ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
1. “Bone object with four sets of notches, probably used for notation/ritual and dated to around 41,167 – 39,194 years ago, from artifacts from Border Cave, South African.” ref
2. “Lebombo Bone, found at Lebombo Cave, from Swaziland, Africa. A baboon fibula with 29 notches, and dated 37,000 years ago. The number of the notches, and changes in the section of the notches indicate the use of different cutting edges, like other markings found all over the world, during participation in rituals, which could relate to menstrual cycles and/or a lunar calendar. Baboons are infamous due to their hairless red bottoms. A dominant male usually runs the troop ranked in dominance by age and size while females are usually ranked by birth order, and I wonder if the making of this artifact related to such symbolic marks on this type of animal as being magic totem to or of it expressed metaphorically in the welding of such an item referencing displays of dominance likely seen as giving power then this would demonstrate early totemistic clan thinking and behavior.” ref, ref, ref
3. “The so-called Wolf bone is a prehistoric artifact dated to the Gravettian culture, around 28.000–25.000 years old Dolní Věstonice, Moravia in the Czech Republic. The bone is marked with 55 marks which some believe to be tally marks and the head of an ivory Venus figurine was excavated close to the bone.” ref, ref, ref
4. The Ishango Bone, 22,000-20,000 years old notches It was discovered in the area of Ishango near the Semliki River in the Democratic Republic of the Congo found among the remains of a small community that fished and gathered in this area of Africa. Ideas on its etchings, which seem to be in grouped marks range from tally stick to record numbers, tracking the moon in relation to menstrual cycles or even messages of some kind, maybe an early prayer.
A common form of the same kind of primitive counting device is seen in various kinds of prayer beads. Made out of the fibula of a baboon similar to the Lebombo Bone, 37,000 years old bone, also with notches that were deliberately cut into a baboon’s fibula found in southern Africa and is thought to be a tally-bone, moon calendar and could relate to menstruation as well.
Both may have used the bone of a Baboons because they express a hierarchy system of dominance. where a dominant male usually runs the troop, and thus these similar objects could show a deeper connections to such artifacts related to such symbolic marks on this type of animal as being magic totem to or of it expressed metaphorically in the welding of such an item referencing displays of dominance likely seen as giving power then this would demonstrate totemistic clan thinking and behavior. ref, ref
“Tally Sticks” likely related to Natural Cycles, 35,000-32,000 years old Aurignacian artifact, the lissoir from Laussel cave in France with images of vulvas and several lines on the end that could make this a tally stick as well as a sacred lunar calendar in a phallus shape. ref, ref, ref
“Upper Paleolithic “Tally Sticks” likely relates to natural cycles and since almost everything in nature works in cycles, the survival of the man was based on his ability to adjust to this flow. Nature was able to provide them with food, but they must have had the knowledge of what and when to hunt or gather. As was already mentioned, we have to consider this theory as one of the possible assumptions about its functionality, since the logic behind the succession of the notches has been lost to us. On the other hand, not all researchers agree to this statement, and rather than as a form of a primitive lunar calendar, they see the cuts on tally sticks as simple decorative motives, symbols, or even the expression of rhythm.” ref
In Kostënki 17, Russia, there were numerous pendants recovered and at least one, seen above, was dated to 43,000 years ago, which was made from fossil belemite rostrum. The artifacts include a group of more than 40 pendants made from fox canines teeth. In addition, there were pendants made from stone and fossils as well. Along with shell beads from the lower layers of Kostënki 14 and the Kostënki 17 pendants are the earliest good evidence for personal adornment anywhere in Eastern Europe. The occupations at Kostenki include several Late Early Upper Paleolithic levels, dated between 42,000 to 30,000 calibrated years ago (cal BP). Kostenki, the Aurignacian sequence was considered the oldest component associated with modern humans at archaeological sites in Europe, underlain by Mousterian-like deposits representing Neanderthals. Kostenki 14, also known as Markina Gora, is the main site at Kostenki, and it has been found to contain genetic evidence concerning the migration of early modern humans from Africa into Eurasia. ref, ref
Tally sticks of the Stone Age
“One of the more uncommon finds, that many researchers try to connect to the cult activities of the Paleolithic man are the so-called “tally sticks”, found across the world from the Upper Paleolithic onward. Based on recent analogies, as well as ethnographic observations done on societies still practicing some forms on primal magic, one could assume that they were used for tracking numbers, notes, and counts. Relating to this, it is not hard to imagine that these sticks, made from wood or animal bones, “decorated” with transverse cuts or notches, could also be used for documenting the time-flow, annual cycles, or even for creating some form of calendars.” ref
34,000 years ago Lunar Calendar Cave art around the Time Shift From Totemism to Early Shamanism?
“The Oldest Lunar Calendars and Earliest Constellations have been identified in cave art found in France and Germany. The astronomer-priests of these late Upper Paleolithic Cultures understood mathematical sets, and the interplay between the moon annual cycle, ecliptic, solstice and seasonal changes on earth. The archaeological record’s earliest data that speaks to human awareness of the stars and ‘heavens’ dates to the Aurignacian Culture of Europe, around 34,000 years ago. Between 1964 and the early 1990s, Alexander Marshack published breakthrough research that documented the mathematical and astronomical knowledge in the Late Upper Paleolithic Cultures of Europe. Marshack deciphered sets of marks carved into animal bones, and occasionally on the walls of caves, as records of the lunar cycle. These marks are sets of crescents or lines. Artisans carefully controlled line thickness so that a correlation with lunar phases would be as easy as possible to perceive. Sets of marks were often laid out in a serpentine pattern that suggests a snake deity or streams and rivers. Many of these lunar calendars were made on small pieces of stone, bone or antler so that they could be easily carried. These small, portable, lightweight lunar calendars were easily carried on extended journeys such as long hunting trips and seasonal migrations.” ref
“Hunting the largest animals was arduous, and might require hunters to follow herds of horses, bison, mammoth or ibex for many weeks. (Other big animals such as the auroch, cave bear and cave lion were well known but rarely hunted for food because they had a special status in the mythic realm. The Auroch is very important to the search for earliest constellations.) The phases of the moon depicted in these sets of marks are inexact. Precision was impossible unless all nights were perfectly clear which is an unrealistic expectation. The arithmetic counting skill implied by these small lunar calendars is obvious. The recognition that there are phases of the moon and seasons of the year that can be counted – that should be counted because they are important – is profound. “All animal activities are time factored, simply because time passes, the future is forever arriving. The reality of time factoring is objective physics and does not depend upon human awareness or consciousness. Until Marshack’s work, many archeologists believed the sets of marks he chose to study were nothing but the aimless doodles of bored toolmakers. What Marshack uncovered is the intuitive discovery of mathematical sets and the application of those sets to the construction of a calendar.” Bone is the preferred medium because it allows for easy transport and a long calendar lifetime. Mankind’s earliest astronomy brought the clan into the multi-dimensional universe of the gods. Objects used in the most potent rituals had the highest contextual, cultural value and were treated with great reverence.” ref
“Regarding the Aurignacian, between 43,000 and 35,000 years ago, the archaeological record from habitations is relatively poor in the Ardèche (Abri des Pécheurs, Grotte du Figuier) while appearing more abundant in the Languedoc (La Salpétrière, La Balauzière, Esquicho-Grapaou, La Laouza etc.). The same applies to the sites of the early phases of the Gravettian. During climatic fluctuations, and unlike the deep caves such as Chauvet, the porch and shelter fills seem to have better recorded the cold episodes than the humid phases. To date, 20 decorated caves are indexed in the gorges of the Ardèche and nearby; in other words as far as the valley of the Gardon (Baume-Latrone). This group includes several important caves (Ebbou, Oulen, Émilie etc.) which are not precisely dated and were judged to be of secondary importance until the discovery of the Chauvet Cave.” ref
“A 10,000-year-old engraved stone could be a lunar calendar. The rare pebble — found high up in the mountains near Rome, Italy, the hammer-stone was found on top of Monte Alta in the Alban Hills. It’s believed that our early ancestors would’ve used the stone to keep track of the moon’s cycles. Notches were engraved “as if they were being used to count, calculate or store the record of some kind of information. And these notches — which total either 27 or 28 — suggest the stone’s engraver used the pebble to track lunar cycles.” ref
“Archaeologists excavating in Scotland found a series of huge pits were dug by Mesolithic people to track the cycle of the Moon. They found a series of twelve huge, specially shaped pits designed to mimic the various phases of the Moon. The holes aligned perfectly on the midwinter solstice to help the hunter-gathers of Mesolithic Britain keep precise track of the passage of the seasons and the lunar cycle. The holes were dug in the shapes of various phases of the moon. “Waxing, waning, crescents, and gibbous, they’re all there and arranged in a 50-meter-long (164-foot) arc. The one representing the full moon is large and circular, approximately two meters (roughly seven feet) across, and placed right in the center. And this arc is arranged perfectly with a notch in the landscape where the sun would have risen on the day of the midwinter solstice about 10,000 years ago. Placing their calendar in the landscape the way they did would have let the people who built it to recalibrate the lunar months every winter to bring their lunar calendar in line with the solar year. This means that any effort to keep track of the seasons using the moon alone will slowly drift ever further from true. An observer needs to know when to add or subtract an extra month to make good the time or hit the reset button and start counting again.” ref
“A moon-shaped calendar was found in Smederevska Palanka, Serbia that dates back 8,000 years, and is made from a wild boar’s tusk engraved with markings to denote a lunar cycle. Farmers may have used the device to plan when to plant crops. It is made from the tusk of a wild boar and is marked with engravings thought to denote a lunar cycle of 28 days, as well as the four phases of the moon.” ref
“A lunisolar calendar was found at Warren Field in Scotland and has been dated to c. 8000 BCE, during the Mesolithic period. Some scholars argue for lunar calendars still earlier—Rappenglück in the marks on a c. 17,000-year-old cave painting at Lascaux and Marshack in the marks on a c. 27,000-year-old bone baton—but their findings remain controversial. Scholars have argued that ancient hunters conducted regular astronomical observations of the Moon back in the Upper Palaeolithic. Samuel L. Macey dates the earliest uses of the Moon as a time-measuring device back to 28,000–30,000 years ago.” ref
“A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the monthly cycles of the Moon‘s phases (synodic months, lunations), in contrast to solar calendars, whose annual cycles are based only directly on the solar year. The most commonly used calendar, the Gregorian calendar, is a solar calendar system that originally evolved out of a lunar calendar system. A purely lunar calendar is also distinguished from a lunisolar calendar, whose lunar months are brought into alignment with the solar year through some process of intercalation. The details of when months begin varies from calendar to calendar, with some using new, full, or crescent moons and others employing detailed calculations.” ref
“Since each lunation is approximately 29+1⁄2 days, it is common for the months of a lunar calendar to alternate between 29 and 30 days. Since the period of 12 such lunations, a lunar year, is 354 days, 8 hours, 48 minutes, 34 seconds (354.36707 days), purely lunar calendars are 11 to 12 days shorter than the solar year. In purely lunar calendars, which do not make use of intercalation, like the Islamic calendar, the lunar months cycle through all the seasons of a solar year over the course of a 33–34 lunar-year cycle.” ref
“Although the Gregorian calendar is in common and legal use in most countries, traditional lunar and lunisolar calendars continue to be used throughout the world to determine religious festivals and national holidays. Such holidays include Rosh Hashanah (Hebrew calendar); Easter (the Computus); the Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mongolian New Year (Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Mongolian calendars, respectively); the Nepali New Year (Nepali calendar); the Mid-Autumn Festival and Chuseok (Chinese and Korean calendars); Loi Krathong (Thai calendar); Sunuwar calendar; Vesak/Buddha’s Birthday (Buddhist calendar); Diwali (Hindu calendars); Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha (Islamic calendar).” ref
“The Japanese Calendar formerly used both the lunar and lunisolar calendar before it was replaced by the Gregorian Calendar during the Meiji government in 1872. Holidays such as the Japanese New Year were simply transposed on top as opposed to being calculated like other countries that use the lunisolar and Gregorian calendars together, for example, the Japanese New Year now falls on January 1, creating a month delay as opposed to other East Asian Countries. See customary issues in modern Japan.” ref
“Most calendars referred to as “lunar” calendars are in fact lunisolar calendars. Their months are based on observations of the lunar cycle, with intercalation being used to bring them into general agreement with the solar year. The solar “civic calendar” that was used in ancient Egypt showed traces of its origin in the earlier lunar calendar, which continued to be used alongside it for religious and agricultural purposes. Present-day lunisolar calendars include the Chinese, Vietnamese, Hindu, and Thai calendars.” ref
“Synodic months are 29 or 30 days in length, making a lunar year of 12 months about 11 to 12 days shorter than a solar year. Some lunar calendars do not use intercalation, for example, the lunar Hijri calendar used by most Muslims. For those that do, such as the Hebrew calendar, and Buddhist Calendars in Myanmar, the most common form of intercalation is to add an additional month every second or third year. Some lunisolar calendars are also calibrated by annual natural events which are affected by lunar cycles as well as the solar cycle. An example of this is the lunar calendar of the Banks Islands, which includes three months in which the edible palolo worms mass on the beaches. These events occur at the last quarter of the lunar month, as the reproductive cycle of the palolos is synchronized with the moon.” ref
“Lunar and lunisolar calendars differ as to which day is the first day of the month. In some lunisolar calendars, such as the Chinese calendar, the first day of a month is the day when an astronomical new moon occurs in a particular time zone. In others, such as some Hindu calendars, each month begins on the day after the full moon. Others are based on the first sighting of the lunar crescent, such as the lunar Hijri calendar (and, historically, the Hebrew calendar).” ref
“The Adorant from the Geißenklösterle cave is a 35,000-to-40,000-year-old section of mammoth ivory with a depiction of a human figure, found in the Geißenklösterle cave in the Swabian Jura near Blaubeuren, Germany. The front face has a human figure of uncertain sex in relief, with raised arms and outstretched legs, but no hands. The posture is usually interpreted as an expression of worship, which is why in German the figure is called an “adorant”, a word meaning “worshipper”. It has been claimed that a belt and sword can be seen, although these are probably natural features of the ivory. On the plate’s reverse are rows of small notches. The piece is 38 mm (1.50 in) tall, 14 mm (0.55 in) wide, and 4.5 mm (0.18 in) thick. Traces of manganese and ochre can be found on it by microscope analysis. It is somewhat like the Lion-Human of Hohlenstein-Stadel ivory statue also found in Germany.” ref
“The Löwenmensch figurine, also called the Lion-Human of Hohlenstein-Stadel, is a prehistoric ivory sculpture discovered in Hohlenstein-Stadel, a German cave. The German name, Löwenmensch, meaning “lion-person” or “lion-human”, is used most frequently because it was discovered and is exhibited in Germany. Determined by carbon dating of the layer in which it was found to be between 35,000 and 40,000 years old, it is one of the oldest-known examples of an artistic representation and the oldest confirmed statue ever discovered. Its age associates it with the archaeological Aurignacian culture of the Upper Paleolithic. An example of zoomorphic art, the Lion-Human was carved out of mammoth ivory, using a flint stone knife. Seven parallel, transverse, carved gouges are on the left arm.” ref
Tally sticks and hunting magic
“We have explored some of the most important tally sticks found till today, but the question that still remains is “who used them?”. Could they’ve been connected with the profession of cult ritual, totemic magic, or a shaman tool/magic, or (because we can’t be sure about the existence of shamans until around 30,000 years ago or so), some other variation of the cult practitioner? One thing that would point out this connection could be the evidence of “hunting magic” rituals, which are already substantiated based on multiple findings from the Paleolithic. Even though the majority of cases are cave paintings, depicting wild animals symbolically wounded by spears, we could assume that a certain degree of “supernatural beliefs” could have been present in the life of the Late Paleolithic hunters.” ref
“A tally stick was an ancient memory aid device used to record and document numbers, quantities, or even messages. Tally sticks first appear as animal bones carved with notches during the Upper Paleolithic. Historical reference is made by Pliny the Elder (AD 23–79) about the best wood to use for tallies, and by Marco Polo (1254–1324) who mentions the use of the tally in China. Tallies have been used for numerous purposes such as messaging and scheduling, and especially in financial and legal transactions, to the point of being currency.” ref
MERRIAM-WEBSTER’s 3 related Definitions of magic
1: The use of means (such as charms or spells) believed to have supernatural power over natural forces. ref
2: An extraordinary power or influence seemingly from a supernatural source. ref
3: Having seemingly supernatural qualities or powers. ref
MAGIC (supernatural)
“The term magic (derives from the Old Persian magu, a word that applied to a form of religious functionary about which little is known. During the late sixth and early fifth centuries BCE, this term was adopted into Ancient Greek, where it was used with negative connotations, to apply to religious rites that were regarded as fraudulent, unconventional, and dangerous. This meaning of the term was then adopted by Latin in the first century BCE. Via Latin, the concept was incorporated into Christian theology during the first century CE, where magic was associated with demons and thus defined against (Christian) religion.” ref
“This concept was pervasive throughout the Middle Ages, when Christian authors categorized a diverse range of practices witchcraft, incantations, divination, necromancy, and astrology—under the label magic. In early modern Europe, Italian humanists reinterpreted the term in a positive sense to create the idea of natural magic. Both negative and positive understandings of the term were retained in Western culture over the following centuries, with the former largely influencing early academic usages of the word.” ref
“The Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura are a collection of six caves in southern Germany which were used by Ice Age humans for shelter about 33,000 to 43,000 years ago. The caves are located in the Lone and Ach Valleys. Within the caves one statuette of a female form, carved figurines of animals (including cave lions, mammoths, horses and cattle), musical instruments and items of personal adornment have been discovered. Some of the figurines depict creatures that are half animal, half human.” ref
Swabian Jura’s six caves: Bocksteinhöhle, Geißenklösterle, Hohler Fels, Hohlenstein-Stadel, Sirgensteinhöhle, and Vogelherd Cave
“The sites of the Swabian Jura stand at the beginning of human artistic expression and represent with more than fifty pieces the richest region for Aurignacian art and mobile art from the Aurignacian in general is abundant. Artistic creativity in the Aurignacian time was therefore not unusual, but – more and more discoveries confirm this – rather the rule. And the Swabian Aurignacian is currently the oldest known Aurignacian in Europe. No precursor of these artworks has yet been discovered and thus the findings from the four caves of Vogelherd, Hohlenstein-Stadel, Geissenklösterle and Hohle Fels represent the oldest figurative art worldwide to date. At the beginning of the Aurignacian strong changes in material culture are visible, suddenly, ‘at least 600’ artistic creations ‘from a total of at least 20 sites’. But the sites of the Swabian Jura stand at the beginning of human artistic expression and represent with more than fifty pieces the richest region for Aurignacian art.” ref
A research approach to the Figurine Marks
“A striking, though still insufficiently studied feature of the figurative art of the Swabian Jura are the numerous markings. Many figurines bear sequences of marks, usually found in the form of parallel lines, crosses and cross-lines, diamonds, V-shaped signs and points. An important comprehensive categorization counted all signs on the then-known figurines and discussed them in relation to the representations. A current interprets the marks as ‘clearly reflective’ and with an evident ‘scoring’ character, sometimes with astronomical information. Harald Floss emphasises the amount of decorated objects and the importance of the individuality of each figurine and its marks. About half of all hitherto examined figurines bear marks (54%).” ref
“The ones from Vogelherd Cave located in the eastern Swabian Jura, south-western Germany. are included as far as possible; the figurines for the other sites are to be regarded only as preliminary results. From Vogelherd Cave at least 31 reliable figures and fragments of figures are known, 22 of them bear markings of various kinds. Another 21 potential, not certainly identifiable fragments were recorded, of which 8 bear marks. Thus 58% of the figurative elements from Vogelherd are marked. The finds from this site alone show the enormous importance of marks in the Swabian Aurignacian.” ref
PREHISTORIC MATHEMATICS?
Info from the Story of Mathematics which is supplemented by a List of Important Mathematicians and their achievements, and by an alphabetical Glossary of Mathematical Terms.
“Our prehistoric ancestors would have had a general sensibility about amounts and would have instinctively known the difference between, say, one and two antelopes. But the intellectual leap from the concrete idea of two things to the invention of a symbol or word for the abstract idea of “two” took many ages to come about. Even today, there are isolated hunter-gatherer tribes in Amazonia which only have words for “one”, “two” and “many”, and others which only have words for numbers up to five. In the absence of settled agriculture and trade, there is little need for a formal system of numbers.” ref
“Early people kept track of regular occurrences such as the phases of the moon and the seasons. Some of the very earliest evidence of mankind thinking about numbers is from notched bones in Africa but this is really mere counting and tallying rather than mathematics as such. Pre-dynastic Egyptians and Sumerians represented geometric designs on their artifacts as early as the 5th millennium BCE, as did some megalithic societies in northern Europe in the 3rd millennium BCE or before. But this is more art and decoration than the systematic treatment of figures, patterns, forms and quantities that has come to be considered as mathematics.” ref
“Mathematics proper initially developed largely as a response to bureaucratic needs when civilizations settled and developed agriculture – for the measurement of plots of land, the taxation of individuals, etc – and this first occurred in the Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations of Mesopotamia (roughly, modern Iraq) and in ancient Egypt.” ref
“According to some authorities, there is evidence of basic arithmetic and geometric notations on the petroglyphs at Knowth and Newgrange burial mounds in Ireland (dating from about 3500 BCE and 3200 BCE respectively). These utilize a repeated zig-zag glyph for counting, a system which continued to be used in Britain and Ireland into the 1st millennium BCE. Stonehenge, a Neolithic ceremonial and astronomical monument in England, which dates from around 2300 BCE, also arguably exhibits examples of the use of 60 and 360 in the circle measurements, a practice which presumably developed quite independently of the sexagesimal counting system of the ancient Sumerian and Babylonians.” ref
Info From the Mathematical Association of America
“Mathematics and religion seem a peculiar mix to most people today. What relationship could possibly exist between numbers and God, between geometric figures and religious beliefs, between abstract structures and theological doctrines? Hasn’t mathematics been weaned from the primeval ties it once had to religion and metaphysics?” ref
“As the book Mathematics and the Divine demonstrates, people have made many interesting and vital connections between mathematics and religion over the years. Believers of many faiths have found significant points of contact between their religious outlooks and mathematics. Not all of these claims were made in the distant past or by certified crackpots — although, admittedly, some pretty off-beat linkages have been proposed. Religion and mathematics seems to attract eccentrics: witness the popular Bible codes of a decade or so ago, which claimed that esoteric prophetic messages could be deciphered by reading equidistant letter sequences in some sacred text.” ref
“One might be excused for thinking this topic could not support an academic book-length treatment, but Mathematics and the Divine proves otherwise. The book extends to some 700 pages, containing a long introductory essay followed by 35 chapters/articles by almost as many authors. Unfortunately, its size and Elsevier’s whopping $226 price-tag make owning it prohibitive and may even make it difficult to find a copy of the book. This is regrettable, because while Mathematics and the Divine has some forgettable chapters, it also has a number of insightful and well-written contributions.” ref
“The book restricts its attention mainly to Western culture, distinguishing three periods in the relationship between mathematics and the divine: the early pre-Greek period, the classical Greek period with its medieval and Renaissance heirs, and the modern era starting with the Scientific Revolution. The pre-Greek period is discussed briefly in the introduction and in the first two chapters, which deal with China and India respectively. Except for a later chapter on the sacred geographies developed by medieval Islam, this is the only place that treats non-Western mathematics, and it concentrates on some fairly narrow topics (Chinese magic square number mysticism, and the compatibility of Indian astronomy with Hindu sacred texts).” ref
“The classical Greek period is represented by the Pythagoreans, Plato, Nicomachus, and Proclus. Chapters on medieval mathematics take up some mathematical traditions and applications (texts devoted to calculating calendar matters, ecclesiastical architecture, and mathematical topics stimulated by theological debates) as well as ideas put forward by some well-known thinkers (Ramon Lull and Nicolas of Cusa). A chapter on the algebraist Michael Stifel’s Biblical numerology is followed by ones on the mystical ideas of two later Renaissance thinkers, the rechenmeister Johannes Faulhaber, and the polymath Athanasius Kircher, who lived during the early years of the Scientific Revolution. John Napier’s ideas in a similar vein are mentioned but did not merit a special chapter.” ref
“The book covers many links between mathematics and religion, but it concentrates heavily on how mathematical ideas were employed for religious and metaphysical purposes: the number 6 was chosen by God for the days of creation since it is a perfect number (Augustine); numerological calculations predicted the end of the world on October 19, 1533, at 8 a.m. (Stifel); a Trinitarian view of God is bolstered apologetically by analogy with the three dimensions in a cube (Wallis); and so on. As the editors note, ever since the time of the Pythagoreans and Plato mathematics has seemed especially poised to take on this exalted role, for it alone (or in conjunction with logic) studies abstract, unchanging objects and contains truths that are deemed absolutely certain, universal, and eternally valid, things typically associated with divine realities. Numbers and shapes were exceptionally privileged, having mystical powers and divine connections.” ref
“Religious concerns formed the broader motivation for natural philosophers such as Galileo, Kepler, Newton, and others, but mathematics, in turn, provided the language for reading the deep structure of the cosmos, for deciphering God’s intentions. In taking this position, many scientists incorporated mathematics into their religious foundation: mathematics becomes (part of) the eternal wisdom used by God to create and structure the world and so has a divine character. Greek notions thus became intertwined with Biblical ideas to form an unstable religious synthesis, one that would be dissolved in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by the increasing secularization due to the rise of deism, agnosticism, and atheism.” ref
“There are still notable cases of Western scientists and mathematicians maintaining orthodox religious beliefs (Euler is a prime example), but they become more the exception than the rule as Enlightenment views become dominant. Cantor’s taking an avid interest in medieval Catholic theology because its ideas of infinity supported his maverick notion of transfinite numbers seems atypical, though case studies of other mathematicians may later change our picture of this time period.” ref
“Readers who enjoy learning how mathematical ideas have shaped religious trends and doctrines will find much of interest in this book. Those who want to learn how religious ideas have impacted the development of mathematical science over the centuries will also find relevant material. Chapter 13 by Edith Sylla is a fascinating piece of historical detective work, examining how medieval discussions later caricatured and ridiculed in the seventeenth century as being about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin actually contributed to clarifying the notions of infinity and continuity.” ref
“Chapter 18 by Volker Remmert is a good discussion of the role mathematics came to play in Galileo’s thinking about nature and how this transformed the relationship between science and theology. Chapter 24 by Cornelis de Pater on Newton paints a holistic picture of Newton’s intellectual interests, showing how his physics (astronomy, mechanics, optics), alchemy, and theology form consistent parts of a whole, all of them motivated by Newton’s deep desire to fathom the ways of God and thus show His wisdom and grandeur. Mathematics provided the tool for understanding how God governs his handiwork, while alchemy looked for the active principles mediating God’s interaction with his material creation.” ref
While hallucinogens are associated with shamanism, it is alcohol that is associated with paganism.
The Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries Shows in the prehistory series:
Show two: Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show tree: Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show four: Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show five: Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show six: Emergence of hierarchy, sexism, slavery, and the new male god dominance: Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves!
Prehistory: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” the division of labor, power, rights, and recourses: VIDEO
Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism): VIDEO
Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves: VIEDO
Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State): VIEDO
Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism): VIEDO
I do not hate simply because I challenge and expose myths or lies any more than others being thought of as loving simply because of the protection and hiding from challenge their favored myths or lies.
The truth is best championed in the sunlight of challenge.
An archaeologist once said to me “Damien religion and culture are very different”
My response, So are you saying that was always that way, such as would you say Native Americans’ cultures are separate from their religions? And do you think it always was the way you believe?
I had said that religion was a cultural product. That is still how I see it and there are other archaeologists that think close to me as well. Gods too are the myths of cultures that did not understand science or the world around them, seeing magic/supernatural everywhere.
I personally think there is a goddess and not enough evidence to support a male god at Çatalhöyük but if there was both a male and female god and goddess then I know the kind of gods they were like Proto-Indo-European mythology.
This series idea was addressed in, Anarchist Teaching as Free Public Education or Free Education in the Public: VIDEO
Our 12 video series: Organized Oppression: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of power (9,000-4,000 years ago), is adapted from: The Complete and Concise History of the Sumerians and Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia (7000-2000 BC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szFjxmY7jQA by “History with Cy“
Show #1: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Samarra, Halaf, Ubaid)
Show #2: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Eridu “Tell Abu Shahrain”)
Show #3: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Uruk and the First Cities)
Show #4: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (First Kings)
Show #5: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Early Dynastic Period)
Show #6: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (King/Ruler Lugalzagesi)
Show #7: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Sargon and Akkadian Rule)
Show #9: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Gudea of Lagash and Utu-hegal)
Show #12: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Aftermath and Legacy of Sumer)
The “Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries”
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ Atheist Leftist @Skepticallefty & I (Damien Marie AtHope) @AthopeMarie (my YouTube & related blog) are working jointly in atheist, antitheist, antireligionist, antifascist, anarchist, socialist, and humanist endeavors in our videos together, generally, every other Saturday.
Why Does Power Bring Responsibility?
Think, how often is it the powerless that start wars, oppress others, or commit genocide? So, I guess the question is to us all, to ask, how can power not carry responsibility in a humanity concept? I know I see the deep ethical responsibility that if there is power their must be a humanistic responsibility of ethical and empathic stewardship of that power. Will I be brave enough to be kind? Will I possess enough courage to be compassionate? Will my valor reach its height of empathy? I as everyone, earns our justified respect by our actions, that are good, ethical, just, protecting, and kind. Do I have enough self-respect to put my love for humanity’s flushing, over being brought down by some of its bad actors? May we all be the ones doing good actions in the world, to help human flourishing.
I create the world I want to live in, striving for flourishing. Which is not a place but a positive potential involvement and promotion; a life of humanist goal precision. To master oneself, also means mastering positive prosocial behaviors needed for human flourishing. I may have lost a god myth as an atheist, but I am happy to tell you, my friend, it is exactly because of that, leaving the mental terrorizer, god belief, that I truly regained my connected ethical as well as kind humanity.
Cory and I will talk about prehistory and theism, addressing the relevance to atheism, anarchism, and socialism.
At the same time as the rise of the male god, 7,000 years ago, there was also the very time there was the rise of violence, war, and clans to kingdoms, then empires, then states. It is all connected back to 7,000 years ago, and it moved across the world.
Cory Johnston: https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/04/cory-johnston-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftist/?v=32aec8db952d
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist (YouTube)
Cory Johnston: Mind of a Skeptical Leftist @Skepticallefty
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist By Cory Johnston: “Promoting critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics by covering current events and talking to a variety of people. Cory Johnston has been thoughtfully talking to people and attempting to promote critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics.” http://anchor.fm/skepticalleft
Cory needs our support. We rise by helping each other.
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ @Skepticallefty Evidence-based atheist leftist (he/him) Producer, host, and co-host of 4 podcasts @skeptarchy @skpoliticspod and @AthopeMarie
Damien Marie AtHope (“At Hope”) Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist. Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Poet, Philosopher, Advocate, Activist, Psychology, and Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Historian.
Damien is interested in: Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Ethics, Humanism, Science, Atheism, Antiteism, Antireligionism, Ignosticism, Left-Libertarianism, Anarchism, Socialism, Mutualism, Axiology, Metaphysics, LGBTQI, Philosophy, Advocacy, Activism, Mental Health, Psychology, Archaeology, Social Work, Sexual Rights, Marriage Rights, Woman’s Rights, Gender Rights, Child Rights, Secular Rights, Race Equality, Ageism/Disability Equality, Etc. And a far-leftist, “Anarcho-Humanist.”
I am not a good fit in the atheist movement that is mostly pro-capitalist, I am anti-capitalist. Mostly pro-skeptic, I am a rationalist not valuing skepticism. Mostly pro-agnostic, I am anti-agnostic. Mostly limited to anti-Abrahamic religions, I am an anti-religionist.
To me, the “male god” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 7,000 years ago, whereas the now favored monotheism “male god” is more like 4,000 years ago or so. To me, the “female goddess” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 11,000-10,000 years ago or so, losing the majority of its once prominence around 2,000 years ago due largely to the now favored monotheism “male god” that grow in prominence after 4,000 years ago or so.
My Thought on the Evolution of Gods?
Animal protector deities from old totems/spirit animal beliefs come first to me, 13,000/12,000 years ago, then women as deities 11,000/10,000 years ago, then male gods around 7,000/8,000 years ago. Moralistic gods around 5,000/4,000 years ago, and monotheistic gods around 4,000/3,000 years ago.
Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):
Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist, Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Jeweler, Poet, “autodidact” Philosopher, schooled in Psychology, and “autodidact” Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Pre-Historian (Knowledgeable in the range of: 1 million to 5,000/4,000 years ago). I am an anarchist socialist politically. Reasons for or Types of Atheism
My Website, My Blog, & Short-writing or Quotes, My YouTube, Twitter: @AthopeMarie, and My Email: damien.marie.athope@gmail.com