human figure on a woolly rhinoceros rib bone dating to the Upper Paleolithic woolly rhinoceros rib (Coelodonta antiquitatis) that was broken at both ends was found in Pin Hole Cave, Creswell Crags, Derbyshire, England. The bone is dated to the Late Upper Paleolithic, about 12,000 years old. Near one of the broken ends is engraved a male human figure. The drawing, faces to the right and is clearly a man as he has a penis – this may have been an earlier feature of the bone that was enhanced. His thin arm stretches out from his body. His head may be wearing a mask – or he is just drawn with a protruding nose and jaw. He has legs that appear incomplete, a crooked back, and a long engraved line across his upper body. The surface of the bone is scratched all over; on the reverse side of the bone, there are two parallel engraved lines. This is one of only two pieces of British Upper Paleolithic portable art which shows a figure. The other is the Robin Hood Cave Horse, another image engraved on a bone, found in the nearby Robin Hood Cave. It is similar to other pictures of male humans known from France at this period. The lack of clothes and the “cartoon” or “masked” heads are common features which suggest an artistic fashion. Like many human depictions in Palaeolithic art, the figure is crudely drawn; animals are typically better executed. This was not through a lack of ability, as animals are often represented with degrees of realism – see for example the Robin Hood Cave Horse.” ref
Han dynasty , double phallus representations China,
“Han dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China (2,206 years ago – 220 AD), preceded by the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). Spanning over four centuries, the Han period is considered a golden age in Chinese history.” ref
“The first known indications of homosexual and bisexual practices among human beings go back to Prehistory, approximately 12,000 years ago; some cave paintings seem to be homoerotic, and among the devices used by humans at the time were phallic-shaped objects. The most interesting object with this characteristic is the so-called double phallus of Gorge d’Enfer, found in a homonymous cave in France, and which seems to be the first lesbian sex toy. Homoerotism became evident in the art of the Mesolithic period (11,660-7,000 yeears ago), with a rock from Sicily in which it seems to depict women and men dance around a pair of male figures who appear to be having sex.” ref
“8,000 years ago phallic depictions in prehistoric cave art southern Asia Minor. The primitive human figures involved the phallus pointing the ground almost the same size with legs. The caves are named as Akyapı (AlaKapı) are located at a height of 750 meters above the sea level inside “Taurus” mountains.” ref
“The Alunda moose is a Neolithic artistic phalic like stone axe 4,000 years old from Uppland, Sweden. The Alunda moose is considered one of the most beautiful animal sculptures of the Nordic neolithic and is a 21 cm. ceremonial axe carved from greenish black diorite. One side is shaped like a moose head. The sculpture was realized in a naturalisitic and elegant manner. The axe has a shaft hole but only had a symbolic function since the hole is not completely bored through and the axe hasn’t been used in battle. The axe may originate from Karelia where similar animal depictions are known.” ref
“The Adorant from the Geißenklösterle cave is a 35,000-to-40,000-year-old section of mammoth ivory with a depiction of a human figure, found in the Geißenklösterle cave in the Swabian Jura near Blaubeuren, Germany. The front face has a human figure of uncertain sex in relief, with raised arms and outstretched legs, but no hands. The posture is usually interpreted as an expression of worship, which is why in German the figure is called an “adorant”, a word meaning “worshipper”. It has been claimed that a belt and sword can be seen, although these are probably natural features of the ivory. On the plate’s reverse are rows of small notches. The piece is 38 mm (1.50 in) tall, 14 mm (0.55 in) wide, and 4.5 mm (0.18 in) thick. Traces of manganese and ochre can be found on it by microscope analysis. It is somewhat like the Lion-Human of Hohlenstein-Stadel ivory statue also found in Germany.” ref
“The Löwenmensch figurine, also called the Lion-Human of Hohlenstein-Stadel, is a prehistoric ivory sculpture discovered in Hohlenstein-Stadel, a German cave. The German name, Löwenmensch, meaning “lion-person” or “lion-human”, is used most frequently because it was discovered and is exhibited in Germany. Determined by carbon dating of the layer in which it was found to be between 35,000 and 40,000 years old, it is one of the oldest-known examples of an artistic representation and the oldest confirmed statue ever discovered. Its age associates it with the archaeological Aurignacian culture of the Upper Paleolithic. An example of zoomorphic art, the Lion-Human was carved out of mammoth ivory, using a flint stone knife. Seven parallel, transverse, carved gouges are on the left arm.” ref
Here are three figures. Seemingly the first holds an antler, the next a bull horn, and the last a possible ram horn but all are a type of horn and as horns later are a ritualistic and potentially shamanistic reference to the heavens the moon, and stars, which is the place of ancestors this could express not just a fertility right but a connection to ancestors and the sky above as well as a link with totemistic animals.
Sacred Bulls?
“Numerous peoples throughout the world have at one point in time honored bulls as sacred. In Sumerian mythology, Marduk is the “bull of Utu“. In Hinduism, Shiva‘s steed is Nandi, the Bull. The sacred bull survives in the constellation Taurus. The bull, whether lunar as in Mesopotamia or solar as in India, is the subject of various other cultural and religious incarnations. Aurochs are depicted in many Paleolithic European cave paintings such as those found at Lascaux and Livernon in France. Their life force may have been thought to have magical qualities, for early carvings of the aurochs have also been found. The impressive and dangerous aurochs survived into the Iron Age in Anatolia and the Near East and were worshipped throughout that area as sacred animals; the earliest survivals of a bull worship are at neolithic Çatalhöyük.” ref
“The bull was seen in the constellation Taurus by the Chalcolithic and had marked the New Year at springtide by the Bronze Age, for 4000–1700 BCE. The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh depicts the killing by Gilgamesh and Enkidu of the Bull of Heaven as an act of defiance of the gods. From the earliest times, the bull was lunar in Mesopotamia (its horns representing the crescent moon). In Egypt, the bull was worshiped as Apis, the embodiment of Ptah and later of Osiris. A long series of ritually perfect bulls were identified by the god’s priests, housed in the temple for their lifetime, then embalmed and encased in a giant sarcophagus.” ref
Grotta di Fumane figure Picture: Link
“This peace is from an extremely important site for understanding the significant biological and cultural change in human evolution which occurred around 40,000 years ago. Grotta di Fumane is one of the major prehistoric archaeological sites in Europe with an exceptional document of the lifestyles of both Neanderthal man and early Modern humans. Moreover, this site is essential for studying the lifestyle, economy, technology, and spirituality/religion of the ancient humans that frequented the Valpolicella area from over 50,000 years to the important understanding of the mechanisms that led, to the affirmation of Modern Human behaviors throughout Europe beginning around 40,000 years ago.” ref
“This if from a stratigraphic section made up of a heap of clastic stones which formed at the cave entrance near the left-hand wall. After cleaning the veil of calcite that completely covered its face, this fragment shows the silhouette of an anthropomorphic (possibly a woman) seen from the front. The axis of the body is painted along the length of a small ridge. The 18 cm high figure has two horns on its head (or a mask?). Under the neck, the arms are spread out and the right hand holds an object hanging downwards (a ritual object?). At the level of the navel, there are two small lateral non-symmetrical reliefs. In its lower part, the body is enlarged in correspondence with the stomach, to which are attached the bowed legs. The painting is incomplete: the image is interrupted along the length of the right side of the body. The age of 35,000-34,000 – 32,000 BP attributed on the basis of radiometric dating of the Aurignacian use of the cave gives an indication of the age of the rock fragments which fell into the zone of passage. It does not seem possible that the paintings could be older as nothing similar has been found in the underlying levels in spite of a considerable accumulation of cryoclastic fragments.” ref
“In spite of the modest amount of discoveries, Aurignacian figurative art evinces considerable variability. The sculptures from the Swabian Jura, the Stratzing figurine, the incisions in the Dordogne shelters, the paintings at the entrance to the Fumane cave, and those of the Chauvet cave all suggest as many centers, situated in far-flung regions and different environments. These works span several thousand years. Each of them is expressed in its own way. This observation in no way contradicts the attribution of all these sites to the Aurignacian, which is seen as a great taxonomic entity characterized by a common technological base: the production lines for blade tools and blades designed for use in hafts, the making of points and spear heads from hard animal matter. These common technological traditions united groups adapted to different environments who over several millennia developed ways of life, economic systems and, very probably, different social organizations and cultures.” ref
Venus of Laussel Picture: Link
” The Venus of Laussel is a Venus figurine, 18.11 inches high limestone bas-relief of a nude female figure, painted with red ochre. It was carved into a large block of fallen limestone in a rock shelter (Abri de Laussel) in the commune of Marquay, in the Dordogne department of southwestern France. The carving is associated with the Gravettian Upper Paleolithic culture (approximately 25 000 years old). The figure holds a bison horn, or possibly a cornucopia, in one hand, which has 13 notches. According to some researchers, this may symbolize the number of moons or the number of menstrual cycles in one year. She has her hand on her abdomen (or womb), with large breasts and vulva. There is a “Y” on her thigh and her faceless head is turned toward the horn.” ref
Other less known Laussel Figure Picture: Link
“Great Shelter of Laussel, Graveltlen (around 25 000 years old). Travalilee in the round – bump, this representation femmme is seen from the front, the trails of the face are not detailed. The thorax is erect with two voluminous seems resting on the abdomen and hips. The pelvic girdle is very wide, just like the thighs. The public triangle is small. This representation is that of a woman with more children than her, a recurring theme of the female representations of Gravetnen. The arm is in extension and throws an object in the shape of an arc, WHICH had to think of the horn held by the most famous Venus de Laussel. However. It is impossible to determine the nature of this object whose contours have been deeply hollowed out.” ref
Could the Phallus Phenomena (A Bull Horn) and the Shamanism Phenomena beginning around 30,000 years ago
A phalli carved from ivory, a shaft with 6 series of equidistant dots from Germany’s famous Vogelherd cave estimated to be over 30,000 years old. The designs observed on portable phalli, could express tattooing and totemistic thinking. ref
“Stone Penis around 28,000 Years Old”
Such as a 28,000 years old stone Phallus, it’s eight inches long, three centimeters wide from a cave in Baden-Wuertemberg in southern Germany. The Hohle phallus, a 28,000-year-old siltstone phallus discovered in the Hohle Fels cave and first assembled in 2005, is among the oldest phallic representations known. The 20cm-long, 3cm-wide stone object, which is dated to be about 28,000 years old, was buried in the famous Hohle Fels Cave near Ulm in the Swabian Jura. The prehistoric “tool” was reassembled from 14 fragments of siltstone. Its life size suggests it may well have been used as a sex aid by its Ice Age makers, scientists report. “In addition to being a symbolic representation of male genitalia, it was also at times used for knapping flints,” explained Professor Nicholas Conard, from the department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, at Tübingen University. “There are some areas where it has some very typical scars from that,” he told the BBC News website. Researchers believe the object’s distinctive form and etched rings around one end mean there can be little doubt as to its symbolic nature. ref, ref
Could a Gravettian carving around 25,000 years old relate
to Later Goddess and the Bull cults like Catal Huyuk
Researchers report that in European Paleolithic art, a total of just 702 full-body human representations (as opposed to partial depictions—a handprint, for example) have been discovered and only 74 of these representations can be classified as unambiguously male. Scholars have described at least 60 prehistoric archaeological pieces with a suggestive phallic form in European Paleolithic art from a registry of 462 partial elements…From our perspective 42 of these representations can be considered unequivocal male genital forms. More curious still is the observation that 30 of the 42 portable phalli appear to be decorated with a variety of intricate designs, including concentric lines; geometric protrusions; series of carefully arranged dots; and naturalistic forms (including humans and animal figures) — all of which, it bears mentioning, resemble designs found in caves adorned with symbolic, Paleolithic wall art. The designs observed on 30 of the 42 portable phalli, explain the researchers, “probably represent decoration produced by skin scarification, cutting, piercing and tattooing,” and could very well “provide a clue to the anthropological origin of current genital tattooing and piercing.” ref
The double phallus of Gorge d’Enfer (Possibly used ritually/sexually for Female Shaman/Male or LGBTQIA+ (or “NON-HETERONORMATIVE”, Heteronormativity person) Shaman.
Gorge d’Enfer, double phallus. This appears to be part of a broken Baton Percé. Note that some think that this may be a modern fabrication. However, as for Baton Percés, they are a pierced stick , also called the stick of command , designates a prehistoric object whose function is not known with certainty. The term “command stick” is generic and includes several types of objects, but it presupposes a particular function. The expression “pierced stick” was introduced more recently for the sake of neutrality: it is purely descriptive and does not refer to a hypothetical function. Pierced sticks have been found within European sites of the Upper Paleolithic, with examples dating from 23,000 years ago AP ( Aurignacian ) to 12,000-year-old AP (Magdalenian). The pierced stick is made of deer antler, usually reindeer, with a round hole at the end with a hook. Some examples have several perforations. The object is often engraved with abstract or animal motifs. One end often has a “T” or “Y” shape, but still has a bulge. The circular hole is drilled just below. The inscription of the object in the support of the antler, with the use of the pole and the departure of an antler (wider area), is remarkable and almost constant for all drilled sticks. Typical examples vary from 15 to 20 centimeters in size.
Their rudimentary Aurignacian decoration becomes more complex in the Magdalenian (animals: horses, bison, deer, reindeer, ibex, mammoths, fish, phallus and more rarely vulvae). Archaeologists first thought that the purpose of the pierced stick was to symbolize power or status, hence the original expression “stick of command”. The most commonly accepted today by the scientific hypothesis is that of a rectifier spears bone (hot recovery spikes spear), with the pin to straighten that passes through the hole. Experimental work has shown similar fractures (at the level of perforation) to those frequently observed on archaeological pieces. A use as a propellant of spearheads has also been considered. Other more or less relevant interpretations are:
- a fertility symbol, with a long handle to represent the penis and a hole to represent the vagina
- a tie-dress
- a calendar used by midwives
- an element for blocking links to suspend skins for protecting a shelter
- A tool for smoothing and shaping leather straps
- a dildo; few archaeologists consider these objects as sex toys, but Timothy Taylor (a respected archaeologist from the UK) believes that considering their shapes, their dimensions and the highly explicit symbolism of some of the drilled sticks of the Ice Age, this would be proof ingenuousness than to discard the most obvious interpretations, even though this was the case in the scientific community.
- a fishing rod, modeled on the small Inuit fishing rods described by André Leroi-Gourhan and still used in eastern Russia. The prehistorian Pierre Citerne has identified 30 pierced sticks adorned with fish. According to Jean-Jacques Cleyet-Merle, among the usual objects, pierced sticks are those that most frequently host fish.
The operation of the pierced stick as a spear thruster, similar to that of atlatl, to use the pierced stick as a propeller, a piece of rope was attached to the spear, roughly in the middle. The leather would be suitable for less heavy spears, while tendon would be required for heavier spears. The addition of the rope turns the sagaie into a big Swiss arrow. The pierced stick is used by passing the rope through the hole and positioning the rope parallel to the axis of the stick. It is held by hand, over the shoulder, and is thrown over. The length of the pierced stick serves to increase the leverage of the thrower, which gives more speed, and the rope works like in a Swiss arrow, which further increases the lever. Such use of the pierced stick gives a 127% increase in range compared to the same hand-thrown lance. ref
Depictions of Phallus‘ sexuality, reproduction, eroticism, and ritual from the Upper Paleolithic
Indus civilization stretching back deep into the Stone Age (25,000-30,000 years ago), when “primitive” tribes painted their stories on rock faces all over India. Prehistoric Rock Art of India drawings made by ancestors in rock cliffs, deep caves and exposed stone surfaces from the Karakorams to Bhopal, from the southern Deccan to Nepal. It’s hard to look at these images and not think that there are deep similarities with ancient Indus iconography. The intricate design patterns of Mesolithic art (12,000-7,000 years ago); there is the figure with the bow and arrow; the side profile nature of animal depictions, especially bovines carried through to seals; a hunter spearing a buffalo; bangled women; the ubiquitous use of red oxide paint. It does not seem irrational to suppose a continuity between Neolithic, Mesolithic and later Indus iconography. Depictions of bulls with decorated horns constitute a prominent feature of Chalcolithic rock art [from around 4,500 years ago, the Indus period]. The humped bull obviously held a pivotal position in religious symbolism. It is likely that the bull symbolized a deity, which is at times expressed in a symbolic dualism between a hero and a bull. This symbolism is also seen on Indus valley seals and in paintings on Chalcolithic pottery from the early Neolithic cultures of western South Asia. And there is also ithyphallic Hero surrounded by – or confronting – animals, a recurring mythologem in Chalcolithic art. There is even a Deity of the ‘Pashupatinath-type’ with a wide out-loading horn-crown from which emanate plant-sprouts. ref
Mesolithic Epipaleolithic
In the archaeology of India, the Mesolithic, dated roughly between 12,000 and 8,000 years ago. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymously, especially for outside northern Europe, and for the corresponding period in the Levant and Caucasus. The Mesolithic has different time spans in different parts of Eurasia. It refers to the final period of hunter-gatherer cultures in Europe and West Asia, between the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the Neolithic Revolution. In Europe it spans roughly 15,000 to 5,000 years ago; in Southwest Asia (the Epipalaeolithic Near East) roughly 20,000 to 8,000 years ago. The term is less used of areas further east, and not all beyond Eurasia and North Africa. The type of culture associated with the Mesolithic varies between areas, but it is associated with a decline in the group hunting of large animals in favor of a broader hunter-gatherer way of life, and the development of more sophisticated and typically smaller lithic tools and weapons than the heavy chipped equivalents typical of the Paleolithic. Depending on the region, some use of pottery and textiles may be found in sites allocated to the Mesolithic, but generally, indications of agriculture are taken as marking transition into the Neolithic. The more permanent settlements tend to be close to the sea or inland waters offering a good supply of food. Mesolithic societies are not seen as very complex, and burials are fairly simple; grandiose burial mounds are another mark of the Neolithic. The Mesolithic began with the Holocene warm period around 11,660 years ago and ended with the introduction of farming, the date of which varied in each geographical region. Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the last glacial period ended have a much more apparent Mesolithic era, lasting millennia. In northern Europe, for example, societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands created by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviors that are preserved in the material record, such as the Maglemosian and Azilian cultures. Such conditions also delayed the coming of the Neolithic until as late as 5000–4000 BCE in northern Europe. The first period, known as Mesolithic 1 (Kebarian culture; from 20,000–18,000 BCE until 12,150 BCE), followed the Aurignacian or Levantine Upper Paleolithic periods throughout the Levant. By the end of the Aurignacian, gradual changes took place in stone industries. Small stone tools called microliths and retouched bladelets can be found for the first time. The microliths of this culture period differ greatly from the Aurignacian artifacts.
This period is more properly called Epipaleolithic. By 20,000–18,000 BCE the climate and environment had changed, starting a period of transition. The Levant became arider and the forest vegetation retreated, to be replaced by steppe. The cool and dry period ended at the beginning of Mesolithic 1. The hunter-gatherers of the Aurignacian would have had to modify their way of living and their pattern of settlement to adapt to the changing conditions. The crystallization of these new patterns resulted in Mesolithic 1. New types of settlements and new stone industries developed. The inhabitants of a small Mesolithic 1 site in the Levant left little more than their chipped stone tools behind. The industry was of small tools made of bladelets struck off single-platform cores. Besides bladelets, burins and end-scrapers were found. A few bone tools and some ground stone have also been found. These so-called Mesolithic sites of Asia are far less numerous than those of the Neolithic and the archeological remains are very poor.
The second period, Mesolithic 2, is also called the Natufian culture. The change from Mesolithic 1 to Natufian culture can be dated more closely. The latest date from a Mesolithic 1 site in the Levant is 12,150 BCE. The earliest date from a Natufian site is 11,140 BCE. This period is characterized by the early rise of agriculture that would later emerge into the Neolithic period. Radiocarbon dating places the Natufian culture between 12,500 and 9500 BCE, just before the end of the Pleistocene. This period is characterized by the beginning of agriculture. The earliest known battle occurred during the Mesolithic period at a site in Sudan known as Cemetery 117. Natufian culture is commonly split into two subperiods: Early Natufian (12,500–10,800 BCE) and Late Natufian (10,800–9500 BCE). The Late Natufian most likely occurred in tandem with the Younger Dryas. The following period is often called the Pre-Pottery Neolithic; in the Levant, unlike elsewhere, “Mesolithic pottery” is not talked of. ref
A Phallic Representation on a Baguettes demi-ronde
Middle Magdalenian Period (about 14,000 years ago) baguette demi-ronde, possibly one half of a projectile point that together with another similar one would form a specific point. The carvings on this piece are surreal – it includes what looks like a bear’s head and a double phallus – Don Hitchcock 2008. The Magdalenian (also Madelenian; French: Magdalénien) refers to one of the later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic in western Europe, dating from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madeleine, a rock shelter located in the Vézère valley, commune of Tursac, in the Dordogne department of France.the Magdalenian is synonymous in many people’s minds with reindeer hunters, although Magdalenian sites also contain extensive evidence for the hunting of red deer, horses, and other large mammals present in Europe toward the end of the last ice age. The culture was geographically widespread, and later Magdalenian sites have been found from Portugal in the west to Poland in the east. Most remarkable is the evidence La Madeleine affords of prehistoric art. Numbers of bones, reindeer antlers, and animal teeth were found, with crude pictures carved or etched on them of seals, fishes, reindeer, mammoths, and other creatures.
The best of these is a mammoth engraved on a fragment of its own ivory; a dagger of reindeer antler, with a handle in form of a reindeer; a cave-bear cut on a flat piece of schist; a seal on a bear’s tooth; a fish drawn on a reindeer antler; and a complete picture, also on reindeer antler, showing horses, an aurochs, trees, and a snake biting a man’s leg. The man is naked, which, together with the snake, suggests a warm climate in spite of the presence of the reindeer. There is extensive debate about the precise nature of the earliest Magdalenian assemblages, and it remains questionable whether the Badegoulian culture is, in fact, the earliest phase of the Magdalenian.
Similarly, finds from the forest of Beauregard near Paris often have been suggested as belonging to the earliest Magdalenian. The earliest Magdalenian sites are all found in France. The Epigravettian is a similar culture appearing at the same time. Its known range extends from southeast France to the western shores of the Volga River, Russia, with a large number of sites in Italy. The later phases of the Magdalenian are also synonymous with the human re-settlement of north-western Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum during the Late Glacial Maximum. Research in Switzerland, southern Germany, and Belgium has provided AMS radiocarbon dating to support this. Being hunter gatherers, Magdalenians did not simply re-settle permanently in north-west Europe, however, as they often followed herds and moved depending on seasons. ref, ref
Male genital representations in portable, mostly handheld sizes of art made in Europe approximately 38,000 to 11,000 years ago. Paleolithic phallic art suggests that many early European men scarred, pierced and tattooed their penises. The practice appears to have been most common in France and Spain around 12,000 years ago. The meaning of the symbols remains a mystery, but many match images found on cave art from the same period. Warriors at Vermelhossa (Vila nova de Foz Coa, Portugal). Men in prehistoric Europe scarred, pierced and tattooed their penises, likely for ritualistic and social group reasons, according to a new study. Analysis of phallic decorations in Paleolithic art, described in the December issue of The Journal of Urology, may also show evidence of the world’s first known surgery performed on a male genital organ. The alteration, or surgery, might have just been for ornamental purposes, or a piercing, the researchers suggest. Phallic decoration became prevalent among men of the Magdalenian culture in France and Spain about 12,000 years ago, according to a study in The Journal of Urology. Analysis of the mostly hand-held art excavated from sites in France, Spain, Germany and the Ukraine shows that most of it was created in Europe approximately 38,000 years ago. Pictured here are several portable phallic pieces. The top line shows totally retracted or absent foreskin on the art pieces.
The second line shows a replication of piercing, scaring and tattooing, like today, tattooing and manipulation of body parts have always functioned as a way for people to express themselves. Many of the marks are geometric shapes, such as triangles or circles appear to match those of figures seen within Paleolithic cave art from the same regions. This suggests that the symbols may have held important meanings for people then, these designs are part of an unknown code,” though some of them might have been made exclusively for a decorative purpose. Other possible explanations for the symbols include “territorial signs or landmarks, shamanistic repetitive marks in the passage to an unconscious world, some forms of primitive counting, the investigation of non-figurative artistic expression playing with spaces and light and darkness…
Who knows? What is clear is that phallic decoration became more prevalent among men of the Magdalenian Culture in France and Spain about 12,000 years ago. Earlier humans of the Gravettian culture, known for characteristic tools such as carving blades, appear to have favored more exaggerated depictions of sexuality, as is evident in many of their “Venus” figurines of naked women. The Magdalenians, on the other hand, had a more naturalistic concept of beauty. ref
A phallus is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. Any object that symbolically—or, more precisely, iconically—resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic (as in “phallic symbol“). Such symbols often represent fertility and cultural implications that are associated with the male sexual organ, as well as the male orgasm. The symbolic version of the phallus, a phallic symbol is meant to represent male generative powers. According to Sigmund Freud‘s theory of psychoanalysis, while males possess a penis, no one can possess the symbolic phallus. Jacques Lacan‘s Ecrits: A Selection includes an essay titled The Signification of the Phallus in which sexual differentiation is represented in terms of the difference between “being” and “having” the phallus, which for Lacan is the transcendent signifier of desire. Men are positioned as men insofar as they wish to have the phallus. Women, on the other hand, wish to be the phallus.
This difference between having and being explains some tragicomic aspects of sexual life. Once a woman becomes, in the realm of the signifier, the phallus the man wants, he ceases to want it, because one cannot desire what one has, and the man may be drawn to other women. Similarly, though, for the woman, the gift of the phallus deprives the man of what he has, and thereby diminishes her desire. In Gender Trouble, Judith Butler explores Freud’s and Lacan’s discussions of the symbolic phallus by pointing out the connection between the phallus and the penis. She writes, “The law requires conformity to its own notion of ‘nature’. It gains its legitimacy through the binary and asymmetrical naturalization of bodies in which the phallus, though clearly not identical to the penis, deploys the penis as its naturalized instrument and sign”.
In Bodies that Matter, she further explores the possibilities for the phallus in her discussion of The Lesbian Phallus. If, as she notes, Freud enumerates a set of analogies and substitutions that rhetorically affirm the fundamental transferability of the phallus from the penis elsewhere, then any number of other things might come to stand in for the phallus. ref
Phallic worship around the world in ancient times and Archaeology of a Phallic Fish Sculptures
Horned goddesses, Horned god, and Horned deities
ANCIENT WOMEN (Horned Shamans) & HORNED GODESS
Is the proposed swimming Reindeer a possible phallus? From France, it is a 13,000-year-old (Magdalenian) sculpture of two swimming reindeer ornately carved from the tusk of a mammoth. sted with mammoths. The evidence for coexistence with mammoths came not only from the reindeer but also from a carved spear thrower which was found in the same location. This device was used to gain extra leverage when throwing a spear. In this case, it was made from a piece of reindeer antler that had been carved into the shape of a mammoth.
The sculpture shows a female reindeer closely followed by a larger male reindeer. The larger male is indicated by his size, antlers, and genitals, whilst the female has her teats modeled. The reindeer are thought to be swimming in illustration of the migration of deer that would have taken place each autumn. It is known that it would be autumn as both reindeer are shown with antlers, and only during autumn do both male and female reindeer have antlers. At this time of year, reindeer would be much easier to hunt, and the meat, skin, and antlers would be at their best. Each of the reindeer has been marked with a burin to show different coloring and texture in the deer’s coat. Oddly there are ten deeper cuts on each side of the back of the leading female reindeer. These may have been intended to indicate colored markings, but their purpose is unclear. ref, ref,
Montastruc decorated stone (possible female in a rather phallic expression to it) on a slab of limestone around 13,000 years old, with a scratched or engraved human figure on a piece of limestone – which appears to be female –used as a lamp. From Courbet Cave, France. The piece was excavated from Courbet Cave, Montastruc, Tarn-et-Garonne, Midi-Pyrénées, France, on the northern bank of the river Aveyron, a tributary of the Tarn. It is dated to around 11,000 BCE, locally the Late Magdalenian culture during the Upper Palaeolithic, towards the end of the last Ice Age. The engraving seems to have been made after the stone lamp broke, as the figure is neatly centered on the fragment. The headless figure is shown from the side, bending to the right, with the large rounded buttocks and thigh carefully drawn. The thin torso features a small sharp triangle that may indicate the breasts, or perhaps arms held out. The two lines defining the front and rear of the profile are continuous and “confidently drawn”, though they converge at knee level. Extra lines below the waist may represent an apron or skirt. Similar characteristics can be found in engraved figures from Neuwied in Germany. ref
Pinhole Cave Man (a 12,000 years old male representation), or Pin Hole Cave Man (Pin Hole Cave Cave or Rock Shelter), has become the common name for an engraving of a human figure on a woolly rhinoceros rib bone. Pin Hole man was discovered in 1928 by the archaeologist A. L. Armstrong, who described the engraving as “a masked human figure in the act of dancing a ceremonial dance” (Armstrong 1928, p. 28). The piece was found in Pin Hole Cave, Creswell Crags, Derbyshire, England.
The Pinhole Caveman or Pin Hole Cave Man is the common name for an engraving of a human figure on a woolly rhinoceros rib bone dating to the Upper Paleolithic woolly rhinoceros rib (Coelodonta antiquitatis) that was broken at both ends was found in Pin Hole Cave, Creswell Crags, Derbyshire, England.
The bone is dated to the Late Upper Paleolithic, about 12,000 years old. Near one of the broken ends is engraved a male human figure. The drawing, 5 cm tall, faces to the right; the whole bone is 20.8 cm long. It is clearly a man as he has a penis – this may have been an earlier feature of the bone that was enhanced. His thin arm stretches out from his body. His head may be wearing a mask – or he is just drawn with a protruding nose and jaw. He has legs that appear incomplete, a crooked back, and a long engraved line across his upper body. The surface of the bone is scratched all over; on the reverse side of the bone, there are two parallel engraved lines.
This is one of only two pieces of British Upper Paleolithic portable art which shows a figure. The other is the Robin Hood Cave Horse, another image engraved on a bone, found in the nearby Robin Hood Cave. It is similar to other pictures of male humans known from France at this period. The lack of clothes and the “cartoon” or “masked” heads are common features which suggest an artistic fashion. Like many human depictions in Palaeolithic art, the figure is crudely drawn; animals are typically better executed. This was not through a lack of ability, as animals are often represented with degrees of realism – see for example the Robin Hood Cave Horse. ref
Han dynasty , double phallus representations China,
Han dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China (2,206 years ago – 220 AD), preceded by the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). Spanning over four centuries, the Han period is considered a golden age in Chinese history. ref
The first known indications of homosexual and bisexual practices among human beings go back to Prehistory, approximately 12,000 years ago; some cave paintings seem to be homoerotic, and among the devices used by humans at the time were phallic-shaped objects. The most interesting object with this characteristic is the so-called double phallus of Gorge d’Enfer, found in a homonymous cave in France, and which seems to be the first lesbian sex toy. Homoerotism became evident in the art of the Mesolithic period (9660-5000 BC), with a rock from Sicily in which it seems to depict women and men dance around a pair of male figures who appear to be having sex. ref
Paleolithic legacy: From genital decoration to penile mutilation
“Although human depictions are, generally speaking, seldom seen in prehistory (before written language), female genital representations are relatively common motifs in prehistoric times all over the world, often preserved on cave walls and rock shelters. Not often seen or depicted, male genitals were also represented on cave wall art, both as isolated forms or as complete human male images, commonly known as ithyphallics. Moreover, female and male genitalia were sculptured on pieces obtained from excavations of archeological sites.
These vulvar or phallic portable elements were etched (or carved) in stone, bone or antler. It should also be noted that humans and their genitals were also sometimes depicted as fine carvings in the decoration of bone fragments and small stones. The most antique representations in prehistory date from the Upper Paleolithic (approximately 40,000- 12,000 years ago) and were found in Western Europe, especially Iberia and France. However, wall art is a phenomenon present all over the world and both human figures and genital motives can be seen in every continent.
Classically, anthropologists and Paleolithic art experts have related the erectile status depicted in prehistoric art to rituals of fertility, possibly influenced by male deities in Levant Neolithic (9,000-6,000 years years ago) and also by Chalcolithic Atlantic culture (6,000-4,000 years years ago) that transformed the landscape building megalithic tombs and setting menhirs with phallic shape in many places in Europe. In those late prehistoric times, humans have ceased being hunter-gatherers and settled in a territory. Their future depended on the fertility of the land, crops and animals. However, in more ancient times, during the Paleolithic period, the meaning of penile representations was much richer and more diverse. A Paleolithic penis can be represented as part of a human or animal form and also as an isolated figure by itself.
The size of the phallic representation seems an important issue. It is true that the phallus sometimes appears more important than the human form and is the optic clue that determines the representation as an outstanding part of the whole. However, the size of the penis is not always that exaggerated and sometimes the penis is represented but almost hidden to the eyes of the observer or timidly suggested. Human and animal erection captivated the artist’s minds and possibly implied virility and strength, not opposed to the feminine but to nature itself. Man or animal against nature or even better defined, the individual and its seeding or reproductive capacity against an adverse natural world, of which, paradoxically, the individual is also part of.
Many ithyphallic men share animal and human characteristics; that is, they mixed details of different animal species, according to what has been called anthropomorphic thinking which was characteristic of the Paleolithic mind. They are usually represented alone, not as part of a scene in very noticeable places in caves, and often referred to as sorcerers although there is no evidence of religious feeling behind these representations. In rarer examples, these ithyphallics were a part of a composition of figures. In several of these, male erection is associated with serious danger or death.
Erection could mean virility and strength, not fertility as in Neolithics, and I dare say not opposed to the feminine but to nature and the animal world. The link between erection and dangerous situations has been interpreted as a representation of the transition to death, possibly a shamanistic interpretation of the physiologic phenomenon of male orgasm linked to the loss of the soul. Among others we have some beautiful examples of this dreadful association in the Lascaux cave where a hunter lies dead on the ground in front of an eviscerated bison (Montignac, France) or in the Addaura cave (Palermo, Sicily) where a group of men are about to be suffocated and surrounded by a group of executor dancers.
Other coital scenes which are absolutely naturalistic and, sexually speaking, diverse were represented in some stone blocks in the La Marche cave (Vienne, France) and in Enlène cave (Midi-Pyrénées, France) (Magdalenian, around 12,000 years B.P.). In some blocks from La Marche several scenes represent sex, but definitely not leading to reproduction. Also in Ribeira do Piscos (Foz Coa, Portugal) are thousands of Paleolithic representations which were produced in the open air on river banks and tributaries to the Douro river, also at Magdalenian time, where an ejaculating large size human figure was depicted with a prominent penis and its emission carved on a vertical rock. His mouth is open, with rays shining out or irradiating from his head, representing orgasm. In another very curious carving in the open air at the Coa Valley, rear penetration with a condom was represented! However, it must be noted that this image is post-Paleolithic.
Ritualistic phallic forms Many portable art elements are batons on antler or bone and have the form and size of the penis. A collection of such instruments with phallic forms done with antler, bone, or stone have been recovered in the context of habitation from different excavations, most of them in France (Figure 4). All over Europe, other bone instruments of unknown use with prominent phallic decorations have also been found. This material was far from being waste itself because it could have been used to make valuable spear points or pendants instead. Some believe they constitute dildos or domestic masturbating devices, but they could also have been used in rituals. The real meanings of these devices are totally unknown but indicate that erection was important enough in these people’s minds to merit a depiction and preservation.
It seems generally these pieces show evidence of a culture that favored prepuce retraction. If Upper Paleolithic humans would have practiced circumcision, that would explain the scarcity of phallic representations that show phimosis. Also from a technical point of view, lithics had been developed to achieve clean cutting, and knowledge of the curative properties of ointments and creams made of natural elements could have facilitated the development of curative medical knowledge as well. Of course, not all Paleolithic penises appear circumcised. On cave walls sometimes phimosis is evident in the depictions of some ithyphallics with sharpened or point-ending erectile phalluses (Murat, Gabillou, Tuc d’Audoubert, Les Trois-Frères, Les Combarelles, and as mentioned previously, in Lascaux and Addaura) and there is also an example with para-phimosis (Fronsac).
However, the majority of Paleolithic penises on portable art do not show phimosis. One of the batons recovered from Roc-de- Marcamps (Gironde, France) displays concentric lines on the preputial skin that covers the gland, possibly signaling the mark where to cut if circumcision was to be performed. Curiously, this is one of two portable art phalli represented with phimosis. The other example recovered in Fourneau-du-Diable (Dordogne, France) reveals partial preputial skin retraction. However, we cannot ascertain that Paleolithic people practiced circumcision, but these observations favor a general culture of penile foreskin retraction, genital hygiene care and very likely the practice of circumcision. Although no specific ritual of circumcision has been represented in Paleolithic art, these data provide indirect evidence of its practice; possibly for decorative purpose or as a body mark, it may also have become fashionable.
Body decoration? There is archeological evidence that modern humans, and even Neanderthals, performed rituals of body decoration. Colors have been used as skin paint and make-up and hair dying were also applied. It should therefore not be surprising that some types of permanent corporal decorations may also have been performed. In fact, engravings with human representations and statuettes also provide evidence that body scars were considered aesthetical throughout the Upper Paleolithic.
Phallic decoration with a series of dots and lines is explicitly represented in European Palaeolithic art for identification or ornamental purposes. Scars, holes, and marks appear intentionally and were made on the surface of the penis. Therefore, circumcision, male genital tattooing, piercing, and scarification may have been decorative surgeries practiced during Paleolithic times. Most of the archaeological pieces of evidence of decorated phalli are Magdalenian elements that were recovered in France, but these designs could have been performed several thousand years earlier in Eastern Europe. It is therefore impossible to state the real origins of these peculiar prehistoric decorative rituals, but they could have taken place during a long time span between 38,000 to 11,000 years ago.
Among those prehistoric rituals of prepuce retraction, circumcision, sub-incision, dorsal cutting, piercing, tattooing and scarification, only circumcision has continued, possibly because this practice is not only fashionable but also useful. Other practices, the intention of which was also to segregate individuals from the collective and to a specific marked group, have outlived very occasionally and remain purely anecdotal and decorative, and mainly among marginal individuals. The same happens in modern primitives today; the roots behind body decoration were most probably spiritual, such as animist superstitions, based on a belief that ink and body art can protect the body from evil. Possibly, prehistoric tattooing and other forms of body decoration may have followed similar patterns of behavior.
Genital decoration? Otzi, the Neolithic man recovered from ice in the Alps gives definite proof that body tattoo was practiced in the final phases of European prehistory. Also during the metal ages, there is evidence of genital decoration in the warriors struggling in Vermelhosa (Foz Coa, Portugal) represented in a fine open-air carving and also in the human representation in a stela from Badajoz (Spain) in the late Bronze age (3,200-2,700 years B.P.). These late prehistoric images represent penile infibulation, a form of penile mutilation that prevented warriors from losing their energy in penetration. This is another intervention in the penis, consisting of the insertion of a fibula that closes the preputial skin and interrupts male erection and intercourse. This same procedure has been performed in some modern primitive beings in Asia, Africa, and America.
In conclusion, the representation of the penis throughout the different phases of prehistory is amazingly varied and rich. Far from being a nasty graffiti, the depiction of the phallus has captivated prehistoric artists and is a very important graphical motif that gives us many indirect clues on how our antecessors behaved and thought.“ ref
Author: Javier Angulo, Professor of Urology Universidad Europea de Madrid
Laureate Universities Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Madrid (ES)
Ithyphallic Of or pertaining to the erect phallus that was carried in bacchic processions. Of or pertaining to an upward pointing, erect penis. ref
The erect hunted hunter in Lascaux lies dead on the ground near an eviscerated bison (Montignac, France). Sometimes males and male genitals are represented close to females or female genitals, and these representations recall mating rituals. Even coital scenes are also depicted. These representations are more frequent between animals than humans. Possibly the oldest human intercourse represented in Los Casares cave (Guadalajara, Spain) and in a stone block detached from the Laussel shelter (Dordogne, France) (Gravettian- Solutrean, around 20,000 years ago).
Ain Sakhri lovers, an 11,000-year-old figurine from the Ain Sakhri caves near Bethlehem, is the oldest known representation of humans engaged in sex. ref
9,000-8500 year old Horned Female shaman Bad Dürrenberg Germany
8,000 years ago phallic depictions in prehistoric cave art southern Asia Minor. The primitive human figures involved the phallus pointing the ground almost the same size with legs. The caves are named as Akyapı (AlaKapı) are located at a height of 750 meters above the sea level inside “Taurus” mountains. ref
Stars (Animal horns?): Ancestors, Spirit Animals,
and Deities (at least back to around 6,000 years ago)
The Alunda moose is a Neolithic artistic phalic like stone axe 4,000 years old from Uppland, Sweden. The Alunda moose is considered one of the most beautiful animal sculptures of the Nordic neolithic and is a 21 cm. ceremonial axe carved from greenish black diorite. One side is shaped like a moose head. The sculpture was realized in a naturalisitic and elegant manner. The axe has a shaft hole but only had a symbolic function since the hole is not completely bored through and the axe hasn’t been used in battle. The axe may originate from Karelia where similar animal depictions are known. ref
Similarity in Shamanism?
STONE AGE SHAMANS — BRONZE AGE SHAMANS — IRON AGE SHAMANS
shamanism: an approximately 30,000-year-old belief system
The Scandinavian Peninsula became ice-free around 13,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age. The Nordic Stone Age begins at that time, with the Upper Paleolithic Ahrensburg culture, giving way to the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers by the 7th millennium BC (Maglemosian culture around 9,500 – 8,000 years ago, Kongemose culture around 8,000 – 7,200 years ago, Ertebølle culture around 7,300 – 5,950 years ago). The Neolithic stage is marked by the Funnelbeaker culture (6,000 – 4,700 years ago), followed by the Pitted Ware culture (5,200 – 4,300 years ago). Around 4,800 years ago, metal was introduced in Scandinavia in the Corded Ware culture. In much of Scandinavia, a Battle Axe culture became prominent, known from some 3,000 graves. The period 4,500 – 2,500 years ago also left many visible remains to modern times, most notably the many thousands rock carvings (petroglyphs) in western Sweden at Tanumshede and in Norway at Alta.
A more advanced culture came with the Nordic Bronze Age (around 3,800 – 2,500 years ago). It was followed by the Iron Age by the 2,400 years ago. Archeologists believe that food-producing societies first emerged in the Levantine region of southwest Asia at the close of the last glacial period around 14,000 years ago, and developed into a number of regionally distinctive cultures by the eighth millennium BCE. Remains of food-producing societies in the Aegean have been carbon-dated to around 8,500 years ago at Knossos, Franchthi Cave, and a number of mainland sites in Thessaly. Neolithic groups appear soon afterward in the Balkans and south-central Europe. The Neolithic cultures of southeastern Europe (the Balkans and the Aegean) show some continuity with groups in southwest Asia and Anatolia(e.g., Çatalhöyük). ref, ref
The Nordic Bronze Age is a period of Scandinavian prehistory from c. 1700–500 BC. The Bronze Age culture of this era succeeded the Nordic Stone Age culture (Late Neolithic) and was followed by the Pre-Roman Iron Age. The archaeological legacy of the Nordic Bronze Age culture is rich, but the ethnic and linguistic affinities of it are unknown, in the absence of written sources. Some scholars also include sites in what is now Finland, Estonia, northern Germany, and Pomerania, as part of its cultural sphere. Even though Scandinavians joined the European Bronze Age cultures fairly late through trade, Scandinavian sites present a rich and well-preserved legacy of bronze and gold objects. These valuable metals were all imported, primarily from Central Europe, but they were often crafted locally and the craftsmanship and metallurgy of the Nordic Bronze Age were of a high standard. The archaeological legacy also comprise locally of crafted wool and wooden objects and there are many tumuli and rock carving sites from this period, but no written language existed in the Nordic countries during the Bronze Age. The rock carvings have been dated through comparison with depicted artifacts, for example, bronze axes and swords. There are also numerous Nordic Stone Age rock carvings, those of northern Scandinavia mostly portray elk. Thousands of rock carvings from this period depict ships, and the large stone burial monuments known as stone ships, suggest that ships and seafaring played an important role in the culture at large. The depicted ships, most likely represents sewn plank built canoes used for warfare, fishing and trade.
These ship types may have their origin as far back as the neolithic period and they continue into the Pre-Roman Iron Age, as exemplified by the Hjortspring boat. There is no coherent knowledge about the Nordic Bronze Age religion; its pantheon, worldview and how it was practiced. Written sources are lacking, but archaeological finds draw a vague and fragmented picture of the religious practices and the nature of the religion of this period. Only some possible sects and only certain possible tribes are known. Some of the best clues come from tumuli, elaborate artifacts, votive offerings and rock carvings scattered across Northern Europe. Many finds indicate a strong sun-worshipping cult in the Nordic Bronze Age and various animals have been associated with the sun’s movement across the sky, including horses, birds, snakes and marine creatures (see also Sól). A female or mother goddess is also believed to have been widely worshipped (see Nerthus). Hieros gamos rites may have been common and there have been several finds of fertility symbols. A pair of twin gods are believed to have been worshipped and is reflected in a duality in all things sacred: where sacrificial artifacts have been buried they are often found in pairs.
Sacrifices (animals, weapons, jewelry, and humans) often had a strong connection to bodies of water. Boglands, ponds, streams or lakes were often used as ceremonial and holy places for sacrifices and many artifacts have been found in such locations. Ritual instruments such as bronze lurs have been uncovered, especially in the region of Denmark and western Sweden. Lur horns are also depicted in several rock carvings and are believed to have been used in ceremonies. Remnants of the Bronze Age religion and mythology are believed to exist in Germanic mythology and Norse mythology; e.g., Skinfaxi and Hrímfaxi and Nerthus, and it is believed to itself be descended from an older Indo-European proto-religion. ref
Freyr Phallic Fertility god of Norse Mythology
Freyr (Old Norse: Lord), sometimes anglicized as Frey, is a widely attested god associated with sacral kingship, virility, and prosperity, with sunshine and fair weather, and pictured as a phallic fertility god in Norse mythology. The most extensive surviving Freyr myth relates Freyr’s falling in love with the female jötunnGerðr. Eventually, she becomes his wife but first Freyr has to give away his sword which fights on its own “if wise be he who wields it.” Although deprived of this weapon, Freyr defeats the jötunn Beli with an antler. However, lacking his sword, Freyr will be killed by the fire jötunn Surtrduring the events of Ragnarök. The loss of Freyr’s sword has consequences. But the result at Ragnarök, the end of the world, will be much more serious. Freyr is fated to fight the fire-giant Surtr and since he does not have his sword he will be defeated.
Freyr is said to “bestow peace and pleasure on mortals”. Freyr, sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr, was especially associated with Sweden and seen as an ancestor of the Swedish royal house. In the Icelandic books the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, Freyr is presented as one of the Vanir, the son of the sea god Njörðr, as well as the twin brother of the goddess Freyja. In many historical societies, the position of kingship carries a sacral meaning, that is, it is identical with that of a high priest and of judge. The concept of theocracy is related, although a sacred king need not necessarily rule through his religious authority; rather, the temporal position has a religious significance. According to Frazer, the notion has prehistoric roots and occurs worldwide, on Java as in sub-Saharan Africa, with shaman-kings credited with rainmaking and assuring fertility and good fortune.
From the Bronze Age in the Near East, the enthronement and anointment of a monarch is a central religious ritual, reflected in the titles “Messiah” or “Christ“, which became separated from worldly kingship. Kings are styled as shepherds from earliest times, e.g., the term applied to Sumerian princes such as Lugalbanda in the 3rd millennium BCE. The image of the shepherd combines the themes of leadership and the responsibility to supply food and protection, as well as superiority. 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
My thoughts on Religion Evolution with external links for more info:
- (Pre-Animism Africa mainly, but also Europe, and Asia at least 300,000 years ago), (Pre-Animism – Oxford Dictionaries)
- (Animism Africa around 100,000 years ago), (Animism – Britannica.com)
- (Totemism Europe around 50,000 years ago), (Totemism – Anthropology)
- (Shamanism Siberia around 30,000 years ago), (Shamanism – Britannica.com)
- (Paganism Turkey around 12,000 years ago), (Paganism – BBC Religion)
- (Progressed Organized Religion “Institutional Religion” Egypt around 5,000 years ago), (Ancient Egyptian Religion – Britannica.com)
- (CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS after 4,000 years ago) (Origin of Major Religions – Sacred Texts)
- (Early Atheistic Doubting at least by 2,600 years ago) (History of Atheism – Wikipedia)
“Religion is an Evolved Product” and Yes, Religion is Like Fear Given Wings…
Atheists talk about gods and religions for the same reason doctors talk about cancer, they are looking for a cure, or a firefighter talks about fires because they burn people and they care to stop them. We atheists too often feel a need to help the victims of mental slavery, held in the bondage that is the false beliefs of gods and the conspiracy theories of reality found in religions.
Understanding Religion Evolution:
- Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago)
- Animism (Africa: 100,000 years ago)
- Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago)
- Shamanism (Siberia: 30,000 years ago)
- Paganism (Turkey: 12,000 years ago)
- Progressed organized religion (Egypt: 5,000 years ago), (Egypt, the First Dynasty 5,150 years ago)
- CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS (after 4,000 years ago)
- Early Atheistic Doubting (at least by 2,600 years ago)
“An Archaeological/Anthropological Understanding of Religion Evolution”
It seems ancient peoples had to survived amazing threats in a “dangerous universe (by superstition perceived as good and evil),” and human “immorality or imperfection of the soul” which was thought to affect the still living, leading to ancestor worship. This ancestor worship presumably led to the belief in supernatural beings, and then some of these were turned into the belief in gods. This feeble myth called gods were just a human conceived “made from nothing into something over and over, changing, again and again, taking on more as they evolve, all the while they are thought to be special,” but it is just supernatural animistic spirit-belief perceived as sacred.
Quick Evolution of Religion?
Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago) pre-religion is a beginning that evolves into later Animism. So, Religion as we think of it, to me, all starts in a general way with Animism (Africa: 100,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in supernatural powers/spirits), then this is physically expressed in or with Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in mythical relationship with powers/spirits through a totem item), which then enlists a full-time specific person to do this worship and believed interacting Shamanism (Siberia/Russia: 30,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in access and influence with spirits through ritual), and then there is the further employment of myths and gods added to all the above giving you Paganism (Turkey: 12,000 years ago) (often a lot more nature-based than most current top world religions, thus hinting to their close link to more ancient religious thinking it stems from). My hypothesis is expressed with an explanation of the building of a theatrical house (modern religions development). Progressed organized religion (Egypt: 5,000 years ago) with CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS (after 4,000 years ago).
Historically, in large city-state societies (such as Egypt or Iraq) starting around 5,000 years ago culminated to make religion something kind of new, a sociocultural-governmental-religious monarchy, where all or at least many of the people of such large city-state societies seem familiar with and committed to the existence of “religion” as the integrated life identity package of control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine, but this juggernaut integrated religion identity package of Dogmatic-Propaganda certainly did not exist or if developed to an extent it was highly limited in most smaller prehistoric societies as they seem to lack most of the strong control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine (magical beliefs could be at times be added or removed). Many people just want to see developed religious dynamics everywhere even if it is not. Instead, all that is found is largely fragments until the domestication of religion.
Religions, as we think of them today, are a new fad, even if they go back to around 6,000 years in the timeline of human existence, this amounts to almost nothing when seen in the long slow evolution of religion at least around 70,000 years ago with one of the oldest ritual worship. Stone Snake of South Africa: “first human worship” 70,000 years ago. This message of how religion and gods among them are clearly a man-made thing that was developed slowly as it was invented and then implemented peace by peace discrediting them all. Which seems to be a simple point some are just not grasping how devastating to any claims of truth when we can see the lie clearly in the archeological sites.
I wish people fought as hard for the actual values as they fight for the group/clan names political or otherwise they think support values. Every amount spent on war is theft to children in need of food or the homeless kept from shelter.
Here are several of my blog posts on history:
- To Find Truth You Must First Look
- (Magdalenian/Iberomaurusian) Connections to the First Paganists of the early Neolithic Near East Dating from around 17,000 to 12,000 Years Ago
- Natufians: an Ancient People at the Origins of Agriculture and Sedentary Life
- Possible Clan Leader/Special “MALE” Ancestor Totem Poles At Least 13,500 years ago?
- Jewish People with DNA at least 13,200 years old, Judaism, and the Origins of Some of its Ideas
- Baltic Reindeer Hunters: Swiderian, Lyngby, Ahrensburgian, and Krasnosillya cultures 12,020 to 11,020 years ago are evidence of powerful migratory waves during the last 13,000 years and a genetic link to Saami and the Finno-Ugric peoples.
- The Rise of Inequality: patriarchy and state hierarchy inequality
- Fertile Crescent 12,500 – 9,500 Years Ago: fertility and death cult belief system?
- 12,400 – 11,700 Years Ago – Kortik Tepe (Turkey) Pre/early-Agriculture Cultic Ritualism
- Ritualistic Bird Symbolism at Gobekli Tepe and its “Ancestor Cult”
- Male-Homosexual (female-like) / Trans-woman (female) Seated Figurine from Gobekli Tepe
- Could a 12,000-year-old Bull Geoglyph at Göbekli Tepe relate to older Bull and Female Art 25,000 years ago and Later Goddess and the Bull cults like Catal Huyuk?
- Sedentism and the Creation of goddesses around 12,000 years ago as well as male gods after 7,000 years ago.
- Alcohol, where Agriculture and Religion Become one? Such as Gobekli Tepe’s Ritualistic use of Grain as Food and Ritual Drink
- Neolithic Ritual Sites with T-Pillars and other Cultic Pillars
- Paganism: Goddesses around 12,000 years ago then Male Gods after 7,000 years ago
- First Patriarchy: Split of Women’s Status around 12,000 years ago & First Hierarchy: fall of Women’s Status around 5,000 years ago.
- Natufians: an Ancient People at the Origins of Agriculture and Sedentary Life
- J DNA and the Spread of Agricultural Religion (paganism)
- Paganism: an approximately 12,000-year-old belief system
- Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism)
- Shaman burial in Israel 12,000 years ago and the Shamanism Phenomena
- Need to Mythicized: gods and goddesses
- 12,000 – 7,000 Years Ago – Paleo-Indian Culture (The Americas)
- 12,000 – 2,000 Years Ago – Indigenous-Scandinavians (Nordic)
- Norse did not wear helmets with horns?
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic Skull Cult around 11,500 to 8,400 Years Ago?
- 10,400 – 10,100 Years Ago, in Turkey the Nevail Cori Religious Settlement
- 9,000-6,500 Years Old Submerged Pre-Pottery/Pottery Neolithic Ritual Settlements off Israel’s Coast
- Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city” around 9,500 to 7,700 years ago (Turkey)
- Cultic Hunting at Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city”
- Special Items and Art as well as Special Elite Burials at Catal Huyuk
- New Rituals and Violence with the appearance of Pottery and People?
- Haplogroup N and its related Uralic Languages and Cultures
- Ainu people, Sámi people, Native Americans, the Ancient North Eurasians, and Paganistic-Shamanism with Totemism
- Ideas, Technology and People from Turkey, Europe, to China and Back again 9,000 to 5,000 years ago?
- First Pottery of Europe and the Related Cultures
- 9,000 years old Neolithic Artifacts Judean Desert and Hills Israel
- 9,000-7,000 years-old Sex and Death Rituals: Cult Sites in Israel, Jordan, and the Sinai
- 9,000-8500 year old Horned Female shaman Bad Dürrenberg Germany
- Neolithic Jewelry and the Spread of Farming in Europe Emerging out of West Turkey
- 8,600-year-old Tortoise Shells in Neolithic graves in central China have Early Writing and Shamanism
- Swing of the Mace: the rise of Elite, Forced Authority, and Inequality begin to Emerge 8,500 years ago?
- Migrations and Changing Europeans Beginning around 8,000 Years Ago
- My “Steppe-Anatolian-Kurgan hypothesis” 8,000/7,000 years ago
- Around 8,000-year-old Shared Idea of the Mistress of Animals, “Ritual” Motif
- Pre-Columbian Red-Paint (red ochre) Maritime Archaic Culture 8,000-3,000 years ago
- 7,522-6,522 years ago Linear Pottery culture which I think relates to Arcane Capitalism’s origins
- Arcane Capitalism: Primitive socialism, Primitive capital, Private ownership, Means of production, Market capitalism, Class discrimination, and Petite bourgeoisie (smaller capitalists)
- 7,500-4,750 years old Ritualistic Cucuteni-Trypillian culture of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine
- Roots of a changing early society 7,200-6,700 years ago Jordan and Israel
- Agriculture religion (Paganism) with farming reached Britain between about 7,000 to 6,500 or so years ago and seemingly expressed in things like Western Europe’s Long Barrows
- My Thoughts on Possible Migrations of “R” DNA and Proto-Indo-European?
- “Millet” Spreading from China 7,022 years ago to Europe and related Language may have Spread with it leading to Proto-Indo-European
- Proto-Indo-European (PIE), ancestor of Indo-European languages: DNA, Society, Language, and Mythology
- The Dnieper–Donets culture and Asian varieties of Millet from China to the Black Sea region of Europe by 7,022 years ago
- Kurgan 6,000 years ago/dolmens 7,000 years ago: funeral, ritual, and other?
- 7,020 to 6,020-year-old Proto-Indo-European Homeland of Urheimat or proposed home of their Language and Religion
- Ancient Megaliths: Kurgan, Ziggurat, Pyramid, Menhir, Trilithon, Dolman, Kromlech, and Kromlech of Trilithons
- The Mytheme of Ancient North Eurasian Sacred-Dog belief and similar motifs are found in Indo-European, Native American, and Siberian comparative mythology
- Elite Power Accumulation: Ancient Trade, Tokens, Writing, Wealth, Merchants, and Priest-Kings
- Sacred Mounds, Mountains, Kurgans, and Pyramids may hold deep connections?
- Between 7,000-5,000 Years ago, rise of unequal hierarchy elite, leading to a “birth of the State” or worship of power, strong new sexism, oppression of non-elites, and the fall of Women’s equal status
- Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite & their slaves
- Hell and Underworld mythologies starting maybe as far back as 7,000 to 5,000 years ago with the Proto-Indo-Europeans?
- The First Expression of the Male God around 7,000 years ago?
- White (light complexion skin) Bigotry and Sexism started 7,000 years ago?
- Around 7,000-year-old Shared Idea of the Divine Bird (Tutelary and/or Trickster spirit/deity), “Ritual” Motif
- Nekhbet an Ancient Egyptian Vulture Goddess and Tutelary Deity
- 6,720 to 4,920 years old Ritualistic Hongshan Culture of Inner Mongolia with 5,000-year-old Pyramid Mounds and Temples
- First proto-king in the Balkans, Varna culture around 6,500 years ago?
- 6,500–5,800 years ago in Israel Late Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Period in the Southern Levant Seems to Express Northern Levant Migrations, Cultural and Religious Transfer
- KING OF BEASTS: Master of Animals “Ritual” Motif, around 6,000 years old or older…
- Around 6000-year-old Shared Idea of the Solid Wheel & the Spoked Wheel-Shaped Ritual Motif
- “The Ghassulian Star,” a mysterious 6,000-year-old mural from Jordan; a Proto-Star of Ishtar, Star of Inanna or Star of Venus?
- Religious/Ritual Ideas, including goddesses and gods as well as ritual mounds or pyramids from Northeastern Asia at least 6,000 years old, seemingly filtering to Iran, Iraq, the Mediterranean, Europe, Egypt, and the Americas?
- Maykop (5,720–5,020 years ago) Caucasus region Bronze Age culture-related to Copper Age farmers from the south, influenced by the Ubaid period and Leyla-Tepe culture, as well as influencing the Kura-Araxes culture
- 5-600-year-old Tomb, Mummy, and First Bearded Male Figurine in a Grave
- Kura-Araxes Cultural 5,520 to 4,470 years old DNA traces to the Canaanites, Arabs, and Jews
- Minoan/Cretan (Keftiu) Civilization and Religion around 5,520 to 3,120 years ago
- Evolution Of Science at least by 5,500 years ago
- 5,500 Years old birth of the State, the rise of Hierarchy, and the fall of Women’s status
- “Jiroft culture” 5,100 – 4,200 years ago and the History of Iran
- Stonehenge: Paganistic Burial and Astrological Ritual Complex, England (5,100-3,600 years ago)
- Around 5,000-year-old Shared Idea of the “Tree of Life” Ritual Motif
- Complex rituals for elite, seen from China to Egypt, at least by 5,000 years ago
- Around 5,000 years ago: “Birth of the State” where Religion gets Military Power and Influence
- The Center of the World “Axis Mundi” and/or “Sacred Mountains” Mythology Could Relate to the Altai Mountains, Heart of the Steppe
- Progressed organized religion starts, an approximately 5,000-year-old belief system
- China’s Civilization between 5,000-3,000 years ago, was a time of war and class struggle, violent transition from free clans to a Slave or Elite society
- Origin of Logics is Naturalistic Observation at least by around 5,000 years ago.
- Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State)
- Ziggurats (multi-platform temples: 4,900 years old) to Pyramids (multi-platform tombs: 4,700 years old)
- Did a 4,520–4,420-year-old Volcano In Turkey Inspire the Bible God?
- Finland’s Horned Shaman and Pre-Horned-God at least 4,500 years ago?
- 4,000-year-Old Dolmens in Israel: A Connected Dolmen Religious Phenomenon?
- Creation myths: From chaos, Ex nihilo, Earth-diver, Emergence, World egg, and World parent
- Bronze Age “Ritual” connections of the Bell Beaker culture with the Corded Ware/Single Grave culture, which were related to the Yamnaya culture and Proto-Indo-European Languages/Religions
- Low Gods (Earth/ Tutelary deity), High Gods (Sky/Supreme deity), and Moralistic Gods (Deity enforcement/divine order)
- The exchange of people, ideas, and material-culture including, to me, the new god (Sky Father) and goddess (Earth Mother) religion between the Cucuteni-Trypillians and others which is then spread far and wide
- Koryaks: Indigenous People of the Russian Far East and Big Raven myths also found in Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and other Indigenous People of North America
- 42 Principles Of Maat (Egyptian Goddess of the justice) around 4,400 years ago, 2000 Years Before Ten Commandments
- “Happy Easter” Well Happy Eostre/Ishter
- 4,320-3,820 years old “Shimao” (North China) site with Totemistic-Shamanistic Paganism and a Stepped Pyramid
- 4,250 to 3,400 Year old Stonehenge from Russia: Arkaim?
- 4,100-year-old beaker with medicinal & flowering plants in a grave of a woman in Scotland
- Early European Farmer ancestry, Kelif el Boroud people with the Cardial Ware culture, and the Bell Beaker culture Paganists too, spread into North Africa, then to the Canary Islands off West Africa
- Flood Accounts: Gilgamesh epic (4,100 years ago) Noah in Genesis (2,600 years ago)
- Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism)
- When was the beginning: TIMELINE OF CURRENT RELIGIONS, which start around 4,000 years ago.
- Early Religions Thought to Express Proto-Monotheistic Systems around 4,000 years ago
- Kultepe? An archaeological site with a 4,000 years old women’s rights document.
- Single God Religions (Monotheism) = “Man-o-theism” started around 4,000 years ago with the Great Sky Spirit/God Tiān (天)?
- Confucianism’s Tiān (Shangdi god 4,000 years old): Supernaturalism, Pantheism or Theism?
- Yes, Your Male God is Ridiculous
- Mythology, a Lunar Deity is a Goddess or God of the Moon
- Sacred Land, Hills, and Mountains: Sami Mythology (Paganistic Shamanism)
- Horse Worship/Sacrifice: mythical union of Ruling Elite/Kingship and the Horse
- The Amorite/Amurru people’s God Amurru “Lord of the Steppe”, relates to the Origins of the Bible God?
- Bronze Age Exotic Trade Routes Spread Quite Far as well as Spread Religious Ideas with Them
- Sami and the Northern Indigenous Peoples Landscape, Language, and its Connection to Religion
- Prototype of Ancient Analemmatic Sundials around 3,900-3,150 years ago and a Possible Solar Connection to gods?
- Judaism is around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (“Paleo-Hebrew” 3,000 years ago and Torah 2,500 years ago)
- The Weakening of Ancient Trade and the Strengthening of Religions around 3000 years ago?
- Are you aware that there are religions that worship women gods, explain now religion tears women down?
- Animistic, Totemistic, and Paganistic Superstition Origins of bible god and the bible’s Religion.
- Myths and Folklore: “Trickster gods and goddesses”
- Jews, Judaism, and the Origins of Some of its Ideas
- An Old Branch of Religion Still Giving Fruit: Sacred Trees
- Dating the BIBLE: naming names and telling times (written less than 3,000 years ago, provable to 2,200 years ago)
- Did a Volcano Inspire the bible god?
- The Amorite/Amurru people’s God Amurru “Lord of the Steppe”, relates to the Origins of the Bible God?
- Dené–Yeniseian language, Old Copper Complex, and Pre-Columbian Mound Builders?
- No “dinosaurs and humans didn’t exist together just because some think they are in the bible itself”
- Sacred Shit and Sacred Animals?
- Everyone Killed in the Bible Flood? “Nephilim” (giants)?
- Hey, Damien dude, I have a question for you regarding “the bible” Exodus.
- Archaeology Disproves the Bible
- Bible Battle, Just More, Bible Babble
- The Jericho Conquest lie?
- Canaanites and Israelites?
- Accurate Account on how did Christianity Began?
- Let’s talk about Christianity.
- So the 10 commandments isn’t anything to go by either right?
- Misinformed christian
- Debunking Jesus?
- Paulism vs Jesus
- Ok, you seem confused so let’s talk about Buddhism.
- Unacknowledged Buddhism: Gods, Savior, Demons, Rebirth, Heavens, Hells, and Terrorism
- His Foolishness The Dalai Lama
- Yin and Yang is sexist with an ORIGIN around 2,300 years ago?
- I Believe Archaeology, not Myths & Why Not, as the Religious Myths Already Violate Reason!
- Archaeological, Scientific, & Philosophic evidence shows the god myth is man-made nonsense.
- Aquatic Ape Theory/Hypothesis? As Always, Just Pseudoscience.
- Ancient Aliens Conspiracy Theorists are Pseudohistorians
- The Pseudohistoric and Pseudoscientific claims about “Bakoni Ruins” of South Africa
- Why do people think Religion is much more than supernaturalism and superstitionism?
- Religion is an Evolved Product
- Was the Value of Ancient Women Different?
- 1000 to 1100 CE, human sacrifice Cahokia Mounds a pre-Columbian Native American site
- Feminist atheists as far back as the 1800s?
- Promoting Religion as Real is Mentally Harmful to a Flourishing Humanity
- Screw All Religions and Their Toxic lies, they are all fraud
- Forget Religions’ Unfounded Myths, I Have Substantiated “Archaeology Facts.”
- Religion Dispersal throughout the World
- I Hate Religion Just as I Hate all Pseudoscience
- Exposing Scientology, Eckankar, Wicca and Other Nonsense?
- Main deity or religious belief systems
- Quit Trying to Invent Your God From the Scraps of Science.
- Archaeological, Scientific, & Philosophic evidence shows the god myth is man-made nonsense.
- Ancient Alien Conspiracy Theorists: Misunderstanding, Rhetoric, Misinformation, Fabrications, and Lies
- Misinformation, Distortion, and Pseudoscience in Talking with a Christian Creationist
- Judging the Lack of Goodness in Gods, Even the Norse God Odin
- Challenging the Belief in God-like Aliens and Gods in General
- A Challenge to Christian use of Torture Devices?
- Yes, Hinduism is a Religion
- Trump is One of the Most Reactionary Forces of Far-right Christian Extremism
- Was the Bull Head a Symbol of God? Yes!
- Primate Death Rituals
- Christian – “God and Christianity are objectively true”
- Australopithecus afarensis Death Ritual?
- You Claim Global Warming is a Hoax?
- Doubter of Science and Defamer of Atheists?
- I think that sounds like the Bible?
- History of the Antifa (“anti-fascist”) Movements
- Indianapolis Anti-Blasphemy Laws #Free Soheil Rally
- Damien, you repeat the golden rule in so many forms then you say religion is dogmatic?
- Science is a Trustable Methodology whereas Faith is not Trustable at all!
- Was I ever a believer, before I was an atheist?
- Atheists rise in reason
- Mistrust of science?
- Open to Talking About the Definition of ‘God’? But first, we address Faith.
- ‘United Monarchy’ full of splendor and power – Saul, David, and Solomon? Most likely not.
- Is there EXODUS ARCHAEOLOGY? The short answer is “no.”
- Lacking Proof of Bigfoots, Unicorns, and Gods is Just a Lack of Research?
- Religion and Politics: Faith Beliefs vs. Rational Thinking
- Hammer of Truth that lying pig RELIGION: challenged by an archaeologist
- “The Hammer of Truth” -ontology question- What do You Mean by That?
- Navigation of a bad argument: Ad Hominem vs. Attack
- Why is it Often Claimed that Gods have a Gender?
- Why are basically all monotheistic religions ones that have a male god?
- Shifting through the Claims in support of Faith
- Dear Mr. AtHope, The 20th Century is an Indictment of Secularism and a Failed Atheist Century
- An Understanding of the Worldwide Statistics and Dynamics of Terrorist Incidents and Suicide Attacks
- Intoxication and Evolution? Addressing and Assessing the “Stoned Ape” or “Drunken Monkey” Theories as Catalysts in Human Evolution
- Sacred Menstrual cloth? Inanna’s knot, Isis knot, and maybe Ma’at’s feather?
- Damien, why don’t the Hebrews accept the bible stories?
- Dealing with a Troll and Arguing Over Word Meaning
- Knowledge without Belief? Justified beliefs or disbeliefs worthy of Knowledge?
- Afrocentrism and African Religions
- Crecganford @crecganford offers history & stories of the people, places, gods, & culture
- Empiricism-Denier?
I am not an academic. I am a revolutionary that teaches in public, in places like social media, and in the streets. I am not a leader by some title given but from my commanding leadership style of simply to start teaching everywhere to everyone, all manner of positive education.
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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:
- Brownie (Scotland and England) or Hob (England) / Kobold (Germany) / Goblin / Hobgoblin
- Domovoy (Slavic)
- Nisse (Norwegian or Danish) / Tomte (Swedish) / Tonttu (Finnish)
- Húsvættir (Norse)” ref
“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
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
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.
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.
While hallucinogens are associated with shamanism, it is alcohol that is associated with paganism.
The Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries Shows in the prehistory series:
Show two: Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show tree: Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show four: Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show five: Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show six: Emergence of hierarchy, sexism, slavery, and the new male god dominance: Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves!
Prehistory: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” the division of labor, power, rights, and recourses: VIDEO
Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism): VIDEO
Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves: VIEDO
Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State): VIEDO
Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism): VIEDO
I do not hate simply because I challenge and expose myths or lies any more than others being thought of as loving simply because of the protection and hiding from challenge their favored myths or lies.
The truth is best championed in the sunlight of challenge.
An archaeologist once said to me “Damien religion and culture are very different”
My response, So are you saying that was always that way, such as would you say Native Americans’ cultures are separate from their religions? And do you think it always was the way you believe?
I had said that religion was a cultural product. That is still how I see it and there are other archaeologists that think close to me as well. Gods too are the myths of cultures that did not understand science or the world around them, seeing magic/supernatural everywhere.
I personally think there is a goddess and not enough evidence to support a male god at Çatalhöyük but if there was both a male and female god and goddess then I know the kind of gods they were like Proto-Indo-European mythology.
This series idea was addressed in, Anarchist Teaching as Free Public Education or Free Education in the Public: VIDEO
Our 12 video series: Organized Oppression: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of power (9,000-4,000 years ago), is adapted from: The Complete and Concise History of the Sumerians and Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia (7000-2000 BC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szFjxmY7jQA by “History with Cy“
Show #1: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Samarra, Halaf, Ubaid)
Show #2: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (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 #9: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Gudea of Lagash and Utu-hegal)
Show #12: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Aftermath and Legacy of Sumer)
The “Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries”
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ Atheist Leftist @Skepticallefty & I (Damien Marie AtHope) @AthopeMarie (my YouTube & related blog) are working jointly in atheist, antitheist, antireligionist, antifascist, anarchist, socialist, and humanist endeavors in our videos together, generally, every other Saturday.
Why Does Power Bring Responsibility?
Think, how often is it the powerless that start wars, oppress others, or commit genocide? So, I guess the question is to us all, to ask, how can power not carry responsibility in a humanity concept? I know I see the deep ethical responsibility that if there is power their must be a humanistic responsibility of ethical and empathic stewardship of that power. Will I be brave enough to be kind? Will I possess enough courage to be compassionate? Will my valor reach its height of empathy? I as everyone, earns our justified respect by our actions, that are good, ethical, just, protecting, and kind. Do I have enough self-respect to put my love for humanity’s flushing, over being brought down by some of its bad actors? May we all be the ones doing good actions in the world, to help human flourishing.
I create the world I want to live in, striving for flourishing. Which is not a place but a positive potential involvement and promotion; a life of humanist goal precision. To master oneself, also means mastering positive prosocial behaviors needed for human flourishing. I may have lost a god myth as an atheist, but I am happy to tell you, my friend, it is exactly because of that, leaving the mental terrorizer, god belief, that I truly regained my connected ethical as well as kind humanity.
Cory and I will talk about prehistory and theism, addressing the relevance to atheism, anarchism, and socialism.
At the same time as the rise of the male god, 7,000 years ago, there was also the very time there was the rise of violence, war, and clans to kingdoms, then empires, then states. It is all connected back to 7,000 years ago, and it moved across the world.
Cory Johnston: https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/04/cory-johnston-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftist/?v=32aec8db952d
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist (YouTube)
Cory Johnston: Mind of a Skeptical Leftist @Skepticallefty
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist By Cory Johnston: “Promoting critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics by covering current events and talking to a variety of people. Cory Johnston has been thoughtfully talking to people and attempting to promote critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics.” http://anchor.fm/skepticalleft
Cory needs our support. We rise by helping each other.
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ @Skepticallefty Evidence-based atheist leftist (he/him) Producer, host, and co-host of 4 podcasts @skeptarchy @skpoliticspod and @AthopeMarie
Damien Marie AtHope (“At Hope”) Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist. Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Poet, Philosopher, Advocate, Activist, Psychology, and Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Historian.
Damien is interested in: Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Ethics, Humanism, Science, Atheism, Antiteism, Antireligionism, Ignosticism, Left-Libertarianism, Anarchism, Socialism, Mutualism, Axiology, Metaphysics, LGBTQI, Philosophy, Advocacy, Activism, Mental Health, Psychology, Archaeology, Social Work, Sexual Rights, Marriage Rights, Woman’s Rights, Gender Rights, Child Rights, Secular Rights, Race Equality, Ageism/Disability Equality, Etc. And a far-leftist, “Anarcho-Humanist.”
I am not a good fit in the atheist movement that is mostly pro-capitalist, I am anti-capitalist. Mostly pro-skeptic, I am a rationalist not valuing skepticism. Mostly pro-agnostic, I am anti-agnostic. Mostly limited to anti-Abrahamic religions, I am an anti-religionist.
To me, the “male god” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 7,000 years ago, whereas the now favored monotheism “male god” is more like 4,000 years ago or so. To me, the “female goddess” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 11,000-10,000 years ago or so, losing the majority of its once prominence around 2,000 years ago due largely to the now favored monotheism “male god” that grow in prominence after 4,000 years ago or so.
My Thought on the Evolution of Gods?
Animal protector deities from old totems/spirit animal beliefs come first to me, 13,000/12,000 years ago, then women as deities 11,000/10,000 years ago, then male gods around 7,000/8,000 years ago. Moralistic gods around 5,000/4,000 years ago, and monotheistic gods around 4,000/3,000 years ago.
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