9,000-6,500 Years Old Submerged Pre-Pottery/Pottery Neolithic Ritual Settlements off Israel’s Coast

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Atlit-Yam (Pre-Pottery Neolithic C) is a 40,000-square-metre site/village, near Haifa, Israel, where its people lived in spacious stone houses, complete with paved floors, courtyards, fireplaces, storage facilities, and wells. As well as grain stores, graves, and a ritual stone circle. In the area are also twelve Pottery Neolithic sites. Most of the PN sites (Kfar-Samir; Hishuley Carmel; Kfar-Galim; Nahal Galim; Hahoterim; Tel-Hreiz; Megadim; Atlit north bay; Neve-Yam and Habonim) are attributed to the Wadi Rabah culture, considered as late Pottery Neolithic or early Chalcolithic, while the Neve-Yam North site belongs to the Lodian culture, which predates the Wadi Rabah culture. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

Masseboth “Pillars” or “Standing Stones” and in the Singular, Massebah 

“On the small ridges there are “Roded type” cult sites characterized by slabs of limestone which were brought from the seabed sediment range nearby.” ref

“Masseboth dot the landscape of the Bible’s desert lands. It’s the Hebrew Bible that calls them masseboth; singular, massebah), usually translated as “pillars” or “standing stones.” They are unmistakably purposeful arrangements of carefully selected crude stones set vertically into the ground, individually or in groups, and are abundant in the desert. The Bible makes it clear that these standing stones had a pervasive, if ambiguous, cultic significance in early Israelite religion. In these shrines masseboth stand alone or in groups—pairs and triads are the most common, but groups of five, seven and nine also occur. Some are only a few inches tall, while others are six feet or more. Most face east and many have at their base a carefully placed circular compartment or cell. Other features, such as offering benches, altars of different types and basins sometimes accompany masseboth. In addition to these independent sites, identical groupings of masseboth can be found at hundreds of tumuli (large stone heaps that mark a tomb) and in open-air sanctuaries.” ref

The Emergence of Masseboth and Their Bible Relations

“The earliest masseboth in the Near East are located in the Negev and the southern Jordan deserts and date to the 11th and 10th millennia B.C.E. (around 13,000-11,000 years ago) Masseboth became quite common from the sixth to the third millennia B.C.E. (around 8,000-4,000 years ago) and continued to be erected all through the Biblical period and later. In the fertile, non-desert areas of the Near East, however, they are much less common, especially at prehistoric sites; only in the second millennium B.C.E. (around 4,000-3,000 years ago) do their numbers significantly increase. The Bible and other ancient literature mention two types of masseboth: those representing gods and their abodes and those representing ancestral spirits.” ref

“Archaeology confirms the existence of both types; people in many traditional societies throughout the world still erect stones of the second type for their ancestors. In the ancient Near East the best-known reference to the ancestral massebah comes from The Tale of Aqhat, a narrative inscribed on 15th-century B.C.E. (3,500 years old) cuneiform tablets from Ugarit (on the Mediterranean coast of Syria). In the story, Dan-el, father of Aqhat, repeatedly complains to the gods that he “does not have a son to set up massebah in the temple in his name.” Although the translation of the last two words is controversial, the stone is clearly understood to contain and preserve the ancestral spirit.” ref

“One Biblical example is the story of Jacob at Beth-El. After he awakens from his dream of a ladder ascending to heaven, Jacob takes the stone that served as his pillow and sets it up, declaring, “This stone that I have set up as a pillar (massebah) shall be God’s house” (Genesis 28:22). He probably believed that the stone contained God’s power and spirit. Three inscribed basalt stelae or pillars were discovered near Sefire, Syria. These Sefire inscriptions, record an eighth-century B.C.E. (around 2,800 years ago) treaty between the vassal/king of Arpad and his overlord. The text, the longest intact inscription in Old Aramaic, contains over 100 legible lines. An introductory section invokes several well-known Syrian and Mesopotamian gods as witnesses to the treaty. It then identifies the stone pillars upon which the treaty is inscribed as the “house of god.” ref

“Later Arabian sources apply the same term, “house of god,” to standing stones. Similarly, a ninth-century B.C.E. (around 2,9,00 years old) Assyrian document describing King Tukulti Ninurta’s campaign to the Lebanon coast says that “he camped by the stones in which the great gods are dwelling.” Other masseboth offer variations on this theme. Some, by virtue of their divine authority, serve as witnesses to treaties and covenants; others oversee the fulfillment of vows and treaties, commemorate special events and bequeath divine protection upon territorial borders.” ref

Two Major Characteristics in Masseboth

*First, “in all groupings, the number of stones parallels the number of gods in various Near Eastern inscriptions, artistic representations and mythologies. Thus, a group of stones may represent a known group of gods.” ref

*Second, “a closer look reveals that most clusters of masseboth include stones of different shapes and proportions; moreover, the stones within a group are set in a symmetrical pattern or in some other order related to their shape.” ref

“For example, a group of seven stones at the top of Ma’aleh Jethro, east of the Uvda Valley, is set in a distinct pattern of alternating broad and narrow stones (see “Desert Masseboth: A Gallery of Types”). The stones were brought from some distance and obviously carefully selected, so we must assume some purpose or concept lay behind this arrangement.  A  similar relationship between broad and narrow stones or tall and short stones is found in other groups. Perhaps a narrow or tall stone represented a god, and a broad or shorter stone represented a goddess.” ref

Matzevah

“Matzevah or masseba (Hebrew: מַצֵּבָה maṣṣēḇā; “pillar”) is a term used in the Hebrew Bible for a sacred pillar, a type of standing stone. The term has been adopted by archaeologists for Israelite contexts, seldom for related cultures, such as the Canaanite and the Nabataean ones. As a second derived meaning, it is also used for a headstone or tombstone marking a Jewish grave. The Hebrew word matzevah is derived from a root meaning ‘to stand’, which led to the meaning of ‘pillar’. The singular form can be found spelled as masseba, maseba, matzevah, matzeva or mazzevah, and the plural form as massebot, masseboth, masebot, matzevot or matzevoth. When used in a Yiddish-influenced context, it can take the form matzeivah.” ref

“Use of the exclusive word can be found in Genesis 28:18, 28:22, 31:13, 31:45, 35:14, 35:20, Exodus 24:4, Deuteronomy 16:22, and Hosea 3:4. In Genesis 28:22, Jacob says “and this stone, which I have set up for a matzevah, shall be God’s house” and in Genesis 31:13 Yahweh says to Jacob “I am the God of Bethel [lit. “House of God”] where you anointed a matzevah and made a vow to me…”. The matzevah could also serve as a secular memorial: “Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel‘s grave unto this day.” (Genesis 35:20) It could also stand as a symbolic witness: upon confronting Jacob in Gilead, Laban declared “This rock-pile is a witness, and this matzevah is a witness, that I will not pass this rock-pile, and you will not pass this rock-pile and this matzevah, for evil.” (Genesis 31:52).” ref

“Based on Genesis 35:20, observant Jews traditionally erect a monument at the grave of a deceased person. It can be placed either over the grave, as a footstone, or as a headstone. Three purposes can be distinguished. It may mark the gravesite for purity reasons, as priests (cohanim) are required to avoid defilement through contact with the dead, and a marker (any marker) helps them identify a grave. The name of the deceased written on a stone also allows friends and relatives to identify the grave. A respectable, but unostentatious monument appropriate to heirs’ fortune is also a symbolic way to honor the deceased.” ref

• Asherah pole, Canaanite object honoring Asherah, consort of Yahweh (BIBLE GOD)
• Baetylus, a type of sacred stone
• Bema and bamah (“High place”) elevated platform
• Ceremonial pole
• Lingam, abstract representation of the Hindu god Shiva
• Menhir, orthostat, or standing stone: upright stone, typically from the Bronze Age
• Stele, stone, or wooden slab erected as a monument

Menhir

“A menhir from Brittonic languages: maen or men, “stone” and hir or hîr, “long”), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large upright stone, emplaced in the ground by humans, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be found individually as monoliths, or as part of a group of similar stones. Menhirs’ size can vary considerably, but they often taper toward the top. Menhirs are found across Europe, Africa, and Asia, with a concentration in Western Europe, notably in Ireland, Great Britain, and Brittany. Their purpose remains speculative, with theories ranging from druidic rituals to territorial markers or elements of an ideological system. Some menhirs feature engravings, including anthropomorphic figures and symbols, and are often associated with ancient religious ceremonies and burial chambers.” ref

“The word menhir was adopted from French by 19th-century archaeologists. The introduction of the word into general archaeological usage has been attributed to the 18th-century French military officer Théophile Corret de la Tour d’Auvergne. It is a combination of two words of the Breton language: maen and hir. In modern Welsh, they are described as maen hir, or “long stone”. In modern Breton, the word peulvan is used, with peul meaning “stake” or “post” and van which is a soft mutation of the word maen which means “stone”. In Germany and Scandinavia the word Bauta is used (e.g., de:Bautastein and no:bautastein) and this occasionally makes its way into English with the term “bauta stone.” ref

“Almost nothing is known of the social organization or religious beliefs of the people who erected the menhirs. Their language is also unknown. It is known, however, that they buried their dead and had the skills to grow crops, farm, and make pottery, stone tools, and jewelry. Identifying the purpose or use of menhirs remains speculative. Until recently, standing stones were associated with the Beaker people, who inhabited Europe during the European late Neolithic and early Bronze Age—later third millennium BC, c. 2800–1800 BCE. However, recent research into the age of megaliths in Brittany strongly suggests a far older origin, perhaps back to six to seven thousand years ago. During the European Middle Ages, standing stones were believed to have been built by the giants who lived before the biblical flood.” ref

“Many of the megaliths were destroyed or defaced by early Christians; it is estimated that some 50,000 megaliths once stood in Northern Europe, where almost 10,000 now remain. Menhirs have also been found in many other parts of the world. Many menhirs are engraved with megalithic art, some with anthropomorphic features. Other common carvings are identified as images of stone axes, ploughs, shepherds’ crooks, and yokes; and are named after these motifs. However, these identifications are not secure except for those of the stone axe images, and the names used to describe them are largely a matter of convenience. Some menhirs were broken up and incorporated into later passage graves, where they had new megalithic art carved with little regard for the previous pictures. It is not known if this re-use was deliberate or if the passage grave builders just saw menhirs as a convenient source of stone.” ref

“Where menhirs appear in groups, often in a circular, oval, henge, or horseshoe formation, they are sometimes called megalithic monuments. These are sites of ancient religious ceremonies, sometimes containing burial chambers. The exact function of menhirs has provoked more debate than practically any other issue in European prehistory. Over the centuries, they have variously been thought to have been used by druids for human sacrifice, used as territorial markers, or elements of a complex ideological system, used as mnemonic systems for oral cultures, or functioning as early calendars. Until the nineteenth century, antiquarians did not have substantial knowledge of prehistory, and their only reference points were provided by classical literature. The developments of radiocarbon dating and dendrochronology have significantly advanced scientific knowledge in this area.” ref

“Menhirs are widely distributed across Europe, Africa, and Asia, but are most numerous in Western Europe; particularly in Ireland, Great Britain, and Brittany, where there are about 50,000 examples, and northwestern France, where there are some 1,200 further examples. Standing stones are usually difficult to date. They were constructed during many different periods across prehistory as part of the larger megalithic cultures in Europe and near areas. Some menhirs stand next to buildings that have an early or current religious significance. One example is the South Zeal Menhir in Devon, which formed the basis for a 12th-century monastery built by lay monks. The monastery later became the Oxenham Arms hotel, at South Zeal, and the standing stone remains in place in the snug bar at the hotel. It is believed that practitioners of megalithic religions traveled via the sea, as the mass majority of menhirs are located on coasts, islands, and peninsulas.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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9,000-year-old “Atlit Yam” Megoliths and a Mound of Creation (like the Earth-diver Creation Myth?) A stone semicircle of megaliths, alter stone erected among them in the middle and sounded by a moat, which suggests that they may have been used for a water ritual.

Wadi Rabah culture

“The Wadi Rabah culture is a Pottery Neolithic archaeological culture of the Southern Levant, dating to the middle of the 5th millennium BCE. This period was first identified at the ancient site of Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) by British archaeologists John Garstang and Kathleen Kenyon in separate excavations. Kenyon has named this period in Jericho “Pottery Neolithic B”. The name “Wadi Rabah” was since used in archaeologic literature thanks to the works of Israeli archaeologist Jacob Kaplan at the site of Wadi Rabah. This culture is known from a small amount of sites, in some of which remains of small rectangular structures were discovered. Some larger structures were found in Munhata, Wadi Rabah and Ein el-Jarba, though Israeli archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel suggests that large courtyard structures were erected in that period, like the ones found at Sha’ar HaGolan of the preceding Yarmukian culture (c. 6400–6000 BCE) and Tel Tsaf of the following Early/Middle Chalcolithic period (c. 5300–4500 BCE).” ref

Lodian culture

 “The Lodian culture or Jericho IX culture is a Pottery Neolithic archaeological culture of the Southern Levant dating from the first half of the 5th millennium BC, existing alongside the Yarmukian and Nizzanim cultures. The Lodian culture appears mainly in areas south of the territory of the Yarmukian culture, in the Shfela and the beginning of the Israeli coastal plain, the Judaean Mountains, and in the desert regions around the Dead Sea and south of it. The Lodian culture is defined by its distinctive pottery. It was first identified by John Garstang during his excavations of the eponymous Layer IX at Jericho. Thomas Levy later coined the term Lodian, shifting the type site to that of Lod, first excavated by Jacob Kaplan in the 1950s. The relationship between the Lodian culture and the two other Southern Levantine Pottery Neolithic cultures, the Yarmoukian and the Wadi Raba culture, has been debated for many years. Levy argued that it was a short-lived but distinct tradition that emerged after the Yarmoukian and before the Wadi Raba. Most known settlements associated with the Lodian culture were small and ephemeral. From the few sites remains of architecture have been found, it appears the inhabitants lived in circular, semi-subterranean rounded structures, 2-3 meters in diameter, made from mudbrick. Next to the structures were many pits dug by these inhabitants. They kept domestic animals, including sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs, and also fished and hunted wild gazelle. It is assumed that they also grew the typical Neolithic crops, e.g. cereals and legumes, but no archaeobotanical evidence has been recovered from Lodian sites to confirm this. Sites with Lodian material include Jericho, Lod, Tel Megiddo, Ghrubba, Teluliot Batashi, Tel Lachish, Tel Ali, Abu Zurayq, Wadi Shueib, Dhra′, Khirbet ed-Dharih, Nizzanim, and En Esur. Very few burials have been found at Lodian sites. The inhabitants may have disposed of their dead in other ways, or used dedicated cemeteries away from settlements, as the later Wadi Raba culture was known to do. Lodian pottery is identical in shape to the Yarmukian pottery but different in decoration. The typical Lodian pottery vessels are painted and burnished, with distinctive geometric motifs and vessel forms. Its lithic industry is dominated by flake tools, including several characteristic types of arrowheads (Haparsa, Nizzanim, and Herzlia points) and sickle blades. Bipolar cores, common in preceding cultures, disappeared during the Lodian. Figurines and other ritual objects are notably rare in Lodian assemblages, unlike the Yarmoukian. The flint tools area also similar to those of the Yarmukian. One distinctive type of flint tool that is unique to the Lodian culture is a rectangular sickle, shaped with pressure flaking.” ref

“Atlit Yam is an ancient submerged Neolithic village off the coast of Atlit, Israel. It has been carbon-dated as to be between 8,900 and 8,300 years old. Among the features of the 10-acre site is a stone circle. Atlit-Yam provides the earliest known evidence for an agro-pastoral-marine subsistence system on the Levantine coast. The site of Atlit Yam has been carbon-dated to be between 8,900 and 8,300 years old. In the 21st century, it lies between 8–12 m (25–40 ft) beneath sea level in the Mediterranean Sea, in the Bay of Atlit, at the mouth of the Oren river on the Carmel coast. It covers an area of ca. 40,000 square meters (10 acres). Underwater excavations have uncovered rectangular houses and a well. The site was covered by the eustatic rise of sea levels after the end of the Ice age. It is assumed that the contemporary coast-line was about 1 km (a half-mile) west of the present coast. Piles of fish ready for trade or storage have led scientists to conclude that the village was abandoned suddenly. An Italian study led by Maria Pareschi of the Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Pisa indicates that a volcanic collapse of the eastern flank of Mount Etna 8,500 years ago would likely have caused a 10-storey (40 m or 130 ft) tsunami to engulf some Mediterranean coastal cities within hours. Some scientists point to the apparent abandonment of Atlit Yam around the same time as further evidence that such a tsunami did indeed occur. A stone semicircle, containing seven 600 kg (1,300 lb) megaliths, has been found. The stones have cup marks carved into them and are arranged around a freshwater spring, which suggests that they may have been used for a water ritual. Ten flexed burials have been discovered, both inside the houses and in their vicinity. The skeletons of a woman and child, found in 2008, have revealed the earliest known cases of tuberculosis. Bone fish-hooks and piles of fish bones ready for trade or storage point to the importance of marine resources. The men are thought to have dived for seafood, as four skeletons have been found with ear damage, probably caused by diving in cold water.  Anthropomorphic stone stelae have been found. The lithics include arrowheads, sickle-blades, and axes. An excavation was mounted by the University of Haifa on October 1, 1987. A complete human burial, in an excellent state of preservation, was discovered under 10m of water on October 4 with the skeleton oriented in a fetal position on the right side. Subsequent carbon dating of plant material recovered from the burial placed the age of the site at 8000 +-200 years. Animal bones and plant remains have also been preserved. Animal bones come mainly from wild species. The plant remains, include wild grape, poppy, and caraway seeds. Granary weevils indicate the presence of stored grain. Pollen analysis and the remains of marsh plants indicates the local presence of swamps.” ref

Atlit Yam pocket Stonehenge

“In the center of the village there is a ritual installation of megaliths: a miniature version Stonehenge, older than Stonehenge by 4,000 years – a cromlech, in fact. It’s a half-circle made of stones, 2.5 m in diameter, constituted of seven menhirs of 600K each. The monoliths, some more than 2m high, are disposed like sentinels around a central stone, symbolically surrounded by a basin to contain water. It seems to have been built around a freshwater spring. The stones have hollowed-out cupules suggesting they may have been used in a water ritual. Close to the menhirs, to the West, some flat stone slabs (0.7-1.2 m long) have been found in a horizontal position. On some of them, shallow cupules have also been hollowed out. Another installation is made of three oval stones (1,6 to 1,8 m), two of which are engraved with grooves forming schematic anthropomorphic figures. The megalithic altar is surrounded with tombs and is reached by a curious, narrow corridor, 20 meters long. According to the archeo-astronomer Clive Ruggles, these parallel walls leading to the altar are oriented in the direction of the Summer solstice sunrise. Ten tombs with bent corpses have been found, some under the floor of the houses and some in their vicinity. A few years after burial, the skull of the deceased was unearthed: Three skulls, without their lower jaw-bone, have been found, separated from their skeletons. The skulls were plastered with clay to fashion a mask, modeling the face, shells were used to figure the eyes and irises; a wig could have been added and the skull emplaced at the center of the village, maybe on a platform to be used for an ancestor cult/skull cult?” ref

Yarmukian culture

“The Yarmukian culture was a Pottery Neolithic A (PNA) culture of the ancient Levant. It was the first culture in prehistoric Israel and one of the oldest in the Levant to make use of pottery. The Yarmukian derives its name from the Yarmuk River, which flows near its type site of Sha’ar HaGolan, near Kibbutz Sha’ar HaGolan at the foot of the Golan Heights. This culture existed alongside the Lodian, or Jericho IX culture, and the Nizzanim culture to the south. Findings from the Yarmukian, Late Chalcolithic, and the Middle Bronze Age IIA–IIB. Somewhat surprising was the discovery of a typical Yarmukian-style fired clay figurine of a fertility goddess, the southernmost such finding. Of 163 found up to that date, the vast majority had been discovered in the main area known for its Yarmukian settlements, in and around the northern type-site of Sha’ar Hagolan, with just two exceptions further to the south.” ref

“This new finding led to speculations that much of the Southern Levant might have been inhabited by a contiguous civilization during the time (c. 6400–6000 BCE), with differences in pottery types being more significant to today’s archaeologists than to people living back then. Although the Yarmukian culture occupied limited regions of northern Israel and northern Jordan, Yarmukian pottery has been found elsewhere in the region, including the Habashan Street excavations in Tel Aviv and as far north as Byblos, Lebanon. Besides the site at Sha’ar HaGolan, 20 other Yarmukian sites have been identified in Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, and Lebanon.” ref

Nizzanim culture

“The Nizzanim culture is a suggested archaeological culture from the Pottery Neolithic of the Southern Levant. It was identified in three sites spread over a small area on the southern coastal plain of modern Israel, including the type site of Nizzanim, Giv’at Haparsa, and Ziqim. The sites were studied by Ya’akov Olami, Felix Burian, Erich Friedman, Shmuel Yeivin, and Yosef Garfinkel. In those sites, there were no architectural remains but pits and floor levels with hearths. These findings seem to represent a pastoral–nomadic population, similar to the precedeeing population of Pre-Pottery Neolithic Ashkelon and the Qatifian culture. Garfinkel suggests that these settlement served as seasonal hunting or fishing campsites. The type-site is named after the nearby Kibbutz Nitzanim, built in an area of coastal dunes. Kibbutz Zikim is further down the coast from Nitzanim. Giv’at Haparsa is a site right next to the beach, between Yavne-Yam and Ashdod. The different spelling between the names of modern towns and the corresponding archaeological sites is a common occurrence in Israeli archaeology.” ref

“While Garfinkel suggests that the Nizzanim culture coexisted with the Yarmukian and Lodian cultures, Avi Gopher and Ram Gophna reject the sites as a distinct culture and consider their artifacts to represent a variant of the Lodian culture. The dating of the Nizzanim culture is unclear mainly because no stratigraphic relations with different periods have been observed. In Garfinkel’s opinion, it was contemporary with the Yarmukian and Lodian cultures. Only one proper radiocarbon date from the sites is available (5767–5541 BCE), but dates one of the sites to the time of the Wadi Raba culture (post-dating the Yarmukian and Lodian). This date contradicts the archaeological findings, and most archaeologists agree that they represent the Pottery Neolithic (c. 6400 – 5800 BCE). The pottery of the Nizzanim culture is characterized by simple and rough designs with very little decorations. This type of pottery is considered very simple in comparison to other Neolithic pottery assemblages, including those of the nearby Yarmukian and Lodian cultures. The flint tool types are similar to the types of the preceding Pre-Pottery Neolithic tools, with a large number of arrowheads, sickle blades, and hole punchers, while hand axes are relatively scarce.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Gobekli Tepe: First Temple, Early Paganism Themes, Sky Burial, Skull Cult, T-pillar Site Similarities, Obsidian Trade, Agriculture Revolution, and Megalith Cultures

Gobekli Tepe is more like Shamanistic early Paganism, Not Adam, Eve, and Cain or Bible anything!

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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The number of settlements contemporaneous with Gobekli Tepe Layer II (assigned to Pre-Pottery Neolithic B: 10,800 – 8,500 years ago) increased amongst the Neolithic settlements in the Urfa region and become widespread all around the region.

1. Gobekli Tepe, 2. Nevali Cori, 3. Tasli Tepe, 4. Kurt Tepesi, 5. Sefer Tepe, 6. Karahan Tepe, 7. Harbetsuvan Tepesi, 8. Hamzan Tepe, 9. Urfa, 10. Ayanlar Hoyuk/Gaziantep, 11. Kilisik, 12. Tell Abr 3, 13. Boncuklu Tarla, 14. Gusir Hoyuk, 15. Nemrik 9, 16. Qermez Dere, 17. Hasankeyf, 18. Cayonu, 19. Hallan Cemi, 20. Demirci, 21. Kortik Tepe, 22. Mureybet, 23. Cheik Hassan, 24. Jerf el Ahmar, 25. Dja’de, 26. Tell Abr, 27. Akarcay, and 28. Tell Qarmel

Göbekli Tepe is not alone, in fact, it is part of a religious/cultural connected ritual culture in the general region. There are several other similar sites with similar T-pillars to Göbekli Tepe or other types of stone pillar providing a seeming connected cult belief or religious culture of pillars seen in the PPNA-PPNB in the northern portion of the Near East.

“The locations of the sites that contain “T” shaped pillars are the main topic that needs more understanding to grasp the larger sociocultural-religious cultural complex in the same general region. Another matter under discussion is to comprehend the differences between the small-scale settlements that contain cult centers and “T” shaped pillars and the larger ones found at Gobekli Tepe layer III. The fact that settlements with “T” shaped pillars contain both the remains of circular domestic buildings and the pil­lars such as seen at Cayonu and Nevali Cori, which are also known to contain cult and domestic buildings. It is contemplated that such settlements are contemporary with Gobekli Tepe layer II and the cult building known from Nevali Cori based on the similarities and differences of the “T” shaped pillars. In the light of the finds unearthed from the settlements in Şanliurfa region that conta­in “T” shaped pillars, such settlements should be dated to the end of Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (LPPNA) and the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (EPPNB).” ref

Göbekli Tepe 12,000 years old T-shaped Pillars are not Alone (not Ancient Aliens)

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art 

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Masked Head Hunters of “Karahan Tepe” 11,400-year-old monumental site from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A to B

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art 

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Pre-Pottery Neolithic Skull Cult around 11,500 to 8,400 Years Ago?

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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BEHEADED ANCESTORS. OF SKULLS AND STATUES IN PRE-POTTERY

Pre-pottery Neolithic “Skull Cult/Ancestor Cult” Sites in the Levant and Predominant in Israel

Info on the listed sites:

*Abu Gosh: Link, Link, Link

*Ain Ghazal: Link, Link

*Basta: Link, Link

*Beidha: Link, Link

*Beisamoun: Link

*El-Hemmeh: Link, Link

*El-Wad: Link

*Erq el-Ahmar: Link, Link

*Es-Sifiye: Link, Link

*Ghwair: Link, Link, Link, Link

*Hatula: Link

*Hayonim Cave: Link, Link

*Iraq ed-Dubb: Link, Link

*Jericho: Link, Link, Link

*Kfar Hahoresh: Link

*Khirbet Hammam: Link, Link, Link

*Mallaha: Link

*Munhata: Link

*Nahal Hemar: Link, Link, Link

*Nahal Oren: Link, Link

*Netiv Hagdud: Link, Link

*Shuqbah: Link, Link

*Tell Aswad: Link

*Tell Qarassa: Link, Link

*Tell Ramad: Link

*Wadi Hammeh: Link, Link

*Wadi Shu’eib: Link, Link, Link

*Yiftahel: Link, Link

*Zahrat adh-Dhra: Link, Link

“In the Levant, plastered and remodeled skulls have been found in several PPNB sites, such as Jericho, Tell Ramad, Beisamoun, Kfar Hahoresh, Tell-Aswad, ‘Ain Ghazal, and Nahal Hemar and are thus considered part of a mortuary practice typical of the PPNB. This practice seems to have continued in Anatolia, as plastered skulls have been found at Köşk Höyük [ref]–[ref] and Çatal Hüyük [ref] in much later PN contexts. It is still unclear how the central Anatolian plastered skulls relate to those of the Levant, when there are none of such plastered skulls in Anatolia during the PPNB, and none in the Levant during the PN.” ref

“In the Levant, planned burial customs, performed for ritualistic purposes, date as far back as the Middle Paleolithic [ref]. Skull-related funerary practices began during the late and the final Natufian of the southern Levant (12,500–11,800 tears ago), as evidenced in the Hayonim Cave and Eynan sites, where skulls were detached from the rest of the skeleton [ref]. In PPNA Jericho, group burials of isolated unadorned skulls (nested skulls), organized in various configurations, have been found. The same phenomenon was reported in the EPPNB site of Motza [ref]. During the Mid-late PPNB, mortuary customs developed, involving the artificial remodeling of skulls, evidence of which has been found across the Near East. Skulls covered by plaster masks have been located in Jericho, Beisamoun [ref], ‘Ain Ghazal [ref], [ref], Kfar Hahoresh [ref], Tell Ramad [ref]–[ref], and Tell Aswad [ref]. Three plastered facial masks, without the human skulls, were found buried together in a pit at ‘Ain Ghazal [ref]. At Nahal Hemar, three skulls ornamented with asphalt motifs and one burned skull were found [ref], [ref].” ref

“In Ujrat el Mehed (southern Sinai), adult skulls were removed from the post-cranial skeleton, similarly to other Neolithic Levantine sites [ref]. Other special remains include a skull painted with red ochre from Tell Abu Hureyra [ref], a skull decorated with red and black substances from ‘Ain Ghazal [ref] and painted stone masks from Nahal Hemar [ref]and the area of Er-Ram (exact provenance unknown) [ref]. Thus, the three plastered skulls uncovered at Yiftahel join a growing record of artificially treated skulls from the Levantine PPNB. Most of the plastered skulls found to date belong to adult individuals, and both sexes are represented. For our case, it is important to note that the PPNB is characterized by the shift from hunter-gatherer groups to agricultural societies. This process took place on many different levels, e.g., demographic, societal, religious, economic and epidemiological levels [ref]–[ref].” ref

“It is difficult to draw interpretation from these finds but clearly show the first appearance and gradual affirmation of skulls separation, with special reference to individuals and preserving individual identities. Evidence has shown how facial recognition is a major issue for establishing any kind of personal and social relationships. The memory of dead persons and, furthermore, materializing their identities by means of their skulls was the first step to give them an “after death” life (afterlife ancestor worship) to be oriented towards the ideological needs of the new agricultural society.” ref

“The planners and builders of Gobeklitepe still remain a big mystery, and no one has been able to crack the code so far. It is also surmised that Gobeklitepe’s main function was primarily ritual burials, and in some lesser capacity big feasts and social gatherings. In human terms it is roughly estimated that a minimum of 500 bodies might pull it off.Archaeologists believe that the tail end of Hunter- Gatherer societies were organized in a shamanic way, suggesting that some individuals among them were more developed, a solid system and a sound hierarchy and as such became religious leaders, who presided over – and organized – their clans and societies seemingly a level of priest/priestess-hood, as seen in paganism.” ref

“Skull cult can take on different forms, that is, with skull modifications frequently underlying very specific cultural codes. In the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN; 9600–7000 calBC) of Southeast Anatolia and the Levant, there is an abundance of archaeological evidence for the special status assigned to the human skull: In addition to the deposition of skulls in special places, as attested by the “skull depot” at Tell Qaramel or the “skull building” at Çayönü, human skulls are also known to have been decorated, for example, where the soft tissue and facial features have been remodeled in plaster and/or color was applied to the bone.” ref

“A hitherto unknown type of skull modification has recently been observed at Göbekli Tepe in Southeast Anatolia. And although human burials are still absent from Göbekli Tepe, a considerable number of fragmented human bones (n = 691) have been recovered. Notably, most of the human bone fragments (n = 408) stem from the skull, whereas postcranial fragments are less frequent (n = 283). Although these statistics could reflect taphonomic processes at work, a positive selection of skull material could be indicated. A total of 40 skull fragments (9.8%) carry cut marks from defleshing activities; additional signs of skeletal processing (decapitation) are represented by cut marks on two (of just seven) cervical vertebrae so far discovered at the site.” ref

Wadi Raba Culture

“The Wadi Raba culture or Wadi Rabah culture is a Pottery Neolithic archaeological culture of the Southern Levant, dating to the middle of the 5th millennium BCE. This period was first identified at the ancient site of Jericho (Tell es-Sultan) by British archaeologists John Garstang and Kathleen Kenyon in separate excavations. Kenyon has named this period in Jericho “Pottery Neolithic B”. The name “Wadi Rabah” was since used in archaeologic literature thanks to the works of Israeli archaeologist Jacob Kaplan in the site of Wadi Rabah. This culture is known from a small number of sites, in some of which remains of small rectangular structures were discovered. Some larger structures were found in Munhata, Wadi Rabah, and Ein el-Jarba, though Israeli archaeologist Yosef Garfinkel suggests that large courtyard structures were erected in that period, like the ones found at Sha’ar HaGolan of the preceding Yarmukian culture (c. 6400–6000 BCE) and Tel Tsaf of the following Early/Middle Chalcolithic period (c. 5300–4500 BCE).” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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The artifact second from the bottom right (Ritual Wand: Tree of Life goddess): “Bone figurine from Neveh Yam”

Neve Yam

“Neve Yam (Hebrew: נְוֵה יָם‎, lit. Sea Oasis) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located around twenty kilometers south of Haifa.” ref

Tree of Life Goddess

“This 7,500 year-old goddess figurine from Neve Yam is among the world’s earliest evidence for established religion, the origins of which date back to the agricultural revolution, around 10,000 years ago. It is similar to contemporaneous figurines, especially the one discovered at Hagosherim, some 100 km away. The striking resemblance between the two objects indicates that the cult of the goddess was widespread by this time. In later periods, the combination of a plant motif (the Tree of Life) with the image of a woman (the goddess) became a common image throughout the Ancient Near East, where it represented the goddess Asherah. Figurine of a goddess decorated with palm fronds or stalks of grain. Neve Yam, Wadi Rabah culture, Late Neolithic Period, 7,500 years ago, incised bone is from the Collection of Israel Antiquities Authority.” ref

Symbolic artifacts from the submerged Neolithic village of Neve-Yam and contemporaneous Israeli sites as fossil directeur for the Wadi Rabah culture.

ABSTRACT: Four symbolic artifacts were recovered from the Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic (Wadi Rabah culture) site of Neveh Yam, dated to the sixth–fifth millennia BCE. These comprise two anthropomorphic figurines made of stone, one anthropomorphic image incised on bone, and a sherd with zoomorphic incisions. These artifacts are described and discussed with reference to similar objects found in additional Late Neolithic/Early Chalcolithic sites in the southern Levant and later sites in Mesopotamia, the Aegean, and the Iberian Peninsula. It is proposed that the bone figurines from Neveh Yam, ªEn ¥ippori and Ha-Gosherim could represent a symbolic marker for the Wadi Rabah culture and contemporary cultures in the southern Levant.” ref

Excavations at the Submerged Neolithic site of Atlit Yam, off the Carmel Coast of Israel

“Underwater archaeology in Israel began in 1960 and, already then, traces of submerged settlements were discovered. The first research took place in 1969, when the Neve-Yam site was exposed by a winter storm. Subsequently, during the early 1980s, a research project aimed at locating, excavating, salvage, and research of submerged prehistoric settlements. Six decades of research has revealed 17 submerged prehistoric sites, containing substantial and well-preserved finds that enlighten the culture and subsistence of the prehistoric coastal populations of the region. Among them are thirteen Neolithic sites, belonging to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic C period, represented at the site of Atlit-Yam, and twelve Pottery Neolithic sites dated to between 8000 and 6500 cal. BP. Most of the PN sites (Kfar-Samir; Hishuley Carmel; Kfar-Galim; Nahal Galim; Hahoterim; Tel-Hreiz; Megadim; Atlit north bay; Neve-Yam and Habonim) are attributed to the Wadi Rabah culture, considered as late Pottery Neolithic or early Chalcolithic, while the Neve-Yam North site belongs to the Lodian culture, which predates the Wadi Rabah culture. The Pottery Neolithic sites are located close to the present shore (1–200 m offshore) at depths of 0–5 m, while the older Atlit-Yam site is located further offshore (200–400 m) and in deeper water (8–12 m below sea level).” ref

The archaeology and paleoenvironment of the submerged Pottery Neolithic settlement of Kfar Samir (Israel).

Abstract: “This article focuses on a recently excavated stone and wood-built water well (Well no.13) from the submerged Pottery Neolithic site (Wadi Rabah culture) of Kfar Samir on the Carmel coast, Israel. This feature is considered within the context of previous research on the site and other submerged sites in the same area, incorporating new data on botanical remains and radiometric dates from Kfar Samir. Taken together, the new and previous investigations of the site shed light on the lifestyle of Pottery Neolithic coastal populations in the Southern Levant, especially those relating to the management of water resources, olive oil production, and the evolution of Mediterranean foodways. This research further informs us on the palaeoenvironment of the Carmel coast and sea-level changes.” 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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9,000-7,000 years-old Sex and Death Rituals: Cult Sites in Israel, Jordan, and the Sinai

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Discussing Ancient North Eurasians migrations: genetics, religion, and rape; (rape 25,000 years ago?) from a lingering patriarchal past, can we find a humanistic secular feminist future?

Groups partially derived from the Ancient North Eurasians

The Mytheme of Ancient North Eurasian Sacred-Dog belief and similar motifs are found in Indo-European, Native American, and Siberian comparative mythology

My Thoughts on the Mal’ta–Buret’ culture‘s  Ancient North Eurasian “R” (Y-DNA) Migrations and its Possible relations/influence on Afroasiatic and Proto-Indo-European languages

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Bridging the Boreal Forest: Siberian Archaeology and the Emergence of Pottery among Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers of Northern Eurasia

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Roots of a changing early society 7,200-6,700 years ago Jordan and Israel

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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6,500–5,800 years ago Late Copper Age Container-Graves in a cave from Northern Israel suggests Migrations from Turkey and Iran, followed by Cultural and Religious Transfer in the Area

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Proto-Semitic dates to ca. 4500–3500 BCE or around 6,500 to 5,500 years ago.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Maykop (5,720–5,020 years ago) Caucasus region Bronze Age culture-related to Copper Age farmers from the south, influenced by the Ubaid period and Leyla-Tepe culture, as well as influencing the Kura-Araxes culture

Kura-Araxes Cultural 5,520 to 4,470 years old DNA traces to the Canaanites, Arabs, and Jews

Two Anarchists: Cory Johnston and Damien Marie AtHope, address the Israel and Palestine conflict

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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The lunar-crescent-shaped monument is massive at about 14,000 cubic meters (500,000 cubic feet) and has a length of about 150 meters (492 feet), 3050 to 2650 BCE, or around 5,050 to 4,650 years ago. 

The 4,500-year-old chalk earthworks monument at Durrington Walls, the super-henge is the largest henge in Britain, has a row of megaliths, with  90 standing stones, some 15 feet tall, is less than 2 miles from Stonehenge.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.

• By day the “Bible God” was in a cloud pillar.
• By night the “Bible God” was in a fire pillar.

Did a 4,520–4,420-year-old Volcano In Turkey Inspire the Bible God?

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Kurgans 7,000/6,000 years ago/Dolmens 7,000/6,000 years ago: funeral, ritual, and other?

4,000-year-Old Dolmens in Israel: A Connected Dolmen Religious Phenomenon?

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Was the Bull Head a Symbol of God? Yes!

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

People don’t commonly teach religious history, even that of their own claimed religion. No, rather they teach a limited “pro their religion” history of their religion from a religious perspective favorable to the religion of choice. 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Do you truly think “Religious Belief” is only a matter of some personal choice?

Do you not see how coercive one’s world of choice is limited to the obvious hereditary belief, in most religious choices available to the child of religious parents or caregivers? Religion is more commonly like a family, culture, society, etc. available belief that limits the belief choices of the child and that is when “Religious Belief” is not only a matter of some personal choice and when it becomes hereditary faith, not because of the quality of its alleged facts or proposed truths but because everyone else important to the child believes similarly so they do as well simply mimicking authority beliefs handed to them. Because children are raised in religion rather than being presented all possible choices but rather one limited dogmatic brand of “Religious Belief” where children only have a choice of following the belief as instructed, and then personally claim the faith hereditary belief seen in the confirming to the belief they have held themselves all their lives. This is obvious in statements asked and answered by children claiming a faith they barely understand but they do understand that their family believes “this or that” faith, so they feel obligated to believe it too. While I do agree that “Religious Belief” should only be a matter of some personal choice, it rarely is… End Hereditary Religion!

Opposition to Imposed Hereditary Religion

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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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

We are like believing machines we vacuum up ideas, like Velcro sticks to almost everything. We accumulate beliefs that we allow to negatively influence our lives, often without realizing it. Our willingness must be to alter skewed beliefs that impend our balance or reason, which allows us to achieve new positive thinking and accurate outcomes.

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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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

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“These ideas are my speculations from the evidence.”

I am still researching the “god‘s origins” all over the world. So you know, it is very complicated but I am smart and willing to look, DEEP, if necessary, which going very deep does seem to be needed here, when trying to actually understand the evolution of gods and goddesses. I am sure of a few things and less sure of others, but even in stuff I am not fully grasping I still am slowly figuring it out, to explain it to others. But as I research more I am understanding things a little better, though I am still working on understanding it all or something close and thus always figuring out more. 

Sky Father/Sky God?

“Egyptian: (Nut) Sky Mother and (Geb) Earth Father” (Egypt is different but similar)

Turkic/Mongolic: (Tengri/Tenger Etseg) Sky Father and (Eje/Gazar Eej) Earth Mother *Transeurasian*

Hawaiian: (Wākea) Sky Father and (Papahānaumoku) Earth Mother *Austronesian*

New Zealand/ Māori: (Ranginui) Sky Father and (Papatūānuku) Earth Mother *Austronesian*

Proto-Indo-European: (Dyḗus/Dyḗus ph₂tḗr) Sky Father and (Dʰéǵʰōm/Pleth₂wih₁) Earth Mother

Indo-Aryan: (Dyaus Pita) Sky Father and (Prithvi Mata) Earth Mother *Indo-European*

Italic: (Jupiter) Sky Father and (Juno) Sky Mother *Indo-European*

Etruscan: (Tinia) Sky Father and (Uni) Sky Mother *Tyrsenian/Italy Pre–Indo-European*

Hellenic/Greek: (Zeus) Sky Father and (Hera) Sky Mother who started as an “Earth Goddess” *Indo-European*

Nordic: (Dagr) Sky Father and (Nótt) Sky Mother *Indo-European*

Slavic: (Perun) Sky Father and (Mokosh) Earth Mother *Indo-European*

Illyrian: (Deipaturos) Sky Father and (Messapic Damatura’s “earth-mother” maybe) Earth Mother *Indo-European*

Albanian: (Zojz) Sky Father and (?) *Indo-European*

Baltic: (Perkūnas) Sky Father and (Saulė) Sky Mother *Indo-European*

Germanic: (Týr) Sky Father and (?) *Indo-European*

Colombian-Muisca: (Bochica) Sky Father and (Huythaca) Sky Mother *Chibchan*

Aztec: (Quetzalcoatl) Sky Father and (Xochiquetzal) Sky Mother *Uto-Aztecan*

Incan: (Viracocha) Sky Father and (Mama Runtucaya) Sky Mother *Quechuan*

China: (Tian/Shangdi) Sky Father and (Dì) Earth Mother *Sino-Tibetan*

Sumerian, Assyrian and Babylonian: (An/Anu) Sky Father and (Ki) Earth Mother

Finnish: (Ukko) Sky Father and (Akka) Earth Mother *Finno-Ugric*

Sami: (Horagalles) Sky Father and (Ravdna) Earth Mother *Finno-Ugric*

Puebloan-Zuni: (Ápoyan Ta’chu) Sky Father and (Áwitelin Tsíta) Earth Mother

Puebloan-Hopi: (Tawa) Sky Father and (Kokyangwuti/Spider Woman/Grandmother) Earth Mother *Uto-Aztecan*

Puebloan-Navajo: (Tsohanoai) Sky Father and (Estsanatlehi) Earth Mother *Na-Dene*

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Sky Father/Sky Mother “High Gods” or similar gods/goddesses of the sky more loosely connected, seeming arcane mythology across the earth seen in Siberia, China, Europe, Native Americans/First Nations People and Mesopotamia, etc.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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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

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