Totemism and Shamanism Dispersal Theory Expressed around 50,000 to 30,000 years ago

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art 

Understanding Religion Evolution per Damien’s speculations from the evidence:

Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago) possibly Africa, Middle East, and Eurasia

Animism (at least 100,000 years ago) possibly Southern Africa or maybe Central Africa

Totemism (at least 50,000/45,000 years ago) possibly around Germany, France, or somewhere in West Europe

Shamanism (at least 30,000/35,000 years ago) possibly West Siberia or East Russia

Paganism (at least 12,000/13,000 years ago) Turkey And/or Levant: “Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria”

Progressed organized religion (at least 5,000 years ago), (Egypt, the First Dynasty 5,150 years ago)

Evidence shows earliest modern humans lived 50,000 years ago in the South of France.

“Archaeologists found a 54,000-year-old tooth belonging to a homo sapiens buried at Grotte Mandrin in the Rhone Valley. They also found small, sharp projectiles carved out of stone and which might have been used as spearheads or arrowheads. It was thought that the first humans arrived in what is modern-day Europe around 40,000 years ago. But the latest finds suggest we were here much earlier and mingling with Neanderthals for much longer than had been believed. Prof Chris Stringer, of London’s Natural History Museum, said: “This new find shows there were modern humans there about 54,000 years ago, much earlier than we thought. “And what’s interesting is they seem to come and go.” He added the world was in the grip of an Ice Age at the time, so temperatures would be extremely cold.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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This is my thoughts/speculations on the origins of Totemism

Totemism as seen in Europe: 50,000 years ago, mainly the Aurignacian culture

• Pre-Aurignacian “Châtelperronian” (Western Europe, mainly Spain and France, possible transitional/cultural diffusion between Neanderthals and humans around 50,000-40,000 years ago)
• Archaic–Aurignacian/Proto-Aurignacian (Europe around 46,000-35,000) 
• Aurignacian “classical/early to late” (Europe and other areas around 38,000 – 26,000 years ago)

“In the realm of culture, the archeological evidence also supports a Neandertal contribution to Europe’s earliest modern human societies, which feature personal ornaments completely unknown before immigration and are characteristic of such Neandertal-associated archeological entities as the Chatelperronian and the Uluzzian.” – (PDF) Neandertals and Moderns Mixed, and It Matters: Link

Totemism as seen in Europe: 50,000 years ago, mainly the Aurignacian culture

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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“There are two geographically plausible routes that have been proposed for humans to emerge from Africa: through the current Egypt and Sinai (Northern Route), or through Ethiopia, the Bab el Mandeb strait, and the Arabian Peninsula (Southern Route).” ref

“Although there is a general consensus on the African origin of early modern humans, there is disagreement about how and when they dispersed to Eurasia. This paper reviews genetic and Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic archaeological literature from northeast Africa, Arabia, and the Levant to assess the timing and geographic backgrounds of Upper Pleistocene human colonization of Eurasia. At the center of the discussion lies the question of whether eastern Africa alone was the source of Upper Pleistocene human dispersals into Eurasia or were there other loci of human expansions outside of Africa? The reviewed literature hints at two modes of early modern human colonization of Eurasia in the Upper Pleistocene: (i) from multiple Homo sapiens source populations that had entered Arabia, South Asia, and the Levant prior to and soon after the onset of the Last Interglacial (MIS-5), (ii) from a rapid dispersal out of East Africa via the Southern Route (across the Red Sea basin), dating to ~74,000-60,000 years ago.” ref

“Within Africa, Homo sapiens dispersed around the time of its speciation, roughly 300,000 years ago. The so-called “recent dispersal” of modern humans took place about 70–50,000 years ago. It is this migration wave that led to the lasting spread of modern humans throughout the world. The coastal migration between roughly 70,000 and 50,000 years ago is associated with mitochondrial haplogroups M and N, both derivative of L3. Europe was populated by an early offshoot that settled the Near East and Europe less than 55,000 years ago. Modern humans spread across Europe about 40,000 years ago, possibly as early as 43,000 years ago, rapidly replacing the Neanderthal population.” ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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“There were at least several “out-of-Africa” dispersals of modern humans, possibly beginning as early as 270,000 years ago, including 215,000 years ago to at least Greece, and certainly via northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula about 130,000 to 115,000 years ago. These early waves appear to have mostly died out or retreated by 80,000 years ago.” ref

“The most significant “recent” wave out of Africa took place about 70,000–50,000 years ago, via the so-called “Southern Route“, spreading rapidly along the coast of Asia and reaching Australia by around 65,000–50,000 years ago, (though some researchers question the earlier Australian dates and place the arrival of humans there at 50,000 years ago at earliest, while others have suggested that these first settlers of Australia may represent an older wave before the more significant out of Africa migration and thus not necessarily be ancestral to the region’s later inhabitants) while Europe was populated by an early offshoot which settled the Near East and Europe less than 55,000 years ago.” ref

• “An Eastward Dispersal from Northeast Africa to Arabia 150,000–130,000  years ago based on the finds at Jebel Faya dated to 127,000 years ago (discovered in 2011). Possibly related to this wave are the finds from Zhirendong cave, Southern China, dated to more than 100,000 years ago. Other evidence of modern human presence in China has been dated to 80,000 years ago.” ref
• “The most significant out of Africa dispersal took place around 50–70,000 years ago via the so-called Southern Route, either before or after the Toba event, which happened between 69,000 and 77,000 years ago. This dispersal followed the southern coastline of Asia, and reached Australia around 65,000-50,000 years ago, or according to some research, by 50,000 years ago at earliest. Western Asia was “re-occupied” by a different derivation from this wave around 50,000 years ago, and Europe was populated from Western Asia beginning around 43,000 years ago.” ref
• “Wells (2003) describes an additional wave of migration after the southern coastal route, namely a northern migration into Europe at circa 45,000 years ago. However, this possibility is ruled out by Macaulay et al. (2005) and Posth et al. (2016), who argue for a single coastal dispersal, with an early offshoot into Europe.” ref

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“Haplogroup U is a human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup (mtDNA). The clade arose from haplogroup R, likely during the early Upper Paleolithic. Its various subclades (labeled U1–U9, diverging over the course of the Upper Paleolithic) are found widely distributed across Northern and Eastern Europe, Central, Western, and South Asia, as well as North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Canary Islands. Basal U was found in the 26,000-year-old remains of Ancient North Eurasian, Mal’ta boy (MA1). The age of U5 is estimated at between 25,000 and 35,000 years old, roughly corresponding to the Gravettian culture. and is the DNA associated with the seeming first Gravettian shaman burial seen in the Pavlovian culture, around Dolní Věstonice in southern Moravia. One of the Dolní Věstonice burials, located near the huts, revealed a human female skeleton aged to 40+ years old, ritualistically placed beneath a pair of mammoth scapulae, one leaning against the other. Surprisingly, the left side of the skull was disfigured in the same manner as the aforementioned carved ivory figure, indicating that the figure was an intentional depiction of this specific individual. The bones and the earth surrounding the body contained traces of red ocher, a flint spearhead had been placed near the skull, and one hand held the body of a fox. This evidence suggests that this was the burial site of a shaman. This is the oldest site not only of ceramic figurines and artistic portraiture, but also of evidence of female shamans.” ref, ref, ref, ref

“Approximately 11% of Europeans (10% of European-Americans) have some variant of haplogroup U5. U5 was the predominant mtDNA of mesolithic Western Hunter Gatherers (WHG). U5 has been found in human remains dating from the Mesolithic in England, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, France, and Spain. Neolithic skeletons (~7,000 years old) that were excavated from the Avellaner cave in Catalonia, northeastern Spain included a specimen carrying haplogroup U5. Haplogroup U5 and its subclades U5a and U5b today form the highest population concentrations in the far north, among Sami, Finns, and Estonians. However, it is spread widely at lower levels throughout Europe. This distribution, and the age of the haplogroup, indicate individuals belonging to this clade were part of the initial expansion tracking the retreat of ice sheets from Europe around 10,000 years ago. The modern Basques and Cantabrians possess almost exclusively U5b lineages (U5b1f, U5b1c1, U5b2).” ref

6 Ice Age Humans (30,000 Years Ago)

“Abstract: Starting about 35,000 years ago, humans seem to have made a great leap forward culturally. The authors argue that this wasn’t because of genetic changes that caused the human brain to have increased capacity. It was because some groups culturally evolved the “social tools” that allowed them to maintain connections and share information over long distances. The groups with the most effective social tools managed to stay connected and to survive, and their descendants inherited this culture of connectedness. It’s likely that forming greater connectedness and more complex culture was necessary in order to survive the periods of high climate variability that were a feature of the last ice age.” ref

“Archaeologists usually describe two regional variants: the western Gravettian, known mainly from cave sites in France, Spain, and Britain, and the eastern Gravettian in Central Europe and Russia. The eastern Gravettians, which include the Pavlovian culture, were specialized mammoth hunters, whose remains are usually found not in caves but in open air sites. Gravettian culture thrived on their ability to hunt animals. They utilized a variety of tools and hunting strategies. Compared to theorized hunting techniques of Neanderthals and earlier human groups, Gravettian hunting culture appears much more mobile and complex. They lived in caves or semi-subterranean or rounded dwellings which were typically arranged in small “villages”. Gravettians are thought to have been innovative in the development of tools such as blunted-back knives, tanged arrowheads, and boomerangs. Other innovations include the use of woven nets and oil lamps made of stone. Blades and bladelets were used to make decorations and bone tools from animal remains.” ref

“Gravettian culture extends across a large geographic region, as far as Estremadura in Portugal. but is relatively homogeneous until about 27,000 years ago. They developed burial rites, which included simple, purpose-built offerings and/or personal ornaments owned by the deceased, placed within the grave or tomb. Surviving Gravettian art includes numerous cave paintings and small, portable Venus figurines made from clay or ivory, as well as jewelry objects. The fertility deities mostly date from the early period; there are over 100 known surviving examples. They conform to a very specific physical type, with large breasts, broad hips and prominent posteriors. The statuettes tend to lack facial details, and their limbs are often broken off. During the post glacial period, evidence of the culture begins to disappear from northern Europe but was continued in areas around the Mediterranean. The Mal’ta Culture (c. 24,000 years ago) in Siberia is often considered as belonging to the Gravettian, due to its similar characteristics, particularly its Venus figurines, but any hypothetical connection would have to be cultural and not genetic: a 2016 genomic study showed that the Mal’ta people have no genetic connections with the people of the European Gravettian culture (the Vestonice Cluster).” ref

“Fu et al. (2016) examined the remains of fourteen Gravettians. The eight males included three samples of Y-chromosomal haplogroup CT, one of I, one IJK, one BT, one C1a2, and one sample of F. Of the fourteen samples of mtDNA, there were thirteen samples of U and one sample of M. The majority of the sample of U belonged to the U5 and U2. Teschler et al. (2020) examined the remains of one adult male and two twin boys from a Gravettian site in Austria. All belonged to haplogroup Y-Haplogroup I. and all had the same mtDNA, U5. According to Scorrano et al. (2022), “the genome of an early European individual from Kostenki 14, dated to around 37,000 years ago, demonstrated that the ancestral European gene pool was already established by that time.” ref

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• Sungir 
• Dolni Vestonice
• Kostenki
• Mal’ta–Buret’

Here are Damien’s thoughts/speculations on where he believes is the possible origin of shamanism, which may have begun sometime around 35,000 to 30,000 years ago seen in the emergence of the Gravettian culture, just to outline his thinking, on what thousands of years later led to evolved Asian shamanism, in general, and thus WU shamanism as well. In both Europe-related “shamanism-possible burials” and in Gravettian mitochondrial DNA is a seeming connection to Haplogroup U. And the first believed Shaman proposed burial belonged to Eastern Gravettians/Pavlovian culture at Dolní Věstonice in southern Moravia in the Czech Republic, which is the oldest permanent human settlement that has ever been found. It is at Dolní Věstonice where approximately 27,000-25,000 years ago a seeming female shaman was buried and also there was an ivory totem portrait figure, seemingly of her.

“The Pavlovian is an Upper Paleolithic culture, a variant of the Gravettian, that existed in the region of Moravia, northern Austria, and southern Poland around 29,000–25,000 years ago. Its name is derived from the village of Pavlov, in the Pavlov Hills, next to Dolní Věstonice in southern Moravia. The culture used sophisticated stone age technology to survive in the tundra on the fringe of the ice sheets around the Last Glacial Maximum. Excavation has yielded flint implements, polished and drilled stone artifacts, bone spearheads, needles, digging tools, flutes, bone ornaments, drilled animal teeth, and seashells. Art or religious finds are bone carvings and figurines of humans and animals made of mammoth tusk, stone, and fired clay.” ref

“One of the burials, located near the huts, revealed a human female skeleton aged to 40+ years old, ritualistically placed beneath a pair of mammoth scapulae, one leaning against the other. Surprisingly, the left side of the skull was disfigured in the same manner as the aforementioned carved ivory figure, indicating that the figure was an intentional depiction of this specific individual. The bones and the earth surrounding the body contained traces of red ocher, a flint spearhead had been placed near the skull, and one hand held the body of a fox. This evidence suggests that this was the burial site of a shaman. This is the oldest site not only of ceramic figurines and artistic portraiture, but also of evidence of female shamans.” ref

“A burial of an approximately forty-year-old woman was found at Dolní Věstonice in an elaborate burial setting. Various items found with the woman have had a profound impact on the interpretation of the social hierarchy of the people at the site, as well as indicating an increased lifespan for these inhabitants. The remains were covered in red ochre, a compound known to have religious significance, indicating that this woman’s burial was ceremonial in nature. Also, the inclusion of a mammoth scapula and a fox are indicative of a high-status burial.” ref

“In the Upper Paleolithic, anatomically modern humans began living longer, often reaching middle age, by today’s standards. Rachel Caspari argues in “Human Origins: the Evolution of Grandparents,” that life expectancy increased during the Upper Paleolithic in Europe (Caspari 2011). She also describes why elderly people were highly influential in society. Grandparents assisted in childcare, perpetuated cultural transmission, and contributed to the increased complexity of stone tools (Caspari 2011). The woman found at Dolní Věstonice was old enough to have been a grandparent. Although human lifespans were increasing, elderly individuals in Upper Paleolithic societies were still relatively rare. Because of this, it is possible that the woman was attributed with great importance and wisdom, and revered because of her age. Because of her advanced age, it is also possible she had a decreased ability to care for herself, instead relying on her family group to care for her, which indicates strong social connections.” ref

“Furthermore, a female figurine was found at the site and is believed to be associated with the aged woman, because of remarkably similar facial characteristics. The woman was found to have deformities on the left side of her face. The special importance accorded with her burial, in addition to her facial deformity, makes it possible that she was a shaman in this time period, where it was “not uncommon that people with disabilities, either mental or physical, are thought to have unusual supernatural powers” (Pringle 2010).” ref

“In 1981, Patricia Rice studied a multitude of female clay figurines found at Dolní Věstonice, believed to represent fertility in this society. She challenged this assumption by analyzing all the figurines and found that, “it is womanhood, rather than motherhood that is symbolically recognized or honored” (Rice 1981: 402). This interpretation challenged the widely held assumption that all prehistoric female figurines were created to honor fertility. The fact is that we have no idea why these figurines proliferated nor of their purpose or usage.” ref

“Haplogroup U5 is estimated to be about 30,000 years old, and it is primarily found today in people with European ancestry. Both the current geographic distribution of U5 and testing of ancient human remains indicate that the ancestor of U5  expanded into Europe before 31,000 years ago. A 2013 study by Fu et al. found two U5 individuals at the Dolni Vestonice burial site in the Czech Republic that has been dated to 31,155 years ago.  A third person from the same burial was identified as haplogroup U8. The Dolni Vestonice samples have only two of the five mutations ( C16192T and C16270T) that are found in the present day U5 population. This indicates that the U5-(C16192T and C16270T) mtDNA sequence is ancestral to the present day U5 population that includes the additional three mutations T3197C, G9477A and T13617C.” ref

“Haplogroup U5 is thought to have evolved in the western steppe region and then entered Europe around 30,000 to 55,000 years ago. Results support previous hypotheses that haplogroup U5 mtDNAs expanded throughout Northern, Southern, and Central Europe with more recent expansions into Western Europe and Africa. The results further allow us to explain how U5 mtDNAs are now found with high frequency in Northern Europe, as well as delineate the origins of the specific U5 subhaplogroups found in that part of Europe.” ref 

“Haplogroup U5 is found throughout Europe with an average frequency ranging from 5% to 12% in most regions. U5a is most common in north-east Europe and U5b in northern Spain. Nearly half of all Sami and one fifth of Finnish maternal lineages belong to U5. Other high frequencies are observed among the Mordovians (16%), the Chuvash (14.5%) and the Tatars (10.5%) in the Volga-Ural region of Russia, the Estonians (13%), the Lithuanians (11.5%) and the Latvians in the Baltic, the Dargins (13.5%), Avars (13%) and the Chechens (10%) in the Northeast Caucasus, the Basques (12%), the Cantabrians (11%) and the Catalans (10%) in northern Spain, the Bretons (10.5%) in France, the Sardinians (10%) in Italy, the Slovaks (11%), the Croatians (10.5%), the Poles (10%), the Czechs (10%), the Ukrainians (10%) and the Slavic Russians (10%). Overall, U5 is generally found in population with high percentages of Y-haplogroups I1, I2, and R1a, three lineages already found in Mesolithic Europeans. The highest percentages are observed in populations associated predominantly with Y-haplogroup N1c1 (the Finns and the Sami), although N1c1 is originally an East Asian lineage that spread over Siberia and Northeast Europe and assimilated indigenous U5 maternal lineages.” ref

“The age of haplogroup U5 is uncertain at present. It could have arisen as recently as 35,000 years ago, or as early was 50,000 years ago. U5 appear to have been a major maternal lineage among the Paleolithic European hunter-gatherers, and even the dominant lineage during the European Mesolithic. In two papers published two months apart, Posth et al. 2016 and Fu et al. 2016 reported the results of over 70 complete human mitochondrial genomes ranging from 45,000 to 7,000 years ago. The oldest U5 samples all dated from the Gravettian culture (c. 32,000 to 22,000 years ago), while the older Aurignacian samples belonged to mt-haplogroups M, N, R*, and U2. Among the 16 Gravettian samples that yielded reliable results, six belonged to U5 – the others belonging mostly to U2, as well as isolated samples of M, U*, and U8c. Two Italian Epigravettian samples, one from the Paglicci Cave in Apulia (18,500 years ago), and another one from Villabruna in Veneto (14,000 years ago), belonged to U5b2b, as did two slightly more recent Epipaleolithic samples from the Rhône valley in France. U5b1 samples were found in Epipalaeolithic Germany, Switzerland (U5b1h in the Grotte du Bichon), and France. More 80% of the numerous Mesolithic European mtDNA tested to date belonged to various subclades of U5. Overall, it appears that U5 arrived in Europe with the Gravettian tool makers, and that it particularly prospered from the end of the glacial period (from 11,700 years ago) until the arrival of Neolithic farmers from the Near East (between 8,500 and 6,000 years ago).” ref

“Carriers of haplogroup U5 were part of the Gravettian culture, which experienced the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 26,000 to 19,000 years ago). During this particularly harsh period, Gravettian people would have retreated into refugia in southern Europe, from which they would have re-expanded to colonise the northern half of the continent during the Late Glacial and postglacial periods. For reasons that are yet unknown, haplogroup U5 seems to have resisted better to the LGM to other Paleolithic haplogroups like U*, U2 and U8. Mitochondrial DNA being essential for energy production, it could be that the mutations selected in early U5 subclades (U5a1, U5a2, U5b1, U5b2) conferred an advantage for survival during the coldest millennia of the LGM, which had for effect to prune less energy efficient mtDNA lineages.” ref

“It is likely that U5a and U5b lineages already existed prior to the LGM and they were geographically scattered to some extent around Europe before the growing ice sheet forced people into the refugia. Nonetheless, founder effects among the populations of each LGM refugium would have amplified the regional division between U5b and U5a. U5b would have been found at a much higher frequency in the Franco-Cantabrian region. We can deduce this from the fact that modern Western Europeans have considerably more U5b than U5a, but also because the modern Basques and Cantabrians possess almost exclusively U5b lineages. What’s more, all the Mesolithic U5 samples from Iberia whose subclade could be identified belonged to U5b.” ref

“Conversely, only U5a lineages have been found so far in Mesolithic Russia (U5a1) and Sweden (U5a1 and U5a2), which points at an eastern origin of this subclade. Mesolithic samples from Poland, Germany and Italy yielded both U5a and U5b subclades. German samples included U5a2a, U5a2c3, U5b2 and U5b2a2. The same observations are valid for the Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods too, with U5a1 being found in Russia and Ukraine, U5b in France (Cardium Pottery and Megalithic), U5b2 in Portugal. U5b1b1 arose approximately 10,000 years ago, over two millennia after the end of the Last Glaciation, when the Neolithic Revolution was already under way in the Near East. Despite this relatively young age, U5b1b1 is found scattered across all Europe and well beyond its boundaries. The Saami, who live in the far European North and have 48% of U5 and 42% of V lineages, belong exclusively to the U5b1b1 subclade. Amazingly, the Berbers of Northwest Africa also possess that U5b1b1 subclade and haplogroup V.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Here are my thoughts/speculations on where I believe is the possible origin of shamanism, which may have begun sometime around 35,000 to 30,000 years ago seen in the emergence of the Gravettian culture, just to outline his thinking, on what thousands of years later led to evolved Asian shamanism, in general, and thus WU shamanism as well. In both Europe-related “shamanism-possible burials” and in Gravettian mitochondrial DNA is a seeming connection to Haplogroup U. And the first believed Shaman proposed burial belonged to Eastern Gravettians/Pavlovian culture at Dolní Věstonice in southern Moravia in the Czech Republic, which is the oldest permanent human settlement that has ever been found. It is at Dolní Věstonice where approximately 27,000-25,000 years ago a seeming female shaman was buried and also there was an ivory totem portrait figure, seemingly of her.

And my thoughts on how cultural/ritual aspects were influenced in the area of Göbekli Tepe. I think it relates to a few different cultures starting in the area before the Neolithic. Two different groups of Siberians first from northwest Siberia with U6 haplogroup 40,000 to 30,000 or so. Then R Haplogroup (mainly haplogroup R1b but also some possible R1a both related to the Ancient North Eurasians). This second group added its “R1b” DNA of around 50% to the two cultures Natufian and Trialetian. To me, it is likely both of these cultures helped create Göbekli Tepe. Then I think the female art or graffiti seen at Göbekli Tepe to me possibly relates to the Epigravettians that made it into Turkey and have similar art in North Italy. I speculate that possibly the Totem pole figurines seen first at Kostenki, next went to Mal’ta in Siberia as seen in their figurines that also seem “Totem-pole-like”, and then with the migrations of R1a it may have inspired the Shigir idol in Russia and the migrations of R1b may have inspired Göbekli Tepe.

Seeming Connections: Totem poles, Ceremonial poles, Spirit poles, Sacred poles, Deity poles, Deities with poles, Pole star, Axis Mundi, Sacred trees, World tree, Maypole, Sun Dance with poles, etc.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Aurignacian Culture

Gravettian Culture

Magdalenian Culture

Kebaran culture

U6 related Culture Haplogroup U6 (Back migration to Africa of U6: 30,000 years ago) 

Iberomaurusian Culture

Ust’-Ishim man

Basal Eurasian

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Based on the seeming evidence, I speculate that around 14,000 years ago, it could be possible Siberian Shamanism (along with dogs and a bird carving, different but yet possibly related to the bird carvings in Siberia dating from 24,000 to 15,000 years ago) was transferred to China, after “N” DNA reached Siberia bringing them pottery. Bird sculptures through ethnographic comparison at 24,000–15,000 years old Mal’ta with objects used by Siberian shamans, suggest a fully developed shamanism.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago)

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

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

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

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Shamanism (beginning around 30,000 years ago)

Shamanism (such as that seen in Siberia Gravettian culture: 30,000 years ago). Gravettian culture (34,000–24,000 years ago; Western Gravettian, mainly France, Spain, and Britain, as well as Eastern Gravettian in Central Europe and Russia. The eastern Gravettians, which include the Pavlovian culture). And, the Pavlovian culture (31,000 – 25,000 years ago such as in Austria and Poland). 31,000 – 20,000 years ago Oldest Shaman was Female, Buried with the Oldest Portrait Carving.

Shamanism is approximately a 30,000-year-old belief system and believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife that can be attached to or be expressed in things or objects and these objects can be used by special persons or in special rituals that can connect to spirit-filled life and/or afterlife. If you believe like this, regardless of your faith, you are a hidden shamanist.

Around 29,000 to 25,000 years ago in Dolní Vestonice, Czech Republic, the oldest human face representation is a carved ivory female head that was found nearby a female burial and belong to the Pavlovian culture, a variant of the Gravettian culture. The left side of the figure’s face was a distorted image and is believed to be a portrait of an elder female, who was around 40 years old. She was ritualistically placed beneath a pair of mammoth scapulae, one leaning against the other. Surprisingly, the left side of the skull was disfigured in the same manner as the aforementioned carved ivory figure, indicating that the figure was an intentional depiction of this specific individual. The bones and the earth surrounding the body contained traces of red ocher, a flint spearhead had been placed near the skull, and one hand held the body of a fox. This evidence suggests that this was the burial site of a shaman. This is the oldest site not only of ceramic figurines and artistic portraiture but also of evidence of early female shamans. Before 5,500 years ago, women were much more prominent in religion.

Archaeologists usually describe two regional variants: the western Gravettian, known namely from cave sites in France, Spain, and Britain, and the eastern Gravettian in Central Europe and Russia. The eastern Gravettians include the Pavlovian culture, which were specialized mammoth hunters and whose remains are usually found not in caves but in open air sites. The origins of the Gravettian people are not clear, they seem to appear simultaneously all over Europe. Though they carried distinct genetic signatures, the Gravettians and Aurignacians before them were descended from the same ancient founder population. According to genetic data, 37,000 years ago, all Europeans can be traced back to a single ‘founding population’ that made it through the last ice age. Furthermore, the so-called founding fathers were part of the Aurignacian culture, which was displaced by another group of early humans members of the Gravettian culture. Between 37,000 years ago and 14,000 years ago, different groups of Europeans were descended from a single founder population. To a greater extent than their Aurignacian predecessors, they are known for their Venus figurines. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, & ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Did Neanderthals Help Inspire Totemism? Because there is Art Dating to Around 65,000 Years Ago in Spain?

“Prehistoric cave paintings in Spain show Neanderthals were artists. Red ochre pigment discovered on stalagmites in the Caves of Ardales, near Malaga in southern Spain, were created by Neanderthals about 65,000 years ago, making them possibly the first artists on earth, according to the study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal. Modern humans were not inhabiting Europe at the time the cave images were made.” ref

The ladder-shaped figure on this cave wall in Spain dates back at least 65,000 years ago

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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“This is the oldest stone bracelet in the world, believed to have been made by the extinct Denisovan species of early humans, dated as being between 40,000 – 50,000 to be 65,000 – 70,000 years old, long before ancient people were believed to capable of making such remarkable objects. The bracelet is thought to have adorned a very important woman or child on only special occasions. And it is unlikely it was used as an everyday jewelry piece. I believe this beautiful and very fragile bracelet was worn only for some exceptional moments.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Denisovan Totemism 50,000 years ago?

Suspicion is that this male tiara or diadem (mammoth ivory) was made by Denisovans and hints at the depth of Denisovan technology 50,000 to 45,000 years ago. Expression for family, clan or tribe, So maybe early Totemistic behaviors. ref

Denisovan technology is at least by 50,000 years ago, such as their making elegant needles out of ivory and a sophisticated and beautiful stone bracelet. It appears to have had a practical use: to keep hair out of the eyes; its size indicates it was for male, not female, use. Interestingly tiaras were made 20,000 to 28,000 years later by people living in the Russian Far East, around the Yana River in Yakutia and they could have denoted the family, clan, or tribe, So maybe early Totemistic behaviors. ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Neanderthal ritual or religious practice at around 50,000 years old burial in Sima de las Palomas in Murcia, Southeast Spain of a female covered with rocks interred with a cut-off panther paw, suggesting that Neanderthals—much like today’s bear hunters—ceremoniously cut-off panther paws and kept them as totemistic trophies. This 50,000-year-old Neanderthal burial ground actually includes the remains of at least three individuals intentionally buried, with each Neanderthal’s arms folded such that the hands were close to the head. Remains of other Neanderthals have been found in this position, suggesting that it held meaning. The remains of six to seven other Neanderthals, including one baby and two juveniles, have also been excavated at the site. The tallest individual appears to have been an adult who stood around 5 feet 1 inch tall. ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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The so-called “transitional industries” are a key for understanding the replacement process of Neanderthals by modern humans in western Eurasia at the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago. While in Europe the older Mousterian industry of the Middle Paleolithic can be clearly attributed to Neanderthals and the later Upper Paleolithic assemblages to modern humans, the nature of the makers of the transitional Châtelperronian (CP) industry has long been disputed. ref, ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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While humans seem to first settle in East Timor 42,000 years ago and a 39,900 years old hand stencil that is from the Leang Timpuseng Cave on the Island of Sulawesi in Indonesia also includes some of the most ancient animal paintings, all made by Aborigine migrants who were probably heading for Australia. and the image of the “pig-deer” at the Sulawesi Cave, Indonesia, dating to as old as 35,400 years ago. ref, ref, ref

Totemism and Shamanism Dispersal Theory Expressed around 50,000 to 30,000 years ago

Was Totemism a team effort of religious transfer between 

Neanderthals, Denisovans, and modern humans?

Along with the Possibility that Neanderthals could have added to the ideas of early totemism so to could there have been possibly the Denisovans influences who themselves may have shared religious transfer with Neanderthals who they also bread with. Take for instance: 

“Incredible 40,000-year-old bracelet believed to be the oldest ever found suggests ancient human race used drills which were just like modern tools. It was discovered inside the Denisova Cave besides ancient human remains. Scientists say there is evidence that the bracelet’s maker used a ‘drill’. Other cave finds include the bones of a woolly mammoth and woolly rhino. ‘These finds were made using technological methods – boring stone, drilling with an implement, grinding – that are traditionally considered typical for a later time, and nowhere in the world, they were used so early, in the Paleolithic era.

At first, we connected the finds with a progressive form of modern human, and now it turned out that this was fundamentally wrong. It is presumed that it was  Denisovans, who left these things.’ This indicated that ‘the most progressive of the triad’ (Homo sapiens, Homo Neanderthals and Denisovans) were possibly the Denisovans, who according to their genetic and morphological characters were much more archaic than Neanderthals and modern human.’

In the same layer, where we found a Denisovan bone, were found interesting things; until then it was believed these the hallmark of the emergence of Homo sapiens,’ he said. ‘First of all, there were symbolic items, such as jewelry – including the stone bracelet as well as a ring, carved out of marble.”  ref, ref 

Totemism and Shamanism Dispersal Theory

Expressed around 50,000 to 30,000 years ago

The emergence of INCEST-PROHIBITION hints at the taboo in Totemism

“Totem and Taboo”

“The Hate of Incest” concerns incest taboos adopted by societies believing in totemism.

Totemism is a belief system scattered world-wide mainly by hunting and gathering peoples, which seems to diminish when agricultural becomes predominant.

Totemism seems expressed all over the North American especially the west cost indigenous peoples, in Peru, in Guiana, what was the African Gold Coast, in India, the South Seas islands, Australia, Siberia, Egypt and Semitic regions. It is thought that the current true totemism is found only among Australian Aborigines, North, and South American indigenous peoples, in New Guinea, and parts of Africa and India. But it is Australia, America, and Africa that are the three main areas where totemism has been found in its most highly developed and widespread forms. ref

Who were the indigenous people of Indonesia before the Chinese and Indians came?

Early human migrations

Sequencing of one Aboriginal genome from an old hair sample in Western Australia revealed that the individual was descended from people who migrated into East Asia between 62,000 and 75,000 years ago. This supports the theory of a single migration into Australia and New Guinea before the arrival of Modern Asians (between 25,000 and 38,000 years ago) and their later migration into North America.

This dispersal is separate and I think is around the time totemism enters the region from Arcane Early Europe by way of Siberia and thus Aisa, the one that gave rise to modern Asians 25,000 to 38,000 years ago. We also find evidence of gene flow between populations of the two dispersal waves prior to the divergence of Native Americans from modern Asian ancestors. It is surmised from DNA that a split between Europeans and Asians dating to 17,000 to 43,000 years before the present. ref

Mitochondrial haplogroups A, B and G originated about 50,000 years ago, and bearers subsequently colonized Siberia, Korea, and Japan, by about 35,000 years ago. Several phenotypical traits associated with Mongoloids with a single mutation of the EDAR gene, dated to c. 35,000 years ago. A Paleolithic site on the Yana River, Siberia, at 71°N, lies well above the Arctic Circle and dates to 27,000 radiocarbon years before present, during glacial times. This site shows that people adapted to this harsh, high-altitude, Late Pleistocene environment much earlier than previously thought. ref

Moreover, the mitogenome of a 35,000-year-old Homo sapiens from Europe (Peștera Muierii 1 individual from Romania) supports a Palaeolithic back-migration to Africa. The Peștera Muierii 1 individual mitogenome was a basal for haplogroup U6*, not previously found in any ancient or present-day humans.

The derived U6 haplotypes are predominantly found in present-day North-Western African populations. Concomitantly, those found in Europe have been attributed to recent gene-flow from North Africa.

The presence of the basal haplogroup U6* in South East Europe (Romania) at 35,000 years ago confirms a Eurasian origin of the U6 mitochondrial lineage. Consequently, we propose that the Peștera Muierii 1 individual lineage is an offshoot to South East Europe that can be traced to the Early Upper Paleolithic back migration from Western Asia to North Africa, during which the U6 lineage diversified, until the emergence of the present-day U6 African lineages.

After the dispersal of modern humans Out of Africa, hominins with similar morphology to present-day humans appeared in the Western Eurasian fossil record around 45,000–40,000 years ago, initiating the demographic transition from ancient human occupation (Neandertals) to modern human (Homo sapiens) expansion on to the continent.

The first insights of the genetics of early Eurasian modern humans were recently provided by four ancient human genomes: Ust’-Ishim (Western Siberia, 45,000 years ago), Kostenki (Russia, 39,000–36,000 years ago), Fumane 2 (Italy, 41,000–39,000 years ago) and Peştera cu Oase (Romania, 37,000–42,000 years ago). Population genetic analyses of modern-day human mitochondrial haplogroup distributions suggest that in conjunction with the Eurasian expansion, some populations initiated a back-migration to North Africa.

Neanderthals ‘kept our early ancestors out of Europe’ 

Two Paleolithic harpoons, at least 60,000 years old, decorated with geometric figures discovered at Veyrier near Geneva. Younger than a beautifully-carved 90,000-year-old bone harpoon used to hunt giant catfish in present-day the Democratic Republic of the Congo. ref

Our ancestors had interbred with Neanderthals 55,000 years ago, possibly in the Middle East. Modern humans and Neanderthals interbred in Europe, an analysis of 40,000-year-old DNA suggests. ref

50,000-year-old Skull May Show Human-Neanderthal Hybrids Originated in Levant,

not Europe as Thought

Research into ancient genomics and archaeology has shed light into the first humans in Europe, who appear in the record approximately 45,000 years ago. Neanderthals disappeared from the region 5,000 years later. The nature of their relationship is being revealed with every new discovery and breakthrough. ref

Neanderthals and modern humans belong to the same genus (Homo) and inhabited the same geographic areas in Asia for 30,000–50,000 years; genetic evidence indicates while they may have interbred with non-African modern humans, they are separate branches of the human family tree (separate species). ref

Upper Paleolithic (totemism in Europe between 50,000 and 30,000 years ago)

“Cultures Aurignacian Associated with Paleo-humans/Paleolithic lifestyle“

The Levantine Aurignacian: a closer look

Ust’-Ishim man 45,000-year-old remains of a male hunter-gatherer,

(I presume a totemist or connected to the firsts totemic peoples by around 50,000 years ago

then by 30,000 years ago are shamanistic-totemists)

one of the early modern humans to inhabit western Siberia.

Ust’-Ishim man has been classified as belonging to Y-DNA haplogroup K2a*, belonged to mitochondrial DNA haplogroup R*. Before 2016 they had been classified as U*. Both of these haplogroups and descendant subclades are now found among populations throughout Eurasia, Oceania and The Americas. When compared to other ancient remains, Ust’-Ishim man is more closely related, in terms of autosomal DNA to Tianyuan man, found near Beijing and dating from 42,000 to 39,000 years ago; Mal’ta boy (or MA-1), a child who lived 24,000 years ago along the Bolshaya Belaya River near today’s Irkutsk in Siberia, or; La Braña man – a hunter-gatherer who lived in La Braña (modern Spain) about 8,000 years ago. ref

World’s oldest, 29,000-year-old net sinkers found in Korea

From a cave in South Korea have found evidence that suggests human beings were using sophisticated techniques to catch fish as far back as 29,000 years ago. Pryor to the South Korean find, the oldest fishing implements were believed to be fishing hooks, made from the shells of sea snails, that was found on a southern Japanese island and said to date back some 23,000 years. ref

Zagros Aurignacian from Yafteh cave, Iran, Early Baradostian culture at Yafteh cave in the Zagros mountains dated around 40,000-35,000 years ago. The Baradostian culture was an Upper Paleolithic flint industry culture found in the Zagros region in the border-country between Iraq and Iran. The site held a rich collection of ornaments made of marine shells, tooth and hematite have been discovered in the early Upper Paleolithic deposits with dates clustered around 28,000–35,000 thousand years ago. Yafteh cave has clear evidence pointing to an Aurignacian connection dating back to about 35,5000 years ago possibly providing a culture link from West Asia to Europe, I would propose by way of Siberia.ref, ref, ref

The earliest known petroglyphs are in Timareh dating back to 40,800 years ago. The earliest known pictographs in Iran are in Yafteh cave in Lorestan Provinceand date back 40,000 years. Pictographs that contain pictures drawn by pigments like smut, crystallized blood, ochre, that were employed by binders like animal fats, blood, seed oil and organic compounds, or a mixture of all materials mentioned above. Lorestan has the most and oldest pictographs in Iran. Yafteh cave in Lorestan has pictographs dating back to 40,000 years ago.Compared to petroglyphs, pictographs in Iran are scarce and rare. ref

Discoveries Challenge Beliefs on Humans’ Arrival in the Americas

Paleontologists in Uruguay published findings in November suggesting that humans hunted giant sloths there about 30,000 years ago. All the way in southern Chile, Tom D. Dillehay, an anthropologist at Vanderbilt University, has shown that humans lived at a coastal site called Monte Verde as early as 14,800 years ago. Stone tools in northeast Brazil as early as 22,000 years ago, proves that humans reached what is now northeast Brazil as early as 22,000 years ago.

Their discovery adds to the growing body of research upending a prevailing belief of 20th-century archaeology in the United States known as the Clovis model, which holds that people first arrived in the Americas from Asia about 13,000 years ago. “If they’re right, and there’s a great possibility that they are, that will change everything we know about the settlement of the Americas,” said Walter Neves, an evolutionary anthropologist at the University of São Paulo whose own analysis of an 11,000-year-old skull in Brazil implies that some ancient Americans resembled aboriginal Australians more than they did Asians. ref

The earliest radiocarbon dates from the site support the theory that humans first reached the New World by at least 17,000 to 15,000 years ago or more. To read more in-depth about these early people, go to “America, in the Beginning.” ref

Similarities and differences in Animism and Totemism

Totemism: to me, is an approximately 50,000-year-old belief system, is a belief associated with animistic religions. The totem is usually an animal or other natural figures that spiritually represents a group of related people such as a clan. Totem poles of the Pacific Northwest of North America are monumental poles of heraldry. While the term totem is derived from the North American Ojibwe language, belief in tutelary spirits and deities is not limited to indigenous peoples of the Americas but common to a number of cultures worldwide. ref

40,000 years old Aurignacian Lion Figurine Early Totemism?

Aurignacian sites in Europe

Around 38,000 years old engraving of an aurochs with seeming totemism expression from southwestern France. 

The piece involves a complicated image of an aurochs with and surrounded by a row of dots on a stone slab. From the Aurignacian culture, a modern human tool making and artistic culture of Upper Paleolithic Europe. A massive diversification and specialization tools during the time of the Aurignacian culture (between 43,000 and 38,000 years ago) facilitated its distinctive artwork.

In particular, the invention of an engraving tool known as the burin made remarkable rock engravings possible. Although anatomically modern humans first appeared around 100,000 years ago, the Aurignacian culture is widely considered to represent the first modern humans to settle in Europe. Also located in the Vézère Valley, not far from Abri Blanchard, are the Cave Paintings of Lascaux. One of the most famous archeological sites in the world, the Paleolithic cave paintings of Lascaux are remarkable for both their size and the quality of their preservation. Believed to date to sometime around 20,000 years ago, they are among the oldest known cave paintings in existence. ref

Aurignacian Culture Migrations?

There seem to be some findings that may support the theory that the Aurignacian culture could have arisen from the Ahmarian, which began spreading from the Middle East toward Europe some 45,000 years ago. There is also evidence that while expanding through Europe, some Aurignacians returned to the Middle East some 38,000 years ago.

In some cases, they reoccupied the same caves their ancestors had used thousands of years before, including Manot Cave itself containing tools typical of Aurignacian culture, as well as remains belonging to the Ahmarian, according to the study published last month in the journal Science Advances. Manot Cave, Aurignacian layers in Manot dated from 38,000 to 34,000 years ago, contains layer upon layer of flint tools, animal bones, hearths and other remains of human habitation spanning tens of thousands of years.

Specifically, it seems to have been occupied from about 55,000 years ago to at least 30,000 years ago. According to the archaeologists, the Ahmarian levels in Manot date to between 46,000 and 42,000 years ago, which predates the earliest Aurignacian sites in Europe. This supports the idea that the Aurignacian grew out of the Ahmarian as humans migrated out of the Middle East through Lebanon, Turkey, and the Balkans – areas which also host Ahmarian and early Aurignacian sites that are progressively younger in age, but it cannot know with certainty whether this return of the Aurignacian to the Middle East was caused by contact between neighboring groups of people, or actual migrations of entire populations. ref

Archaeological and palaeontological evidence strongly suggest that the initial modern colonization of eastern Europe and central Asia should be related to the spread of techno-complexes assigned to the Initial Upper Palaeolithic. This first expansion may have started as early as 48,000 years ago. The earliest phases of the Aurignacian complex (Protoaurignacian and Early Aurignacian) seem to represent another modern wave of migrations, starting in the Levant area. ref

The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka (or Bhim Baithaka) lie 45 km south of Bhopal at the southern edge of the Vindhyachal hills. South of those rock shelters, successive ranges of the Satpura hills rise. Thick vegetation covers the entire area. Abundant natural resources include perennial water supply, natural shelters, rich forest flora, and fauna, bearing a significant resemblance to similar rock art sites such as Kakadu National Park in Australia, the cave paintings of the Bushmen in Kalahari Desert, and the Upper Paleolithic Lascaux cave paintings in France.

The rock shelters and caves of Bhimbetka have a number of interesting paintings which depict the lives and times of the people who lived in the caves, including scenes of childbirth, communal dancing, and drinking, and religious rites and burials, as well as the natural environment around them. Executed mainly in red and white with the occasional use of green and yellow with themes taken from the everyday events of eons ago, the scenes usually depict hunting, dancing, music, horse and elephant riders, animal fighting, honey collection, decoration of bodies, disguises, masking and household scenes. Animals such as bisons, tigers, lions, wild boar, elephants, antelopes, dogs, lizards, and crocodiles have been abundantly depicted. In some cases, popular religious and ritual symbols also appear often. ref

Prehistoric Egypt 40,000 years ago to The First Dynasty 5,150 years ago

To me, totemism seems to have fully developed in Europe (likely western) but could have further developed pre-totemism from Africa, such as seen in the Stone Snake of South Africa: “first human worship” 70,000 years ago. Thus, I am also not sure that the European Totemists could just have been ones that had left Africa or was formed when we interacted with Neandertals in the middle east then splitting from there as early totemists but or the northern peoples caring Desonivin DNA could have come from the north with my proposed Europe Totemism as it seems Totemism hit Indonesia around 30,000 ago or so and possibly then spread to Papua New Guinea and presumably Australia.

Human Religion Stage #2: Totemism

Totemism, to me, is less holistic and somewhat masculine in nature compared to Animism with the heavily supported taboos and clan structure (things are separated and must stay separated with sacred and profane, off-limits and allowed, or clean and unclean running one’s entire lives. Things in nature are to be controlled or feared, things in nature have danger and can be evil, but it is also can be used for good and can be helpful for protection. There are spirits that I made thinner than Animism as it has to share space with the metaphorical clan ancestor there is also supernatural beings both animal and human-like Animism, but where animisms animals are calmer less harmful like the bird that is a stork referencing life, and the shake is smiling.

Whereas, in totemism, this same template is changed through similar. The totemism bird is a vulture referencing a thing of death, not life, and the snake has its teeth barred as a threat. Like Animism, there are nonhuman supernatural things or being but in general would be attributed to a somewhat nonpersonal shared clan ancestor grandmother/grandfather or great grandmother/grandfather, not as much of what we think about like a god today.

* “totemist” Believe in spirit-filled life and/or afterlife can be attached to or be expressed in things or objects (you are a hidden totemist/Totemism: an approximately 50,000-year-old belief system (though it may be older as there is evidence of what looks like a Stone Snake in South Africa which may be the “first human worship” dating to around 70,000 years ago)  (possibly extending to or from Neanderthals Likewise a number of archeologists propose that Middle Paleolithic societies — such as that of the Neanderthals — may also have practiced the earliest form of totemism or animal worship in addition to their (presumably religious) burial of the dead. Emil Bächler, in particular, suggests (based on archeological evidence from Middle Paleolithic caves) that a widespread Neanderthal bear-cult existed.

 Animal cults in the following Upper Paleolithic period — such as the bear cult — may have had their origins in these hypothetical Middle Paleolithic animal cults. Animal worship during the Upper Paleolithic intertwined with hunting rites. For instance, archeological evidence from art and bear remains reveals that the bear cult apparently had involved a type of sacrificial bear ceremonialism in which a bear was shot with arrows and then was finished off by a shot in the lungs and ritualistically buried near a clay bear statue covered by a bear fur, with the skull and the body of the bear buried separately. 100,000 to 50,000 years ago – Increased use of red ochre at several Middle Stone Age sites in Africa. Red Ochre is thought to have played an important role in ritual. 42,000 years ago – Ritual burial of a man at Lake Mungo in Australia.

The body is sprinkled with copious amounts of red ochre. 40,000 years ago – Upper Paleolithic begins in Europe. An abundance of fossil evidence includes elaborate burials of the dead, Venus figurines (depiction of female) and cave art also involving red ochre. Aurignacian figurines have been found depicting faunal representations of the time period associated with now-extinct mammals, including mammoths, rhinoceros, and Tarpan, along with anthropomorphized depictions that may be interpreted as some of the earliest evidence of religion. Many 35,000-year-old animal figurines were discovered in the Vogelherd Cave in Germany. One of the horses, amongst six tiny mammoth and horse ivory figures found previously at Vogelherd, was sculpted as skillfully as any piece found throughout the Upper Paleolithic. The production of ivory beads for body ornamentation was also important during the Aurignacian. There is a notable absence of painted caves, however, which begin to appear within the Solutrean. Venus figurines are thought to represent fertility. The cave paintings at Chauvet and Lascaux are believed to represent religious thought.

Some of oldest cave art is found in the Cave of El Castillo in Spain, in early Aurignacian dated at around 40,000 years, the time when it is believed that homo sapiens migrated to Europe from Africa. The paintings are mainly of deer. The next oldest cave paintings are found in the Chauvet Cave in France, dating to around 37,000 to 33,500 years ago and the second from 31,000 to 28,000 years ago with most of the black drawings dating to the earlier period. Chauvet Cave appears to have been used by humans during two distinct periods: the Aurignacian and the Gravettian. Most of the artwork dates to the earlier, Aurignacian, era (30,000 to 32,000 years ago). The later Gravettian occupation, which occurred 25,000 to 27,000 years agoThe paintings feature a larger variety of wild animals, such as lions, panthers, bears and hyenas. It’s strange to think that these animals were roaming around France at that time. There are no examples of complete human figures in these cave paintings. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

Human Religion Stage #3:  Shamanism

Shamanism to me, is semi-holistic, between Animism and Totemism. Shamanism is somewhat neofeminine, referring to “new”‘ forms of femininistic style in nature compared to Totemism, tending to go slightly back to a more animalistic sensibility than a totemistic one. Though it has elements if totemism as well where a shaman evokes animal images as spirit guides, omens, and message-bearers including throw bones/runes. Things in nature can be accessed by a shaman who is believed to have sacred access to, and influence in, the world of benevolent and malevolent spirits. Most believe in spirits, existing somewhere on the animism/pantheism spectrum, they actively pursue contact with the “spirit-world” in altered states of consciousness by drumming, dance, or the use of sacred plants some with euphoric or hallucinatory effect. Pantheism is the belief that all reality is identical with divinity, or that everything composes an all-encompassing, immanent god.

Pantheists do not believe in a personal or anthropomorphic god and hold a broad range of doctrines differing with regards to the forms of and relationships between divinity and reality. Though there are a variety of definitions of pantheism, ranging from a theological and philosophical position concerning God on one side as a religious position in this way, is expressed as a polar opposite of atheism. Whereas on the other hand, some hold that pantheism is a non-religious philosophical position that can be compatible with science. To them, according to the World Pantheist Movement, Scientific pantheism is the only form of spirituality we know of which fully embraces science as part of the human exploration of Earth and Cosmos.

And, such pantheism, in general, may hold the view that the Universe (in the sense of the totality of all existence) and God are identical (implying a denial of the personality and transcendence of God). They assert that scientific pantheism respects the rights not just of humans, but of all living beings. It focuses on saving the planet rather than “saving” souls. To them, it encourages you to make the most and best of your one life here. It values reason and the scientific method over adherence to ancient scriptures. Scientific pantheism moves beyond “God” and defines itself by positives. 

Shamanism may have something like deities, though they tend to be more like pantheism or metaphorical deism/polytheism. Deism is a philosophical position that posits that God (or in some cases, gods) does not interfere directly with the world; conversely it can also be stated as a system of belief which posits God’s existence as the cause of all things, and admits His perfection (and usually the existence of natural law and Providence) but rejects Divine revelation or direct intervention of God in the universe by miracles. It also rejects revelation as a source of religious knowledge and asserts that reason and observation of the natural world are sufficient to determine the existence of a single creator or absolute principle of the universe.

Shamanism may have many supernatural beings both animal and human-like Animism animal deities are common but the more anthropomorphic ones that are human like have a different level of power. Anthropomorphic human-like ones can be both somewhat personal and nonpersonal with a shared metaphorical ancestor grandmother/grandfather or great grandmother/grandfather deism/polytheism, not as much of what we think about like a god today. The wounded healer is an archetype, such as a shamanistic crisis, a rite of passage for shamans-to-be, commonly involving physical illness (pushes them to the brink of death, thought to give them access to the spirit world) and/or psychological crisis but can also involve a disformity or abnormality. My art of the bird could be a chicken, and the shake is viewed as dangerous but also useful, in fact, the usefulness of animals is sacralized, even including animals as a sacrificial use in shamanic rituals for at least around 5,000 years ago, using animals with great respect. ref, ref, ref

Two Types of Totemism

• Animistic/Pre-Shamanistic(to me, male-leaning, more geared to “Individual-totemism and much less Clan-totemism”)-Totemism
• Totemistic-(to me, female-leaning, more geared to “Group-totemism”)-Early-Shamanism

I hypothesize that both Totemism and Shamanism Disperse somewhat together as a complementary set of varied beliefs as either one of two main persuasions, totemistic-(female leaning, to me, more geared to “Group-totemism” Acephalous/Gynocentrism–Egalitarian–Equalitarian/Matrilineal–Matriarchy)-Early-Shamanism and/or Animistic/Pre-Shamanistic-(male leaning, to me, more geared to “Individual-Clan-totemism” Acephalous/Hierarchical–Heterarchy–Homoarchy/Patrilineal–Patriarchy)-Totemism which this must be thought of as only in a general kind of way, rather than only one-type each or that both where varied.

I think, likely both held diversity almost from the beginning, so they latter becoming even more diverse through tome also seems logical, which after that became more area stylized or splitting of the two. Such as, a possibility that true totemism as I think fully developed in Europe, not Africa: approximately 50,000-year-old belief system and that Shamanism: an approximately 30,000-year-old belief system by way of Siberia only to later find its way I think through Turkey to the Middle East maybe by around 12,000 years ago, referenced in the shaman burial of that time than out from there to Africa by way of Neolithic farmers from western Eurasia who, about 8,000 years ago, brought agriculture to Europe then began to return to Africa aided by DNA info from a 4,500-year-old hunter-gatherer, known as Mota man, were found in a cave. ref 

And at least by 3,000 years ago this southern migrations had spread to Africa, as it was by 3,000 years ago Europen DNA took that long to get to southern Africa through  “The widespread use of iron weapons which replaced bronze weapons rapidly disseminated throughout the Near East (North Africa, southwest Asia) by around 3,000 years ago.” ref 

As well as where both Early Shamanism around 30,000 to 20,000 years ago: Sungar (Russia) and Dolni Vestonice (Czech Republic) taken along with European totemism by way of Siberia through Austronesians migrations) all the way to Aboriginal Religion.

Group totemism was traditionally common among peoples in Africa, India, Oceania (especially in Melanesia), North America, and parts of South America. These peoples include, among others, the Australian Aborigines, the African Pygmies, and various Native American peoples—most notably the Northwest Coast Indians (predominantly fishermen), California Indians, and Northeast Indians. Moreover, group totemism is represented in a distinctive form among the Ugrians and west Siberians (hunters and fishermen who also breed reindeer) as well as among tribes of herdsmen in North and Central Asia. ref

Group/Clan Totemism a clan is a group claiming common descent in the male or female line. They share a common relationship with 1 or more natural phenomena. For the members of this unit, the clan, the totem is a symbol of membership of the unit. It is recognised for the members of this clan and those of other clans. This totem has strong territorial and mythological ties associated with it, and it is believed that it can warn them of approaching danger. Some distinguish between matrilineal social clan totemism and patrilineal clan totemism. Matrilineal clan totemism is widespread throughout eastern Australia – Queensland, New South Wales, western Victoria and eastern South Australia. There is also a small area in the southwest of Western Australia. The genera translation of the word for this totem is ‘flesh’ or ‘meat’ – the person is ‘of one flesh’ with his totem. The totems connected with matrilineal phratries of western Arnhem Land are not the center of cult life, and the members of the phratry don’t have a special attitude towards it. The totems of the matrilineal social clans are the center of cult life. An example among the Dieri is the mardu.

It is really an avunculineal (of the mother’s brother’s line) cult totem. Patrilineal clan cult totemism, bindara, is also found in this tribe. Patrilineal clan totemism was present in parts of Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Cape York, coastal areas of New South Wales and Queensland, central Victoria, along the lower Murray and the Coorong district and among the Lake Eyre groups. The best example was among the Jaraldi, Dangani, etc. and northeastern Arnhem Land. In eastern Arnhem Land a combination of aspects, including non-totemic, were associated with the clan. A clan has several totemic cults, and these can be associated with more than one linguistic group. In central Australia totemic combinations were apparent but less strongly so. ref

Individual totemism is widely disseminated. It is found not only among tribes of hunters and harvesters but also among farmers and herdsmen. Individual totemism is especially emphasized among the Australian Aborigines and the American Indians. Studies of shamanism indicate that individual totemism may have predated group totemism, as a group’s protective spirits were sometimes derived from the totems of specific individuals. To some extent, there also exists a tendency to pass on an individual totem as hereditary or to make taboo the entire species of animal to which the individual totem belongs. ref

Individual Totemism Patrilineality: Aboriginal Australia

Only 1 person is involved in a special relationship with some natural species, or a particular member of that species. The relationship is a personal one, not usually shared r inherited. There are actually cases of inheritance, as, among the Wuradjeri, a youth may be given a totem during his initiation. There is also a form of ‘assistant totemism‘, in which a totem animal may serve as a familiar, or ‘second self’ for a native doctor. There is another form among the Wuradjeri, a native doctor may take a 10-12 year-old-child from the main camp and ‘sing’ the assistant into him (bala or jarawajewa – ‘meat’ or totem within him, or the ‘spirit animal’.

In that case, the bala is of patrilineal descent. It is widely distributed throughout New South Wales. Native doctors have spirit snakes in central, north and north-western Australia, associated with the Rainbow Serpent. The patrilineally inherited totem serves as an assistant in its physical and well as its spiritual form, among the Jaraldri on the Lower Murray. There are some songmen in western Arnhem Land who specialize in gossip songs, dealing with contemporary people. These songmen usually attribute new songs with a non-inherited familiar, a spirit or creature, that reveals itself in a dream. ref 

Moreover, Among the Wiradjuri, an Aboriginal people, totem clans are divided among two subgroups and corresponding matrilineal moieties. The group totem, named “flesh,” is transmitted from the mother. In contrast to this, individual totems belong only to the medicine men and are passed on patrilineally. Such an individual totem is named bala, “spirit companion,” or jarawaijewa, “the meat (totem) that is within him.” It is said: “To eat your jarawaijewa is the same as if you were to eat your very own flesh or that of your father.” The individual totem is also a helper of the medicine man. By singing, for instance, the medicine man can send out his totem to kill an enemy; the totem enters the chest of the enemy and devours his viscera. The transmission of the individual totem to novices is done through the father or the grandfather, who, of course, himself is also a medicine man. ref

Humans in Australia

75,000 – 55,000 Years Ago – (Australia), found evidence that the Aborigines are descendants of people who left Africa before Asians and Europeans became distinct groups. Moreover, genetic analysis and archaeological evidence have shown Aborigines inhabited Australia for 55,000 years and human remains dated to about 45,000 years ago found near Lake Mungo help further support this conclusion.

60,000 Years Ago – Lake Mungo (Australia) found mitochondrial DNA evidence from a 60,000 year-old-male so primitive that it raises questions some believed recent African origin for humans showing we may need to rethink how we came to be modern humans. The main theory of multiregionalism, which suggests that people coming from Africa interbred with earlier humans already living in other places. Of course, these earlier humans “our ancestors” first arose in Africa, then around 100,000 years ago or so then spread throughout the world and subsequent later humans mixed with the more primitive humans leading to us. Y chromosome DNA seems to point that human lineage could be possibly traced to a single population living in somewhere in Africa about 60,000 years ago. ref

44,000 Years Ago – Lake Mungo (Australia), found evidence of a burial that seems to have a ritual nature as it was sprinkled with lots of red ochre. The use of red ochre in burial evidence by ancient Australians it could have been brought along with them as part of religious rituals or burial rights from Africa. ref

42,000 to 45,000 years ago evidence indicates that humans first arrived in Papua New Guinea. They were descendants of migrants out of Africa, in one of the early waves of human migration. Agriculture was developed in the New Guinea highlands around 9,000 years ago, making it one of the few areas in the world where people independently domesticated plants. A major migration of Austronesian-speaking peoples to coastal regions of New Guinea took place around 2,500 years ago. This has been correlated with the introduction of pottery, pigs, and certain fishing techniques. ref

42,000-22,000 years ago, Ice age art in Indonesia reveals how spiritual life transformed en route to Australia. Cave discoveries suggest Indigenous Australians’ strong connection with animals may have its roots in the exotic species their ancestors encountered in Sulawesi, an Indonesian island east of Borneo. Modern humans had first colonized Australia by 50,000 years ago. 42,000-year-old shells used as “jewellery” East Timor and cave art as that found at one cave, a depiction of a human hand is at least 40,000 years old. It was made by someone pressing their palm and fingers flat against the ceiling and spraying red paint around them. Next to the hand stencil is a painting of a Babirusa that was created at least 35,400 years ago compatible in age with the spectacular cave paintings of rhinos, mammoths and other animals from France and Spain, a region I see as the birth of totemism 50,000 years ago spread out from there.

Also recovered were stone tools inscribed with crosses, leaf-like motifs and other geometric patterns, the meaning of which is obscure. 40,000-year-old art in Indonesia means that rock art probably arose in Africa well before our species set foot in Europe, although an Asian origin is also conceivable. Artifacts date to between 30,000 to 22,000 years ago and include disc-shaped beads made from the tooth of a babirusa, a primitive pig found only on Sulawesi, and a “pendant” fashioned from the finger bone of a bear cuscus, a large possum-like creature also unique to Sulawesi. Ornaments manufactured from the bones and teeth of babirusas and bear cuscuses – two of Sulawesi’s most characteristic endemic species – implies that the symbolic world of the newcomers changed to incorporate these never-before-seen creatures. Thousands of animal bones and teeth are found, but only a tiny fraction are from babirusas. The near-absence of babirusas from the cave inhabitants’ diet, coupled with the portrayal of these animals in their art, and use of their body parts as “jewellery”, suggests these rare and elusive creatures had acquired particular symbolic value in ice age human culture, which I see as totemism and taboo. ref

Humans first settled in East Timor 42,000 years ago. Descendants of at least three waves of migration are believed still to live in East Timor. The first is described by anthropologists as people of the Veddo–Australoid type. Around 5,000 years ago, a second migration brought Melanesians. The earlier Veddo-Australoid peoples withdrew at this time to the mountainous interior. Finally, Proto-Malays arrived from south China and north Indochina. ref

Eastern Indonesian gene pool consists of East Asian as well as Melanesian components, as might be expected based on linguistic evidence, but also harbors generally considered indigenous eastern Indonesian signatures that perhaps reflect the initial occupation of the Wallacea by aboriginal hunter-gatherers already in Palaeolithic times. In addition, a small fraction of DNA data shared between eastern Indonesians and Australian Aborigines likely reflecting an ancient link between Asia and Australia. All Austronesian (AN) languages trace back to a common ancestral language (Proto-AN) and are thought to have spread by an expansion that started about 5,500–6,000 years ago in Taiwan with an assumed ultimate origin in East Asia. The AN languages of the Nusa Tenggara Timur and eastern Timor area are generally assumed to be related belonging to the Central-Malayo-Polynesian (CMP) subfamily. However, the existence of this subfamily has been questioned, and it is also unknown where exactly in Southeast Asia Proto-Malayo-Polynesian was spoken, probably in the Philippines–Sulawesi area.

It is further believed that AN languages exist in EI since about 4,000 years ago, and AN speakers—on their dispersal from Taiwan— replaced or admixed with NAN-speaking regional aboriginal hunter-gatherers living in Southeast Asia (including EI) already since Palaeolithic times. Like the AN languages of the Nusa Tenggara Timur and eastern Timor area, the non-Austronesian (NAN) also called Papuan languages of this region have also been shown to be related with each other with a linguistic hypothesis suggesting that NAN speakers in the region of Nusa Tenggara Timur and eastern Timor trace back to the expansion of the Trans-New Guinea Phylum (TNG) that started about 10,000 years ago in the highlands of eastern (now Papua) New Guinea.

The currently known archaeological sites for modern humans in EI date back to about 30–37,000 years ago in eastern Timor and northern Maluku (Bellwood 1996). However, older dates of 43,000 years ago from southern Thailand, as well as evidence that modern humans were in New Guinea at least 40,000 years ago and in Australia at least 50,000 years ago, raise the expectation that the initial colonization of EI by modern humans occurred more than 50,000 years ago. In addition, archaeological sites with Neolithic dates of about 4,500–3,800 years ago are known from Flores and of about 4,400–3,400 years ago from eastern Timor, which have been associated with the Neolithic spread of farmers from Taiwan via Southeast Asia, Island Melanesia into Polynesia. This Neolithic spread is usually associated with the spread of AN speakers.

It has been suggested that the AN-speaking Neolithic farmers arrived in EI via an eastern route via Sulawesi (and perhaps the northern Maluku) rather than a western route via Java. Genetic evidence from the human-specific bacterial parasite Helicobacter pylori, also points to a Taiwanese origin and Out-of-Taiwan spread of AN speakers. In addition, this model disagrees with human genetic data such as the Taiwanese origin of the major Asian nonrecombining Y-chromosomal (NRY) haplogroup in Island Melanesia (O-M110), the Taiwanese origin of the B4a1a mtDNA haplogroup shared among Taiwanese Aborigines, Melanesians, and Polynesians, and the genetic affinities of Polynesians and Micronesians with Taiwanese Aborigines as revealed from 890 autosomal DNA markers.

Overall, the linguistic and archaeological data suggest at least two or three distinct migration waves influenced EI: an initial colonization at least 50,000 years ago; the expansion of AN speakers about 4,000 years ago and possibly an immigration of NAN speakers either before or around the same time of the AN arrival. DNA haplogroup Q1, and possibly Q2, could reflect an ancient shared ancestry between EI and New Guinea, that is, the Pleistocene aboriginal hunter-gather population. The origin of haplogroup Q1  is around 50,000 years ago and Q2 is around 35,000 years ago. ref, ref, ref 

20,000 years ago and before Aboriginal people were had spread through the entire continent of Australia caring for their cultural and religious thinking and behaviors with them. At around 15,000 – 12,000 years ago at Kow Swamp in Northern Victoria, Aborigines where wearing kangaroo teeth headbands similar to those worn by men and women in the Central Desert in the 19th century. Land bridges between mainland Australia and Tasmania are flooded. Tasmanian Aboriginal people become isolated for the next 13,000 to 12,000 years.

12,000 years ago Australia, the aboriginal cave paintings of beehives. Bees can be misinterpreted as representing other, more esoteric or otherworldly creatures. For instance, spiraling circles appear frequently in rock art, and on occasion have been interpreting to represent planetary alignments or symbols of advanced civilizations. In Australia, there is rock art in the form of spiraling circles from the sacred storehouse of Australia Honey Ant shamans, who hunted Honey Ants as the only source of honey in an otherwise dry and arid desert landscape. The rocks are located in a valley where shamans performed rituals designed to increase their supply of honey, for the sacred nectar provided a variety of medicinal and nutritional uses. Ironically, the conical images hints at the origins of the ancient Labyrinth design, a structure that played an important role in Egyptian, Greek, and of course, Atlantian mythology, cultures that venerated the bee. Therefore, as always, bee mythology, like all mythology, is just trying to turn magic properties out of non-magic nature.

“The Rainbow-Serpent (totemistic) Myth of Australia”

9,000 – 6,000 years ago Australia, Earliest visible evidence of Aboriginal Religion connected with the Rainbow Serpent beliefs. 8,000 years ago the Torres Strait Islands are formed when the land bridge between Australia and New Guinea is submerged by rising seas. Dreamtime (or The Dreaming or Tjukurrpa or Jukurrpa) stories tell of the great spirits and totems during creation, in animal and human form that molded the barren and featureless earth. The Rainbow Serpent is believed to have come from beneath the ground and created huge ridges, mountains, and gorges as it pushed upward. The Rainbow Serpent is understood to be of immense proportions and inhabits deep permanent waterholes and is in control of life’s most precious resource, water.

The myth of the Wawalag sisters marks the importance of the female menstruation process and led to the establishment of the Kunapipi blood ritual of the goddess, in which the indigenous Australians allegorically recreate the Rainbow Serpent eating the Wawalag sisters through dance and pantomime, and can be regarded as a fertility ritual. Female menstruation is sacred to many indigenous Australian cultures because it distinguishes the time when a female is capable of bringing life into the world, putting a woman on the same level of creative abilities as the Rainbow Serpent. It is for this reason that men will attempt to mimic this holy process by cutting their arms and/or penises and letting their blood run over their own bodies, each other’s bodies, and even into a woman’s uterus. Men will sometimes mix their blood with a women’s menstrual blood, letting them flow together in a ceremonial unification of the sexes. The earliest known rock drawings of the Rainbow Serpent date back to more than 6,000 years ago. Because of its connections with fertility, the Rainbow Serpent is often illustrated as a vagina, and vice versa. Some rock art has been discovered in which the Rainbow Serpent was drawn mouth open and tongue out to represent the vaginal opening and streaming of menstrual blood.

The Rainbow Serpent is also identified as a healer and can pass on its properties as a healer to humans through a ritual. In some cultures, the Rainbow Serpent is considered to be the ultimate creator of everything in the universe. In some cultures, the Rainbow Serpent is male; in others, female; in yet others, the gender is ambiguous or the Rainbow Serpent is hermaphroditic or bisexual, thus an androgynous entity. Some commentators have suggested that the Rainbow Serpent is a phallic symbol, which fits its connection with fertility myths and rituals. When the Serpent is characterized as female or bisexual, it is sometimes depicted with breasts. Other times, the Serpent has no particular gender. The Serpent has also been known to appear as a scorpion or another animal or creature. In some stories, the Serpent is associated with a bat, sometimes called a “flying fox” in Australian English, engaged in a rivalry over a woman. Some scholars have identified other creatures, such as a bird, crocodile, dingo, or lizard, as taking the role of the Serpent in stories. In all cases, these animals are also associated with water. Among the Australian Aborigines, totemism called Kobong involves many totem clans including Dingo and Water-Hen. All birds were originally totems and ancestors of all aboriginals in the ‘Dreamtime’ The Rainbow Serpent has also been identified with the bunyip, a fearful, water-hole dwelling creature in Australian mythology.

The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity (also known as Wagyl, Wuagyl, etc.) often seen as a kind of creator deity and a common motif in the art and religion of Aboriginal Australia. It is named for the obvious identification between the shape of a rainbow and the shape of a snake. Some scholars believe that the link between snake and rainbow suggests the cycle of the seasons and the importance of water in human life. When the rainbow is seen in the sky, it is said to be the Rainbow Serpent moving from one waterhole to another. There are innumerable names and stories associated with the serpent, all of which communicate the significance and power of this being within Aboriginal traditions. It is viewed as a giver of life, through its association with water, but can be a destructive force if angry. The Luritja people, native to the remote deserts of central Australia, once told stories about a fire devil coming down from the Sun, crashing into Earth and killing everything in the vicinity. The local people feared if they strayed too close to this land they might reignite some otherworldly creature. The legend describes the crash landing of a meteor in Australia’s Central Desert about 4,700 years ago, says University of New South Wales (UNSW) astrophysicist Duane Hamacher.

The Aboriginal people of Victoria had developed a varied and complex set of languages, tribal alliances, and trading routes, beliefs and social customs that involved totemism, superstition, initiation and burial rites, and tribal moeties that regulated sexual relationships and marriage. Ayers Rock is also known by its Aboriginal name ‘Uluru’. It is a sacred part of Aboriginal creation mythology or dreamtime – reality being a dream. Uluru is considered one of the great wonders of the world and one of Australia’s most recognizable natural icons. Uluru is a large magnetic mound large not unlike Silbury Hill in England. It is located on a major planetary grid point much like the Great Pyramid in Egypt. But for most Aborigines, spiritual beliefs are derived from a sense of belonging to the land, to the sea, to other people, and to one’s culture. Ayers Rock is a large sandstone rock formation in central Australia, in the Northern Territory. Traditional Aboriginal people regard all land as sacred, and the songs must be continually sung to keep the land “alive” and the Dreaming Spirits “also deposited the spirits of unborn children and determined the forms of human society,” thereby establishing tribal law and totemic paradigms. The whole system of totemic belief reflects the social structure, depending on whether hunter-gatherers (Australia) or farmers (Central Africa) and this implies beliefs and mode of thought differ and thus several simultaneous systems exist throughout the world. ref, ref

DNA from the Denisovan Siberian cave-dwellers from the has been found in the Aboriginal descendants of the first settlers on the continent. And separate studies suggest that the ability of Tibetans to withstand the effects of hypoxia in low-oxygen environments is linked to a gene absent in Neanderthals but present in Denisovans. ‘Where the interbreeding event(s) between Denisovans and early modern humans actually took place are currently unknown. There is also now evidence from fossil teeth that modern humans were in southern China at least 80,000 years ago, and in Sumatra about 65,000 years ago. So populations conected to those are much more likely than Denisovans to have been the first colonizers of Australia, an event now dated to at least 65,000 years ago. Denisovans where an archaic species lived in Altai Mountains of southern Russia, yet their DNA shows up in populations across Southeast Asia. Examining DNA from a finger bone excavated in Siberia, researchers concluded that the Denisovans migrated from Siberia to tropical parts of Asia and that they interbred with modern humans in South-East Asia 44,000 years ago, before Australia separated from Papua New Guinea approximately 11,700 years BP.

They contributed DNA to Aboriginal Australians along with present-day New Guineans and an indigenous tribe in the Philippines known as Mamanwa. Scholars have long been flummoxed as to why the language spoken by 90 percent of Australia’s Aborigines is relatively young—approximately 4,000 years old according to language experts—if their ancestors had occupied the continent so much earlier. One possible answer has been that a second migration into Australia by people speaking this language occurred around 4,000 years ago. The authors of the new study, however, say a previously unidentified internal dispersal of Aborigines that swept from the northeast across Australia around that time led to the linguistic and cultural linking of the continent’s indigenous people. Although they had a sweeping impact on ancient Australian culture, these “ghost-like” migrants mysteriously disappeared from the genetic record. A few immigrants appear in different villages and communities around Australia.

They change the way people speak and think; then they disappear, like ghosts. And people just carry on living in isolation the same way they always have. This may have happened for religious or cultural reasons that we can only speculate about. But in genetic terms, we have never seen anything like it before.” One other notable finding from the DNA study is evidence of an “uncharacterized” hominin group that interbred with modern humans as they migrated through southeast Asia on their way to Australia. Four percent of Aboriginal Australian DNA comes from a distant relative of Denisovans (an extinct human species from Siberia). It has been found that there was a migration of genes from India to Australia around 4,000 years ago.

The researchers had two theories for this: either some Indians had contact with people in Indonesia who eventually transferred those genes from India to Australian Aborigines, or that a group of Indians migrated all the way from India to Australia and intermingled with the locals directly. Their research also shows that these new arrivals came at a time when dingoes first appeared in the fossil record, and when Aboriginal peoples first used microliths in hunting. In addition, they arrived just as one of the Aboriginal language groups was undergoing a rapid expansion. Blood samples from some Warlpiri Tribe of Aboriginal Australians, who are not representative of all Aboriginal Tribes in Australia and descended from ancient Asians whose DNA is still somewhat present in Southeastern Asian groups, although greatly diminished. The Warlpiri DNA also lacks certain information found in modern Asian genomes, and carries information not found in other genomes, reinforcing the idea of ancient Aboriginal isolation. ref, ref, ref, ref

Figguring things out with rock art and DNA

In Australia, rock art seems to start near the cost as if it possibly comes from outside, to me, with dates up to 28,000 years in Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, depicting traditional ways, mythical creatures, and ancient songlines, while other art is found next door to the west in Queensland in the North part of Australia dates up to 15,000 years old have been recorded. ref, ref

Both of the oldest rock art sites (early totemism, to me) are relatively close to

and south under Indonesia and East Temore even older rock art sites.

We must not forget that evidence puts humans were in southern China at least 80,000 years ago, and in Sumatra, an Indonesian island by about 65,000 years ago. A collection of ostrich eggshell jewelry dating to 45,000 to 50,000 years ago is found at Denisova cave in the Altai region, Siberia and this is telling as ostrich is a large flightless bird native to Africa. ref, ref

Denisovans lived in Altai Mountains of southern Russia, Siberia yet their DNA shows up in populations across Southeast Asia, concluded that Denisovans or ones caring heavy Denisovan DNA migrated from Siberia to tropical parts of Asia and it is thought that they interbred with modern humans in South-East Asia around 44,000 years ago, then only after that spread to Australia. 41,000 years old Denisovan finger bone fragment of a juvenile female who lived in the remote Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains in Siberia, a cave that has also been inhabited by Neanderthals and modern humans.

Denisovans shared a common origin with Neanderthals, that they ranged from Siberia to Southeast Asia, and that they lived among and interbred with the ancestors of some modern humans, with about 3% to 5% of the DNA of Melanesians and Aboriginal Australians and around 6% in Papuans deriving from Denisovans.

A comparison with the genome of another Neanderthal from the Denisova cave with artifacts showing an intermittent presence going back 125,000 years is near the border with China and Mongolia revealed local interbreeding with local Neanderthal DNA representing 17% of the Denisovan genome, and evidence of interbreeding with an as yet unidentified ancient human lineage. Analysis of DNA from two teeth found in layers different from the finger bone revealed an unexpected degree of mtDNA divergence among Denisovans. Two teeth belonging to different members of the Denisova cave population have been reported. In November 2015, a tooth fossil containing DNA was reported to have been found and studied.

Denisovans and Neanderthals split from Homo sapiens around 744,000 years ago and diverged from each other 300 generations after that. Moreover, Denisovans were actually a sister group to the Neanderthals, branching off from the human lineage 600,000 years ago, and diverging from Neanderthals, probably in the Middle East, 200,000 years later. Furthermore an upper molar from a young adult, dating from about the same time (the finger was from level 11 in the cave sequence, the tooth from level 11.1). The tooth differed in several aspects from those of Neanderthals, while having archaic characteristics similar to the teeth of Homo erectus. They performed mitochondrial DNA analysis on the tooth and found it to have a sequence different from but similar to that of the finger bone, indicating a divergence time about 7,500 years before, and suggesting that it belonged to a different individual from the same population.

Denisovans were extremely robust, perhaps similar in build to the Neanderthals. mtDNA sequence from the femur of a 400,000-year-old Homo heidelbergensis from the Sima de los Huesos cave in Spain was found to be related to that of the Neanderthals and the Denisovans, but closer to the latter. Later analysis of nuclear DNA sequences from two specimens showed they were more closely related to Neanderthals rather than to Denisovans, while one of these samples also had the Denisovan-related mtDNA. The authors suggest that the mtDNA found in these specimens represent an archaic sequence indicative of Neanderthal’s kinship with Denisovans that was subsequently lost in Neanderthals due to replacement by a more modern-human-related sequence.

Analysis of genomes of modern humans shows that they mated with at least two groups of Archaic humans: Neanderthals (more similar to those found in the Caucasus than those from the Altai region) and Denisovans. Approximately 1-4% of the DNA of non-African modern humans is shared with Neanderthals, suggesting interbreeding. Tests comparing the Denisova hominin genome with those of six modern humans – a ǃKung from South Africa, a Nigerian, a Frenchman, a Papua New Guinean, a Bougainville Islander and a Han Chinese – showed that between 4% and 6% of the genome of Melanesians(represented by the Papua New Guinean and Bougainville Islander) derives from a Denisovan population; a later study puts the amount at 1.11% (with an additional contribution from some different and yet unknown ancestor).

This DNA was possibly introduced during the early migration to Melanesia. These findings are in concordance with the results of other comparison tests which show a relative increase in allele sharing between the Denisovan and the Aboriginal Australian genome, compared to other Eurasians and African populations; however, it has been observed that Papuans, the population of Papua New Guinea, have more allele sharing than Aboriginal Australians. Denisovan ancestry is shared also by Australian Aborigines, and smaller scattered groups of people in South-East Asia, such as the Mamanwa, a Negrito people in the Philippines though not all Negritos were found to possess Denisovan genes; Onge Andaman Islanders and Malaysian Jehai, for example, were found to have no significant Denisovan inheritance. These data place the interbreeding event in mainland South-East Asia, and suggest that Denisovans once ranged widely over eastern Asia. Based on the modern distribution of Denisova DNA, Denisovans may have crossed the Wallace Line, with Wallacea serving as their last refugium.

A paper by Kay Prüfer in 2013 said that mainland Asians and Native Americans had around 0.2% Denisovan ancestry. it has been suggested, in the absence of genomic evidence, that the Red Deer Cave people of China were the result of interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Denisovans within a few thousands of years of the end of the last glacial period. Evidence of a minimum 0.5% Neanderthal gene flows into the Denisovans. The Denisovan genome shared more derived alleles with the Altai Neanderthal genome from Siberia than with the Vindija cave Neanderthal genome from Croatia and the Mezmaiskaya cave Neanderthal genome from the Caucasus, suggesting that the gene flow came from a population that was more closely related to the Altai Neanderthal. there were at least two distinct populations of Denisovans, and that a second introgression event from Denisovans into humans occurred. Genetic evidence for this second interbreeding event is found in various modern South and East Asian populations: the Han Chinese, Japanese, and the Dai people.

The Denisovan component in the genomes of these East Asian populations is close to the sequenced Denisovan genome from the Altai cave than it is to the Denisovan component found in the genomes of Papuans. Thus, the Papuans must have derived their Denisovan DNA component from a separate introgression event involving a different Denisovan population than that which contributed the introgression seen in South and East Asians. South Asians and East Asians have comparable levels of Denisovan admixture but South Asians like Oceanians had only one detectable introgression event. ref

60,000 years old early evidence of the human use of symbols, in the form of patterns engraved upon ostrich eggshell water containers from Diepkloof Rock Shelter is a prehistoric cave in Western Cape, South Africa. It contains one of “most complete and continuous later Middle Stone Age sequences in southern Africa” stretching from before 130,000 BP to about 45,000 BP and encompassing pre-Stillbay, Stillbay, Howiesons Poort, and post-Howiesons Poort periods.

From 70,000-74,000 years ago stone tools like bifaces and bifacial points are present while less complex forms such as backed artifacts occur from 70,000-60,000 years ago and are subsequently replaced with unifacial points. 270 fragments of ostrich eggshell containers have been found covered with engraved geometric patterns. The fragments have a maximum size of 20–30 mm, though a number have been fitted into larger 80 × 40 mm fragments. It is estimated that fragments from 25 containers have been found. Eggshell fragments have been found throughout the period of occupation of the cave but those with engraving are found only in several layers within the Howiesons Poort period. These occur across 18 stratigraphic units, suggesting the tradition of engraving lasted for several thousand years. 

The engraving consists of abstract linear repetitive patterns, including a hatched band motif. One fragment has two parallel lines that might have been circular around the container. Seemingly it has been suggested that they form “a system of symbolic representation in which collective identities and individual expressions are clearly communicated, suggesting social, cultural, and cognitive underpinnings that overlap with those of modern people.” A large number of marked pieces shows that there were rules for composing designs but having room within the rules to allow for individual and/or group preferences.” Earlier finds than this exist of symbolism in early Africa, such as the 75,000-year-old engraved ochre chunks found in the Blombos cave, but these are isolated and difficult to tell apart from meaningless doodles. Blombos Cave is also important which contains Middle Stone Age (MSA) deposits currently dated at between c. 100,000 and 70,000 years ago. ref, ref

The oldest rock art in West Europe is 40,800 years old prehistoric dots and crimson hand stencils from El Castillo Cave in Spain (not too far from what may be the origin of Proto-Aurignacian and Early Aurignacian evidence at Labeko Koba), which it is thought humans arrived around El Castillo Cave at least by about 41,500 years ago. ref

There are 42,000-year-old shells used as “jewelry” East Timor and cave art as that found at one cave, a depiction of a human hand is at least 40,000 years old. Humans first settled in East Timor 42,000 years ago. on the northwestern side of the island surrounded by Indonesian West Timor. Australia is the country’s southern neighbor, separated by the Timor Sea. Descendants of at least three waves of migration are believed still to live in East Timor. The first is described by anthropologists as people of the Veddo–Australoid type. ref, ref

A collection of ostrich eggshell jewelry dating to 45,000 to 50,000 years ago is found at Denisova cave in the Altai region, Siberia and this is telling as ostrich is a large flightless bird native to Africa. ref, ref

In India, starting around 25,000-30,000 years tribes painted their stories on rock faces all over India. And we have two ostrich eggshell beads from Bhimbetka, south of Bhopal India and three from Patne, Maharashtra India dating to around 39,000 to 25,000 years ago relate to these finds. Some of the Bhimbetka rock shelters feature prehistoric cave paintings and the earliest are about 30,000 years old showing themes such as animals, early evidence of dance and hunting. The Bhimbetka rock shelters specimens were found in the neck region of an Upper Paleolithic human burial (in shelter No. III A-28), possibly forming part of a necklace made up of beads. In all, some forty-one Indian sites have yielded fragments of Pleistocene ostrich eggshell. ref, ref, ref

DNA extracted from the fossilized skeleton, Kostenki 14 or  K-14, who once was a short, dark-featured man from approx. 36,000 years ago who died along the Middle Don River in Kostenki-Borshchevo, Russia. The DNA also had about 1% more Neandertal DNA than do Europeans and Asians today and he also carried the signature of the shadowy western Asians, including a boy who lived 24,000 years ago at Mal’ta in central Siberiaseeming to then connect to, an even older 45,000-year-old human Ust’-Ishim man from west-Siberian  had shown — that humans and Neandertals mixed early, before 45,000 years ago, perhaps in the Middle East. ref, ref

A pendant with two incised holes in a tropical seashell restricted to the Mediterranean basin, we seem to have here important evidence of the connections and, probably, of the origins of the population that used these shells as beads for necklaces. A small number of bone fragments and stone artifacts are perhaps as early as around 44,000 to 46,000 years ago. ref, ref

There are shell ornaments in a limestone cave in Eastern Morocco dating to around 72,000 years ago along with evidence of shells, already known from as old as 110,000 to 82,000-year-old Aterian deposits in the cave occupations include pre-Mousterian, Aterian, and Iberomaurusian lithic industries. ref, ref

This is interesting to go with beads made from sea snail discovered at Skhul in Israel and dated to between 100,000 and 135,000 years ago. ref Around 75,000 years ago, in a cave near the southern Cape shoreline in South Africa, a human drilled tiny holes into the shells of snails and strung them as beads. ref

Back to 200,000-year-old shell beads from Libya and a 300,000-year-old wolf tooth pendant from Austria and evidence of 300,000 year old red ochre from prehistoric uses that are varied but often are seen in arcane burials and other uses including but in no way limited to rock art paintings, pottery, wall paintings and cave art, and human tattoos. What must be understood is these seeming human behaviors of Pre-Animism: Portable Rock Art which is at least 300,000-year-old seems more reasonable as we had evolved even as early humans living 300,000 Years Ago already had what we think of as basically modern human faces. ref, ref, ref, ref

So, as stated before, while humans seem to first settle in East Timor 42,000 years ago and a 39,900 years old hand stencil that is from the Leang Timpuseng Cave on the Island of Sulawesi in Indonesia also includes some of the most ancient animal paintings, all made by Aborigine migrants who were probably heading for Australia. and the image of the “pig-deer” at the Sulawesi Cave, Indonesia, dating to as old as 35,400 years ago. ref, ref, ref

Then there is a 39,900 years old hand stencil that is from the Leang Timpuseng Cave on the Island of Sulawesi. The site also includes some of the most ancient animal paintings, all made by Aborigine migrants who were probably heading for Australia. Humans first settled in East Timor 42,000 years ago. Descendants of at least three waves of migration are believed still to live in East Timor. The first is described by anthropologists as people of the Veddo–Australoid type. Cave Paintings in East Kalimantan (Borneo) Indonesia, which is to the south and east are islands of Indonesia: Java and Sulawesi., and before sea levels rose at the end of the last Ice Age, Borneo was part of the mainland of Asia with Java and Sumatra.

The first group comprises two caves situated in the middle of a cliff about 30 meters apart. They contain roughly 60 hand stencils concentrated in only two to three panels. The disposition of the stencils indicates the panels intentionally organized. The other group, 80 km westwards, comprises three large chambers with at least 200 figures including more than 140 handprints. More than 20 of them have anthropo-and zoo-morphic features in the form of linear or punctuated marks inside the stencil blanks. Moreover, painted on the roof of a “laminoir”, about one meter high, three bovine figures larger than one meter are to be seen.

They seem to be clear representations of an almost-vanished wild small cow. The next two features appear to be deer involved in a hunting scene and are associated with some pairs of hand stencils. Some handprints have internal linear tracks evoking tattooing figures like those still executed by Mentawi communities in the Siberut Islands (South Sumatra), as well as the “X ray” drawings frequently present in some Australian Aboriginal pictorial expression. With origins probably predating the arrival of Austronesians into Borneo 4,000-5,000 years ago, that culture-area or a “Rock Art Culture”, could correspond to the period when climatic and marine changes occurred at the end of Pleistocene. ref, ref, ref

And at Chauvet Cave, in France, human occupation was in two phases, one running from 37,000 to 33,500 years ago and the second from 31,000 to 28,000 years ago. ref

30,000 years old rock art found at Apollo 11 Cave (Namibia) South West Africa. And according to charcoal radiocarbon dated from 27,500 to 25,500 BP. The slabs found in the cave are referred to as the Apollo 11 Stones. Besides the slabs, the cave contained several white and red paintings. The subject of paintings ranged from simple geometric patterns to bees may belong to a period as far back as 10,400 years ago. Moreover, the indigenous people in the region, the OvaHimba, are a monotheistic people who worship the God Mukuru, as well as their clan’s ancestors (ancestor reverence). Mukuru only blesses, while the ancestors can bless and curse. Each family has its own sacred ancestral fire, which is kept by the fire-keeper.

The fire-keeper approaches the sacred ancestral fire every seven to eight days in order to communicate with Mukuru and the ancestors on behalf of his family. Often, because Mukuru is busy in a distant realm, the ancestors act as Mukuru’s representatives. The OvaHimba traditionally believe in omiti, which some translate to mean witchcraft but which others call “black magic” or “bad medicine”. Some OvaHimba believe that death is caused by omiti, or rather, by someone using omiti for malicious purposes. Additionally, some believe that evil people who use omiti have the power to place bad thoughts into another’s mind or cause extraordinary events to happen (such as when a common illness becomes life-threatening). But users of omiti do not always attack their victim directly; sometimes they target a relative or loved one. Some OvaHimba will consult a traditional African diviner-healer to reveal the reason behind an extraordinary event, or the source of the omiti. ref, ref

27,000-year-old dramatic murals dating from the Gravettian culture and 18,000 years ago art at Pech Merle Cave which may date from the later Magdalenian era. ref

27,000 to 19,000 years ago, Cosquer cave art of various pieces, the older art consisting of 65 hand stencils and other related motifs, dating to 27,000 years ago (the Gravettian Era), and the newer art of signs and 177 animals dating to 19,000 years ago (the Solutrean Era), representing both “classical” animals such as bison, ibex, and horses, but also marine animals such as auks and a man with a seal’s head. ref

There are others in Europe but let us get back to 26,000 years ago in Papua New Guinea Karawari Caves where the rock paintings are part of a continuous culture of representation that may date back to the first people to settle in these hills perhaps more than 26,000 years ago. ref

In India, we have two ostrich eggshell beads from Bhimbetka, south of Bhopal India and three from Patne, Maharashtra India dating to around 39,000 to 25,000 years ago relate to these finds. The Bhimbetka rock shelters specimens were found in the neck region of an Upper Paleolithic human burial (in shelter No. III A-28), so it has been suggested that they formed part of a necklace made up of beads of perishable materials. While the Patne specimens range from 7 mm to about 10 mm diameter and are rather angular, those from Bhimbetka measure about 6 and 7 mm respectively and are well rounded. In all, some forty-one Indian sites have yielded fragments of Pleistocene ostrich eggshell. ref

DNA appears to show that most South Asians are descendants of two major ancestral components, one restricted to South Asia (Ancestral South Indian) and the other component (Ancestral North Indian) more closely related to those in Central Asia, West Asia and Europe. It has been found that the ancestral node of the phylogenetic tree of all the mitochondrial DNA haplogroups typically found in Central Asia, West Asia, and Europe are also to be found in South Asia at relatively high frequencies. The inferred divergence of this common ancestral node is estimated to have occurred slightly less than 50,000 years ago. In India, the major maternal lineages are various M subclades, followed by R and U sublineages. These mitochondrial haplogroups’ coalescence times have been approximated to date to 50,000 years ago. The major paternal lineages represented by Y chromosomes are haplogroups R1a1, R2, H, L and J2. Many researchers have argued that Y-DNA Haplogroup R1a1 (M17) is of autochthonous South Asian origin. However, proposals for a Central Asian origin for R1a1 are also quite common. ref

R1a1-M458 and R1a1-Z280 were typical for the Hungarian population groups, whereas R1a1-Z93 was typical for Malaysian Indians and the Hungarian Roma. Inner and Central Asia is an overlap zone for the R1a1-Z280 and R1a1-Z93 lineages. This pattern implies that an early differentiation zone of R1a1-M198 conceivably occurred somewhere within the Eurasian Steppes or the Middle East and Caucasus region as they lie between South Asia and Eastern Europe. The detection of the Z93 paternal genetic imprint in the Hungarian Roma gene pool is consistent with South Asian ancestry and amends the view that H1a-M82 is their only discernible paternal lineage of Indian heritage. ref

Haplogroup R1a, or haplogroup R-M420 is distributed in a large region in Eurasia, extending from Scandinavia and Central Europe to southern Siberia and South Asia. While R1a originated around 22,000 to 25,000 years ago, its subclade M417 (R1a1a1) diversified ca. 5,800 years ago. The distribution of M417-subclades R1a-Z282 (including R1a-Z280) in Central and Eastern Europe and R1a-Z93 in Asia suggesting that R1a1a diversified within the Eurasian Steppes or the Middle East and Caucasus region. The place of origin of these subclades plays a role in the debate about the origins of Proto-Indo-Europeans. R-M173, also known as R1, has been common throughout Europe and South Asia since pre-history. Possible place of origin of R1 South Asia, Southwest Asia or Central Asia.

Haplogroup P1 (P-M45), the immediate ancestor of Haplogroup R, likely emerged in Southeast Asia. Some descendant Haplogroup R or R-M207,  subclades have been found since pre-history in Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia. Others have long been present, at lower levels, in parts of West Asia and Africa. The only confirmed example of basal R* has been found, in 24,000-year-old remains, known as MA1, found at Mal’ta–Buret’ culture near Lake Baikal in Siberia. Inner and Central Asia is an overlap zone for the R1a1-Z280 and R1a1-Z93 lineages [which] implies that an early differentiation zone of R1a1-M198 conceivably occurred somewhere within the Eurasian Steppes or the Middle East and Caucasus region as they lie between South Asia and Central- and Eastern Europe.  Indo-European migrations and Indo-Aryan migrations and R1a the distribution and age of R1a1 points to an ancient migration corresponding to the spread by the Kurgan people in their expansion from the Eurasian steppe. ref, ref, ref

Early Shamanism/and continuing totemism around 34,000 -30,000 years ago: Sungar (Russia) show a symbolic use of beads and pendents (A burial at Sunghir, USSR (S1) involve such things as a beaded cap on his head with ornamentals—pendants made of Arctic fox teeth and beads of ivory which date to about 30,000 years old). ref, ref

These early humans seem to have had possable taboos around inbreeding at least 34,000 years ago and developed surprisingly sophisticated social and mating networks to avoid it, new research has found. The study, reported in the journal Science, examined genetic information from the remains of anatomically modern humans who lived during the Upper Paleolithic, a period when modern humans from Africa first colonized western Eurasia. The results suggest that people deliberately sought partners beyond their immediate family and that they were probably connected to a wider network of groups from within which mates were chosen, in order to avoid becoming inbred.

This suggests proof of early totmistic taboo in Europe or at least Siberia by seeming to purposely avoid it at a surprisingly early stage in prehistory. The symbolism, complexity and time invested in the objects and jewelry found buried with the remains also suggests that it is possible that they developed rules, ceremonies and rituals to accompany the exchange of mates between groups, which perhaps foreshadowed modern marriage ceremonies, and may have been similar to those still practiced by hunter-gatherer communities in parts of the world today. ref

Coliboaia Cave rock art from Romania dated to 32,000 and 35,000 years old at Chauvet Cave in southwestern France, where 37,000 to 35,000-year-old figures were drawn using a similar technique. And Fumane Cave Paintings (37,000 years ago) in Italy that also holds evidence at around 44,000 years old unusual modifications on several bird species that are not clearly relatable to feeding or utilitarian uses (i.e., lammergeier, Eurasian black vulture, golden eagle, red-footed falcon, common wood pigeon, and Alpine chough). Cut, peeling, and scrape marks, as well as diagnostic fractures and a breakthrough, is observed exclusively on wings, indicating the intentional removal of large feathers, some assume this was done by Neandertals. ref, ref

On the Hatay coast of southern Turkey, a terminal pedal phalanx of a very large raptor with a notch cut into its anterior proximal end has been found in layer B at Üçağızlı Cave dated to around 29,000 years ago and beads accumulation rates for shell beads, bones, and stone tools paralleled one another through time, indicating that ornament discard followed the pulse of daily life at this site that ranges from 41,000-29,000 years ago. ref, ref

20,000 to 15,000 years ago, Bradshaw (Gwion Gwion) rock art or rock paintings, Bradshaw figures are terms used to describe one of the two major regional traditions of rock art found in the north-west Kimberley region of Western Australia. Aboriginal names, the most common of which are Gwion Gwion or Giro Giro. The art consists primarily of human figures ornamented with accessories such as bags, tassels, and headdresses. That unlike with Wandjina art, Aboriginal people showed little interest in the Bradshaw paintings, are said to represent depictions of bush spirits or D’imi, and as no animals, but only human-shaped figures are presented they can be presumed as probably representing spirits or those in dance communing with or as a spirit.

It is thought that they can be separated into two individual styles of ‘Bradshaw paintings’, which he named ‘Tassel’ and ‘Sash’ for dominant clothing features. He also identified two variants, which he named ‘Elegant Action figures’ and ‘Clothes Peg figures’. Tassel style figures are the earliest, most detailed and largest a date of around 19,300 years ago seems around the oldest. Sash style figures are depicted as more robust and the accouterments depicted are slightly different: a three-pointed sash or bags attached to the figures belts begin to be shown.

Elegant Action Figures seem quite different from the Tassel and Sash figures, which are almost always shown running, kneeling or hunting with multi-barbed spears and boomerangs. Stylistically, they are believed to fall between the sash and Clothes Peg Figures. Clothes Peg Figures also referred to as Straight Part Figures are depicted in a stationary pose and painted with red pigment. The material culture depicted with these figures includes multi-barbed spears, spear-throwers, and woven bags. This is the most recent style. The anatomical detail common in the earlier styles is missing, and many of the images are shown in aggressive stances.

At least one panel shows a battle with opponents arrayed in ranks opposite each other. suggested an age of 15,000 to 22,000 years for the paintings. Around 15,000 years ago, the archaeological record shows that Aboriginals in the Kimberleys began using stone points in place of multi-barbed spears, but there is no record of this change of technology in the Bradshaw paintings. When the Kimberley region was first occupied circa 40,000 years ago, the region consisted of open tropical forest and woodlands. During the glacial maximum, 25,000 to 15,000 years ago, the sea level was some 460 ft below its present level, with the coastline extending around 250 miles further to the north-west. Australia thus was connected to New Guinea, and the Kimberley was separated from Southeast Asia (Wallacea) by a strait approximately 56 miles wide. Rainfall decreased by 40% to 50% depending on the region. After around 10,000 years of stable climatic conditions, temperatures began cooling and winds became stronger, leading to the beginning of an ice-age. ref

When the Kimberley region was first occupied circa 40,000 years ago, the region consisted of open tropical forest and woodlands. An Aboriginal Australian genome reveals separate human dispersals into Asia. are descendants of an early human dispersal into eastern Asia,  separate from the one that gave rise 25,000 to 38,000 years ago prior to the divergence of Native Americans from modern Asian ancestors. The dingo reached Australia about 4,000 years ago, indirectly implying human contact, which some have linked to changes in language and stone tool technology to suggest substantial cultural changes at the same time. During the glacial maximum, 25,000 to 15,000 years ago, the sea level was some 460 ft below its present level, with the coastline extending around 250 miles further to the north-west. Australia thus was connected to New Guinea, and the Kimberley was separated from Southeast Asia (Wallacea) by a strait approximately 56 miles wide. Rainfall decreased by 40% to 50% depending on the region. After around 10,000 years of stable climatic conditions, temperatures began cooling and winds became stronger, leading to the beginning of an ice-age. ref, ref

Approximately 4,000 years ago there in the emergence of Wandjina art in the Kimberley region northernmost part of Western Australia, which is thought to have been colonized at least by about 41,000 years ago. The stories of the Wandjina and the artwork depicting them remain important to the Mowanjum Community of Indigenous people. The broad-stroke artwork of the Wandjina rock art dates around 3800–4000 years ago. The emergence of this art style follows the end of a millennium-long drought that gave way to a wetter climate characterized by regular monsoons. The Wandjina paintings have common colors of black, red and yellow on a white background. The spirits are depicted alone or in groups, vertically or horizontally depending on the dimensions of the rock, and are sometimes depicted with figures and objects like the Rainbow Serpent or yams. Common composition is with large upper bodies and heads that show eyes and nose, but typically no mouth. Two explanations have been given for this: they are so powerful they do not require speech and if they had mouths, the rain would never cease. Around the heads of Wandjina are lines or blocks of color, depicting lighting coming out of transparent helmets. ref, ref

Up to 46% of Aboriginal Australian males carried either basal C* (C-M130*), C1b2b* (C-M347*) or C1b2b1 (C-M210), before contact with and significant immigration by Europeans. The Aboriginal Australian genome holds Haplogroup C DNA Possible time of origin 53,000 years ago and a Possible place of origin South Asia with the highest diversity is observed in Southeast Asia, and its northward expansion in East Asia started approximately 40,000 years ago. One variation of note of the many is C-V20 (C1a2; previously C6) is found at low frequencies amongst Southern Europeans. Such as the 35,000-year-old remains of a hunter-gatherer from the Goyet Caves (Namur, Belgium) and another dating to around 30,000-year-old remains of a hunter-gatherer from Dolni Vestonice (Moravia, Czech Republic) were found with this haplogroup. ref

18,000 and 22,000 years old numerous painted rock fragments could be Bushman Art from Southern Africa, where is surmised that the earliest existing Bushman paintings are thought to go back at least 10,000 years ago or more. Bushman paintings and engravings are found in Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe. The art is extremely varied in subject matter and differs from region to region. ref

12,000 years ago, Bubalus Period is the earliest known period of Saharan rock art. Most of the engravings from this period have been dated between 12,000 to 9,000 years ago. There are no images of pottery, cattle, or crops, which means that these carvings were most likely produced by a hunter-gatherer culture and not by a pastoralist culture, although the two may have existed simultaneously during a brief period of time. The majority of the rock engravings in the Large Wild Fauna style are located in what is known as the Maghreb region of the Sahara, encompassing a wide area spanning across Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia – specifically, the Fezzan region of southwestern Libya. During a period of time when the desert was well-watered and fertile, this region was populated by nomadic groups known today as the Berbers (from the Greek “barbarian,” a term they used for all foreigners). Humans are normally shown as tiny figures dwarfed by the immensity of these animals and are often shown holding boomerangs or throwing sticks, clubs, axes or bows. Depictions of hippo, crocodile and even fish are fairly common during this period but are not found in later periods of Saharan art. ref, ref

12,000 – 10,000 years old Shamanistic Art in a Remote Cave in Egypt

9,000 years ago, Ancestral Sandawe Art (Eastern Africa) includes early, fairly large, naturalistic images of animals with occasional geometric patterns found mainly in central Tanzania’s Kondoa Province at the western edge of the Great Rift Valley. The later art includes images depict people drawn wearing skirts with strange hairstyles and/or headdresses as well as body decoration and are frequently shown holding bows and arrows. Animals depicted are apparently involved in hunting and domestic scenes. ref

There is a debate concerning the geographical origins of Haplogroup M Ancestor L3 Possible place of origin in South Asia, Southeast Asia, or Northeast Africa and its sibling most recent common ancestor date than some subclades of haplogroup N such as haplogroup R. Both lineages are thought to have been the main surviving lineages involved in the out of Africa migration (or migrations) because all indigenous lineages found outside Africa belong to haplogroup M or haplogroup N. The presence of M1 in Africa is the result of a back-migration from Asia which occurred sometime after the Out of Africa migration 40,000 years ago. ref

Mitochondrial lineage M1 traces an early human backflow to Africa, an age of the African haplogroup M1 is younger than those for other M Asiatic clades. In contradiction to the hypothesis of an eastern Africa origin for modern human expansions out of Africa, the most ancestral M1 lineages have been found in Northwest Africa and in the Near East, instead of in East Africa. The M1 geographic distribution and the relative ages of its different subclades clearly correlate with those of haplogroup U6, for which a Eurasian ancestor has been demonstrated. M1, or its ancestor, had an Asiatic origin. The earliest M1 expansion into Africa occurred in northwestern instead of eastern areas; this early spread reached the Iberian Peninsula even affecting the Basques.

The majority of the M1a lineages found outside and inside Africa had a more recent eastern Africa origin. Both western and eastern M1 lineages participated in the Neolithic colonization of the Sahara. The striking parallelism between subclade ages and geographic distribution of M1 and its North African U6 counterpart strongly reinforces this scenario. ref

It seems that radiation in Africa of Y-chromosome M168 derived lineages and L3 mtDNA lineages preceded the out-of-Africa expansion. Two possible out-of-Africa routes have been proposed: A southern coastal route bordering the Read Sea and a Eurasian continental route through the Levant. Based on mitochondrial phylogeography it was proposed that M lineages expanded with the coastal route to southern Asia and Oceania and N lineages by the continental route to Eurasia. However, the posterior detection of primitive N lineages are also seen in southern areas as India and Australia. Another related disjunctive yet not settled is whether M and N (and its main branch R) arose inside or outside Africa. The detection of a basal branch of haplogroup M in Africa (M1) gave support to the idea that haplogroup M originated in eastern Africa and was carried towards Asia with the out-of-Africa expansion.

The alternative hypothesis, that haplogroup M1 could trace a posterior backflow to Africa from Asia, considered by several authors has not yet gained experimental support because, until now, no ancestral M1 lineages have been found outside Africa. According to this theory, anatomically modern humans carrying ancestral haplogroup L3 lineages were involved in the Out of Africa migration from East Africa into Asia. Somewhere in Asia, the ancestral L3 lineages gave rise to haplogroups M and N. The ancestral L3 lineages were then lost by genetic drift as they are infrequent outside Africa. The hypothesis of Asia as the place of origin of macrohaplogroup M is supported by the following:

“Aurignacian culture” (to me, connects to the birth of Totemism)

Around, Dates: 46-43,000 to 26,000 BP

Aurignacians begins the human cultural expansions from EUROPE TO SIBERIA, roughly coinciding with the appearance of behavioral modernity and before the advent of agriculture. An Early Aurignacian or Proto-Aurignacian stage is dated between about 43,000 and 37,000 years ago. The main Aurignacian from around 37,000 to 33,000 years ago. A Late Aurignacian phase transitional with the Gravettian dates to about 33,000 to 26,000 years ago. Aurignacian culture, toolmaking industry and artistic tradition that followed the Mousterian industry, was contemporary with the Périgordian (around 35,000-20,000 years ago) and was succeeded by the Solutrean. The Périgordian have been regarded as being superseded by the Gravettian and may have culminated in the proto-Magdalenian, though no continuous sequence of Périgordian occupation has been found. The Solutrean style of the Final Gravettian, from around 22,000 to 17,000 years ago. Solutrean sites have been found in modern-day France, Spain, and Portugal. The Aurignacian culture was marked by a great diversification and specialization of tools, including the invention of the burin, or engraving tool, that made much of the art possible. Aurignacian culture represents the first complete tradition in the history of art, moving from awkward attempts to a well-developed, mature style. The earliest examples of the small, portable art objects produced during this period are from western Europe and consist of pebbles with very simple engravings of animal forms. Later, animal figures were carved in pieces of bone and ivory. At the same time, a tradition of true sculpture in the round grew up in eastern Europe, with vividly realistic, though simple, clay figurines of animals and highly stylized statuettes of pregnant women, the so-called Venus figures, presumably fertility figures. Cave art was produced almost exclusively in western Europe, where, by the end of the Aurignacian Period, hundreds of paintings, engravings, and reliefs had been executed on the walls, the ceilings, and sometimes the floors of limestone caves. In the later part of the Aurignacian Period, a fusion of Eastern sculptural and Western linear traditions occurred in the West, resulting in small carvings of greatly increased naturalism; the engraved details show attempts at foreshortening and shading with cross-hatched lines.Aurignacian is not a specific time or a place, but rather it’s a name given to a particular way in which a society of people were living in Europe that emerged by at least as early as 34,000 years ago. This manufacturing technique or industry continued for approximately 5,000 years during the Upper Paleolithic Period in Europe. It also appears on some sites in the Levant (region around the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean) and the tradition even continues far to the east into Siberia. The type site of Aurignac in the south of France (Haute Garonne) is where the name Aurignacian originates. Vogelherd Cave held a lion sculpted from mammoth ivory about 40,000 years Old. Vogelherd Cave, Vogelherdhöhlen, one of the four caves in Germany’s Swabian Jura Mountains that has produced evidence of the world’s earliest art and music. The lion has long been thought to be a relief, unique in Paleolithic art, says archaeologist Nick Conard of the University of Tübingen. For the last decade, Conard has been reexamining both the cave and spoil heaps left by earlier archaeological efforts. Among that material, his team found a carved lion’s face they soon realized was the missing half of the famous figurine’s head. It’s now clear that the lion was not a relief but rather, like the caves’ other Ice Age figurines (“Lion Man,”) also yielded several figurines around 2 to 4 inches in length carved from mammoth ivory, found in Aurignacian layers. They featured ornamentation like dots, lines and x-shaped markings. These seem to be not an attempt to depict actual surface features of the creature in question, but may well be of a ritual or even religious character. The Aurignacian stone tool industry ends in Europe by about 29,000 years ago, however, the making large long narrow core blades continues to move eastward across Siberia eventually ending sometime around 22,000 years ago. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

40,000 years old the Lion man of the Hohlenstein Stadel

Two set of bones, one was dated to 27,000 to 30,000 years old, the other as 50,000 years old.

The younger bones are ‘modern-type’ humans. But the older ones are now undergoing tests to establish whether they are Homo sapiens, or Neanderthal or another pre-human group. Researchers say that if they are prehistoric Home sapiens remains, these will be the oldest found in northern Eurasia. ‘More ancient bones were found (here), but these were not Homo sapiens. A large arsenal of bone knives was found at the site, indicating the owners must have been good hunters. Sharp tools found at the site used semi-precious topaz and rock crystal. An amulet was made of a cave lion tooth. ‘The most important question now is when Homo Sapiens appeared in Siberia, and the Tunka valley finds will allow scientists to shed light on it.’ Older Home Sapiens remains have been found in Morocco, dating back 300,000 years (link). One of the oldest known example of figurative art (that is, art not depicting something found in the real world) is of a lion-headed human from the late Pleistocene site of Hohlenstein-Stadel in Germany (link). And it is not a one-off piece. Other lion-people (or “Löwenmensch”) have been unearthed from other sites in Germany (Conard, 2003), testifying to some important ritualistic importance for this were-animal in Palaeolithic European societies. What the cave lion meant to these people is now lost in time, but it clearly meant something important. Other groups even used the massive canine of the cave lion as a pendant in a necklace (link). Palaeolithic people were also great observers of the natural world and this is shown vividly in the parietal art they have left behind. The magnificent site of Chauvet Cave in the Pont du Arc showcases the largest collection of cave lion images known (link). ref

Totemism, Animism and North Asian (Mongolians & Siberians) Indigenous Ontologies

Analysis of modern human genomes reveals that humans interbred with Neanderthals between 37,000 and 86,000 years ago, resulting in the DNA of humans outside Africa containing between 1.5 and 2.1 percent DNA of Neanderthal origin. Neanderthal DNA in modern humans occurs in broken fragments; however, the Neanderthal DNA in Ust’-Ishim man occurs in clusters, indicating that Ust’-Ishim man lived in the immediate aftermath of the genetic interchange. The genomic sequencing of Ust’-Ishim man has led to refinement of the estimated date of mating between the two hominin species to between 52,000 and 58,000 years ago. Modern Tibetans were identified as the modern population that has the most alleles in common with Ust’-Ishim man. Siberian and East Asian populations shared 38% of their ancestry” to Ust’-Ishim man. Ust’-Ishim is more closely related to modern East Asian and Oceanian populations than to modern West Eurasian populations, such as the current residents of the Ust’-Ishim area. Modern West Eurasians are more closely related to other ancient remains. UI sequence against its own subclade, let’s assume that it’s indeed belongs to mhg R. While UI is the oldest known modern human sample, its mtDNA falls within the youngest, as defined by existing mtDNA phylogenies, macrohaplogroup. Notably, all of most ancient DNA samples from a wide range of geographic locations belong to the same mhg R: Kostenki in the Russian steppe at 32,000 BP is hg U, Tianyuan in south China at 40,000 is hg B, Mal’ta in South Siberia at 24,000 YBP is hg U. Presumably older mhgs N and M haven’t been found in the earliest samples. Mhg R enjoys the widest worldwide distribution now as it apparently did 45-40,000 years ago. Although autosomally UI, as we have seen, is closer to East Eurasians than to West Eurasians, mtDNA hg R is prominent in Europe (the oldest European mtDNA haplogroup is U, which is part of mhg R), while mhgs M and N are barely found in Europe and have mostly East Eurasian distribution. One intriguing exception is hg X that is somewhat frequent in the Middle East and North Africa and then in North America. In Europe it shows up only from Neolithic times and is pervasive but thinly spread across the continent. It’s distribution and time of origin in Europe fits well with the distribution of the “Basal Eurasian” autosomal component, and, as I argued above, Amerindians seem to partake in the “Basal Eurasian” component as well, just like they have mtDNA hg X. UI’s Y-DNA belongs to hg K (xLT), according to Fu et al. According to Gregory Magoon, it shares several mutations with the newly discovered, among Dravidian-speaking Telugu in South Asia, Y-DNA hg X (also known as K2a or K-M2335), which supposedly leads to the main East Asian NO cluster of lineages. The NO cluster is not found in the Americas. The main Amerindian has P and Q, which are rare in Asia, the most dominant European hg R (attested in MA-1 but reintroduced to Europe en masse by Indo-Europeans) as well as Papua New Guinean/Australian has M and S are currently thought of as belonging to the MPS (also known as K2b) cluster (see link). ref

Totemism is found in the people of Africa (where pre-totemism is almost may have turned more like totemism by 75,000 seen in the Stone Snake of South Africa: “first human worship” 70,000 years ago that then was expanded and formalized in as it made it to Europe), I have  a hunch that true totemism as I think fully developed in Europe only later returned then flourished in Africa possibly expressed in this evidence Call it humanity’s unexpected U-turn. One of the biggest events in the history of our species is the exodus out of Africa some 65,000 years ago, the start of Homo sapiens‘ long march across the world. Now a study of southern African genes shows that, unexpectedly, another migration took western Eurasian DNA back to the very southern tip of the continent 3000 years ago (Humanity’s forgotten return to Africa revealed in DNA). After early humans migrated out of Africa around 60,000 years ago, they bumped into Neanderthals somewhere in what is now the Middle East. Some got rather cosy with each other. As their descendants spread across the world to Europe, Asia and eventually the Americas, they spread bits of Neanderthal DNA along with their own genes. But because those descendants did not move back into Africa until historical times, most of this continent remained a Neanderthal DNA-free zone. Or so it seemed at the time. Now it appears that the Back to Africa migration 3000 years ago carried a weak Neanderthal genetic signal deep into the homeland. ref

Totemism is found in the people of the Middle East,

• Grave of the Middle East’s Oldest Witch/Female Shaman 

Totemism is found in the people of Asia, like China (especially Siberia and Mongolia) but also South East Aisa,

• Asian Shamanism

Totemism is found in the people of Australia, Australia & Aboriginal Religion at least around 50,000 years old, which may express a heavy influence by what seems is African animism (such as that similar to Negrito ethnic groups, as I think is like carried the Africanized animism beliefs and as they don’t have an expression of totemism along with the first signs of burial in Australia also seeming to only express Africanized animism beliefs not totemism beliefs, I think this could relate to European totemism by way of Siberia through Austronesians migrations) and possibly the totemism in Australia aboriginals could relate to that expression seen in the 70,000-year-old snake or is may express the later interactions with Indigenous peoples of Oceania who interacted with others such as Austronesians. One salient feature of Negrito religion is its noticeable lack of systematization. Consequently, it has a secondary place in Negrito ideology. Because the animistic beliefs and practices of Philippine Negritos are individualistic and sporadic, they exert less control over the people’s daily lives than do the religious systems of other, non-Negrito animistic societies in the Philippines. In time, the spread of other language groups such as Austroasiatic, Tai-Kadai, Hmong-Mien, and Sino-Tibetan (such as Chinese) led to the assimilation and eventual sinicization of all (proto) Austronesian-speaking populations that remained on the mainland (a process which continues today in Taiwan). ref

• Australian Aboriginal Shamanism 

Totemism is found in the people of Austronesia, Archaeological evidence demonstrates a technological connection between the farming cultures of the “south”, meaning Southeast Asia and Melanesia, and sites that are first known from mainland China; whereas a combination of archaeological and linguistic evidence has been interpreted as supporting a “northern” origin for the Austronesian language family in mainland southern Chinaand Taiwan. Australian totemism, thought by some to be uniquely Australian, fits the Austronesian model. So was it a transfer of Australian totemism into Austronesian totemism, or the other way around? The Negrito peoples show strong physical similarities with the pygmy peoples of Africa but are genetically closer to their surrounding populations in Austronesia. They may have descended from an early split from the Late Pleistocene Out-of-Africa migration. The Negrito (/nɪˈɡriːtoʊ/) are several different ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of South and Southeast Asia. Their current populations include the Andamanese peoples of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Semang and Batek people of Peninsular Malaysia, the Maniq people of Southern Thailand, and the Aeta people, Ati people, and 30 other ethnic groups in the Philippines. Genetic research has shown that the Negritos have existed as a separate group for a long time, comparable to the Australoid and Southwest Pacific groups. This has often been interpreted to the effect that they are remnants of the original expansion from Africa some 70 kya. ref

• Austronesia, beliefs such as ancestor worship, animism, and shamanism are also practiced. ref

Totemism is found in the people of Eastern and Western Europe

• Shamanism in Europe

Totemism is found in the people of the Arctic polar region

• Shamanism Arctic polar region

Shamanism: an approximately 30,000-year-old belief system

37,000 years ago at the site of Kostenki 14 (also known as Markina Gora) in western Russia, genome of a man who was buried there shows, that once modern humans had dispersed out of Africa and into Eurasia, they separated at least sometime before 37,000-years ago into at least three populations, whose descendants would develop the unique features that reflect the core of the diversity of non-African modern humans. Moreover, after then, despite major climatic fluctuations, one of these groups – Palaeolithic Europeans – persisted as a population, ebbing and flowing by moments of contraction and expansion, but persisting intertwined until the arrival of farmers from the Middle East in the last 8,000 years, with whom they mixed extensively. The Kostyonki-Borshchyovo archaeological complex is an extended Upper Paleolithic (Aurignacian to Gravettian) site. The Kostenki burial and other ancient genomes show that for 30,000-years there was a single meta-population in Europe, consisting of Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer groups that split up, mixed, dispersed and changed. Only when farmers from the Near East arrived approximately 8,000 years ago, did the structure of the European population change significantly. DNA from a male hunter-gatherer from Kostenki-12 date to around 30,000 years ago and died aged 20–25. His maternal lineage was found to be mtDNA haplogroup U2. He was buried in an oval pit in a crouched position and covered with red ochre. Kostenki 12 was later found to belong to the patrilineal Y-DNA haplogroup C1* (C-F3393). A male from Kostenki-14 (Markina Gora), who lived approximately 35–40,000 BP, was also found to belong to mtDNA haplogroup U2. His Y-DNA haplogroup was C1b* (C-F1370). The Kostenki-14 genome represents early evidence for the separation of Western Eurasian and East Asian lineages. It was found to have a close relationship to both “Mal’ta boy” (24 ka) of central Siberia (Ancient North Eurasian) and to the later Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of Europe and western Siberia, as well as with a basal population ancestral to Early European Farmers, but not to East Asians. ref, ref

34,000-30,000-year-old to remains, carbon analysis dates between 34,050-30,550 BC and by DNA analysis at 34,000. The mortuary site contains a few extremely elaborate burials one of which involved a juvenile and an adolescent, approximately 10 and 12 years old, buried head to head. The children had the same mtDNA, which may indicate the same maternal lineage. The individuals at Sungir are genetically closest to each other and show closest genetic affinity to the individuals from Kostenki, while showing closer affinity to the individual from Kostenki 12 than to the individual from Kostenki 14. The Sungir individuals descended from a lineage that was related to the individual from Kostenki 14, but were not directly related. The individual from Kostenki 12 was also found to be closer to the Sungir individuals than to the individual from Kostenki 14. The Sungir individuals also show close genetic affinity to various individuals belonging to Vestonice Cluster buried in a Gravettian context, such as those excavated from Dolní Věstonice. And mtDNA analysis shows that the four individuals tested from Sungir belong to mtDNA Haplogroup U. ref

Early Shamanism around 34,000 to 20,000 years ago: Sungar (Russia) and Dolni Vestonice (Czech Republic)

31,000 – 20,000 years ago Oldest Shaman was Female, Buried with the Oldest Portrait Carving

“Gravettian Cultures” (to me, connects to the birth of Shamanism)

Around, Dates: 33,000 to 21,000 BP

The Gravettian was an archaeological industry of the European Upper Paleolithic that succeeded the Aurignacian circa 33,000 years ago. They seem to dissipate or make transfer changes from 22,000 years ago, close to the Last Glacial Maximum, although some elements lasted until around 17,000 years ago. At this point, it was generally replaced abruptly by the Solutrean in France and Spain, and developed into or continued as the Epigravettian in Italy, the Balkans, Ukraine, and Russia. They are known for their Venus figurines, which were typically made as either ivory or limestone carvings. The Gravettian culture was first identified at the site of La Gravette in Southwestern France. The Gravettians were hunter-gatherers who lived in a bitterly cold period of European prehistory, and Gravettian lifestyle was shaped by the climate. Pleniglacial environmental changes forced them to adapt. West and Central Europe were extremely cold during this period. Archaeologists usually describe two regional variants: the western Gravettian, known mainly from cave sites in France, Spain and Britain, and the eastern Gravettian in Central Europe and Russia. The eastern Gravettians, which include the Pavlovian culture, were specialized mammoth hunters, whose remains are usually found not in caves but in open air sites. Gravettian culture thrived on their ability to hunt animals. They utilized a variety of tools and hunting strategies. Compared to theorized hunting techniques of Neanderthals and earlier human groups, Gravettian hunting culture appears much more mobile and complex. They lived in caves or semi-subterranean or rounded dwellings which were typically arranged in small “villages”. Gravettians are thought to have been innovative in the development of tools such as blunted black knives, tanged arrowheads , and boomerangs. Other innovations include the use of woven nets and stone-lamps.^[9] Blades and bladelets were used to make decorations and bone tools from animal remains. Sites including CPM II, CPM III, Casal de Felipe, and Fonte Santa (all in Spain) have evidence the use of blade and bladelet technology during the period. The objects were often made of quartz and rock crystals, and varied in terms of platforms, abrasions, endscrapers and burins. They were formed by hammering bones and rocks together until they formed sharp shards, in a process known as lithic reduction. The blades were used to skin animals or sharpen sticks. ref

30,000 Years Ago – (Eurasia), found evidence that the earliest human burial practices varied widely, with some graves are ornate while the vast majority were fairly plain but it seems to be a more common ritual showing the further solidification of ritualizing was blooming. Overall, between 35,000 years ago and 10,000 years ago there is a wide variation in human burial customs. 1

29,000 – 25,000 years ago– (Eurasia), the Pavlovian is an Upper Paleolithic culture, a variant of the Gravettian, that existed in the region of Moravia, northern Austria and southern Poland around 29,000 – 25,000 years BP. The culture used sophisticated stone age technology to survive in the tundra on the fringe of the ice sheets around the Last Glacial Maximum. Its economy was principally based on the hunting of mammoth herds for meat, fat fuel, hides for tents and large bones and tusks for building winter shelters. Its name is derived from the village of Pavlov, in the Pavlov Hills, next to Dolní Věstonice in southern Moravia. The site was excavated in 1952 by the Czechoslovakian archaeologist Bohuslav Klima. Another important Pavlovian site is Předmostí, now part of the town of Přerov. Excavation has yielded flint implements, polished and drilled stone artifacts, bone spearheads, needles, digging tools, flutes, bone ornaments, drilled animal teeth, and seashells. Art or religious finds are bone carvings and figurines of humans and animals made of mammoth tusk, stone, and fired clay. Textile impression made into wet clay give the oldest proof of the existence of weaving by humans. ref

27,000 Years Ago – (Eurasia), Gravettian culture extends across a large geographic region but is relatively homogeneous until about 27,000 years ago. They developed burial rites, which included the inclusion of simple, purpose-built, offerings and or personal ornaments owned by the deceased, placed within the grave or tomb. Surviving Gravettian art includes numerous cave paintings and small, portable Venus figurines made from clay or ivory, as well as jewelry objects. The fertility deities mostly date from the early period, and consist of over 100 known surviving examples. They conform to a very specific physical type of large breasts, broad hips, and prominent posteriors. The statuettes tend to lack facial details, with limbs that are often broken off. During the ppost-glacialperiod, evidence of the culture begins to disappear from northern Europe but was continued in areas around the Mediterranean. ref

27,000 Years Ago – (Austria), Krems-Wachtberg in Lower Austria, Two separate pits, one containing the remains of two infants  and the other of a single baby, were discovered at the same Stone Age camp. Infants may have been considered equal members of prehistoric society, according to an analysis of burial pits, as Both graves were decorated with beads and covered in red ochre, a pigment commonly used by prehistoric peoples as a grave offering when they buried adults. ref

12,707–12,556-year-old child remains at a burial site in North America. Anzick-1 is the name given to the remains of Paleo-Indian male infant found in western Montana, remains revealed Siberian ancestry and a close genetic relationship to modern Native Americans, including those of Central and South America. These findings support the hypothesis that modern Native Americans are descended from Asian populations who crossed Beringia between 32,000 and 18,000 years ago. buried under numerous tools: 100 stone tools and 15 remnants of tools made of bone. The site contained hundreds of stone projectile points, blades, and bifaces, as well as the remains of two juveniles. Some of the artifacts were covered in red ocher. The stone points were identified as part of the Clovis Complex because of their distinct shape and size. ref

11,500-year-old child remains of a six-week-old baby girl in a burial pit in central Alaska whos DNA indicated there was just a single wave of migration into the Americas across a land bridge, now submerged, that spanned the Bering Strait and connected Siberia to Alaska during the Ice Age. The girl was found alongside remains of an even-younger female infant, possibly a first cousin, whose genome the researchers could not sequence. Both were covered in red ochre and next to decorated antler rods. ref

9,000 years ago – (Isreal) site discovered in Motza, at the foot of the Jerusalem hills. The site, featuring dozens of stone houses, grander buildings that may have been temples, and skeletal remains. Domestic houses in which the hoi polloi lived didn’t have particularly invested flooring beyond dirt or basic plaster. The public places in prehistoric Motza had better plastering, colored red. one thing they ate that may alude to cultural connections is sheep, which were only dometicated around 10,000 to 11,000 years ago and not exactly next door, but in Anatolia. The floors of the houses were made of tightly-packed plaster which seems to have been kept clean, leaving behind few clues from the inhabitants’ daily lives. But underneath the plaster floors at least 10 people were found buried, lying in fetal positions. A third were men. A third were women. And, a third were children and babies. Which shows, Khalaily explains, that for the first known time in human history, children were considered something other than disposable. “During the transitional time between hunting and gathering to settlement, the attitude towards children, in life and death, changed,” he explains the theory. No earlier burials of children have been found in the ariea. ref

7,000 years ago – (Denmark) site at Vedbaek Denmark, the so-called Vedbæk Finds from the Bøgebakken archaeological site, a Mesolithic cemetery of the Ertebølle culture. An example of the findings of this culture cemetery include the bodies of a young woman with a necklace made of teeth and her newborn baby. The child is cradled in the wing of a swan with a flint knife at its hip. The brief statistical findings of the cemetery are as follows; 22 individual bodies (4 newborns), 17 of the adults buried could be aged – 8 died before reaching the age of 20. There were 9 men, 5 of them over the age of 50, and 8 women: 2 died before the age of 20, 3 living to over 40. Two women died in childbirth (including the young woman mention above) and were buried with their newborns beside them. ref

Grave of Siberian noblewoman with a child up to 4,500 years old

Around 3,950-3,539 years ago, at Sidon, Lebanon. From 19 discrete burial units a total of 31 individuals, included ‘warrior’ burials in constructed graves containing bronze weapons, with high mortality during infancy and early childhood and a peak in adult mortality during early adulthood. There is a conspicuous occurrence of unusual dental traits. Jar burials, all found with remains of sub-adult individuals, represent a burial practice applied to children of a wide age range. Many burials are associated with faunal remains, mostly of sheep or goats, but also of large ungulates. The burial jars found in copper-age Sidon had all contained adults. However, there is burial of a child that had been interred with a necklace around its neck. The fact of the child’s burial, with a funerary vessel and jewelry, could be indicative of status, or of the value attributed to children. ref, ref

3,500-Year-Old Child Burials Unearthed at Ancient Egyptian

Location and best-fits mixture proportion for Austronesian, Austroasiatic, Melanesian and other population with a possible direction of human migrations (Lipson et al. 2014).

Melanesian People

Melanesian people who inhabit Australia, New Guinea, and Pacific islands came to Southeast Asia around 50,000 – 30,000 years ago. Because isolation during tens of thousands of years, these small groups become extremely diverse. These people had previously migrated from Maritime Southeast Asia to these islands (2). There is also Negrito people in Malaysia (Orang Asli) and the Philippines who largely have Austroasiatic components. Study on mtDNA variation of Negrito in Malaysia shows evidence for indigenous origins of the Orang Asli in the Malay Peninsula, dating back to 57,000 years ago. The study also indicates Orang Asli in Malaysia, Negrito in the Philippines and native people of Andaman islands share no genetic similarities which also refutes any claim that those three groups share a common ancestry. These genetic difference among Negrito allegedly the result of genetic drift during long period isolation (Hill et al. 2006). ref

Austroasiatic People

The second migration, around 30,000 years ago from mainland Southeast Asia or Southern China follows “Early Train model” (Jinam et al. 2014), came from mainland Southeast Asia brought Austroasiatic genetic components to the population of Indonesia, especially western Indonesian (Javanese, Sundanese, Malay, Minangkabau, Dayak, Batak, etc). This can be seen as in the previous Figure 1, where a relatively large genetic Austroasiatic component (more than 20%) is found in these ethnic groups. Even some ethnics groups like Javanese and Sundanese largely Austroasiatic origin with smaller Austronesian admixture. Some ethnic groups that are relatively isolated from Mainland Southeast Asia such as Tagalog, Visayan, Mentawai, and native Taiwan have little or no Austroasiatic genetic components. This indicates there is large intermixture between Austroasiatic and Austronesian groups in western Indonesia. ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref, ref, ref 

Animism: Respecting the Living World by Graham Harvey 

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

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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

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

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

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

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

Tutelary deity

“A tutelary (also tutelar) is a deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of “tutelary” expresses the concept of safety and thus of guardianship. In late Greek and Roman religion, one type of tutelary deity, the genius, functions as the personal deity or daimon of an individual from birth to death. Another form of personal tutelary spirit is the familiar spirit of European folklore.” ref

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

• 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

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref

Hinduism around 3,700 to 3,500 years old. ref

 Judaism around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (The first writing in the bible was “Paleo-Hebrew” dated to around 3,000 years ago Khirbet Qeiyafa is the site of an ancient fortress city overlooking the Elah Valley. And many believe the religious Jewish texts were completed around 2,500) ref, ref

Judaism is around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (“Paleo-Hebrew” 3,000 years ago and Torah 2,500 years ago)

“Judaism is an Abrahamic, its roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Some scholars argue that modern Judaism evolved from Yahwism, the religion of ancient Israel and Judah, by the late 6th century BCE, and is thus considered to be one of the oldest monotheistic religions.” ref

“Yahwism is the name given by modern scholars to the religion of ancient Israel, essentially polytheistic, with a plethora of gods and goddesses. Heading the pantheon was Yahweh, the national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah, with his consort, the goddess Asherah; below them were second-tier gods and goddesses such as Baal, Shamash, Yarikh, Mot, and Astarte, all of whom had their own priests and prophets and numbered royalty among their devotees, and a third and fourth tier of minor divine beings, including the mal’ak, the messengers of the higher gods, who in later times became the angels of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Yahweh, however, was not the ‘original’ god of Israel “Isra-El”; it is El, the head of the Canaanite pantheon, whose name forms the basis of the name “Israel”, and none of the Old Testament patriarchs, the tribes of Israel, the Judges, or the earliest monarchs, have a Yahwistic theophoric name (i.e., one incorporating the name of Yahweh).” ref

“El is a Northwest Semitic word meaning “god” or “deity“, or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, ‘ila, represents the predicate form in Old Akkadian and in Amorite. The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic *ʔil-, meaning “god”. Specific deities known as ‘El or ‘Il include the supreme god of the ancient Canaanite religion and the supreme god of East Semitic speakers in Mesopotamia’s Early Dynastic Period. ʼĒl is listed at the head of many pantheons. In some Canaanite and Ugaritic sources, ʼĒl played a role as father of the gods, of creation, or both. For example, in the Ugaritic texts, ʾil mlk is understood to mean “ʼĒl the King” but ʾil hd as “the god Hadad“. The Semitic root ʾlh (Arabic ʾilāh, Aramaic ʾAlāh, ʾElāh, Hebrew ʾelōah) may be ʾl with a parasitic h, and ʾl may be an abbreviated form of ʾlh. In Ugaritic the plural form meaning “gods” is ʾilhm, equivalent to Hebrew ʾelōhîm “powers”. In the Hebrew texts this word is interpreted as being semantically singular for “god” by biblical commentators. However the documentary hypothesis for the Old Testament (corresponds to the Jewish Torah) developed originally in the 1870s, identifies these that different authors – the Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, and the Priestly source – were responsible for editing stories from a polytheistic religion into those of a monotheistic religion. Inconsistencies that arise between monotheism and polytheism in the texts are reflective of this hypothesis.” ref

Jainism around 2,599 – 2,527 years old. ref

Confucianism around 2,600 – 2,551 years old. ref

Buddhism around 2,563/2,480 – 2,483/2,400 years old. ref

Christianity around 2,o00 years old. ref

Shinto around 1,305 years old. ref

Islam around 1407–1385 years old. ref

Sikhism around 548–478 years old. ref

Bahá’í around 200–125 years old. ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Expressions of Atheistic Thinking:

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

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

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

The “Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries”

Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ Atheist Leftist @Skepticallefty & I (Damien Marie AtHope) @AthopeMarie (my YouTube & related blog) are working jointly in atheist, antitheist, antireligionist, antifascist, anarchist, socialist, and humanist endeavors in our videos together, generally, every other Saturday.

Why Does Power Bring Responsibility?

Think, how often is it the powerless that start wars, oppress others, or commit genocide? So, I guess the question is to us all, to ask, how can power not carry responsibility in a humanity concept? I know I see the deep ethical responsibility that if there is power their must be a humanistic responsibility of ethical and empathic stewardship of that power. Will I be brave enough to be kind? Will I possess enough courage to be compassionate? Will my valor reach its height of empathy? I as everyone, earns our justified respect by our actions, that are good, ethical, just, protecting, and kind. Do I have enough self-respect to put my love for humanity’s flushing, over being brought down by some of its bad actors? May we all be the ones doing good actions in the world, to help human flourishing.

I create the world I want to live in, striving for flourishing. Which is not a place but a positive potential involvement and promotion; a life of humanist goal precision. To master oneself, also means mastering positive prosocial behaviors needed for human flourishing. I may have lost a god myth as an atheist, but I am happy to tell you, my friend, it is exactly because of that, leaving the mental terrorizer, god belief, that I truly regained my connected ethical as well as kind humanity.

Cory and I will talk about prehistory and theism, addressing the relevance to atheism, anarchism, and socialism.

At the same time as the rise of the male god, 7,000 years ago, there was also the very time there was the rise of violence, war, and clans to kingdoms, then empires, then states. It is all connected back to 7,000 years ago, and it moved across the world.

Cory Johnston: https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/04/cory-johnston-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftist/?v=32aec8db952d  

The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist (YouTube)

Cory Johnston: Mind of a Skeptical Leftist @Skepticallefty

The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist By Cory Johnston: “Promoting critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics by covering current events and talking to a variety of people. Cory Johnston has been thoughtfully talking to people and attempting to promote critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics.” http://anchor.fm/skepticalleft

Cory needs our support. We rise by helping each other.

Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ @Skepticallefty Evidence-based atheist leftist (he/him) Producer, host, and co-host of 4 podcasts @skeptarchy @skpoliticspod and @AthopeMarie

Damien Marie AtHope (“At Hope”) Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist. Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Poet, Philosopher, Advocate, Activist, Psychology, and Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Historian.

Damien is interested in: Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Ethics, Humanism, Science, Atheism, Antiteism, Antireligionism, Ignosticism, Left-Libertarianism, Anarchism, Socialism, Mutualism, Axiology, Metaphysics, LGBTQI, Philosophy, Advocacy, Activism, Mental Health, Psychology, Archaeology, Social Work, Sexual Rights, Marriage Rights, Woman’s Rights, Gender Rights, Child Rights, Secular Rights, Race Equality, Ageism/Disability Equality, Etc. And a far-leftist, “Anarcho-Humanist.”

I am not a good fit in the atheist movement that is mostly pro-capitalist, I am anti-capitalist. Mostly pro-skeptic, I am a rationalist not valuing skepticism. Mostly pro-agnostic, I am anti-agnostic. Mostly limited to anti-Abrahamic religions, I am an anti-religionist. 

To me, the “male god” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 7,000 years ago, whereas the now favored monotheism “male god” is more like 4,000 years ago or so. To me, the “female goddess” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 11,000-10,000 years ago or so, losing the majority of its once prominence around 2,000 years ago due largely to the now favored monotheism “male god” that grow in prominence after 4,000 years ago or so. 

My Thought on the Evolution of Gods?

Animal protector deities from old totems/spirit animal beliefs come first to me, 13,000/12,000 years ago, then women as deities 11,000/10,000 years ago, then male gods around 7,000/8,000 years ago. Moralistic gods around 5,000/4,000 years ago, and monotheistic gods around 4,000/3,000 years ago. 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):

Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist, Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Jeweler, Poet, “autodidact” Philosopher, schooled in Psychology, and “autodidact” Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Pre-Historian (Knowledgeable in the range of: 1 million to 5,000/4,000 years ago). I am an anarchist socialist politically. Reasons for or Types of Atheism

My Website, My Blog, & Short-writing or Quotes, My YouTube, Twitter: @AthopeMarie, and My Email: damien.marie.athope@gmail.com