ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
“Hunting Cult” (Cosmic Hunt) becomes “Herding Cult” Paganism
“Herding societies are nearly always that of a true hierarchical chiefdom rather than of an egalitarian society. Horticulture mixed with the domestication of animals seems to have predominated until even the least cultivable zones were filled. Sometimes, a complete symbiosis between a tribe/clan of herders and an adjacent tribe/clan of horticulturalists occurs to the point that they resemble a single society composed of two specialized castes, the herders occupying the superior position. Fully committed pastoralists manifest a considerable degree of cultural uniformity in economics, social organization, political order, and even in religion. Full pastoralism, with its powerful equestrian warriors, seems to have developed around 1500 to 1000 BCE, or around 3,500 to 3,000 years ago, in Inner Asia. Herders are likely to raid settled villages and frequently raid other herders as well.” ref
“To the extent that pastoral nomadic societies achieve wealth and success in herding and in war, they tend to solidify and extend their chiefdom structure. They also add to their religious organization a hierarchical principle, together with the content known as ancestor worship. Much of the mythology by which a primitive people explains itself and its customs comes in this way to have an ingredient familiar to readers of the Old Testament. Sometimes the significance of herding leads not only to the glorification of herds and herding, but even to a religious taboo against planting. Taboos, such as a belief that plowing and planting may defile the earth spirit. Or herders, in time of need, may engage in horticulture, but it is considered degrading to toil in farming, whereas herding is a very prideful occupation.” ref
Cult, herding, and ‘pilgrimage’
1. Körtiktepe (12,000 years ago) link & link
2. Göbekli Tepe (11,500 years ago) link
3. Balıklıgöl statue “Urfa man” (11,000 years ago) link
4. Karahan Tepe (11,000 years ago) link
5. Sayburç (11,000 years ago) link
6. Nevalı Çori (10,400) link & link
7. Tell Fekheriye (11,000 years ago) link
Ganj Dareh link
Goat, Sheep, and Cattle Domestication link & link
Cosmic Hunt link
Master of Animals link
“The Heavenly Shepherd” or “Gigant Great Hunter”
“Depictions of the consistently phallic Egyptian god, Min, show the deity in a standing position in a stance that closely follows the Orion constellation. In Egyptian mythology, the god Min, associated with fertility, harvest, and male virility, was linked to the constellation Orion. Depictions of Min, often with an erect phallus, visually resemble the Orion constellation, particularly the alignment of stars in Orion’s belt.” ref, ref
“In ancient Egypt, the stars of Orion were regarded as a god, called Sah, representing a constellation that encompassed the stars in Orion and Lepus, as well as stars found in some neighboring modern constellations.” ref, ref
“The Babylonian star constellations of the Late Bronze Age named Orion meant, “The Heavenly Shepherd” or “True Shepherd of Anu,” Anu being the chief god of the heavenly realms. The True Shepherd of Anu (i.e., Orion) … is a human figure, clothed, bearded, and the Twins (i.e., Gemini), who stand in front of the True Shepherd of Anu…, are two human figures, clothed. The celestial body that stands below the True Shepherd of Anu is the Rooster (Lepus). Orion served several roles in ancient Greek culture. The story of the adventures of Orion, the hunter, is the one for which there is the most evidence (and even for that, not very much); he is also the personification of the constellation of the same name; he was venerated as a hero, in the Greek sense. The Seri people of northwestern Mexico call the three stars in the belt of Orion Hapj (a name denoting a hunter), which consists of three stars, and in China, Orion is related to Sieu, which, literally meaning “three,” refers to the stars of Orion’s Belt. In Siberia, the Chukchi people see Orion as a hunter, and in old Hungarian tradition, Orion is called Nimrod (Hungarian: Nimród), the greatest hunter, father of the twins Hunor and Magor.” ref, ref
“In Greek mythology, Orion is a hunter, with hunting dogs (Canis Major and Minor) that mirror the Wild Hunt’s entourage. And whenever Scorpius appears, Orion hides away, for the two are never to be seen together. The Wild Hunt is a folklore motif occurring across various northern, western, and eastern European societies. The Wild Hunt typically involves a chase led by a mythological figure, escorted by ghostly or supernatural hunters engaged in pursuit.” ref
Nabta Playa, God “Sah or Sahu” and Orion/Lepus Constellation?
Could Nabta Playa’s 8 stones, placed in a line in the circle and 2 by themselves also in the circle, relate to this picture of Sah, or Sahu, translating to the “Hidden One,” which corresponds to the modern constellation known as Lepus? ref, ref
Nabta Playa
“Although today the western Egyptian desert is totally dry, this was not always the case. There is good evidence that there were several humid periods in the past (when up to 500 mm of rain would fall per year). During this time, the area was a savanna and supported numerous animals such as extinct buffalo and large giraffes, varieties of antelope, and gazelle. Beginning around the 10th millennium BCE, this region of the Nubian Desert began to receive more rainfall, filling a lake. Early people may have been attracted to the region due to the source of water. Astrophysicist Thomas G. Brophy suggests the hypothesis that the southerly line of three stones inside the Calendar Circle represented the three stars of Orion’s Belt, and the other three stones inside the calendar circle represented the shoulders and head stars of Orion as they appeared in the sky.” ref
“These correspondences were for two dates – circa 4800 BCE and at precessional opposition – representing how the sky “moves” long term. Brophy proposes that the circle was constructed and used circa the later date, and the dual date representation was a conceptual representation of the motion of the sky over a precession cycle. Near the Calendar Circle, which is made of smaller stones, there are alignments of large megalithic stones. The southerly lines of these megaliths, Brophy argues, aligned to the same stars as represented in the Calendar Circle, all at the same epoch, circa 6270 BC. Brophy argues that the Calendar Circle correlation with Orion’s belt occurred between 6400 BC and 4900 BC, matching radio-carbon dates of some campfires in the area.” ref
“Archaeological findings indicate the presence of small seasonal camps in the region dating to the 9th–8th millennia BCE. Fred Wendorf, the site’s discoverer, and ethno-linguist Christopher Ehret have suggested that the people who occupied this region at that time may have been early pastoralists, or, like the Saami, practiced semi-pastoralism. This is disputed by other sources, as the cattle remains found at Nabta have been shown to be morphologically wild in several studies, and hunter-gatherers at the nearby Saharan site of Uan Afada in Libya were penning wild Barbary sheep, an animal that was never domesticated. According to Michael Brass (2018), early cattle remains from Nabta Playa were wild hunted aurochs, whilst domesticated cattle were introduced to northeast Africa in the late 7th millennium BCE, originating from cattle domesticated in the Euphrates valley.” ref
“Larger settlements began to appear at Nabta Playa by the 7th millennium BCE, relying on deep wells for sources of water. Small huts were constructed in straight rows. Sustenance included wild plants, such as legumes, millets, sorghum, tubers, and fruit. Around 6800 BCE, they began to make pottery locally. In the late 7th millennium BCE goats and sheep, apparently imported from Western Asia, appear. Many large hearths also appear. Early pottery from the Nabta Playa-Bir Kiseiba area has characteristics, unlike pottery from surrounding regions. This is followed by pottery with characteristics found only in the Western Desert. Later pottery from c. 5500 BCE (Al Jerar phase) has similarities with pottery from the Sudanese region. Pottery decorations included complex patterns of impressions applied with a comb in a rocking motion.” ref
“By the 6th millennium BCE, evidence of a prehistoric religion or cult appears. From 5500 BCE, the Late Neolithic period began, with “a new group that had a complex social system expressed in a degree of organisation and control not previously seen.” These new people were responsible for sacrificial cattle burials in clay-lined and roofed chambers covered by rough stone tumuli. It has been suggested that the associated cattle cult indicated in Nabta Playa marks an early evolution of Ancient Egypt‘s Hathor cult. For example, Hathor was worshipped as a nighttime protector in desert regions (see Serabit el-Khadim). To directly quote professors Wendorf and Schild: … there are many aspects of political and ceremonial life in prehistoric Egypt and the Old Kingdom that reflect a strong impact from Saharan cattle pastoralists … Rough megalithic stone structures buried underground are also found in Nabta Playa, one of which included evidence of what Wendorf described as perhaps “the oldest known sculpture in Egypt.” ref
“In the 5th millennium BCE, these peoples fashioned what may be among the world’s earliest known archeoastronomical devices (roughly contemporary to the Goseck circle in Germany and the Mnajdra megalithic temple complex in Malta). These include alignments of stones that may have indicated the rising of certain stars and a “calendar circle” that indicates the approximate direction of summer solstice sunrise. “Calendar circle” may be a misnomer as the spaces between the pairs of stones in the gates are a bit too wide, and the distances between the gates are too short for accurate calendar measurements.” An inventory of Egyptian archaeoastronomical sites for the UNESCO World Heritage Convention evaluated Nabta Playa as having “hypothetical solar and stellar alignments.” ref
“The ancient Egyptians considered Sah one of their most important constellations, especially as it rose directly before the adjacent star Sirius. Over time, Sopdet and Sah came to be seen as manifestations of Osiris and Isis in Egyptian mythology. In ancient Egyptian religion, the “sahu” was the incorruptible soul, but the god Sahu (or Sah – “the hidden one”) was also the personification of the constellation Orion. His consort Sopdet (or Sothis), represented the star Sirius (the “dog star”), and his son, Sopdu, represented Venus.” ref, ref
“According to ancient Egyptian myths, Sahu (Orion) was swallowed by the underworld at dawn, but arose again every night. Clearly, he was a stellar, not a solar god. Sahu was associated with the god Osiris because every year, Sopdet (Sirius) appeared again after a seventy-day absence just before the inundation, which was associated with the resurrection of Osiris. This association was strengthened by the association of Sopdet with the goddess Isis, the wife of Osiris. However, the Pyramid texts suggest that Sahu was the father of the gods (including Osiris), yet they state that his wife, Sopdet, was the daughter of Osiris.” ref
“In Heliopolitan theology, Atum created the first couple of the Ennead, Shu, and Tefnut, by masturbating or by spitting. Shu was the father of Nut and Geb and grandfather of Osiris, Isis, Set, and Nephthys. His great-grandsons are Horus and Anubis.” ref
I think emerging herding paganism was male-focused at the beginning, around 12,000/13,000 years ago, it was a shift from the older, more female shaman-focused tradition that had been the norm from 25,000 to 12,000 years ago, respectively, from Central Europe to the Middle East. After 12,000 years, the process in northern Mesopotamia of shamanism evolving into or emerging to become herding paganism with its Master of Animals. I believe it had at least three animals as deities: the bird, the bull, and the snake, and at least two deities in anthropomorphic form as the sky father/sun/day sky and the sky mother/moon/night sky.
“Atahensic, also known as Sky Woman (Sky Mother), is an Iroquois sky goddess. Atahensic is associated with marriage, childbirth, and feminine affairs in general. Atahensic is the Sky Woman (or Tekawerahkwa, the Earth Woman in some versions of some myths). In others, Atahensic, the Sky Woman, had a daughter named Tekawerahkwa (or Earth Woman). As Tekawerahkwa Earth Woman died by childbirth, either she wished for her body to sustain the people, or Atahensic sowed on her grave the agricultural seeds she had brought when she fell to Earth, but never planted before. Out of Tekawerahkwa’s remains grew various plants: the sister spirits of the corn, beans, and squash came from her breasts, hands, and navel, respectively; sunflowers from her legs; strawberries from her heart; tobacco from her head; and purple potatoes or sunchokes from her feet.” ref, ref
I think that it was in Central Turkey, at sites like Çatal Höyük, between 8,500 and 8,000 years ago, that an early Earth mother goddess emerged, seemingly related to the domestication of wheat at Çatal Höyük.
“Ancient DNA from 8400-Year-Old Çatalhöyük Wheat: Implications for the Origin of Neolithic Agriculture. Although the Fertile Crescent is renowned as the center of wheat domestication, archaeological studies have shown the crucial involvement of Çatalhöyük in this process. 8400 years old Çatalhöyük wheat stock contained hexaploid wheat, which is similar to contemporary hexaploid wheat species, including both naked (T. aestivum) and hulled (T. spelta) wheat. This suggests an early transitory state of hexaploid wheat agriculture from the Fertile Crescent towards Europe, spanning present-day Turkey.” ref
“The 8,000-year-old Seated Woman of Çatal Höyük (Earth Mother/Earth Woman/Mistress of Animals) is a baked-clay nude female form seated between feline-headed arm-rests. Although a male deity existed as well, “statues of a female deity far outnumber those of the male deity, who moreover, does not appear to be represented at all after Level VI”. To date, eighteen levels have been identified. These figurines were found primarily in areas Mellaart believed to be shrines. The stately goddess seated on a throne flanked by two lionesses was found in a grain bin, which Mellaart suggests might have been a means of ensuring the harvest or protecting the food supply.” ref, ref, ref
“The Master of Animals, Lord of Animals, at least 12,000/11,000 years old, or Mistress of the Animals, at 8,000 years ago, is a motif in ancient art showing a human between and grasping two confronted animals. The motif is very widespread in the art of Mesopotamia.” ref
“A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, and/or the life-giving bounties thereof in a maternal relation with humanity or other gods. When equated in this lattermost function with the earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as the Mother Earth or Earth Mother, a deity in various animistic or pantheistic religions. The earth goddess is archetypally the wife or feminine counterpart of the Sky Father or Father Heaven, particularly in theologies derived from the Proto-Indo-European sphere (i.e. from Dheghom and Dyeus). In some polytheistic cultures, such as the Ancient Egyptian religion which narrates the cosmic egg myth, the sky is instead seen as the Heavenly Mother or Sky Mother as in Nut and Hathor, and the earth god is regarded as the male, paternal, and terrestrial partner, as in Osiris or Geb who hatched out of the maternal cosmic egg.” ref
An ancient ‘female-centered’ society thrived 9,000 years ago in the proto-city Çatal Höyük in Turkey
“Genetic analysis of skeletons buried in a Neolithic proto-city in Turkey reveals that female lineages were important in early agricultural societies. Ancient DNA from Stone Age burials in Turkey has finally put to rest a decades-long debate about whether the 9,000-year-old proto-city of Çatalhöyük was a matriarchal society. The research finally confirms what experts have long suspected: Women and girls were key figures in this agricultural society. With Çatalhöyük, researchers now have the oldest genetically inferred social organisation pattern in food-producing societies, first systematic evidence of such a continuously matrilineally organised Neolithic community. A pattern of more burial gifts for female babies was also not something we were expecting. Which turns out to be female-centered, nuclear or extended families had a role in structuring Çatalhöyük households, which were based primarily on maternal lineages.” ref
“Matrilineality, at times called matriliny, is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which people identify with their matriline, their mother’s lineage, and which can involve the inheritance of property and titles. A matriline is a line of descent from a female ancestor to a descendant of either gender in which the individuals in all intervening generations are mothers. In a matrilineal descent system, individuals belong to the same descent group as their mothers. This is in contrast to the currently more popular pattern of patrilineal descent from which a family name is usually derived. The matriline of historical nobility was also called their enatic or uterine ancestry, corresponding to the patrilineal or “agnatic” ancestry.” ref
“The 9,000-year-old proto-city of Çatalhöyük was a matriarchal ‘female-centered’ society.” ref, ref
“The following list includes societies that have been identified as matrilineal or matrilocal in ethnographic literature:
Akan, Nso, Bijagós, Imazighen, !Kung San, Ngazidja/Grande Comore, Nubians, Ovambo, Serer, in Africa. ref
Alor, Batek, Billava, Bontoc, Bunt, Nairs, Garo, Iban, Jaintia, Karen, Kerinci, Khasi, Maliku, Minangkabau, Mosuo/Nakhi, Nair, Tai people, Wemale, Chams, Rhade, Amis, Han Taiwanese, in Asia. ref
Bribri, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Gitxsan, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Hopi, Lenape (Delaware), Mohican, Navajo, Seminole, Tlingit, Tsimshian, Western Apache, Akimel Oʼodham (Pima), Muscogee, Tsenacommacah (Powhatan confederacy), Wampanoag, Nipmuc, Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico, Keres people, Zuni, in North America. ref
Huaorani, Jívaro, Guna people, Wayuu, in South America. ref
Danes, Greek, Basques, in Europe. ref
Chamorro, Marshallese, Siraya, in Oceania/Austronesia. ref
Boyowan, Chambri, Fore, Tiwi, Vanatinai, in Australasia. ref
Turtles were eaten in Northern Israel 60,000 years ago and were subsequently consumed 50,000 to 45,000 years ago in Europe by people who had migrated from the Middle East around 55,000 years ago. European DNA and ideas return to Northern Israel, as seen in the Aurignacian culture that emerged around 35,000 years ago. It is then that the Totemistic Turtle shell rock was carved and placed in a ritualized manner. In northwest Jordan, approximately 15,000 to 17,000 years ago, near northern Israel, there were burials associated with turtles. Then, a Turtle burial in Northern Israel dates back 12,000 years. Thus, Turtle “ritual use” starts in Israel and moves to Nevali Cori by 10,500 ? or so when we see a turtle (world turtle: mound of creation/world mountain/Mashu mountain “Shamash (the Sun) between Mashu’s Twin Peaks, Akkadian, 3rd millennium BCE,” which I see as relating back to Olkhon Island’s Twin Peaks, in Lake Baikal, Siberia/ as well as Belukha mountain’s Twin Peaks, the highest mountain in Altai) in seeming story form related to sky woman and her daughter earth woman that is pregnant with the divine twins. Then, 9,000 years ago in Germany and China, and by 7,000 years ago in Africa. Copper use originated in Mesopotamia, specifically in Northern Iraq and Southeastern Turkey, and then spread west, east, and south from there.
It seems that in Israel, at 9,000 to 8,000 years ago, there were at least 7 deities. In Romania and Ukraine, around 8,000 to 7,000 years ago, there were at least two special groups of 9 and 7 deities. It was possibly the 7 with two added, like is the possibility with the proto-Indo-European deity pantheon. Egypt also has a special group of 9.
“Norse cosmology is the account of the universe and its laws by the ancient North Germanic peoples, Níu Heimar, translated by scholars as “Nine Worlds.” “Nine worlds I knew, the nine in the tree, nine worlds, nine wood-witches, that renowned tree of fate below the earth.” Yggdrasil is a tree central to the Norse concept of the cosmos. The tree’s branches extend into various realms, and various creatures dwell on and around it. The gods go to Yggdrasil daily, Axis Mundi of Earth/(Center of the world/World tree/Tree of life/Milky Way/Mound of Creation/World Turtle/sacred Mountain/Step pyramid/Kurgan) between the celestial poles. The branches of Yggdrasil extend far into the heavens, and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations; one to the well Urðarbrunnr in the heavens, one to the spring Hvergelmir, and another to the well Mímisbrunnr. Creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the dragon Níðhöggr, an unnamed eagle, and the stags Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr, and Duraþrór. In Norse mythology, four stags or harts (male red deer) eat among the branches of the world tree Yggdrasill. According to the Poetic Edda, the stags crane their necks upward to chomp at the branches. The morning dew gathers in their horns and forms the rivers of the world.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_cosmology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A1inn,_Dvalinn,_Duneyrr_and_Dura%C3%BEr%C3%B3r
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_mundi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil
I believe that the birth of the Earth Mother, which occurred sometime before 10,000 years ago, from the Sky Woman/Mistress of Animals, took place at Nevalı Çori (8400-8100 BCE or approximately 10,000 years ago), in Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey. This new Earth Mother/Mistress of Animals goddess is later seen at Çatal Höyük (7,100-5,700 BCE or 9,100 to 7,700 years ago), sitting figurines, and to me, the standing figurines are likely related to the sky. Later, after 6/5,000 years ago, even sky deities may be depicted as sitting and sitting in a chair/stool in general, after this time seems to be associated with elites and deities. These ideas seem to spread in the movement ways of Haplogroup E, west to Central Turkey as seen at seen at Çatal Höyük, on next to west Turkey, then Europe/Balkans/Ukraine, as seen at the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture, It moved south to Israel and Egypt/North Africa, as well as Sodi Arabia and the Horn of Africa. These ideas seem to spread East to Iran, then Pakistan/India, as seen in the Indus Valley civilization.
Pre-Pottery Neolithic B remains from the Levant were found to have carried haplogroup E (~14%). Nevalı Çori has E Haplogroup (E1b1b1b2a1) and the late PPNB site of Ba’ja (E1b1b1b2a1) in the Southern Levant.
Growing reliance on animal and plant domestication in the Near East and beyond during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) (the ninth to eighth millennium BC) has often been associated with a “revolutionary” social transformation from mobility toward more sedentary lifestyles. We are able to yield nuanced insights into the process of the Neolithization in the Near East based on a bioarchaeological approach integrating isotopic and archaeogenetic analyses on the bone remains recovered from Nevalı Çori, a site occupied from the early PPNB in Turkey where some of the earliest evidence of animal and plant domestication emerged, and from Ba’ja, a typical late PPNB site in Jordan. In addition, we present the archaeological sequence of Nevalı Çori together with newly generated radiocarbon dates. Our results are based on analyses conducted on 28 human and 29 animal individuals from the site of Nevalı Çori. Results indicate mobility and connection with the contemporaneous surrounding sites during the earlier PPNB prior to an apparent decline in this mobility at a time of growing reliance on domesticates. Genome-wide data from six human individuals from Nevalı Çori and Ba’ja demonstrate a diverse gene pool at Nevalı Çori that supports connectedness within the Fertile Crescent during the earlier phases of Neolithization and evidence of consanguineous union in the PPNB Ba’ja and the Iron Age Nevalı Çori. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2210611120
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2210611120
https://www.eupedia.com/forum/threads/ppnb-mobility-and-migration-across-southeastern-anatolia-and-the-southern-levant.44134/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup_E-M96
Mashu (Axis Mundi) Mountain’s Twin Peaks
Axis Mundi: Center of the world/World tree/Tree of life/Milky Way/Mound of Creation/World Turtle/sacred Mountain/Step pyramid/Kurgan) (world turtle: mound of creation/world mountain/Mashu mountain “Shamash (the Sun) between Mashu’s Twin Peaks, Akkadian, 3rd millennium BCE,” which I see as relating back to Olkhon Island’s Twin Peaks, in Lake Baikal, Siberia/ as well as Belukha mountain’s Twin Peaks, the highest mountain in Altai).
DNA from Lake Baikal, Siberia, 24,000 years ago, was first in the Middle East 22,000 years ago with R1b, in the Middle East 12,300 years ago with R1a, and in the Middle East 10,200 years ago with R2a. And then in the Middle East 7/6,000 years ago with Q1a.
I believe the Axis Mundi was originally a mountain or tree in Siberian Shamanism, in early paganism, approximately 12,000 years ago, before it was transformed into a turtle around 10,000 years ago, after the ideas were transferred from Northern Israel to Southeastern Turkey.
Mashu Mountain’s Twin Peaks in Mesopotamian mythology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashu
Mount Meru’s Twin Peaks are revered by Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists as the center of all physical, metaphysical, and spiritual universes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Meru
Mount Tai’s Twin Peaks in China
Mount Tai is the highest point in Shandong province, China. The tallest peak is the Jade Emperor Peak. Mount Tai is known as the eastern mountain of the Sacred Mountains of China. It is associated with sunrise, birth, and renewal, and is often regarded the foremost of the five. Mount Tai has been a place of worship for at least 3,000 years and served as one of the most important ceremonial centers of China during large portions of this period.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tai
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_mundi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil
https://www.academia.edu/figures/3108052/figure-4-shamash-the-sun-between-mashus-twin-peaks-akkadian
Dualism, “Twin Mounds,” and Reincarnation are related to flood myths.
The world started as a water-only world (thought of as a time of chaos/dragon). Then the mound of creation/world turtle/mountain is involved in the first land, the land dries and grows into all the land on earth. The world floods after the land grows, and again is reborn as the mountain/Second Mound of Creation, which again land dries and grows into the land on the Earth now. So the Earth land/mound of creation was born, then born again in water, and thus the flood and baptism in water also share a dulness. Warwe is how you are born again, whether it is the mound of creation or us, as the human creation in mythology shares a relatedness. The twin horns mythology is related to the twin mountain (with twin peaks)/mound as well, and between both the twin mound/mountain twins and the twin horns is the sun.
“Mehet-Weret was one of the images of the celestial cow goddess. Her name means the great flood, and she is depicted in a number of forms, which reflect a kind of relationship with her roles. Mehet-Weret was an ancient Egyptian deity of the sky in ancient Egyptian religion.”
https://jaauth.journals.ekb.eg/article_48142_66e59e53f111ef95d6f03f329cd15b95.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mehet-Weret
- Dualism: “Divine Twins” mythology, Pseudo Twins, and
Twin Burials - Duality and the Divine Twins: phases of the Moon and the Sun, Dark and light
- Early Europeans Practiced Human Sacrifice
“Investigating a collection of graves from the Upper Paleolithic (about 32/26,000 to 8,000 BCE), archaeologists found several that contained pairs or even groups of people with rich burial offerings and decoration. Many of the remains were young or had deformities, such as dwarfism.”
“Human sacrifice may be a ritual practiced in a stable society, and may even be conducive to enhancing societal unity (see: Sociology of religion), both by creating a bond unifying the sacrificing community.”
“The comparative analysis of different Indo-European tales has led scholars to reconstruct an original Proto-Indo-European creation myth involving twin brothers, *Manu- (‘Man’) and *Yemo- (‘Twin’), as the progenitors of the world and mankind, and a hero named *Trito (‘Third’) who ensured the continuity of the original sacrifice. To create the world, Manu sacrifices his brother and, with the help of heavenly deities (the Sky-Father, the Storm-God and the Divine Twins), forges both the natural elements and human beings from his twin’s remains.”
“Some scholars have proposed that the primeval being Yemo was depicted as a two-folded hermaphrodite rather than a twin brother of Manu, both forming indeed a pair of complementary beings entwined together. The Germanic names Ymir and Tuisto were understood as twin, bisexual or hermaphrodite, and some myths give a sister to the Vedic Yama, also called Yamī (‘Twin’). The primordial being may therefore have self-sacrificed, or have been divided in two, a male half and a female half, embodying a prototypal separation of the sexes that continued the primordial union of the Sky Father (Dyēus) with the Mother Earth (Dhéǵhōm).”
https://www.timeanddate.com/astronomy/moon/phases.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravettian
https://www.livescience.com/1594-early-europeans-practiced-human-sacrifice.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sungir
https://www.livescience.com/61737-photos-paleolithic-burials.html
https://www.preistoriainitalia.it/en/2021/03/29/madri-del-tempo/
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-020-01372-8
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278416522000381
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277379124000167
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Cave_of_the_Children_fossils#/media/File:Tomb_of_the_two_Children_on_display_at_the_French_National_Museum_of_Archeology_at_Saint_Germain.jpg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimaldi_man
https://www.preistoriainitalia.it/en/2021/03/29/madri-del-tempo/
https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1413131111
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335854096_In_the_Jaws_of_Time_First_Reflections_of_Episodic_Memory_in_Human_Beings
https://www.donsmaps.com/mammothsite.html
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-020-01372-8
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indo-European_cosmogony#Cosmic_sacrifice
Creation myths origin???
I think it started 100,000 years ago in Africa, and went to 50,000 years ago with more of a magical thinking “animism thinking” Belief persuasion. All life had spirits; people had two spirits, one male from their father and one from their mother. Given two names to reflect this duality nature, all humans were believed to possess. Later, it would be expected as one spirit that is your lifeforce and one a guardian spirit/ancestor spirit, that was only connected to that person. We live and then die. When we die, we take the cosmic snake/fire-smoke embers/Milky Way path to the heavens/Ancestors went to the sun spirit upon death, no afterlife. All people were seen as relatively equal.
Then, 50,000 to 45,000 years ago, totemism emerged in Europe (France and Germany), and they only cared about their clan/tribe first, and maybe only them. Thus, at 43,000 years ago, they made a place with one side the Milky Way and the other a standing humanoid figure that seems more male-centered. This was actually the one who had two spirits (Intersex, trans, or bisexual; it could have been all three?), and was thus seen as an equal representation of the clan/tribe’s ancestors as a whole. And still no life after death, just up to heaven, and it is over.
Totemism dualism thinking was changed before meeting up with shamanism from the East (West Siberia/Russia). And the old mythology of dualness, which had been represented as one androgynous man, evolved into two separate people: a woman and a man, known as world parents, by approximately 38,000 years ago. They also had a Cosmic hunt by 30,000 years ago or earlier (38,000 years ago?). Animals were hunted/chased/led up the Milky Way path, to then be killed in hunting on it, or being sacrificed on it (Milky Way).
Then by 34,000 years ago comes shamanism with afterlife/reincarnation beliefs, which then made the change in duality nature again, by turning the male and female into the male and half-male boy/children twins (from the divine couple seen in totemism) who are first seen in a human sacrifice of two boys at 34,000 years ago, pseudo twins, as they had different fathers. The first real twin sacrifice burial was 27,000 years ago. In shamanism, the Cosmic Hunt bear or horned animal centered on the cow/bull in Israel 22,000 to 12,000 years ago. It was the Goat hunting mythology that was the focus from 12,500 to 11,000 years ago, in Turkey and Iran. But Bull hunt-related mythology was spread to Turkey by at least 12,000 years ago.
12,000 to 11,000 years ago in Turkey/Upper Mesopotamia, birthed the first deities from the older shamanism hunter cosmology. They had sky Father Sun and sky Mother Moon. The “sky” and “earth” deities, were the new duality twins. Hunting cult, “Cosmic hunt mythology,” becomes herding cult paganism by 12,000-11,000 years ago in Turkey/Upper Mesopotamia. They had/kept afterlife/reincarnation beliefs, shifting away from reincarnation and more limited to afterlife-only heaven thinking.
The herding paganism two deities gave birth to a daughter, the Dawn, around 10,000 years ago. This daughter was associated with both the sky and the earth, where she stayed until morning, and this association allowed most mythology to have her become the Earth mother, which happened at least 8,000 years ago. Either her or her mother gave birth to the divine boy twins, reestablishing the boy twins’ mythology prominence to explain duality. And because she, the Dawn/Venus star, went into a cave in the Earth, this, in some mythology, allowed the Earth to become a male god, and her husband.
The practice of circumcision on males that removes the “two spiritness” all people are born with started maybe 8,000 to 7,000 years ago, related with self-sacrifice and making one into a full man, in Southern Israel, then moved into Africa, as seen in Egypt by 5,000 years ago. New violence becomes the norm, 7,000 to 5,000 years ago, a time of “World War 0,” male clans rise, and competing males are killed to the point that there were 15/17 women to 1 man. The practice of circumcision was believed to remove a male’s duality (they are then believed to be REAL men, not androgyny males any longer). Also, this sacrificing of duality likely involved female circumcision at some point, thought to remove the man from females, thus, like what was thought happened to males when the foreskin was removed. So, too, the “womanness” was removed, ending the inborn dualness one was born with as a man. Therefore, circumcision ended the duality-myth worship. And it is this death of duality that will lead to the creation of monotheism.
*Animistic religious beliefs (Originating in Africa: 100,000 to 50,000 years ago): We die and go to the Sun/Heaven (by the Milky Way path), no life after Death. There is a sun spirit female and a moon spirit male. The new moon is favored for “sneaking hunting” (hunters are unseen) in the darkest night. All people are equal and dual-spirited, and animals also go to heaven, just like humans; they have a spirit while alive.
*Totemistic religious beliefs (Originating in Western Europe: 50,000 to 28,000 years ago): We die and go to the Stars/Heaven (by the Milky Way path), no life after Death. There is a sun spirit female and a moon spirit male. The new moon is favored for “sneaking hunting” (hunters are unseen) in the darkest night. The Third/First Quarter Moon was likely also favored as it related to the first ancestor clan, pseudo twin being that he-she/they were seen as duality: intersex, trans, bisexual, half-male and half-female, in “One Great” dual-spirit being.
*Shamanistic religious beliefs (Originating in Western Siberia: 34,000 to 9,000 years ago): We may die and go to the Stars/Heaven (by the Milky Way path) or have rebirth/reincarnation, Life after Death/afterlife (ancestors can interact to help or hurt). There is a sun spirit male and a moon spirit female. The new moon is favored for “sneaking hunting” (hunters are unseen) in the darkest night. Additionally, the Waning/Waxing Crescent Moon is favored in relation to the boy twins’ mythology, which explains why these twins can have different fathers. And these moons are the darkest nights after the new moon, thus also aiding in hiding in “ambush” hunting.
*Paganistic religious beliefs (Originating in Upper Mesopotamia (Turkey): 12,000/11,000 years ago): We may die and go to the Stars/Heaven (by the Milky Way path) or have rebirth/reincarnation, Life after Death/afterlife (ancestors can interact to help or hurt). There is a sun spirit male and a moon spirit female. The full moon is favored for “more safety for herders” (also: there is a higher number of births around the full moon for dairy cows) on the brightest night. Additionally, the Waning/Waxing Crescent Moon is favored in relation to the boy twins’ mythology, or the duality of bull horns and twin-peaked mountains, which explains why these twins can have different fathers. And these moons are associated with the Star of Venus, also known as the Morning Star or Dawn goddess.
I question everything, including my own speculations. I just recently changed to this new understanding as my goal is to be as close to the truth as I can, not hold on to long-held beliefs when the facts turn in a new direction. Truth is best championed in the sunlight of challenge.
Who should win? The Truth or one of Our EGO’s?
I am an anarchist; thus, I am an anti-authoritarian.
Authoritarianism is an autocratic, oligarchic, despotism, totalitarian, chiefdoms, monarchical, and dictatorial political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, a strong central power, reduction in democracy, or anti-democracy, lacking separation of powers, oppression of civil liberties, and lack of the rule of law. Violence is not evidence of power; it is the problem of power. Hierarchy is violent as well as oppressive in its very nature and is against an equal humanity. Some hope for leaders, some even want authoritarian masters, but I favor anarchism, humanism, and direct democracy. Human rights are not gifts of governments; they are our dignity due to all humanity, our rights to self-sovereignty and self-ownership rights that all humans equally deserve. As an anarchist, I see Capitalism as the reliance on coercive hierarchy domination as well as workers’ exploitation for unethical monetary gains and greed. Rights are not given, they are taken, they are demanded. Morality: “What is Right/Good/Just action.” Morals: “Personal Morality” (personal choice, inner-self morality thinking). Ethics: “Others Morality” (other-centric, responsible for inner-relational morality behaviors). The Anarchist value of anti-hierarchy, being skeptical of any claims to hierarchy, is not just a political cause; it is a foundational human right. Everyone owns themselves or has self-sovereignty. Hierarchy is anti-equality, the rule of the few, not the support of the many, and against our human rights and equality. Hierarchy is the problem. As an Anarcho-Humanist: No gods, No masters, Do not harm, and Do good. We rise by helping each other. Pain of the mind is some of the most lasting pain. Just as freedom of the mind is some of the most lasting freedom.
Hierarchy has always been the problem we must end; it brought inequality as well as oppression around 13,000 to 10,000 years ago, with the herding/agricultural emergence. But went into hyperdrive starting around 7,000 years ago with male clan wars limiting males of other clans to where it was one man to 15 women, and continued this horror of inequality as well as oppression, until 5,000 years ago, when it became institutionalized with the birth of the State/Kingdom/Supreme Chiefdom. Abundance, as well as greed to hoard that wealth from abundance, and this new coercive hierarchy, caused the oppression that we still feel today. Separation of Church and State? There is a belief that the connection between Church/Religion and State/Hierarchy Government is new, and trying to end the separation is somewhat new. The two were deeply connected from the earliest beginnings of city states, including Sumerian cities such as Uruk and Ur; Ancient Egyptian cities, such as Thebes and Memphis. Deities are often seen as some kind of authority, often the highest/ultimate authority (divine command theory). They also often are not simply the otherworldly authority; they also are said to support earthly authority. So, hierarchy supporting hierarchy; what about all of us at the bottom? I reject all oppression and servitude, No gods, No masters. Seize the Means of Production? In addressing the question of how one goes about seizing the means of production? We have to overthrow the government first because if you don’t, it will be the government stopping you. I hope people stand up for their rights and demand that all this greed-monopoly ends! We have to end the hierarchy and support direct democracy.
I support universal ethics-derived rules, such as everyone owning themselves, and being equal in dignity and rights. I am a peaceful revolutionist. I am for non-aggression as the standard, but I am not a pacifist. I support limited and measured violence for self-defense or other defense. Kindness is the wisdom of the just. If we want a better world, it must begin with Kindness. As an anarchist, I support Education, not Violence. Most anarchists are not for random violence. I certainly am not for violence. I believe in education as a path to lasting revolution. Most anarchists believe in direct action, which is why I did all kinds of positive activism, helping others, and protesting. I know books like to act as if violence is the main thing anarchists want or use. I see it as negative propaganda against anarchist thinking or action. In 1833, the first anarchist paper was called: The Peaceful Revolutionist. There have been a few who valued violence, but some, like Emma Goldman, after seeing the violence by the Red Army, realized that violence is not the way. I grew up in Southern California gangland, saw lots of violence, and I also realize violence is not the answer. When the Truth is afraid, Fascism of some kind, likely Reigns. I don’t support violence for lasting positive change, but I know that is not our best approach, because we can empower people, thus bring change, and education is our weapon.
I am on the front lines of a war against reason and still valiantly rising above it all as if a vanquishing victor over the mental terrors so many suffer under, in this grip of mythology falsehood that attacks reality as if a terrorist that must be stopped. I simply heard the call to help and am doing all I can. I fell as you tripped me again, and from your hate, I removed myself from such mind and being “Corruption,” freely walking into the gates of love, so longed for. You have not beaten me, you cannot stop me, you don’t want me to live, to thrive, to be all the best I can be, but you hate, and yet I am still here, a survivor, a full life liver, a thriver. Raise your head high, my friend, we are an example of the only surviving humans; others like Neandertals who passed away long ago, around 40,000 years ago or so. Stand tall, for you are not some fallen “wretch” of a being, shackled with the notion of “sin” and inborn evil depravity; you are free, and equal in dignity.
Facts over Faith
“Gatekeepers in Big Archaeology” = translated with reason: “Science Champions in Archaeology”
“Pseudoarchaeology can be practised intentionally or unintentionally. Archaeological frauds and hoaxes are considered intentional pseudoarchaeology. Genuine archaeological finds may be converted to pseudoarchaeology unintentionally by unscientific interpretation.”
The active nonsense pushers of Pseudoarchaeology, like Graham Hancock and Jimmy Corsetti, attack academics in areas such as Anthropology, Archaeology, Egyptology, and history, calling them names and claiming they are Gatekeepers. I see such academics as heroes defending reality and facts. Pseudoarchaeology thinkers see things that look similar and claim they are connected, even if they do not actually know if there are any related connections. I look for connections, as that is how I get what may be going on, and only after researching and understanding do I reach a claim of what I think is going on, but I am always open to new facts and rethinking what I think if the evidence leads that way. I think it is interesting how people randomly pick pictures of similar things, but they do not investigate if there is any actual connection between the culture or groups that made the art. Sometimes things have other connections, and sometimes there is no evidence of connection. People want easy, not real explanations, especially if it requires research or changing one’s mind to fit what the evidence explains. Facts over faith. I am not attacked by academics as I strive to use facts and reason to support my thinking, and am not threatened if challenged by them or anyone. The truth is best championed in the sunlight of challenge. Why is admitting mistakes wise? To admit mistakes is a good habit, that both allows for an easier amendment of old beliefs, and an addition of new, accurate information. If one has problems with admitting mistakes, they are also less open to amending beliefs, or removing them if needed, and adding new information.
“Belief is Not Fact, it’s more like an assumption.”
My response, And in philosophy all claims are connected to beliefs. You believe what you wrote, and what would make it worthy of calling it the truth, is how well our beliefs match with facts or reason. As an amateur prehistoric investigator, I appreciate how informative, helpful, and challenging academic ideas are; all of which have helped me better speculate on prehistory, always striving to let the facts speak for themselves, as I see professionals, like archaeologists, do. An honest mind welcomes “Just” correction. I need evidence to guide my beliefs. I am not married to my beliefs, either; if I am shown new facts or sound reasoning, I will easily and quickly change if I am in error. I welcome being shown wrong, if I am, as why would I want to keep being in error? I am a rationalist; thus, I am a champion of the love of wisdom. I welcome learning, as much as I strive to promote reason, and teach. Reason is my only master. And may we all master reason. What if words mattered, would I be more thoughtful in what I say? What do your words say? To me, words have always mattered, and I strive to be thoughtful in all I say. May my words be sweetened by empathy and compassion. May my heart stay warm in the arms of kindness. May my life be an expression of love to the world. The idea of “truth” can be like a peaceful lake, sure of itself, up until a new fact is thrown, like a rock, and ripples the once sure surface. John Hoopes stated, “Graham Hancock has conditioned his followers to think they don’t need evidence to claim anything.” My response, Crazy as “Evidence” is how you should make reasonable speculations from the logical steps of what is known. We must come to see that education is both a light of hope and a path to our freedom. I support the “Great” John Hoopes. I am happy archaeologists challenge and debunk pseudoscience, pseudo-history, and pseudo-archaeology and support truth and reason, in the face of attacks, from anti-science nonsense-supporters, like Graham Hancock, and others like him. Graham Hancock thinks it is “Archaeologists” who need to do more research, to answer his fantasy “Lost Civilization of the Ice Age,” but “More” research will never end in Atlantis is true. Lol
John Hoopes, (Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas), (who Graham Hancock thinks is “the most vehement and insulting of all archaeologists” and I think is great, for thoughtfully addressing Pseudoarchaeology, Pseudohistory, and Pseudoscience), stated: “Content creators like Damien Marie AtHope deserve special mention.” “There are some excellent and effective voices among the well-informed non-archaeologists who comment and publish on Pseudoarchaeology, including Damien Marie AtHope and many others.” “I appreciate Damien Marie AtHope’s art and efforts.” “I really love the way Damien Marie AtHope combines art and science. Damien is one of the few online that do it well.” “Damien Marie AtHope is not an archaeologist but covers a lot of archaeology with a critical thinking approach.” “I encourage all of you to like and follow the online posts of Damien Marie AtHope, who reached out to me to do a podcast on his YouTube channel early in the Ancient Apocalypse Netflix series critique. Damien Marie AtHope is a gifted artist, poet, writer, and podcaster with a good grasp of critical thinking and a strong interest in the prehistoric past.” I told John Hoopes, “I was honored, and we rise by helping each other.” John Hoopes responded that, “Yes, we do. Your energy is infectious. I hope it inspires others.”
Finding the One “True/Correct” Traditional Religion?
Where do you start and fix at the first/origin seen as traditional religion? What is “Traditional Religion” over another way of believing in ever-changing cultural thinking as the norm? By studying prehistory as well as history/ethnography, anthropology/archaeology, world languages, genetics/DNA migrations, and world mythology, we can then see that the evolution of humans includes the evolution of religions. Religion is a cultural product and “Moved/Moves” in cultural migrations. This becomes clear because religions, their beliefs, practices, and their chosen deities all show change adaptations, addition/removal, to the point that the term “Traditional Religion” is a ghost of an idea that more haunts the mind of its supporter than a universal fact. It is always a limited, chosen, and exclusive identity compared to what traditional religion could be. The practice of any cultural “things/thinking” is to be good at one thing, and that is change! Staying unchanged is not the norm at all. Truth would not change as religion is “clearly” evident in doing…
I get it! Religion is not truth; rather, it is an “all-encompassing” fixation of one aspect of cultural expression. What I am trying to express is how it is not just believing in a spirit/soul, afterlives, unseen supernatural beings thought to exist, but are often active in this real world, and that you must believe in a specific set of things, as well as world views with added magical thinking. It is not just “I believe in a god, a goddess, or heavenly bird, but that you must devote your life to them with no empirical/external real-world “Evidence” supported persuasion. It is not an easy task to truly see and understand how the evolution of religion exists because it has several monsters that haunt your dreams than finite things in an awake reality. I see that most religions say only they understand a posable supernatural world, only their believed and chosen proposed supernatural beings are the real ones and only their teachings are the ones on which you must/will lead the beast/correct life, and the best way to get to their proposed afterlife/rebirth/reincarnation possibility.
As with all religions, it is hard to conceive abstractions, if they are not identified as they relate to what we think of as religious rituals, language, and beliefs. These religious rituals, language, and beliefs are about non-realism that is projected as realism. I hope that you grasp their animistic or sacred thinking as primal animistic religionism, which is especially prior to the development of organized religion. Although each culture has its own different mythologies and rituals, “animism” is said to describe the most common thread of indigenous peoples’ “supernatural” perspectives. Animism has been demonstrated to be at 100% when they tested hunter-gatherers. Animism is not a religion, but a religious thinking style term utilized in anthropological constructions. In hunter-gathers tested shamanism is 79% but animism is 100% showing it is animism that is the actual traditional religion but also highlights my point on religion as well that one can be a paganist with animistic thinking and have/believe in shamanism at the same time, as complementary addons to the traditional “Animism” religious persuasion as well as totemistic cultural relatedness.
You don’t have to choose one or the other, it is “Make-Believe;” so, anything goes or anything is believed possible, right? I see animism, totemism, shamanism, and paganism as different but related magical thinking perspectives that, like a wall, build up to the accumulation of stacking the beliefs on top of each other to reach a connected whole. Animism is in totemism; animism is in shamanism, and often shamanism now has some totemism as well. While I think animism, in a primal religious way, may have emerged out of pre-animism (which may have been transferred in some way to modern humans by Neandertals), it is animism proper 100,000 years ago in Africa that I see as the first expression in the evolution of religion.
And to me, both Totemism and Shamanism emerged from a likely animist-only source, from different DNA dispersals, splitting just after the Out of Africa happened. So, while Totemism (50,000 years ago in Western Europe) and Shamanism (30,000 years ago in Siberia/Russia) started, they were distinct from each other at their origins; they soon connected and from then on started being distributed together. Thus, around 20,000 years ago, a large part of Eurasia had a similar “Traditional Religion” that was a blend of animism, totemism, and shamanism. Pagan emerged out of this blend of animism, totemism, and shamanism, often just called “Shamanism.”
You can have an animist religion or a religion with animistic themes, or animism as a magical thinking belief system, like belief in the possibility of spirits/spiritism/soulism. In fact, I think this is also a universal expression in religions in general. Basically, one could say all religions believe in a soul/spirit/spirit world, and thus all religions have animism! Animistic thinking, seen as part of primal religionism of the past or the so-called “primitive” or should we say “Traditional” religious thinking belief systems of some indigenous tribal peoples, but most so-called “animism religions” are not limited to animism and in more diffuse amounts are still evident in current known religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Sikhism, Shintoism, etc.
Pastoralists, Nomads, and Foragers: NOT really FARMERS?
“Farming was a major development, but not all humans began farming immediately. Here, we look at the lives of the pastoralists, nomads, and foragers who did not farm. Actually, many communities didn’t begin farming right away—or at all. Historians agree that agriculture did not take over fully or evenly. While the debate continues about whether or not farming improved humans’ way of life, it’s worth considering how non-agricultural communities differ from agricultural ones. What does it mean that farming was not adopted evenly? It’s uneven because it spreads to some places and not others. Many communities began farming independently, and they did so at very different times. Some began farming over 12,000 years ago, but other groups didn’t farm for millennia after that. Today, there are still communities that don’t rely primarily on farming. Adoption was also uneven in the sense that it wasn’t always adopted fully or linearly. Some communities did a bit of farming, domesticated some animals, but remained largely nomadic. Others farmed some of the year and relied on trade at other times. Some communities who had previously farmed, like those occupying the Sahara region in Africa, became nomadic pastoralists as the region became more arid. Non-agricultural societies didn’t disappear after the Neolithic Revolution. They still populated much of the world, played important roles in trade networks, and had unique social structures. As those who adopted agriculture settled into villages, towns, and cities, how did other communities live? Generally, their lives weren’t as sedentary. But that doesn’t mean that they didn’t cultivate or domesticate anything. In fact, it’s a mistake to think of agriculture and domestication as the same thing. Many groups domesticated animals and plants but didn’t rely on them entirely or settle down permanently to cultivate land. Others, called pastoralists, domesticated animals but didn’t grow plants regularly, and they remained mostly nomadic. Still others mainly foraged, as their ancestors had for millennia. The distinction between these groups is blurry. Most communities during the early agrarian era relied on multiple ways of food production. Even settled farmers continued to hunt and fish.” ref
Neolithic cattle herders: J2 and R1b tribes?
“It has been hypothetised that R1b people (perhaps alongside neighbouring J2 tribes) were the first to domesticate cattle in northern Mesopotamia some 10,500 years ago. The first appearance of J2 during the Neolithic came in the form of a 10,000-year-old J2b sample from Tepe Abdul Hosein in north-western Iran in what was then the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. The date of origin for haplogroup J-M172 was estimated between 19,000 and 24,000 years ago. Ancient J-M410, specifically subclade J-Y12379*, has been found, in a Mesolithic context, in a tooth from the Kotias Klde Cave in western Georgia from the Late Upper Palaeolithic (13,300 years old) and the Mesolithic (9,700 years old). This sample has been assigned to the Caucasus hunter-gatherers (CHG) autosomal component. J-M410, more specifically its subclade J-PF5008, has also been found in a Mesolithic sample from the Hotu and Kamarband Caves located in Mazandaran Province of Iran, dating back to 9,100-8,600 BCE (approximately 11,000 ybp). Both samples belong to the Trialetian Culture. It is likely that J2 men had settled over most of Anatolia, the South Caucasus, and the Zagros mountains by the end of the Last Glaciation, 12,000 years ago, the earliest known migration of J2, expanded possibly from Anatolia and the Caucasus. There is a distinct association of ancient J2 civilisations with bull worship. The oldest evidence of a cult of the bull can be traced back to Neolithic central Anatolia, notably at the sites of Çatalhöyük and Alaca Höyük. Notwithstanding its strong presence in West Asia today, haplogroup J2 does not seem to have been one of the principal lineages associated with the rise and diffusion of cereal farming from the Fertile Crescent and Anatolia to Europe. It is likely that J2 men had settled over most of Anatolia, the South Caucasus and Iran by the end of the Last Glaciation 12,000 years ago. It is possible that J2 hunter-gatherers then goat/sheep herders also lived in the Fertile Crescent during the Neolithic period, although the development of early cereal agriculture is thought to have been conducted by men belonging primarily to haplogroups G2a (northern branch, from Anatolia to Europe), as well as E1b1b and T1a (southern branch, from the Levant to the Arabian peninsula and North Africa). No Neolithic sample from Central or South Asia has been tested to date, but the present geographic distribution of haplogroup J2 suggests that it could initially have dispersed during the Neolithic from the Zagros mountains and northern Mesopotamia across the Iranian plateau to South Asia and Central Asia, and across the Caucasus to Russia (Volga-Ural). The first expansion probably correlated with the diffusion of domesticated of cattle and goats (starting c. 8000-9000 BCE or 10,00 to 9,000 years ago), rather than with the development of cereal agriculture in the Levant.” ref, ref, ref
“The Iranian marker J-M172, also known as J2 is found in the highest concentrations in the Caucasus and the Fertile Crescent/Iraq and is found throughout the Mediterranean (including the Italian, Balkan, Anatolian, and Iberian peninsulas and North Africa). Haplogroup J-M304, also known as J, is believed to have evolved in the Caucasus or Iran. The clade spread from there during the Neolithic, primarily into North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Socotra Archipelago, Europe, Anatolia, Central Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.” ref, ref
“R-V88 (R1b1b): the most common forms of R1b found among males native to Sub-Saharan Africa, also found rarely elsewhere. R1b people (perhaps alongside neighbouring J2 tribes) were the first to domesticate cattle in northern Mesopotamia some 10,500 years ago. R1b tribes descended from mammoth hunters, and when mammoths went extinct, they started hunting other large game such as bisons and aurochs. With the increase of the human population in the Fertile Crescent from the beginning of the Neolithic (starting 12,000 years ago), selective hunting and culling of herds started replacing indiscriminate killing of wild animals. The increased involvement of humans in the life of aurochs, wild boars and goats led to their progressive taming. Cattle herders probably maintained a nomadic or semi-nomadic existence, while other people in the Fertile Crescent (presumably represented by haplogroups E1b1b, G, and T) settled down to cultivate the land or keep smaller domesticates. The analysis of bovine DNA has revealed that all the taurine cattle (Bos taurus) alive today descend from a population of only 80 aurochs. The earliest evidence of cattle domestication dates from circa 8,500 BCE in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic cultures in the Taurus Mountains. The two oldest archaeological sites showing signs of cattle domestication are the villages of Çayönü Tepesi in southeastern Turkey and Dja’de el-Mughara in northern Iraq, two sites only 250 km away from each others. This is presumably the area from which R1b lineages started expanding – or in other words, the “original homeland” of R1b. The early R1b cattle herders would have split in at least three groups. One branch (M335) remained in Anatolia, but judging from its extreme rarity today, it wasn’t very successful, perhaps due to the heavy competition with other Neolithic populations in Anatolia, or to the scarcity of pastures in this mountainous environment. A second branch migrated south to the Levant, where it became the V88 branch. Some of them searched for new lands south in Africa, first in Egypt, then colonising most of northern Africa, from the Mediterranean coast to the Sahel. The third branch (P297), crossed the Caucasus into the vast Pontic-Caspian Steppe, which provided ideal grazing grounds for cattle. They split into two factions: R1b1a1 (M73), which went east along the Caspian Sea to Central Asia, and R1b1a2 (M269), which at first remained in the North Caucasus and the Pontic Steppe between the Dnieper and the Volga. It is not yet clear whether M73 actually migrated across the Caucasus and reached Central Asia via Kazakhstan, or if it went south through Iran and Turkmenistan. In any case, M73 would be a pre-Indo-European branch of R1b, just like V88 and M335.” ref
“Like its northern counterpart (R1b-M269), R1b-V88 is associated with the domestication of cattle in northern Mesopotamia. Both branches of R1b probably split soon after cattle were domesticated, approximately 10,500 years ago (8,500 BCE). R1b-V88 migrated south towards the Levant and Egypt. The migration of R1b people can be followed archeologically through the presence of domesticated cattle, which appear in central Syria around 8,000-7,500 BCE (late Mureybet period), then in the Southern Levant and Egypt around 7,000-6,500 BCE (e.g. at Nabta Playa and Bir Kiseiba). Cattle herders subsequently spread across most of northern and eastern Africa. The Sahara desert would have been more humid during the Neolithic Subpluvial period (c. 7250-3250 BCE), and would have been a vast savannah full of grass, an ideal environment for cattle herding. Evidence of cow herding during the Neolithic has shown up at Uan Muhuggiag in central Libya around 5500 BCE, at the Capeletti Cave in northern Algeria around 4500 BCE. But the most compelling evidence that R1b people related to modern Europeans once roamed the Sahara is to be found at Tassili n’Ajjer in southern Algeria, a site with famous pyroglyphs (rock art) dating from the Neolithic era. Some paintings dating from around 3000 BCE depict fair-skinned and blond or auburn-haired women riding on cows. The oldest known R1b-V88 sample in Europe is a 6,200-year-old farmer/herder from Catalonia. Autosomally, this individual was a typical Near Eastern farmer, possessing just a little bit of Mesolithic West European admixture. After reaching the Maghreb, R1b-V88 cattle herders could have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to Iberia, probably accompanied by G2 farmers, J1, and T1a goat herders. These North African Neolithic farmers/herders could have been the ones who established the Almagra Pottery culture in Andalusia in the 6th millennium BCE.” ref
“R1bv88 entered Africa two ways, from the Middle East to Egypt and from the Middle East to Europe, then to North Africa (Morocco) from Spain. The earliest basal R1b-V88 haplogroups are found in several Eastern European hunter-gatherers close to 11,000 years ago. The haplogroup then seemingly spread with the expansion of Neolithic farmers, who established agriculture in Ukraine by 8,000 years ago, and the Western Mediterranean by around 7500 years ago. Likewise, “R1b*” at high levels in Jordan, Egypt, and Sudan. Subsequent research also indicates that they most likely belong to the subclade R-V88, which may be explained by a back-migration from Asia into Africa by R1b-carrying people.” ref
“Comprehensive research and examination of morphological alterations within early cattle populations is only feasible in the Middle East, where access to extensive archaeozoological collections and a multitude of chronologically and ecologically consistent sites is far greater than in the Nile Valley. Genetic studies also play a pivotal role in the cattle domestication debate. The prevailing theory suggests that cattle around the world are descendants of a small population of aurochs domesticated around 11,000 years ago in the Middle Euphrates zone. From there, via Sinai, at the turn of 7/6 millennium BCE, cattle and other domesticated animals, such as sheep, goats, and pigs, are thought to have spread across Africa. Thus, the prevailing view currently encountered in academic discourse is that the domestication of animals in Asia, Europe, and Africa was a homogenous process “invented” in the Middle East, from where the know-how or the animals themselves spread with humans. The first and only genomic data to date from a single aurochs, dating back 9,000 years, come from Morocco. The earliest autosomal genomes and mitogenomes of African domestic cattle come from bones dated between 2800 and 2000 years ago. The emergence of cattle herding in Africa marked a key moment in the continent’s history. Pastoral communities with complex social systems are perceived as the primary element that initiated the emergence of the oldest civilizations in Northeast Africa. Also, today, a complex system of herding fundamentally affects the economy, society, and demography of sub-Saharan and East Africa. Cattle domestication also may have involved independent origins in Africa 10,000 years ago, in the Middle Nile. (About the time J-p58/J1e haplogroup showed up in Africa from the Middle East)” ref
“J1-P58 (J1a2b on the ISOGG tree, formerly known as J1e, then as J1c3) is by far the most widespread subclade of J1. Neolithic J1 goat herders were almost certainly not homogenous tribes consisting exclusively of J1 lineages, but in all likelihood a blend of J1 and T1 lineages. So much is evident from the presence of both J1 and T1 in north-east Africa, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, but also in the Fertile Crescent, the Caucasus, and the mountainous parts of southern Europe. Maternal lineages also correlate. Wherever J1 and T1 are found in high frequency, mtDNA haplogroups HV, N1, and U3 are also present, as well as J, K, and T to a lower extent. It is unclear whether goats were domesticated by a tribe that already comprised both J1 and T1 lineages, or if the merger between the two groups happened during the Neolithic expansion, when two separate tribes would have bumped into each others, intermixed, and thereafter propagated together.” ref
“Haplogroup J1 is a prevalent Y-chromosome lineage within the Near East. We report the frequency and YSTR diversity data for its major sub-clade (J1e). The overall expansion time estimated from 453 chromosomes is 10,000 years. Moreover, the previously described J1 (DYS388=13) chromosomes, frequently found in the Caucasus and eastern Anatolian populations, were ancestral to J1e and displayed an expansion time of 9000 years. For J1e, the Zagros/Taurus mountain region displays the highest haplotype diversity, although the J1e frequency increases toward the peripheral Arabian Peninsula. The southerly pattern of decreasing expansion time estimates is consistent with the serial drift and founder effect processes. The first such migration is predicted to have occurred at the onset of the Neolithic, and accordingly, J1e parallels the establishment of rain-fed agriculture and semi-nomadic herders throughout the Fertile Crescent. Subsequently, J1e lineages might have been involved in episodes of the expansion of pastoralists into arid habitats coinciding with the spread of Arabic and other Semitic-speaking populations. Not only have linguists reconstructed the phylogeny of Semitic languages, but they have also dated Proto-Semitic’s age to the Chalcolithic Era, circa 5500-3500 BCE. In addition to the common Semitic language substrate found throughout the Levant and Arabian Peninsula, recent archeological studies have shown an early presence (ca. 6000–7000 BCE) of domesticated herding in the arid steppe desert regions.” ref
“Egyptian is an extinct Afroasiatic, Egypto-Semitic language that was used throughout ancient Egypt. Scholars believe the hypothetical ancestor language for Egyptian, Proto-Egyptian, diverged from the Afroasiatic family in c. 8000 BCE. It is closely related to the Semitic languages spoken in modern Egypt.” ref
“R1b-V88 crossed to North Africa between 8000 and 7000 years ago, during the ‘Green Sahara’ period. R1b-V1589, the main subclade within R1b-V88, underwent a further expansion around 5500 years ago, likely in the Lake Chad Basin region, from which some lines recrossed the Sahara to North Africa. The evolutionary history of R1b-V88 records human adaptation to the loss of these large herbivores, which had formed the basis of their subsistence strategy for tens of thousands of years. Those who adapted include fishermen along the banks of the Danube, Mesolithic Sardinians who fled wildfire, hippo hunters of the last African human period, and Neolithic cattle herders along the shoreline of Lake Chad. And haplogroup R-V88: a paternal genetic record of early mid-Holocene trans-Saharan connections and the spread of Chadic languages. Although human Y chromosomes belonging to haplogroup R1b are quite rare in Africa, being found mainly in Asia and Europe, a group of chromosomes within the paragroup R-P25* are found concentrated in the central-western part of the African continent, where they can be detected at frequencies as high as 95%. Phylogenetic evidence and coalescence time estimates suggest that R-P25* chromosomes (or their phylogenetic ancestor) may have been carried to Africa by an Asia-to-Africa back migration in prehistoric times.” ref, ref, ref
“(R1b1a or R-V88) encompassing all the African R-P25* and about half of the few European/west Asian R-P25*chromosomes.(R1b1a or R-V88) encompassing all the African R-P25* and about half of the few European/west Asian R-P25* chromosomes. Trans-Saharan connections is the paragroup R1b1* (R-P25*) to be present at high frequencies (up to 95%) in populations from northern Cameroon.” ref
“The Afroasiatic languages (also known as Afro-Asiatic, Afrasian, Hamito-Semitic, or Semito-Hamitic) are a language family (or “phylum”) of about 400 languages spoken predominantly in West Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahara and Sahel. The vast majority of Afroasiatic languages are considered indigenous to the African continent, including all those not belonging to the Semitic branch (which originated in West Asia). Afroasiatic languages (Berber, Chadic, Cushitic, Omotic, ancient Egyptian (a Semitic language), and other Semitic languages.” ref
Letti Desert 2 (LTD2) site in North Sudan
“Over 10,000 years ago, groups of people returned to the Middle Nile after millennia of a late-Pleistocene settlement hiatus (J1/J2 DNA related/influenced?). They settled in the Letti Desert, among other places, as ‘proto-pastoralists’, which may express the early stages of cattle domestication. Both archaeozoological and ethnographic data suggest that a marked reduction in the size of cattle in pastoralists’ herds can also be observed, but this is more likely to apply to assemblages much younger than the 8th millennium BCE. Taurine cattle from Southwest Asia, which appeared by the Nile in the 6th millennium BCE or 8,000 years ago (Rb1-V88 DNA related/influenced?), can be recognised as “fully” domesticated. As in the 7th millennium/ BCE, which was significantly later than the arrival of the hypothetical proto-pastoralists. The Letti Desert, among other places, as ‘proto-pastoralists’, settled communities appeared in the region. The behaviour of these new communities was associated with the exploitation of exclusively wild elements of the aquatic and coastal environment; hence, they were referred to as Mesolithic/Aqualithic in earlier publications. Both the proto-pastoralist communities and those described as Mesolithic were producing ceramic vessels, albeit representing markedly different traditions (Mesolithic “Karmakol” ware, commonly tempered with chaff or mica, was absent in the LTD2 assemblage). The early Holocene communities appeared by the Nile in the region of the so-called Nile Great Bend, where the three dry valleys connecting the Nile, Kordofan (Wadi el-Melik), and the Mega-Chad (Wadi Howar) zone converge. Throughout subsequent millennia, they served as excellent migration routes, providing seasonal access to resources, namely, plants and water.” ref
The Pastoralist Challenge to Agriculturalism
Herders move a lot, often even long distances, to feed their flocks/herds, different than farmers who are more fixed to the land and may only occasionally travel long distances on average. An agraculturaist will still hunt and fish to some extent or another, both for needs and likely for hunting rituals that linger on. An agraculturer, even if they have herd animals, will for a good portion of their lives stay close to them in their farming towns. It is thus obvious why the start of paganism, approximately 12,000 years ago to 8,000 to 7,000 years ago, would have had a significant influence from the herding cult and hunting cult. The why is reasonable, herders spread all over, so an emphasis would also be on the herding and hunting cults over agraculture cults, even if they spread something from them all.
“Nomadic pastoralists often adopt a semi-settled way of life called transhumance, which involves an annual migration between winter and summer pastures, ascending to higher elevations for summer pasture and descending into the valleys for winter pasture. Thus, they may be considered to exemplify a transitional way of life between pure nomadism and settled life. But this is not the only difference between horse nomads and foragers. One important feature of life that distinguishes nomadic pastoralists from nomadic foragers is that the economy of the former is based on domesticated animals (generally, the horse) while that of the latter involves following herds of non-domesticated animals (generally, reindeer). The nomadic pastoralist exercises a far greater control over the landscape in which he makes his life, and a much greater control over the animals upon which he is dependent. It is in this sense that the nomadic pastoralists deserve to be called a civilization, because the relationship between these peoples and their horses was as central to their way of life as the relationship between settled peoples and their crops — only it was a different relationship of dependence.” ref
Agraculture, as the so-called Neolithic Revolution, is a child of Animal herding, not grains!
A Young Date for the Agraculture Religion themes and young wheat domestication, thus a young neolithic revolution of grains is well after the domestication of animals by a few thousand years, showing us it was animal herding, not grains and farming that gave birth to an early neolithic revolution in changing lifeways, as well as neolithic religion that lead to the birth of gods and paganism religion.
“Wheat proto-domestication began approximately 12,000 years ago, and it is considered a milestone in the development of human civilization; however, determining the initiation point of this domestication in the Fertile Crescent or elsewhere is a matter of controversy. The discovery of charred hexaploid wheat grains in Çatalhöyük crucially questioned the relation with primitive or contemporary wheat forms. Ancient DNA from 8400-Year-Old Çatalhöyük Wheat: Implications for the Origin of Neolithic Agriculture. Although the Fertile Crescent is renowned as the center of wheat domestication, archaeological studies have shown the crucial involvement of Çatalhöyük in this process. Ancient DNA of charred wheat grains from Çatalhöyük and other Turkish archaeological sites and the comparison of these wheat grains with contemporary wheat species, including T. monococcum, T. dicoccum, T. dicoccoides, T. durum, and T. aestivum at HMW glutenin protein loci. These ancient samples represent the oldest wheat sample sequenced to date and the first ancient wheat sample from the Middle East. Remarkably, the sequence analysis of the short DNA fragments preserved in seeds that are approximately 8400 years old showed that the Çatalhöyük wheat stock contained hexaploid wheat, which is similar to contemporary hexaploid wheat species, including both naked (T. aestivum) and hulled (T. spelta) wheat. This suggests an early transitory state of hexaploid wheat agriculture from the Fertile Crescent towards Europe, spanning present-day Turkey. The high genetic similarity of Karacadağ wild samples to cultivated einkorn from Kastamonu confirmed Karacadağ Mountain in Turkey as the location of einkorn domestication. Two subspecies of wild einkorn are distributed in the western (including the Balkans) and eastern Turkey (including southern Anatolia and the Fertile Crescent), respectively. The western wheat form, sp. aegilopoides is supposed to be distant from the cultivated einkorn, while the eastern wheat form sp. thoudar is genetically found to be the progenitor of cultivated einkorn. The wild einkorn sample from western Turkey (Balıkesir), was distant from the clusters of polyploids and diploids, while the cultivated einkorn (T. monococcum) clustered with the wild einkorn samples from Karacadağ and Şanlıurfa.” ref
“It has been well established that einkorn and emmer wheat were first domesticated in the Karacadag region of Diyarbakir in Turkey, which is a part of the Fertile Crescent. After domestication, the subpopulations of emmer wheat diverged following two paths: the southern subpopulation (in Jericho) and the eastern/southeastern subpopulations (through Armenia/Syria, and Iraq/Iran). Evidence suggests that at least in the expansion of the hexaploid wheat cultivation, Çatalhöyük is the center of interest with its crucial position in the development of agriculture and civilization in the western world. We can speculate that hexaploid wheat cultivation had been started in Çatalhöyük before the estimated time for wheat cultivation. The ancient wheat from Çatalhöyük represents the oldest wheat DNA recovered from charred seeds to date, and this work provides new DNA-based evidence regarding the species development and wheat evolution. According to the DNA sequence analysis of the 8400-year-old wheat samples, our data provide the first molecular evidence for the expansion of hexaploid wheat cultivation. Our study determined the presence of hexaploid wheat dating back to the seventh millennium BCE on the Çatalhöyük site in central Turkey that is located outside the Fertile Crescent, ancient DNA sequences from a later date (2000 BCE) from East Anatolia (İmamoğlu Höyük) were found to be predominantly similar to modern naked wheat.” ref
“Plant-related tasks, and the use of living space, at the household level, in Neolithic Çatalhöyük through spatial analyses of phytoliths and starch grains recovered from two house floors. Results have revealed plant-related tasks, such as crop processing, the use of plant-based crafts, and the management and culinary use of wild resources, which were previously unrepresented in the archaeobotanical assemblage. These distinctive uses of vegetal resources in domestic spaces identified through microbotanical remains have shed light on new complex aspects of household social organisation in one of the earliest farming communities in Western Asia.” ref
“Çatalhöyük was a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia, which existed from approximately 7500-5600 BCE, or 9,500 to 7,600 years ago, and flourished around 7000 BCE, 9,000 years ago. The bottom layer of buildings can be dated as early as 7100 BCE or 9,100 years ago, while the top layer of the later West Mound is from 5600 BCE or 7,600 years ago. Çatalhöyük was composed entirely of domestic buildings with no obvious public buildings. While some of the larger rooms have rather ornate murals, the purpose of others remains unclear.” ref
“As a part of ritual life, the people of Çatalhöyük buried their dead within the village. Human remains have been found in pits beneath the floors and especially beneath hearths, the platforms within the main rooms, and beds. Bodies were tightly flexed before burial and were often placed in baskets or wound and wrapped in reed mats. Disarticulated bones in some graves suggest that bodies may have been exposed in the open air for a time before the bones were gathered and buried. In some cases, graves were disturbed, and the individual’s head was removed from the skeleton. These heads may have been used in rituals, as some were found in other areas of the community. In a woman’s grave, spinning whorls (Weaving items) were recovered, and in a man’s grave, stone axes (such as a Mace head) were recovered.” ref, ref
Körtik Tepe: Pastoralists, Nomads, and Foragers?
“At Körtiktepe, the production of decorated symbolic items—including painted bone plaquettes—began during the Younger Dryas occupations, from the 11th millennium BCE or 13,000 to 12,000 years ago. The use of masculine animal imageries on cultural items, bone and stone plaquettes with hybrid-creatures, and decorated stone vessels in the burial contexts became extensive at the site from the very early phases of the Holocene occupations. Some of these characteristic symbols and cultural items (e.g., stone plaquettes with a hybrid-animal image, bone plaquettes with a supernatural scorpion image) only appeared in subsequent PPN sites (e.g., Gusir Höyük, Hasankeyf Höyük) during the later/final occupational period at Körtiktepe. Yet, at these PPN sites, such cultural items were encountered in a very limited number. Besides of its importance in the evolution of early Neolithic symbolism and production activities, the subsistence and settlement history of Körtiktepe also offers new scope to understand the Epipalaeolithic-Neolithic transition in southeast Anatolia, in particular the Upper Tigris Basin.” ref
“The making of string and cordage goes back a long way to the Palaeolithic period, first applied to bind various items and tools (e.g., harpoons) and to make objects such as nets, knotted as well as knotless. Some forms of twining and wrapping are net-like as well and may have developed as variations of simple netting, in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms (such as flat fabrics or bags). Earliest Evidence for Textile Technologies: at Çatalhöyük, there were remains of textiles, cordage, and basketry; woven textiles found in Çatalhöyük (6700–6500 BCE or around 8,700 to 8,500 years ago). Firm evidence of weaving has been attested in the first half of the 7th millennium BCE, or 9,000 to 8,000 years ago. Imprints of woven textiles on lumps of clay and wall plaster have been found at Jarmo and El Kowm 2, Telul eth-Thalatat, Tell Kashkashok, Tell el-’Oueili, and Tell es-Sawwan, all dated between 7000 and 6000 BCE. Preserved remains of tabby-woven textiles have been recovered from Çatalhöyük, Ulucak Höyük phase Vb (6400–6000 BCE), and Ilıpınar level X (6000 BCE or 8,000 years ago). A recent claim of early textile imprints from the PPNA site Körtik Tepe is not unequivocally documented. An impression in clay from Jerf el-Ahmar in Syria, dated 9500–8700 BCE, has been claimed as evidence for weaving, but the scale and imprints of straight grass stripes on an unpublished photo show that it is coiled basketry. As we have seen, the woven textiles from Çatalhöyük are dated 6700–6500 BCE. Currently, this makes them the earliest preserved woven textiles. The occurrence of spindle whorls, which, like evidence for looms in the form of loom weights, have been dated to the second half of the 7th millennium, at the site of Ulucak Höyük in central-west Anatolia: Turkey, similar to the ones found in Nahal Hemar in the Judean Desert near the Dead Sea. The earliest attestations of spindle whorls are in Syria and Mesopotamia about the same time, at the end of the 7th millennium BCE, or 9,000 to 8,000 years ago. Loom weights found in levels Va (6200-6000 BCE and IVb 5900-5800 BCE) at Ulucak Höyük are as yet the earliest evidence of the warp-weighted loom, which could have been used either for twining or for woven textiles. Several finds dated to the 5th and 4th millennia BCE or 7,000 to 6,000 and 6,000 to 5,000 years ago have been used as evidence for early looms. An early 4th-millennium BCE dish found at Badari, Egypt, shows a horizontal ground loom with four corner pegs, two warp beams, and three bars across the warp that are interpreted as shed, heddle, and beater. A cylinder seal from Susa, also dated to the 4th millennium, shows a similar item, although without crossing bars.” ref
“Some skulls were plastered and painted with ochre to recreate faces at Çatalhöyük, a custom more characteristic of Neolithic sites in Syria and Neolithic Jericho than at sites closer by. Vivid hunting and other ritual murals and figurines are found throughout the settlement on interior and exterior walls. Distinctive clay figurines of women, notably the Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük, have been found in the upper levels of the site. Although no identifiable temples have been found, the graves, murals, and figurines suggest that the people of Çatalhöyük had a religion rich in symbols. Rooms with concentrations of these items may have been shrines or public meeting areas. Predominant images include men with erect phalluses, hunting scenes, red images of the now extinct aurochs (wild cattle) and stags, and vultures swooping down on headless figures. Relief figures are carved on walls, such as of lionesses facing one another. Heads of animals, especially of cattle, were mounted on walls. A feature of Çatalhöyük is its female figurines. Mellaart, the original excavator, argued that these carefully made figurines, carved and molded from marble, blue and brown limestone, schist, calcite, basalt, alabaster, and clay, represented a female deity. Although a male deity existed as well, “statues of a female deity far outnumber those of the male deity, who moreover, does not appear to be represented at all after Level VI.” ref
“To date, eighteen levels have been identified. These figurines were found primarily in areas Mellaart believed to be shrines. The stately goddess seated on a throne flanked by two lionesses was found in a grain bin, which Mellaart suggests might have been a means of ensuring the harvest or protecting the food supply. They found one similar figurine, but the vast majority did not imitate the Mother Goddess style. There are full breasts on which the hands rest, and the stomach is extended in the central part. There is a hole in the top for the head, which is missing. As one turns the figurine around, one notices that the arms are very thin, and then on the back of the figurine, one sees a depiction of either a skeleton or the bones of a very thin and depleted human. The ribs and vertebrae are clear, as are the scapulae and the main pelvic bones. The figurine can be interpreted in a number of ways – as a woman turning into an ancestor, as a woman associated with death, or as death and life conjoined. It is possible that the lines around the body represent wrapping rather than ribs. Perhaps the importance of female imagery was related to some special role of the female in relation to death as much as to the roles of mother and nurturer. If one’s social status was of high importance in Çatalhöyük, the body and head were separated after death. The number of female and male skulls found during the excavations is almost equal; there is very little evidence of a mother goddess and very little evidence of some sort of female-based matriarchy.” ref
“Plastered skulls were one of the most prominent phenomena in Southwest Asia during the Neolithic period. These cult objects, observed in Anatolia and the Levant, are of particular importance since they were produced from the remains of people who lived during that time. Plastered skulls at Çatal Höyük at 7500-5600 BCE, Central Anatolia, and from Neolithic Tepecik-Çiftlik at 7500-5800 BCE, also from Central Anatolia (Türkiye/Turkey).” ref, ref, ref
“Cut marks related to the preparation phase and the presence of restoration phases of the plastering processes, for plastered skulls, and aids to understanding of the process of these ritualistic objects, with a focus on how these cult objects were produced. At Tepecik-Çiftlik, plastered skulls belong to young male and female adults and a child. The production and retention of such performative objects were generally influenced by various socio-(religion/spiritual)-cultural motivations. Research on mortuary practices has focused on rituals observed in Neolithic populations and their interrelationships, regional similarities and differences, as well as the ritualistic objects and spaces used as mediators. In this context, the position of plastered skulls as unique ritual elements in Anatolia and the Levant in the literature is significant. This importance is related, on the one hand, to the fact that the plastered skulls are direct skeletal remains of the people who lived at that time and, on the other hand, to the fact that they were transformed into performative agents through which various conceptualizations were developed, in a way that can be considered as an element of collective memory that was re-embodied through production. Plastered skulls found at Jericho in Palestine’s West Bank, were also found in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic settlements at ‘Ain Ghazal, Abu Suwwan, Kfar HaHoresh, Yiftahel, Tell Ramad, Beisamoun, Tell Aswad. Within Anatolia, plastered skulls have been found at Köşk Höyük, Tepecik-Çiftlik, and Çatalhöyük. Plastered skulls are among Neolithic human populations’ most ‘interesting’ mortuary practices. These types of finds, which have been considered reflective of ancestor cults, ancestral worship, and as relics (and/or heirlooms), have been discussed in most publications within the context of traces of shared cultural values in various regions and various dimensions of cultural interaction.” ref, ref
“One of these skulls belongs to a child, and the remainder to adult males and females. The plastered skulls may have been laid on or wrapped in mats and exposed either singly or in groups on a plaster surface inside the house. Among thirteen of these skulls, the mouths, noses, eyes, and ears were depicted with clay and painted with red ochre, while the remaining six were untreated. Two headless skeletons were also found in situ underneath the floor inside the house. One of these skeletons belongs to a child aged approximately 15–16 years old, and the other belongs to an adult female. The modeled human skulls were encountered in the second and third cultural levels of the Late Neolithic period, indicating that this characteristic mortuary practice lasted for quite a long time and likely disappeared by the Chalcolithic at Köşk Höyük.” ref
“Slingstones, almost 8,000 years ago in what is today’s Israel, weren’t used to hunt animals; instead, they show some of the Earliest Evidence of War in the Southern Levant.” ref
“Neolithic culture and technology were established in the Near East by 7000 BCE or 9,000 years ago and there is increasing evidence through the millennium of its spread or introduction to Europe and the Far East. In most of the world, however, including north and western Europe, people still lived in scattered Palaeolithic hunter-gatherer communities. The Mehrgarh Chalcolithic civilization began around 7000 BCE. The world population is believed to have been stable and slowly increasing. It has been estimated that there were perhaps ten million people worldwide at the end of this millennium, growing to forty million by 5000 BCE and 100 million by 1600 BCE, an average growth rate of 0.027% p.a. from the beginning of the Neolithic to the Middle Bronze Age.” ref
“Neolithic culture and technology had spread from the Near East and into Eastern Europe by 6000 BCE. Its development in the Far East grew apace, and there is increasing evidence through the millennium of its presence in prehistoric Egypt and the Far East. In much of the world, however, including Northern and Western Europe, people still lived in scattered Palaeolithic/Mesolithic hunter-gatherer communities. The world population is believed to have increased sharply, possibly quadrupling, as a result of the Neolithic Revolution. It has been estimated that there were perhaps forty million people worldwide at the end of this millennium, growing to 100 million by the Middle Bronze Age c. 1600 BCE.” ref
Arcane Herding paganism evolves into the paganism of Chiefdoms and kingdoms during the Copper Age/Chalcolithic period.
“8,500-year-old by-product from metal smelting, or ‘slag’, small handful of ‘slag’ samples, from the site of Çatalhöyük presents the conclusive reconstruction of events that led to the firing of a small handful of green copper minerals.” ref
“Possible early examples of lead smelting, supported by the extreme rarity of native lead, include: lead beads, found on Level IX of Chatal/Çatal Hüyük in central Anatolia, though they might be made of galena, cerussite, or metallic lead, and accordingly might or might not be evidence of early smelting.” ref
Early copper production by the last hunter-gatherers?
“The “Neolithic transformation” is characterized by major changes in human history, including advancements in cognitive skills, technological knowledge, social organization, and the establishment of permanent settlements with elaborate architecture. Around 12,000 years ago, Anatolia became a key region as hunter-gatherer communities transitioned to a settled lifestyle. Its rich natural resources, including lithic raw materials and metal ores, played a crucial role in supporting early human settlement and technological advancements. The origins of metallurgy have generally been classified following a sequence of technological development influenced by social and cultural organization. Archaeological evidence suggests that knowledge of copper utilization began as early as the Epipaleolithic era, while the earliest evidence for casting in Anatolia comes from Yumuktepe, dating to around 5000 BCE. Although cold working of native copper was observed in Çayönü around the end of the 8th millennium BCE, this process resembled the heat treatment of obsidian or flint during lithic production.” ref
“In Bhirrana, the earliest Indus civilization site, copper bangles and arrowheads were found. The inhabitants of Mehrgarh in present-day Pakistan fashioned tools with local copper ore between 7000 and 3300 BCE. Mehrgarh is one of the earliest known sites in South Asia showing evidence of farming and herding. It was influenced by the Neolithic culture of the Near East, with similarities between “domesticated wheat varieties, early phases of farming, pottery, other archaeological artefacts, some domesticated plants and herd animals.” ref, ref
“The Timna Valley contains evidence of copper mining in 7000–5000 BCE. The process of transition from Neolithic to Chalcolithic in the Middle East is characterized in archaeological stone tool assemblages by a decline in high-quality raw material procurement and use. This dramatic shift is seen throughout the region, including the Tehran Plain, Iran.” ref
“Some of the earliest Copper Age artifacts were found in the 5th and 6th millennia BCE archaeological sites of the Vinča culture, such as Majdanpek, Jarmovac, and Pločnik (including a copper axe from 5500 BCE). Somewhat later, in the 5th millennium BCE, metalwork is attested at Rudna Glava mine in Serbia, and at Ai Bunar mine in Bulgaria.” ref
“This region had already been settled by farming societies of the First Temperate Neolithic (such as the Starčevo culture), and during the Neolithic demographic transition, population sizes started to grow. During the Vinča period, improvements in technology and changes in the styles of pottery accelerated. Vinča settlements were considerably larger than almost all other contemporary European cultures (with the exception of Cucuteni–Trypillia culture), and in some instances, their size surpassed the cities of the Aegean and early Near Eastern Bronze Age a millennium later. A popular hypothesis is that the Vinča culture developed locally from the preceding Neolithic Starčevo culture, 6200 and 4500 BCE, part of the wider Starčevo–Körös–Criş culture which gave rise to the central European Linear Pottery culture c. 700 years after the initial spread of Neolithic farmers towards the northern Balkans.” ref, ref
“The early Starčevo culture from Hungary were analyzed. With regards to Y-DNA extracted, three belonged to subclades of G2a2, and two belonged to H2. mtDNA extracted were subclades of T1a2, K1a4a1, N1a1a1, W5 and X2d1. A 2018 study published in Nature analyzed three samples from Croatia and one from Serbia, they belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup C-CTS3151, H2-L281 and I2 while mtDNA haplogroup J1c2, K1a4a1, U5b2b and U8b1b1. In 2022 were analysed two samples, female from Grad-Starčevo with mtDNA haplogroup T2e2 and male from Vinča-Belo Brdo with Y-DNA haplogroup G2a2a1a3 and mtDNA haplogroup HV-16311. According to ADMIXTURE analysis, Starčevo samples had approximately 87-100% Early European Farmers, 0-9% Western Hunter-Gatherer and 0-10% Western Steppe Herders-related ancestry. A 2024 study published in Nature Human Behaviour tested 17 samples from Serbia, Croatia, Romania and Hungary, found Y-DNA haplogroups were G2a2b, G2a2b2a1a1c, G2a2a1a, G2a2a1a2a2a1, C1a2 (x2), R1b, H and F, while mtDNA haplogroups were H (x2), HV0a, J1c, J1b1, J2b1, J2b1d, K1a2, K1a4, K1a5, K1b1, K2, N1a1a, T2b (x2) and T2e.” ref
“The Vinča culture 5400–4500 BCE, Southeastern Europe (i.e. the Balkans), Y-DNA haplogroup G-M201 (G2a2a; G2a2a1; 2x G2a2a1a; G2a2b2a1a-PF3346), while the remaining sample belonged to haplogroup H-P96. Their maternal mtDNA haplogroups belonged to H, H3h2, H26, HV, K1a1, K1a4, K2a, T2b, T2c1, and U2 respectively. According to ADMIXTURE analysis they had approximately 90-97% Early European Farmers, 0-12% Western Hunter-Gatherer and 0-8% Western Steppe Herders-related ancestry, and were closest “to the samples from Neolithic Anatolia and to those of Transdanubia LBK and Starčevo, and from the Early Neolithic period from Germany … consistent with the presumed direction of Neolithic demic movement from Anatolia through the Balkans to central Europe.” ref
“In contrast, evidence for copper smelting in Anatolia and the Levant emerges much later, primarily in the Late Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age, with sites such as Norşun Tepe (Late Chalcolithic), Murgul (Late Chalcolithic/EBA-IA), Arslan Tepe (Late Chalcolithic/EBA-IA), Nevali Çori (EBA-1), Tülintepe (Chalcolithic), Tepecik (Chalcolithic), Shiqmim (Chalcolithic), and Abu Matar (Chalcolithic). Further evidence of metalworking, including furnace installation and related byproducts, remains scarce in these early contexts. Analytical studies on archaeological objects, native metals, and ores have established that Anatolia, where resources were relatively abundant, as one of the primary regions for the emergence of metallurgical traditions. In recent decades, it is argued that the origins of metallurgy appear to have followed a long-term innovation process in prehistoric societies and been influenced by independent local patterns. Technological development in metallurgy is assumed to be coupled with social organization and economic systems, as reflected in urban planning and cultural practices during the early Neolithic period. Here, we present the earliest evidence of advanced techniques for copper production during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period at Gre Fılla, Turkey. Even though the number of artifacts related to copper production is limited at the site, we provide information on the early human understanding of copper’s properties and contribute to our understanding of how skill and knowledge developed from the Neolithic to the Chalcolithic periods. We also propose a behavioral approach for the origins of metallurgy that conceptualizes technological innovation as an integrated element of the complex process of neolithization, characterized by regional variations and potential reversals.” ref
“The oldest copper with a mold is a copper Mace Head dated to 8,000 from Can Hasan (distance from Can Hasan to Catal Hoyuk is 97 miles), seven layers have been identified in the mound. These layers, from the most recent (upper) to the oldest (lower), are as follows: Layer 1 – Late Chalcolithic Age (comprising six architectural phases), Layer 2 Phase 2A – Middle Chalcolithic Age, Phase 2B – Transition from Early to Middle Chalcolithic Age, Layer 3 – Early Chalcolithic Age, Layers 4 to 7 – Late Neolithic Age. In Turkey, at Körtik Tepe, Mace Heads are dated to be slightly older than 12,000 years ago, and at Hallan Cemi, Turkey, they are dated to 9500–8500 BCE, or approximately 11,500 years old. In Mesopotamia, the earliest mace-heads can also be traced back to around this time, or equivalent to the PPN period (8300–6000 BCE or around 10,300 years old). The mace-head is more than a weapon. It is a unique object that has a ritual role symbolizing one’s authority and prestige.” ref, ref
“In eastern Turkey, a grave, dated to around 8,000 years ago, is believed to be one of the oldest and most significant discoveries in the region. The grave contained the remains of a single individual, buried with a collection of artifacts, including a copper axe, a flint knife, and a pottery vessel. The discovery provides valuable insights into the lives and customs of ancient civilizations. Results suggest that the grave may belong to a member of a previously unknown culture or tribe.” ref
“Copper manufacturing gradually appeared in the Yangshao period (5000–3000 BCE). Jiangzhai is the only site where copper artifacts were found in the Banpo culture. Archaeologists have found remains of copper metallurgy in various cultures from the late fourth to the early third millennia BCE. These include the copper-smelting remains and copper artifacts of the Hongshan culture (4700–2900 BCE) and copper slag at the Yuanwozhen site. This indicates that inhabitants of the Yellow River valley had already learned how to make copper artifacts by the later Yangshao period.” ref
Chalcolithic Ancestors became kings and heads of both the state and its state religion, such as the gods chosen by each early city-state in Mesopotamia.
“The Chalcolithic or Copper Age is the transitional period between the Neolithic and the Bronze Age. It is taken to begin around the mid-5th millennium BC, and ends with the beginning of the Bronze Age proper, in the late 4th to 3rd millennium BCE, depending on the region. The Chalcolithic is part of prehistory, but based on archaeological evidence, the emergence of the first state societies can be inferred, notably in the Fertile Crescent (notably Sumer) Predynastic Egypt, and Proto-Minoan Crete, with late Neolithic societies of comparable complexity emerging in the Indus Valley (Mehrgarh), China, and along the north-western shores of the Black Sea. The development of states—large-scale, populous, politically centralized, and socially stratified polities/societies governed by powerful rulers—marks one of the major milestones in the evolution of human societies. Archaeologists often distinguish between primary (or pristine) states and secondary states. Primary states evolved independently through largely internal developmental processes rather than through the influence of any other pre-existing state. The earliest known primary states appeared in Anatolia c. 5200 BCE, in Mesopotamia c. 3700 BCE, in Greece c. 3500 BCE, in Egypt c. 3300 BCE, and in the Indus Valley c. 3300 BCE.” ref
“Copper can be found in Ötzi the Iceman, the ancient mummy found in the Alps who lived around 3300 years BCE, was doing at 3,210 metres (10,530 ft) of altitude is that he could have been prospecting for new ores of minerals. Some items found with the Iceman were a copper axe with a yew handle, a chert-bladed knife with an ash handle, and a quiver of 14 arrows with viburnum and dogwood shafts.” ref, ref
“A city-state is an independent sovereign city that serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. City-states have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, as well as “possibly” back into prehistory to a limited extent, like maybe have been at sites like Çatal Höyük or in the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture (5,050-2,950 BCE) of Southeast Europe. Historical city-states included Sumerian cities such as Eridu, Uruk, and Ur; Ancient Egyptian city-states, such as Thebes and Memphis.” ref, ref, ref, ref
“Sumer (/ˈsuːmər/) is the earliest known civilization, located in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (now south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. Like nearby Elam, it is one of the cradles of civilization, along with Egypt, the Indus Valley, the Erligang culture of the Yellow River valley, Caral-Supe, and Mesoamerica. Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Sumerian farmers grew an abundance of grain and other crops, a surplus of which enabled them to form urban settlements. The world’s earliest known texts come from the Sumerian cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr, and date to between c. 3350 – c. 2500 BCE, following a period of proto-writing c. 4000 – c. 2500 BCE. Evidence strongly suggests that the first farming originated in the Fertile Crescent. Most historians have suggested that Sumer was first permanently settled between c. 5500 and c. 3300 BCE by a West Asian people who spoke the Sumerian language (pointing to the names of cities, rivers, basic occupations, etc., as evidence). Some scholars associate the Sumerians with the Hurrians and Urartians, and suggest the Caucasus as their homeland. This is not generally accepted. (I certainly think Sumerians came from a more northerly direction, such as Northern Mesopotamia (North Syria, Southeastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, Southern Caucasus, or Northwestern Iran). Scarce DNA analysis of human skeletal material from various archaeological sites in Upper Mesopotamia (none of which dated to the Ubaid period) provides some evidence for genetic links with other regions, but also provides evidence for continuity within Mesopotamia.” ref
“In the south, corresponding to the area that would later be known as Sumer, the entire Ubaid period extends from ca. 6500 to 3800 BCE, the oldest known Ubaid site, Tell el-‘Oueili, 6500-5400 BCE. Sumerians were a prehistoric people who lived in the region before the Sumerians have been termed the “Proto-Euphrateans” or “Ubaidians“, and are theorized to have evolved from the Samarra culture of northern Mesopotamia. The Ubaidians, though never mentioned by the Sumerians themselves, are assumed by modern-day scholars to have been the first civilizing force in Sumer. They drained the marshes for agriculture, developed trade, and established industries, including weaving, leatherwork, metalwork, masonry, and pottery. In Southern Mesopotamia, this period marks the earliest known human settlements on the alluvial plain, although it is likely that earlier periods exist that are obscured under the alluvium. In the south, the Ubaid period (5500–3700 BCE, approximately 7,500 years ago) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia that spans a very long duration, from about 5500 to 3800 BCE, when it is replaced by the Uruk period. In Northern Mesopotamia the period runs only between about 5300 and 4300 BCE. It is preceded by the Halaf period and the Halaf-Ubaid Transitional period and succeeded by the Late Chalcolithic period. The majority of Ubaid figurines represented various animals, including sheep, cattle, and dogs. Human figurines were already present in previous periods. The majority of the human figures are female, but male and figurines without gender emphasis exist as well. Those from the early Ubaid reflect a continuation of earlier traditions. In the earlier Ubaid, ophidian figures were only used in domestic contexts, whereas in Ubaid 3-4, they appear in graves as well, indicating a shift in how these figures were used. The rarity of ophidian figures as grave gifts may indicate differential treatment of the dead, possibly based on age, kinship, or social standing.” ref, ref
“Evidence for metallurgy comes from several sites in Upper Mesopotamia, all dating to the final stages of the Ubaid period. At Mersin, Level XVI (5000-4900 BCE), unalloyed copper pins and chisels were found. At southeastern Anatolian sites such as Değirmentepe and Norşuntepe, metallurgical production was practiced during the Ubaid 3, as evidenced by furnaces and related finds. At late fifth millennium Tell Nader, northern Iraq, kilns were excavated that may have been used for the production of both pottery and metal. Copper objects are also known from the Ubaid levels at Tepe Gawra (XVII-XII) and Tell Arpachiyah. Copper objects were absent in the Ubaid levels at Eridu and ‘Oueili, possibly indicating that copper use spread southward from the north. However, copper may have been traded, as it was present in elite burials of the Susa I (terminal Ubaid) necropolis at Susa, east of the Tigris. In general, copper objects seem to be very rare, and gold has not been found at Ubaid sites. Stamp seals had been in use in Upper Mesopotamia since the seventh millennium BCE. By the time of the Ubaid period, a wide range of motifs had developed, including geometric patterns and depictions of animals and occasionally, humans. The Ubaid period saw the first depictions of ibex-headed and bird-headed humans. By the fifth millennium BCE, children and adults were given differing treatments in death. The available evidence indicates that infants were primarily buried inside the settlement, often near larger, presumably more important dwellings, and often in pots. The association of child burials with larger buildings is well-illustrated at the sites of Tell Abada and Tepe Gawra. It has been suggested that this pattern of child burials near larger dwellings was related to increasing social differentiation between kin groups. Adults, on the other hand, were buried at the edge of the settlement in communal burial grounds in pit burials or inside clay boxes. Such burial grounds have, for example, been excavated at Eridu, 5500 – 5300 BCE, considered the earliest city in southern Mesopotamia based on the Sumerian King List; the city gods of Eridu were Enki and his consort Damkina.” ref, ref
“Tell Zeidan provides a wealth of information on the animal bone assemblage, which changed considerably from the Halaf to the Ubaid period. During the Halaf, some 50% of the animal bones came from wild species (indicative of hunting), whereas during the Ubaid, more than 90% represented domesticated species (indicative of herding and keeping animals). Common animals were sheep, goat, cattle, and pigs. A comparison with other Ubaid sites in northern Mesopotamia showed that, in general, pastoralism became more important and reliance on wild fauna decreased somewhat, but this pattern was not so evident at other sites as it was at Zeidan. There was no indication at Zeidan that there was spatial differentiation across the site in how animal products were consumed, suggesting that foodstuffs were not a means to express social differentiation. During the late Ubaid period, around 4500–4000 BCE, there was some increase in social polarization, with central houses in the settlements becoming larger. But there were no real cities until the later Uruk period.” ref
“Evidence for the production of wool is ambiguous and mostly indirect. Wool-bearing sheep have been clearly attested in Uruk-period sites, and the domestication of sheep and goat started in the ninth millennium BC, but exactly when wool-production emerged between those two fixed points is unclear. There is some evidence for emerging wool production in the fifth millennium BCE, i.e. late Ubaid. Some of the earliest evidence comes in the form of an animal figurine from Iran, dated to c. 5000 BCE, with incised decorations that might possibly represent wool. At Kosak Shamali, an Ubaid site in northern Syria, indirect evidence for wool production has been found in the form of spindle whorls, clay scrapers, and a clay sealing with a cord impression that might have come from rope spun from wool fibers. The animal bone assemblage at this site had a large percentage of domesticated sheep and goat, with changes in the assemblage suggesting that the production of secondary products (such as wool and milk) became more important toward the late Ubaid and the Uruk period. The spindle whorls from Kosak Shamali, and also those from Telul eth-Thalathat II (northern Iraq), gradually decreased in weight, which could indicate that more and more finer-quality or softer fibers were spun. At Tell Surezha (Iraqi Kurdistan), evidence from animal bones also suggests that wool production may have been important.” ref
“During the Ubaid Period (5000–4000 BCE), the movement toward urbanization began. “Agriculture and animal husbandry [domestication] were widely practiced in sedentary communities”. There were also tribes who practiced domesticating animals as far north as Turkey, and as far south as the Zagros Mountains. The Ubaid period in the south was associated with intensive irrigated hydraulic agriculture, and the use of the plough, both introduced from the north, possibly through the earlier Choga Mami, Hadji Muhammed, and Samarra cultures. The Ubaid period as a whole, based upon the analysis of grave goods, was one of increasingly polarized social stratification and decreasing egalitarianism. Bogucki describes this as a phase of “Trans-egalitarian” competitive households, in which some fall behind as a result of downward social mobility. Morton Fried and Elman Service have hypothesised that the Ubaid culture saw the rise of an elite class of hereditary chieftains, perhaps heads of kin groups linked in some way to the administration of the temple shrines and their granaries, responsible for mediating intra-group conflict and maintaining social order.” ref
“The Uruk period (c. 4000 to 3100 BCE; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization. The late Uruk period (34th to 32nd centuries BCE) saw the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age; it has also been described as the “Protoliterate period.” It was during this period that pottery painting declined as copper started to become popular, along with cylinder seals. Anu/ White Temple ziggurat at Uruk. The original pyramidal structure, the “Anu Ziggurat” dates to around 4000 BCE, and the White Temple was built on top of it circa 3500 BCE. Mesopotamian king as Master of Animals on the Gebel el-Arak Knife, dated circa 3300-3200 BCE, Abydos, Egypt. This work of art suggests early Egypt-Mesopotamia relations, showing the influence of Mesopotamia on Egypt at an early date, and the state of Mesopotamian royal iconography during the Uruk period. Similar portrait of a probable Uruk King-Priest with a brimmed round hat and large beard, excavated in Uruk and dated to 3300 BCE.” ref
“Granaries were initially positioned in areas between other buildings, approximately 11,500 years ago. However, around 10,500 years ago, they were relocated inside houses, and by 9,500 years ago, storage had shifted to specialized rooms. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic was characterized by a contact and genetic continuum network between Anatolian hunter-gatherers, Natufians, and Iranian hunter-gatherers, primarily along two clines. The PPN-associated ancestry, Mesopotamian, represented by the two Nemrik 9 specimens (PPNA) from present-day Iraq as well as the Mardin specimen from present-day Turkey, formed by the admixture of those three sources, and was positioned close to a central position between them, pointing to nearly equal amounts of derived ancestry components. These Mesopotamian samples displayed relatively close affinities to the Aknashen Neolithic remains in Armenia and to a Neolithic sample from Azerbaijan, as well as to those from Iraq (Bestansur and Shandiar). The PPN-associated ancestry in Anatolia and the Levant was primarily positioned along a cline between Anatolian hunter-gatherer and Natufian sources, with variable amounts of gene flow, but generally closer to Anatolian sources. PPN-associated ancestry in Cyprus (PPNB) is closely related to Anatolian remains. During this time, pottery was not yet in use in the Middle East, but for around 10,000-year-old pottery found in several genetically related sites in Central Turkey, first at Boncuklu Höyük (8300 BCE), then at Aşıklı Höyük (8,200 BCE), and finally at Çatal Höyük (7500 BCE).” ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
“It is believed that the first pottery in Africa was made by the people in Nubia, which is now modern-day Sudan, around 8000 BCE. One of the earliest examples of African pottery was found in central Africa, dating back to around 9,000 BCE.” ref
“Archaeologists have defined a number of regional variants of Pre-Pottery Neolithic A:
- (Aswadian) in the Damascus Basin, defined by finds from Tell Aswad IA; typical: bipolar cores, big sickle blades, Aswad points. The PPNB horizon was moved back at this site, to around 10,700 years ago.
- Mureybetian in the Northern Levant, defined by the finds from Mureybet IIIA, IIIB, typical: Helwan points, sickle-blades with base amenagée or short stem and terminal retouch. Other sites include Sheyk Hasan and Jerf el Ahmar.
- Sites in “Upper Mesopotamia” include 10700 BCE Körtik Tepe, Çayönü (8,630 BCE), and Göbekli Tepe (9500 BCE), with the latter possibly being the oldest ritual complex yet discovered.
- Sites in central Anatolia that include the ‘mother city’ Çatalhöyük and the smaller, but older site, rivaling even Jericho in age, Aşıklı Höyük, or even older, Boncuklu Höyük.
- Sultanian in the Jordan River valley and southern Levant, with the type site of Jericho. Other sites include Netiv HaGdud, El-Khiam, Hatoula, and Nahal Oren.” ref
“Agricultural and husbandry practices originated 10,000 years ago in a region of the Near East known as the Fertile Crescent. According to the archaeological record as well as genetics, this phenomenon, known as the “Neolithic”, rapidly expanded from the Middle East. PPNB individuals had ancestry from the Levantine Epipaleolithic, Anatolian Neolithic, Iranian Neolithic, and Caucasus Hunter-Gatherers. The PPNB in general exhibited strong evidence of gene flow from populations related to Anatolia compared to the earlier Natufian hunter-gatherers. PPN individuals from Ain Ghazal, further to the north in Jordan, had a stronger genetic affinity with Anatolia than the PPN of Ba’ja, although not significantly so. The Levant Neolithic samples from PPNB to PPNC were a mix of a component related to Natufians, and another lineage related to Anatolian farmers from Barcin and Mentese. In another study of PPNB, the Levant was modeled as having 60.5% Israel Natufian Epipaleolithic-related ancestry and 39.5% Turkey Barcin Neolithic ancestry. Later, geneticists discovered that the ancient DNA of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia and Anatolia showed that these populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers. DNA analysis has also confirmed ancestral ties between the Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture bearers and the makers of the Epipaleolithic Iberomaurusian culture of North Africa, the Mesolithic Natufian culture of the Levant, the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic culture of East Africa, the Early Neolithic Cardium culture of Morocco, and the Ancient Egyptian culture of the Nile Valley, with fossils associated with these early cultures all sharing a common genomic West Eurasian/Near-Eastern component. Mesolithic Natufians cluster the closest with modern Saudi Arabians, Desert Bedouins, and Yemenis. The Natufians were also close to, and ancestral to, the ancient Levant PPNB/C and the later Levantine Bronze Age samples. From the Neolithic period onwards, the area’s location at the center of three trade routes linking three continents made it a meeting place for religious and cultural influences from Egypt, Syria, Mesopotamia, and Asia Minor. Coastal route, the Via Maris, connecting Gaza and the coast of Philistia north to Joppa and Megiddo, travelling north through Byblos to Phoenicia, and Anatolia. Hill route through the Negev, Kadesh Barnea, to Hebron and Jerusalem, and then north to Samaria, Shechem, Shiloh, Beth Shean and Hazor, and thence to Kadesh and Damascus. The Kings Highway, north from Eilat, east of the Jordan through Amman to Damascus, and connected to the “frankincense road” north from Yemen and South Arabia.” ref, ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
New Grasp of the Evolution of Religion
I see the big snake in the Master of animials at “Kortik Tepe” as a representation of the Milky Way/Rainbow, and the shaman’s body with lines (like lines on tally sticks) is also a reference to the Milky Way/Rainbow, which is also the same as the snake in his hand, showing he has power over/uses the Milky Way/Rainbow, as well as the snake on his forhead, a snake symbol of his power over the Milky Way/Rainbow.
I see the Milky Way and Rainbows (duality: like yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces) as a similar connected themes in the duality of day and night, like the sun and the moon mythology.
“The Galactic Center is the barycenter of the Milky Way and a corresponding point on the rotational axis of the galaxy. The Galactic Center is approximately 8 kiloparsecs (26,000 ly) away from Earth in the direction of the constellations Sagittarius, Ophiuchus, and Scorpius, where the Milky Way appears brightest, visually close to the Butterfly Cluster (M6) or the star Shaula, south to the Pipe Nebula.” ref
“The sun or other source of light is usually behind the person seeing the rainbow. In fact, the center of a primary rainbow is the antisolar point, the imaginary point exactly opposite the sun. Rainbows are actually full circles. The antisolar point is the center of the circle. Because each person’s horizon is a little different, no one actually sees a full rainbow from the ground. In fact, no one sees the same rainbow—each person has a different antisolar point, each person has a different horizon. A fogbow is formed in much the same way as a primary rainbow. A moonbow, also called a lunar rainbow, is a rainbow produced by light reflected by the moon. Rainbows are part of the myths of many cultures around the world. Rainbows are often portrayed as bridges between people and supernatural beings. In the ancient beliefs of Japan and Gabon, rainbows were the bridges that human ancestors took to descend to the planet. The shape of a rainbow also resembles the bow of an archer. Hindu culture teaches that the god Indra uses his rainbow bow to shoot arrows of lightning. Rainbows are usually positive symbols in myths and legends. In the Epic of Gilgamesh and, later, the Christian Bible, the rainbow is a symbol from a deity (the goddess Ishtar and the Hebrew God) to never again destroy Earth with floods. Sometimes, however, rainbows are negative symbols. In parts of Burma, for instance, rainbows are considered demons that threaten children. Tribes throughout the Amazon Basin associate rainbows with disease.” ref
Milky Way is related to Dogs/dog-like: Wolf
“A Cherokee folktale tells of a dog who stole some cornmeal and was chased away. He ran away to the north, spilling the cornmeal along the way. The Milky Way is thus called ᎩᎵ ᎤᎵᏒᏍᏓᏅᏱ (Gili Ulisvsdanvyi) “Where the dog ran.” ref
“Most American Indian tribes used the stars as indicators of the time for seasonal ceremonies and their position when they were traveling across the land, but only one tribe was called the Star People. These were the Pawnee, they became part of the Caddoan tribes, who called them ‘Awahi,’ the Star People. The term ‘Caddo’ meant ‘true chiefs,’ and these people were descendents of the Mound Builders, who worshipped the Serpent and the Star. The Star that fell to earth was represented by a secret fire. The Caddo, as well as the early Pawnee, may have been influenced in their stellar cosmology by the more southern tribes, including the Maya. The Skiri (Wolf band) became so dominant among the Pawnee that other tribes called the Pawnee the Wolf People and the sign for ‘wolf’ came to mean ‘Pawnee.’ The Pawnee differ from other tribes in not following the positions of the Sun or the phases of the Moon; instead, they follow the Stars. Next to the Great Chief Star (Polaris, the North Star), three stars form an arc, representing the Medicine Man, his wife and their errand man. Pawnee Chiefs use the smoke hole in their lodges to sight the Stars known as the Council of Chiefs (Corona Borealis) passing overhead at dawn. The Stars announce the cycle of rebirth and renewal. Festivals are held at night, when the people can see the Stars, and planting ceremonies are held around midnight, when the seven stars of the Chaka (the Women) or Pleiades are directly overhead. The most important Stars are called the Swimming Ducks. These are the two bright Stars in the tail and stinger of the constellation of Scorpio, Lambda Scorpii and Upsilon Scorpii. When they are seen in the twilight of the southeastern sky before sunrise, the Pawnee know it is time to begin the ceremonies of spring, as soon as the first rolling thunder of spring is heard. The Milky Way is the ghost pathway of departed spirits. Just above the Milky Way is a spot devoid of any stars, and this is where the spirits of the dead return to the place beyond the Stars. The Milky Way is divided into two parts, one for those who died of natural causes and the other for people who died prematurely, as in battle. The Stars of the east are male Stars, and the greatest among them is a red Star known as Morning Star. Stars considered to be stationed in the west are female, and the most important one is a bright white Star called the Evening Star. The Morning Star is the planet Mars, and the Evening Star is the planet Venus. The appearance of the Wolf Star (Sirius) signifies the Wolf coming and going from the spirit world, running down the bright white trail of the Milky Way, which is also called the Wolf Road.” ref
“Canis Major is a constellation in the southern celestial hemisphere. In the second century, it was included in Ptolemy‘s 48 constellations, and is counted among the 88 modern constellations. Its name is Latin for “greater dog” in contrast to Canis Minor, the “lesser dog”; both figures are commonly represented as following the constellation of Orion the hunter through the sky. The Milky Way passes through Canis Major and several open clusters lie within its borders, most notably M41. Canis Major contains Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, known as the “dog star”. It is bright because of its proximity to the Solar System and its intrinsic brightness. In ancient Mesopotamia, Sirius, named KAK.SI.SA2 by the Babylonians, was seen as an arrow aiming towards Orion, while the southern stars of Canis Major and a part of Puppis were viewed as a bow, named BAN in the Three Stars Each tablets, dating to around 1100 BCE. In the later compendium of Babylonian astronomy and astrology titled MUL.APIN, the arrow, Sirius, was also linked with the warrior Ninurta, and the bow with Ishtar, daughter of Enlil. Ninurta was linked to the later deity Marduk, who was said to have slain the ocean goddess Tiamat (whose severed tail was the Milky way) with a great bow, and worshipped as the principal deity in Babylon. The Ancient Greeks replaced the bow and arrow depiction with that of a dog.” ref, ref
“The mischievous deity Coyote grew annoyed with the slowness of their process and exasperatedly threw the bag of unplaced stars up over his head and into the sky. This scattering formed the Milky Way, the stars of which cannot be named because they were not properly placed.” ref
“One day Black God was busy making the constellations by carefully ordering the stars in the sky when Coyote became impatient and tossed the remaining stars from a bag, or occasionally a blanket, into the sky, forming the Milky Way. This story explains the reason some stars are dimmer than others, because Black God did not light the ones Coyote blew into the sky on fire. In another version of the story, Black God made the Milky Way on purpose. The Navajo believe it provides a pathway for the spirits traveling between heaven and earth, each little star being one footprint. The general view of Coyote in folk belief is generally negative and related to witchcraft. Witches called skin-walkers are believed to be able to adopt the form of a coyote.” ref
Rainbow related to Dogs/dog-like: Silver Gray Fox/Coyote
“An Achomawi Myth, of the First Rainbow, indigenous tribal people from northeastern California. The animals held a great feast to honor the rainbow, Silver Gray Fox, Spider Woman, the Spider Twins, Coyote, and the hard work everyone had done together.” ref
“There is an old legend in Japan that states when the sun is shining through the rain, the kitsune (foxes) have their weddings. In this first dream, a boy defies the wish of a woman, possibly his mother, to remain at home during a day with such weather. From behind a large tree in the nearby forest, he witnesses the slow wedding procession of the kitsune. Unfortunately, he is spotted by the foxes and runs. When he tries to return home, the same woman says that a fox had come by the house, leaving behind a tantō knife. The woman gives the knife to the boy, implying that he must commit suicide. The woman asks the boy to go and beg forgiveness from the foxes, although they are known to be unforgiving, refusing to let him in unless he does so. The boy sets off into the mountains, towards the place under the rainbow in search for the kitsune’s home.” ref
Milky Way as a Path
“Birds’ Path” is used in several Uralic and Turkic languages and in the Baltic languages. Northern peoples observed that migratory birds follow the course of the galaxy while migrating at the Northern Hemisphere. The name “Birds’ Path” (in Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Bashkir and Kazakh) has some variations in other languages, e.g. “Way of the grey (wild) goose” in Chuvash, Mari and Tatar and “Way of the Crane” in Erzya and Moksha.” ref
“Among the Finns, Estonians and related peoples, the Milky Way was and is called “The Pathway of the Birds” (Finnish: Linnunrata, Estonian: Linnutee). The Finns observed that migratory birds used the galaxy as a guideline to travel south, where they believed Lintukoto (bird home) was. The name in the Indo-European Baltic languages has the same meaning (Lithuanian: Paukščių Takas, Latvian: Putnu Ceļš).” ref
“In Estonian folklore it is believed that the birds are led by a white bird with the head of a maiden who chases birds of prey away. The maiden, the goddess Lindu, was the Queen of the Birds and the daughter of Ukko, the King of the Sky. After refusing the suits of the Sun and Moon for being too predictable in their routes and the Pole Star for being fixed, she fell in love with the Light of North for its beauty. They became engaged, but the inconstant Light of North left her soon afterward. The tears of the broken-hearted Lindu fell on her wedding veil, which became the Milky Way when her father brought her to heaven so she could reign by his side and guide the migrating birds, who followed the trail of stars in her veil. Only later did scientists indeed confirm this observation; the migratory birds use the Milky Way as a guide to travel to warmer, southern lands during the winter.” ref
“Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris (Latinized to Alpha Ursae Minoris) and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. The position of the star lies less than 1° away from the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star. The stable position of the star in the Northern Sky makes it useful for navigation. The ancient name of the constellation Ursa Minor, Cynosura (from the Greek κυνόσουρα “the dog’s tail”), became associated with the pole star in particular by the early modern period. Its name in traditional pre-Islamic Arab astronomy was al-Judayy الجدي (“the kid”, in the sense of a juvenile goat [“le Chevreau”] in Description des Etoiles fixes), and that name was used in medieval Islamic astronomy as well. In traditional Lakota star knowledge, Polaris is named “Wičháȟpi Owáŋžila”. This translates to “The Star that Sits Still”. This name comes from a Lakota story in which he married Tȟapȟúŋ Šá Wíŋ, “Red Cheeked Woman”. However, she fell from the heavens, and in his grief Wičháȟpi Owáŋžila stared down from “waŋkátu” (the above land) forever. In the ancient Finnish worldview, the North Star has also been called taivaannapa and naulatähti (“the nailstar”) because it seems to be attached to the firmament or even to act as a fastener for the sky when other stars orbit it. Since the starry sky seemed to rotate around it, the firmament is thought of as a wheel, with the star as the pivot on its axis. The names derived from it were sky pin and world pin.” ref
“The celestial pole also marked the place where the heavens were upheld by the world tree which had its branches in the sky, and its roots in the underworld below the land where people lived, and up which the shaman could climb to intervene with the gods. the pole star has been called the Nail Star, or northern nail. The celestial pole also marked the place where the heavens were upheld by the world tree which had its branches in the sky, and its roots in the underworld below the land where people lived, and up which the shaman could climb to intervene with the gods. This central axis of the world, about which the rest appears to revolve, has also been visualized as a mountain or a pillar. The celestial pole is not always marked by a star, or by the same star, for the Earth’s poles swing round in a circle during called precession. Polaris (in the tail of the Little Bear) which is nearly at the North Pole today was 3.5 degrees away in the 16th century, seven degrees away at the time of the Vikings. Four to five thousand years ago α-Draconis was the pole star. 8,000 years ago, it was τ-Hercules. 13,000 years ago, the nearest star to the pole was bright Vega, and this will be the Pole Star in thirteen thousand years’ time.” ref
“In a Khanti story from Western Siberia: “There is a mill which grinds by itself, swings of itself, and scatters the dust a hundred versts away. And there is a golden pole with a golden eagle on top which is also the Nail of the North. And there is a very wise tomcat which climbs up and down this pole. When he climbs down, he sings songs, and when he climbs up, he tells tales.” Before it was known that the Earth was spherical, in the Chinese Kai Tian (Heavenly Cover) theory of the universe, the heavens were like a bowl covering a square Earth (the Chinese Earth was symbolically square) which was domed in the center. The Great Bear constellation was in the middle of the heavens, people lived on the middle of the Earth. Rain filled a great ditch around the square Earth. The heavens were round and “rotated like a mill” from right to left, carrying with them the Sun and Moon which also had their own separate slower motions in the opposite direction. The Sun was seen as travelling round the celestial pole lighting first one then another part of the Earth’s surface, its distance from the pole varying according to the season. The changing seasons were also explained by the heavens sliding up and down the celestial pole as they rotated round so the North pole was further from the Earth in summer than in winter.” ref
Rainbow as a Path
“In Greek mythology, the goddess Iris personifies the rainbow. In many stories, such as the Iliad, she carries messages from the gods to the human world, thus forming a link between heaven and earth. Iris’s messages often concerned war and retribution. In some myths, the rainbow merely represents the path made by Iris as she flies.” In Navajo tradition, the rainbow is the path of the holy spirits, and is frequently depicted in sacred sandpaintings.” ref
Milky Way is related to a bridge
“Before the invention of the telescope, the Milky Way was observed only as a hazy band of light in which no individual stars could be distinguished. This mythical band is the source of many myths around the world, and different in various cultures.” ref
“There are many myths and legends about the origin of the Milky Way, the crowd of stars that makes a distinctive bright streak across the night sky. Milky Way (mythology) in Eastern Asian and Chinese mythology, the hazy band of stars of the Milky Way was referred to as the “River of Heaven” or the “Silvery River”. The Silvery River of Heaven is part of a Chinese folk tale, The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, of the romance between Zhinü, the weaver girl, symbolizing the star Vega, and Niulang, the cowherd, symbolizing the star Altair. Their love was not allowed, and they were banished to opposite sides of the heavenly river. Once a year, on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, a flock of crows and magpies would form a bridge over the heavenly river to reunite the lovers for a single day. That day is celebrated as Qixi, literally meaning ‘Seventh.” ref
“In Hungarian mythology, Csaba, the mythical son of Attila the Hun and ancestor of the Hungarians, is supposed to ride down the Milky Way when the Székelys (ethnic Hungarians living in Transylvania) are threatened. Thus the Milky Way is called “The Road of the Warriors” (lit. “Road of Armies”) Hungarian: Hadak Útja. The stars are sparks from their horseshoes.” ref
Rainbow is related to a bridge
“Bifröst, a burning rainbow bridge that reaches between Midgard (Earth) and Asgard (the realm of the gods) is described in 13th century Norse mythology in both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda. Scholars have proposed that the bridge may have originally represented the Milky Way.” ref
“Shamans among Siberia‘s Buryats speak of ascending to the sky-spirit world by way of the rainbow.” ref
“Among the Chachi or Cayapa of Ecuador the rainbow is said by some to be a bridge used by cave and hill spirits, as well as river spirits (Neil Wiebe, p.c. from Alfredo Salazar, 1982). Here the rainbow itself is not said to live in a cave, but it connects with caves to allow nature spirits that live there to travel to other locations.” ref
Milky Way is related to a river
“The Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains in South Australia see the band of the Milky Way as a river in the sky world. They called it Wodliparri (wodli = hut, house, parri = river) and believe that positioned along the river are a number of campfires. In addition, the dark patches mark the dwelling place of a dangerous creature known as a yura; the Kaurna call these patches Yurakauwe, which literally means “monster water.” The Aranda or Arrernte people, who come from Central Australia, see the band of the Milky Way as a river or creek in the sky world. This stellar river separates the two great camps of the Aranda and Luritja people. The stars to the east of this river represent the camps of the Aranda and the stars to the west represent Luritja encampments and some stars closer to the band represent a mixture of both. A group of Yolngu people from the Ramingining area in central Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory have a Dreaming story known as “Milky Way Dreaming”. In this story, which relates to the land, two spirit beings in the form of female quolls attacked their husband. The husband becomes a glider possum, gathers his warriors, and returns to kill them with spears. The spirits of the quolls transform into a type of freshwater fish, but they are caught in the creek nearby by the husband’s tribesmen and eaten. Their bones are collected by their brother, Wäk, aka the crow man, and put into a hollow log coffin. The Badurru Ceremony is performed and the coffin carried into the sky by the crow and his kin. The bones are then dispersed and form the Milky Way.” ref
“In Eastern Asian and Chinese mythology, the hazy band of stars of the Milky Way was referred to as the “River of Heaven” or the “Silvery River” (simplified Chinese: 银河; traditional Chinese: 銀河; pinyin: yínhé; Korean: 은하; RR: eunha; Vietnamese: ngân hà; Japanese: 銀河, romanized: ginga). In the Hindu collection of stories called Bhagavata Purana, all the visible stars and planets moving through space are likened to a dolphin that swims through the water, and the heavens are called śiśumãra cakra, the dolphin disc. The Milky Way forms the abdomen of the dolphin and is called Akasaganga which means “The Ganges River of the Sky.” ref
“In Irish mythology, the main name of the Milky Way was Bealach na Bó Finne — Way of the White Cow. It was regarded as a heavenly reflection of the sacred River Boyne, which is described as “the Great Silver Yoke” and the “White Marrow of Fedlimid,” names which could equally apply to the Milky Way. (Mór-Chuing Argait, Smir Find Fedlimthi).” ref
“To the Māori the Milky Way is the waka (canoe) of Tama-rereti. The front and back of the canoe are Orion and Scorpius, while the Southern Cross and the Pointers are the anchor and rope. According to legend, when Tama-rereti took his canoe out onto a lake, he found himself far from home as night was falling. There were no stars at this time and in the darkness the Taniwha would attack and eat people. So Tama-rereti sailed his canoe along the river that emptied into the heavens (to cause rain) and scattered shiny pebbles from the lakeshore into the sky. The sky god, Ranginui, was pleased by this action and placed the canoe into the sky as well as a reminder of how the stars were made.” ref
“In the Babylonian epic poem Enûma Eliš, the Milky Way is created from the severed tail of the primeval salt water dragoness Tiamat, set in the sky by Marduk, the Babylonian national god, after slaying her. This story was once thought to have been based on an older Sumerian version in which Tiamat is instead slain by Enlil of Nippur, but is now thought to be purely an invention of Babylonian propagandists with the intention to show Marduk as superior to the Sumerian deities. Another myth about Labbu is similarly interpreted.” ref
Rainbow related to a river
“The Mayans similarly saw rainbows as a sign that the gods were no longer angry with them, after their world was destroyed by fire-rain. Other myths talk of rainbows drinking water from streams and rivers (along with occasional sheep or people), then redistributing the water as rain.” ref
“In Latvian legends it was believed that the rainbow drank from river or lake like a living creature and thus released rain from its body. It was forbidden to approach the water source if there was a rainbow, or they would risk being accidentally swallowed by the rainbow, and later fall down during rainfall as nothing but bones.” ref
“In Nepal, one traditional view of the rainbow is that “it has come to bring the river to the land, to water it, and more rain will come.” The Tolowa of northwest California consider the rainbow a sign of coming rain. The Panare of Venezuela believe that the rainbow causes it to rain. Insular Southeast Asia: Some speakers of Tagalog say that “when a rainbow appears it means rain is coming. The Bare’e of central Sulawesi in Indonesia say the rainbow calls up rain. The Kwamera people of Tanna Island in southern Vanuatu say that the rainbow is a sign that it will rain.” ref
“The Sabaot or Mt. Elgon Maasai say that “A rainbow ends in a river, and then it is very dangerous to come near the river. If you do, you will be eaten by the rainbow, or become sick. One person said he tried it once, but the rainbow moved away. The direction of the moving rainbow is significant—it follows the direction of the rain.” ref
Milky Way is related to a Snake/Serpent/Dragon
“The most well-known version of this is the Aegyptian-Greek ourobouros. It is believed to have been inspired by the Milky Way, as some ancient texts refer to a serpent of light residing in the heavens. The Ancient Egyptians associated it with Wadjet, one of their oldest deities, as well as another aspect, Hathor. In pre-Columbian Central America Quetzalcoatl was sometimes depicted as biting its own tail. The mother of Quetzalcoatl was the Aztec goddess Coatlicue (“the one with the skirt of serpents”), also known as Cihuacoatl (“The Lady of the serpent”). Quetzalcoatl’s father was Mixcoatl (“Cloud Serpent”). He was identified with the Milky Way, the stars, and the heavens in several Mesoamerican cultures.” ref
“A Serpent’s Tale: the Milky Way, Before light pollution robbed us of its celestial glow, the Milky Way was the backbone of the night and became part of ancient people’s myths and beliefs based on their perception of it as a serpent. In North America, whether as a giant form on the ground or pictured on a rock, the snake has a story to tell of the road for souls, one which goes back well over 4000 years and can be found in caves, on hilltops or as a pathway for the living to traverse, all reflections of the serpent stretching overhead.” ref
“Samal NagaA gigantic, trapped dragon in the milky way. It is said that it will be freed and devour all those not faithful to their respective deities in Samal mythology.” ref
Rainbow related to a Snake/Worm/Chameleon/Serpent/Dragon/Demon
“Rainbows and Serpents: Sacred cows are kept by many tribes for supplying milk to giant snakes.” ref
“From attested words for the rainbow in modern Japonic (Japanese-Ryukyuan) languages Martin (1987:498) reconstructed Proto-Japonic *ni-m(u)si ‘red/beautiful snake’. However, Alexander Vovin points out that –musi is ‘insect’, not ‘snake’. This may be similar to the ‘worm’ or ‘insect’ radical in the Chinese character for ‘rainbow’. In any case, the color ‘red’ appears to be unambiguous in this word. Among the Arecuna of northeast South America, dragon and rainbow cannot easily be separated. However, in describing the rainbow in its serpent form, we are told that “Keyeme, the rainbow, when it appears is thought of as a large multi-colored snake that lives in the high waterfalls. Among the Maumere of the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia, the rainbow is a spirit snake that lives in the earth and comes out in heavy rains; it is said to be “striped yellow/green/blue, but its basic color is red. Given its identity with the rainbow, the Rainbow Serpent of Australia must be a multi-colored creature. This is indicated explicitly in some cases, as where Mountford states that in the western deserts of central Australia “The snake (wonambi) is a huge, many-colored creature with a mane and beard.” ref
“The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion of many Aboriginal Australian peoples. Much like the archetypal mother goddess, the Rainbow Serpent creates land and diversity for the Aboriginal people, but when disturbed can bring great chaos. There are many names and stories associated with the serpent, all of which communicate the significance and power of this being within Aboriginal mythology, which includes the worldview commonly referred to as The Dreaming. The serpent is viewed as a giver of life through its association with water, but can be a destructive force if angry. The Rainbow Serpent is one of the most common and well-known Aboriginal stories and is of great importance to Aboriginal society. Not all of the myths in this family describe the ancestral being as a snake. Of those that do, not all of them draw a connection with a rainbow. However, a link with water or rain is typical. When the rainbow is seen in the sky, it is said to be the Rainbow Serpent moving from one waterhole to another, and this divine concept explained why some waterholes never dried up when drought struck. The Rainbow Serpent is known by different names by the many different Aboriginal cultures. Yurlunggur is the name of the “rainbow serpent” according to the Murngin (Yolngu) in north-eastern Arnhemland, also styled Yurlungur, Yulunggur, Jurlungur, Julunggur, or Julunggul. The Yurlunggur was considered “the great father”. The serpent is called Witij/Wititj by the Galpu clan of the Dhangu people, one of Yolngu peoples. Kanmare is the name of the great water serpent in Queensland among the Pitapita people of the Boulia District; it is apparently a giant carpet snake, and recorded under the name Cunmurra further south. The same snake is called Tulloun among the Mitakoodi (Maithakari).” ref
“Two mythical Kooremah of the Mycoolon (Maikulan) tribe of Queensland, are cosmic carpet snakes 40 miles long, residing in watery realm of the dead, or on the pathway leading to it; this is probably equivalent to the rainbow snake also. In some cultures, the Rainbow Serpent is male; in others, female; in yet others, the gender is ambiguous or the Rainbow Serpent is hermaphroditic or bigender, thus an androgynous entity. Some commentators have suggested that the Rainbow Serpent is a phallic symbol, which fits its connection with fertility myths and rituals. When the Serpent is characterized as female or bigender, it is sometimes depicted with breasts, as in the case of the Kunmanggur serpent. Other times, the Serpent has no particular gender. The serpent is sometimes ascribed with a having crest or a mane or on its head, or being bearded as well. While it is single-headed, the Yurlunggur of Arnhem land may possess a double-body. In some stories, the Serpent is associated with a large fruit bat, sometimes called a “flying fox” in Australian English, engaged in a rivalry over a woman. Some scholars have identified other creatures, such as a bird, crocodile, dingo (dog), or lizard, as taking the role of the Serpent in stories. In all cases, these animals are also associated with water. The Rainbow Serpent has also been identified with, or considered to be related to, the bunyip, a fearful, water-hole dwelling creature in Australian mythology. Unlike many other deities, the Rainbow Serpent does not have a human form and remains in the form of animal. While each culture has a different interpretation on gender and which animal the deity is, it is nonetheless, always an animal.” ref
“Globally distributed beliefs about the rainbow that closely parallel similarly distributed beliefs about the dragon. Among many Bantu-speaking groups across central and west Africa the rainbow is thought to be formed from male and female intertwining snakes which “stop rain from falling; according to others they cause rain to fall. The Nyabwa of the Ivory Coast explicitly say of the rainbow that “when it disappears the rain comes (so it precedes the rain). Among several names given to the rainbow, the Galla or Oromo of Ethiopia call it ‘a sign of rain’. In some ways this interpretation is hard to process, since rain clearly is needed before a rainbow can appear, which makes it difficult to see it as a sign that rain will come, unless it is a sign that more rain will come. Nonetheless, this view is reported for a number of indigenous peoples. The dragon is conceived as bisexual in at least European alchemy, Taoist metaphysics in China, and classic and contemporary Mesoamerica. The Karen of peninsular Burma and Thailand regard Hkü Te as the lord of the region of death. He is occasionally to be seen as a rainbow in the west, and his wife Teu Kweh as a rainbow in the east. “When two rainbows appear in the east, the upper and larger one is her husband, who is visiting with her. Among the people of Palau in western Micronesia “the clear arc in a double rainbow is female; the indistinct one is male. To the Mortlockese of Pakin atoll in the eastern Caroline islands, Micronesia, a double rainbow consists of a female inner band and a male outer band.” ref
“While this is startling enough for those who have not examined the ethnology of the dragon in detail, initially it seems absurd to consider the possibility that the rainbow could also have a double-gendered identity. In Chinese folk belief a double rainbow is both male and female, the more colorful inner arc being male, and the fainter outer arc female. The Totonac Indians of the Mexican states of Vera Cruz and Puebla describe the rainbow as simultaneously male and female. The Chontal Indians of Oaxaca, Mexico say that “The full rainbow is a man, whereas a half rainbow is a woman, and very evil. If you show a red cloth to this female rainbow, as to a bull, she comes close to you. To the Cuna Indians of the San Blas islands off the east coast of Panama, “When there are two rainbows the brighter one is looked upon as a man and the other one as a woman. Among the Inga of southwest Colombia, the two bows of a double rainbow are called the male bow and the female bow. In Malay a single rainbow is called pelangi, but a double rainbow is pelangi sekelamin, where se– is a prefix meaning ‘one’ and kelamin is ‘family’ (etymologically meaning husband, wife and any children residing in a single house). To traditional Malays, then, the double rainbow was a married pair, male and female.” ref
“The Muria of Andhra Pradesh state in eastern India, say that “The rainbow is the great snake, Bhumtaras, that rises from its ant-hill to stop the rain.” In Okinawa the rainbow was traditionally believed to be a snake or dragon, and because this snake drank water in the sky, there was no rain. To the Muskogee or Creek Indians, who were located at the time of first European contact in what is now Georgia, the rainbow “was believed … to be a great snake called Oskin-tatcå (“the cutter off of the rain”), The Tzotzil of southern Mexico say the rainbow is “a cold Chamula female devil that steals corn’s soul … prevents rain from passing by it, and causes stomach ache. To prevent the rainbow from following a person it is considered effective to spread chewing tobacco around, urinate or exhibit oneself to it. The Kikuyu of East Africa say the rainbow “is a ‘wicked animal’ which lives in the water, comes out at night, eats goats and cattle, and has even been known to eat people.” ref
“According to the Piapoco on tributaries of the upper Orinoco River along the Colombia-Venezuela border, “A jungle demon makes the rainbow from smoke; it moves unseen, as the wind moves. The rainbow can take the rain prisoner so that it won’t rain, and in some cases this activity can be initiated by the intervention of a shaman.” The Eastern Timbira in east-central Brazil say that “The rainbow (‘person of the rain’) has its two ends resting in the open mouths of sucuriju snakes, which themselves yield rain. It appears as a sign that the rain has ceased. As already noted, to the Kakadu/Gaagudju of Arnhem Land in northern Australia, “The rainbow is supposed … to be the Iwaiyu (spirit) of a Numereji snake. When the latter spits he makes rain and says … “up above, Iwaiyu, go spittle, my Iwaiyu.” It does so in the form of a rainbow which is supposed to stop the rain.” ref
“The natives of the Pennefeather River, North Queensland, regard the rainbow as a very brightly coloured snake that comes up to stop the rain that has been wilfully made by their enemies; the name both of the rainbow and the snake is Andrénjinyi. To the Yoruba of southern Nigeria “the ‘great snake of the underneath’ is the rainbow god. It comes up at times to drink water from the sky. A variety of the python is the messenger of this god.” Among the Kulere of the northern Nigerian plateau it is said that “the rainbow is the tongue of a great serpent; when the serpent puts out its tongue the rain stops.” Among the Uduk of the Sudan, the python is “associated ambivalently with the Rainbow; the python is an earth-creature in its movement and its normal habit, until in the guise of a Rainbow it leaps into the air, or sleeps like a swamp-snake in the watery pools.” ref
“Among the Zande of Zaire: Ngambue is a big snake. Its skin is covered with white powdery substance, and it possesses a beard. This creature, which has a poisonous bite, may live in any waters. The well at Yambio is said to harbor such a snake. The rainbow wangu lives in bogs, or in cracks and holes near to streams. It is like a snake. In the hills near Lake Victoria the local (presumably Bantu-speaking) people believed there were “snakes guarding the wells. Human beings might approach only after making offerings to these guardian snakes.” Similarly, the Bagesu of Uganda “say that there is a snake living in springs where he will attack anyone who goes to draw water.” Among the Murle of the Sudan “The rainbow is a large dragon-like snake which sleeps in a cave when not flying in the sky.” Among the Mang’anja of southern Malawi, a mythical animal called ‘Mbona’ appears to be a water serpent, but one of a special character that links it to a mythic cycle found over much of Bantu-speaking central Africa: “What makes Mbona different from other Bantu deities symbolized by a water serpent? This mythical animal forms one of the great themes of Bantu mythology, namely the eternal conflict of the lightning and the rainbow.” ref
“The Mündü of the southern Sudan, say that the rainbow is “a giant snake which lives in a hole in the ground, and comes out to chase heavy rain away (drink the rain?).” The Kusaasi of Ghana connect the rainbow with a chameleon, and “believe that the chameleon is driving the rain away, and it will not rain.” These parallels between attributes of the dragon and attributes of the rainbow can hardly be accidental. Various sources report that the dragon is a giver of rain in India, East Asia, North America, and Central America, while the same trait is attributed to the rainbow in Europe, Mexico, Insular Southeast Asia and Africa. Likewise, various reports state that the dragon withholds rain in Europe, the ancient Near East, East Asia and Central America, while the same trait is attributed to the rainbow in India, Okinawa, North America and Mexico, South America, insular Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and Africa. In both cases there is a marked ambivalence, some societies seeing the dragon/rainbow as producing rain, while others believe that it obstructs rainfall. Occasionally, closely-related peoples differ in whether they adopt one of these perspectives or the other, where the rain-giver is generally seen as positive and the rain-blocker as negative. Attitudes toward the rainbow are thus inescapably contradictory, since either position regarding its role in rainfall can be adopted with equally persuasive arguments.” ref
“In parts of the world where the dragon and rainbow are clearly separated, as Europe, India, China, or North America, water sources such as springs or wells are guarded by a dragon. In parts of the world where this separation is more tenuous, statements in the literature are relatively indifferent as to whether a spring is said to be guarded by a water snake or a rainbow, as these are regarded as different expressions of the same thing. In each of the above cases a water source is said to be guarded by a snake which is the rainbow, so it seems best to treat them as part of the ethnology of the rainbow. The important point in this survey, of course, is that springs and other water sources are guarded by both dragons and rainbows in different cultural traditions, and that this would be absurd if the rainbow were not conceived as an animate being capable of harming humans. This takes us back to the logic of an animistic view of nature. The rainbow is a transient thing, which may remain for seconds, minutes, or sometimes longer as a visible arc in the sky, but it is not a permanent fixture of the heavens. Preliterate peoples may not have understood the physical basis for the appearance of rainbows, but once they conceived of them as spirit snakes it became necessary to explain where they were when not in the sky, and the most straightforward explanation is that they reside in the pools, lakes or rivers from which they drink water to create the rain. There they stay during the dry season, and for much of their time during the wet season, and while there they guard the precious water from human intruders.” ref
Milky Way is related to Milk
“In Egyptian mythology, the Milky Way was considered a pool of cow’s milk. The Milky Way was deified as a fertility cow-goddess by the name of Bat (later on syncretized with the sky goddess Hathor). The astronomer Or Graur has suggested that the Egyptians may have seen the Milky Way as a celestial depiction of the sky goddess Nut.” ref
“The Greek name for the Milky Way (Γαλαξίας Galaxias) is derived from the Greek word for milk (γάλα, gala). One legend explains how the Milky Way was created by Heracles (Roman Hercules) when he was a baby. His father, Zeus, was fond of his son, who was born of the mortal woman Alcmene. He decided to let the infant Heracles suckle on his divine wife Hera‘s milk when she was asleep, an act which would endow the baby with godlike qualities. When Hera woke and realized that she was breastfeeding an unknown infant, she pushed him away and the spurting milk became the Milky Way. Another version of the myth is that Heracles was abandoned in the woods by his mortal parents, Amphitryon and Alcmene. Heracles, son of Zeus and Alcmene, was naturally favored by his father, who sent Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, to retrieve him. Athena, not being so motherly, decided to take him to Hera to suckle. Hera agreed to suckle Heracles. As Heracles drinks the milk, he bites down, and Hera pushes him away in pain. The milk that squirts out forms the Milky Way.” ref
“A story told by the Roman Hyginus in the Poeticon astronomicon (ultimately based on Greek myth) says that the milk came from the goddess Ops (Greek Rhea), the wife of Saturn (Greek Cronus). Saturn swallowed his children to ensure his position as head of the Pantheon and sky god, and so Ops conceived a plan to save her newborn son Jupiter (Greek Zeus): She wrapped a stone in infant’s clothes and gave it to Saturn to swallow. Saturn asked her to nurse the child once more before he swallowed it, and the milk that spurted when she pressed her nipple against the rock eventually became the Milky Way. According to Hindu mythology, Vishnu lies meditating on Shesha with his consort Lakshmi, in the Kshira Sagara (Sea of Milk), which is a representation of Milky Way. This “Sea of Milk” is also the (cosmic) ocean referenced in the Samudra Manthana episode of Vishnu Purana, a major text in Indian mythology. The Samudra Manthana explains the origin of the elixir of eternal life, amrita.” ref
Rainbow is related to Milk
“Latvian Lauma or Lithuanian Laumė, or Yotvingian Łauma is a fairy-like woodland spirit, and guardian spirit of orphans in Eastern Baltic mythology or Yotvingian mythology. Originally a sky spirit, her compassion for human suffering brought her to earth to share our fate. Laumės are the very oldest goddesses of Lithuanian mythology. The image of these goddesses may have formed during the historical Mesolithic period, just after the Ice Age. Laumės could appear in the form of animals, as mares or as female goats, bears and dogs. Later, Laumės had an anthropomorphic appearance: they usually had birds’ claws for feet and appeared as women with the head or lower body of a female goat. Other forms included half-human/half dog or half mare, similar to centaurs. Like cyclops, Laumės often had only one eye. They also had large breasts with stone nipples; pieces of belemnitida found on the ground were called “Laumės nipples.” ref
“Laumės were dangerous, especially to men. They could tickle or tweak them to death and then eat their bodies, and in this way, they were similar to Lamia of Greek mythology. The Lithuanian myth also claimed Laumės kept huge cows which could be milked by all people. However, after very cold weathers, the cows died; pieces of belemnitida were considered to be the remains of their udders. Laumės were afraid of tools made from iron. Laumės can be considered as atmospheric goddesses. It is said that Laumė was a beautiful goddess, who lived in clouds and had a diamond throne. Some myths claimed Laumė was a bride of thunder god Perkūnas; however, they did not marry because Laumė fell in love with the Moon, who was considered a male god in Lithuania. In other stories, the bride was stolen by the devil Velnias, named Tuolius. That’s why Laumė liked moonshine. In other myth, the bride of Perkūnas was a Laumė called Vaiva. The rainbow was called the ribbon of Vaiva. Despite her marriage, she had a beloved singer named Straublys. Straublys had stolen the ribbon of Vaiva. During the rain, Straublys stretches the ribbon of Vaiva across the sky, while Perkūnas is angry and shouts in thunder. It was believed it is the rainbow that causes the rain, while Lithuanian shepherds had a prayer or curse by which the rainbow had to turn to pieces and make the rain go away. The other myth claimed Laumė fell in love with a beautiful young man down to earth. They had a son named Meilius (name derived from word ‘Meilė’ – love). Laumė descended to the sky to breastfeed her son from time to time. However, the highest God found out about the son of sacrilegious love, smashed him into the highest place of the sky and gave him a place between stars. After that he cut Laumės breasts, and so, stone pieces of it can be found on Earth.” ref
“Laumės descended from the sky to Earth. They lived nearby lakes, abandoned bath-houses, in islands of lakes or dense forests. Many names of water pools in Lithuania are named after the word Laumė. Laumės liked to gather near rivers, lakes, swamps, in meadows, there dew fell in the night in New Moon or Full Moon. They danced and enjoyed themselves, leaving circles (like Fairy Ring) in the grass. Usually, Laumės were most powerful at Friday of New Moon, at the rainiest days of the month in Lithuania. Laumės could cause hail, storm or rain by singing, dancing or by curses. Laumės song was traditionally performed during weddings up until the 19th century. The song was performed by girls dancing in a circle, with one in the middle. The dance and song was also said to cause rain. The Rainbow was often called a ribbon lost by Laumės. That’s how they were associated with weaving. Laumės usually appeared in groups of three. They were able to do women’s work perfectly, as are especially skilled in weaving and spinning. They love children, respect industriousness and help those in need. They punish those who ridicule them, and those who are lazy.” ref
“The fair Rainbow-maiden, Louhi’s daughter, sat upon a rainbow in the heavens, and was clad in the most splendid dress of gold and silver. She was busy weaving golden webs of wonderful beauty, using a shuttle of gold and a silver weaving-comb. As Wainamoinen came swiftly along the way which led from the dark and dismal Northland to the plains of Kalevala, before he had gone far on his way he heard in the sky above him the humming of the Rainbow-maiden’s loom. Without thinking of old Louhi’s warning, he looked up and beheld the maiden seated on the gorgeous rainbow weaving beauteous cloths. No sooner had he seen the lovely maiden than he stopped, and calling to her asked her to come to his sledge. Then the Rainbow-maiden promised to be his wife if he would split a golden hair with a knife that had no edge, and take a bird’s egg from the nest with a snare that no one could see. Wainamoinen did both these things, and then begged her to come to his sledge, for he had done what she asked. Wainamoinen related the following story of how iron was first made: Long ago after there were air and water, fire was born, and after the fire came iron. Ukko (Finnish for ‘male grandparent’, ‘grandfather’, ‘old man’), parallel to Uku in Estonian mythology, is the god of the sky, weather, harvest, and thunder), the creator, rubbed his hands upon his left knee, and there arose thence three lovely maidens, who were the mothers of iron and steel. These three maidens walked forth on the clouds, and from their bosoms ran the milk of iron, down unto the clouds and thence down upon the earth. Ukko’s eldest daughter cast black milk over the river-beds, and the second cast white milk over the hills and mountains, and the third red milk over the lakes and oceans; and from the black milk grew the soft black iron-ore; from the white milk the lighter-colored ore; and from the red milk the brittle red iron-ore.” ref, ref
“Neolithic stone carvings have been found in Russian Karelia which have features of both snakes and lightning. It is, however, uncertain whether these are directly connected to the figure of Ukko. Evidence for worship of snakes is found among different cultures around the Baltic, including the Estonians and Finns. There is evidence that the rowan tree was held sacred to Ukko. Rauni, a vaguely defined being has been hypothesised to be cognate to Germanic words for the rowan tree through Old Norse: *raunir. The ladybird was also considered sacred to Ukko and called ukonlehmä (Ukko’s cow). The Finnish name of the great mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is ukontulikukka (Ukko’s fire flower), also linked to worship of Ukko.” ref
Mythological Symbolism
“Of course, our ancestors have noticed that the stars are revolving. That is, except from the point in the heaven where no movement seems to take place. The seemingly rotating figure on the northern hemisphere symbolizes the Greatest male deity in the Mythological Story from all over the World. This figure symbolizes, for instance, Chronos, Zeus, Odin, Saturn (not the planet), and several other names. One of the most important holy figures for our ancestors was that of the white Milky Way, especially when symbolized as the great white God or spirit in the sky. Ancestors all over the World have had their story of creation connected to this white God-figure in the sky. But the figures are also symbolized with several other phenomenon’s, of which the Heavenly Ship and a White Horse or Bull are the most common.” ref
If the World Tree resembles the Earth celestial axis, (and the Earth magnetic field as well) one must conclude that some kind of celestial imagery depicts such a story. The Norse Worlds have Midgaard as the home of the humans, the Earth and Asgaard belongs to the celestial day- and nighttime realms with the Sun at day and Moon; the wandering stars = planets; stars and star constellations at nighttime. Lastly the Norse Udgaard belongs to the Giants and first creators in the Norse story of creation, which specifically is connected to the Milky Way whitish contours. On the northern hemisphere a great male-like Milky Way figure (Odin) can be observed at night on a favorable season. This figure seemingly revolves around the Earth celestial pole = the World Tree, and it is said in the myth that “Odin is hanging in the Tree” for “nine days and nights.” ref
“When interpreting such a myth, it is of course very important to recognize which mythical figure/archetype belongs to which cosmological observation and when not having discovered the connection, all kind of false interpretations and distorted explanations can occur. “Odin hanging on a tree” shall be “Odin hanging besides the tree” which resembles the Earth celestial pole. And “Odin hanging for nine days and nights” should be “being observed besides and connected to the Tree in about 9 month of the year” simply because this Milky Way figure cannot be observed in the lightest season of the year, a mytho-cosmological fact which also is described with the myth of “the deity in the Sky who disappears and the promise of his return”. OK, there he is: Odin hanging in the northern hemisphere night Sky, seemingly revolving around the celestial pole, thus being omnipresent and omnipotent and overlooking the whole Midgaard and the humans below. A male figure all made in the human imagination and still a part of the creation of humans because we all are made in the imageries of the deities above and below. The descent to the underworld is a mytheme of comparative mythology found in the religions of the Ancient Near East up to and including Christianity. The myth involves the death of a youthful god (or goddess: Persephone, Inanna, for instance) who is a life-death-rebirth deity, mourned and then recovered from the underworld by his or her consort, lover or mother.” ref
“The most simple marking of the northern Milky Way figure and the celestial north pole with the White Milky Way God seemingly revolving around the pole center. Navajo sand painting of the Great God revolving around the Earth celestial north pole. The different positions around the cross center gives origin to the cultural mytheme of the dying and rising god. The Star Atlas contours and the celestial north pole of the northern Milky Way. The most simple marking of the northern Milky Way figure and the celestial north pole. In the other horizontal position he might observe and carve a so called ship. Mythological the figure therefore become a mixed story with a great God who can change between human and animal shapes an as a God sailing away on his ship. When first one have discovered our ancestors way of symbolizing and mythologizing the Milky Way figure, it is easy to understand the old stories from almost every indigenous people all over the world. Then you also are able to understand the remarkable symbol- and mythological resemblance all over the World. Simply because all people have noticed the same colossal figure in the night sky. The theme of mythical deities and Heroes “descending to The Underworld” is of course very global since it deals with the the Southern Earth Hemisphere – and NOT with something down under the soil – and especially with the southern Milky Way contours and the Great Mother Goddess and the archetype of the Milky Way center.” ref
Leo may have been a “cultic hunt” of a Powerful animal.
Hunting and Gathering Haza people of Tanzania, Africa
“Northern Tanzania is home to the Hadzabe, one of the last remaining hunter-gatherer tribes on Earth. The Hadza roam as needed to find game, tubers, and wild berries. The Hadza trace descent bilaterally (through both paternal and maternal lines), and almost all Hadza people can trace some kin tie to all other Hadza people. Furthermore, the Hadza are egalitarian, so there are no real status differences between individuals, which results in high levels of freedom and self-dependence. The Hadza do not follow a formal religion, and it has been claimed that they do not believe in an afterlife. Hadza offer prayers to Ishoko (the Sun) or to Haine (the moon) during hunts and believe they go to Ishoko when they die. They also hold rituals such as the monthly epeme dance for men at the new moon and the less frequent maitoko circumcision and coming-of-age ceremony for women.” ref, ref, ref
“Hadza arrows are of three types: wooden for hunting birds and rodents, metal for medium-sized animals, and with poisoned metal arrowheads for hunting big animals. Many arrows have just a sharp wooden tip, and others may have arrowheads added.” ref
Haza bow and arrow: “they pull plant fibres from the branch of a tree to make the bow string, though they would have preferred to use tendon from a Zebra. From a branch, they roast, skin, and straighten the arrows using their teeth as a vice. Feathers were gathered from a bird to fletch the arrow.” ref
“The bow and arrow, a successful and widespread projectile technology, is evident in the archaeological record of South Africa dating back 65,000 years. Hadza men traditionally string their bows using processed strips of the nuchal ligament from eland, buffalo, or zebra, or the sinew of giraffe. Bow and arrow mechanics in living hunter-gatherers are needed to inform experimental studies of Paleolithic archery. These Hadza have no crops, domesticated animals, firearms, or vehicles. Women were gathering wild plant foods on a daily basis, mainly berries and tubers. Men foraged for honey and hunted wild game with their bows and arrows. Hadza men grow up using a bow from a very young age; small bows and arrows are commonly made and given to boys as young as 3 or 4 years old to play and practice with. Men carry a bow during most of their adult life, even on forays from camp in which hunting is not their primary objective. Hadza men crafted and used traditional straight bows with considerable draw weights, consistent with previous reports. For recurve bows used in modern Olympic archery competitions, draw forces (i.e., draw weights) are measured at 66.7 cm draw length and typically fall within 180–250 N. By comparison, mean draw force among Hadza archers 311 ± 98 N (range: 141–545), ~ 47% greater than that of male Olympic archers.” ref
Here are a few of what I see as “Animist only” Cultures:
“Aka people”
“The Aka people are very warm and hospitable. Relationships between men and women are extremely egalitarian. Men and women contribute equally to a household’s diet, either a husband or wife can initiate divorce, and violence against women is very rare. No cases of rape have been reported. The Aka people are fiercely egalitarian and independent. No individual has the right to force or order another individual to perform an activity against his or her will. Aka people have a number of informal methods for maintaining their egalitarianism. First, they practice “prestige avoidance”; no one draws attention to his or her own abilities. Individuals play down their achievements.” ref
“Mbuti People”
“The Mbuti people are generally hunter-gatherers who commonly are in the Congo’s Ituri Forest have traditionally lived in stateless communities with gift economies and largely egalitarian gender relations. They were a people who had found in the forest something that made life more than just worth living, something that made it, with all its hardships and problems and tragedies, a wonderful thing full of joy and happiness and free of care. Pygmies, like the Inuit, minimize discrimination based upon sex and age differences. Adults of all genders make communal decisions at public assemblies. The Mbuti people do not have a state, or chiefs or councils.” ref
“Hadza people”
“The Hadza people of Tanzania in East Africa are egalitarian, meaning there are no real status differences between individuals. While the elderly receive slightly more respect, within groups of age and sex all individuals are equal, and compared to strictly stratified societies, women are considered fairly equal. This egalitarianism results in high levels of freedom and self-dependency. When conflict does arise, it may be resolved by one of the parties voluntarily moving to another camp. Ernst Fehr and Urs Fischbacher point out that the Hadza people “exhibit a considerable amount of altruistic punishment” to organize these tribes. The Hadza people live in a communal setting and engage in cooperative child-rearing, where many individuals (both related and unrelated) provide high-quality care for children. Having no tribal or governing hierarchy, the Hadza people trace descent bilaterally (through paternal and maternal lines), and almost all Hadza people can trace some kin tie to all other Hadza people.” ref
Cosmic hunt: hunters and animals on the Milky Way, sometimes an animal is killed while hunting, and in others, they are a sacrificed animal that bleeds down the Milky Way.
“Cosmic Hunt stories have been recorded among the Inuit –Inupiaq branch of the Eskimo with no such a story in Alaskan Yupic folklore. Like many other tales, the Inuit-Inupiaq Cosmic Hunt myths find parallels not in Southwestern Alaska, but to the west of the Bering Strait. Among the Chukchi and the Koryak, the Orion (i.e. the hunter) pursues the reindeer associated with the Pleiades or Cassiopeia. Much further to the west, the Lapp version is the nearest parallel for the Chukchi one. According to it, the hunter is also Orion, and the elk or reindeer pursued by him is Cassiopeia. The Yukagir cosmology is poorly known. The Mestizos of Markovo (with a probable Yukagir substratum) describe the Big Dipper as an elk pursued by three brothers and three sisters, their story being somewhat similar to the Evenk ideas. In Yakut myths, Orion pursues the elk, but the Big Dipper is not mentioned. The Yakut tradition is heterogeneous. Some versions describe a lonely hunter whose ski path turned into the Milky Way, which is typical for some Western Siberian, Tungus, Negidal, and Ugedhe-Oroch stories. Other Yakut tales not relevant to the origin of the Milky Way, describe a group of hunters. In America, the interpretation of the Milky Way as a ski path is present across Alaska and British Columbia among the Tlingit, Central Yupic, Ingalik, and Tahltan, but only among the Tlingit is this image connected with the Cosmic Hunt tale. Among the Even (Lamut) three hunters who pursue mountain sheep are associated with the Pleiades.” ref
African origin of Paleolithic Venus figures?
These “olanakwete-doll” items will not last in the archaeological record as they are unfired… (Could the Paleolithic Venus figures of Europe have had a connection to/relate to, or stem from these “olanakwete-doll” figures? Likewise, could it be something transferred to them from one of the two cultures that interbred with them: 22% Niger-Congo and 6% Cushitic ancestry?)
“Many have interpreted symbolic material culture in the deep past as evidencing the origins of sophisticated, modern cognition. Scholars from across the behavioural and cognitive sciences, including linguists, psychologists, philosophers, neuroscientists, primatologists, archaeologists, and palaeoanthropologists, have used such artefacts to assess the capacities of extinct human species and to set benchmarks, milestones, or otherwise chart the course of human cognitive evolution. To better calibrate our expectations, the present paper instead explores the material culture of three contemporary African forager groups. Results show that, although these groups are unequivocally behaviorally modern, they would leave scant, long-lasting evidence of symbolic behavior. Artefact sets are typically small, possibly due to residential mobility. When traded materials are excluded, few artefacts have components with moderate–to–strong taphonomic signatures. The present analyses show that artefact function influences preservation probability, such that utilitarian tools for processing materials and preparing food are disproportionately likely to contain archaeologically traceable components. There are substantial differences in material use among populations, which create important population-level variation in preservation probability, independent of cognitive differences. Such as the factors – cultural, ecological, and practical – that influence material choice, highlighting the difficulties of using past material culture as an evolutionary or cognitive yardstick.” ref
“The Hadza, or Hadzabe, are a protected hunter-gatherer Tanzanian indigenous ethnic group. As descendants of Tanzania’s aboriginal, pre-Bantu expansion hunter-gatherer population, they have probably occupied their current territory for thousands of years with relatively little modification to their basic way of life until the last century. They have no known close genetic relatives, and their language is considered an isolate. The Hadza population is dominated by haplogroup B2-M112 (Y-DNA) ∼72% ancestry distantly related to Khoisan and Pygmy ancestries.” ref, ref
“Three objects used by women: the naricanda-stick, a’untenakwete-gourd, and olanakwete-doll. These objects are material objects that have proven excellent portals for Hadza, as well as for my research, to enter the realms of forefathers, night dance, and cosmology. Asking questions about these objects facilitated discussions that illuminate the cosmological constituents of being human. The stick, gourd, and doll, and the way they are related to, are not representative of the way Hadza relate to things or possessions as such. These are ritual objects, and they are considered to be objects of power by the Hadza. In anthropological theory, ‘power objects’ have come to be the cover term for artefacts that carry. Hadza cosmology examined through objects, rituals, and the Hadza concept of epeme. The objects are intimately linked to women and to aspects of the social and cosmological identity of the individual makers.” ref, ref
“A voodoo doll is an effigy that is typically used for the insertion of pins. Such practices are found in various forms in the magical traditions of many cultures around the world. Despite its name, the voodoo doll is not prominent in the African diaspora religions of Haitian Vodou nor Louisiana Voodoo. Members of the High Priesthood of Louisiana Voodoo have denounced the use of voodoo dolls as irrelevant to the religion. The association of the voodoo doll and the religion of Voodoo was established through the presentation of the latter in Western popular culture during the first half of the 20th century as part of the broader negative depictions of Black and Afro-Caribbean religious practices in the United States. By the early 21st century, the image of the voodoo doll had become particularly pervasive. In 2020, Louisiana Voodoo High Priest Robi Gilmore stated, “It blows my mind that people still believe [Voodoo dolls are relevant to Voodoo religion]. Hollywood really did us a number. We do not stab pins in dolls to hurt people; we don’t take your hair and make a doll, and worship the devil with it, and ask the devil to give us black magic to get our revenge on you. It is not done, it won’t be done, and it never will exist for us.” ref
Dancing Orixa Dolls/Dolls of Axé: Honoring the Artistry of Dona Detinha de Xango
“My dolls dance in the house at night. They bring the Axé with me from Bahia. They protect us. They are beautiful and educational. They have been one of my most important references in the creation of orixa costumes for the stage, they are a point of reference for the vast orixa stories. The importance of cloth, dressing your gods in their finest cloths. I have been dancing and dialoguing with these dolls since 1987.” -Linda Yudin. Dona Detinha, AKA Valdete Ribeiro da Silva, affectionately known as Detinha de Xangô, Oba Gesi, was an Orixa doll maker in Salvador Bahia, Brazil, starting in the 1970s. Her dolls represent the pantheon of Yoruba deities called Orixa, honored and celebrated by devotees and initiates of the Candomblé religion. The dolls are not ceremonial objects but, according to Dona Detinha, are amulets that carry the axé (pronounced ah-shé) of the house of Ilê Axé Opo Afonja. Axé, in Yoruba-descended spiritual traditions like Candomblé, is the power/life force (from the orixa) to create communal balance. Axé is the potential energy of life, and axé protects you. Dona Detinha’s artistry and craftsmanship have been singled out as exemplary of the black Bahian women who are central to the creative cultural and spiritual life of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. Orixa symbology and iconography proliferate throughout Salvador. Dona Detinha’s unique dolls are another exquisite way that the Orixas are expressed in the life of Bahia.” ref
“Orishas (singular: orisha) are divine spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Haitian Vaudou, Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The preferred spelling varies depending on the language in question: òrìṣà is the spelling in the Yoruba language, orixá in Portuguese, and orisha, oricha, orichá or orixá in Spanish-speaking countries. According to the teachings of these religions, the orishas are spirits sent by the supreme creator, Olodumare, to assist humanity and to teach them to be successful on Ayé (Earth). Rooted in the native religion of the Yoruba people, most orishas are said to have previously existed in òrún—the spirit world—and then became Irúnmọlẹ̀—spirits or divine beings incarnated as human on Earth. Irunmole took upon a human identity and lived as ordinary humans in the physical world, but because they had their origin in the divine, they had great wisdom and power at the moment of their creation. The orishas found their way to most of the New World as a result of the Atlantic slave trade and are now expressed in practices as varied as Haitian Vodou, Santería, Candomblé, Trinidad Orisha, Umbanda, and Oyotunji, among others. The concept of òrìṣà is similar to those of deities in the traditional religions of the Bini people of Edo State in southern Nigeria, the Ewe people of Benin, Ghana, and Togo, and the Fon people of Benin. In diaspora communities, the worship of Orishas often incorporates drumming, dance, and spirit possession as central aspects of ritual life. These practices serve to strengthen communal bonds and foster direct spiritual experiences among practitioners.” ref
“Practitioners traditionally believe that daily life depends on proper alignment and knowledge of one’s Orí. Ori literally means the head, but in spiritual matters, it is taken to mean a portion of the soul that determines personal destiny. Offerings, prayers, and self-reflection are all means by which a devotee can align with their Orí, thereby ensuring balance, success, and fulfillment in life. Without proper alignment with one’s Orí, even the assistance of the orishas may prove ineffective. Some orishas are rooted in ancestor worship; warriors, kings, and founders of cities were celebrated after death and joined the pantheon of Yoruba deities. The ancestors did not die but were seen to have “disappeared” and become orishas. Some orishas based on historical figures are confined to worship in their families or towns of origin; others are venerated across wider geographic areas.” ref
“Ase is the life-force that runs through all things, living and inanimate, and is described as the power to make things happen. It is an affirmation that is used in greetings and prayers, as well as a concept of spiritual growth. Orìṣà devotees strive to obtain Ase through iwa-pele, gentle and good character, and in turn, they experience alignment with the ori, what others might call inner peace and satisfaction with life. Ase is divine energy that comes from Olodumare, the creator deity, and is manifested through Olorun, who rules the heavens and is associated with the Sun. Without the Sun, no life could exist, just as life cannot exist without some degree of Ashe. Ase is sometimes associated with Eshu, the messenger orisha. For practitioners, Ashe represents a link to the eternal presence of the supreme deity, the orishas, and the ancestors. Rituals, prayers, songs, and sacrifices are all ways to invoke or transfer ase. In this way, every action and word becomes potentially sacred, carrying spiritual weight and consequence.” ref
“The concept is regularly referenced in Brazilian capoeira. Axé in this context is used as a greeting or farewell, in songs and as a form of praise. Saying that someone “has axé” in capoeira is complimenting their energy, fighting spirit, and attitude. The orisa are grouped as those represented by the color white, who are characterized as tutu “cool, calm, gentle, and temperate”; and those represented by the colors red or black, who are characterized as gbigbona “bold, strong, assertive, and easily annoyed”. Like humans, orishas may have a preferred color, food, or object. The traits of the orishas are documented through oral tradition. Each orisha governs specific aspects of nature and human experience—for example, Ogun governs iron and war, Oshun rules over love and rivers, and Yemoja is associated with motherhood and the ocean. Their symbols, offerings, and ritual practices are carefully preserved and transmitted through generations of initiates.” ref
“The term “voodoo” has its roots in West Africa. It comes from the word for “spirit” in the Fon language. The French used the term “vaudoux” (which eventually morphed into the anglicized “voodoo”) to refer to a variety of African spiritual practices, which they typically regarded as superstitions and barbaric practices, in their colonies in the Americas. Despite the name, “voodoo dolls” are not actually derived from the religions of Haiti, Louisiana, or West Africa that have been labeled as “voodoo.” Instead, these dolls are based primarily on European concepts of witchcraft. In case it is not clear from the previous points, “voodoo” is an extremely racist term. For centuries, it has been used to denigrate the spiritual practices of people of African descent and to argue that Black people were too superstitious for independence and self-governance. The term, and all the stereotypes that come with it, continue to support harmful prejudices and violence against Haitian Vodou and other Africana religions.” ref
“Santería (Spanish pronunciation: [san.te.ˈɾi.a]), also known as Regla de Ocha, Regla Lucumí, or Lucumí, is an Afro-Caribbean religion that developed in Cuba during the late 19th century. It arose amid a process of syncretism between the traditional Yoruba religion of West Africa, Catholicism, and Spiritism. There is no central authority in control of Santería and much diversity exists among practitioners, who are known as creyentes (“believers”). Santería developed among Afro-Cuban communities following the Atlantic slave trade of the 16th to 19th centuries. It formed through the blending of the traditional religions brought to Cuba by enslaved West Africans, the majority of them Yoruba, and Roman Catholicism, the only religion legally permitted on the island by the Spanish colonial government. The late 20th century saw growing links between Santería and related traditions in West Africa and the Americas, such as Haitian Vodou and Brazilian Candomblé. Since the late 20th century, some practitioners have emphasized a “Yorubization” process to remove Roman Catholic influences and created forms of Santería closer to traditional Yoruba religion. Santería is an Afro-Caribbean religion, and more specifically, an Afro-Cuban religion. Santería also has commonalities with other West African and West African-derived traditions in the Americas which collectively form the “Orisha religion”, “Orisha Tradition”, or “Orisha worship.” These include Haitian Vodou and Brazilian Candomblé, sometimes characterized as “sister religions” of Santería due to their shared origins in Yoruba traditional religion. Santeria is polytheistic, revolving around deities called oricha, ocha, or santos (“saints”).” ref
“Some practitioners perceive the oricha as facets of Olodumare, and thus think that by venerating them they are ultimately worshipping the creator god. Certain oricha are female, others male. They are not regarded as wholly benevolent, being capable of both harming and helping humans, and displaying a mix of emotions, virtues, and vices. Origin myths and other stories about the oricha are called patakíes. Each oricha is understood to “rule over” a particular aspect of the universe, being identified with a different facet of the natural world or human existence. They live in a realm called orún, which is contrasted with ayé, the realm of humanity. Oricha each have their own caminos (“roads”), or manifestations, a concept akin to the Hindu concept of avatars. The number of caminos an oricha has varies, with some having several hundred. Practitioners believe that oricha can physically inhabit certain objects, among them stones and cowrie shells, which are deemed sacred. Each oricha is also associated with specific songs, rhythms, colors, numbers, animals, and foodstuffs.” ref
“Among the oricha are the four “warrior deities”, or guerrors: Eleguá, Ogun, Ochosi, and Osun. Eleguá is viewed as the guardian of the crossroads and thresholds; he is the messenger between humanity and the oricha, and most ceremonies start by requesting his permission to continue. He is depicted as being black on one side and red on the other, and practitioners will frequently place a cement head decorated with cowrie shells that represents Eleguá behind their front door, guarding the threshold to the street. The second guerro is Ogun, viewed as the oricha of weapons and war, and also of iron and blacksmiths. The third, Ochosi, is associated with woods and hunting, while the fourth, Osun, is a protector who warns practitioners when they are in danger.” ref
“Perhaps the most popular oricha, Changó or Shango is associated with lightning and fire. Another prominent oricha is Yemaja, the deity associated with maternity, fertility, and the sea. Ochún is the oricha of rivers and of romantic love, while Oyá is a warrior associated with wind, lightning, and death, and is viewed as the guardian of the cemetery. Obatalá is the oricha of truth and justice and is deemed responsible for helping to mould humanity. Babalú Ayé is the oricha associated with disease and its curing, while Osain is linked to herbs and healing. Orula is the oricha of divination, who in Santería’s mythology was present at the creation of humanity and thus is aware of everyone’s destiny. Ibeyi takes the form of twins who protect children. Olokún is the patron oricha of markets, while his wife Olosá is associated with lagoons. Agagyú is the oricha of volcanoes and the wasteland. Some oricha are deemed antagonistic to others; Changó and Ogun are for instance enemies.” ref
“Santería’s focus is on cultivating a reciprocal relationship with the oricha, with adherents believing that these deities can intercede in human affairs and help people if they are appeased. Practitioners argue that each person is “born to” a particular oricha, whether or not they devote themselves to that deity. This is a connection that, adherents believe, has been set before birth. Practitioners refer to this oricha as one that “rules the head” of an individual; it is their “owner of the head”. If the oricha is male then it is described as the individual’s “father”; if the oricha is female then it is the person’s “mother”. This oricha is deemed to influence the individual’s personality, and can be recognised through examining the person’s personality traits, or through divination.” ref
“To gain the protection of a particular oricha, practitioners are encouraged to make offerings to them, sponsor ceremonies in their honor, and live in accordance with their wishes, as determined through divination. Practitioners are concerned at the prospect of offending the oricha. Creyentes believe that the oricha can communicate with humans through divination, prayers, dreams, music, and dance. Many practitioners also describe how they “read” messages from the oricha in everyday interactions and events. For instance, a practitioner who meets a child at a traffic intersection may interpret this as a message from Eleguá, who is often depicted as a child and who is perceived as the “guardian” of the crossroads. At that point the practitioner may turn to divination to determine the precise meaning of the encounter. The information obtained from these messages may then help practitioners make decisions about their life.” ref
“The Yoruba people are a West African ethnic group who inhabit parts of Nigeria, Benin, and Togo, which are collectively referred to as Yorubaland. The Yoruba constitute more than 50 million people in Africa, are over a million outside the continent, and bear further representation among the African diaspora. The vast majority of Yoruba are within Nigeria, where they make up 20.7. Most Yoruba people speak the Yoruba language, which is the Niger-Congo language with the largest number of native or L1 speakers. The historical Yoruba developed in situ, out of earlier Mesolithic Volta-Niger populations, by the 1st millennium BCE. By the 8th century, a powerful city-state already existed in Ile-Ife, one of the earliest in Africa. This City, whose oral traditions link to figures like Oduduwa and Obatala, would later become the heart of the Ife Empire, the first empire in Yoruba History. The Ife Empire, flourishing between roughly 1200 and 1420 CE, extended its influence across a significant portion of what is now southwestern Nigeria and eastern Benin and to modern-day Togo. Outside Africa, the Yoruba diaspora consists of two main groupings; the first being that of the Yorubas taken as slaves to the New World between the 16th and 19th centuries, notably to the Caribbean (especially in Cuba) and Brazil, and the second consisting of a wave of relatively recent migrants, the majority of whom began to migrate to the United Kingdom and the United States following some of the major economic and political changes encountered in Africa in the 1960s till date.” ref
“Oral history recorded under the Oyo Empire derives the Yoruba as an ethnic group from the population of the City State of Ile-Ife. Ile-Ife, as the capital of the former empire, held a prominent position in Yoruba history. The Yoruba were the dominant cultural force in southwestern and west-central Nigeria as far back as the 11th century. The Yoruba people have a centuries-long tradition of living in large urban centres. They are a people who have a propensity for living in cities, and their settlement pattern usually tends towards concentric nucleation, making them one of the most historically urban ethnic groups on the African continent. Prior to the era of colonialism, the Yorubas existed as a series of well-structured large kingdoms and states with an urban capital core (Olú Ìlú) sharing filial relations with one another. These urban capitals were built to encapsulate the palace of the Oba (king) and most of the kingdom’s central institution,s such as the premier market (Ọjà Ọba) and several temples.” ref
“Many of these city-states had extensive defence structures such as moats and trenches (Iyàrà), such as those of the Ife Empire and the better-known Eredo Sungbo that completely circumferenced the nascent Ijebu Kingdom, while others had tall walls and ramparts such as Oyo ile, capital of the Oyo empire, reported to have ten gates in the outer wall, which was more than 20 feet high. These Yoruba urban centres were historically some of the most populated not only in West Africa, but also on the continent. Archaeological findings indicate that Òyó-Ilé or Katunga, capital of the Yoruba empire of Oyo (fl. between the 16th and 19th centuries CE), had more than 100,000 inhabitants. For a long time, another major Yoruba city, Ibadan, which expanded rapidly in the 1800s, took the title. Today, Lagos (Yoruba: Èkó) has become the largest urban centre of the Yoruba people and on the continent, displacing Ibadan to second place with a population of over twenty million.” ref
“Archaeologically, the settlement of Ile-Ife showed features of urbanism in the 12th–14th-century era. This period coincided with the peak of the Ife Empire, during which Ile-Ife grew into one of West Africa’s largest urban centers. In the period around 1300 CE, when glass bead production reached an Industrial scale, floors were paved with potsherds and stones. The artists at Ile-Ife developed a refined and naturalistic sculptural tradition in terracotta, stone, and copper alloy – copper, brass, and bronze many of which appear to have been created under the patronage of King Obalufon II, the man who today is identified as the Yoruba patron deity of brass casting, weaving and regalia. The dynasty of kings at Ile-Ife, which is regarded by the Yoruba as the place of origin of human civilization, remains intact to this day. The urban phase of Ile-Ife before the rise of Oyo, which represented a peak of political centralization in the 14th century, is commonly described as a “golden age” of Ife. The Oba or ruler of Ile-Ife is referred to as the Ooni of Ife. Ife continues to be seen as the “spiritual homeland” of the Yoruba. The city was surpassed by the Oyo Empire as the dominant Yoruba military and political power in the 11th century.” ref
“The Oyo Empire under its Oba, known as the Alaafin of Oyo, was active in the African slave trade during the 18th century. The Yoruba often demanded slaves as a form of tribute of subject populations, who in turn sometimes made war on other peoples to capture the required slaves. Part of the slaves sold by the Oyo Empire entered the Atlantic slave trade. Most of the city states were controlled by Obas (or royal sovereigns with various individual titles) and councils made up of Oloye, recognized leaders of royal, noble, and, often, even common descent, who joined them in ruling over the kingdoms through a series of guilds and cults. Different states saw differing ratios of power between the kingships and the chiefs’ councils. Some, such as Oyo, had powerful, autocratic monarchs with almost total control, while in others, such as the Ijebu city-states, the senatorial councils held more influence, and the power of the ruler or Ọba, referred to as the Awujale of Ijebuland, was more limited.” ref
“The Yoruboid languages are assumed to have developed out of an undifferentiated Volta-Niger group by the first millennium BCE. There are three major dialect areas: Northwest, Central, and Southeast. As the North-West Yoruba dialects show more linguistic innovation, combined with the fact that Southeast and Central Yoruba areas generally have older settlements, suggests a later date of immigration into Northwestern Yoruba territory. The area where North-West Yoruba (NWY) is spoken corresponds to the historical Oyo Empire. South-East Yoruba (SEY) was closely associated with the expansion of the Benin Empire after c. 1450. Central Yoruba forms a transitional area in that the lexicon has much in common with NWY, whereas it shares many ethnographical features with SEY. Yoruba people have a sense of group identity around a number of cultural concepts, beliefs, and practices recognizable by all members of the ethnic group. Prominent among these is the tracing of the entire Yoruba body through dynastic migrations to roots formed in Ile-Ife, an ancient city in the forested heart of central Yorubaland, and its acceptance as the spiritual nucleus of Yoruba existence. The monarchy of any city-state was usually limited to a number of royal lineages. A family could be excluded from kingship and chieftaincy if any family member, servant, or slave belonging to the family committed a crime, such as theft, fraud, murder or rape. In other city-states, the monarchy was open to the election of any free-born male citizen. Occupational guilds, social clubs, secret or initiatory societies, and religious units, commonly known as Ẹgbẹ in Yoruba, included the Parakoyi (or league of traders) and Ẹgbẹ Ọdẹ (hunter’s guild), and maintained an important role in commerce, social control, and vocational education in Yoruba polities.” ref
“The Yoruba religion comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practices of the Yoruba people. Yoruba religion is formed of diverse traditions and has no single founder. Yoruba religious beliefs are part of itan, the total complex of songs, histories, stories, mythologies, and other cultural concepts that make up the Yoruba society. Next to the Veneration of ancestors, one of the most common Yoruba traditional religious concepts has been the concept of Orisa. Orisa (also spelled Orisha) are various gods and spirits, which serve the ultimate creator force in the Yoruba religious system (Ase). Some widely known Orisa are Ogun, (a god of metal, war and victory), Shango or Jakuta (a god of thunder, lightning, fire and justice who manifests as a king and who always wields a double-edged axe that conveys his divine authority and power), Esu Elegbara (a trickster who serves as the sole messenger of the pantheon, and who conveys the wish of men to the gods. He understands every language spoken by humankind, and is also the guardian of the crossroads, Oríta méta in Yoruba) and Orunmila (a god of the Oracle). Eshu has two forms, which are manifestations of his dual nature – positive and negative energies; Eshu Laroye, a teacher instructor and leader, and Eshu Ebita, a jester, deceitful, suggestive and cunning. Orunmila, for his part, reveals the past, gives solutions to problems in the present, and influences the future through the Ifa divination system, which is practised by oracle priests called Babalawos.” ref
“Olorun is one of the principal manifestations of the Supreme God of the Yoruba pantheon, the owner of the heavens, and is associated with the Sun known as Oòrùn in the Yoruba language. The two other principal forms of the supreme God are Olodumare—the supreme creator—and Olofin, who is the conduit between Òrunn (Heaven) and Ayé (Earth). Oshumare is a god that manifests in the form of a rainbow, also known as Òsùmàrè in Yoruba, while Obatala is the god of clarity and creativity.These gods feature in the Yoruba religion, as well as in some aspects of Umbanda, Winti, Obeah, Vodun and a host of others. These varieties, or spiritual lineages as they are called, are practiced throughout areas of Nigeria, among others. As interest in African indigenous religions grows, Orisa communities and lineages can be found in parts of Europe and Asia as well. While estimates may vary, some scholars believe that there could be more than 100 million adherents of this spiritual tradition worldwide.” ref
“Oral history of the Oyo-Yoruba recounts Odùduwà to be the progenitor of the Yoruba and the reigning ancestor of their crowned kings. (Like the divine right of kings in Europe or the mandate of heaven in Asia) Yoruba cultural thought is a witness of two epochs. The first epoch is a history of cosmogony and cosmology. This is also an epoch-making history in the oral culture during which time Oduduwa was the king, the Bringer of Light, pioneer of Yoruba folk philosophy, and a prominent diviner. He pondered the visible and invisible worlds, reminiscing about cosmogony, cosmology, and the mythological creatures in the visible and invisible worlds. His time favored the artist-philosophers who produced magnificent naturalistic artworks of civilization during the pre-dynastic period in Yorubaland. The second epoch is the epoch of metaphysical discourse, and the birth of modern artist-philosophy. This commenced in the 19th century in terms of the academic prowess of Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther (1807–1891). Although religion is often first in Yoruba culture, nonetheless, it is the philosophy – the thought of man – that actually leads spiritual consciousness (ori) to the creation and the practice of religion. Thus, it is believed that thought (philosophy) is an antecedent to religion. Values such as respect, peaceful co-existence, loyalty and freedom of speech are both upheld and highly valued in Yoruba culture. Societies that are considered secret societies often strictly guard and encourage the observance of moral values.” ref
“The Yoruba present the highest dizygotic twinning rate in the world (4.4% of all maternities). They manifest at 45–50 twin sets (or 90–100 twins) per 1,000 live births, possibly because of high consumption of a specific type of yam containing a natural phytoestrogen that may stimulate the ovaries to release an egg from each side. Twins are very important for the Yoruba and they usually tend to give special names to each twin. The first of the twins to be born is traditionally named Taiyewo or Tayewo, which means ‘the first to taste the world’, or the ‘slave to the second twin’, this is often shortened to Taiwo, Taiye or Taye. Kehinde is the name of the last born twin. Kehinde is sometimes also referred to as Kehindegbegbon, which is short for; Omo kehin de gba egbon and means, ‘the child that came behind gets the rights of the elder’. Twins are perceived as having spiritual advantages or as possessing magical powers. This is different from some other cultures, which interpret twins as dangerous or unwanted.” ref
Hadza language
“Hadza is a language isolate spoken along the shores of Lake Eyasi in Tanzania, and the Hadza are the last full-time hunter-gatherers in Africa. It is one of only three languages in East Africa with click consonants. Hadza is believed to be a language isolate. It was once classified by many linguists as a Khoisan language, along with its neighbour Sandawe, primarily because they both have click consonants.” ref
Khoisan languages
“Genetically, the Hadza people are unrelated to the Khoisan peoples of Southern Africa, and their closest relatives may be among the Pygmies of Central Africa. However, Hadza is no longer considered a Khoisan language and appears to be unrelated to any other language (to me, the genetic connection, particularly through the click connection, seems to suggest some degree of connection). All but two Khoisan languages are indigenous to southern Africa; these are classified into three language families. The Khoe family appears to have migrated to southern Africa not long before the Bantu expansion. Ethnically, their speakers are the Khoekhoe and the San (Bushmen). Two languages of eastern Africa, those of the Sandawe and Hadza, were originally also classified as Khoisan, although their speakers are ethnically neither Khoekhoe nor San. Before the Bantu expansion, Khoisan languages, or languages like them, were likely spread throughout southern and eastern Africa. They are currently restricted to the Kalahari Desert, primarily in Namibia and Botswana, and to the Rift Valley in central Tanzania. Most of the languages are endangered, and several are moribund or extinct. Most have no written record. The only widespread Khoisan language is Khoekhoe (also known as Khoekhoegowab, Nàmá or Damara) of Namibia, Botswana and South Africa, with a quarter of a million speakers; Sandawe in Tanzania is second in number with some 40–80,000, some monolingual; and the ǃKung language of the northern Kalahari spoken by some 16,000 or so people. Language use is quite strong among the 20,000 speakers of Naro, half of whom speak it as a second language. Khoisan languages are best known for their use of click consonants as phonemes. Clicks are quite versatile as consonants, as they involve two articulations of the tongue which can operate partially independently. Consequently, the languages with the greatest numbers of consonants in the world are Khoisan. There is some indication that Sandawe may be related to the Khoe family, such as a congruent pronominal system and some good Swadesh-list matches, but not enough to establish regular sound correspondences. Sandawe is not related to Hadza, despite their proximity.” ref
Sandawe language
“It has been suggested, however, that Sandawe may be related to the Khoe family, regardless of the validity of Khoisan as a whole. Sandawe is a language spoken by Sandawe people in the Dodoma Region of Tanzania. Sandawe’s use of click consonants, a rare feature shared with only two other languages of East Africa, Hadza and Dahalo. Sandawe has two dialects, northwest and southeast. Differences include speaking speed, vowel dropping, some word taboo, and minor lexical and grammatical differences. Some Alagwa have shifted to Sandawe, and are considered a Sandawe clan.” ref
African religions: Hadza, Khoisan, and Sandawe
Hadza religion
“They offer prayers to Ishoko (the Sun: female) or to Haine (the moon: male) during hunts and believe they go to Ishoko when they die. They also hold rituals such as the monthly epeme dance for men at the new moon and the less frequent maitoko circumcision and coming-of-age ceremony for women. Ishoko and Haine are mythological figures who are believed to have arranged the world by rolling the sky and the earth like two sheets of leather and swapping their order to put the sky above us; in the past, the sky was under the earth. These figures are described as making crucial decisions about the animals and humans by choosing their food and environment, giving people access to fire, and creating the capability of sitting. These figures have celestial connotations: Ishoko is a solar figure, and Haine, her husband, is a lunar figure. Uttering Ishoko’s name can be a greeting or a good wish to someone for a successful hunt. The character “Ishoye” seems to be another name for Ishoko. She is depicted in some tales as creating animals, including people. Some of her creatures later turned out to be man-eating giants, disastrous for their fellow giants and people. Seeing the disaster, she killed these giants, saying, “You are not people any longer.” ref
“Distribution of belief in Haine (68% yes and 18% no) and Ishoko (60% yes and 27% no) among a Hadza sample.” ref
“A solar deity is a god or goddess who represents the Sun, or an aspect of it, usually by its perceived power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms.” ref
African list of solar deities:
- Nzambi Mpungu, Kongo god of the Sun and creation
- Amun, creator deity sometimes identified as a Sun god
- Aten, god of the Sun, the visible disc of the Sun
- Atum, the “finisher of the world” who represents the Sun as it sets
- Bast, cat goddess associated with the Sun
- Hathor, mother of Horus and Ra and goddess of the Sun
- Horus, god of the sky whose right eye was considered to be the Sun and his left the Moon
- Khepri, god of the rising Sun, creation and renewal of life
- Ptah, god of craftsmanship, the arts, and fertility, sometimes said to represent the Sun at night
- Ra, god of the Sun
- Sekhmet, goddess of war and of the Sun, sometimes also plagues and creator of the desert
- Sopdu, god of war and the scorching heat of the summer Sun
- Magec, was god or goddess (actual gender is unknown) of the Sun
- Apedemak, the Meroitic god of war and sometimes depicted as the god the Sun
- uMvelinqangi, Xhosa and Zulu people‘s god of the Sun and sky
- iNyanga, Zulu people, goddess of the Moon
- Ukhulukhulwana, Zulu people‘s ancestor who came from the stars. He taught them to build huts and taught them the high laws of isiNtu” ref
Baltic mythology
“Those who practice Dievturība, beliefs of traditional Latvian culture, worship the Sun goddess Saule, known in traditional Lithuanian beliefs as Saulė. Saule is among the most important deities in Baltic mythology and traditions.” ref
Celtic mythology
“Celtic cultures seem to have been diverse, with the use of a Celtic language (by 3000 BCE?) being the main thing they had in common. The Celtic languages are a branch of the Indo-European languages. By the time the Celts are first mentioned in written records around 400 BCE, they were already split into several language groups, and spread over much of western mainland Europe, the Iberian Peninsula, Ireland, and Britain. The languages developed into Celtiberian, Goidelic, and Brittonic branches, among others. Celtic-related populations show genetics that, between 2400 and 2000 BCE, were involved in the over 90% of British DNA was overturned by European Steppe Herders (proto-Indo-European related) in a migration that brought large amounts of Steppe DNA (including the R1b haplogroup) to western Europe. Modern autosomal genetic clustering is testament to this fact, as both modern and Iron Age British and Irish samples cluster genetically very closely with other North Europeans, and less so with Galicians, Basques or those from the south of France.” ref
“Because the Hadza often have no belief in an afterlife, generally, it had the impact of limiting research on Hadza ritual and cosmology. Although this aspect of their lives did indeed come across as fragmented and partial, what may be encountered seems deep cosmological complexity, ritual rigor, and seemingly some kind of belief in an afterlife. Hadza cosmology examined through objects, rituals, and the Hadza concept of epeme. The objects are intimately linked to women and to aspects of the social and cosmological identity of the individual makers. One object is a materialization of the woman’s name, and it leads to an examination by interview of naming practices more generally. Naming a child gives it a spirit and places the child in a strong family matrix, and since it receives two names, the child has two spirits and two families. Calling a person’s name is thus calling out to one of the spirits within the person. This practice of calling a name occurs during the epeme night dance ritual. Dancers call the name of a relative and turn into the spirit-beings of the named. In this ritual, dancers, when calling the names of women, do so through the mediating power of objects.” ref
“Women provide the main staple foods of the camp. They dig for tubers and roots using a wooden digging stick, known as the ts’apale. Digging is hard and requires the removal of large rocks from the soil in order to reach the edible roots, and it demands skill to be successful. Berries and fruits are eaten instantly, and only in some cases is a surplus of tubers, meat, honey, and fruit carried back to camp. As the Hadza are semi-nomadic, settlements are dynamic, and people move in and out of the core camps. The types of dwellings are very diverse ranging from rocky caves, fully grass-thatched huts, elaborate assemblages of twigs and tree branches into see-through framework structures to subtle markings of homes, eg just the setting of a fireplace or the clearance of the ground by sweeping it and laying down cloths, hides or straw mats as beds. Sometimes they just lie down under the open sky. The caves are mostly used during the rainy season when the fully thatched huts fail to provide shelter from the heavy rainfall, while the more subtly structured ones are used during the dry season and as short-term dwellings.” ref
“Three objects used by women, the naricanda-stick, a’untenakwete-gourd, and olanakwete-doll. These objects are material artifacts that have proven excellent portals for the Hadza, as well as for my research, to enter the realms of their forefathers, night dance, and cosmology. My asking questions about these objects facilitated discussions that illuminate the cosmological constituents of being human. The stick, gourd, and doll, and the way they are related to, are not representative of the way Hadza relate to things or possessions as such. These are ritual objects, and they are considered to be objects of power by the Hadza. In anthropological theory, ‘power objects’ have come to be the cover term for artefacts that carry. Simple mud dolls – olanakwete (m. sg), olanakwiko (f. sg.) When a young woman starts to live with a man and the time for having a child is nearing, a close relative, such as her mother or an older sister, will make her an anthropomorphic doll from riverside mud or from clay taken from the center of termite mounds. The mud or clay is carried back to camp, where it is kneaded, and ash from the cooking fire is worked into the clay as a substance that gives power to the doll. Ashes, along with blood and soil, are powerful substances readily available to women and used on many occasions. The anthropomorphic doll is carefully modeled with a relatively small head and extremities compared to the body’s volume. A mouth will be pressed into the clay, and there might be inserted beads for eyes.” ref
“The olanakwiko (feminine) could have markers of breasts and be decorated with braided hair by straight lines drawn on the still-wet surface. The feeling of a newly ‘born’ doll is remarkably like handling a newborn child. It has the same weight, the dampness of the clay makes it transpire, and the structure and temperature of the surface are a notable emulation of the feeling of a human being’s skin. There are other types of dolls in use among the Hadza. First, there are toy dolls, made by little girls out of edible roots, pieces of wood, or other readily available materials, and transformed into dolls by wrapping pieces of cloth around them and carrying them around. The girls will hold these dolls, breastfeed, and sing to them. These are not used in ritual contexts, and there are no raised eyebrows when children, for instance, bite off the head of the edible root-doll. Second, there are dolls made out of gourd-like roots of certain plants. They are gendered and treated the same way as the mud dolls. Third, there are ha!anakwete/ha!anakwiko-dolls (litt. meaning small precious stone) that are kept very secretive. The stone dolls are made of cylindrical stones and they are dressed with pieces of cloth and strings of beads placed in ways on the ‘body’ that indicate their gender and retaining only the cylindrical form of the body to ensure the anthropomorphic resemblance.” ref
“The size is significantly smaller, and they do not share physical similitude to infants. Woodburn collected one ha!anakwete-doll (masculine) and two ha!anakwikodolls (feminine). In addition, a man posing with a ha!anakwete that Kohl-Larsen links to the epeme dance. He also documents egg-shaped dolls made of clay, both with and without decorative cuts. Dolls are used as tools for maternity education and are named after close kin, typically a parent or sibling. According to Hadza cosmology, the naming after kin is a process of spirit-sharing, and it is that which establishes the person, here in the form of a doll, as a significant, spirit-sharing, kinship-placed being. We will return to name- and spirit-sharing below. The doll will be carried on the back in a cloth (kanga) just as mothers carry their infants on their backs. It will be breastfed, laid in the shadow covered by a cloth to sleep, and it will be handled and passed on when sitting, talking, and preparing food, cooking, or making beadworks. The doll is cared for as an infant. If a doll breaks, the doll will need the same burial rituals as other beings with spirits. Beings that have spirits are human beings, as well as the powerful objects and eland.” ref
Thin, incision decorated sticks – naricanda
“The sticks measure roughly 1–1.5 cm in diameter and are about 1.1–1.5 metres long. They are straightened carefully using teeth as clamps and cautiously bending the stick with their hands. They are then decorated throughout with a head and tail end. The father of a newborn baby girl crafts the sticks in connection with the naming ritual, when she will receive a name from the father and a name from her mother. The father, uncle, an older brother, or a brother-in-law – the group of initiated epeme men who are ritually able to call the child’s name during the epeme rituals – might jointly decorate it. The sticks are decorated in the same manner as arrows, holding a knife firmly to the stick and twirling the stick while moving the knife up and down in order to produce the desired decorations. Ashes and clarified fat from an a’untenakwete are rubbed into the incisions to enhance the contrast of the decoration, and the stick is smeared with the clarified fat all over. Then the naricanda is inserted into the twigs of the hut above the fireplace in order for the stick to obtain a patina from the smoke and so appear old. Despite its intimate relation to women, the naricanda stick is a male object. Even though it is used during the monthly epeme night dances, it is most closely connected to initiation rituals into adulthood. This ritual is called the maito for men and the maitoko for girls. During a mait, a stick is chosen by the epeme, the collective of initiated men, to accompany the young neophyte, the maito, during his rite of passage.” ref
“In the rite’s separation phase, the neophyte leaves his friends, the cohort, and ritually dies, which makes him enter the liminal phase friendless. The epeme men choose a stick that spiritually matches the neophyte, and it will be the maito’s friend and companion during the weeks of initiation to epeme. The naricanda stick, however, is most strongly linked to the maitoko, the initiation rite of passage from girl to woman. The neophytes and the young initiated women wear beads as a signal of their initiation, and they run as a raiding cohort to visit other camps to spread the knowledge of their transition from girl to woman. When the word is spread that a maitoko is about to take place, young men come to join the ritual. During the initiation the women and young men flirt and a game of teasing and chase is performed with the threat of the women mercilessly using the sticks and whips (snapped off trees) during the rite of passage to whip and beat the young and mature men. When a woman dies, she might be buried with her naricanda stick, but it is also one of the few objects that can be passed on as inheritance, when the name of the deceased is passed on to a younger generation family member.” ref
“The objects singled out here are materialisations of what we usually leave as abstract aspects of women, namely, name, self, and future children. The name (naricanda) connects the woman to her forebearers in the past as she is being named after a woman in earlier generations, living or dead; present selves a’untenakwete) and future children (olanakwete). As such, the woman extends beyond the boundary of her skin with innate relations to both different times and family within her being, and she is ritually referenced through mediating external objects. However, the way that the objects are externalised and severed from her own body creates a dimension of reference, ie, stressing the discreteness between the woman and the object while retaining aspects of equivalence. To navigate this relationship, we need to touch upon cosmological organisation, through names and spirit-sharing, the multiplicity constituting a human being, and death.” ref
The a’untenakwete gourd
“The bead-decorated calabash gourds – a’untenakwete (m.sg.), a’untenakwiko (f. sg..): The gourds are made of decoratively incised calabashes with a wooden bung. Ashes are rubbed onto the incisions to make them conspicuous with a darker tone or by burning marks. A beaded string or band is attached to the gourds to provide a handle. The a’untenakwete is ceremonial and is only used to store clarified animal fat. In ceremonies, the naricanda stick (below) is used as a tool to extract the animal fat inside. Animal fat is a valued everyday ingredient used in cooking; however, the fat stored in the gourd is only used in ritual contexts. The fat is used by smearing it onto both female and male neophytes during initiation rites and as a medicine to relieve joint pains for elderly people, but is otherwise not used. The gourd itself is feminine (a’untenakwiko) or masculine (a’untenakwete) following its shape (round or oblong, respectively). In order to become invested with ritual power, the gourd should contain clarified animal fat. A woman might be buried with her a’untenakwete gourd, or it might be destroyed on her grave.” ref
Khoisan religion
“Many Khoisan peoples believe in a supreme being who presides over daily life and controls elements of the environment. In some Khoisan belief systems, this god is worshiped through rituals or small sacrifices. A second, evil deity brings illness and misfortune to earth. This dualism between good and evil pervades other areas of Khoisan thought about the nature of the universe. Some Khoisan belief systems maintain that a person should never attempt to communicate with the beneficent deity, for fear of provoking his evil counterpart, and some believe that spiritual beings simply ignore humanity most of the time. Traditional Khoisan religion also included numerous mythic tales of gods and ancestor-heroes, whose lives provided examples of ways to cope with social conflicts and personal problems. Also important was the use of dance and altered states of consciousness to gain knowledge for healing an individual or remedying a social evil. Healing dances are still among the most widely practiced religious rituals in South Africa, even in the 1990s, and are used in some African Independent churches to heal the sick or eradicate evil.” ref
“For many Khoisan peoples, the sun and the moon were gods, or aspects of a supreme deity. The cycle of religious observance was, therefore, carefully adjusted according to the cycles of the moon. Seventeenth- and eighteenth-century observers in the Cape Colony noted the importance of ritual dances and prayers during the full moon each month. Khoisan legends and myths also refer to a “trickster” god, who could transform himself into animal or human forms, and who could die and be reborn many times over. The praying mantis, a predatory insect with large eyes and other features characteristic of animal predators, figures in San myths and folktales in a role similar to the clever fox in European folktales. Khoisan herdboys still use mantises to “divine” the location of lost animals, and in Afrikaans, the mantis is referred to as “the Hottentot’s god.” Bantu-speaking peoples brought an array of new religious practices and beliefs when they arrived in the first millennium CE. Most believed in a supreme being, or high god, who could bestow blessings or bring misfortune to humans. More influential in their spiritual life, however, was a group of ancestral spirits–a different pantheon of spiritual beings in each community. These spirits could communicate with and influence the lives of the living, and they could sometimes be influenced by human entreaties. The male head of a homestead was usually the ritual leader, responsible for performing rituals, giving thanks, seeking a blessing, or healing the sick on behalf of his homestead. Rites of passage, or rituals marking major life-cycle changes such as birth, initiation, marriage, and death, were also important religious observances, and rituals were used for rainmaking, strengthening fertility, and enhancing military might.” ref
“Zulu and Xhosa religions generally sought to placate male ancestral spirits, often with libations of beer or offerings of meat, and to seek their guidance or intercession. Ancestral spirits were almost uniformly benevolent; evil was generally attributed to witches or sorcerers, who might overpower or bypass a spiritual protector or ancestor. Ancestral spirits occasionally caused minor illnesses, primarily as a warning against religious neglect or misdeeds. Most Bantu religious systems had no priesthood or officially recognized mediator between the material and the spiritual worlds. Rather, they believed that political leadership was accompanied by religious responsibility. For example, a chiefdom or kingdom relied on the chief or monarch for physical and spiritual survival. Particular importance was attached to the status of the diviner, or sangoma; however, the sangoma underwent rigorous training to acquire the extensive knowledge and skills necessary for divination and healing. Bantu religions usually avoided any claim that rituals performed by human beings could influence the actions of the supreme deity, or high god; rituals were normally intended to honor or placate lesser spiritual beings, and sometimes to ask for their intervention. The high god was a remote, transcendent being possessing the power to create the Earth, but beyond human comprehension or manipulation. Ancestors, in contrast, were once human and had kinship ties with those on earth, and they were sometimes amenable to human entreaties.” ref
“Many Bantu societies have historical accounts or myths that explain the presence of human society on earth. In many cases, these myths affirm that human beings first emerged from a hole in the ground, that they were plucked from a field or a bed of reeds, or that they were fashioned from elemental substances through the efforts of a supreme deity. Death originated in the failure of human beings or their messengers, such as a chameleon who was sent to relay a divine message of immortality, but who delayed and was overtaken by the message of death. Such widespread myths not only provide an account of the origins of the human condition, but they also describe appropriate behavior for coping with a complex world. For example, a Zulu myth tells of the creation of both black and white human beings, the assignment of the black people to the land and the white people to the sea, and the provision of spears for black people and guns for whites. Many of life’s conflicts arise, it is believed, when people defy the divine plan. Scholars have reported that during the rapid acculturation of the nineteenth century in southern Africa, new myths and legends arose, attributing greater and greater power to traditional gods. In this way, new events and displays of power were incorporated into existing belief systems. Others have suggested that the upheaval of the nineteenth century provided fertile ground for Christian and Muslim missionaries, whose teachings of a Supreme Being presiding over the entire world provided reassurance of a divine order in a changing environment. In this view, the new world religions drew converts based on their appeal as an explanation of changing circumstances.” ref
“The San religion is the traditional religion and mythology of the San people. To enter the spirit world, trance has to be initiated by a shaman through the hunting of a tutelary spirit or power animal. The eland often serves as power animal. The fat of the eland is used symbolically in many rituals including initiations and rites of passage. Other animals such as giraffe, kudu, and hartebeest can also serve this function. One of the most important rituals in the San religion is the great dance, or the trance dance. This dance typically takes a circular form, with women clapping and singing and men dancing rhythmically. Although there is no evidence that the Kalahari San use hallucinogens regularly, student shaman may use hallucinogens to go into trance for the first time.” ref
“Psychologists have investigated hallucinations and altered states of consciousness in neuropsychology. They found that entoptic phenomena can occur through rhythmic dancing, music, sensory deprivation, hyperventilation, prolonged and intense concentration, and migraines. The psychological approach explains rock art through three trance phases. In the first phase of trance an altered state of consciousness would come about. People would experience geometric shapes commonly known as entoptic phenomena. These would include zigzags, chevrons, dots, flecks, grids, vortices, and U-shapes. These shapes can be found especially in rock engravings of Southern Africa. During the second phase of tranc,e people try to make sense of the entoptic phenomena. They would elaborate the shape they had ‘seen’ until they had created something that looked familiar to them. Shamans experiencing the second phase of trance would incorporate the natural world into their entoptic phenomena, visualizing honeycombs or other familiar shapes.” ref
“In the third phase, a radical transformation occurs in mental imagery. The most noticeable change is that the shaman becomes part of the experience. Subjects under laboratory conditions have found that they experience sliding down a rotating tunnel, entering caves or holes in the ground. People in the third phase begin to lose their grip on reality and hallucinate monsters and animals of strong emotional content. In this phase, therianthropes in rock painting can be explained as heightened sensory awareness that gives one the feeling that they have undergone a physical transformation. Pictographs can be found across Southern Africa in places such as the cave sandstone of KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, and North-Eastern Cape, the granite and Waterberg sandstone of the Northern Transvaal, and the Table Mountain sandstone of the Southern and Western Cape. Images of conflict and war-making are not uncommon. There are also often images of therianthropic entities, which have both human and animal traits and are connected to the notion of trancing, but these represent only a fraction of all rock art representations. Most commonly portrayed are animals such as the eland, although grey rhebok and hartebeest are also in rock art in places such as Cederberg and Warm Bokkeveld. At uKhahlamba / Drakensberg Park there are paintings thought to be some 3,000 years old which depict humans and animals, and are thought to have religious significance.” ref
“The San prayed to the Sun and Moon. Many myths are associated with various stars. ǀKágge̥n (sometimes corrupted to “Cagn”) is Mantis, a demiurge and hero in ǀXam folklore. He is a trickster god who can shape-shift. He and his wife ǀHúnntuǃattǃatte̥n. ǀHúnntuǃattǃatte̥n (also known as or corrupted to “Coti”), the Dassie, adopted ǃXo, Porcupine, as their daughter. ǃXo, Porcupine, as their parents ǀKágge̥n and ǀHúnntuǃattǃatte̥n, married Ichneumon, son was the Ichneumon. /Kwammang-a, a dangerous stranger carnivore, married ǃXo, son was the Ichneumon. Ichneumon, a small, furry carnivore, mongoose. ǂKá̦gára and ǃHãunu are brothers-in-law who fought with lightning, causing massive storms in the east. ǃXu is the Khoikhoi word ǃKhub ‘rich man, master’, which was used by some Christian missionaries to translate “Lord” in the Bible, and repeated by San people in reporting what the Khoikhoi told them. It is used in Juǀʼhoan as the word for the Christian god. It has been misinterpreted as the “Bushman creator”. ǃXwe-/na-ssho-ǃke, girl who was one of the people of the early race.” ref
“Traditionally, the San were an egalitarian society. Although they had hereditary chiefs, their authority was limited. They made decisions among themselves by consensus, with women treated as equals. Women have a high status in San society, are greatly respected, and may be leaders of their own family groups. They make important family and group decisions and claim ownership of water holes and foraging areas. Women are mainly involved in the gathering of food, but may also take part in hunting. The San economy was a gift economy, based on giving each other gifts regularly rather than on trading or purchasing goods and services. ‘Khoisan religion’ is a term used to consider an overview of an indigenous Southern African spiritual belief. Strictly speaking, there is no Khoisan religion. Although this term is a unifying name, the Khoi and the San are entirely distinct peoples. There is a vast linguistic and cultural diversity within each group, and they do not share any of the principal mythological figures or ritual culture.” ref
“Cagn (also known as Kaang or Kaggen) is the supreme god of the koi-and-san of southern Africa. He is the first being and the creator of the world. He is a trickster god who can shape-shift, most often into the praying mantis, but also takes the form of a bull eland, a mouse, a snake, and a caterpillar. Cagn receives so much opposition in the world that he moves his abode from the earth to the top of the sky. The Khoi attach special significance to the moon. The new and full moons were important times for rainmaking rituals and dancing, and the moon was viewed as the physical manifestation of a supreme being associated with heaven, earth, and especially rain, which was of key significance to people in drier regions, whose existence was so dependent upon rainfall. The eland serves as a power animal. The fat of the eland is used symbolically in many rituals, including initiations and rites of passage, as does the giraffe, kudu, and hartebeest.” ref
The interrelatedness between the Nama Khoikhoi supreme being and celestial objects
“Khoisan were thought of as being without religion because the Europeans perceived a lack of ‘temples or formal places of worship’. And if the Khoikhoi were regarded as having any religious beliefs, it was assumed that the moon or the sun were objects of worship in the society. Contrary to this incorrect interpretation, this article uncovers the interrelatedness between these two celestial objects and the Supreme Being of the Khoikhoi, Tsũi-||goab, through systematic inquiry. As a result of conclusions drawn prematurely, the need to investigate the religious beliefs of the Khoikhoi seemed unnecessary because it was believed to be of little significance. This combination of assumptions, derogatory labels, and lack of in-depth research resulted in the Khoikhoi being designated as moon worshippers, as one of many examples. Fueling this inaccurate narrative was the lack of counterarguments by or in favor of the Khoikhoi possessing a notion of God or a religious belief system. The theory that the Khoikhoi were moon worshippers prevailed and was cemented in the minds of outsiders. The moon and sun as visible representations is an incorrect label, finding the religious assumptions of the moon, the sun, the Supreme Being, and finally the interrelatedness between these three elements. The relevance of the moon within the Khoikhoi religious belief system is that it is believed that prior to the occupation of the San and Khoikhoi, the moon and sun lived on earth.” ref
“The assumption that the Khoikhoi worshipped the moon was based on the perception that when the moon was visible, the men would: [P]lace themselves together in a circle and blow on a hollow pipe or similar instrument, whereupon the women begin to clap their hands, and dance around the men, continually crying out that the last moon had protected them and their cattle well, and they hoped the same from this new moon. The Khoikhoi women clapped and sang during new or full moon festivities while sitting in a circle. Furthermore, when the new or full moon appeared, Khoikhoi children were raised to the moon. This dancing that is described under the moon is the riel dance, which is practiced among the Nama. These religious dances are known asas /gein. There is a belief that the Khoikhoi’s festivities during the new moon are the community’s way of conducting their prayer through dance, that is, showing their thankfulness for protection. For if the moon is seen again, they crowd together, making merry the whole night, dancing, jumping, and singing; clasping their hands together, and also murmuring some words. At the new moon, they come together and make noise the whole night, dancing in a circle, and while dancing, they clasp their hands together.” ref
“Sometimes they are seen in dark caves, where they offer some prayers, which, however, a European does not understand. While doing this they have a very curious behaviour, they turn their eyes towards the sky and one makes to the other a cross on the forehead. And this is, perhaps, a kind of religious worship, perhaps, which is agreed upon based on the premise that it is directed at the Supreme Being, Tsũi-||goab. If the narratives, wherein the moon promises immortality, were to be taken up in a literal sense, it would be Tsũi-||goab promising humans immortality through the moon. The moon fulfilled the role of immortality in the Khoikhoi religious belief system. the moon plays in the Khoikhoi society states the following: Even if Khoisan [San and Khoikhoi] did not literally worship the moon, even if they only considered the moon and stars as cosmologically significant actors at the beginning of time for the purposes of children’s stories – even if we must remain wary of the earliest narrative recordings of these beliefs – we still can feel some security in the conclusion that the celestial environment staged many southern Africans’ hopes for their future.” ref
“And even if the Khoisan’s various Moon and Hare stories made no straightforward metaphysical claims about origins, the very telling and re-telling of the story gave the sky a kind of significance. The sun was so closely associated with Tsũi-||goab by outsiders in southern Africa, as well as providing explanations for this phenomenon. The interrelatedness between the sun and Tsũi-||goab can be seen in the confusion regarding the terminology of the term. The etymology of the term Tsũi-||goab: ||goa meaning ‘to approach (approaching day)’, ||goab meaning ‘the morning’ or ‘daybreak’, ||goara meaning ‘the dawn’, tsū meaning ‘wounded’ or ‘hurt’, Tsũ-tsũ meaning ‘making a wound’ and tsu meaning ‘red’ referring to a new or fresh wound. Therefore, it is concluded that the terminology of Tsũi-||goab refers to the ‘red morning, the dawn, the red daybreak [the approaching red morning/dawn]’. The east was a characteristic of the worship of Tsũi-||goab. It is significant to mention that in addition to Tsũi-||goab, Heitsi-eibib is also associated with the easterly direction, which has been referred to as a ‘sacred direction’. Heitsi-eibib is an ancestral figure in the Khoikhoi religious belief system who possesses many of the same positive characteristics as Tsũi-||goab.” ref
Tsui-Goab: Khoekhoe Supreme Being
“Tsui-Goab is the supreme being of Khoekhoe mythology and the god of the heavens, and at battle with Gaunab, the god of darkness. In addition to serving as the supreme being, Tsui-Goab is also the god of thunder and lightning; the Khoekhoen pray to him when they are in need of rain. Upon hearing a thunderstorm approaching, some Khoekhoe tribes gather to sing a praise hymn to the god. Because lightning disperses the darkness, this meteorological phenomenon is considered part of Tsui-Goab’s continual war with Gaunab, the god of darkness. Tsui-Goab is said to live in a “beautiful heaven,” whereas his archenemy, Gaunab, “lives in a dark heaven, quite separated from the heaven of Tsui-Goab.” As the god of light, Tsui-Goab fights off the god of darkness each night, bringing dawn to the earth each morning. Tsui-Goab was thrown to the ground several times, but finally succeeded in driving Gaunab from the earth and back to his gloomy home, known as the “Black Sky.” ref
“Gaunab is the personification of death in Khoekhoen mythology. In some myths, he is also known as the embodiment of evil. He is often associated with Tsui’goab, and in some versions, is known to be his nemesis. In Khoekhoe mythology, Gaunab is said to be the Spirit of Death. In one myth, Gaunab visited a village that had experienced a drought with the intention of taking dying villagers to the underworld. He was in disguise, and was visiting one of the village’s elders who is on his deathbed. One of the villagers, Tsui’goab, recognized him and challenged Gaunab to a wrestling match. If Tsui’goab won, Gaunab must stop the drought. If Gaunab won instead, he could claim the lives of all the villages, both living and dead, including Tsui’goab himself. Gaunab eventually agreed to the challenge, and they both wrestled with one another for days. Eventually, Tsui’goab won the challenge to Gaunab’s consternation. He was enraged at the result and ended up breaking Tsui’goab’s knees at the end of the fight. Nevertheless, Gaunab honored the deal though he was unable to directly stop the drought since it was not under his domain. Instead, he asked the other gods to make Tsui’goab a rain god instead. After Tsui’goab recovered from the injury he received from Gaunab, he discovered his newfound powers and was able to call upon rain to fall on his village.” ref
“The Supreme Being, Tsũi-||goab, as a separate entity from the two celestial objects. The term Tsũi-||goab being associated with the Supreme Being of the Khoikhoi society is supported by numerous scholars. Tsũi-||goab forms part of the three main entities in the Khoikhoi religious belief system. The other two entities include the evil Being, ||Gaunab, and the ancestral hero, Heitsi-eibib. In addition to the concepts of these three main entities, ≠Gama- ≠Gorib, the religious notions concerning the dead, spirits, myths and rituals among the Nama Khoikhoi in the 19th century. Therefore, if it is accepted that mythological elements transcend ethnic boundaries, it can be concluded that all Khoikhoi groups possessed religious beliefs.” ref
“The Khoikhoi possessed a deep devotion towards Tsũi-||goab. This devotion towards and the reciprocation from Tsũi-||goab took place in a collective frame of reference. This collective frame of influence is on the communal worship and engagement rather than on an individualistic level. The collective worship of Tsũi-||goab included animal sacrifices that were killed by Nama priests. Moreover, this worship took place at certain times of the year. The aim of such worship was to obtain favour from Tsũi-||goab, even though they were never sure of obtaining it. The Khoikhoi had a fear that Tsũi-||goab might bring misfortune. Both good and bad fortune are attributed to Tsũi-||goab, along with his protection offered to the community. Both Tsũi-||goab and ||Gaunab are portrayed as male figures. When Tsũi-||goab is addressed, the Nama refer to him as ao, meaning ‘father’.” ref
“The following prayer which illustrates this fatherly figure terminology: Thou, O Tsũi ||goa ! Thou Father of the Fathers, All Father! Thou our Father! Let stream, let rain – the thunder cloud! Let please live (our) flocks! Let us (also) live, please! I am so very weak indeed! From thirst! From hunger! That I may eat field fruits!
“Tsũi-||goab, as the Supreme Being, is a creator God that sustains creation. Tsũi-||goab sends rain to the earth to ensure that crops grow and flourish. Carstens regards Tsũi-||goab as the ‘High or Celestial God of the Khoikhoi’. The nourishment and protection of the Khoikhoi society by Tsũi-||goab possibly led to the attributes of the Supreme Being being regarded as good, as well as being a life-giver to the Khoikhoi. An important element, illustrating the communal aspect of the Khoikhoi as a whole, is that Tsũi-||goab is regarded as the ‘creator and protector of the community’. This active role shows that Tsũi-||goab has a presence both in the sky and on earth. The following statement by Carstens sheds light on the role that Tsũi-||goab played in the Khoikhoi society: Collective good fortune and successful social protection on the other hand were of a different order, and a sign that Tsũi-||goab was as active on earth as he was in his celestial abode.” ref
“Furthermore, Tsũi-||goab is also known as being a wealthy God who is in possession of cattle and sheep. Usually, the possession of cattle and sheep is synonymous to being the provider. Tsũi-||goab can even foresee the future. Barnard adds that Tsũi-||goab is omnipresent and can die and resurrect at various times. If all Tsũi-||goab’s attributes are considered, it comes as no shock that he is revered as a great hero and warrior among the Khoikhoi. Carstens writes the following regarding Tsũi-||goab: He [Tsũi-||goab] was a creator since he is believed to have made the rocks and stones from which the first Khoikhoi came; he was omnipresent, extremely wise, and said also to have once been a notable warrior of great physical strength, as well as a powerful magician. In conclusion, these known attributes of Tsũi-||goab show that the Khoikhoi did not lack religious beliefs concerning a Supreme Being, nor merely had a vague idea at best concerning one.” ref
The interrelatedness between these elements
“As a departure point, it is significant to state that the Supreme Being of the Khoikhoi is positioned within a complex religious belief system and has various attributes associated with him including the interrelatedness with the moon and sun. These religious notions as being a ‘highly structured system of beliefs about the deities and the interrelation between them’. This not only means that Tsũi-||goab is one of the many religious beliefs of the Khoikhoi, but also that interrelatedness between religious elements is present. This interrelatedness is discussed here in reference to Tsũi-||goab, the moon and sun. Within the diverse Khoikhoi religious belief system, natural elements are personified by the Supreme Being. These natural elements include rain, wind, clouds, thunderstorms, and in reference to the crux of this article, the moon and sun. These elements are seen as the personification of Tsũi-||goab. For example, the personification of a natural element is seen through the belief that Tsũi-||goab is a rain God. The difficulty to connect the Supreme Being, the moon and the sun stems from researchers not recognizing that elements within the religious belief system of the Khoikhoi are related to each other. In contrast to the San religious belief system, which emphasizes the relationship between the deity and humanity, the Khoikhoi religious belief system emphasizes the relationship between deity and deity.” ref
“The dancing and singing that took place under the full moon (discussed under ‘The religious assumptions of the moon’) are regarded as having spiritual associations. That dances with spiritual associations were held during the full moon; however, this does not infer that the Khoikhoi were moon worshippers. this dancing and singing has been regarded under the full moon as part of the ‘Khoi religious expression’, and therefore ought to be regarded as an expression of their devotion to Tsũi-||goab, not the moon. The thinking is that dancing as ritual dances and celebrations in that the moon and its visibility was also celebrated at certain times. The Khoikhoi dancing and singing under the new or full moon and was the way the Khoikhoi invoked Tsũi-||goab through the moon. Supporting the argument that the moon and sun is associated with the Supreme Being is the belief of the Nharo people of Botswana. The Supreme Being N!adiba can be translated as ‘sky’. In this instance, the Supreme Being is associated with the sky, where the moon and sun are situated.” ref
“A Nharo medicine man explained that he regarded the Supreme Being as ‘God the Sky’ and that this God is the ‘father of the Moon and the Sun’. When the Khoikhoi were asked if they were worshippers of the moon, they only stated that they worshipped a Great Chief. This Great Chief is in reference to Tsũi-||goab. An interaction that took place between himself and an old ||Habobe-Nama that referred to Tsũi-||goab as a powerful Khoikhoi chief. Seeing as Tsũi-||goab is regarded as the first Khoikhoi from which all the Khoikhoi tribes come from, it can be concluded that Tsũi-||goab is the chief of the Khoikhoi. This illustrates that the Khoikhoi regarded the moon as a visible representation of Tsũi-||goab. The relation between the station of a chief and the moon: As the Chief of a Hottentot Nation presides over the Captains of the Kraals, so the Hottentots call the Supreme Being the Great and Supreme Captain. They believe a Supreme Being, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, and of everything in time; the Arbiter of the World, through whole Omnipotence all things live and move and have their Being. And that He is endow’d with unsearchable Attributes and Perfections. The Hottentots call him Gounja, or Gounja Ticquoa; that is, the God of all Gods; and say He is a Good Man, who does no Body any Hurt; and from whom None need be apprehensive of any; and that he dwells far above the Moon.” ref
“The moon should be regarded as a visible manifestation of their God. The moon does not carry the same weight as Tsũi-||goab in the Khoikhoi religious belief system. The Khoikhoi agree that a physical manifestation of the Supreme Being is situated in the heavens, earth and rain. This physical manifestation includes the moon and sun, through which veneration or association is with Tsũi-||goab. ‘In fact, the Moon is not the Khoekhoe God himself; nor in this case is he regarded as a separate deity. He is the visible manifestation of God’. The confusion regarding the moon and the Supreme Being is explained: both the literature and the oral tradition provide additional data and show that there is some confusion regarding the so-called divinity of the moon and the association of the moon with the worship of Tsui //Goab, a personified God. Sacrifices were performed to the deity during certain phases of the moon. Moreover, it is not only the moon that is associated in this manner with the deity. For example, it has been noted ‘that a religious dance was held at the first rising of the Pleiades after sunset, when prayers are offered to Tsui //Goab for rain’. Further, there do not appear to have been any sacrifices offered to the moon itself, nor are there reports of priests officiating at any moon worship ceremony.” ref
“Based on the above quotation, this ‘giver of rain’ and ‘good fortune’ is because of the worship of Tsũi-||goab through the visible manifestation of the moon. The similarities between the attributes of Tsũi-||goab and the moon can possibly add to the confusion. These attributes include being able to change shape or disappear. The consideration of the moon as a god is drenched in controversy, and explains that the 17th-century colonists claimed that the ‘Hottentots’ were worshipping the moon. The moon is not the God of the Khoikhoi in any way and that the moon should not be categorized as a separate deity within the Khoikhoi religious belief system, moon is not worshipped by the Khoikhoi. The idea of moon-worship is ‘largely a fantasy of European ethnographers’; the moon is merely regarded as being a visible manifestation of God, seeing as the Creator made it, they feel close to the Creator through it.” ref
“The association between the moon and the Supreme Being is because of their similar characteristics which include both being recognised as protectors of the community and cattle, the ability to die and resurrect various times, attributed to the same devotion because, in essence, both refer to only the Supreme Being and the moon being the visible representation of Tsũi-||goab. The close association between the sun and the Supreme Being is owed to the confusion regarding the terminology of Tsũi-||goab and Khoikhoi individuals praying at dawn towards the easterly direction. The moon and sun ought to be regarded as personifications of the Supreme Being. Interrelatedness between the moon, sun and Tsũi-||goab can be seen through the eclipse of both the moon and sun being regarded as a bad omen because their God left them, all three elements being able to inflict sickness or death (the moon and sun through eclipse), all three elements being associated with the sacred direction of the east, prayers being directed towards or through all three elements, Tsũi-||goab being regarded as the father of the moon and sun, and all three elements having a presence in the sky. A Nharo medicine man expresses that the entities in the religious belief system are in ‘kinship relations to each other’.” ref
“The importance of land in the spirituality of the indigenous people in Africa with particular reference to the Central Kalagari Game Reserve (CKGR) in Botswana. In this paper, the author argues that the religion and spirituality of Botswana groups is closely associated with the environment in which they live. The environment is very important regarding their understanding of the nature of God, the ancestors, and other spiritual beings. Their spirituality finds meaning in so far as their religion is practised in their ancestral land which is, in all practical purposes, their spiritual home. To relocate them to other places outside of the CKGR, therefore, has a detrimental effect on their religion and spirituality. Much of their early history and culture is preserved in rock paintings (such as those found at Tsodilo Hills and the footprints at the site of the Matsieng creation story in Mochudi), folk tales, songs, and anthropological records. The San people argue that the term that suits their situation best is the “red people” since that is the way in which they would like to be identified. San people, are divided into many groups, who, originally, did not share a common identity, though they may have had a common ancestor. They maintained their separate languages and cultures and called themselves by the names of their individual groups, such as Ju/hoansi, Khwe, /lAni, G/wi, Naro, Hail/om, !Xoo, #Khomani, !Xun, IIGana, Tshua, //Xekgwi, lUi, and the like. In a number of cases, it is maintained, these names mean “real people”, “first people”, or just “people”. It is further noted that what these groups had in common were somewhat similar physical features and a hunter-gatherer way of Iife.” ref
“Social, economic, and political activities are, by and large, guided by their religion and spirituality in the context of their environment. In the KaJagari Desert, Basarwa live their social and religious life together. They do not make a clear distinction between the secular and the profane, the material and the spiritual, the earthly and the heavenly. The religious life of Basarwa is grounded in their belief in God, the ancestors, traditional healers, and a variety of other traditional beliefs and practices as informed by the “book of nature”. As far as belief in God is concerned, Megan Biesele has pointed out that most Basarwa groups in this area believe in a greater and lesser God. According to Biesele, the similar KaJagari Desert groups regard the Great God as a Supreme good being. The Kung, for example, claim that God created himself. He then created bush-food, water, the earth, and air. It is also believed that God taught people the skills they would need to live their lives, and also gave people medicines so that they could cure themselves. They also believe that he dwells in the eastern sky surrounded by his servants, the spirits of the dead. It is commonly believed that the Great God sends good and bad fortune to human beings through these servants and through the lesser God, who lives in the western sky. This lesser God is treacherous and vengeful. Biesele has further noted that among the Kung it is believed that God may be angered if a person is neglected or ill-treated by his kin.” ref
“To punish the group-God may take the sick person away from them by letting the sick person die. Biesele has intimated that among these similar groups , though God is in the sky, he is not remote from his people. He can be approached not only by shamans, but also by ordinary individuals through informal prayer. Another interesting view concerning belief in a High God is found among the Naro Bushmen of western Botswana. Alan Barnard, in his paper “Structure and fluidity in Khoisan Religious Ideas,” has observed that among the Naro, the concept of God is usually expressed as N!adiba, which means “Sky God”. Sometimes he is called Hiiseba, which is his unique divine name. At other times, he is called !xuba, which means “Lord” or “Master”. According to Barnard, the Nfadiba has several related meanings and can be taken in the masculine singular or in other grammatical forms. But there are times when God is also considered as a female, the wife of N!adiba in which case he is known as N!adisa. The San believe in a Supreme Being who is also known in Sesarwa as Khane. He is considered more powerful than his ancestors. He gives his people all they need, such as land, animals for hunting, food, water, good health, good luck, children, and many other things. This seems to indicate that the San perceive God as the ultimate provider of everything that they need in the context of the land in which they live in the Kalagari Desert.” ref
“The most important aspect of San religion and spirituality is the belief in ancestors, who are believed to interact with them on a daily basis. Among the San, the ancestors are called qdangwa. Bushmen believe that the ancestors are very active. They can help their descendants in a variety of ways, such as securing food, water, animals for hunting, and especially healing the sick. When a person is sick a traditional healer or diviner is consulted to find out the cause of the disease. If they discover that the ancestors are the cause of the disease, the relatives hold a healing ritual which takes different forms slJch as dancing around the patient during which God and the ancestors are asked to heal the sick person. It is important to note that traditional medicine and traditional healers are very common and very important among the Bushmen. Bushmen or Basarwa claim that their medicinal knowledge to heal all kinds of diseases was given to them by God through the ancestors. Their ancestral land -the Kgalagari Desert- is like a big hospital or medical theatre capable of handling all kinds of diseases. For example, among the San when someone is ill, the elders go into the bush to collect the roots of medicinal trees, which are used for healing sick people of all diseases imaginable. It is claimed that all Bushmen have a great deal of knowledge regarding the healing properties of such medicinal trees. They derive such knowledge from the “book of nature”, that is, from the environment around them. There are also diviners who diagnose other peoples’ diseases. They are caked xhokawa.” ref
“Traditional healers and diviners are paid for their services in kind. As regards the cause of sickness among the San, it is believed that if a person is sick and is not healed even by a qhoqhwe, it means he or she is a victim of bad magic or witchcraft. 36 It should be noted that it is widely acknowledged in Botswana that the Kgalagari Desert contains a great number of medicinal plants which are effective for the treatment of certain diseases. The claim is that the Kalagari region offers them the ideal environment not only for survival but also for practising their religion and spirituality. After all, the region is their cultural burial ground in which countless generations of Basarwa ancestors are buried. Thus, the Kalagari Desert constitutes an important element of Basarwa spirituality in that it links the living with their ancestors in the spirit world and the unborn in the ages to come and ultimately with God. In this context, Basarwa conceive the Kalagari region not only as their physical home but also their spiritual habitat, without which their spirituality is meaningless and devoid of any depth. A number of other World Religions’ spiritualities are, by and large, based on sacred space where a specific revelation or manifestation of their deity took place and where the numen is experienced in a special way.” ref
“Most Sandawe still practice their animistic faith which includes the reverence for the moon. The moon is seen as a symbol of life, fertility and good will. Their traditional beliefs emphasize living in harmony with nature, which is a common feature of the San people of southern Africa. The Sandawe religion gives a central place to cave spirits living in the hills, to ancestor worship and divination. They fear the cave spirits and no hunting, herding or wood-gathering is allowed near their caves. They make annual sacrifices to appease the hill spirits, shouting prayers loudly as they climb to the sacrificing area. They also sacrifice at the graves of their ancestors in public ceremonies. The San peoples practice their traditional tribal religious rituals and they are very closed to Christianity. They believe in a High God, called Warongwe, a distant spirit that is not active in their lives. They see certain animals (especially the praying mantis) and celestial bodies (sun, moon, morning star, and the southern cross) as symbols of divinity.” ref
“The moon is believed to be the source of rain and fertility. They also believe that dancing near a sacred fire will bring healing. Some reports indicate 10% of the people are Muslim. One source comments further on the nature-relationship of their traditional religion: “The gods of the Sandawe are activated by an erotic dance, phek’umo, in which the act of love is mimicked in embrace by the dancers. The Moon is seen to be part of the cycle of fertility; in the cycle of months and in the menses of women…so people dance by moonlight and adopt stances and postures in the dance which represent the phases of the moon. This dance embeds the necessity for human and earth fertility in the body, mind, and spirit of the dancers as they work the fields or the banana in Tanzania.” However, one of the few scholarly articles accessible on the Sandawe culture commented in 1969, “Nowadays the phek’umo is rarely performed….” ref
“The Sandawe language may share a common ancestor with the Khoe languages of southern Africa. It has clicks and is unrelated to the neighbouring Bantu languages, though it has been lightly influenced by neighbouring Cushitic languages. The Sandawe adopted agriculture from their Bantu neighbours, probably the Gogo, and scattered their homesteads wherever a suitable piece of land was found for their staple crops of millet, sorghum, and eventually, maize. They were uncomfortable with and had no use for denser village life, and remained a basically stateless people, showing little interest in ’empire-building’. The Sandawe did, however, have a tradition of mutual cooperation in such things as hoeing and threshing, homebuilding, and organising informal parties to hunt pigs and elephants. They built their very temporary huts away from water holes, and then went hunting in the surrounding country. They also likely did not practice polygamy until after adopting agriculture.” ref
“The Sandawe practice an insular and deeply spiritual culture with an emphasis on animism. Caves in the hills were believed to harbour spirits and were respected and even feared. So as not to disturb these spirits, the caves were avoided, no animals were herded there, and no wood was cut or twigs broken. Once a year, the Sandawe would go to the caves to perform rituals of sacrifice in order to make sure the spirits would not be spiteful and interfere with the community’s general well-being. People would go to the caves in the hills as a group, shouting prayers to the spirits, assuring them that no one had come to disturb them, but had come to pay their respects. These prayers were shouted as loudly as possible, to make sure that the spirits could hear no matter where they were. The Sandawe beliefs also centred on a veneration of the moon, the stars, the seasons, and the mantis insect. The moon was seen as a symbol of life and fertility; cool and beneficial, it brought rain and controlled the cycle of fertility in women. The mantis was a divine messenger with a special reason for appearing, and a medium was usually consulted to find the explanation.” ref
“There was a god, Warongwe, who was so abstract, distant, and unrelated to the well-being of normal life that it was rarely prayed to or given sacrifices. As in almost all African areas, religion consisted of a long line of ancestors and a strongly-knit extended family system that mediated between living beings and a very remote, all-powerful God. The Sandawe were and remain an outgoing people, fond of singing, dancing, making music, and drinking beer, and have an enormous store of songs. All ceremonials and rituals differed from one another, such as those of harvest and courtship, as did those of the curing rituals with their trances, the circumcision festivals, and the simba possession dances, in which dancers imitated lions in order to combat witchcraft. The Sandawe still retain a strong oral tradition, loving to recount stories, which embody the collective wisdom of the group.” ref
Cushitic languages
“The Cushitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They are spoken primarily in the Horn of Africa, with minorities speaking Cushitic languages to the north in Egypt and Sudan, and to the south in Kenya and Tanzania. As of 2012, the Cushitic languages with over one million speakers were Oromo, Somali, Beja, Afar, Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidama. Christopher Ehret argues for a unified Proto-Cushitic language in the Red Sea Hills as far back as the Early Holocene. The expansion of Cushitic languages of the Southern Cushitic branch into the Rift Valley is associated with the Savanna Pastoral Neolithic. It has been argued that Southern Cushitic belongs in the Eastern branch, with its divergence explained by contact with Hadza- and Sandawe-like languages. Some of the ancient peoples of Nubia are hypothesized to have spoken languages belonging to the Cushitic group, especially the people of the C-Group culture. It has been speculated that these people left a substratum of Cushitic words in the modern Nubian languages. Given the scarcity of data (all omomastic or toponymic), however, it remains unclear if the C-Group culture in fact spoke a Cushitic language.” ref
“According to Y chromosome studies, Somalis are paternally closely related to other Afro-Asiatic-speaking groups in Northeast Africa. Besides comprising the majority of the Y-DNA in Somalis, the E1b1b (formerly E3b) haplogroup also makes up a significant proportion of the paternal DNA of Ethiopians, Sudanese, Egyptians, Berbers, North African Arabs, as well as many Mediterranean populations. E-M78 subclade of E1b1b1a in about 70.6% of their Somali male samples. The presence of this sub-haplogroup in the Horn region may represent the traces of an ancient migration from Egypt/Libya. After haplogroup E1b1b, the second most frequently occurring Y-DNA haplogroup among Somalis is the West Asian haplogroup T (M184). The clade is observed in more than 10% of Somali males generally, with a peak frequency amongst the Somali Dir clan members in Djibouti (100%) and Somalis in Dire Dawa (82.4%), a city with a majority Dir population. Haplogroup T, like haplogroup E1b1b, is also typically found among other populations of Northeast Africa, the Maghreb, the Near East, and the Mediterranean.” ref
“In Somalis, the Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor was estimated to be 4,000–5,000 years (2,500 BCE) for the haplogroup E-M78 cluster γ and 2,100–2,200 years (150 BCE) for Somali T-M184 bearers. Deep subclade E-Y18629 is commonly found in Somalis and has a formation date of 3,700 years ago and a Time to Most Recent Common Ancestor of 3,300 years ago. According to mtDNA studies, a significant proportion of the maternal lineages of Somali females consists of sub-Saharan clades such as the L haplogroup. The most frequently observed haplogroups are L0a1d, L2a1h, and L3f.” ref
“African mitochondrial (mt) phylogeny is coarsely resolved, but the majority of population data generated so far is limited to the analysis of the first hypervariable segment (HVS-1) of the control region (CR). Therefore, this study aimed on the investigation of the entire CR of 190 unrelated Somali individuals to enrich the severely underrepresented African mtDNA pool. The majority (60.5 %) of the haplotypes were of sub-Saharan origin, with L0a1d, L2a1h, and L3f being the most frequently observed haplogroups. Our sub-Saharan samples consisted almost entirely of the L1 or L2 haplogroups only. In addition, there existed a significant amount of homogeneity within the M1 haplogroup. This sharp cline indicates a history of little admixture between these regions. This could imply a more recent ancestry for M1 in Africa, as older lineages are more diverse and widespread by nature, and may be an indication of a back-migration into Africa from the Middle East.” ref
“M1 haplogroup is also observed at a rate of over. This mitochondrial clade is common among Ethiopians and North Africans, particularly Egyptians and Algerians. M1 is believed to have originated in Asia, where its parent M clade represents the majority of mtDNA lineages. “We analysed mtDNA variation in ~250 persons from Libya, Somalia, and Congo/Zambia, as representatives of the three regions of interest. Our initial results indicate a sharp cline in M1 frequencies that generally does not extend into sub-Saharan Africa. While our North and especially East African samples contained frequencies of M1 over 20%.” ref
“Although human Y chromosomes belonging to haplogroup R1b are quite rare in Africa, being found mainly in Asia and Europe, a group of chromosomes within the paragroup R-P25* are found concentrated in the central-western part of the African continent, where they can be detected at frequencies as high as 95%. Phylogenetic evidence and coalescence time estimates suggest that R-P25* chromosomes (or their phylogenetic ancestor) may have been carried to Africa by an Asia-to-Africa back migration in prehistoric times.” ref
Possible time of origin of Y-DNA BT is 150,000-145,000 years ago, and the Possible time of origin of B Y-DNA is 100,000 years ago. “B” Y-DNA was the ancestral haplogroup of not only modern Pygmies like the Baka and Mbuti, but also the Hadzabe from Tanzania, and the Khoisan people in East Africa.
“Basal BT* has not been documented in any living individuals or ancient remains. No definite examples of BT (xCF, DE) – i.e. members of BT outside the only two known branches of CT, namely haplogroups CF and DE – have been identified. In some cases, because testing is undertaken only for geographically and historically likely haplogroups, the data required to identify a precise subclade has not been collected and/or recorded. For instance, research published in 2013, regarding a sample of more than 2,000 men from different parts of Africa, included 7.5% belonging to haplogroup BT (xDE, K). These approximately 150 individuals may have included, for example: B*, unknown primary branches of haplogroups B, BT, CT or CF; haplogroup C, and/or; F (xK) (i.e. haplogroup F* plus its subclades G, H and IJ, but specifically excluding the broader haplogroup K and its subclades, such as haplogroups K*, LT, K2b*, MS, NO, P, Q and R).” ref
“Haplogroup CT is a human Y chromosome haplogroup. CT has two basal branches, CF and DE. DE is divided into a predominantly Asia-distributed haplogroup D-CTS3946 and a predominantly Africa-distributed haplogroup E-M96, while CF is divided into an East Asian, Native American, and Oceanian haplogroup C-M130 and haplogroup F-M89, which dominates most non-African populations. In keeping with the concept of “Y-chromosomal Adam” given to the patrilineal ancestor of all living humans, CT-M168 has therefore also been referred to in popularized accounts as being the lineage of “Eurasian Adam” or “Out of Africa Adam”; because, along with many African Y-lineages, all non-African Y-lineages descend from it.” ref
“Haplogroup DE is a human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroup. One of the first Out of Africa migrations occurred over 100,000 years ago. Humans spread rapidly along the coast of Asia and reached Australia by around 65,000–50,000 years ago, it has suggested that these first settlers of Australia may represent an older wave before the more significant out of Africa migration and Europe was populated by an early offshoot which settled the Near East and Europe less than 55,000 years ago. A single coastal dispersal, with an early offshoot into Europe. An immediate subclade, haplogroup D (also known as D-CTS3946), is mainly found in East Asia, parts of Central Asia, and the Andaman Islands, but also sporadically in West Africa and West Asia. The other immediate subclade, haplogroup E, is common in Africa, and to a lesser extent, the Middle East and southern Europe.” ref, ref
“CT” Y-DNA is present in all modern human male lineages except A and B in Africa. The vast majority of living individuals carrying F-M89 belong to subclades of GHIJK. Y-DNA haplogroup LT is an old lineage widely distributed at low concentrations. It was established approximately 30,000-40,000 years ago, probably in South Asia or West Asia. L-M20 originated in the Eurasian K-M9 clan that migrated eastwards from the Middle East, and later southwards from the Pamir Knot into present-day Pakistan and India (India 7,500).” ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Main African Language families, shown above:
- Afroasiatic languages are spread throughout Western Asia, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and parts of the Sahel.
- Saharan, Nilotic, and Sudanic languages (previously grouped under the hypothetical Nilo-Saharan macro-family), are present in East Africa and Sahel.
- Niger–Congo, which includes the large Atlantic-Congo and Bantu branches in West, Central, Southeast, or Southern Africa.
- The Khoisan languages are a number of African languages that have click consonants but do not belong to other African language families and are now held to comprise three distinct language families and two language isolates. ref, ref
African Bantu Languages and Peoples: Their Migrations, Culture, Beliefs, and Mythology
Khoi-san and Hadza peoples of southern Africa: The Khoekhoen people have an “Indigenous nomadic pastoralist culture,” and the San people have an “Indigenous hunter-gatherer culture,” which is one of the oldest surviving cultures of the region. The Hadza people, who have an “indigenous hunter-gatherer culture,” were a pre-Bantu expansion culture not closely related to Khoisan speakers.
mt-DNA
“Mitochondrial Eve’s oldest daughter L0 was born around 121,000 years ago. mtDNA Haplogroup L0 represents some of humanity’s most ancient maternal lineages. This haplogroup reaches its highest frequencies among the Khoisan peoples of southern Africa, with some populations showing remarkable concentrations among: the !Kung of Botswana, the Khwe and !Xun of South Africa, and the !Xun of Namibia. L0d and L0k subclades are almost exclusively restricted to the Khoisan peoples of southern Africa, though L0d has also been detected among the Sandawe people of Tanzania, suggesting an ancient connection between southern African and East African click-speaking populations. L0f is found in relatively small frequencies among the Sandawe people of Tanzania in East Africa, representing another ancient East African lineage.” ref
“Haplogroup L3 holds a unique place in human history as the ancestral lineage of all non-African populations, yet it also represents one of the most diverse and widespread maternal lineages within Africa itself. Originating in East Africa approximately 60,000 years ago, L3 played a pivotal role in the out-of-Africa migration that populated the entire world, while simultaneously expanding across the African continent through multiple waves of migration. This haplogroup encompasses numerous subclades, each telling distinct stories of ancient movements, trade routes, and population expansions that have shaped African genetic diversity for tens of thousands of years.” ref
“Haplogroups L4, L5, and L6 represent ancient East African maternal lineages that provide crucial insights into early human populations in the region. These haplogroups, dating between 22,000-120,000 years ago, remained primarily within East Africa rather than participating in global migrations like L3. These lesser-known haplogroups didn’t contribute to major global migrations but remain vital to understanding the early diversification of maternal lineages in Africa. L4 and L6 are particularly concentrated in the Horn of Africa and eastern Rift Valley, while L5 represents one of the most ancient lineages, found among populations considered to be among the earliest divergent human groups. L4, arising around 70,000 years ago, shows its highest frequencies in Tanzania, particularly among the Sandawe and Hadza populations, representing some of the most ancient hunter-gatherer traditions in East Africa.” ref
“Haplogroup L4 is a human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplogroup. It is a small maternal clade primarily restricted to Africa. L4 is important in East Africa. The highest frequencies are in Tanzania among the Hadza at 60-83% and Sandawe at 48%. The parent clade L3’4 is to have emerged at 106,000–66,000 years ago. L4 is not much later than this, estimated at 87,000 years ago.” ref
“L5, emerging around 100,000 years ago, reaches its peak frequencies among the Mbuti Pygmies of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the Tshwa and Shua Khoisan of Botswana, and the Sandawe of Tanzania. This ancient lineage has even been detected in Saudi Arabia, indicating early connections between East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The L7 lineage, found primarily among the Sandawe people of Tanzania, represents one of the oldest maternal lineages ever discovered, with its most ancient subclade L7a* dating back approximately 80,000 years ago.” ref
“U6a5 represents a significant subclade of the North African haplogroup U6 that demonstrates a clear pattern of West African spread. The broader U6 haplogroup represents an ancient “back-to-Africa” migration from southwestern Asia that established itself in North Africa around 30,000 years ago. U6a5 specifically traces the southward migration routes from this North African base through the Sahel into West Africa, making it distinct from other U6 subclades that remained in the Mediterranean region or spread into Europe.” ref
Timeline and Migration: How U6a5 Became Indigenous to West Africa
“The U6a5 lineage dates back approximately 10,000 years ago, but its most significant expansion occurred much later when autochthonous (indigenous, from the Greek word autokhthon, meaning literally “sprung from the land itself”) clusters in sub-Saharan Africa first appeared within U6a5b.” ref
“It is suggested that the ancestors of the modern Khoisan expanded to southern Africa (from East or Central Africa) before 150,000 years ago and possibly as early as 260,000 years ago. By the beginning of the MIS 5 “megadrought” 130,000 years ago, there were two ancestral population clusters in Africa: bearers of mt-DNA haplogroup L0 in southern Africa, ancestral to the Khoi-San, and bearers of haplogroup L1-6 in central/eastern Africa, ancestral to everyone else. This group gave rise to the San population of hunter gatherers. A much later wave of migration, around or before the beginning of the Common Era, gave rise to the Khoe people, who were pastoralists. Due to their early expansion and separation, the populations ancestral to the Khoisan have been estimated as having represented the “largest human population” during the majority of the anatomically modern human timeline, from their early separation before 150,000 years ago until the recent peopling of Eurasia some 70,000 years ago.” ref
“They were much more widespread than today, their modern distribution being due to their decimation in the course of the Bantu expansion. They were dispersed throughout much of southern and southeastern Africa. There was also a significant back-migration of bearers of L0 towards eastern Africa between 120,000 years ago and 75,000 years ago. Rito et al. (2013) speculate that pressure from such back-migration may even have contributed to the dispersal of East African populations out of Africa at about 70,000 years ago. Recent work has suggested that the multi-regional hypothesis may be supported by current human population genetic data. A 2023 study published in the journal Nature suggests that current genetic data may be best understood as reflecting internal admixtures of multiple population sources across Africa, including ancestral populations of the Khoisan.” ref
“The San populations ancestral to the Khoisan were spread throughout much of southern and eastern Africa throughout the Late Stone Age, about 75,000 years ago. A further expansion dated to about 20,000 years ago has been proposed based on the distribution of the L0d haplogroup. Rosti et al. suggest a connection of this recent expansion with the spread of click consonants to eastern African languages (Hadza language). Against the traditional interpretation that finds a common origin for the Khoi and San, other evidence has suggested that the ancestors of the Khoi peoples are relatively recent pre-Bantu agricultural immigrants to southern Africa who abandoned agriculture as the climate dried and either joined the San as hunter-gatherers or retained pastoralism. With the hypothesised arrival of pastoralists & bantoid agro-pastoralists in southern Africa starting around 2,300 years ago, linguistic development is later seen in the click consonants and loan words from ancient Khoe-san languages into the evolution of blended agro-pastoralist & hunter-gatherer communities that would eventually evolve into the now extant, amalgamated modern native linguistic communities found in South Africa, Botswana & Namibia (e.g. in South African Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, Zulu people).” ref
“Many Khoesan peoples are the descendants of an early dispersal of anatomically modern humans to Southern Africa before 150,000 years ago. (However, see below for recent work supporting a multi-regional hypothesis that suggests the Khoisan may be a source population for anatomically modern humans). 8,000-year-old carvings made by the Khoisan people. The carvings depicted a hippopotamus, horse, and antelope in the ‘Rain Snake’ Dyke of the Vredefort impact structure, which may have spiritual significance regarding the rain-making mythology of the Khoisan. Their languages show a limited typological similarity, largely confined to the prevalence of click consonants. They are not verifiably derived from a single common proto-language, but are split among at least three separate and unrelated language families (Khoe-Kwadi, Tuu, and Kxʼa).” ref
“It has been suggested that the Khoekhoe may represent Late Stone Age arrivals to Southern Africa, possibly displaced by Bantu expansion between about 6,000 and 1,500 years ago (approximately 4,000 BCE to 500 CE), reaching the area roughly between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago. Bantuists believe that the Bantu expansion most likely began on the highlands between Cameroon and Nigeria. In the process of Bantu expansion, the Proto-Bantu-speaking settlers absorbed, displaced, and possibly in some cases replaced pre-existing hunter-gatherer and pastoralist groups that they encountered. Similar to findings from Y-chromosome studies, mitochondrial DNA studies also showed evidence that the Khoisan people carry high frequencies of the earliest haplogroup branches in the human mitochondrial DNA tree. The most divergent (oldest) mitochondrial haplogroup, L0d, has been identified at its highest frequencies in the southern African Khoi and San groups. The distinctiveness of the Khoisan in both matrilineal and patrilineal groupings is a further indicator that they represent a population historically distinct from other Africans.” ref, ref
7,000-year-old R1b Y-Chromosome Lineages in West Central Africa
“Interestingly, almost 5% of the individuals here analyzed belonged to the Eurasian haplogroup R1b1*. A remarkable finding of our study is the substantial number of individuals belonging to haplogroup R1b1* (5.2%). Surprisingly, it has been previously observed in northern Cameroon (40%) at high frequencies, as well as at lower frequencies in southern Cameroon (1.12%), Oman (1%), Egypt (2%), and among the Hutu from Rwanda (1%). The presence of this lineage in Africa has been claimed to be a genetic signature of a possible backflow migration from West Asia into Africa. Researchers observe R1b1* in 12 Bantu-agriculturalist populations (ranging from 2% to 20%) and in two Pygmy individuals. A network of R1b1* haplotypes shows two main clusters, without any population structure. Interestingly, the estimated expansion time for these haplotypes—7,000 years (SD 8,100)—precedes the time at which the Bantu expansion occurred.” ref
“The oldest pottery found in an area inhabited by Bantu speakers (Shum Laka in northern Cameroon) dates to 5000 BCE or around 7,000 years ago. The Proto-Bantu speakers lived in villages and grew palm oil, nuts, grains, and possibly yams. They used stone tools, had goats and guinea fowl, and built boats used for fishing. It seems likely that the expansion of the Bantu-speaking people from their core region in West Africa began around 4000–3500 BCE. It is unclear whether the first dispersal scenario resulted in migration or multiple smaller dispersals occurring at different times. Although early models posited that the early speakers were both iron-using and agricultural, definitive archaeological evidence that they used iron does not appear until as late as 400 BCE, though they were agricultural. The Bantu-speaking people split into two broad groups which dispersed in different directions, termed the “Western Stream” and the “Eastern Stream”. Throughout the expansion, Bantu speakers interacted with various Pygmy groups and Khoisan speakers (hunter-gatherer groups), and Nilo-Saharan, Afro-Asiatic, and other Niger-Congo speakers (agricultural groups).” ref
“Sites south of Shum Laka (in southern Cameroon and Gabon) indicate the Western Stream began between 5000 and 3000 BCE. Initial progress was very slow, and central Cameroon was only reached around 1500 BCE. It is thought that the degradation of the West-Central African rainforest due to climate change between 2000 BCE and 500 BCE facilitated the expansion. They reached central Angola by around 500 BCE. The Eastern Stream, thought to have started later than the Western Stream, dispersed east, possibly along the northern edge of the rainforest, or along the Ubangi River. Urewe pottery indicates they reached west of Lake Victoria by 500 BCE. It was one of Africa’s oldest iron-smelting centres. By the first century BCE, Bantu-speaking communities in the Great Lakes region developed iron forging techniques that enabled them to produce carbon steel. Dispersal from the Great Lakes region occurred in two more streams. One went west to meet the Western Stream in the DR Congo and Angola, while the other went south and spread across Eastern and Southern Africa. Archaeological findings have shown that by 100 BCE to 300 CE, Bantu-speaking communities were present in the coastal areas of Misasa in Tanzania and Kwale in Kenya.” ref
“The hypothesized Bantu expansion pushed out or assimilated the hunter-forager proto-Khoisan, who had formerly inhabited Southern Africa. In Eastern and Southern Africa, Bantu speakers may have adopted livestock husbandry from other unrelated Cushitic-and Nilotic-speaking peoples they encountered. Herding practices reached the far south several centuries before Bantu-speaking migrants did. Archaeological, linguistic, genetic, and environmental evidence all support the conclusion that the Bantu expansion was a significant human migration. Generally, the movements of Bantu language-speaking peoples from the Cameroon/Nigeria border region throughout much of sub-Saharan Africa radically reshaped the genetic structure of the continent and led to extensive admixture between migrants and local populations. A 2023 genetic study of 1,487 Bantu speakers sampled from 143 populations across 14 African countries revealed that the expansion occurred ~4,000 years ago in Western Africa. The results showed that Bantu speakers received significant gene-flow from local groups in regions they expanded into.” ref
“Based on dental evidence, Irish (2016) concluded that the common ancestors of West African and Proto-Bantu peoples may have originated in the western region of the Sahara, amid the Kiffian period at Gobero, and may have migrated southward, from the Sahara into various parts of West Africa (e.g., Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Togo), as a result of desertification of the Green Sahara in 7000 BCE. From Nigeria and Cameroon, agricultural Proto-Bantu peoples began to migrate, and amid migration, diverged into East Bantu peoples (e.g., Democratic Republic of Congo) and West Bantu peoples (e.g., Congo, Gabon) between 2500 BCE and 1200 BCE. He suggests that Igbo people and Yoruba people may have admixture from back-migrated Bantu peoples.” ref
“Before the expansion of Bantu-speaking farmers, Central, Southern, and Southeast Africa were likely populated by Pygmy foragers, Khoisan-speaking hunter-gatherers, Nilo-Saharan-speaking herders, and Cushitic-speaking pastoralists. It is thought that Central African Pygmies and Bantus branched out from a common ancestral population c. 70,000 years ago. Many Batwa groups speak Bantu languages; however, a considerable portion of their vocabulary is not Bantu in origin. Much of this vocabulary is botanical, deals with honey collecting, or is otherwise specialised for the forest, and is shared between western Batwa groups. It has been proposed that this is the remnant of an independent Western Batwa (Mbenga or “Baaka”) language.” ref
“Prior to the arrival of Bantus in Southeast Africa, Cushitic-speaking peoples had migrated into the region from the Ethiopian Highlands and other more northerly areas. The first waves consisted of Southern Cushitic speakers, who settled around Lake Turkana and parts of Tanzania beginning around 5,000 years ago. Many centuries later, around 1000 CE, some Eastern Cushitic speakers also settled in northern and coastal Kenya. Khoisan-speaking hunter-gatherers also inhabited Southeast Africa before the Bantu expansion. Nilo-Saharan-speaking herder populations comprised a third group of the area’s pre-Bantu expansion inhabitants.” ref
“Before the Bantu expansion, Khoisan-speaking peoples inhabited Southern Africa. Their descendants have largely mixed with other peoples and adopted other languages. A few still live by foraging, often supplemented by working for neighbouring farmers in the arid regions around the Kalahari desert, while a larger number of Nama continue their traditional subsistence by raising livestock in Namibia and adjacent South Africa.” ref
“The beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse and include various ethnic religions. They include beliefs in spirits and higher and lower gods, sometimes including a supreme being, as well as the veneration of the dead, the use of magic, and traditional African medicine. Most religions can be described as animistic, some with elements of totemism, shamanism, various polytheistic and/or pantheistic/henotheistic aspects, as well as veneration of relics.” ref
“High God, in anthropology and the history of religion, a type of supreme deity found among many nonliterate peoples of North and South America, Africa, northern Asia, and Australia. The adjective high is primarily a locative term: a High God is conceived as being utterly transcendent, removed from the world that he created. A High God is high in the sense that he lives in or is identified with the sky—hence, the alternative name. Among North American Indians and Central and South Africans, thunder is thought to be the voice of the High God. In Siberia, the sun and moon are considered the High God’s eyes. He is connected with food and heaven among American Indians.” ref
“A supreme deity, supreme god or supreme being is the conception of the sole deity of monotheistic religions or, in polytheistic or henotheistic religions, the paramount deity or supernatural entity which is above all others. Supreme god or Supreme being: in many religions, it may be a Creator deity, King of the gods, Supreme god, or the singular deity of monotheistic religions.” ref, ref, ref
1 Chukwu in Igbo religion, Niger-Congo related
2 Mwari in Shona religion (a Bantu ethnic group) and Nyambe god in Bantu religion
3 Bakongo people/Lele people, Bantu ethnic groups, Nzambi god in Bakongo religion
4 Bassa people, Ngambi/Nyombe god, Bantu related
5 Chokwe people, Nzambi god (similar to the Bakongo god, Nzambi Mpungu), Bantu related
6 Fang people, Nzeme god, also called Mebere, Bantu related
7 Nyoro and Toro people, Nyamuhanga god, Bantu related
8 Hambukushu people, Nyambi god, Bantu related
9 Herero people, god Njambi Kurunga, whom they also refer to as Omukuru, Bantu related
10 Lozi people, Nyambe god, Bantu related
11 Akan people, god Nyame (also Oyame), Bantu related
12 Ọlọrun in Yoruba religion / Ashanti of Ghana: How Spider Obtained the Sky-God’s Stories, Niger-Congo related
13 Ruhanga god in the Rutara religion, Bantu related
14 Mbombo of Bakuba/Kuba mythology, Niger–Congo and Bantu related
15 Unkulunkulu, a god in Zulu mythology, Bantu related
16 Bemba god, Bambara people of Mali, Niger–Congo related
17 Ngewo god, Mende people, Niger–Congo related
18 Waaq (also Waq or Waaqa) god, Cushitic languages (Afro-Asiatic related)
19 Kushite religion, god Amun (also called Asha Renu, Amen, Aman, and Gem Aten), Afroasiatic related
20 Serer religion, god Roog (or Rog), Niger–Congo related
21 Chadian classical religions, Ra sun god/sun spirit, (Afroasiatic language family), and Nilo-Saharan related
22 Khonvoum (also Khonuum, Kmvoum, Chorum), Mbuti (Bambuti) mythology, Bantu related
23 Many different names for God in Lugbara mythology, Nilo-Saharan related
24 Ndzambyaphuungu, Suku people, Bantu related
25 god Gomwa: Gomwa, Gbaya people, Niger-Congo language related
26 Enkai (also called Engai), an androgynous god, Maasai people, Nilo-Saharan related
27 Kamba people, Mulungu/”Nyàmbé” god, Bantu related
28 Berbers of North Africa, sun (Tafukt in Tamazight) and oon (Ayyur in Tamazight), and for some Ancient Egyptian god Amon, Afroasiatic related
29 Chiuta god, Tumbuka group of Bantu peoples, and god Amazigh for Libyan and Tehenu tribes of the Western Desert, Berber related: Afroasiatic related
30 Amun-Ra and Aten, Ancient Egypt, Afroasiatic related
“Paganism is a term related to/used for people who practice polytheism. As polytheistic systems evolve, there is a tendency for one deity to achieve preeminence as king of the gods, for example by being their (sky) father. This tendency can parallel the growth of hierarchical systems of political power in which a monarch eventually comes to assume ultimate authority for human affairs. Other gods come to serve in a Divine Council or pantheon; such subsidiary courtier-deities are usually linked by family ties from the union of a single husband or wife, or else from an androgynous divinity who is responsible for the creation. Historically, subsequent social events, such as invasions or shifts in power structures, can cause the previous king of the gods to be displaced by a new divinity, who assumes the displaced god’s attributes and functions. Frequently, the king of the gods has at least one wife who is the queen of the gods, according to feminist theories of the replacement of original matriarchies by patriarchies, male sky gods tend to supplant female (motherly) earth goddesses and achieve omnipotence. There is also a tendency for kings of the gods to assume more and more importance, syncretistically assuming the attributes and functions of lesser divinities, who come to be seen as aspects of the single supreme deity. While paganism generally implies polytheism, the primary distinction between classical pagans and Christians was not one of monotheism versus polytheism, as not all pagans were strictly polytheist. Throughout history, many of them believed in a supreme deity. However, most such pagans believed in a class of subordinate gods/daimons—see henotheism—or divine emanations.” ref, ref
“A supreme deity, supreme god, or supreme being:
- Creator deity, often also the supreme deity in many religions
- King of the gods, the lead god of a polytheistic pantheon
- Supreme god, the god exclusively worshipped by henotheists
- God, the singular deity of monotheistic religions.” ref
“The following are the characteristics shared by virtually all Kings of the gods:
- Creation: Most of these gods derive their power from the fact that they created the world, formulated its laws and/or created life forms, notably humans. Examples: Ra, Odin.
- Dominion over the sky: Many such deities hold control over all aspects of the sky, such as weather, rain, thunderstorms, air, winds and celestial objects like stars. They also control some aspects of Earth like harvest, fertility, plants or mountains. Examples: Zeus, Hadad, Jupiter.
- Lightning bolts as personal weapons: Commonly seen with sky gods.
- Divine Wisdom: Some Kings of Gods possess superior wisdom and clairvoyance, compared to most beings. Examples: Ra, Odin.
- God of the Sun, Daylight or Celestial Fire: Some kings of gods are associated with the Sun, as it is life giving and is a powerful symbol of order. They are said to be in charge of celestial fire, which is purifying by nature. Daylight is also an important phenomenon, as most events take place under its presence. Examples: Ra, Dyaus Pitr.
- Conquest, Law, Justice, Order, Time and Fate: Most kings of gods have the ability to control the events of battle and grant victory to those who deserve it. They are seen as paragons of law and promote order. They are seen as powerful manifestations of their respective civilizations. Some gods either possess great skill in war or tremendous physical strength. Some of them have some control over time and regulate it with seasons. Others have limited control over the fate of a human. Examples: Zeus, Odin, Ra, Jupiter.
- Divine authority over other gods: This may be because the concerned head of the pantheon is the father or creator of many gods and goddesses who swear allegiance to him. As a result, the king of the gods makes sure that all deities function properly, punish them for misdeeds, grant or take away immortality from lesser gods etc. Examples: Zeus, Odin, Enlil.
- Divine rival: In some cases, there may be another god, who is equal in supernatural power and thinks he can do a better job than the current king. This often results in conflict, and in extreme cases, war. Examples: Ra and Apophis; Osiris, Set and Horus; Apollo vs Python ; Mitra and the Daeva; Zeus and Poseidon; Cronos and Uranus; Typhon and Zeus; etc.” ref
“Examples of kings of the gods in different cultures include:
- In the Mesopotamian Anunnaki, Enlil displaces Anu and is in turn replaced by Marduk.
- In the Ancient Egyptian religion, Amun was the official god of the Pharaoh and the people of Egypt.
- In the Canaanite pantheon, Baal (Hadad) displaces El.
- In the Hurrian/Hittite pantheon, Teshub or Tarḫunz or Arinna displaces Kumarbi.
- In the Armenian Ar, later – Aramazd.
- In Hinduism, the King of the Gods is Indra, The God of Thunder and lightning and the ruler of heaven.
- In the Ancient Greek system of Olympian Gods, Cronus displaces Uranus, and Zeus, in turn, displaces Cronus.
- In Norse mythology, Odin assumes the role of the Allfather or King of the Gods, but Norse mythology has multiple tribes of Gods, such as the Æsir and Vanir, and Odin starts off as only the leader of the former.
- Ancient Iranian Ahura Mazda of the Zoroastrians.
- Dravidian religions: The Supreme Being in Dravidian religion was usually Sivaperuman and had supreme gods and goddesses based on lands, including Murugan, Kadalon, Vendhan, Korravai, and Thirumal.” ref
“The leaders of the various pantheons include:
- Berber pantheon: old: Amun; new: Poseidon
- Algonquin pantheon: Gitche Manitou
- Arabian pantheon: Allah
- Ashanti pantheon: Nyame
- Australian Aboriginal pantheon: Baiame
- Aztec pantheon: Huitzilopochtli, Ometeotl, Quetzalcoatl or Tezcatlipoca
- Basque pantheon: Sugaar or Mari
- Batak pantheon: (primordial) Debata Ompung Mulajadi na Bolon; (celestial) Batara Guru
- Canaanite pantheon: El, later Baʿal (now usually identified with Hadad)
- Carthaginian pantheon: Baʿal Hammon
- Celtic pantheon: Dagda (Gaels); possibly Lugus (Brythonic/Gallaeci/Gaulish)
- Chinese pantheon: Yuanshi Tianzun, Jade Emperor, Shangdi, Tian
- Circassian pantheon: Theshxwe / Tha
- Dahomey pantheon: Nana Buluku
- Dravidian pantheon: Sivan, Murugan, Kadalon, Vendhan and Kottravai, and Thirumaal
- Egyptian pantheon: Old Kingdom: Ra. New Kingdom: Amun
- Finnic pantheon: Ukko, possibly Ilmarinen
- Germanic pantheon: Odin
- Georgian pantheon: Armazi, Ghmerti
- Gondi pantheon: Kupar Lingo
- Greek pantheon: Zeus
- Guarani pantheon: Tupa
- Haida pantheon: Raven
- Hawaiian pantheon: Kāne
- Hindu pantheon: Shiva, Brahma, Vishnu, Indra or Brahman
- Hittite pantheon: Arinna or Teshub
- Hopi pantheon: Angwusnasomtaka
- Inca pantheon: Viracocha
- Inuit pantheon: Anguta or Anigut but only among the Greenlandic Inuit
- Japanese pantheon: Amenominakanushi, Izanagi-no-Mikoto, then Amaterasu-Ōmikami
- Korean pantheon: Haneullim
- Lakota pantheon: Wakan Tanka or Inyan
- Lithuanian pantheon: Perkūnas
- Lusitanian pantheon: Endovelicus
- Mari pantheon: Kugu Jumo
- Māori pantheon: Tāne
- Mayan pantheon: Hunab Ku, Itzamna, Huracan, Kukulkan, Camazotz and Cabrakan.
- Mbuti pantheon: Khonvoum
- Meitei pantheon: Sidaba Mapu or Pakhangba
- Mesopotamian pantheon: Sumerian: An, later Enlil; Babylonian: Marduk
- Miwok pantheon: Coyote
- Muisca pantheon: Chiminigagua
- Nabatean pantheon: Dushara
- Ossetian pantheon: Xucau
- Persian pantheon: Ahura Mazda
- Philippine pantheon: Bathala (Tagalog), Kan-Laon (Visayan)
- Roman pantheon: Jupiter
- Sami pantheon: Beaivi
- Slavic pantheon: Perun or Rod or Svarog
- Turco-Mongol pantheon: Tengri, Tngri, Qormusta Tengri
- Vietnamese pantheon: Ông Trời; Lạc Long Quân
- Vodou pantheon: Bondyé
- Yahwist pantheon: El, later Yahweh (via syncretism)
- Yoruba pantheon: Olorun
- Zulu pantheon: Unkulunkulu, Umvelinqangi” ref
Abrahamic religions
- God in Abrahamic religions
- God in Judaism
- God in Christianity
- Yahweh
- Allah in Muslim belief: see God in Islam
- Bahá in Bahá’í belief: see God in the Baháʼí Faith
African religions
- Amun-Ra in Ancient Egyptian mythology
- Aten in Ancient Egyptian mythology
- Chukwu in Igbo religion
- Mwari in Shona religion
- Nyambe in Bantu religion
- Nzambi in Bakongo religion
- Ọlọrun in Yoruba religion
- Ruhanga in Rutara religion
Indian religions
- Para Brahman, in Hinduism
- Shiva, in Shaivism
- Vishnu, in Vaishnavism
- Adi Parashakti, in Shaktism
- Maha Ganapati, in Ganapatya
- Surya, in Sauram
- Adibuddha and Dharmakaya in Mahayana Buddhism
- Waheguru, in Sikhism
Ancient Roman and Greek religion
- Zeus, in ancient Greek religion
- Jupiter, in the religion of ancient Rome, often identified with Zeus
Other religion
- Pangu, in Chinese folk religion
- Radien-attje, the superior deity of the Sami
- Rod (Slavic religion), in pre-Christian Slavic mythology
- Tagroa Siria, in Rotuman society
- Ukko, in Finnish mythology
Supreme deities in Africa
Explaining the numbers relating to the Supreme deities in Africa, which I think came in/relation to R1b with religious ideas from the Middle East. J and E Y-DNA, as well as the spread of Middle Eastern religious ideas, had some involvement, but to me, a significant reason many people and cultural groups in Africa believe in a Supreme God and High Gods is R1b.
1 Chukwu in Igbo religion/Abassi (also known as Abasi or Awasi) is the supreme creator god of the Efik, Ibibio, and Annang people of Nigeria. The Igbo language Niger-Congo related.” ref, ref, ref
Niger-Congo Religion (6000-5000 BCE or 8,000 to 7,000 years ago)
“Niger-Congo Religion refers to the traditional belief systems of the Niger-Congo-speaking peoples, which trace back to at least the sixth millennium BCE or 8,000 to 7,000 years ago. This religion is characterized by the belief in an omnipotent creator god, who is seen as the maker of all things, alongside various spirits, including ancestral and territorial spirits. These beliefs reflect fundamental human concerns regarding creation, origins, malevolence, and the need for protection. Evil in this context is understood not as a direct embodiment but as arising from human malice, envy, and improper actions, often linked to witchcraft. Ancestral spirits play a crucial role in the religious framework, being venerated rather than worshiped, as they are seen as active participants in the lives of their descendants. The connection between the spiritual and the social realm is strong, with clan chiefs holding significant religious authority. Worship typically occurs in natural settings, where specific landscapes are considered sacred due to their association with divine spirits. The absence of a concept of an afterlife, focusing instead on the living’s responsibilities to remember and honor their ancestors, underscores the communal nature of Niger-Congo spirituality. Elements of these ancient beliefs continue to influence contemporary practices among Niger-Congo descendants.” ref
“Proto-Niger–Congo originated about 11,000–10,000 years before present in the western part of the “Green Sahara” of Africa (roughly the Sahel and southern Sahara), and that its dispersal can be correlated with the spread of the bow and arrow by migrating hunter-gatherers. Niger–Congo is a hypothetical language family spoken over the majority of sub-Saharan Africa. The language family most likely originated in or near the area where these languages were spoken prior to Bantu expansion (i.e. West Africa or Central Africa). Its expansion may have been associated with the expansion of Sahel agriculture in the African Neolithic period, following the desiccation of the Sahara in c. 3500 BCE. Proto-Niger–Congo is traditionally assumed to have had a disyllabic root structure similar to that of Proto-Bantu. Bantu languages shown within the Niger–Congo language family. The oldest pottery found in an area inhabited by Bantu speakers (Shum Laka in northern Cameroon) dates to 5000 BCE. About 6,000 years ago, it split off from Proto-Southern Bantoid when the Bantu expansion began to the south and east. Bantu-speaking people likely have an origin in eastern Nigeria and west-central Cameroon, then moved first to the Congo region. This places the date of the start of the expansion somewhere between 3000 BCE and 800 BCE, or 5,000 to 2,500 years ago. The expansion is believed to have taken place in at least two waves, between about 4,000 and 2,000 years ago (approximately 2,000 BCE to 1 CE). Before the expansion of Bantu-speaking farmers, Central, Southern, and Southeast Africa were likely populated by Pygmy foragers, Khoisan-speaking hunter-gatherers, Nilo-Saharan-speaking herders, and Cushitic-speaking pastoralists. Prior to the arrival of Bantus in Southeast Africa, Cushitic-speaking peoples had migrated into the region from the Ethiopian Highlands and other more northerly areas. The first waves consisted of Southern Cushitic speakers, who settled around Lake Turkana and parts of Tanzania beginning around 5,000 years ago.” ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
2 Mwari in Shona religion (a Bantu ethnic group) and Nyambe in Bantu religion
“Nyambe (also Nyambi, Nyembi, Nzambe, Nzambi, Nzemi, Njambe and Njambi) is the Supreme God, Sky Father, and God of the Sun across numerous traditional Bantu religions.” ref
3 Bakongo people/Lele people Bantu ethnic groups, Nzambi in Bakongo religion
“Nzambi a Mpungu (also Nzambi and Nzambi Mpungu) is the Supreme God, eternal Sky Father and God of the Sun (fire) in traditional Kongo spirituality. His female counterpart is Nzambici, the Sky Mother and Goddess of the Moon. In Candomblé, Bantu Nzambi is the “sovereign master.” In the Kumina religion, there is a high creator god known as “King Zombi,” which is a derivative of Nzambi Mpungu. In the religion of Palo, “Nzambi” is the god who created the universe and animates it. Nzambi resides in all natural things and the spirits of the dead. Long deceased ancestors who have become spirits will, over a long period of time, become enveloped in the natural elements and thus Nzambi himself.” ref, ref
4 Bassa people Bantu related
“The Bassa people of Cameroon believe the Supreme being Ngambi/Nyombe is the revealer of secret truths, present and future. After the Bible was published in the Bassa language in 1922, Ngambi became seen as the Creator God. Due to their great respect for elders in their society, Ngambi is also seen as the greatest Elder.” ref
5 Chokwe people Bantu related
“The Chokwe people of northeast Angola believe in the Supreme God Nzambi (similar to the Bakongo god, Nzambi Mpungu), who they also call Kalûnga and Samatanga; the latter meaning “the creator.” The king, or Mwanangana, is said to be a representative of Nzambi. They have the ability to connect the physical world to the spiritual world of the ancestor and seek guidance from nature spirits.” ref
6 Fang people Bantu related
“The Fang people of Cameroon and Gabon believe in the Supreme God Nzeme, also called Mebere. In Fang cosmology, Nzeme created everything in the world and blew life into the Earth and the first ancestor, or Zambe. Nzeme is also said to have created three spirits: Nzame with strength; Mbere with leadership, and Nkwa with beauty.” ref
7 Nyoro and Toro people Bantu related
“The Nyoro and Toro people of Uganda referred to their Supreme God as Nyamuhanga.” ref
8 Hambukushu people Bantu related
“The Hambukushu people of Botswana, also known as the “Rainmakers of Okavango,” believe in the Supreme God Nyambi, who is said to have created the universe, animals, and man, placing the Hambukushu in the hills of Tsodilo. This place is considered a sacred place to their people. Nyembi is also believed to bless those who do good by sending them to heaven, or Diwiru, when they die, and punish those who do evil by sending them to his messenger of death, Shadapinyi.” ref
9 Herero people Bantu related
“The Herero people of Namibia believe in the Supreme God Njambi Kurunga, whom they also refer to as Omukuru. Like many of the depictions in other cultures, Njambi created the universe, spirits, and humans, and then retreated into seclusion in the sky.” ref
10 Lozi people Bantu related
“The Lozi people of Zambia and Zimbabwe believe that the Supreme Being Nyambe created all things, including his own mother, his wife, and man. Because the sun is seen as a great force that powers everything in the universe, the Lozi also see Nyambe as the Sun God. Their oral traditions state that the first humans that Nyambe created were the Kamura people. After seeing how destructive his creation could be, he retreated to a mountaintop and never interacted directly with man again.” ref
11 Akan people Bantu related
“The Akan, Fante, and Asante people of Ghana and Burkina Faso believe Nyame (also Oyame) created all things, including Heaven, or Osoro, and earth, or Asaase, and is continually adding to and redesigning the universe. His other name, Onyankopong, means “the Supreme Being,” while Odomankoma means “Infinite beings whose Beginning and End are unknown to humans.” ref
12 Ọlọrun in Yoruba religion / Ashanti of Ghana: How Spider Obtained the Sky-God’s Stories.
“The Yoruba language is a Niger-Congo language.” ref
13 Ruhanga in Rutara religion is Bantu related
“The Rutara people (endonym: Banyakitara, Abanyakitara) are a group of closely related Bantu ethnic groups native to the African Great Lakes region.” ref, ref
“Ruhanga (lit. ’He Who Creates’) features in Bantu spirituality as the remote creator and sky-God, recognized among the Rutara people (Banyoro, Banyankore, Batooro, Bahaya, Bakiga, Bahema, and all other groups referred to in general as Banyakitara). The Bahima further recognise him as the arbiter of life, sickness, and death.” ref
14 Mbombo of Bakuba/Kuba mythology Niger–Congo and Bantu related
“Mbombo, also called Bumba, is the creator god in the religion and mythology of the Kuba people of Central Africa. In the Mbombo creation myth, Mbombo was a giant in form and white in color. The myth describes the creation of the universe from nothing. The story of Mbombo’s creation tells that in the beginning, Mbombo was alone, and darkness and primordial water covered all the earth. It would happen that Mbombo came to feel an intense pain in his stomach, and then Mbombo vomited the sun, the moon, and the stars. The heat and light from the sun evaporated the water covering the earth, creating clouds, and after time, the dry hills emerged from the water. Tsetse Bumba caused trouble on the earth, so Mbombo chased her into the sky, where she became the thunderbolt. This left people without fire, so Mbombo showed them how to make it from trees. Once the creation was complete and peaceful, Mbombo delivered it to mankind and retreated into the heavens, leaving Loko Yima to serve as “god upon the earth”. The woman of the waters, Nchienge, lived in the East, and her son, Woto, became the first king of the Kuba. The Kuba Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of the Bakuba or Bushongo, is a traditional kingdom in Central Africa. Bushong-speaking/Niger–Congo and Bantu related.” ref, ref, ref
15 Unkulunkulu in Zulu mythology – Bantu related
“Unkulunkulu (/uɲɠulun’ɠulu/), often formatted as uNkulunkulu or uMkhulu Omkhulu, is a mythical ancestor, mythical predecessor group, or Supreme Creator in the language of the Zulu, Ndebele, and Swati people. Originally a “first ancestor” figure, Unkulunkulu morphed into a creator god figure with the spread of Christianity. Unkulunkulu was a general term referring to an “old-old one”, or an ancestor. In this situation, these Onkulunkulu (the plural form) could be male or female, nd most tribes and families had one, regarding them with great respect. Unkulunkulu also existed in a broader role as a sole, ancient figure; this figure being male, he played a role in broader as the ancestor of humanity, but was given little attention. Scholar Ana Maria Monteiro-Ferreira asserts that before the spread of Christianity to the Zulu people, Unkulunkulu was not a Supreme Being like that of the Christian God.” ref, ref
16 Bemba Bambara people of Mali are Niger–Congo related
“Bemba (also known as Ngala or Pemba) is the creator god in the traditional religion of the Bambara people of Mali. The name is used to refer to Bemba, who is portrayed as a god consisting of four distinct beings (Pemba, Nyale, Faro, and Ndomadyiri) and is sometimes used to refer to one of its members, Pemba. Although Bemba is often referred to as male, the union of these four beings as Bemba is hermaphroditic, with the male aspects represented by Pemba and Ndomadyiri, while the female aspects are represented by Nyale and Faro. Bemba plays a central role in Bambara religion, although opinions are divided as to whether he is considered as a supreme high god, or whether recent interpretations of his position were due to Islamic influences. Mandé religion also features Pemba and Faro in their cosmology, although their roles are dissimilar to their depictions in Bambara religion.” ref
“As the representation of the four gods, Bemba is depicted as a deity who plays a large part in the creation of the universe and everything in it. Although Bemba’s role is central in Bamara traditions, he is not worshipped directly, since it is said that after creating the universe, Bemba retreated to the heavens. Like many African creator gods, Bemba is omnipresent but does not exist in the physical world. Since there is no physical representation of Bemba, and thus Bamara worship practices focus on presenting offerings and prayers to minor gods or spiritual entities (e.g., Nya, Nyawrole, Nama, Komo). Due to the importance of agriculture in Bambara traditions, Bemba is also often associated with grains. Since Bemba consists of four separate entities, each part plays a different role in the Bambara creation myth and presented different aspects of Bemba.” ref
“Both Manding and Bambara are part of the Mandé ethno-linguistic group, whose divergence is dated to at least about 7,000 years ago, and branches of which are associated with sites near Tichitt (now subsumed by the Sahara in southern Mauritania), where urban centers began to emerge by as early as 2500 BCE or 4,500 years ago.” ref, ref
17 Ngewo, the supreme god of the Mende people of Sierra Leone and Liberia
“Ngewo, the supreme god of the Mende people of Sierra Leone and Liberia. Ngewo is a sky god. He is conceived as the supreme force and power responsible for the creation of the universe and all that it contains: human beings, animals, plants, and so on. In addition, Ngewo infused his creation with a force that permeates everything and manifests itself not only in particular objects but also in natural phenomena such as lightning and waterfalls. Ngewo’s creative power thus constantly asserts itself in all that exists.” ref
“Mende language is Niger–Congo related and in their oral tradition, the Mende describe themselves as being a mixture of two peoples: their original members were hunters and fishers who sparsely populated the area in small peaceful settlements, and their leaders came later, in a recent historical period, bringing with them the arts of war, and also building larger, more permanent villages. This is supported by analyses of their language and culture, which show signs of a layering of two different forms; they have both matrilineal and patrilineal inheritance, for instance. These leaders described in oral histories were almost certainly Mane people who descended into the coastal lowlands from the area near Moussadou, Guinea in the 16th century. They conquered and mixed with the native Bullom people (Niger–Congo related) to form the Mende.” ref, ref, ref
18 Waaq (also Waq or Waaqa) is the name for the sky God in several Cushitic languages (Afro-Asiatic),
“Including the Oromo (Afro-Asiatic) and Somali languages (Afro-Asiatic) Waaq used to be a generic name for God, in comparison to the Turkic people’s tenets of Tengri. Waaqa (Oromo pronunciation: [waːkʼa]) still means ‘God’ in the present Oromo language. Other Cushitic languages where the word is still found include Konso Waaqa; Rendille Wax; Bayso Wah or Waa; Daasanach Waag; Hadiyya Waaʔa; Burji Waacʼi. Waaq is also a word in Arabic for protector ( واق ) and occurs in the Quran. Some traditions indicate Waaq to be associated with the Harari region. The Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi mentions in his Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya that Waaq used to be a generic name for God, in comparison to the Turkic people’s tenets of Tengri.” ref, ref, ref, ref
“Proto-Cushitic (8000-7000 BCE or 10,000 to 9,000 years ago) is (Afro-Asiatic) the reconstructed proto-language common ancestor of the Cushitic language family, and Proto-Afroasiatic is between 16,000 and 10,000 BCE or 18,000 to 12,000 years ago. Christopher Ehret argues for a unified Proto-Cushitic language in the Red Sea Hills as far back as the Early Holocene. Based on onomastic evidence, the Medjay and the Blemmyes of northern Nubia are believed to have spoken Cushitic languages related to the modern Beja language. Less certain are hypotheses which propose that Cushitic languages were spoken by the people of the C-Group culture in northern Nubia, or the people of the Kerma culture in southern Nubia.” ref, ref
“Proto-Afroasiatic is though estimations vary widely, it is believed by scholars to have been spoken as a single language around 12,000 to 18,000 years ago, that is, between 16,000 and 10,000 BCE. Although no consensus exists as to the location of the Afroasiatic homeland, the putative homeland of Proto-Afroasiatic speakers, the majority of scholars agree that it was located within a region of West Asia or Northeast Africa. The reconstruction of Proto-Afroasiatic is problematic and has not progressed to the degree found in Indo-European linguistics. The immense amount of time over which the branches have been separated, coupled with the wide gap between the attestations of the original branches (3rd millennium BCE for Egyptian language in Northeast Africa and Semitic languages in Western Asia, through to as recent as 19th and 20th centuries CE for many Chadic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages) mean that determining sound correspondences has not yet been possible. In addition to more traditional proposed consonant correspondences, there is also a divergent proposal that has become popular among Egyptologists; there is no agreement about PAA’s vowels, the existence of tone, or its syllable structure. At the same time, scholars disagree as to whether and to what extent the classical Semitic languages of Western Asia are a conservative, faithful representation of PAA morphology. This is particularly important for the question of whether the lexical roots in the language were originally mostly biradical or triradical, that is, whether they originally had two or three consonants. It also plays into the question of the degree to which Proto-Afroasiatic had root-and-pattern morphology, as most fully displayed in the Semitic, Egyptian, and to some degree Cushitic branches.” ref
There are, nonetheless, some items of agreement and reconstructed vocabulary. Most scholars agree that Proto-Afroasiatic nouns had grammatical gender, at least two and possibly three grammatical numbers (singular, plural, and possibly dual), as well as a case system with at least two cases. Proto-Afroasiatic may have had marked nominative or ergative-absolutive alignment. A deverbal derivational prefix *mV- is also widely reconstructed. While there is disagreement about the forms of the PAA personal pronouns, there is agreement that there were independent and “bound” (unstressed, clitic) forms. There is also agreement that a widespread demonstrative pattern of n = masculine and plural, t= feminine goes back to PAA, as well as about the existence of an interrogative pronoun *mV, which may not have distinguished animacy. There is some agreement that the PAA verb had two or possibly three basic forms, though there is disagreement about what those forms were and what tenses, aspects, or moods they expressed. There is also widespread agreement that there were possibly two sets of conjugational affixes (prefixes and suffixes) used for different purposes. Additionally, the importance of verbal gemination and reduplication and the existence of three derivational affixes, especially of a causative -*s-, are commonly reconstructed. A numeral system cannot be reconstructed, although numerous PAA numerals and cognate sets from 1 to 9 have been proposed.” ref
“Worship surrounding Tengri is called Tengrism. The core beings in Tengrism are the Sky Father (Tenger Etseg) and the Earth Mother (Umay Ana). It involves ancestor worship, as Tengri was thought to have been the ancestral progenitor of mankind in Turkic regions and Mongolia, shamanism, animism, and totemism.” ref
“Tengrism (also known as Tengriism, Tengerism, or Tengrianism) is a religion originating in the Eurasian steppes, based on shamanism and animism. It generally involves the titular sky god Tengri. According to some scholars, adherents of Tengrism view the purpose of life to be in harmony with the universe. It was the prevailing religion of the Göktürks, Xianbei, Bulgars, Xiongnu, Yeniseian and Mongolic peoples and Huns, as well as the state religion of several medieval states such as the First Turkic Khaganate, the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, Old Great Bulgaria, the First Bulgarian Empire, Volga Bulgaria, Khazaria, and the Mongol Empire. In the Irk Bitig, a ninth century manuscript on divination, Tengri is mentioned as Türük Tängrisi (God of Turks). According to many academics, Tengrism was, and to some extent still is, a predominantly polytheistic religion based on the shamanistic concept of animism, and was first influenced by monotheism during the imperial period, especially by the 12th–13th centuries. Abdulkadir Inan argues that Yakut and Altai shamanism are not entirely equal to the ancient Turkic religion.” ref
“According to Prof. Dr. Ahmet Taşağıl, Turkic Tengrism differed from classical shamanism, possessing a distinct theological structure. He argues that what is commonly termed “Shamanism” constitutes a “Buddhism-mixed steppe tradition” and “a system of magic” rather than a formal religion. Based on historical evidence, he proposes that the ancient Turks were not Shamanists and adhered to a unique Tengrist belief system centered on a divine trinity, similar to Christianity, distinguishing it from other shamanistic beliefs. The term also describes several contemporary Turkic and Mongolic native religious movements and teachings. All modern adherents of “political” Tengrism are monotheists. Tengrism has been advocated for in intellectual circles of the Turkic nations of Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan with Kazakhstan) and Russia (Tatarstan, Bashkortostan) since the dissolution of the Soviet Union during the 1990s. Still practiced, it is undergoing an organized revival in Buryatia, Sakha (Yakutia), Khakassia, Tuva, and other Turkic nations in Siberia. Altaian Burkhanism and Chuvash Vattisen Yaly are contemporary movements similar to Tengrism.” ref
“The term tengri can refer to the sky deity Tenger Etseg – also Gök Tengri; Sky father, Blue sky – or to other deities. While Tengrism includes the worship of personified gods (tngri) such as Ülgen and Kayra, Tengri is considered an “abstract phenomenon”. In Mongolian folk religion, Genghis Khan is considered one of the embodiments, if not the main embodiment, of Tengri’s will. The forms of the name Tengri (Old Turkic: Täŋri) among the ancient and modern Turkic and Mongolic are Tengeri, Tangara, Tangri, Tanri, Tangre, Tegri, Tingir, Tenkri, Tangra, Teri, Ter, and Ture. The name Tengri (“the Sky”) is derived from Old Turkic: Tenk (“daybreak”) or Tan (“dawn”). Meanwhile, Stefan Georg proposed that the Turkic Tengri ultimately originates as a loanword from Siberian Proto-Yeniseian *tɨŋgɨr- “high”. Mongolia is sometimes poetically called the “Land of Eternal Blue Sky” (Mönkh Khökh Tengeriin Oron) by its inhabitants. According to some scholars, the name of the important deity Dangun (also Tangol) (God of the Mountains) of the Korean folk religion is related to the Siberian Tengri (“Heaven”), while the bear is a symbol of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major).” ref
“In Oromo and Somali culture, Waaq, Waaqa or Waaqo was the name of God in their pre-Christian and pre-Muslim monotheistic faith believed to have been adhered to by Cushitic groups. It was likely brought to the Horn by speakers of the Proto-Cushitic language who arrived from North Sudan in the Neolithic era. In more recent times, the usage of the term has mostly declined since the arrival of Islam and Christianity to the Horn of Africa. In the present-day Somali language, the primary name of God is a somali word ‘Eebe’ or Rabbi. The Arabic-derived Allaah used by muslims is now a synonym for God. Present Somalis know very little of Waaq, and the term Waaq survives in proper names and placenames. The Somali clan Jidwaaq (meaning ‘Path of God’) have derived their name from Waaq. Jid is path or road and added Waaq. Names of towns and villages in Somalia that involve the word Waaq include Ceelwaaq, ceel meaning a water well added waaq. Caabudwaaq, or cabduwaaq, Caabud meaning Worshipper added Waaq and Caabdu, meaning servant added waaq. and Barwaaqo. as in Bar, a sign in somali added waaq and still Barwaaqo meaning plenty. The insistence added shows that, the term Waaq, in itself has no meaning in Somali language unless you add a noun to make a meaning. For example, Bar, sign Ceel being a waterwell or Jid, a road/path will stand alone but waaq alone will not make a meaning.” ref
19 Kushite religion, Afroasiatic language family
“Amun (also called Asha Renu, Amen, Aman and Gem Aten) He was a ram-headed god with wavy horns and curled horns who was depicted wearing a large sun-disc. His name translates to “the Sun Disc is Found.” ref
| Amesemi | The lunar, sky goddess of Meroë and consort of Apedemak, she was often depicted with a short, curly afro and a headdress topped with two falcons and a crescent moon. At the Temple of Aman in Naqa, her image was carved into a stele alongside Amanishakheto of Meroe and Apedemak.” ref |
| Atari | (also called Hathor in Egypt) The “Mistress of God” goddess of the sky, sun, and femininity she is often depicted as a cow, symbolizing her maternal and celestial aspect, although her most common form was a woman wearing a headdress of cow horns and a sun disk. She could also be represented as a lioness, a cobra, or a sycamore tree.” ref |
| Wusa | (also called Isis) The “Mistress of Kush” and “Mistress of Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld,” she was an all-embracing mother and protector goddess. She was absorbed into the image of indigenous, Nubian mother goddesses and became a representation of the Queen Mothers and Kandakes of Kush. Her Nubian cult was centered at Philae, but she also had temples located throughout the kingdom. She was also referred to as Weret-Kekau, which translates to “The Great Magic” and was associated with Nubian oracles and magic.As part of indigenous, Nubian custom, Kushites took pilgrimages to her Temple at Philae.” ref |
“While it is well-documented that Nubians worshipped Egyptian gods, such as Aman (also called Amen and Gem Aten) and Isis, artifacts also revealed that Egyptians also worshipped Nubian deities, such as Dedwen (also called Dedun), Bes, Menhit, and Mandulis (Melul in Meroitic). There are also deities that were “shared” at the border of Lower Nubia and Upper Egypt and considered to be both Nubian and Egyptian, such as Bastet, Satis, and Anaka. Some historians suggested that Bastet has Nubian origins.” ref
“Cushitic languages have over one million speakers, including Oromo, Somali, Beja, Afar, Hadiyya, Kambaata, and Sidama.” ref
20 Serer religion supreme deity called Roog (or Rog) Niger–Congo related
“The Serer religion or Serer spirituality (Serer: A ƭat Roog, meaning “the way of the Divine”, “path of God”, or “religious life”), is the original religious beliefs, practices, and teachings of the Serer people living in the Senegambia region in West Africa. The Serer religion believes in a universal supreme deity called Roog (or Rog). In the Cangin languages, Roog is referred to as Koox (or Kooh), Kopé Tiatie Cac, and Kokh Kox. Doctor of ethnology and lecturer in ethnosciences, Professor Simone Kalis writes that: “Religious life or “path of God” / a fat Roog is based on the cult of the ancestors / pangool. They are the pivot around which all the rituals that make up religious and therapeutic practices originate. The priest / o yaal pangool, master of the cult, is located halfway between the world of the beyond and the here below; the invisible and the visible, the dead and the living.” The Serer people are found throughout the Senegambia region. In the 20th century, around 85% of the Serer converted to Islam (Sufism), but some are Christians or follow their traditional religion. Despite resisting Islamization and jihads for almost a millenia – having been persecuted for centuries, most of the Serers who converted to Islam converted as recently as the 1990s, in part, trying to escape discrimination and disenfranchisement by the majority Muslim groups surrounding them, who still view the Serers as “the object of scorn and prejudice.” ref, ref
“Traditional Serer religious practices encompass ancient chants and poems, veneration of and offerings to spirits (pangool), Serer initiaion rites, folk medicine, divination, and preservation of Serer history, culture, and identity which includes forbidding mixed-marriages, and preserving one’s sexual purity until marriage ― a pratice that is strongly adhered to by the Serer-Noon, where the consequence of breaking this custom could mean being sentenced to celibacy for the rest of one’s life. The Serer people believe in a supreme deity called Roog (or Rog) and sometimes referred to as Roog Sene (“Roog The Immensity” or “The Merciful God”). Serer tradition deals with various dimensions of life, death, space and time, ancestral spirit communications and cosmology. There are also other lesser gods, goddesses and supernatural spirits or genie (pangool or nguus) such as the fangool Mendiss (or Mindis), a female protector of Fatick Region and the arm of the sea that bears her name; the god Tiurakh (var : Thiorak or Tulrakh) – god of wealth, and the god Takhar (var : Taahkarr) – god of justice or vengeance. Roog is neither the devil nor a genie, but the “Lord of creation.” ref, ref
“Roog is the very embodiment of both male and female to whom offerings are made at the foot of trees, such as the sacred baobab tree, the sea, the river (such as the sacred River Sine), in people’s own homes or community shrine, etc. Roog Sene is reachable, perhaps to a lesser extent, by the Serer high priests and priestesses (Saltigue), who have been initiated and possess the knowledge and power to organise their thoughts into a single cohesive unit. However, Roog is always watching over its children and is always available to them. In Serer, Roog Sene is the lifeblood to which the incorruptible and sanctified soul returns to eternal peace after they depart the living world. Roog Sene sees, knows, and hears everything, but does not interfere in the day-to-day affairs of the living world. Instead, lesser gods and goddesses act as Roog’s assistants in the physical world. Individuals have the free will to either live a good and spiritually fulfilled life in accordance with Serer religious doctrines or waver from such doctrines by living an unsanctified lifestyle in the physical world. Those who live their lives contrary to the teachings will be rightfully punished in the afterlife.” ref, ref
“Ordinary Serers address their prayers to the pangool (the Serer ancestral spirits and saints) as they are the intermediaries between the living world and the Divine. An orthodox Serer must remain faithful to the ancestral spirits as the soul is sanctified as a result of the ancestors’ intercession between the living world and the Divine. The pangool have both a historical significance as well as a religious one. They are connected to the history of the Serer by virtue of the fact that the pangool is associated with the founding of Serer villages and towns as a group of pangool would accompany village founders called “lamane” (or laman – who were their ancient kings) as they make their journey looking for land to exploit. Without them, the lamane exploits would not have been possible. In the religious sense, these ancient lamanes created shrines to these pangool, thereby becoming the priests and custodians of the shrine. As such, “they became the intermediaries among the land, the people, and the pangool”. Whenever any member of the lamanic lineage dies, the whole Serer community celebrates in honour of the exemplary lives they had lived on earth in accordance with the teachings of the Serer religion. Serer prayers are addressed to the pangool, who act as intercessors between the living world and the Divine. In addressing their prayers to the pangool, the Serers chant ancient songs and offer sacrifices such as bull, sheep, goat, chicken, or harvested crops.” ref, ref
21 Chadian classical religions (Afroasiatic language family) and Nilo-Saharan related
“Given the plethora of ethnic identities in Chad, it is difficult to name a specific national hero or myth without neglecting another. However, many Chadians revere Félix Eboué, in whose memory a magnificent monument in N’Djamena was erected. Many Chadians are familiar with the Sao, the earliest people known to have inhabited the region surrounding N’Djamena. Legends held that the Sao were giants possessing great strength. They could run long distances in just hours, and pull up trees like blades of grass. Sao women could lift huge ceramic granaries holding an entire year’s harvest with a single hand. At independence, French history was parodied, when a famous speaker, André Malraux, supposedly declared, “Mister the President, the Saos are your Gauls. Chadians profess to follow traditional African religion at 35%.” ref
“Spirits are also numerous. These invisible beings inhabit a parallel world and sometimes reside in particular places or are associated with particular natural phenomena. Among the Mbaye, a Sara subgroup, water and lightning spirits are thought to bring violent death and influence other spirits to intervene in daily life. The sun spirit, capable of rendering service or causing harm, also must be propitiated. Spirits may live in family groups with spouses and children. They are also capable of taking human, animal, or plant forms when they appear among the living. The supernatural powers that control natural events are also of major concern. Among farming peoples, rituals to propitiate such powers are associated with the beginning and end of the agricultural cycle. Among the Sara, the new year begins with the appearance of the first new moon following the harvest. The next day, people hunt with nets and fire, offering the catch to ancestors. Libations are offered to ancestors, and the first meal from the new harvest is consumed.” ref, ref
“The Sara (Kameeni) are an amalgamation of ancient Sun-worshipping, fishery, and sedentary agriculturalist Bongo-Bargimi-speaking people of Nilo-Saharan origins. In Chad, the Sara (kameeni) trace their ancestry to the pre-colonial Sao civilization that flourished in Middle Africa from the sixth century BCE to as late as the sixteenth century CE, with most practicing traditional faiths i.e. worshiping the Sun. According to historians, the name “Sara” (Sa-Ra) appears to have been derived from Arabic, meaning the Sons of Ra, the ancient Egyptian Sun-God. The Sara lived in the north-east along the Nile River before they sought refuge in the south against northern Arab slave raids. Kin Groups and Descent. The Sara combine a cognatic, ancestor-focused, system of kinship with patricians. The term “gir ka” can, depending on the context, mean either “ancestor” or “patrician.” A gir ka is any ancestor from which a person is descended in any way. Descendants of a person’s ancestors are that person’s cognates. Cultural notions specify that such kin should join in each other’s work groups, share food, welcome each other as members of their residential group, and in general provide mutual support. Persons who stipulate that they share agnatic descent from an ancestor belong to a “gir ka,” with the term here used in the sense of a patrician that has its place of residence, its gir be. Clans were in principle exogamous. Clan members should participate in its funeral ceremonies and other clan affairs, such as the taking of vengeance and sacrifices to the spirit (besi ; pl. besigi ) associated with the clan. There was absolutely no belief that the different clans in a village were part of a common organization based upon agnatic descent. Similarly, neither the village itself, nor other villages, were conceived of as descent groups bound in a single, pyramidal structure, as was found among the Nuer.” ref
“Among the more centralized societies of Chad, the ruler frequently is associated with divine power. Poised at the apex of society, he or (more rarely) she is responsible for good relations with the supernatural forces that sanction and maintain the social order. For example, among the Moundang, the gon lere of Léré is responsible for relations with the sky spirits. And among the Sara Madjingay, the mbang (chief) of the village of Bédaya controls religious rituals that preserve and renew the social order. Even after the coming of Islam, the symbols of such authority reinforced the rulers of nominally Islamic states such as Wadai, Kanem-Borno, and Bagirmi.” ref, ref
“Finally, most classical African religions involve belief in a supreme being who created the world and its inhabitants but who then retired from active intervention in human affairs. As a result, shrines to a high god are uncommon, and people tend to appeal to the lesser spirits; yet the notion of a supreme being may have helped the spread of Christianity. When missionaries arrived in southern Chad, they often used the local name of this high god to refer to the Christian supreme being. Thus, although a much more interventionist spirit, the Christian god was recognizable to the people. This recognition probably facilitated conversion, but it may also have ironically encouraged syncretism (the mixing of religious traditions), a practice disturbing to many missionaries and to Protestants in particular. Followers of classical African religions would probably not perceive any necessary contradiction between accepting the Christian god and continuing to believe in the spirits just described.” ref, ref
22 Mbuti (Bambuti) mythology is the mythology of the African Mbuti Bantu related
“The Mbuti people, or Bambuti, are one of several indigenous pygmy groups in the Congo region of Africa. Their languages are Central Sudanic languages and Bantu languages. The most important god of the Bambuti pantheon is Khonvoum (also Khonuum, Kmvoum, Chorum), a god of the hunt who wields a bow made from two snakes that together appear to humans as a rainbow. After sunset every day, Khonvoum gathers fragments of the stars and throws them into the Sun to revitalize it for the next day. He occasionally contacts mortals through Gor (a thunder god who is also an elephant) or a chameleon (similar to the divine messenger used by Orish-nla of Yoruba mythology). Khonvoum created mankind from clay. Black people were made from black clay, white people came from white clay, and the Pygmies themselves came from red clay. He also creates the animals that are needed by hunters (Polygenism). Arebati is a lunar deity and Sky Father. In some sources, he was said to have created humanity from clay, instead of Khonvoum. Tore is a god of the forests who supplies animals to hunters. He is also a thunder god who appears as a storm and hides in rainbows.” ref, ref
“Khonvoum is the supreme god and creator in the mythology of the Bambuti Pygmy people of central Africa. He is the “great hunter”, god of the hunt, and carries a bow made of two snakes, which appears to mortals as a rainbow. He rules the heavens, and when the sun sets, he gathers pieces of the stars and throws them at the sun so that it may rise the next day in its full splendor.” ref
23 There are many different names for God in Lugbara mythology Nilo-Saharan related
“Some of the constituent groups of Nilo-Saharan are estimated to predate the African neolithic. For example, the unity of Eastern Sudanic is estimated to date to at least the 5th millennium BCE or 7,000 years ago. Nilo-Saharan genetic unity would thus be much older still and date to the late Upper Paleolithic. The humid period began about 14,600–14,500 years ago at the end of Heinrich event 1, simultaneously to the Bølling–Allerød warming. Blench (2010) believes that the distribution of Nilo-Saharan reflects the waterways of the wet Sahara 12,000 years ago, and that the protolanguage had noun classifiers, which today are reflected in a diverse range of prefixes, suffixes, and number marking. Rivers and lakes such as Lake Chad formed or expanded, glaciers grew on Mount Kilimanjaro, and the Sahara retreated. Two major dry fluctuations occurred; during the Younger Dryas and the short 8.2 kiloyear event. The African humid period ended 6,000–5,000 years ago during the Piora Oscillation cold period. While some evidence points to an end 5,500 years ago, in the Sahel, Arabia, and East Africa, the end of the period appears to have taken place in several steps, such as the 4.2-kiloyear event. The extinct Meroitic language of ancient Kush has been accepted by linguists such as Rille, Dimmendaal, and Blench as Nilo-Saharan, though others argue for an Afroasiatic affiliation. It is poorly attested. Proposals for the external relationships of Nilo-Saharan typically center on Niger–Congo: Gregersen (1972) grouped the two together as Kongo–Saharan. However, Blench (2011) proposed that the similarities between Niger–Congo and Nilo-Saharan (specifically Atlantic–Congo and Central Sudanic) are due to contact, with the noun-class system of Niger–Congo developed from, or elaborated on the model of, the noun classifiers of Central Sudanic. The earliest written language associated with the Nilo-Saharan family is Old Nubian, one of the oldest written African languages, attested in writing from the 8th to the 15th century CE. The distribution of the families may reflect ancient watercourses in a green Sahara during the African humid period before the 4.2-kiloyear event, when the desert was more habitable than it is today.” ref, ref
“Lugbara believe that God has two aspects, one transcendent and the other immanent. Adroa appeared in both good and evil aspects; he was the creator god and appeared on Earth as a man who was near death. He was depicted as a very tall white man with only one half of a body, missing one eye, one leg, etc. Adronga ‘ba o’bapiri, or God, creator of men, created the first beings on Earth, Gborgboro and Meme, as well as creating domestic livestock. God is also referred to as Adro or Adroa. Gborgboro, means ‘the person coming from the sky’. He was created by Adronga ‘ba o’bapiri, along with Meme. Father of O’du and Arube. Meme, means the person with a big body. In some versions of the Lugbara creation myth, Meme is a man, but in most, she is a woman. She was created by Adronga ‘ba o’bapiri, along with Gborgboro. Wild animals came from her womb, the gazelle broke out first, and the other animals followed. After the animals had left her womb, she bore two children, O’du and Arube, a girl and a boy. O’du, means miraculous omen. She was one of the first set of siblings and was born with teeth. Some versions of the myth say she and Arube are the same person. Arube, means maker of miracles. He was one of the first set of siblings and was born with teeth. Some myths say he is the same person as O’du. Ori owizu, a sacrifice to patrilineal ghosts. This sacrifice is also made as a result of sickness.” ref
“Adroa is the supreme god or spirit of the Lugbara people of central Africa, Nilo-Saharan related
“They speak the Lugbara language, a Central Sudanic language similar to the language spoken by the Madi, with whom they also share many cultural similarities. Nilo-Saharan language family. Blench (2011) suggests that Central Sudanic influenced the development of the noun-class system characteristic of the Atlantic–Congo languages. Adroa is a god they worship, and this aspect of the god was known as Adroa ‘ba o’bapiri (‘God the creator of men’). Adroa was said to have created the first man, Gborogboro, and the first woman, Meme. Gborogboro and Meme were also twins, and they were considered the ancestors of the Lugbara. Adria is also credited with the establishment of social order, by communicating his laws to the tribal ancestors of the Lugbara.” ref, ref, ref
24 Bantu related Suku people’s creator god,
“Ndzambyaphuungu, who inhabits the sky and travels the breeze. They are the originator of life and death and the explanation for all occurrences and unanswerable questions. However, there is no cult following, nor are there depictions or representations of them.” ref
| God name “Suku” |
Ovimbundu / central Angola, West Africa | Creator god. He created the sky, the rivers and mountains, and the people on earth…. |
| “Zambi” | Angola | The supreme being ref |
25 Gbaya people, Niger-Congo language family
“Gomwa: Gomwa is the Supreme Being or creator deity in Gbaya mythology. Gomwa is associated with the sky and the spiritual realm, and is considered the most powerful and omnipotent force in the universe. He is the source of life, wisdom, and moral order. Ngbaba: Ngbaba is the earth goddess and is responsible for fertility, agriculture, and the sustenance of life. She is revered as the protector and nurturer of humankind, providing them with the necessary resources to survive. Zambi: Zambi is the god of thunder and lightning, often associated with the forceful aspects of nature. He is a symbol of power and authority, serving as an enforcer of justice and a guardian against evil.” ref
26 Maasai people language, Nilo-Saharan
“The Maasai religion encompasses the traditional beliefs of the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania. nature and its elements are important facets of their religion. Enkai (also called Engai) is the androgynous Supreme Creator, possessing both masculine and feminine principles. The Maasai refer to Ngai’s primordial dwelling as “Ol Doinyo Lengai” which literally means “The Mountain of God”, which they believe is in Northern Tanzania. Ngai or Enkai’s name is synonymous to “rain.” In Maasai religion, the Laibon (plural: Laiboni) intercedes between the world of the living and the Creator. They are the Maasai’s high priests and diviners. In addition to organizing and presiding over religious ceremonies—including sacrifice and libation, they also heal the living, physically and spiritually.” ref
“Ngai (also called Múrungu or Enkai) is the monolithic Supreme God in the spirituality of the Kikuyu (or Gikuyu) and the closely related Embu, Meru, and Kamba groups of Kenya, and the Maasai of Kenya and Tanzania. Ngai is the creator of the universe and all in it. Regarded as the omnipotent God, the Kikuyu, Embu, Meru, Kamba and the Maasai of Kenya worshiped Ngai facing the Mt. Kirinyaga (Mount Kenya) while prayers and goat sacrificial rituals were performed under the sacred Mugumo tree (a fig tree species).” ref
27 Bantu related Kamba people Mulungu/”Nyàmbé” god
“The original early-Bantu name for the highest God of gods, creator and father of all gods, was probably Nyàmbé, possibly from the verb root -àmb-, “to begin”. With the diversification of Bantu cultures, other names came about, with “Mulungu” emerging in the ancient Southern-Kaskazi group (about 6000 BCE or 8,000 years ago). The etymology of the name is disputed. One hypothesis is that the name is derived from a verb root -ng-, meaning “to be rectified”, “to become right”; in this case, the original concept of Mulungu is that of a creator god that established the original, right order on the world. All traditional Bantu cultures have a notion of a “creator god”, a concept which was already established in the Niger–Congo cultures. This creator god is usually seen as a remote deity, far and detached from men and living beings; in some cases, it is more of an impersonal “creating force” or a primum movens than a “God” in the usual sense of the word. Even when described as a personal god, the Creator is believed to be far and detached from men and living beings; this detachment is the subject of a number of Bantu myths describing how the creator left the Earth, moving to the sky, as a consequence of him being upset with men or annoyed by their activities. It is thus a common trait of Bantu religions that no prayers, and usually no worship, is actually directed to the creator; men interact with lower-levels gods and spirits that are closer and more interested in human affairs. These general lines are common to traditional concepts of Mulungu as found in Kikuyu, Ruvu, and other cultures. A Nyamwezi myth about the departure of Mulungu from the Earth involves Mulungu being upset of the fires set by men to the landscape, and asking the spider to weave a web for him to climb up to the sky.” ref
“The Kamba or Akamba (sometimes called Wakamba) people are a Bantu people’s ethnic group who predominantly live in Kenya, stretching from Nairobi to Tsavo and northwards to Embu, in the southern part of the former Eastern Province. Their origin myth is as follows: “In the beginning, Mulungu created a man and a woman. This was the couple from heaven, and he proceeded to place them on a rock at Nzaui, where their footprints, including those of their livestock, can be seen to this day. Mulungu then caused a great rainfall. From the many anthills around, a man and a woman came out. These were the initiators of the ‘spirits clan’- the Aimo. It so happened that the couple from heaven had only sons while the couple from the anthill had only daughters. Naturally, the couple from heaven paid dowry for the daughters of the couple from the anthill. The family and their cattle greatly increased in numbers. With this prosperity, they forgot to give thanks to their creator. Mulungu punished them with a great famine. This led to dispersal as the family scattered in search of food. Some became the Kikuyu, others the Meru, while some remained as the original people, the Akamba.” The Akamba are not specific about the number of children that each couple had initially borne. The Akamba believe in a monotheistic, invisible, and transcendental God, Ngai or Mulungu, who lives in the sky (yayayani or ituni). Another venerable name for God is Asa, or the Father. He is also known as Ngai Mumbi (God the Creator) na Mwatuangi (God the finger-divider). He is perceived as the omnipotent creator of life on earth and as a merciful, if distant, entity. The traditional Akamba perceive the spirits of their departed ones, the Aimu or Maimu, as the intercessors between themselves and Ngai Mulungu. They are remembered in family rituals and offerings / libations at individual altars. Asa – Literally: ‘father’. God of the Akamba people of Kenya. Asa is ‘the strong lord’, above the spirits but also a merciful deity.” ref, ref
28 Berber of North Africa Afroasiatic related
“The indigenous populations of the Maghreb region of North Africa are collectively known as Berbers. Tribal titles such as Barabara and Beraberata appear in Egyptian inscriptions of 1700 and 1300 BCE, and the Berbers were probably intimately related with the Egyptians in very early times. Thus, the true ethnic name may have become confused with Barbari, the designation used by classical conquerors. Berber people, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their usage of Berber languages, most of them mutually unintelligible, which are part of the Afroasiatic language family. They are indigenous to the Maghreb region of North Africa, where they live in scattered communities across parts of Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and to a lesser extent Tunisia, Mauritania, northern Mali and northern Niger. Smaller Berber communities are also found in Burkina Faso and Egypt‘s Siwa Oasis. Descended from Stone Age tribes of North Africa, accounts of the Imazighen were first mentioned in Ancient Egyptian writings. From about 2000 BCE, Berber languages spread westward from the Nile Valley across the northern Sahara into the Maghreb. While Berber is more widely known among English-speakers, its usage is a subject of debate, due to its historical background as an exonym and present equivalence with the Arabic word for “barbarian“. Historically, Berbers did not refer to themselves as Berbers/Amazigh but had their own terms to refer to themselves. For example, the Kabyle use the term “Leqbayel” to refer to their own people, while the Chaoui identified as “Ishawiyen”, instead of Berber/Amazigh. The areas of North Africa that have retained the Berber language and traditions best have been, in general, Algeria, Libya, Morocco, and Tunisia. Much of Berber culture is still celebrated among the cultural elite in Morocco and Algeria, especially in Kabylia, the Aurès, and the Atlas Mountains. A Neolithic society, marked by domestication and subsistence agriculture and richly depicted in the Tassili n’Ajjer paintings, developed and predominated in the Saharan and Mediterranean region (the Maghreb) of northern Africa between 6000 and 2000 BC (until the classical period).” ref
“As of about 5000 BCE or 7,000 years ago, the populations of North Africa were descended primarily from the Iberomaurusian (25/23,000 – 11,000 years ago) and Capsian cultures (11,000 to 7,400 years ago), with a more recent intrusion being associated with the Neolithic Revolution. Between 15,100 and 13,900 calibrated years ago, all Iberomaurusian males at Taforalt belonged to haplogroup E1b1b1a1 (M-78), closely related E1b1b1b (M-123) haplogroup has been reported for Epipaleolithic Natufians and Pre-Pottery Neolithic Levantines: “Present-day North Africans share a majority of their ancestry with present-day Near Easterners, but not with sub-Saharan Africans.” A majority of Capsian males belonged to Haplogroup E-M215, with two specimens carrying the E-Z1902 lineage (a subclade of E-V65), one sample belonging to the E-M78 haplogroup, resembling the Stone Age populations from Taforalt and Ifri N’Ammar in Morocco, while two other individuals were assigned to the Haplogroup T-M184 on distinct branches. T1* likely expanded with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B culture (10,800–8,500 years ago), which originated in West Asia. “Some genomes had contributions from European farmers (~7,000 years ago) and Levantine groups (~6,800 years ago). Moreover, one sample from Djebba, Tunisia, revealed European hunter-gatherer ancestry dating back to around ~8,000 years ago, likely due to human migrations across the Sicilian Straits. Other samples from the Greater East of Morocco demonstrated minimal genetic contributions from European farmers or Eastern groups, reflecting a relatively isolated genetic profile compared to southern Europe and other parts of the Mediterranean.” ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
“The proto-Berber tribes evolved from these prehistoric communities during the late Bronze– and early Iron ages. Uniparental DNA analysis has established ties between Berbers and other Afroasiatic speakers in Africa. Most of these populations belong to the E1b1b paternal haplogroup, with Berber speakers having among the highest frequencies of this lineage. Additionally, genomic analysis found that Berber and other Maghreb communities have a high frequency of an ancestral component that originated in the Near East. This Maghrebi element peaks among Tunisian Berbers. This ancestry is related to the Coptic/Ethio-Somali component, which diverged from these and other West Eurasian-affiliated components before the Holocene. In 2013, Iberomaurusian skeletons from the prehistoric sites of Taforalt and Afalou in the Maghreb were also analyzed for ancient DNA. All of the specimens belonged to maternal clades associated with either North Africa or the northern and southern Mediterranean littoral, indicating gene flow between these areas since the Epipaleolithic. The ancient Taforalt individuals carried the mtDNA haplogroups U6, H, JT, and V, which points to population continuity in the region dating from the Iberomaurusian period.” ref
“Human fossils excavated at the Ifri n’Amr ou Moussa site in Morocco have been radiocarbon dated to the Early Neolithic period, c. 5000 BCE or 7,000 years ago. Ancient DNA analysis of these specimens indicates that they carried paternal haplotypes related to the E1b1b1b1a (E-M81) subclade and the maternal haplogroups U6a and M1, all of which are frequent among present-day communities in the Maghreb. These ancient individuals also bore an autochthonous Maghrebi genomic component that peaks among modern Berbers, indicating that they were ancestral to populations in the area. Additionally, fossils excavated at the Kelif el Boroud site near Rabat were found to carry the broadly-distributed paternal haplogroup T-M184 as well as the maternal haplogroups K1, T2, and X2, the latter of which were common mtDNA lineages in Neolithic Europe and Anatolia. These ancient individuals likewise bore the Berber-associated Maghrebi genomic component. This altogether indicates that the late-Neolithic Kehf el Baroud inhabitants were ancestral to contemporary populations in the area, but also likely experienced gene flow from Europe. The late-Neolithic Kehf el Baroud inhabitants were modelled as being of about 50% local North African ancestry and 50% Early European Farmer (EEF) ancestry. It was suggested that EEF ancestry had entered North Africa through Cardial Ware colonists from Iberia sometime between 5000 and 3000 BC. They were found to be closely related to the Guanches of the Canary Islands. The authors of the study suggested that the Berbers of Morocco carried a substantial amount of EEF ancestry before the establishment of Roman colonies in Berber Africa.” ref
“The traditional Berber religion is the sum of an ancient and native set of beliefs and deities adhered to by the Berbers. Originally, the Berbers seem to have believed in worship of the sun and moon, animism, and in the afterlife, but interactions with the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans influenced religious practice and merged traditional faiths with new ones. According to Herodotus, all ancient Berbers worshipped the moon and sun (Tafukt in Tamazight) and sacrificed solely to them. In Berber, the Moon (Ayyur in Tamazight) and the god of the Moon carry the same name in the language. Masinissa, the first king of Numidia, commonly paid tribute to the god of the sun Apollo in 179 BCE to his temple in Delos, the assumed birthplace of Apollo and his twin sister Artemis (the goddess of the moon), for which he received a golden crown from the inhabitants of the Greek island Delos.” ref
“Tullius Cicero (105–43 BCE or 2,105 to 2,043 years ago) also reported the same cult in On the Republic (Scipio’s Dream): When I (Scipio) was introduced to him, the old man (Massinissa, king of Massyle) embraced me, shed tears, and then, looking up to heaven, exclaimed I thank thee, O supreme Sun, and you also, you other celestial beings, that before I departed from this life I behold in my kingdom, and in my palace, Publius Cornelius Scipio. Further authors such as Apuleius or Augustine of Hippo mention that sun worship continued into the first millennium, and the seventh century Coptic saint Samuel the Confessor appears to have suffered from the sun-worshipping Berbers who tried unsuccessfully to force him to worship the sun. There were some Latin inscriptions found in Northwest Africa dedicated to the sun-god. An example is the inscription found in Souk Ahras (the birthplace of Augustine; Thagaste in Algeria) written “Solo Deo Invicto“. The megalithic culture may have been part of a cult of the dead or of star-worship.” ref
The cult of Amon
“Since antiquity, the ancient Libyans (ancestors of Berbers) worshipped the god Amon, who was also worshipped by the Ancient Egyptians. According to Herodotus and Pausanias, the cult had Berber origin and later spread to Egypt and then Greece, probably via the Greek colony of Cyrene. In the Siwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt, there remained a solitary oracle of Amon near the Libyan Desert. Amon’s wife Ament is also believed to have originated from Libya. She is the Egyptian mythology goddess of the underworld. Amentet (meaning the “Land of the Setting Sun” or “The West”) is where the dead wait for Ra to arrive. In Berber beliefs, the sheep was a sacred animal to Amon. In the discussion of Athanase of Alexandria against the Gentiles, it is said that for the Libyan populations (Berbers), the god Amon is often named Amen and was venerated as a divinity. Iarbas, a mythological king of Numidia who sold Dido the land on which she founded Carthage, was also considered a son of Amon.” ref
“Diodorus Siculus mentions Ammon as the king of Libya who married Rhea (daughter of Uranus and sister of the Titans). According to him he fell in love with a “maiden of unusual beauty” Amaltheia with whom he fathered Dionysus. According to other stories, Dionysus was the son of Zeus. The Egyptian version of Amun was often identified by the Greeks to be Zeus. The ancient cult of Neith (Ha-nit) (or Nit, or Tinnit) influenced the ancient Egyptians with their goddess Neith, and the Hellenes with their goddess Athena through the Berber cult of war, and was an imported deity from Libya who was in wide worship in 600 BCE in Sais (Archaic name: Ha-Nit) by the Libyan population inhabiting Sais, a very famous temple of Neith was established in this city by the earliest local dynasty. Neith is the direct predecessor to Athena as follows: Above the Kerameikos [in Athens] and the portico called the King’s Portico is a temple of Hephaistos. I was not surprised that by it stands a statue of Athena, because I knew the story about Erikhthonios. But when I saw that the statue of Athena had blue eyes, I found out that the legend about them is Libyan. For the Libyans have a saying that the Goddess is the daughter of Poseidon and Lake Tritonis, and for this reason has blue eyes like Poseidon. — Pausanias, Description of Greece” ref
“The Libyan Amazons are without doubt part of this cult. Athena, imposed the Amazons of Libya in Troy and in Greece, the Libyan Amazons remained in the village of Tenæ at the south of Sfax and Cartenæ (Tenes). According to mythology, Athena was believed to have been born in Lake Tritonis in North Africa (modern-day Algeria and Tunisia), which is why she was given the epithet Tritogeneia. In one version of the story she is the daughter of Poseidon and Tritonis, a Libyan lake nymph, and as the same source adds, after a disagreement with her father, she gave herself to Zeus, who made her his own daughter, which explains why both are considered gods of horses. Herodotus claims that Poseidon originated from Libya. The Libyans at Lake Tritonis also worshiped Triton according to him. Triton might have been a more local deity or be related to Poseidon. He was also linked to Tritonis, the mother of Athena, as a potential female counterpart. In his dialogue Timaeus, the Greek philosopher Plato has Critias claim that Neith is the Egyptian name of Athena. Some identified the Punic Tanit as the Middle Eastern goddesses like Anat or Astarte but Steve A. Wiggins argued that “local associations should not be considered definitive” and that “we must not assert more than the evidence will allow.” ref
“Gurzil, a new god appearing in later texts and worshipped by tribes such as the Austoriani outside the Roman frontiers of Libya, was considered the son of Amun and a cow. He was considered a war god and was taken by the Berbers to their battles against the Byzantines. Corippus mentioned that the chiefs of the Laguata took their god Gurzil into battle against the Byzantines and Arabs. It is very likely that the sanctuary of Gurzil was located in Ghirza, in Libya, where remarkable reliefs show a noble Libyan receiving tribute while seated on a curule chair. The temple was in use well into the sixth century. He is presumed to be a god of the sun or a god associated with battles. He is usually identified with bulls. Corippus mentions Sinifere described to be a god of war worshiped by the Eastern Libyans but might have been a “tribal god”. Mastiman (or Autiman) was also mentioned by him and was also identified as god of war and was later associated with Mercury. Megalithic Tombs (also called Dolmens), were monuments built as burial sites for ancient Berbers, megaliths are huge tombs underground to bury the dead and they come in several shapes.” ref
“There exist more than 32,000 Dolmens across Algeria, including, for instance, the slopes of Djebel Mazela in Bounouara, the site of the necropolis of Sigus (which includes dolmens, menhirs, and cromlechs), as well as the important necropolis of Djelfa. The region with the highest concentration of Dolmens is Roknia, where over 3,000 megalithic monuments in the necropolis stretch over several kilometers (in comparison, there are more than 4,000 in the whole of France). They are present in large numbers in eastern Algeria and Tunisia and are characterized by their quadrangular plan. The monument of Msoura is one of the best-known megalithic monuments in north-west Africa. It is composed of a circle of megaliths surrounding a tumulus, the highest of which is over 5 meters (16 ft). According to legend, it is the sepulchre of the Libyan king Anti (known by the Greeks as the giant Antaeus, an opponent of Heracles). The tomb was venerated by Berbers who went for pilgrimage to the ancient prehistoric monument. Tombs evolved from primitive structures to much more elaborate ones, such as the pyramidal tombs spread throughout Northern Africa. The honor of being buried in such a tomb appears to have been reserved for those who were most important to their communities.” ref
“These pyramid tombs have attracted the attention of some scholars, such as Mohamed Chafik who wrote a book discussing the history of several of the tombs that have survived into modern times. He tried to relate the pyramidal Berber tombs with the great Egyptian pyramids on the basis of the etymological and historical data. The best known Berber pyramids are the 19-meter (62 ft) pre-Roman Numidian pyramid of the Medracen and the 30-meter (98 ft) ancient Mauretanian pyramid. The Numidian pyramid in Tipaza is also known as Kbour-er-Roumia or Tomb of Juba and Sypax, mistranslated by the French colonists as Tomb of the Christian Woman. The Tomb holds the graves of King Juba II and Queen Cleopatra Selene II, the rulers of Mauretania. One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Berber religion in antiquity was the veneration of the dead, who seem to have been believed to exercise control over soil fertility and possibly over the future. Pomponius Mela also reported that the Augilae (Modern Awjila in Libya) considered the spirits of their ancestors to be deities. They swore by them and consulted them. After making requests, they slept in their tombs to await responses in dreams. The Berbers worshiped their rulers, too. The tombs of the Numidian rulers are among the most notable monuments left by the Classical Berbers. But Gabriel Camps debates whether this is done for worship or for mere love and appreciation of the contributions of the rulers.” ref
“The Ancient Egyptians were the neighbors of the Berbers, as such traces of the worship of ancient Egyptian deities by the Berbers was found, and it has been theorized that both cultures shared at least some of these gods: The cult Isis and Set by the Berbers was reported by Herodotus when saying: Thus from Egypt to the Tritonian lake, the Libyans are nomads that eat meat and drink milk; for the same reason as the Egyptians too profess,f they will not touch the flesh of cows; and they rear no swine. The women of Cyrene too deem it wrong to eat cows’ flesh, because of the Isis of Egypt; nay, they even honour her with fasts and p391 festivals; and the Barcaean women refuse to eat swine too as well as cows. — Herodotus, The Histories. Those Libu did not eat the flesh of swine, because it was associated with Set, while they did not eat the cattle’s flesh, because it was associated with Isis. The most remarkable common god of the Berbers and the Egyptians was Amun and Amunet. These deities are hard to attribute to only one pantheon, he and she were two of the greatest ancient Berber deities. They were honored by the Ancient Greeks in Cyrenaica, and was united with the Phoenician god Baal and goddess Anat due to Libyan influence. Early depictions of rams and ewes (related possibly to an early form of the cult of these deities) across North Africa have been dated to between 9600 BCE and 7500 BCE. The most famous temple of Amun and Amunet in Ancient Libya was the augural temple at Siwa Oasis in Egypt, an oasis still inhabited by Berbers.” ref
“The Egyptians considered some Egyptian deities to have had a Libyan origin, such as Neith who has been considered by Egyptians to have emigrated from Libya to establish her temple at Sais in the Nile Delta. Some people also believe links between the way Egyptians depicted certain deities and the way they depicted Libyan people exist, such is the case for Ament. Osiris was also among the Egyptian deities who were venerated in Libya and Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge (in addition to a few other scholars) believed that Osiris was originally a Libyan god saying of him that “Everything which the texts of all periods recorded concerning him goes to show that he was an indigenous god of Northern Africa (modern day Libya), and that his home and origin were possibly Libyan.” The Phoenicians were originally a Semitic people who inhabited the coast of modern Lebanon, and later came as refugees to Tunisia. The Phoenicians of Lebanon were seafarers and they founded Carthage in 814 BCE. They later gave birth to the so-called Punic culture, which had its roots in the Berber and Phoenician cultures. Some scholars distinguish the relationships between the Phoenicians and the Berbers in two phases: When Phoenicians settled in Northwest Africa, they stayed in the coastal regions to avoid wars with the Berbers. They maintained their deities which they brought from their homeland. Therefore, early Carthaginians had two important Phoenician deities, Baal and Anat. Carthage began to ally with the Berber tribes after the Battle of Himera (480 BCE), in which the Carthaginians were defeated by the Greeks. In addition to political changes, the Carthaginians imported some of the Berber deities.” ref
“Baal and Anat were the primary deities worshipped in Carthage. Depictions of these deities are found in several sites across Northern Africa. Also, the goddess Tanit and god Baal Hammon were worshipped, As Ammon is a local berber deity, so is Tannit, which she represents the matriarchal aspect of Numidian society, whom the Egyptians identify as Neith and the Greeks identify as Athena. The names themselves, Baal Hammon and Tanit, have Berber linguistic structure. Some scholars believe that the Egyptian goddess Neith and Egyptian god Khnum were similar to the Libyan goddess Tanit and the Libyan god Baal Hammon. There are also Massyle and Phoenician names that apparently contain roots from the god Baal, such as Adherbal and Hannibal and names also derived from Anat. It was proposed that the Punic god Baal Hammon is a syncretic association with Amon the god of ancient Libya and the Phoenician deity Baal. The ancient Greeks established colonies in Cyrenaica. The Greeks influenced the eastern Libya pantheon, but they were also influenced by Libyan culture and beliefs. Generally, the Libyan–Greek relationships can be divided into two different periods. In the first period, the Greeks had peaceful relationships with the Libyans. Later, there were wars between them. These social relationships were mirrored in their beliefs. The first notable appearance of Libyan influence on the Cyrenaican-Greek beliefs is the name Cyrenaica itself. This name was originally the name of a legendary Thessalian woman warrior and queen who was known as Cyrene, ruled Thessaly in Greece and later Cyrene in Libya. Cyrene was, according to the legend, a courageous huntress woman and queen who hunted and ate lions and all other animals. She gave her name to the city Cyrene in Libya. The emigrating Greeks made her their protector besides their Greek god Apollo.” ref
“The Greeks of Cyrenaica also adopted some Berber customs. Herodotus (Book IV 120) reported that the Libyans taught the Greeks how to yoke four horses to a chariot (the Romans used these Libyan chariots later, after they were taught to do so by the Greeks). The Cyrenaican Greeks built temples for the Libyan deities Amun and Amunet who they identified with Zeus and Hera, respectively. Some of them continued worshipping Amun and Amunet themselves. Amun and Amunet’s cult was so widespread among the Greeks that even Alexander III of Macedonia decided to be declared the son of Amun and Amunet in the Siwan temple of Amun and Amunet by its Libyan priests, and was declared so. Some ancient Greek historians, such as Herodotus, mentioned that some Greek deities were of Libyan origin. As such, Athena was supposed to have been born in Lake Tritonis where she was originally honored by the Libyans. Herodotus wrote that the Aegis and the clothes of Athena were typical for Libyan women. Herodotus also stated that Poseidon (an important Greek water god) was adopted from the Libyans by the Greeks. He emphasized that no other people worshipped Poseidon from early times apart from the Libyans who spread his cult: about this god the Hellenes learnt from the Libyans, for no people except the Libyans have had the name of Poseidon from the first and have paid honour to this god always. — Herodotus.” ref
“Some other Greek deities were related to Libya. The goddess Lamia was believed to have originated in Libya, like Medusa and the Gorgons. The Greeks seem also to have met the god Triton in Libya. The modern-day Berbers may have believed that the Hesperides were situated in modern Morocco. The Hesperides were believed to be the daughters of Atlas, a god who is associated with the Atlas Mountains by Herodotus. The Atlas Mountain were worshipped by the Berbers and the Canary Islands represented the daughters of Atlas. The Greeks and the Libyans began to break their harmony in the period of Battus II of Cyrene (583-560 BCE). Battus II began secretly to invite other Greek groups to Libya, Tunisia and East Algeria. The Libyans and Massyle considered that as a danger that had to be stopped. The Berbers began to fight against the Greeks, sometimes in alliance with the Egyptians and other times with the Carthaginians. Nevertheless, the Greeks were the victors. Some historians believe that the myth of Antaeus and Heracles was a reflection of those wars between the Libyans and Greeks.” ref
29 The Tumbuka (also known as Yombe, Kamanga, Senga, Tonga, and Henga) are a group of Bantu peoples found in Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.
“The Tumbuka people have had a sophisticated traditional religion. It included the concept of a supreme creator called Chiuta, symbolizing the sun, who Tumbuka faith holds was “self-created and all knowing”. This religious belief has yielded a rich mythology filled with morals. In a manner similar to neighboring regions of Africa, the Tumbuka have also revered ancestor worship, spirit possession, witchcraft, and similar practices. Their spirit possession and witchcraft is related to folk therapies for illnesses.” ref
“Chiuta – Meaning: ‘great bow in the heavens’. The supreme deity of the Tumbuka in Malawi. Chiuta is a powerful deity, self-created and omniscient. He is the owner of all things and eternal. He is a rain god, the succor of the people and is often afflicted by drought.” ref
29 Libyan and Tehenu tribes of the Western Desert, Berber related: Afroasiatic language family
“Berbers are native to North Africa and have established their culture for thousands of years alongside the Egyptians. Egypt today contains the Siwa Oasis, which borders Libya at the Western Desert. The Siwi language (easternmost Berber language), one of the Berber languages, is still spoken in the area by around 21,000 people. Unlike the Chadic, Cushitic, and Omotic languages of the Afro-Asiatic phylum, Berber languages are not tonal languages. Their ancient Egyptian neighbors referred to the various Libyan tribes as the Temehu, Tehenu, Rebu, and Meshwesh. Libyan and Tehenu tribes of the Western Desert Ash or Yuc (Tamazight: ⵢⵓⵛ, romanized: Yuc, IPA: [jʊʃ]) was an Amazigh sky god worshipped by the Libyan and Tehenu tribes of the Western Desert, an area of desert that lies west of the Nile River. He was regarded as the “Lord of the Tehenu” by the Ancient Egyptians. In particular, he was identified by the ancient Egyptians as the god of the vineyards of the western Nile Delta and thus was viewed as a benign deity. Flinders Petrie in his 1923 expedition to the Saqqara (also spelt Sakkara) found several references to Ash in Old Kingdom wine jar seals: “I am refreshed by this Ash” was a common inscription. In Egyptian mythology, as god of the oases, Ash was associated with Set, who was originally a god of the desert. The first known reference to Ash dates to the Protodynastic Period, and he continued to be mentioned as late as the 26th Dynasty. Ash was usually depicted as a human, whose head was one of the desert creatures, variously being shown as a lion, vulture, hawk, snake, or the unidentified Set animal. Some depictions of Ash show him as having multiple heads, unlike other Egyptian deities, although some compound depictions were occasionally shown connecting gods to Min. In an article in the journal Ancient Egypt (in 1923), and again in an appendix to her book, The Splendor that was Egypt, Margaret Murray expands on such depictions, and draws a parallel to a Scythian deity, who is referenced in Sebastian Münster‘s Cosmographia universalis. The idea of Ash as an import god is contested, as he may have been the god of the city of Nebut, now known as Naqada, before Set’s introduction there. One of his titles is “Nebuty” or “He of Nebut”, indicating this position. Ash is sometimes seen as another name for Set.” ref, ref, ref
30 Ancient Egypt Afroasiatic related
Amun-Ra and Aten in Ancient Egyptian mythology, can be seen as Supreme deities. ref
“Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad. Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet. His oracle in Siwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt near the Libyan Desert, remained the only oracle of Amun throughout. With the 11th Dynasty (c. 21st century BCE or 4,100 years ago), Amun rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Montu. Initially, possibly one of eight deities in the Hermapolite creation myth, his worship expanded. Amun rose to the position of tutelary deity of Thebes after the end of the First Intermediate Period, under the 11th Dynasty. As the patron of Thebes, his spouse was Mut. In Thebes, Amun as father, Mut as mother, and the Moon god Khonsu as their son formed the divine family or the “Theban Triad. The history of Amun as the patron god of Thebes begins in the 20th century BC, with the construction of the Precinct of Amun-Ra at Karnak under Senusret I. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the 11th Dynasty.” ref
“After the rebellion of Thebes against the Hyksos and with the rule of Ahmose I (16th century BCE or 3,600 years ago), Amun acquired national importance, expressed in his fusion with the Sun god, Ra, as Amun-Ra (alternatively spelled Amon-Ra or Amun-Re). On his own, he was also thought to be the king of the gods. Amun-Ra retained chief importance in the Egyptian pantheon throughout the New Kingdom (with the exception of the “Atenist heresy” under Akhenaten). Amun-Ra in this period (16th–11th centuries BCE) held the position of transcendental, self-created creator deity “par excellence”; he was the champion of the poor or troubled and central to personal piety. With Osiris, Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods. As the chief deity of the Egyptian Empire, Amun-Ra also came to be worshiped outside Egypt, according to the testimony of ancient Greek historiographers in Libya and Nubia. As Zeus Ammon and Jupiter Ammon, he came to be identified with Zeus in Greece and Jupiter in Rome.” ref
“Aten, also Aton, Atonu, or Itn (Ancient Egyptian: jtn, reconstructed [ˈjaːtin]) was the focus of Atenism, the religious system formally established in ancient Egypt by the late Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten. Exact dating for the Eighteenth Dynasty is contested, though a general date range places the dynasty in the years 1550 to 1292 BCE. The worship of Aten and the coinciding rule of Akhenaten are major identifying characteristics of a period within the Eighteenth Dynasty referred to as the Amarna Period (c. 1353 – 1336 BCE or 3,353 to 3,336 years ago). Atenism and the worship of the Aten as the sole god of ancient Egypt state worship did not persist beyond Akhenaten’s death. Not long after his death, one of Akhenaten’s Eighteenth Dynasty successors, Tutankhamun, reopened the state temples to other Egyptian gods and re-positioned Amun as the pre-eminent solar deity. Aten is depicted as a solar disc emitting rays terminating in human hands.” ref
“The Aten was the disc of the sun and originally an aspect of Ra, the sun god in traditional ancient Egyptian religion. While the Aten was worshiped under the reign of Amenhotep III, it was made the sole deity to receive state and official cult worship under his successor Akhenaten, though archaeological evidence suggests the closing of the state temples of other Egyptian gods likely did not stop household worship of the traditional pantheon. Inscriptions, such as the “Great Hymn to the Aten“, found in temples and tombs during Akhenaten’s reign showcase the Aten as the creator, giver of life, and nurturing spirit of the world. Aten does not have a creation myth or family but is mentioned in the Book of the Dead. The first known reference to Aten the sun-disk as a deity is in The Story of Sinuhe from the 12th Dynasty, in which the deceased king is described as rising as a god to the heavens and “uniting with the sun-disk, the divine body merging with its maker.” ref
“Aten was extensively worshipped as a solar deity during the reign of Amenhotep III where it was depicted as a falcon-headed god like Ra. While Aten was the preeminent creator deity of a pantheon of ancient Egyptian gods under Amenhotep III, it was not until his successor that Aten would be the only god acknowledged via state worship. During the reign of Amenhotep III’s successor, Amenhotep IV, the Aten became the sole god of the Egyptian state religion, and Amenhotep IV changed his name to Akhenaten to reflect his close link with the supreme deity. The sole worship of Aten can be referred to as Atenism. Many of the core principles of Atenism were recorded in the capital city Akhenaten founded and moved his dynastic government to, Akhetaten, referred to as either Amarna, El-Amarna, or Tell el-Amarna by modern scholars.” ref
“In Atenism, night is a time to fear. Work is done best when the sun, and thus Aten, is present. The Aten created all countries and people, and cares for every creature. According to the inscriptions, the Aten created a Nile river in the sky (rain) for the Syrians. The rays of the sun disk only holds out life to the royal family, and because of this non-royals receives life from Akhenaten and Nefertiti, later Neferneferuaten, in exchange for loyalty to the Aten. In inscriptions, like the Hymn to the Aten and the King, the Aten is depicted as caring for the people through Akhenaten, placing the royal family as intermediaries for the worship of the Aten. There is only one known instance of the Aten talking.
“Ra-Horus, more usually referred to as Ra-Horakhty (Ra who is Horus of the two horizons), is a synthesis of two other gods, both of which are attested from very early on in ancient Egyptian religious practice. During the Amarna Period, this synthesis was seen as the invisible source of energy of the sun god, of which the visible manifestation was the Aten, the solar disk. Thus, Ra-Horus-Aten was a development of old ideas which came gradually. The real change, as some see it, was the apparent abandonment of all other gods on the state level, especially Amun-Ra, prohibition of idolatry, and the debatable introduction of quasi-monotheism by Akhenaten. The syncretism is readily apparent in the Great Hymn to the Aten in which Re-Herakhty, Shu, and Aten are merged into the creator god. Others see Akhenaten as a practitioner of an Aten monolatry, as he did not actively deny the existence of other gods; he simply refrained from worshipping any but the Aten. Other scholars call the religion henotheistic.” ref
“By about 5500 BCE or 7,5000 years ago, small tribes living in the Nile valley had developed into a series of cultures demonstrating firm control of agriculture and animal husbandry, and identifiable by their pottery and personal items, such as combs, bracelets, and beads. The largest of these early cultures in Upper (Southern) Egypt was the Badarian culture, which probably originated in the Western Desert; it was known for its high-quality ceramics, stone tools, and its use of copper. The Badari was followed by the Naqada culture: the Naqada I (Amratian), the Naqada II (Gerzeh), and Naqada III (Semainean). These brought a number of technological improvements. As early as the Naqada I Period, predynastic Egyptians imported obsidian from Ethiopia, used to shape blades and other objects from flakes. Mutual trade with the Levant was established during Naqada II (c. 3600–3350 BCE or 5,600 to 5,350 years ago); this period was also the beginning of trade with Mesopotamia, which continued into the early dynastic period and beyond. Over a period of about 1,000 years, the Naqada culture developed from a few small farming communities into a powerful civilization whose leaders were in complete control of the people and resources of the Nile valley. Establishing a power center at Nekhen, and later at Abydos, Naqada III leaders expanded their control of Egypt northwards along the Nile. They also traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the western desert to the west, and the cultures of the eastern Mediterranean and Near East to the east.” ref
“The Naqada culture manufactured a diverse selection of material goods, reflective of the increasing power and wealth of the elite, as well as societal personal-use items, which included combs, small statuary, painted pottery, high quality decorative stone vases, cosmetic palettes, and jewelry made of gold, lapis, and ivory. They also developed a ceramic glaze known as faience, which was used well into the Roman Period to decorate cups, amulets, and figurines. During the last predynastic phase, the Naqada culture began using written symbols that eventually were developed into a full system of hieroglyphs for writing the ancient Egyptian language. The Early Dynastic Period was approximately contemporary to the early Sumerian–Akkadian civilization of Mesopotamia and of ancient Elam. The third-century BC Egyptian priest Manetho grouped the long line of kings from Menes to his own time into 30 dynasties, a system still used today. He began his official history with the king named “Meni” (or Menes in Greek), who was believed to have united the two kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. In the Early Dynastic Period, which began about 3000 BCE or 5,000 years ago, the first of the Dynastic kings solidified control over Lower Egypt by establishing a capital at Memphis, from which he could control the labor force and agriculture of the fertile delta region, as well as the lucrative and critical trade routes to the Levant. The increasing power and wealth of the kings during the early dynastic period was reflected in their elaborate mastaba tombs and mortuary cult structures at Abydos, which were used to celebrate the deified king after his death. The strong institution of kingship developed by the kings served to legitimize state control over the land, labor, and resources that were essential to the survival and growth of ancient Egyptian civilization.” ref
“Major advances in architecture, art, and technology were made during the Old Kingdom, fueled by the increased agricultural productivity and resulting population growth, made possible by a well-developed central administration. Some of ancient Egypt’s crowning achievements, the Giza pyramids and Great Sphinx, were constructed during the Old Kingdom. Under the direction of the vizier, state officials collected taxes, coordinated irrigation projects to improve crop yield, and drafted peasants to work on construction projects. The first King of the Old Kingdom was Djoser (sometime between 2691 and 2625 BCE or 4,691 to 4,625 years ago) of the Third Dynasty, who ordered the construction of a pyramid (the Step Pyramid) in Memphis’ necropolis, Saqqara. An important person during the reign of Djoser was his vizier, Imhotep. It was in this era that formerly independent ancient Egyptian states became known as nomes, under the rule of the king. The former rulers were forced to assume the role of governors or otherwise work in tax collection. Egyptians in this era believed the king to be the incarnation of Horus, linking the human and spiritual worlds. Egyptian views on the nature of time during this period held that the universe worked in cycles, and the Pharaoh on earth worked to ensure the stability of those cycles. They also perceived themselves as specially selected people.” ref
“Horus, also known as Heru, Har, Her, or Hor in Ancient Egyptian, is one of the most significant ancient Egyptian deities who served many functions, most notably as the god of kingship, healing, protection, the sun, and the sky. He was worshipped from at least the late prehistoric Egypt until the Ptolemaic Kingdom and Roman Egypt. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history, and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists. These various forms may be different manifestations of the same multi-layered deity in which certain attributes or syncretic relationships are emphasized, not necessarily in opposition but complementary to one another, consistent with how the Ancient Egyptians viewed the multiple facets of reality. He was most often depicted as a falcon, most likely a lanner falcon or peregrine falcon, or as a man with a falcon head. The earliest recorded form of Horus is the tutelary deity of Nekhen in Upper Egypt, who is the first known national god, specifically related to the ruling pharaoh who in time came to be regarded as a manifestation of Horus in life and Osiris in death.” ref
“The most commonly encountered family relationship describes Horus as the son of Isis and Osiris, and he plays a key role in the Osiris myth as Osiris’s heir and the rival to Set, the murderer and brother of Osiris. In another tradition, Hathor is regarded as his mother and sometimes as his wife. Since Horus was said to be the sky, he was considered to also contain the Sun and Moon. Egyptians believed that the Sun was his right eye and the Moon his left and that they traversed the sky when he, a falcon, flew across it. Later, the reason that the Moon was not as bright as the sun was explained by a tale, known as The Contendings of Horus and Seth. In this tale, it was said that Seth, the patron of Upper Egypt, and Horus, the patron of Lower Egypt, had battled for Egypt brutally, with neither side victorious, until eventually, the gods sided with Horus. As Horus was the ultimate victor, he became known as ḥr.w or “Horus the Great”, but more usually translated as “Horus the Elder”. In the struggle, Set had lost a testicle, and Horus’ eye was gouged out.” ref
“The Eye of Horus is an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and royal power from deities, in this case from Horus or Ra. The symbol is seen on images of Horus’ mother, Isis, and on other deities associated with her. In the Egyptian language, the word for this symbol was “wedjat” (wɟt). It was the eye of one of the earliest Egyptian deities, Wadjet, who later became associated with Bastet, Mut, and Hathor as well. Wadjet was a solar deity and this symbol began as her all-seeing eye. In early artwork, Hathor is also depicted with this eye. Funerary amulets were often made in the shape of the Eye of Horus. The Wedjat or Eye of Horus is “the central element” of seven “gold, faience, carnelian and lapis lazuli” bracelets found on the mummy of Shoshenq II. The Wedjat “was intended to protect the king [here] in the afterlife” and to ward off evil. Egyptian and Near Eastern sailors would frequently paint the symbol on the bow of their vessel to ensure safe sea travel. Horus was also thought to protect the sky.” ref
“The Sun is the giver of life, controlling the ripening of crops that were worked by man. Because of the life-giving qualities of the Sun, the Egyptians worshipped the Sun as a god. The creator of the universe and the giver of life, the Sun or Ra, represented life, warmth, and growth. Since the people regarded Ra as a principal god, creator of the universe and the source of life, he had a strong influence on them, which led to him being one of the most worshipped of all the Egyptian gods and even considered King of the Gods. Ra was the ancient Egyptian deity of the Sun. By the Fifth Dynasty, in the 25th and 24th centuries BC, Ra had become one of the most important gods in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the noon-day Sun. Ra ruled in all parts of the created world: the sky, the Earth, and the underworld. He was believed to have ruled as the first pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. He was the god of the Sun, order, kings, and the sky. Ra was portrayed as a falcon and shared characteristics with the sky-god Horus. At times, the two deities were merged as Ra-Horakhty, “Ra, who is Horus of the Two Horizons“. When the god Amun rose to prominence during Egypt’s New Kingdom, he was fused with Ra as Amun-Ra. The cult of the Mnevis bull, an embodiment of Ra, had its center in Heliopolis and there was a formal burial ground for the sacrificed bulls north of the city. All forms of life were believed to have been created by Ra. In some accounts, humans were created from Ra’s tears and sweat, hence the Egyptians call themselves the “Cattle of Ra”. In the myth of the Celestial Cow, it is recounted how humankind plotted against Ra and how he sent his eye as the goddess Sekhmet to punish them.
“At an early period in Egyptian history, the influence of Ra spread throughout the whole country, bringing multiple representations in form and in name. The most common form combinations are with Atum (his human form), Khepri (the scarab beetle), and Horus (the falcon). The form in which he usually appears is that of a man with a falcon’s head, which is due to his combination with Horus, another sky-god. On top of his head sits a solar disc with a cobra, which in many myths represents the Eye of Ra. At the beginning of time, when there was nothing but chaos, the sun-god existed alone in the watery mass of Nun, which filled the universe. The universe was enrapt by a vast mass of primordial waters, and the Benben, a pyramid mound, emerged amid this primal chaos. There was a lotus flower with Benben, and from this, when it blossomed, emerged Ra. “I am Atum when he was alone in Nun, I am Ra when he dawned, when he began to rule that which he had made.” This passage talks about how Atum created everything in human form out of the chaos and how Ra then began to rule over the Earth, where humans and divine beings coexisted. He created Shu, god of air, and the goddess of moisture, Tefnut. The siblings symbolized two universal principles of humans: life and right (justice). Ra was believed to have created all forms of life by calling them into existence by uttering their secret names. In some accounts, humans were created from Ra’s tears and sweat. The chief cultic center of Ra was Iunu “the Place of Pillars”, later known to the Ptolemaic Kingdom as Heliopolis (Koinē Greek: Ἡλιούπολις, lit. “Sun City“) and today located in the suburbs of Cairo. He was identified with the local sun god Atum. As Atum or Atum-Ra, he was reckoned the first being and the originator of the Ennead (“The Nine”), consisting of Shu and Tefnut, Geb and Nut, Osiris, Set, Isis, and Nephthys.” ref
Sun Worship and Sun Deities
“The sky often has important religious significance. Many polytheistic religions have deities associated with the sky. The daytime sky deities are typically distinct from the nighttime ones. Stith Thompson‘s Motif-Index of Folk-Literature reflects this by separating the category of “Sky-god” (A210) from that of “Star-god” (A250). In mythology, nighttime gods are usually known as night deities and gods of stars simply as star gods. Both of these categories are included here since they relate to the sky. Luminary deities are included as well since the sun and moon are located in the sky. Some religions may also have a deity or personification of the day, distinct from the god of the day lit sky, to complement the deity or personification of the night. Daytime gods and nighttime gods are frequently deities of an “upper world” or “celestial world” opposed to the earth and a “netherworld” (gods of the underworld are sometimes called “chthonic” deities). Within Greek mythology, Uranus was the primordial sky god, who was ultimately succeeded by Zeus, who ruled the celestial realm atop Mount Olympus. In contrast to the celestial Olympians was the chthonic deity Hades, who ruled the underworld, and Poseidon, who ruled the sea.” 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. Gods may rule the sky as a pair (for example, ancient Semitic supreme god El and the fertility goddess Asherah whom he was most likely paired with). The following is a list of sky deities in various polytheistic traditions arranged mostly by language family, which is typically a better indicator of relatedness than geography.” ref
East African
Central African
- Khonvoum, Mbuti supreme creator god and sky father
- Nzambi Mpungu, Bakongo creator, sky and sun god
- Nzambici, Bakongo sky, moon and earth goddess” ref
West African
- Denka, Dinka god of sky, rain and fertility
- Nyame, Akan supreme deity, god of the sky
- Olorun, Yoruba supreme deity, god of the sky and heaven
- Shango, Yoruba sky father and thunder god
- Amadioha, Igbo thunder and lightning god
- Osalobua, Benin supreme creator god and sky father
- Wulbari, Guang sky god
- Abasi (is for ever) Ibom enyon, Ibibio People God, or the one who is forever; compound word, Kingdom of High
- Achamán, Guanche creator and sky god” ref
Southern African
Ancient Egypt
- Amun, Ancient Egyptian god of creation and the wind
- Anhur, Ancient Egyptian originally a foreign war god
- Hathor, Ancient Egyptian originally a sky goddess
- Horus, Ancient Egyptian god of the sun, sky, kings, and war
- Khonsu, Ancient Egyptian moon god
- Mehet-Weret, Ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky
- Nut, Ancient Egyptian goddess of the sky
- Ra, Ancient Egyptian god of the sun that ruled the sky, earth and underworld
- Shu, Ancient Egyptian god of the air
- Thoth, Ancient Egyptian original moon god” ref
Western Asian
- Asherah, sky goddess and consort of El; after the rise of Yahweh, she may have become Yahweh’s consort before she was demonized and the Israelite religion became monotheistic
- Baalshamin, “Lord of the Heavens” (cf. Armenian Barsamin)
- El (god), original sky god and sky father of the Semitic speakers (replaced by Yahweh among Israelites)” ref
“The Sun, Moon, and the five planets visible to the naked eye connected with the chief gods of the Babylonian pantheon. A list now held in the British Museum arranges the sevenfold planetary group in the following order:
- Sin (the Moon)
- Shamash (the Sun)
- Marduk (Jupiter)
- Ishtar (Venus)
- Ninurta (Saturn)
- Nabu (Mercury)
- Nergal (Mars)” ref
“A solar deity or sun deity is a deity who represents the Sun or an aspect thereof. Such deities are usually associated with power and strength. Solar deities and Sun worship can be found throughout most of recorded history in various forms. The Sun is sometimes referred to by its Latin name Sol or by its Greek name Helios. The English word sun derives from Proto-Germanic *sunnǭ. Predynasty Egyptian beliefs attribute Atum as the Sun god and Horus as a god of the sky and Sun. As the Old Kingdom theocracy gained influence, early beliefs were incorporated into the expanding popularity of Ra and the Osiris–Horus mythology. Atum became Ra-Atum, the rays of the setting Sun. Osiris became the divine heir to Atum’s power on Earth and passed his divine authority to his son, Horus. Other early Egyptian myths imply that the Sun is incorporated with the lioness Sekhmet at night and is reflected in her eyes; or that the Sun is found within the cow Hathor during the night and reborn each morning as her son (bull). Mesopotamian Shamash played an important role during the Bronze Age, and “my Sun” was eventually used to address royalty. Similarly, South American cultures have a tradition of Sun worship as with the Incan Inti. In Germanic mythology, the solar deity is Sol; in Vedic, Surya; and in Greek, Helios (occasionally referred to as Titan) and (sometimes) as Apollo. In Proto-Indo-European mythology the sun appears to be a multilayered figure manifested as a deity but also perceived as the eye of the sky father Dyeus.” ref
“Solar deities are often thought of as male (and lunar deities as being female) but the opposite has also been the case. In Germanic mythology, the Sun is female, and the Moon is male. Other European cultures that have sun goddesses include the Lithuanians (Saulė) and Latvians (Saule), the Finns (Päivätär, Beiwe) and the related Hungarians. Sun goddesses are found around the world in Australia (Bila, Wala); in Indian tribal religions (Bisal-Mariamma, Bomong, ‘Ka Sgni) and Sri Lanka (Pattini); among the Hittites (Wurusemu), Berbers (Tafukt), Egyptians (Hathor, Sekhmet), and Canaanites (Shapash); in the Canary Islands (Chaxiraxi, Magec); in Native America, among the Cherokee (Unelanuhi), Natchez (Oüa Chill/Uwahci∙ł), Inuit (Siqiniq), and Miwok (He’-koo-lās); and in Asia among the Japanese (Amaterasu).” ref
“The cobra (of Pharaoh, son of Ra), the lioness (daughter of Ra), and the cow (daughter of Ra), are the dominant symbols of the most ancient Egyptian deities. They were female and carried their relationship to the sun atop their heads, and their cults remained active throughout the history of the culture. Later another sun god (Aten) was established in the eighteenth dynasty on top of the other solar deities, before the “aberration” was stamped out and the old pantheon re-established. When male deities became associated with the sun in that culture, they began as the offspring of a mother (except Ra, King of the Gods who gave birth to himself).” ref
“Sun worship was prevalent in ancient Egyptian religion. The earliest deities associated with the Sun are all goddesses: Wadjet, Sekhmet, Hathor, Nut, Bast, Bat, and Menhit. First Hathor, and then Isis, give birth to and nurse Horus and Ra, respectively. Hathor the horned-cow is one of the 12 daughters of Ra, gifted with joy and is a wet-nurse to Horus. From at least the 4th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, the Sun was worshiped as the deity Ra (meaning simply ‘the sun‘), and portrayed as a falcon-headed god surmounted by the solar disk, and surrounded by a serpent. The Sun’s movement across the sky represents a struggle between the pharaoh’s soul and an avatar of Osiris. Ra travels across the sky in his solar-boat; at dawn he drives away the god of chaos, Apep. The “solarisation” of several local gods (Khnum-Ra, Min-Ra, Amun-Ra) reached its peak in the period of the Fifth Dynasty. Rituals to the god Amun, who became identified with the sun god Ra, were often carried out on the top of temple pylons. A pylon mirrored the hieroglyph for ‘horizon’ or akhet, which was a depiction of two hills “between which the sun rose and set”, associated with recreation and rebirth. On the first pylon of the temple of Isis at Philae, the pharaoh is shown slaying his enemies in the presence of Isis, Horus, and Hathor.” ref
“In Kongo religion, (from Africa) Nzambi Mpungu is the Sky Father and god of the Sun, while that his female counterpart, Nzambici, is Sky Mother and the god of the Moon and Earth. The Sun is very significant to Bakongo people, who believe that the position of the sun marks the different seasons of a Kongo person’s life as they transition between the four moments of life: conception (musoni), birth (kala), maturity (tukula), and death (luvemba). The Kongo cosmogram, a sacred symbol in Bakongo culture, depicts these moments of the sun. Kalenjin mythology (from Africa) was based upon the belief in a supreme god, Asis or Cheptalel, represented in the form of the sun (asista), although the sun itself was not considered to be God. He lives in the sky and is supreme, omnipotent, and the guarantor of right. Among the Northern sections of the Kalenjin he is also commonly referred to as Tororut. Beneath Asis is Elat, who controls thunder and lightning.” ref
“In Germanic mythology the Sun is personified as a woman, Old Norse Sól, Old High German Sunna. In the Norse tradition, the Sun is driven through the sky on a chariot pulled by two horses named Árvakr and Alsviðr (“Early-awake” and “All-swift”. First century historian Tacitus, in his book Germania, mentioned that “beyond the Suiones [tribe]” a sea was located where the sun maintained its brilliance from its rising to its sunset, and that “[the] popular belief” was that “the sound of its emergence was audible” and “the form of its horses visible”. In Norway, Sun worship was common until the last century, usually as a simple ritual of leaving butter in a saucer on a windowsill, so the Sun can melt it, when its light comes into the window. Alternatively, the glass on the window itself could be smeared by butter, or the butter could be put on the roof or wall. Similar rituals are attested among the Sami people. Usually, the ritual was connected to the day, when the sun shows up from horizon or mountain (or in the eastern window of the main house of the farm) after the period of polar night, when there is no sun at all, or the sun is so low, that it is hidden behind mountains.” ref
“Because of these reasons, the date of the ritual varied from farm to farm, or wasn’t practiced at all (e.g. in Oslo area, which is flat and has no real polar night). A ritual of greating the first sun after the polar night while standing on top of a mountain is mentioned by Procopius in his description of the Northerners, but is also attested in modern time in area of Glomfjord, and a similar one in southern Vest-Agder. Another ritual is known from southern Vest-Agder, when small round stones are supposed to be taken up to a mountain top and put in a heap as an offering to the Spring Sun. The stone offering heaps itself are very common in Scandinavia, but only in Vest-Agder they are connected to the Sun worship. Among famous people, who were practicing the butter-in-saucer ritual were poets Ivar Mortensson-Egnund and Astrid Krog Halse.” ref
“In Aztec mythology, Tonatiuh (Nahuatl languages: Ollin Tonatiuh, “Movement of the Sun”) was the sun god. The Aztec people considered him the leader of Tollan (heaven). He was also known as the fifth sun, because the Aztecs believed that he was the sun that took over when the fourth sun was expelled from the sky. According to their cosmology, each sun was a god with its own cosmic era. According to the Aztecs, they were still in Tonatiuh’s era. According to the Aztec creation myth, the god demanded human sacrifice as tribute and without it would refuse to move through the sky. The Aztecs were fascinated by the Sun and carefully observed it, and had a solar calendar similar to that of the Maya. Many of today’s remaining Aztec monuments have structures aligned with the Sun. In the Aztec calendar, Tonatiuh is the lord of the thirteen days from 1 Death to 13 Flint. The preceding thirteen days are ruled over by Chalchiuhtlicue, and the following thirteen by Tlaloc.” ref
“Inti is the ancient Incan sun god. He is revered as the national patron of the Inca state. Although most consider Inti the sun god, he is more appropriately viewed as a cluster of solar aspects, since the Inca divided his identity according to the stages of the sun. Inti is represented as a golden disk with rays and a human face. The Inca dedicated many ceremonies to the Sun in order to ensure the Sapa Inca’s welfare. The Incas would set aside large quantities of natural and human resources throughout the empire for Inti. Each conquered province was supposed to dedicate a third of their lands and herds to Inti as mandated by the Inca. Each major province would also have a Sun Temple in which male and female priests would serve.” ref
“In Chinese mythology (cosmology), there were originally ten suns in the sky, who were all brothers. They were supposed to emerge one at a time as commanded by the Jade Emperor. They were all very young and loved to fool around. Once they decided to all go into the sky to play, all at once. This made the world too hot for anything to grow. A hero named Hou Yi, honored to this day, shot down nine of them with a bow and arrow to save the people of the Earth. In another myth, a solar eclipse was said to be caused by a magical dog or dragon biting off a piece of the Sun. The referenced event is said to have occurred around 2136 BCE or 4,136 years ago; two royal astronomers, Ho and Hi, were executed for failing to predict the eclipse. There was a tradition in China to make lots of loud celebratory sounds during a solar eclipse to scare the sacred beast away. The Deity of the Sun in Chinese mythology is Ri Gong Tai Yang Xing Jun (Tai Yang Gong/Grandfather Sun) or Star Lord of the Solar Palace, Lord of the Sun. In some mythologies, Tai Yang Xing Jun is believed to be Hou Yi. Tai Yang Xing Jun is usually depicted with the Star Lord of the Lunar Palace, Lord of the Moon, Yue Gong Tai Yin Xing Jun (Tai Yin Niang Niang/Lady Tai Yin). Worship of the moon goddess Chang’e and her festivals are very popular among followers of Chinese folk religion and Taoism.” ref
“People in the Neolithic possibly engaged in ancestor worship. It is possible that inegalitarian Neolithic societies practised two separate ancestor cults: one based around everyday worship of the ancestors of individual families, and one based around ancestors of entire tribes, settlements, or cities, which the rulers of those people deemed themselves descended from. In bids to gain spiritual and earthly power, these rulers would posit themselves the heirs of gods. In some regions, evidence also exists for solar worship and lunar worship; for instance, British and Irish stone circles are generally aligned with the movement of the sun, which plausibly played a role in their ritual significance.” ref
“In the specific case of Çatalhöyük, the primary objects of worship do not seem to have been human deities but animal ones, and the figurines traditionally interpreted as “goddesses” were possibly anthropomorphic bears, leopards, and cattle. This seems to be reflective of a broad Neolithic tendency towards animal worship; the nearby site of Göbekli Tepe also bears significant evidence for ritual and religious significance of animals. The Xinglongwa and Hongshan cultures of northeastern China carved elaborate jade sculptures of pigs and dragons speculated to have some religious role; China was one of the first major sites of animal domestication, and domestic animals seem to have played wide-ranging roles in Neolithic Chinese ritual practice, in particular as sacrificial goods for high-ranking spiritual leaders.” ref
“Compared to the Paleolithic, shamanism seems to have become more peripheral over the course of the Neolithic. In many regions, priests of increasingly centralised faiths probably took over isolated shamanic functions, although shamanism and domestic cults of personal deities clearly continued. Meanwhile, in the highly stratified societies of the Neolithic, elite secret societies flourished amongst the powerful. In these unequal worlds, the spiritually powerful were able to manipulate faith to convince the general population of their social and spiritual subordinacy. The Chalcolithic, or Copper Age, (around 5,000 – 3200 BCE or 7,000 to 5,200 years ago) was the transitional period between the Neolithic and Bronze Age.” ref
“In the Copper Age, an early understanding of metallurgy permitted the formation of simple copper tools to supplement stone, but without the deliberate production of its improved alloy bronze. In the Levant, the Copper Age is typified by social, agricultural, and artistic innovation. Horticulture of plants such as olives became a major complement to grain agriculture, while the animal products available to farmers diversified. Settlements expanded and came to inhabit broader geographical ranges, while the art and textiles of the area made great strides in both ornamental capacities and symbolic representation. This contrasts to their peers in Egypt and Mesopotamia, who remained somewhat more inhibited throughout the era. Further west and especially north, the concept of the Copper Age grows controversial; the “British Chalcolithic” is particularly unclear, with both support and opposition for the idea that copper metallurgy heralded a particular era in British prehistory.” ref
“The Chalcolithic is part of prehistory, but based on archaeological evidence, the emergence of the first state societies can be inferred, notably in the Fertile Crescent (notably Sumer) Predynastic Egypt, and Proto-Minoan Crete, with late Neolithic societies of comparable complexity emerging in the Indus Valley (Mehrgarh), China, and along the north-western shores of the Black Sea. The earliest known primary states appeared in Anatolia c. 5200 BCE, in Mesopotamia c. 3700 BCE,, in Greece c. 3500 BCE, in Egypt c. 3300 BCE, in the Indus Valley c. 3300 BCE, and in China c. 1600 BCE. One of the major hypothesised cultures of the Copper Age were the Proto-Indo-Europeans, from whom all Indo-European language and mythology may have evolved. The Proto-Indo-Europeans are speculatively known through the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European language, which bears traces of religion; *Dyḗws, the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European sky god, developed into, for instance, the Greek Zeus and all he begat. *Dyḗws was the presumed leader of a pantheon of deities including *Dhuĝhatḗr Diwós (“sky daughter”), *Hₐéusōs (“dawn goddess”), *Neptonos (“water grandson”), and *Perkʷunos (“thunder god”). There was also *Manu-, humanity’s ancestor, who became Mannus of Germanic paganism and Manu of early Hinduism. There has been some reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European afterlife, “a land of green pastures, where age and sickness are unknown”, accessible only via dangerous travels through a watery, hound-guarded maelstrom.” ref, ref
“Three theories exercised great influence on nineteenth and early twentieth century mythography. The theories were the “solar mythology” of Alvin Boyd Kuhn and Max Müller, the tree worship of Mannhardt, and the totemism of J. F. McLennan. Müller’s “solar mythology” was born from the study of Indo-European languages. Of them, Müller believed Archaic Sanskrit was the closest to the language spoken by the Aryans. Using the Sanskrit names for deities as a base, he applied Grimm’s law to names for similar deities from different Indo-European groups to compare their etymological relationships to one another. In the comparison, Müller saw the similarities between the names and used these etymological similarities to explain the similarities between their roles as deities. Through the study, Müller concluded that the Sun having many different names led to the creation of multiple solar deities and their mythologies that were passed down from one group to another. R. F. Littledale criticized the Sun myth theory, pointing out that by his own principles, Max Müller was himself only a solar myth. Alfred Lyall delivered another attack on the same theory’s assumption that tribal gods and heroes, such as those of Homer, were only reflections of the Sun myth by proving that the gods of certain Rajput clans were actual warriors who founded the clans a few centuries ago, and were the ancestors of the present chieftains.” ref
Solar vessels and chariots
“The Sun was sometimes envisioned as traveling through the sky in a boat. A prominent example is the solar barque used by Ra in ancient Egyptian mythology. The Neolithic concept of a “solar barge” (also “solar bark”, “solar barque”, “solar boat” and “sun boat”, a mythological representation of the Sun riding in a boat) is found in the later myths of ancient Egypt, with Ra and Horus. Several Egyptian kings were buried with ships that may have been intended to symbolize the solar barque, including the Khufu ship that was buried at the foot of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Solar boats and similar vessels also appear in Indo-European mythologies, such as a ‘hundred-oared ship’ of Surya in the Rig Veda, the golden boat of Saulė in Baltic mythology, and the golden bowl of Helios in Greek mythology. Numerous depictions of solar boats are known from the Bronze Age in Europe. Possible solar boat depictions have also been identified in Neolithic petroglyphs from the Megalithic culture in western Europe, and in Mesolithic petroglyphs from northern Europe.” ref
“Examples of solar vessels include:
- Neolithic petroglyphs which are interpreted as depicting solar barges.
- The many early Egyptian goddesses that were seen as sun deities, and the later gods Ra and Horus were depicted as riding in a solar barge. In Egyptian myths of the afterlife, Ra rides in an underground channel from west to east every night so that he can rise in the east the next morning.
- The Nebra sky disk, c. 1800–1600 BCE, associated with the Unetice culture, which is thought to show a depiction of a gold solar boat.
- Gold lunulae associated with the Bell Beaker culture, c. 2400–2000 BCE, thought to represent solar boats.
- Nordic Bronze Age petroglyphs, including those found in Tanumshede, often contain barges and sun crosses in different constellations. Solar boat imagery also appears on bronze razors from the period.
- Miniature gold boats from Nors in Denmark, dating from the Nordic Bronze Age.
- The Caergwrle Bowl from Wales, dating from the British Bronze Age, c. 1300 BCE.
- Solar boat motifs depicted on bronze artefacts from the Urnfield culture and Lusatian culture, c. 1300–500 BCE.
- Depictions of solar boats on Iron Age Celtic artefacts, such as the Petrie Crown from Ireland (1st century AD), and ornaments on the Vix grave wagon from France (500 BCE).” ref
“Solar chariot”, “Sun chariot”, “Sun Chariot”, and “Chariot of the Sun” redirect here. For the racehorse, see Sun Chariot (horse). The concept of the “solar chariot” is younger than that of the solar barge and is typically Indo-European, corresponding with the Indo-European expansion after the invention of the chariot in the 2nd millennium BCE. The reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European religion features a “solar chariot” or “sun chariot” with which the Sun traverses the sky. Chariots were introduced to Egypt in the Hyksos period, and were seen as solar vehicles associated with the sun god in the subsequent New Kingdom period. A gold solar boat model from the tomb of Queen Ahhotep, dating from the beginning of the New Kingdom (c. 1550 BCE), was mounted on four-spoked chariot wheels. Similarities have been noted with the Trundholm Sun Chariot from Denmark, dating from c. 1500–1400 BCE, which was also mounted on four-spoked wheels.” ref
“*Seh₂ul and *Meh₁not are the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European Sun deity and Moon deity respectively. *Seh₂ul is reconstructed based on the solar deities of the attested Indo-European mythologies, although its gender (male or female) is disputed, since there are deities of both genders. The daily course of *Seh₂ul across the sky on a horse-driven chariot is a common motif among Indo-European myths. While it is probably inherited, the motif certainly appeared after the introduction of the wheel in the Pontic–Caspian steppe about 3500 BCE or 5,500 years ago, and is therefore a late addition to Proto-Indo-European culture. *Seh₂ul is reconstructed based on the Greek god Helios, the Greek mythological figure Helen of Troy, the Roman god Sol, the Celtic goddess Sulis / Sul/Suil, the North Germanic goddess Sól, the Continental Germanic goddess *Sowilō, the Hittite goddess “UTU-liya”, the Zoroastrian Hvare-khshaeta and the Vedic god Surya. In Albanian the Sun – worshiped as the god of light, sky and weather, giver of life, health and energy, and all-seeing eye – is referred to as Dielli, a name that is considered to have been a word taboo originally meaning “yellow, golden, bright/shiny one” used to refer to the Sun due to its perceived sacred nature. In the mythologies of the daughter languages (namely, Baltic, Greek and Old Indic), the sun deity crosses the sky in a horse-driven chariot or wagon.” ref
“However, Mallory and Adams caution that the motif is not exclusively Indo-European, and mention evidence of its presence in Mesopotamia. A character related to the Sun deity is the ‘Sun-maiden’. Examples are ‘Saules meita’, the daughter of Saulé in Baltic tradition, and Sūryā, daughter to Indic Sun god Sūrya. Scholars also posit Helen of Troy, from Greek mythology, was another example of the ‘Sun-maiden’. In Albanian tradition there is E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit, “the Daughter of the Moon and the Sun”, who is a light divine heroine, referred to as pika e qiellit (“drop of the sky” or “lightning”), which falls everywhere from heaven on the mountains and the valleys and strikes pride and evil. She defeats the kulshedra, the archetype of darkness and evil in Albanian mythology. In some Albanian traditions the Sun (Dielli) and the Moon (Hëna) are regarded as husband and wife, and in others as brother and sister. In the case of E Bija e Hënës dhe e Diellit the Sun is her father and the Moon is her mother. Although the sun was personified as an independent deity, the Proto-Indo-Europeans also visualized the sun as the “lamp of Dyēws” or the “eye of Dyēws”, as seen in various reflexes: “the god’s lamp” in Medes by Euripides, “heaven’s candle” in Beowulf, or “the land of Hatti’s torch”, as the Sun-goddess of Arinna is called in a Hittite prayer; and Helios as the eye of Zeus, Hvare-khshaeta as the eye of Ahura Mazda, and the sun as “God’s eye” in Romanian folklore. The names of Celtic sun goddesses like Sulis and Grian may also allude to this association: the words for “eye” and “sun” are switched in these languages, hence the name of the goddesses. Albanian solemn oaths are taken “by the eye of the Sun” (për sy të Diellit), which is related to the Sky-God worship (Zojz). Egyptian mythology is unrelated to Indo-European mythology so there is unlikely any historical link, but the metaphor of Eye of Ra was used in it too.” ref
“The archaic Proto-Indo-European language (4500–4000 years ago) had a two-gender system which originally distinguished words between animate and inanimate, a system used to separate a common term from its deified synonym. For instance, fire as an active principle was *h₁n̥gʷnis (Latin ignis; Sanskrit Agní), while the inanimate, physical entity was *péh₂ur (Greek pyr; English fire). During this period, Proto-Indo-European beliefs were still animistic and their language did not yet make formal distinctions between masculine and feminine, although it is likely that each deity was already conceived as either male or female. Most of the goddesses attested in later Indo-European mythologies come from pre-Indo-European deities eventually assimilated into the various pantheons following the migrations, like the Greek Athena, the Roman Juno, the Irish Medb, or the Iranian Anahita. Diversely personified, they were frequently seen as fulfilling multiple functions, while Proto-Indo-European goddesses shared a lack of personification and narrow functionalities as a general characteristic. The most well-attested female Indo-European deities include *H₂éwsōs, the Dawn, *Dʰéǵʰōm, the Earth, and *Seh₂ul, the Sun. Linguists have been able to reconstruct the names of some deities in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) from many types of sources. Some of the proposed deity names are more readily accepted among scholars than others. According to philologist Martin L. West, “the clearest cases are the cosmic and elemental deities: the Sky-god, his partner Earth, and his twin sons; the Sun, the Sun Maiden, and the Dawn; gods of storm, wind, water, fire; and terrestrial presences such as the Rivers, spring and forest nymphs, and a god of the wild who guards roads and herds.” ref
“It is not probable that the Proto-Indo-Europeans had a fixed canon of deities or assigned a specific number to them. The term for “a god” was **deywós (“celestial”), derived from the root *dyew, which denoted the bright sky or the light of day. It has numerous reflexes in Latin deus, Old Norse Týr (< PGmc. *tīwaz), Sanskrit devá, Avestan daeva, Irish día, or Lithuanian Dievas. In contrast, human beings were synonymous of “mortals” and associated with the “earthly” (*dʰéǵʰōm), likewise the source of words for “man, human being” in various languages. Proto-Indo-Europeans believed the gods to be exempt from death and disease because they were nourished by special aliments, usually not available to mortals: in the Chāndogya Upaniṣad, “the gods, of course, neither eat nor drink. They become sated by just looking at this nectar”, while the Edda states that “on wine alone the weapon-lord Odin ever lives … he needs no food; wine is to him both drink and meat”. Sometimes concepts could also be deified, such as the Avestan mazdā (“wisdom”), worshipped as Ahura Mazdā (“Lord Wisdom”); the Greek god of war Ares (connected with ἀρή, “ruin, destruction”); or the Vedic protector of treaties Mitráh (from mitrám, “contract”).Dyēws: Daylight-Sky and Dhéǵhōm: Earth had a daughter Hausōs
Dawn, and two sons The Divine Twins, who gave birth to The Sun Maiden. Proto-Indo-European religion was centered on sacrificial rites of cattle and horses, probably administered by a class of priests or shamans. Animals were slaughtered (*gʷʰn̥tós) and dedicated to the gods (*deywṓs) in the hope of winning their favour. The Khvalynsk culture, associated with the archaic Proto-Indo-European language, had already shown archeological evidence for the sacrifice of domesticated animals.” ref
“The king as the high priest would have been the central figure in establishing favourable relations with the other world. Georges Dumézil suggested that the religious function was represented by a duality, one reflecting the magico-religious nature of priesthood, while the other is involved in religious sanction to human society (especially contracts), a theory supported by common features in Iranian, Roman, Scandinavian and Celtic traditions. The reconstructed cosmology of the Proto-Indo-Europeans shows that ritual sacrifice of cattle, the cow in particular, was at the root of their beliefs, as the primordial condition of the world order. The myth of *Trito, the first warrior, involves the liberation of cattle stolen by a three-headed entity named *Ngʷʰi. After recovering the wealth of the people, Trito eventually offers the cattle to the priest in order to ensure the continuity of the cycle of giving between gods and humans. The word for “oath”, *h₁óitos, derives from the verb *h₁ey- (“to go”), after the practice of walking between slaughtered animals as part of taking an oath.” ref
“Proto-Indo-Europeans likely had a sacred tradition of horse sacrifice for the renewal of kingship involving the ritual mating of a queen or king with a horse, which was then sacrificed and cut up for distribution to the other participants in the ritual. In both the Roman Equus October and the Indic Aśvamedhá, the horse sacrifice is performed on behalf of the warrior class or to a warrior deity, and the dismembered pieces of the animal eventually goes to different locations or deities. Another reflex may be found in a medieval Irish tradition involving a king-designate from County Donegal copulating with a mare before bathing with the parts of the sacrificed animal. The Indic ritual likewise involved the symbolic marriage of the queen to the dead stallion. Further, if Hittite laws prohibited copulation with animals, they made an exception of horses or mules. In both the Celtic and Indic traditions, an intoxicating brewage played a part in the ritual, and the suffix in aśva-medhá could be related to the Old Indic word mad- (“boil, rejoice, get drunk”). Jaan Puhvel has also compared the Vedic name of the tradition with the Gaulish god Epomeduos, the “master of horses.” ref
“Gods had several titles, typically “the celebrated”, “the highest”, “king”, or “shepherd”, with the notion that deities had their own idiom and true names which might be kept secret from mortals in some circumstances. In Indo-European traditions, gods were seen as the “dispensers” or the “givers of good things” (*déh₃tōr h₁uesuom). Although certain individual deities were charged with the supervision of justice or contracts, in general the Indo-European gods did not have an ethical character. Their immense power, which they could exercise at their pleasure, necessitated rituals, sacrifices and praise songs from worshipers to ensure they would in return bestow prosperity to the community. The idea that gods were in control of the nature was translated in the suffix *-nos (feminine *-nā), which signified “lord of”. According to West, it is attested in Greek Ouranos (“lord of rain”) and Helena (“mistress of sunlight”), Germanic *Wōðanaz (“lord of frenzy”), Gaulish Epona (“goddess of horses”), Lithuanian Perkūnas (“lord of oaks”), and in Roman Neptunus (“lord of waters”), Volcanus (“lord of fire-glare”) and Silvanus (“lord of woods”). The substratum of Proto-Indo-European mythology is animistic. This native animism is still reflected in the Indo-European daughter cultures. In Norse mythology the Vættir are for instance reflexes of the native animistic nature spirits and deities. Trees have a central position in Indo-European daughter cultures, and are thought to be the abode of tree spirits. In Indo-European tradition, the storm is deified as a highly active, assertive, and sometimes aggressive element; the fire and water are deified as cosmic elements that are also necessary for the functioning of the household; the deified earth is associated with fertility and growth on the one hand, and with death and the underworld on the other.” ref
“The head deity of the Proto-Indo-European pantheon was the god *Dyḗws Ph₂tḗr, whose name literally means “Sky Father”. Regarded as the Sky or Day conceived as a divine entity, and thus the dwelling of the gods, the Heaven, Dyēws is, by far, the most well-attested of all the Proto-Indo-European deities. As the gateway to the gods and the father of both the Divine Twins and the goddess of the dawn (Hausos), Dyēws was a prominent deity in the pantheon. He was however likely not their ruler, or the holder of the supreme power like Zeus and Jupiter. Due to his celestial nature, Dyēus is often described as “all-seeing”, or “with wide vision” in Indo-European myths. It is unlikely however that he was in charge of the supervision of justice and righteousness, as it was the case for the Zeus or the Indo-Iranian Mithra–Varuna duo; but he was suited to serve at least as a witness to oaths and treaties. The Greek god Zeus and the Roman god Jupiter both appear as the head gods of their respective pantheons. *Dyḗws Ph₂tḗr is also attested in the Rigveda as Dyáus Pitā, a minor ancestor figure mentioned in only a few hymns, and in the Illyrian god Dei-Pátrous, attested once by Hesychius of Alexandria. The ritual expressions Debess tēvs in Latvian and attas Isanus in Hittite are not exact descendants of the formula *Dyḗws Ph₂tḗr, but they do preserve its original structure.” ref
“The sun god was one of the principal deities of the Mesopotamian pantheon. In the Early Dynastic god list from Fara, he is the sixth among the deities listed, after Anu, Enlil, Inanna, Enki and Nanna. In later god lists, for example in An = Anum, he and his circle appears between Nanna (Sin) and Ishkur (Adad). The Old Babylonian Nippur god list instead places him between Ishkur and Ninurta. Shamash (Akkadian: šamaš), also known as Utu (Sumerian: dutu 𒀭𒌓 “Sun“) was the ancient Mesopotamian sun god. He was believed to see everything that happened in the world every day, and was therefore responsible for justice and protection of travelers. As a divine judge, he could be associated with the underworld. Additionally, he could serve as the god of divination, typically alongside the weather god Adad. While he was universally regarded as one of the primary gods, he was particularly venerated in Sippar and Larsa. The moon god Nanna (Sin) and his wife Ningal were regarded as his parents, while his twin sister was Inanna (Ishtar). Occasionally other goddesses, such as Manzat and Pinikir, could be regarded as his sisters too. The dawn goddess Aya (Sherida) was his wife, and multiple texts describe their daily reunions taking place on a mountain where the sun was believed to set. Among their children were Kittum, the personification of truth, dream deities such as Mamu, as well as the god Ishum. Utu’s name could be used to write the names of many foreign solar deities logographically. The connection between him and the Hurrian solar god Shimige is particularly well attested, and the latter could be associated with Aya as well.” ref
“While no myths focusing on Utu are known, he often appears as an ally of other figures in both Sumerian and Akkadian compositions. According to narratives about Dumuzi‘s death, he helped protect him when the galla demons tried to drag him to the underworld. In various versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh and in earlier Gilgamesh myths, he helps this hero defeat the monstrous Humbaba. In the myth Inanna and An, he helps his sister acquire the temple Eanna. In How Grain Came to Sumer, he is invoked to advise Ninazu and Ninmada. The two most common names of the sun god used in Mesopotamian texts are Sumerian Utu and Akkadian Shamash. A further relatively commonly attested name is Amna, whose origin is uncertain. The most common writing of the sun god’s name was the logogram dUTU, which could be read as Utu, Shamash, or, as attested in the god list An = Anum, as Amna. Syllabic spellings of all three of these names are also known. A further logographic spelling used the numeral 20, which was associated with him. The name Shamash is a cognate of Akkadian terms šamšu (“sun”) and šamšatu (“solar disc“), as well as the words referring to sun in other Semitic languages, such as Arabic šams and Hebrew šemeš. The linguistic connection between the name of the god and the corresponding celestial body has been compared to that between Adad (and Syrian Hadad) and the word addu, “storm.” The Amorite form of the name is Samsu, as attested for example in the theophoric name Samsu-iluna (“Samsu is our god”). The ancient Aramaic form of the name was most likely Śameš, though many variant syllabic spellings are attested. Additionally, the name for the sun in Mandaean cosmology, Shamish (Mandaic language:ࡔࡀࡌࡉࡔ), is derived from Akkadian Shamash.” ref
“According to Manfred Krebernik, the name Amna, attested as a synonym of Utu in the god list An = Anum and used to refer to the sun god in an inscription of Nabonidus, might be either connected to the toponym Sippar-Amnanum or to a root attested in Northwest Semitic languages, ‘-m-n, which can be translated as “to be reliable” or “to be firm.” Dozens of other variant names, epithets or possibly minor deities who came to be seen as synnymous with Utu are attested in god lists. Examples include Karkara (possibly related to Ninkar, one of the names of his wife Aya), Nimindu (possibly related to the name of the goddess Nimintabba), Si’e (“who shines forth”), Ṣalam (possibly a name referring to a winged sun symbol) and U’e (“sunrise”). Despite Utu’s typical high status, it is agreed that the role of the sun and deities representing it in Mesopotamian religion was not comparable to that known from ancient Egyptian religion. Based on the attestations of theophoric names such as Shamash-bel-ili (Akkadian: “Shamash is the lord of the gods”), Shamash-Enlil-ili (“Shamash is the Enlil of the gods”) and Shamash-ashared-ili (“Shamash is the foremost of the gods”), Wilfred G. Lambert proposed that a tradition in which he was the supreme god of the pantheon did exist, but never found official support and its spread was limited to the clergy in Sippar and to a smaller degree Larsa.” ref
“Common epithets characterize Utu as a “youth” (Sumerian šul, Akkadian eṭlu) and “hero” (Sumerian ursaĝ, Akkadian qarrādu). As a representation of the sun, he was believed to travel every day through the sky from east to west, and at night in the opposite direction through AN.ŠAG4, a “nether sky” located directly above the underworld, though the notion of a night journey only developed later, and in sources from the third millennium BCE Utu usually rests at night. A reference to the latter tradition is also known from the “Standard Babylonian” version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, where Shamash meets with his wife Aya after sunset. Utu’s vehicle was a solar chariot,[20] which was pulled by four animals bearing the Sumerian names Uhegalanna (“the abundant light of heaven”), Uhushgalanna (“the terrifying great light of heaven”), Usurmurgalanna (“the dreadful great light of heaven”) and Unirgalanna (“the noble light of heaven”).” ref
“Their species is not entirely consistent, though in most cases the sun chariot is apparently associated with equids: “choice steeds” (niskum) in an inscription of Gudea, horses in various prayers and incantations, and mules in the Epic of Gilgamesh. Manfred Krebernik argues that in early sources, his chariot was drawn by lions, but this has been questioned by Marco Bonechi. Nathan Wasserman in his translation of a fragment of a hymn to Utu mentioning the animals only refers to them as “beasts.” Sunrise and sunset were described as the sun god passing through cosmic gates situated on twin mountains on the opposite ends of the world. It was believed that his daily journey let him see everything happening on earth. He was also responsible for protection of travelers. Formulas common in both prayers and literary compositions indicate that he was likely often invoked outside temples, presumably as an astral body. Early morning was likely regarded as the most appropriate time for imploring him for help.” ref
Utu was also the primary god of justice, presumably because due to traveling through the sky every day he was believed to see everything that happened in the world. He could be assisted in this role by his father Nanna, his sister Inanna, and various minor judge deities. At least in the third millennium BCE, Ishtaran was regarded as a divine judge equal in rank to Utu, and a fragment of a myth from Ebla mentions a divine tribunal in which they both partake alongside Idlurugu (dÍD), a river god also known for his association with justice and judgment who represented ordeal by water. A hymn to Utu states that Idlurugu cannot give judgment without his presence. As an extension of his role as a divine judge, Utu could be associated with the underworld, though this connection is not attested before the Old Babylonian period. In exorcisms, he could be implored to help with bringing restless ghosts to the land of the dead. In this capacity he could be associated with the deified legendary king Gilgamesh, commonly portrayed in a similar role. Shamash and Adad were jointly regarded as gods of divination, especially extispicy. The connection between the sun god and the weather god is well attested in Mesopotamian sources and goes back to the Old Babylonian period. Its origin is uncertain, but since in the earliest Sumerian sources Ishkur, who was analogous to Adad, was not associated with divination, it is possible that it was based on the association between Hadad and the solar deity in Ebla and possibly elsewhere in Syria and Upper Mesopotamia. According to a late ritual text, Shamash and Adad were responsible for teaching divination to the mythical king Enmeduranki. Subsequently, he taught it to the people of Sippar, Nippur and Babylon.” ref
“Whether referred to as Utu or Shamash, the sun god had identical iconography. Due to distinct attributes, he is considered one of the few Mesopotamian deities who can be identified in art with certainty. Depictions of him are known from many sites, for example Eshnunna, Tell al-Rimah, Sippar, Ur and Susa. His best attested attributes are a large saw (šaššaru) and rays of light emanating from his shoulders. The reasons behind associating him with the former are poorly understood, and various interpretations have been proposed, for example that it was a representation of the first ray of sunshine of the day, that it was associated with judgment, perhaps as a weapon used to behead criminals, or that the sun god used it to break through the mountains during his daily journey. Christopher Woods points out that both in Sumerian and Akkadian, judgments had to be “cut” (kud/parāsum), and therefore considers the association with judgment to be most likely. The saw’s presence is often used to identify depictions of gods as Utu. He could also be depicted holding the rod-and-ring symbol, commonly associated with major deities. In some cases he is shown handing them to human rulers.” ref
“Utu was commonly depicted on cylinder seals as early as in the third millennium BCE or 5,000 to 4,000 years ago. Multiple motifs recur on them, some not known from textual sources. On seals from the Sargonic period, he could be depicted climbing over two mountains, which has been interpreted as a representation of sunrise. He was also commonly depicted traveling in a boat. This motif is the single best attested type of cylinder seal image from the third millennium BCE, with over fifty examples presently known. Another recurring image is a depiction of Utu, sometimes accompanied by another god, partaking in a battle between deities. The attendant deity is sometimes interpreted as Bunene. In some cases Inanna is shown watching the battle or partaking in it on Utu’s side. It has been suggested that it is a symbolic representation of a conflict between day and night, or that the deities confronted by Utu and his allies are rebellious mountain gods. Wilfred G. Lambert suggested that in some cases figures from battle scenes with rays emanating from their shoulders might be representations of Enmesharra rather than the sun god, as in a tradition known from a late myth, Enmesharra’s Defeat, he was their original owner. In the second millennium BCE or 4,000 to 3,000 years ago, Utu was typically portrayed in front of worshipers, either standing or seated on a throne. One well known example of such an image is a stele of Hammurabi of Babylon, inscribed with his legal code.” ref
“Anna Kurmangaliev points out that only a single depiction of the sun god in anthropomorphic form has been identified among works of art from Babylonia from the first millennium BCE, the so-called Sun God Tablet. It is commonly discussed in scholarship, and has been described as “one of the masterpieces of ancient Near Eastern art.” It was discovered by Hormuzd Rassam in December 1880 during his excavations in Abu Habbah in modern Iraq. Its discovery subsequently made it possible to identify this site with Sippar. It dates to the Neo-Babylonian period, but its style has been described as “archaizing,” and most likely was inspired by motifs found in presentation scenes from the Ur III period. It shows three individuals, an intercessory minor goddess (lamma) and two men, possibly the king Nabu-apla-iddina and the priest Nabu-nadin-shumi, facing Shamash. While other anthropomorphic depictions of the sun god are known from Assyria from the same period, in Babylonia he came to be usually portrayed in the form of a symbol instead.” ref
“The symbolic representation of Utu was the sun disc, typically represented as a four-pointed star with wavy lines placed between the points. It is attested as early as in the Sargonic period, and continued to be represented in art through the rest of history of ancient Mesopotamia. It is well known from kudurru (boundary stones), where it is typically depicted in the first row of symbols, next to the eight-pointed star representing Inanna (Ishtar) and the crescent representing Nanna (Sin). Additionally the symbol of a winged sun came to be associated with the sun god in Assyria in the first millennium BCE. Some depictions of it add a bird tail as well. It only arrived in Babylonia during the reign of Nabonidus. The sun god was traditionally viewed as a son of the moon god in Mesopotamian religion, both in Sumerian and Akkadian texts. They are already attested as father and son in the Early Dynastic god list from Fara. The relation between them could be illustrated by matching epithets, for example in the god list An = Anum Utu is the “small boat of heaven” (Mabanda-anna), while his father Nanna – the “great boat of heaven” (Magula-anna). Ningal was regarded as Utu’s mother, and Inanna as his sister. Hymn to the Queen of Nippur refers to them as twins. Due to her identification with Ishtar (Inanna) the Hurrian and Elamite goddess Pinikir is referred to as a twin sister of Shamash and daughter of Sin (Nanna) and Ningal in a text written in Akkadian but found in a corpus of Hurro–Hittite rituals. In a single Maqlû incantation, the rainbow goddess Manzat is referred to as Shamash’s sister and as a daughter of Sin and Ningal.” ref
“The sun god’s wife was invariably the goddess of dawn and light, usually known under the name Aya, though the forms Ninkar, Sudaĝ, Sherida and Sudgan are also well attested. Typically they were worshiped together, though sometimes Shamash shared his temples with other gods instead. Utu/Shamash and Aya are the single most common divine couple in cylinder seal inscriptions from Sippar, with only the number of dedications to Ishkur and Shala being comparably high. Aya was believed to intercede with her husband on behalf of worshipers, which is a function also well attested for other divine spouses, such as Ninmug and Shala. It has also been pointed out that in the case of Inanna, her sukkal Ninshubur fulfilled a similar role. In legal texts from Sippar, the sun god and his wife commonly appear as divine witnesses. The only other divine couple attested in this role in this city are Mamu and Bunene. Buduhudug, a mythical mountain where the sun was believed to set, was regarded as “the entrance of Shamash to Aya” (nēreb dŠamaš <ana> dAya), the place where they were able to reunite each day after he finished his journey through the sky.” ref
“The deities counted among Utu’s children include the dream goddess Mamu (as well as two other, male, dream deities, Sisig and Zaqar), Šumugan, a god associated with animals, Niggina (Kittum), the deified concept of truth, according to Jacob Klein regarded as his principal daughter, and Ishum. In myths both about himself and about Lugalbanda, the legendary king Enmerkar was referred to as a son of Utu. However, in the Sumerian King List Utu is instead his grandfather, and his father is a human ruler, Meškiağašer. Unlike other legendary kings of Uruk, namely Lugalbanda and Gilgamesh, Enmerkar was not deified, despite the existence of a tradition attributing divine ancestry to him. In various sources, Utu seems to serve as a special protector to several of Uruk’s other kings. dAMAR.UD, an early writing of Marduk‘s name, can be translated as “bull calf of Utu,” as long as it is assumed that the sign UD should be understood as a writing of Utu’s name without the divine determinative (a cuneiform sign preceding names of deities), which is also attested in some theophoric names from the Early Dynastic period. However, no evidence exists that Marduk was ever viewed as a member of the family of any sun deity in Sippar, Larsa or any other location in Mesopotamia, which lead Wilfred G. Lambert to suggest this etymology is not plausible on theological grounds.” ref
“Multiple deities who could be regarded as the sukkal (attendant deity) of Utu are known, and more than one could appear in this role at a time. Bunene, also known under the name Papnunna, was considered his chariot driver. Frans Wiggermann notes that his name and character (as well as these of other well attested sukkals of major city gods: Ninshubur, Alammush, Nuska and Isimud) do not appear to show direct connection with these of his master, which means that he cannot be considered the personification of the effect of the corresponding major deity’s actions (unlike such deities as Nabium, deified flame and sukkal of the fire god Girra or Nimgir, deified lightning and sukkal of the weather god Ishkur) or a divine personifications of specific commands (unlike such deities as Eturammi, “do not slacken,” the sukkal of Birtum). Ninpirig was referred to as Utu’s sukkalmah (“great sukkal”). It has been proposed that his name might hint at a connection with light. He is attested in multiple theophoric names, chiefly from Sippar. Kusarikku (bull-men, or, as argued by Frans Wiggermann, bison-men) were frequently associated with Utu, and especially through the second millennium BCE were commonly depicted as members of his court, for example as standard bearers. Similarly, the human-headed bull (alima) could accompany the solar disc in art, and a reference to its head serving as an emblem of Utu is known.” ref
“It is possible that the association between bison-like mythical beings and the sun god was based on their shared connection to eastern mountains. A further type of apotropaic creature associated with Utu was the girtablullu (“scorpion man”). In the Standard Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, a scorpion man and a scorpion woman guard the mountain of sunrise. The name of the Eblaite sun deity was represented with the logogram dUTU. Manfred Krebernik assumes that it should be read as Shamash, that the deity was male, and that the goddess Ninkar also attested in texts from Ebla was his spouse. Alfonso Archi instead concludes that the deity was primarily female based on lexical evidence, but points out that the Eblaites were definitely aware of the male eastern sun god, and seemingly adopted him into their pantheon as a secondary hypostasis. Occasionally the sun deity’s gender had to be indicated directly, and both dUTU-munus (female) and dUTU-nita (male) are attested. Joan Goodnick Westenholz proposed that Ninkar in Eblaite texts should be interpreted as Ninkarrak rather than the phonetically similar but more obscure Mesopotamian Ninkar. Occasional shortening of Ninkarrak’s name to “Ninkar” is known from Mesopotamian sources as well. This theory is also accepted by Archi, who notes it makes the widespread worship of Ninkar easier to explain.” ref
“The Hurrian sun god, Shimige, is already represented by the logogram dUTU in an inscription of Atalshen, an early king of Urkesh. It is the oldest known reference to him. He is directly equated with Utu in the trilingual Sumero-Hurro-Ugaritic version of the Weidner god list from Ugarit. It has been argued that his character was influenced at least in part by his Mesopotamian counterpart. Gary Beckman goes as far as suggesting that at least in Hittite texts, he “cannot (yet?) be distinguished sufficiently” from the latter. Due to this association, Aya was regarded as his spouse in Hurrian tradition, as attested in sources from Hattusa and Ugarit. In the trilingual god list, Bunene (transcribed as dwu-u-un-ni-nu-wa-an) appears in association with Shimige. Shimige is additionally equated with Lugalbanda in it, most likely because the Hurrian pantheon was smaller than that enumerated in Mesopotamian lists, creating the need to have a single Hurrian deity correspond to multiple Mesopotamian ones. The same list also attests the equivalence between Utu, Shimige and the Ugaritic sun goddess Šapšu. Apparently to avoid the implications that Shapash had a wife, the scribes interpreted the name of Aya, present in the Sumerian original, as an unconventional writing of Ea. Instead of the Hurrian spelling of Aya, the name Eyan corresponds to him in the Hurrian column and Ugaritic one lists the local craftsman god Kothar-wa-Khasis.” ref
“The logogram dUTU is well attested in Hittite texts (Hittite language: ‘the language of Neša‘, or ‘the language of the people of Neša‘), also known as Nesite (Nešite/Neshite, Nessite), is an extinct Indo-European language that was spoken by the Hittites, a people of Bronze Age Anatolia who created an empire centred on Hattusa, as well as parts of the northern Levant and Upper Mesopotamia. The language, now long extinct, is attested in cuneiform, in records dating from the 17th (Anitta text) to the 13th centuries BCE, with isolated Hittite loanwords and numerous personal names appearing in an Old Assyrian context from as early as the 20th century BCE, making it the earliest attested use of the Indo-European languages). In addition to Utu himself and his Akkadian counterpart, the deities represented by it were the Sun goddess of Arinna (dUTU uruArinna), the Sun goddess of the Earth (taknaš dUTU), the male Sun god of Heaven (nepišaš dUTU, dUTU ANE, dUTU ŠAME), as well as Luwian Tiwat, Palaic Tiyaz and Hurrian Shimige. Gary Beckman notes that the Hittite conception of solar deities does not show any Indo-European influence, and instead was largely similar to that known from Mesopotamia. He points out even the fact that the Sun god of Heaven was believed to travel in a quadriga drawn by horses, similar to Greek Helios, is not necessarily an example of the former, as deities traveling in chariots are already depicted on Mesopotamian seals from the Sargonic period.” ref, ref
“The logogram dUTU also designated the sun deity or deities in Emar in the late Bronze Age. According to Gary Beckman, the Mesopotamian, West Semitic, Hurrian and Hittite sun deities might all be potentially represented by it in texts from this city. Eduardo Torrecilla notes in a more recent publication that the logogram commonly designates Shamash in the middle Euphrates area, and syllabic writings of his name are uncommon there, though he also states that Shimige cannot be ruled out as a possible reading in some cases. In texts from Susa, Haft Tepe and Malamir in Elam the name of the sun god was usually written logographically as dUTU and it is uncertain when it refers to the Mesopotamian deity, and when to local Nahhunte. It is possible that in legal texts, when dUTU occurs next to Elamite deities Inshushinak, Ruhurater or Simut, the latter option is correct. While the god list An=Anum does mention Nahhunte, he is not explicitly labeled as a counterpart of Utu, and only appears as a member of a group called the “Divine Seven of Elam,” associated with the goddess Narundi. A Mesopotamian commentary on a birth incantation erroneously identifies him as a moon god and Narundi as a sun deity, explaining their names as, respectively, Sin and Shamash.” ref
“In the Early Dynastic period kings of Mari most likely visited the Ebabbar in Sippar to pay homage to its deity. In later periods, it was renovated by multiple rulers, including Naram-Sin of Akkad (who installed his daughter Šumšani as ēntum-priestess), Sabium of Babylon, Samsu-iluna of Babylon, who called himself “beloved of Shamash and Aya,” one of the Kassite rulers bearing the name Kurigalzu (Kurigalzu I or Kurigalzu II), Ashurbanipal, Shamash-shum-ukin, Nebuchadnezzar II and Nabonidus. Many other kings are known to have patronized or visited it at some point, including Manishtushu, Apil-Sin, Hammurabi, Abi-Eshuh, Ammi-Ditana, Ammi-Saduqa, Samsu-Ditana, Simbar-shipak and Nabu-apla-iddina. In addition to Ebabbar, a ziggurat dedicated to the city’s tutelary god also existed in Sippar. It was known as Ekunankuga (Siumerian: “house, pure stairway to heaven”). It was rebuilt by Samsu-iluna, Ammi-Saduqa, Neriglissar and Nabonidus. The position of Sippar and its tutelary god has been compared to that of Nippur and Enlil – while both of these gods were high-ranking members of the pantheon, and their cities were centers of religious and scholarly activity, they never constituted major political powers in their own right.” ref
“It has been suggested that the Ebabbar in Sippar served as a treasury housing particularly rare objects, as excavations of the Neo-Babylonian level of the structure revealed a number of vases from the Early Dynastic and Sargonic periods, some with signs of repair, as well as the votive statue of Ikun-Shamash, a fragment of a monolith of Manishtushu, a macehead of Shar-Kali-Sharri, a whetstone of Tukulti-Mer of Hana, and other objects from earlier periods of Mesopotamian history. Utu was among the deities worshiped in the territory of Lagash in the Early Dynastic period.[150] A dais dedicated to him existed in Namnuda-kigarra. It was originally erected by Eannatum, then destroyed by Ur-Lumma of Umma, and finally rebuilt by Entemena. It is possible that these events took place during a border conflict between Umma and Lagash. Theophoric names invoking Utu are well attested in texts from this area. Examples include Shubur-Utu, Utu-amu and Utu-kiag. A temple of Utu, Ehili (“house of luxuriance”) also existed in Ur. It was rebuilt by Enannatumma, the daughter of Ishme-Dagan, whose inscriptions refer to it as the god’s “pure storeroom.” A town located near this city, most likely somewhere between it and Larsa, bore the name Kar-Shamash, KAR.dUTUki. Most likely a temple dedicated to the eponymous god existed there as well.” ref
“In the Standard Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh Shamash is portrayed as Gilgamesh’s divine patron. He is still invoked to protect him on the way to Humbaba’s forest, but the hero does not pray to him on his own. Instead his mother, the goddess Ninsun, invokes the sun god on the roof of her own temple. She blames Shamash for Gilgamesh’s desire to venture into distant lands, and asks his wife Aya to intercede on her son’s behalf to guarantee his safety. During the confrontation with Humbaba, Shamash intervenes by sending thirteen winds to incapacitate the monster, which lets Gilgamesh strike the decisive blow. Andrew R. George notes that since this version describes Humbaba as mimma lemnu, a term which can be translated as “everything evil” or “an evil thing,” often found in exorcistic literature where it refers to hostile forces, it is natural for Shamash, who was the god of justice, to oppose him. In an earlier interpretation, Jeffrey Tigay argued that Shamash outright becomes the instigator of the quest, which according to him was the “final and logical development of his role.” However, according to George Shamash’s participation in the slaying of Humbaba is the realization of the requests from Ninsun’s prayer. In the same version of the composition, after the defeat of the Bull of Heaven Gilgamesh and Enkidu offer the animal’s heart to Shamash, which might be a reference to a custom also mentioned in one of the myths about Lugalbanda, in which he offers the heart of a mundane wild bull to Utu after a successful hunt. After celebrations of their victory, Enkidu has a dream vision of an argument between gods during which Shamash protests Enlil‘s decision that one of the heroes has to die as punishment for the slaying of Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven. After waking up he laments that they dedicated a door made from the cedar wood from Humbaba’s forest to Enlil rather than Shamash.” ref
“In the flood myth which became part of the standard version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Shamash is responsible for announcing the beginning of the flood when he rises in the morning, which according to Nathan Wasserman represents a relatively young tradition, as in most of the other versions the cataclysm starts in the middle of the night. He suggests that most likely the compiler of the text found this to be suitable given the sun god’s role as humanity’s helper through the story.” ref
I estimate that animism emerged around 100,000 years ago, after our meeting with Neandertals in Israel. These people then traveled back and forth between North Africa, and as the climate cooled, all humanity headed south to southern Africa.
“The burial ground itself dates to a narrower range, around 100,000 years ago. This makes it contemporaneous to some two dozen hominins whose remains were unearthed at Qafzeh and Skhul, two caves in the Galilee that have long been hailed as the oldest intentional human burials. But there is more. The Qafzeh and Skhul hominins are generally identified as an early form of sapiens, although many scholars believe the ancestral traits they display are the result of interbreeding with local Neanderthals, says Hershkovitz. The anthropological analysis of the Tinshemet skeletons is still ongoing, he says. In any case, preliminary analysis of the Tinshemet remains suggest they too belong to the Qafzeh/Skhul group of early modern humans, Hershkovitz says.” ref
Paint it red (which has been mined for rituals 300,000 years and in burials at least 130,000 years ago with Neandertals showing pre-animism at least)
“This uniformity extends beyond the funerary sphere, and involves many aspects of the daily lives of hominins living across the Levant in this period, says Dr. Marion Prévost, a Hebrew University expert on prehistoric tools who has worked on multiple Middle Paleolithic digs in Israel. The people living at these caves shared the same hunting techniques and an increasing taste for large game, including deer, aurochs and wild horses. The lumps of red pigments found in abundance at Tinshemet, just like at Qafzeh/Skhul, also tell a story of long-distance contacts and shared resources, says Zaidner. Ochre would not have been readily available in the area surrounding Tinshemet. The closest available sources were in the Galilee, at least 60-80 kilometers to the north, or in the central Negev desert, more than 100 kilometers south.” ref
“The study of the finds from Tinshemet, in correlation to those from across Israel and beyond (there are sites in Lebanon and Arabia that display similar features), shows that the contacts between hominin groups was not limited to an occasional exchange of genes, Hershkovitz says. “The overlap of the two populations is now visible not only on the genetic level, but also on the social and cultural level,” he says. “When you look at sites where modern humans and Neanderthals lived you see similarities on all levels: technology, lifestyle, hunting techniques, symbolic behavior.” ref
Animism: Respecting the Living World by Graham Harvey
“How have human cultures engaged with and thought about animals, plants, rocks, clouds, and other elements in their natural surroundings? Do animals and other natural objects have a spirit or soul? What is their relationship to humans? In this new study, Graham Harvey explores current and past animistic beliefs and practices of Native Americans, Maori, Aboriginal Australians, and eco-pagans. He considers the varieties of animism found in these cultures as well as their shared desire to live respectfully within larger natural communities. Drawing on his extensive casework, Harvey also considers the linguistic, performative, ecological, and activist implications of these different animisms.” ref
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.
To me, we get Totemism by 50,000 either in the Middle East or after we get to France and Germany 50,000 to 45,000 years ago. I see it stronger in West Europe, so I think it was fully totemism there. However, it is possible pre-totemism started in the middle east 55,000 to 60,000 years ago, adding sacred horned animals like bulls to snake beliefs that started in Africa. They seem to add bear in Germany and France 45,000 years ago or so. I think the great Cosmic hunt is from Germany and France 45,000 to 40,000 years ago or so. I think after 40,000 years ago they has moon spirit beliefs connected to women and 38,000 it seems they add male spirits if they did not already emerge at 40,000 with female spirits. 40,000 years ago is an interesting date as it is after 40,000 years ago that there is a large drop in incest in west Europe pointing to totemism cultures with extreme aversion to incest and laws on who you can have sex with/marry.
Naqada culture
“The Badarian culture provides the earliest direct evidence of agriculture in Upper Egypt during the Predynastic Era. It flourished between 4400 and 4000 BCE or 6,400 to 6,000 years ago, and might have already emerged by 5000 BCE. The Badarian economy was based mostly on agriculture, fishing, and animal husbandry. Populations in the Badari culture planted wheat, barley, lentils, and tubers. Pits that have been found may have served as granaries. They kept cattle, sheep, and goats; their livestock, as well as dogs, were given ceremonial burial. They used boomerangs, fished from the Nile, and hunted gazelle. Little is known of their buildings, although remains of wooden stumps have been found at one site and may have been associated with a hut or shelter of unknown construction. The deceased were wrapped in reed matting or animal skins and buried in pits with their heads usually laid to the south, looking west. This seems consistent with the later dynastic traditions regarding the west as the land of the dead. The Badarian culture seems to have had multiple sources, of which the Western Desert was probably the most influential. The Badari culture was likely not solely restricted to the Badari region, since related finds have been made farther to the south at Mahgar Dendera, Armant, Elkab, and Nekhen (named Hierakonpolis by the Greeks), as well as to the east in the Wadi Hammamat.” ref
“They were sometimes accompanied by female mortuary figures carved from ivory, or with personal items such as shells, flint tools, amulets in the shape of animals like the antelope and hippopotamus,and jewelry made of ivory, quartz, or copper. Green malachite ore has also been detected on stone palettes, perhaps for personal decoration. Tools included end-scrapers, axes, bifacial sickles, and concave-base arrowheads. Social stratification has been inferred from the burying of more prosperous members of the community in a different part of the cemetery. Black-topped pottery has been discovered in these cemeteries. These works with their distinctive rippled pattern are considered the most characteristic element of the Badarian culture. Basalt vases found at Badari sites were most likely traded up the river from the Delta region or from the northwest. Shells came in quantities from the Red Sea. Turquoise possibly came from Sinai. A Syrian connection is suggested for a four-handled pot of hard pink ware. The black pottery, with white incised designs, may have come directly from the West, or from the South. The porphyry slabs are like the later ones in Nubia, but the material could have come from the Red Sea Mountains.” ref
“The glazed steatite beads were not made locally. These all suggest that the Badarians were not an isolated tribe, but were in contact with the cultures on all sides of them. Nor were they nomadic, having pots of such size and fragility that would have been unsuitable for use by wanderers. Older and modern scholarship have characterised the Badarians as an indigenous, Northeast African population that was rooted in a localised context. Egyptologist Frank Yurco considered the Badarians as exhibiting a “mix of North African and Sub-Saharan physical traits”, and referenced older analyses of skeletal remains, which “showed tropical African elements in the population of the earliest Badarian culture”. Recent archaeological evidence has suggested that the Tasian and Badarian Nile Valley sites were a peripheral network of earlier Northeast African cultures that featured the movement of Badarian, Saharan, Nubian, and Nilotic populations.” ref
“The Naqada culture is an archaeological culture of Chalcolithic Predynastic Egypt (c. 4000–3000 BCE or 6,000 to 5,000 years ago), named for the town of Naqada, Qena Governorate. A 2013 Oxford University radiocarbon dating study of the Predynastic period suggests a beginning date sometime between 3,800 and 3,700 BCE. The final phase of the Naqada culture is Naqada III, which is coterminous with the Protodynastic Period (Early Bronze Age c. 3200–3000 BCE) in ancient Egypt. The material culture at Naqada sites varies depending on the phase of Naqada culture. The excavation of pottery at most Naqada sites reveals that each distinct period of culture has its own defining pottery. The types of pottery that were found at Naqada sites range from bowls, small jars, bottles, medium-sized neck jars, to wine jars and wavy-handled jars. Most of the pottery excavated from Naqada sites was probably used for cultural purposes (when having decorations on them) and for the storage of food. Many of the designs seen on pottery contain waves, sometimes accompanied by floral motifs or drawings of people, suggesting the importance of art in the Naqada Cultures. These designs may have also had early Mesopotamian influence, as some of the animals depicted on pottery during the Naqada II period are griffins and serpent-headed panthers, which are linked to early Uruk period pottery from Mesopotamia.” ref
“Predynastic Egyptians in the Naqada I period traded with Nubia to the south, the oases of the western desert to the west, and the cultures of the eastern Mediterranean to the east. Trade was most likely conducted by the elites of society. People of the Naqada culture traded with cultures in Lower Nubia, most likely the A-culture group. Material evidence of the trade between the Naqada cultures and Nubians is found in the artifacts at these sites. Items that were frequently traded between the two include pottery, clothing, palettes, and stone vessels. The pottery in Nubia was mostly found in grave sites, usually around bodies. Pottery was also traded from the Levant; one piece of pottery from the Tel-El Farkha site was found to have been made out of clay that is not present in the region, suggesting that it was made and traded from the Levant. They also imported obsidian from Ethiopia to shape blades and other objects from flakes.” ref
“Charcoal samples found in the tombs of Nekhen, dated to the Naqada I and II periods, have been identified as cedar from Lebanon. The craniometric analysis of predynastic Naqada human remains found that they were closely related to other Afroasiatic-speaking populations inhabiting North Africa, parts of the Horn of Africa and the Maghreb, as well as to Bronze Age and medieval period Nubians and to specimens from ancient Jericho. The Naqada skeletons were also morphologically proximate to modern osteological series from Europe and the Indian subcontinent. However, the Naqada skeletons and these ancient and recent skeletons were phenotypically distinct from skeletons belonging to modern Niger-Congo-speaking populations inhabiting Sub-Saharan Africa and Tropical Africa, as well as from Mesolithic skeletons excavated at Wadi Halfa in the Nile Valley.” ref
“The biological anthropologists, Shomarka Keita and A.J. Boyce, have stated that the “studies of crania from southern predynastic Egypt, from the formative period (4000-3100 BCE), show them usually to be more similar to the crania of ancient Nubians, Kushites, Saharans, or modern groups from the Horn of Africa than to those of dynastic northern Egyptians or ancient or modern southern Europeans”. Keita and Boyce further added that the limb proportions of early Nile Valley remains were generally closer to tropical populations. They regarded this as significant because Egypt is not located in the tropical region. The authors suggested that “the Egyptian Nile Valley was not primarily settled by cold-adapted peoples such as Europeans.” ref
“The Naqada period was first divided by the British Egyptologist William Matthew Flinders Petrie, who explored the site in 1894, into three sub-periods:
- Naqada I: Amratian (after the cemetery near El-Amrah, Egypt)
- Naqada II: Gerzean (after the cemetery near Gerzeh)
- Naqada III: Semainean (after the cemetery near Es-Semaina)” ref
“Petrie’s chronology was superseded by that of Werner Kaiser in 1957. Kaiser’s chronology began c. 4000 BC, but the modern version has been adjusted slightly, as follows:
- Naqada I (about 3900–3650 BCE)
- black-topped and painted pottery
- trade with Nubia, Western Desert oases, and Eastern Mediterranean
- obsidian from Ethiopia
- Naqada II (about 3650–3300 BCE)
- represented throughout Egypt
- first marl pottery, and metalworking
- Naqada III (about 3300–2900 BCE)
- more elaborate grave goods, first Pharaohs
- cylindrical jars
- writing” ref
“The identity of the character depicted in the Coptos colossi and their chronology have become two controversial points in the study of these works of art. Soon after they were discovered, the idea that they could be a primitive representation of the god Min was proposed. Their location within the perimeter of the temple of Coptos, as well as the presence of certain iconographic motifs, led a priori to that conclusion. Nevertheless, some later works have opposed that hypothesis. Whether these statues belong to the Egyptian artistic environment or not has been the starting point of the formal and comparative study developed in the first part of this paper. Within the iconographic field, we have, in the second part of this study, evaluated every one of the motifs inscribed on the statues. Through the results provided by the evidence, we have concluded that the Coptos colossi were early representations of the god Min. Early because they belong to a chronological period situated between the end of Naqada II and the beginning of Naqada III. The differences in content between historical images of the god Min arise from representing an entity that ruled over the desert and the sea—a different Min, pertaining to the so-called “Preformal tradition”, which we consider a former sculptural symbol of the same principle, namely Fertility.” ref
“Prior to a specific Mesopotamian influence there had already been a longstanding influence from West Asia into Egypt, North Africa and even into some parts of the Horn of Africa and the Sahel in the form of the Neolithic Revolution which from circa 9000 BCE or around 11,000 years ago diffused advanced agricultural practices and technology, gene-flow, certain animals and crops and the likely spread of Proto-Afroasiatic language into the region, with Semitic languages being introduced via the Arabian Peninsula and Levant into the Horn of Africa and North Africa respectively after 1000 BCE. Egypt–Mesopotamia relations were the relations between the civilizations of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, in the Middle East. They seem to have developed from the 4th millennium BCE, starting in the Uruk period for Mesopotamia (circa 4000–3100 BCE or 6,000 to 5,100 years ago) and the half a millennium younger Gerzean culture of Prehistoric Egypt (circa 3500–3200 BCE or around 5,500 to 5,200 years afo), and constituted a largely one way body of influences from Mesopotamia into Egypt. Mesopotamian influences can be seen in the visual arts of Egypt, in architecture, in technology, weaponry, in imported products, religious imagery, in agriculture and livestock, in genetic input, and also in the likely transfer of writing from Mesopotamia to Egypt and generated “deep-seated” parallels in the early stages of both cultures.” ref
“There was generally a high-level of trade between Ancient Egypt and the Near East throughout the Pre-dynastic period of Egypt, during the Naqada II (3600–3350 BCE) and Naqada III (3350–2950 BCE) phases. These were contemporary with the Late Uruk (3600–3100 BCE) and Jemdet Nasr (3100–2900 BCE) periods in Mesopotamia. The main period of cultural influence, particularly consisting of the transfer of Mesopotamian imagery, symbols, and technology to Egypt, is considered to have lasted about 250 years, during the Naqada II to Dynasty I periods. Distinctly foreign objects and art forms entered Egypt during this period, indicating contacts with several parts of Western Asia. The designs that were emulated by Egyptian artists are numerous: the Uruk “priest-king” with his tunic and brimmed hat in the posture of the Master of animals, the serpopards, winged griffins, snakes around rosettes, boats with high prows, all characteristic of long established Mesopotamian art of the Late Uruk (Uruk IV, c. 3350–3200 BCE) period. The same “Priest-King” is visible in several older Mesopotamian works of art of the end of the Uruk period, such as the Blau Monuments, cylinder seals and statues. Objects such as the Gebel el-Arak knife handle, which has patently Mesopotamian relief carvings on it, have been found in Egypt, and the silver which appears in this period can only have been obtained from Asia Minor.” ref
- Mesopotamian-style pottery in Egypt (3500 BCE)
- Adoption of Mesopotamian-style maceheads 4000–3400 BCE
- Cylinder seals from Mesopotamia to Egypt during the Naqada II period
- Other objects and designs from the Iranian plateau to Mesopotamia
- Adoption of the Mesopotamian temple architecture and pyramid-like like ritual buildings
- Sea trade: Transmission of ideas
- Importance of local Egyptian developments
- Development of writing (3500–3200 BCE) Egyptian hieroglyphs after Sumerian script
“Egyptians used traditional disk-shaped maceheads during the early phase of Naqada culture, circa 4000–3400 BCE. At the end of the period, the disk-shaped macehead was replaced by the militarily superior Mesopotamian-style pear-shaped macehead as seen on the Narmer Palette. The Mesopotamian macehead was much heavier with a wider impact surface, and was capable of giving much more damaging blows than the original Egyptian disk-shaped macehead. Egyptian architecture also was influenced, as it adopted various elements of earlier Mesopotamian temple and civic architecture. Recessed niches in particular, which are characteristic of Mesopotamian temple architecture, were adopted for the design of false doors in the tombs of the First Dynasty and Second Dynasty, from the time of the Naqada III period (circa 3000 BCE). It is unknown if the transfer of this design was the result of Mesopotamian builders and architects in Egypt, or if temple designs on imported Mesopotamian seals may have been a sufficient source of inspiration for Egyptian architects to manage themselves. The design of the ziggurat, which appeared in Mesopotamia in the late 5th millennium BCE, was clearly a precursor to and an influence on the Egyptian pyramids, especially the stepped designs of the oldest pyramids (step pyramid), the earliest of which (Pyramid of Zoser at Saqqara) dates to circa 2600 BCE, well over two thousand years younger than Mesopotamian ziggurats/step pyramids. This again strongly suggests early cultural and technological influence on Egypt by Mesopotamia.” ref
“After this early period of exchange, and the direct introduction of Mesopotamian components into Egyptian culture, Egypt soon started to assert its own style from the Early Dynastic Period (3150–2686 BCE or around 5,100 to 4,686 years ago), the Narmer palette being seen as a turning point. Egypt seems to have provided some artistic feedback to Mesopotamia at the time of the Early Dynastic Period of Mesopotamia (2900–2334 BCE or around 4,900 to 4,334 years ago). This is especially the case with royal iconography: the figure of the king smiting his enemies with a mace, and the depiction of dead enemies being eaten by birds of prey appeared in Egypt from the time of the Narmer palette, and were then adopted centuries later (possibly from Egypt) by Mesopotamian rulers Eannatum and Sargon of Akkad. This depiction appears to be part of an artistic system to promote “hegemonistic kingship”. Another example is the usage of decorated mace heads as a symbol of kingship. There is also a possibility that the depictions of the Mesopotamian king with a muscular, naked, upper body fighting his enemies in a quadrangular posture, as seen in the Stele of Naram-Sin or statues of Gudea (all circa 2000 BCE or 4,000 years ago) were derived from Egyptian sculpture, which by that time had already been through its Golden Age during the Old Kingdom.” ref
Neith, female (or Intersex?) Egyptian Deity
“As a deity, Neith is normally shown carrying the was scepter (symbol of rule and power) and the ankh (symbol of life). She is associated with Mehet-Weret, as a cow who gives birth to the sun daily, whose name means “Great Flood.” In these forms, she is associated with the creation of both the primeval time and the daily “re-creation”. As protectress of Ra or the king, she is represented as a uraeus. In time, this led to her being considered as the personification of the primordial waters of creation.” ref
“Some modern writers assert that they may interpret that as her being ‘androgynous‘, since Neith is the creator capable of giving birth without a partner (asexually) and without association of creation with sexual imagery, as seen in the myths of Atum and other creator deities; which in turn led to her being accredited as the creator of birth itself. However, her name always appears as feminine. Erik Hornung interprets that in the Eleventh Hour of the Amduat, Neith’s name appears written with a phallus. In reference to Neith’s function as creator with both male and female characteristics, Peter Kaplony has said in the Lexikon der Ägyptologie: “Die Deutung von Neith als Njt “Verneinung” ist sekundär. Neith ist die weibliche Entsprechung zu Nw(w), dem Gott der Urflut (Nun and Naunet).” She was considered to be eldest of the Ancient Egyptian deities. Neith is said to have been “born the first, in the time when as yet there had been no birth.” ref
“Neith form Ancient Egyptian: nt, also spelled Nit, Net, or Neit) was an ancient Egyptian deity, possibly of Libyan origin. She was connected with warfare, as indicated by her emblem of two crossed bows, and with motherhood, as shown by texts that call her the mother of particular deities, such as the sun god Ra and the crocodile god Sobek. As a mother goddess, she was sometimes said to be the creator of the world. She also had a presence in funerary religion, and this aspect of her character grew over time: she became one of the four goddesses who protected the coffin and internal organs of the deceased. The Egyptian goddess Neith, the primary lordess, bearing her war goddess symbols, the crossed arrows and shield or sheath on her head, the ankh, and the was-sceptre. She sometimes wears the Red Crown of Lower Egypt.” ref
“Neith is one of the earliest Egyptian deities to appear in the archaeological record; the earliest signs of her worship date to the Naqada II period (c. 3600–3350 BCE or 5,600 to 5,350 years ago). Her main cult center was the city of Sais in Lower Egypt, near the western edge of the Nile Delta, and some Egyptologists have suggested that she originated among the Libyan peoples who lived nearby. She was the most important goddess in the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100–2686 BCE or 5,100 to 4,686 years ago) and had a significant shrine at the capital, Memphis. In subsequent eras, she lost her preeminence to other goddesses, such as Hathor, but she remained important, particularly during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (664–525 BCE or 2,664 to 2,525 years ago), when Sais was Egypt’s capital. She was worshipped in many temples during the Greek and Roman periods of Egyptian history, most significantly Esna in Upper Egypt, and the Greeks identified her with their goddess Athena.” ref
“Neith is one of the most ancient deities associated with ancient Egyptian culture. Flinders Petrie noted the earliest depictions of her standards were known in predynastic periods, as can be seen from a representation of a barque bearing her crossed arrow standards in the Predynastic Period. In the very early periods of Egyptian history, the main iconographic representations of this goddess appear to have been limited to her hunting and war characteristics, although there is no Egyptian mythological reference to support the concept that this was her primary function as a deity. Neith’s symbol and part of her hieroglyph also bore a resemblance to a loom, and so in later syncretisation of Egyptian myths by the Greek ruling class of that time she was conflated with Athena, a Greek deity of war and weaving.” ref
“Her first anthropomorphic representations occur in the early dynastic period, on a diorite vase of King Ny-Netjer of the Second Dynasty. The vase was found in the Step Pyramid of Djoser (Third Dynasty) at Saqqara. That her worship predominated the early dynastic periods is demonstrated by a preponderance of theophoric names (personal names that incorporate the name of a deity) within which Neith appears as an element. Predominance of Neith’s name in nearly forty percent of early dynastic names, and particularly in the names of four royal women of the First Dynasty, clearly emphasizes the importance of this goddess in relation to the early society of Egypt, with special emphasis on association with the Royal House. An analysis of her attributes shows Neith was a goddess with many roles. From predynastic and early dynasty periods, she was referred to as an “Opener of the Ways” (same as Wepwawet), which may have referred, not only to her leadership in hunting and war but also as a psychopomp (escort newly deceased souls) in cosmic and underworld pathways, escorting souls.” ref
“Sometimes Neith was pictured as a woman nursing a baby crocodile, and she then was addressed with the title, “Nurse of Crocodiles”, reflecting a southern provincial mythology in Upper Egypt that she served as the mother of the crocodile god, Sobek. As the mother of Ra, in her Mehet-Weret form, she was sometimes described as the “Great Cow who gave birth to Ra”. As a maternal figure (beyond being the birth-mother of the sun-god Ra), Neith is associated with Sobek as her son (as early as the Pyramid Texts), but in later religious conventions that paired deities, no male deity is consistently identified with her in a pair and so, she often is represented without one. In the Pyramid Texts, Neith is paired with the goddess Selket as the two braces for the sky, which places these goddesses as the supports for the heavens. This ties in with the vignette in The Contendings of Horus and Seth when, as the most ancient among them, Neith is asked by the deities to decide who should rule. She was appealed to as an arbiter in the dispute between Horus and Seth. In her message of reply, Neith selects Horus, and says she will “cause the sky to crash to the earth” if he is not selected.” ref
Spirits to Gods
To me, deities originated in the Middle East 13,000 to 11,000 years ago, likely evolving from older beliefs and concepts such as Nature spirits, anthropomorphic personifications of wildlife, or various natural phenomena. Anthropomorphic Elementals, such as the elemental described as a mythic supernatural being in occult and alchemical works from around the time of the European Renaissance, particularly elaborated upon in the 16th-century works of Paracelsus. According to Paracelsus and his subsequent followers, there are four categories of elementals, which are gnomes, undines, sylphs, and salamanders. These correspond to the four Empedoclean elements of antiquity: earth, water, air, and fire, respectively. Terms employed for beings associated with alchemical elements vary by source and gloss. The Paracelsian concept of elementals draws from several much older traditions in mythology and religion. Common threads can be found in folklore, animism, and anthropomorphism. Examples of creatures such as the Pygmy were taken from Greek mythology. The elements of earth, water, air, and fire, were classed as the fundamental building blocks of nature. This system prevailed in the Classical world and was highly influential in medieval natural philosophy. Although Paracelsus uses these foundations and the popular preexisting names of elemental creatures, he is doing so to present new ideas that expand on his own philosophical system.” ref, ref, ref
Nature Spirits
“Animal spirits, Earth spirits, Forest spirits, Water spirits, Air spirits, ETC.” ref
“Animal spirits and spirit animals are supernatural entities resembling animals, as commonly depicted in folklore, legends, mythology, and religion. The Modern English word Earth developed, via Middle English, from an Old English noun most often spelled eorðe. It has cognates in every Germanic language, from which Proto-Germanic *erþō has been reconstructed. In its earliest attestation, the word eorðe was used to translate the many senses of Latin terra and Greek gē: the ground, its soil, dry land, the human world, the surface of the world (including the sea), and the globe itself. As with Roman Terra (or Tellus) and Greek Gaia, Earth may have been a personified goddess in Germanic paganism: late Norse mythology included Jörð (‘Earth’), a giantess often given as the mother of Thor.” ref, ref
Spirit Animals
“An animal Spirit can be several things: Familiar, a supernatural entity, an interdimensional being, or a spiritual guardian that protects or assists witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic, divination, and spiritual insight. Power animal, a neoshamanic belief of a tutelary spirit/deity. Spirit guide, an entity that remains as a discarnate spirit to act as a guide or protector to a living, incarnated individual. Totem, a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage, or tribe. Animal spirits or animal spirit may refer to: spirits of animals in the belief system of animism. Animal spirits (Keynes), the instincts, proclivities, and emotions that seemingly influence human behavior, which can be measured in terms of consumer confidence.” ref, ref
“The origin of the term spirit animal is unclear, but it means more than Your Favorite Animal. The diversity of Indigenous beliefs goes far deeper than the misused concept of a ‘spirit animal’. Learn the true cultural significance of these connections. “Animals have sustained our people for thousands of years, through food and medicine and clothing,” says Renee Gokey, teacher’s services coordinator at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. “Clan and kinship systems are diverse among the 577 different Native American tribes,” says Renee Gokey. “Many of us still have our clan system in place.” In her Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, for example, clans represent ancestral relations to specific animals that have been in place for a long time. After an infant is born, an elder who speaks the language will give a name to the baby reflecting a different animal clan, though it can sometimes happen later in life as well. Renee Gokey’s own Shawnee name, which she doesn’t share outside of her people, translates to “when the turtle brings her head out of water and goes to land, there is strength.” Renee Gokey got the name, which indicates she’s part of the turtle clan, when she was about 25 years old. The inspiration for the name might be based on a dream the name-giver had, or based on observation of the baby. Or it could even be based on the needs of the community, as different clans play important roles in the Eastern Shawnee ceremony. “These things aren’t taken lightly. In our Shawnee tribe, there’s a particular ceremony,” Gokey says. “They’re these old ancestral relationships that have been in place for a long time.” Renee Gokey says.” ref
“Some of these clans have been lost over time through forced colonization, like much of Indigenous culture. “So much was taken from us or outlawed by government policy and colonialism: our land, our families, ceremonies, ways of life, foods, and education systems,” she says, adding that this loss of culture is partly what makes this is a sensitive issue. “It can feel trivial and shallow for people not part of our communities to try and take or mimic it themselves when they don’t understand it. The particular meaning of different animals to Indigenous people varies greatly based on which culture you’re talking about. The Heiltsuk Nation and people from the surrounding tribes in British Columbia typically identify with an animal that is often depicted artistically on a crest, says William Housty, conservation manager for the Heiltsuk Integrated Resource Management Department. In Bella Bella, where he lives, there are five main crests such as the eagle or orca. “It all goes back to mythical times in our oral history,” William Housty says. Heiltsuk believe humans could change into the animals of their crest in the distant past, he says. They eventually lost the ability when humans and animals diversified, but people still maintain a particular connection to their crest animal. “My grandmother is a wolf, and my grandfather is an eagle,” William Housty says, adding that his family’s crest design includes both animals together. Some Heiltsuk and other First Nations groups in the region put their ceremonial crest on blankets, or might get tattoos displaying them, while others will put their crest on totem poles, with animals strategically arranged based on family history. “They didn’t just put a grizzly bear there because the grizzly bear was cool,” William Housty says.” 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, 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). An Earth god or Earth goddess is a deification of the Earth associated with a figure with chthonic or terrestrial attributes. There are many different Earth gods and goddesses in many different cultures and mythology. However, Earth is usually portrayed as a goddess. Earth goddesses are often associated with the chthonic deities of the underworld. In Greek mythology, the Earth is personified as Gaia, corresponding to Roman Terra, Indic Prithvi, etc. traced to an “Earth Mother” complementary to the “Sky Father” in Proto-Indo-European religion. Egyptian mythology have the sky goddesses, Nut and Hathor, with the earth gods, Osiris and Geb. Ki and Ninhursag are Mesopotamian earth goddesses.” ref, ref
“The ‘Sky’ is also expressed as a mother, seen in Atahensic, also known as Sky Woman, is an Iroquois sky goddess. Atahensic is associated with marriage, childbirth, and feminine affairs in general. According to legend, at the time of creation, Atahensic lived in the Upper World, but when digging up a tree, it left a hole in the ground that led to a great sky, under which was water. Atahensic fell through this hole. After her fall, birds carried her down the hole onto the water. A giant turtle then emerged from the underground waters for her to rest on. She then gave birth to her twin sons: Hahgwehdiyu (transl. Sapling) and Hahgwehdaetgah (transl. Flint). Hahgwehdiyu was born normally; Hahgwehdaetgah, the evil twin, killed Atahensic by bursting out of her side during birth. When Atahensic died, Hahgwehdiyu created the sky and, with her head, the Sun. Hahgwehdaetgah, however, created darkness to drive down the sun. Hahgwehdiyu then created the Moon and Stars from his mother’s breasts, and tasked them, his sisters, to guard the night sky. He gave the rest of his mother’s body to the earth, the Great Mother from whom all life came. Hahgwehdiyu then planted a seed into his mother’s corpse. From this seed grew corn, as a gift to mankind.” ref
“Queen of Heaven was a title given to several ancient sky goddesses worshipped throughout the ancient Mediterranean and the ancient Near East. Goddesses known to have been referred to by the title include Inanna, Anat, Isis, Nut, Astarte, and possibly Asherah (by the prophet Jeremiah). In Greco-Roman times, Hera and Juno bore this title. The forms and content of worship varied. Inanna is the Sumerian goddess of love and war. Despite her association with mating and fertility of humans and animals, Inanna was not a mother goddess and is rarely associated with childbirth. Inanna was also associated with rain and storms and with the planet Venus. The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa, believed to have been compiled around the mid-seventeenth century BCE, referred to the planet Venus in the tablet as the “bright queen of the sky” or “bright Queen of Heaven”. Although the title of Queen of Heaven was often applied to many different goddesses throughout antiquity, Inanna is the one to whom the title is given the most number of times. In fact, Inanna’s name is commonly derived from Nin-anna which literally means “Queen of Heaven” in ancient Sumerian (It comes from the words NIN meaning “lady” and AN meaning “sky”), although the cuneiform sign for her name (Borger 2003 nr. 153, U+12239 𒈹) is not historically a ligature of the two.” ref
“In several myths, Inanna is described as being the daughter of Nanna, the ancient Sumerian god of the Moon. In other texts, however, she is often described as being the daughter of either Enki or An. These difficulties have led some early Assyriologists to suggest that Inanna may have been originally a Proto-Euphratean goddess, possibly related to the Hurrian mother goddess Hannahannah, accepted only latterly into the Sumerian pantheon, an idea supported by her youthfulness, and that, unlike the other Sumerian divinities, she at first had no sphere of responsibilities. The view that there was a Proto-Euphratean substrate language in Southern Iraq before Sumerian is not widely accepted by modern Assyriologists. In Sumer, Inanna was hailed as “Queen of Heaven” in the third millennium BC. In Akkad to the north, she was worshipped later as Ishtar. In the Sumerian Descent of Inanna, when Inanna is challenged at the outermost gates of the underworld, she replies: I am Inanna, Queen of Heaven, on my way to the East. Her cult was deeply embedded in Mesopotamia and among the Canaanites to the west. F. F. Bruce describes a transformation from Venus as a male deity to Ishtar, a female goddess, by the Akkadians. He links Ishtar, Tammuz, Innini, Ma (Cappadocia), Mami, Dingir-Mah, Cybele, Agdistis, Pessinuntica, and the Idaean Mother to the cult of a great mother goddess.” ref
“The goddess, the Queen of Heaven, whose worship Jeremiah so vehemently opposed, may have been possibly Astarte. Astarte is the name of a goddess as known from Northwestern Semitic regions, cognate in name, origin and functions with the goddess Ishtar in Mesopotamian texts. Another transliteration is ‘Ashtart; other names for the goddess include Hebrew עשתרת (transliterated Ashtoreth), Ugaritic ‘ṯtrt (also ‘Aṯtart or ‘Athtart), Akkadian DAs-tar-tú (also Astartu) and Etruscan Uni-Astre (Pyrgi Tablets). Astarte was connected with fertility, sexuality, and war. Her symbols were the lion, the horse, the sphinx, the dove, and a star within a circle indicating the planet Venus. Pictorial representations often show her naked. Astarte was accepted by the Greeks under the name of Aphrodite. The island of Cyprus, one of Astarte’s greatest faith centers, supplied the name Cypris as Aphrodite’s most common byname.” ref
“The “Queen of Heaven” is mentioned in the Bible and has been associated with different goddesses by different scholars, including: Anat, Astarte or Ishtar, Ashtoreth, or as a composite figure. The worship of a “Queen of Heaven” (Hebrew: מלכת השמים, Malkath haShamayim) is recorded in the Book of Jeremiah, in the context of the prophet condemning such religious worship and it being the cause of Yahweh declaring that He would remove His people from the land.
Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.” ref
“In Jeremiah 44:15-18:
Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present—a large assembly—and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah, “We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD! We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our fathers, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm. But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.” ref
“There was a temple of Yahweh in Egypt at that time, the 6th-7th centuries BCE, that was central to the Jewish community at Elephantine in which Yahweh was worshipped in conjunction with the goddess Anath (also named in the temple papyri as Anath-Bethel and Anath-Iahu). The goddesses Asherah, Anat, and Astarte first appear as distinct and separate deities in the tablets discovered in the ruins of the library of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra, Syria). Most biblical scholars tend to regard these goddesses as one, especially under the title “Queen of heaven.” ref
“Isis was venerated first in Egypt. As per the Greek historian Herodotus, writing in the fifth century BC, Isis was the only goddess worshiped by all Egyptians alike, and whose influence was so widespread by that point, that she had become syncretic with the Greek goddess Demeter. It is after the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great, and the Hellenization of the Egyptian culture initiated by Ptolemy I Soter, that she eventually became known as ‘Queen of Heaven’. Apuleius confirms this in Book 11, Chap 47 of his novel, The Golden Ass, in which his character prays to the “Queen of Heaven.” ref
“The goddess herself responds to his prayer, delivering a lengthy monologue in which she explicitly identifies herself as both the Queen of Heaven and Isis.
Then with a weeping countenance, I made this orison to the puissant Goddess, saying: O blessed Queen of Heaven… Thus the divine shape breathing out the pleasant spice of fertile Arabia, disdained not with her divine voice to utter these words unto me: Behold Lucius I am come, thy weeping and prayers has moved me to succor thee. I am she that is the natural mother of all things, mistress and governess of all the elements, the initial progeny of worlds, chief of powers divine, Queen of Heaven… and the Egyptians which are excellent in all kind of ancient doctrine, and by their proper ceremonies accustomed to worship me, do call me Queen Isis.” ref
The Many Ways to Understand Religious Myths
“The Meteorological or Naturist School holds that Proto-Indo-European myths initially emerged as explanations for natural phenomena, such as the Sky, the Sun, the Moon, and the Dawn. Rituals were therefore centered around the worship of those elemental deities. Also, Proto-Indo-European myths can be understood as stories invented to explain various rituals and religious practices. Scholars of the Ritual School argue that those rituals should be interpreted as attempts to manipulate the universe in order to obtain its favours. Myths served as stories reinforcing social behaviours through the meta-narrative justification of a traditional order. A tripartite ideology reflected in a threefold division between a clerical class (encompassing both the religious and social functions of the priests and rulers), a warrior class (connected with the concepts of violence and bravery), and a class of farmers or husbandmen (associated with fertility and craftsmanship), on the basis that many historically known groups speaking Indo-European languages show such a division. Proto-Indo-European mythology was largely centered around the concept of dualistic opposition (Day and Night, Sun and Moon, Male and Female, Twins, etc., like “Yin and yang”). They generally hold that the mental structure of all human beings is designed to set up opposing patterns in order to resolve conflicting elements. This approach tends to focus on cultural universals within the realm of mythology rather than the genetic origins of those myths, such as the fundamental and binary opposition rooted in the nature of marriage. It also offers refinements of the trifunctional system by highlighting the oppositional elements present within each function, such as the creative and destructive elements both found within the role of the warrior.” ref
“Aggregate of articles for the personification of weather, such as Sky and weather deities, Deities and personifications of seasons, like Old Man Winter, a personification of winter. The name is a colloquialism for the winter season derived from ancient Greek mythology and Old World pagan beliefs, evolving into modern characters in both literature and popular culture. He is usually depicted as an old man, often blowing winter over the landscape with his breath, or simply freezing the landscape with his very presence. Humans have associated the winter season with deities, e.g., the ancient Greek god of winter, Boreas, and in other cultures, including Celtic mythology, with the goddess Cailleach and goddess Beira. Over time, the old gods of winter changed to new humanizations of the seasons, including Old Man Winter. Among the Potawatomi people of the Western Great Lakes region, there exists a myth about Old Man Winter, called Pondese in their language. Old Man Winter was a character in Iroquois legends.” ref, ref
“Or Mother Nature, Personifications of rivers, Personifications of death, as Mother Earth or the Earth Mother is a personification of nature that focuses on the life-giving and nurturing aspects of nature by embodying it, in the form of a mother or mother goddess. The word “nature” comes from the Latin word, “natura“, meaning birth or character [see nature (philosophy)]. In Greek mythology, Persephone, daughter of Demeter (goddess of the harvest), was abducted by Hades (god of the dead), and taken to the underworld as his queen. The myth goes on to describe Demeter as so distraught that no crops would grow and the “entire human race [would] have perished of cruel, biting hunger if Zeus had not been concerned” (Larousse 152). According to myth, Zeus forced Hades to return Persephone to her mother, but while in the underworld, Persephone had eaten pomegranate seeds, the food of the dead, and thus, she must then spend part of each year with Hades in the underworld. The myth continues that Demeter’s grief for her daughter in the realm of the dead was reflected in the barren winter months, and her joy when Persephone returned was reflected in the bountiful summer months.” ref, ref
“Algonquian legend says that “beneath the clouds lives the Earth-Mother from whom is derived the Water of Life, who at her bosom feeds plants, animals, and human” (Larousse 428). She is otherwise known as Nokomis, the Grandmother. In Inca mythology, Mama Pacha or Pachamama was a fertility goddess who presided over planting and harvesting. Pachamama is usually translated as “Mother Earth” but a more literal translation would be “Mother Universe” (in Aymara and Quechua mama = mother / pacha = world, space-time or the universe). It was believed that Pachamama and her husband, Inti, were the most benevolent deities and were worshiped in parts of the Andean mountain ranges (stretching from present-day Ecuador to Chile and Argentina). Amalur (sometimes Ama Lur or Ama Lurra) was believed to be the goddess of the earth in the religion of the ancient Basque people. She was described as the mother of Ekhi, the sun, and Ilazki, the moon. Her name meant “mother earth” or “mother land.” The Mycenaean Greek: Ma-ka (transliterated as ma-ga), “Mother Gaia“, written in Linear B syllabic script (13th or 12th century BCE), is the earliest known instance of the Greek concept of earth as a mother.” ref
Hunting Deities and Mastering of Animals
“A hunting deity is a god or goddess in mythology associated with the hunting of animals and the skills and equipment involved. They are a common feature of polytheistic religions. Herne the Hunter, leader of the Wild Hunt. The Horned God, the Neopagan god of the sun, masculinity, nature, and hunting. Wōden, leader of the Wild Hunt. The Master of Animals, Lord of Animals, or Mistress of the Animals is a motif in ancient art showing a human between and grasping two confronted animals.” ref, ref
“The motif of Mastering of Animals is very widespread in the art of Mesopotamia. The figure may be female or male, it may be a column or a symbol, the animals may be realistic or fantastical, and the human figure may have animal elements such as horns, an animal upper body, an animal lower body, legs, or cloven feet. Although what the motif represented to the cultures that created the works probably varies greatly, unless shown with specific divine attributes, when male, the figure is typically described as a hero by interpreters. The human figure may be standing, as found from the fourth millennium BCE, or kneeling on one knee, as found from the third millennium BCE. They are usually shown looking frontally, but in Assyrian pieces, they are typically shown from the side. Sometimes the animals are clearly alive, whether fairly passive and tamed, or still struggling, rampant, or attacking. In other pieces they may represent dead hunter’s prey. Other associated representations show a figure controlling or “taming” a single animal, usually to the right of the figure. But the many representations of heroes or kings killing an animal are distinguished from these. The motif is so widespread and visually effective that many depictions probably were conceived as decoration with only a vague meaning attached to them. The Master of Animals is the “favorite motif of Achaemenian official seals“, but the figures in these cases should be understood as the king.” ref
Ninurta, the Mesopotamian god of farming, hunting, and the “Master of Animals“
“Ninurta (Sumerian: 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒅁: DNIN.URTA, possible meaning “Lord [of] Barley”), also known as Ninĝirsu (Sumerian: 𒀭𒎏𒄈𒋢: DNIN.ĜIR2.SU, meaning “Lord [of] Girsu“), is an ancient Mesopotamian god associated with farming, healing, hunting, law, scribes, and war who was first worshipped in early Sumer. Girsu was a city of ancient Sumer, situated some 25 km (16 mi) northwest of Lagash, at the site of what is now Tell Telloh in Dhi Qar Governorate, Iraq. At the Girsu site, a terracotta stamp seal with the Master of Animals motif was found, from the end of Ubaid period, c. 4000 BCE or around 6,000 years ago. Also found was Ubaid IV pottery 4700–4200 BCE with Horned animals like those of Iran (long-horned Goat/Sheep), standing female figurines dating to 4700–4200 BCE, and an Indus seal impression of an unreadable animal, possibly a bull or lion, a result of Indus-Mesopotamia relations. Girsu was possibly inhabited in the Ubaid period (5300-4800 BCE), but significant levels of activity began in the Early Dynastic period (2900-2335 BCE). At the time of Gudea, during the Second Dynasty of Lagash, Girsu became the capital of the Lagash kingdom and continued to be its religious center after political power had shifted to the city of Lagash. During the Ur III period, Girsu was a major administrative center for the empire.” ref, ref
“In the earliest records, Ninurta is a god of agriculture and healing, who cures humans of sicknesses and releases them from the power of demons. In later times, as Mesopotamia grew more militarized, he became a warrior deity, though he retained many of his earlier agricultural attributes. He was regarded as the son of the chief god Enlil, and his main cult center in Sumer was the Eshumesha temple in Nippur. Ninĝirsu was honored by King Gudea of Lagash (ruled 2144–2124 BCE), who rebuilt Ninĝirsu’s temple in Lagash. Later, Ninurta became beloved by the Assyrians as a formidable warrior. The Assyrian king Ashurnasirpal II (ruled 883–859 BCE) built a massive temple for him at Kalhu, which became his most important cult center from then on. In the epic poem Lugal-e, Ninurta slays the demon Asag using his talking mace Sharur and uses stones to build the Tigris and Euphrates rivers to make them useful for irrigation. In a poem sometimes referred to as the “Sumerian Georgica“, Ninurta provides agricultural advice to farmers.” ref
“In an Akkadian myth, he was the champion of the gods against the Anzû bird after it stole the Tablet of Destinies from his father Enlil, and, in a myth that is alluded to in many works but never fully preserved, he killed a group of warriors known as the “Slain Heroes”. His major symbols were a perched bird and a plow. It has been suggested that Ninurta was the inspiration for the figure of Nimrod, a “mighty hunter” who is mentioned in association with Kalhu in the Book of Genesis, although the view has been disputed. He may also be mentioned in the Second Book of Kings under the name Shendu. In the nineteenth century, Assyrian stone reliefs of winged, eagle-headed figures from the temple of Ninurta at Kalhu were commonly, but erroneously, identified as “Nisrochs” and they appear in works of fantasy literature from the time period. The myth of the Slain Heroes is alluded to in many texts, but is never preserved in full. In this myth, Ninurta must fight a variety of opponents. Black and Green describe these opponents as “bizarre minor deities”; they include the six-headed Wild Ram, the Palm Tree King, the seven-headed serpent, and the Kulianna the Mermaid (or “fish-woman”). Some of these foes are inanimate objects, such as the Magillum Boat, which carries the souls of the dead to the Underworld, and the strong copper, which represents a metal that was conceived as precious. This story of successive trials and victories may have been the source for the Greek legend of the Twelve Labors of Heracles.” ref
“Second only to the goddess Inanna, Ninurta probably appears in more myths than any other Mesopotamian deity. In the Sumerian poem Lugal-e, also known as Ninurta’s Exploits, a demon known as Asag has been causing sickness and poisoning the rivers. Ninurta confronts Asag, who is protected by an army of stone warriors. Ninurta slays Asag and his armies. Then Ninurta organizes the world, using the stones from the warriors he has defeated to build the mountains, which he designs so that the streams, lakes, and rivers all flow into the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, making them useful for irrigation and agriculture. Ninurta’s mother Ninmah descends from Heaven to congratulate her son on his victory. Ninurta dedicates the mountain of stone to her and renames her Ninhursag, meaning “Lady of the Mountain”. Finally, Ninurta returns home to Nippur, where he is celebrated as a hero. This myth combines Ninurta’s role as a warrior deity with his role as an agricultural deity. Sumerian cylinder seal impression dating to c. 3200 BCE showing an ensi and his acolyte feeding a sacred herd; Ninurta was an agricultural deity and, in a poem known as the “Sumerian Georgica“, he offers detailed advice on farming” ref
“The title Lugal-e means “O king!” and comes from the poem opening phrase in the original Sumerian. Ninurta’s Exploits is a modern title assigned to it by scholars. The poem was eventually translated into Akkadian after Sumerian became regarded as too difficult to understand. A companion work to the Lugal-e is Angim dimma, or Ninurta’s Return to Nippur, which describes Ninurta’s return to Nippur after slaying Asag. It contains little narrative and is mostly a praise piece, describing Ninurta in larger-than-life terms and comparing him to the god An. Angim dimma is believed to have originally been written in Sumerian during the Third Dynasty of Ur (c. 2112 – c. 2004 BCE) or the early Old Babylonian Period (c. 1830 – c. 1531 BCE), but the oldest surviving texts of it date to Old Babylonian Period. Numerous later versions of the text have also survived. It was translated into Akkadian during the Middle Babylonian Period (c. 1600 — c. 1155 BCE).” ref
Nanna/Suen/Sin (god) and the “Master of Animals“
“Mesopotamian moon god. He was called Nanna in Sumerian, and Su’en or Sin in Akkadian. The earliest writings of both are roughly contemporary and occur interchangeably. The primary symbol of the moon god was as a bull, the result of the horizontal crescent of the waxing moon appearing similar to the horns of that animal. This symbolism led to a consideration of the moon god as a cowherd, which is celebrated most clearly in the composition The Herds of Nanna, the longest section of which enumerates the cattle in Nanna’s herd. An association with fertility may come from the moon god’s connection to cattle, and also, perhaps, from the clear link to the menstrual cycle, roughly similar to the timing of the moon’s transformations. The connection with fertility is demonstrated in the Old Babylonian (early second-millennium) birth incantations. The magical-medical text A Cow of Sin relates the story of the moon god’s beautiful and pregnant cow, Geme-Sin. The birthing-pains of Geme-Sin are eased by Sin, and the incantation ends with a ‘supplication: “may this woman give birth as easily as Geme-Sin” suggesting this text’s role in human child-birth.” ref
“The moon god was the tutelary deity of the city of Ur. His reach and importance, however, was far greater than just a city god, the moon god is clearly one of the most important deities in the wider pantheon of Mesopotamia. In the Early Dynastic god lists, such as Fara SF 1, the moon god appears immediately after the four leading gods An, Enlil, Inana and Enki (this important, albeit slightly junior position, is confirmed in the text Nanna-Suen’s Journey to Nippur), when Nanna brings the “first fruit offerings” to Enlil, the head of the early Mesopotamian pantheon. The moon god is most frequently represented by his symbol, the crescent moon (Sumerian u4-sakar, Akkadian u/ašqāru). This iconography is already known form Early Dynastic seals, and continues throughout Mesopotamian history and across the Ancient Near East. The crescent shape had an impact on other symbols which came to be associated with Nanna/Suen, primarily the moon god’s association with the bull. Additionally, Nanna/Su’en is often attested in connection with a boat. Other iconographic symbols include a rather enigmatic tripod, and it is now thought that many of the motifs once thought to be solely associated with the sun god – such as rays, gates and a god-figure rising between mountains, might now also be considered iconographic characteristics of the moon god. Such similarities should not be surprising given that the moon provided the light of the night-time, as the sun did for the day.” ref
Lahar, a Mesopotamian deity of animals, herding, and “Mistress of the Animals” or “Master of Animals“
“Lahar (god), Lahar was a Mesopotamian deity associated with flocks of animals, especially sheep. Lahar’s gender is a topic of debate in scholarship, though it is agreed the name refers to a female deity in a god list from the Middle Babylonian period and to a male one in the myth Theogony of Dunnu. Lahar’s name was written syllabically as dLa-ḫa-ar or dLa-ḫar, or logographically as dU8, “ewe.” The name is derived from Akkadian laḫru, also meaning “ewe.” The same logogram, dU8, could also be used to write the name of another deity associated with herding, Šunidug (“his hand is good”) as well as of his father Ga’u (Gayu), the shepherd of Sin, and of the mother of Dumuzi, Duttur. A possible reference to Lahar occurs in a name from the Early Dynastic period in which the logogram dU8 serves as a theophoric element, dU8.DU.” ref
“While Samuel Noah Kramer‘s early translations treated Lahar as a goddess, according to Wilfred G. Lambert the deity should be considered male. He argues only evidence for female Lahar is a god list which has been composed in the Middle Babylonian period or later, which gives the equation dU8 = dA-a šá ku-né-e, “Lahar is Aya (as the goddess) of caring for things,” and the astronomical compendium MUL.APIN in which mulU8 is the star of the same goddess. However, Frans Wiggermann assumes that Lahar was a female deity, with Theogony of Dunnu being an exception. According to Lambert, the deity Ninsig known from the god list An = Anum, who according to him was male and whose name he translates as “lord wool,” is identical with Lahar. However, according to Dina Katz this deity was female. Lahar was associated with flocks of domestic animals, especially sheep. Less commonly he was also connected with clothing.” ref
“The main source of information about Lahar is the text Lahar and Ashnan, also known as Ewe and Wheat or Debate between Sheep and Grain. The text does not explicitly state who was considered the creator of Lahar and Ashnan, though due to the fact that their place of origin is the Apsu Wilfred G. Lambert considered Enki (Ea) to be a plausible candidate. The creation of Lahar and Ashnan is also attributed to Ea in a building incantation. In the discussed poem, after drinking alcohol Lahar starts to bicker with Ashnan over which one of them provides humans with more useful goods, and eventually the conflict between them has to be settled by Enlil, who at Enki’s suggestion proclaims the grain goddess the winner. According to Markham J. Geller, the passage about the origin of Ashnan and Lahar from this composition is directly quoted in the incantation series Udug Hul. A distinct version of Lahar is known from the Theogony of Dunnu, also known as the Harab Myth.” ref
“This narrative is only known from a single tablet from the Neo-Babylonian or Achaemenid which according to its colophon was copied from older examples. The time of its composition is difficult to evaluate, and Wilfed G. Lambert suggested any proposal between 2000 BCE and 614 BCE is plausible. Frans Wiggermann due to presence of Hurrian loanwords assumes it was composed between 1500 BCE and 1350 BCE, when parts of Mesopotamia were under the control of the Hurrian Mitanni state. It is presumed that it represents a local tradition about the early days of the world which developed in a settlement named Dunnu, “fortified place,” though as multiple towns bearing this name are known, precise identification is uncertain. In this text, Lahar is a son of Šumugan and the personified sea, dA.AB.BA. He subsequently kills his father, marries the sea, and has a son whose name is damaged. Wiggermann suggests that he can be identified as the divine shepherd Gayu.” ref
Ninhursag “Mother of both Wild and Domesticated animals,” and “Mistress of the Animals”
“Ninhursag is a significant mother goddess from ancient Mesopotamian mythology, revered as one of the seven great deities of Sumer. Her name translates to “lady of the sacred mountain,” reflecting her association with nature and the wilderness, where she is considered the mother of both wild and domesticated animals. Ninhursag embodies fertility, birth, and nurturing, often depicted as a midwife and protector of life. While her specific parentage is not well-documented, she is linked with several important deities, including Enki, the god of wisdom and water, and has many divine offspring, like Ninmu, the goddess of plants, and various deities of healing. Her mythology is rich, highlighting her interactions with Enki, which resulted in the introduction of disease to the land of Dilmun, a paradise that lacked water. Ninhursag’s temples were established across Mesopotamia from the 30th century BCE to the 1st millennium BCE, with notable cult centers in cities like Kesh and Tell al-Ubaid. Her worship emphasized themes of fertility, healing, and the essential role of water in sustaining life, making her a central figure in the spiritual and cultural practices of the ancient Sumerians. Icons of Ninhursag often feature symbolic elements such as her omega-shaped hair, a horned headdress, and sometimes a mace, reflecting her powerful maternal and protective qualities.” ref
Körtik Tepe
“Körtiktepe or Körtik Tepe is the oldest known Neolithic archaeological site in Turkey. Together with Tell Mureybet and Tell Abu Hureyra in northern Syria, Körtiktepe is one of the only three securely dated Younger Dryas sedentary sites in Upper Mesopotamia. The habitation of the site began in the first half of the 11th millennium BCE, approximately 10700 BCE (12,700 years ago), and persisted with consistent density until approximately 10400 BCE. Analyses of human tooth enamel indicate that the inhabitants of the Younger Dryas occupations at Körtiktepe were born and grew up in or near the site. Although a potential minor flooding event transpired during the transition from the Younger Dryas to the Early Holocene, the site endured without evident abandonment, at least not for a prolonged interval. Occupation continued and thrived during the Early Holocene. The architectural tradition of constructing round plans established around 10400 BCE and continued without any fundamental alterations until the eventual desertion of the site. The site reached its peak in terms of occupation density around 9300 BCE. Subsequently, it experienced an unexplained abandonment, possibly attributed to natural disturbances such as flooding induced by the Holocene climate changes. Incised bone pendants and stone vessels with art somewhat similar to Iran with curved horned animals that may represent wild Goat or Sheep.” ref
The Ibex as an Iconographic Symbol in the Ancient Near East
“The study of pottery design on hundreds of extant examples from the ancient Near East reveals the early popularity of one particular animal—the ibex. The treatment that this animal received on pottery from a wide number of Near Eastern sites, over a span of a thousand years, gives a clear picture of its reverential status, as well as providing us with possible clues toward a cosmology for the people of the ancient Near East. A brief review of the ibex’s appearance on Palaeolithic bone carvings demonstrates the longevity of this animal’s role as a cultural symbol, and, finally, the ibex’s demise in the fourth millennium B.C. marks a turning point in the cultural life of Near Eastern society.” ref
“Almost 90 percent of Iran’s rock art consists of the ibex motif. The ibex for the prehistoric inhabitants of what is now known as Iran appears to have received the same apotheosis as the eland for the San in what is now known as South Africa. Rock art is one of the oldest legacies of humankind. One could argue that rock art is the basis of a writing system, conveying cultural messages, beliefs and myths. The ibex would have been a source of meat and secondary products such as horn and hide. Archaeological evidence shows that it was hunted in Iran from the Middle Paleolithic period onwards, at the Warwasi and Yāfte Cave (38,000-29,000 BCE) sites where it was the dominant species represented. Studies of horn cores from the early Neolithic sites of Tappe ʿAli Koš and Tappe Sabz indicate that ibex were being hunted in the late 8th and 7th millennia BCE. The ibex motif went on to be incorporated into decorative friezes on painted pottery in pre-Islamic Iran. The elegantly stylized ibex appears as a decorative motif on Chalcolithic pottery – in Luristan at Čeḡā Sabz, Se Gābi and Tappe Giān – with long, curving horns and a characteristic beard. Long-horned caprids, many of whom may be ibex, appear on pre-Islamic stamp and cylinder seals all over Iran. An ibex-headed figure – possibly a human wearing the horns of an ibex – appears in the guise of the ‘master of animals’ on stamp seal impressions from Susa dating to ca. 4000 B.C.E. Middle Elamite, Neo-Assyrian, provincial Neo-Assyrian, and Neo-Elamite cylinder seals from Čeḡā Sabz and Sorḵ Dom-e Lori in Luristan illustrate hunters with bow and arrow shooting leaping caprids. The symbolic and/or religious significance of the ibex in pre-Islamic Iran is unclear, although some argue that it was integral to a pre-Islamic creation narrative. According to the Zoroastrian – ‘Zarathusti’ in Persian – cosmogony, ‘Mashya and Mashyana’, or ‘mašyā and mašyānē’, were the first man and woman whose procreation gave rise to the human race. According to Mohammad Naserifard [pictured], it was the ibex that was chosen as the symbol of divine assistance. With the ibex carvings in the rock art sites of ancient Persia, this may have represented an over-riding belief in, and request for, the provision of water, the guarantee of fertility and birth, and a Divine – ‘hu’ – blessing and protection.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
The tree of life is closely related to the concept of “sacred trees” and a widespread myth or archetype in many of the world’s mythologies, religions, or traditions. Here are some sacred trees explained. The “sacred” tree of knowledge thought to connect heaven/Upper world and the underworld. The “sacred” tree of life, thought to connect all forms of creation, are both forms of the world tree or cosmic tree, and are portrayed in various religions and philosophies seemly as the same tree. ref
“Various trees of life are recounted in folklore, culture, and fiction, often relating to immortality or fertility. They had their origin in religious symbolism. Trees are significant in many of the world’s mythologies, and have been given deep and sacred meanings throughout the ages. Human beings, observing the growth and death of trees, and the annual death and revival of their foliage, have often seen them as powerful symbols of growth, death, and rebirth. Evergreen trees, which largely stay green throughout these cycles, are sometimes considered symbols of the eternal, immortality, or fertility. The image of the Tree of life or world tree occurs in many mythologies. Examples include the banyan and the sacred fig (Ficus religiosa) in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil of Judaism and Christianity. In folk religion and folklore, trees are often said to be the homes of tree spirits. Germanic mythology as well as Celtic polytheism both appear to have involved cultic practice in sacred groves, especially grove of oak. The term druid itself possibly derives from the Celtic word for oak. The Egyptian Book of the Dead mentions sycamores as part of the scenery where the soul of the deceased finds blissful repose. The presence of trees in myth sometimes occurs in connection to the concept of the sacred tree and the sacred grove. Trees are an attribute of the archetypical locus amoenus.” ref, ref
Tree of Life/World Tree
“The world tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European, Siberian, and Native American religions. The world tree is represented as a colossal tree that supports the heavens, thereby connecting the heavens, the terrestrial world, and, through its roots, the underworld. It may also be strongly connected to the motif of the tree of life, or axis mundi, but is also believed to be a source of wisdom of the ages. Scholarship states that many Eurasian mythologies share the motif of the “world tree”, “cosmic tree”, or “Eagle and Serpent Tree”. More specifically, it shows up in “Haitian, Finnish, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Norse, Siberian and northern Asian Shamanic folklore”. Specific world trees include Égig érő fa in Hungarian mythology, Ağaç Ana in Turkic mythology, Kenac’ Car in Armenian mythology, Modun in Mongol mythology, Yggdrasil in Norse mythology, Irminsul in Germanic mythology, the oak in Slavic, Finnish, and Baltic, Jianmu (Chinese: 建木; pinyin: jiànmù) in Chinese mythology, and in Hindu mythology the Ashvattha (a Ficus religiosa).” ref
“In 20th-century comparative mythology, the term axis mundi – also called the cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar, center of the world, or world tree – has been greatly extended to refer to any mythological concept representing “the connection between Heaven and Earth” or the “higher and lower realms”. Axis mundi closely relates to the mythological concept of the omphalos (navel) of the world or cosmos. Items adduced as examples of the axis mundi by comparative mythologists include plants (notably a tree but also other types of plants such as a vine or stalk), a mountain, a column of smoke or fire, or a product of human manufacture (such as a staff, a tower, a ladder, a staircase, a maypole, a cross, a steeple, a rope, a totem pole, a pillar, a spire). Its proximity to heaven may carry implications that are chiefly religious (pagoda, temple mount, minaret, church) or secular (obelisk, lighthouse, rocket, skyscraper). The image appears in religious and secular contexts. The axis mundi symbol may be found in cultures utilizing shamanic practices or animist belief systems, in major world religions, and in technologically advanced “urban centers.” ref
“Specific examples of cosmic mountains or centers include one from Egyptian texts described as providing support for the sky, Mount Mashu from the Epic of Gilgamesh, Adam’s Peak, which is a sacred mountain in Sri Lanka associated with Adam or Buddha in Islamic and Buddhist traditions respectively, Mount Qaf in other Islamic and Arabic cosmologies, the mountain Harā Bərəz in Zoroastrian cosmology, Mount Meru in Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cosmologies, Mecca as a cosmic center in Sufi cosmology (with minority traditions placing it as Medina or Jerusalem), and, in Tenrikyo, the Jiba at the Tenrikyo Church Headquarters in Tenri, Nara, Japan. In pre-Islamic Arabia, some central temples, including the Temple of Awwam, were cosmic centers.” ref
“The World Tree is often identified with the Tree of Life, and also fulfills the role of an axis mundi, that is, a centre or axis of the world. It is also located at the center of the world and represents order and harmony of the cosmos. According to Loreta Senkute, each part of the tree corresponds to one of the three spheres of the world (treetops – heavens; trunk – middle world or earth; roots – underworld) and is also associated with a classical element (top part – fire; middle part – earth, soil, ground; bottom part – water). The imagery of the World Tree is sometimes associated with conferring immortality, either by a fruit that grows on it or by a springsource located nearby. As George Lechler also pointed out, in some descriptions this “water of life” may also flow from the roots of the tree.” ref
“Its branches are said to reach the skies and its roots to connect the human or earthly world with an underworld or subterranean realm. Because of this, the tree was worshipped as a mediator between Heavens and Earth. On the treetops are located the luminaries (stars) and heavenly bodies, along with an eagle’s nest; several species of birds perch among its branches; humans and animals of every kind live under its branches, and near the root is the dwelling place of snakes and every sort of reptiles. According to Vladimir Toporov, animal species are commonly distributed along the parts of the tree: between its roots, figure “chthonic animals”, such as snakes and frogs, but he also mentions aquatic animals such as otters, beavers, and fishes, as well as dragons; the middle part of the tree is reserved for hoofed animals such as deer or elk (sometimes bees), and on the topmost part perches the “principal” bird, or a pair of birds sat on either side of the tree crown. A bird perches atop its foliage, “often …. a winged mythical creature” that represents a heavenly realm. The eagle seems to be the most frequent bird, fulfilling the role of a creator or weather deity. Its antipode is a snake or serpentine creature that crawls between the tree roots, being a “symbol of the underworld.” ref
“The World Tree has also been compared to a World Pillar that appears in other traditions and functions as separator between the earth and the skies, upholding the latter. Another representation akin to the World Tree is a separate World Mountain. However, in some stories, the world tree is located atop the world mountain, in a combination of both motifs. A conflict between a serpentine creature and a giant bird (an eagle) occurs in Eurasian mythologies: a hero kills the serpent that menaces a nest of little birds, and their mother repays the favor – a motif comparativist Julien d’Huy dates to the Paleolithic. A parallel story is attested in the traditions of the indigenous peoples of the Americas, where the thunderbird is slotted into the role of the giant bird whose nest is menaced by a “snake-like water monster. Many other Indo-European cultures, one tree species was considered the World Tree in some cosmogonical accounts.” ref
“Romanian historian of religion, Mircea Eliade, in his monumental work Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy, suggested that the world tree was an important element in shamanistic worldview. Also, according to him, “the giant bird … hatches shamans in the branches of the World Tree”. Likewise, Roald Knutsen indicates the presence of the motif in Altaic shamanism. Representations of the world tree are reported to be portrayed in drums used in Siberian shamanistic practices. Some species of birds (eagle, raven, crane, loon, and lark) are revered as mediators between worlds and also connected to the imagery of the world tree. Another line of scholarship points to a “recurring theme” of the owl as the mediator to the upper realm, and its counterpart, the snake, as the mediator to the lower regions of the cosmos. Researcher Kristen Pearson mentions Northern Eurasian and Central Asian traditions wherein the World Tree is also associated with the horse and with deer antlers (which might resemble tree branches).” ref
“The sacred tree of Zeus is the oak, and the one at Dodona (famous for the cultic worship of Zeus and the oak) was said by later tradition to have its roots furrow so deep as to reach the confines of Tartarus. In a different cosmogonic account presented by Pherecydes of Syros, male deity Zas (identified as Zeus) marries female divinity Chthonie (associated with the earth and later called Gê/Gaia), and from their marriage sprouts an oak tree. This oak tree connects the heavens above and its roots grew into the Earth, to reach the depths of Tartarus. This oak tree is considered by scholarship to symbolize a cosmic tree, uniting three spheres: underworld, terrestrial, and celestial. Besides the oak, several other sacred trees existed in Greek mythology. For instance, the olive, named Moriai, was the world tree and associated with the Olympian goddess Athena. In a separate Greek myth, the Hesperides live beneath an apple tree with golden apples that was given to the highest Olympian goddess Hera by the primal Mother goddess Gaia at Hera’s marriage to Zeus. The tree stands in the Garden of the Hesperides and is guarded by Ladon, a dragon. Heracles defeats Ladon and snatches the golden apples.” ref
“In the epic quest for the Golden Fleece of Argonautica, the object of the quest is found in the realm of Colchis, hanging on a tree guarded by a never-sleeping dragon (the Colchian dragon). In a version of the story provided by Pseudo-Apollodorus in Bibliotheca, the Golden Fleece was affixed by King Aeetes to an oak tree in a grove dedicated to war god Ares. This information is repeated in Valerius Flaccus‘s Argonautica. In the same passage of Valerius Flaccus’ work, King Aeetes prays to Ares for a sign, and suddenly a “serpent gliding from the Caucasus mountains” appears and coils around the grove to protect it. Scholarship recognizes that Baltic beliefs about a World Tree, located at the central part of the Earth, follow a tripartite division of the cosmos (underworld, earth, sky), each part corresponding to a part of the tree (root, trunk, branches). It has been suggested that the word for “tree” in Baltic languages (Lithuanian medis; in Latvian “tree” is koks, but “forest” is mežs), both derived from Proto-Indo-European *medh- ‘middle’, operated a semantic shift from “middle” possibly due to the belief of the Arbor Mundi.” ref
“In Baltic, Slavic, and Finnish mythology, the world tree is usually an oak. Most of the images of the world tree are preserved on ancient ornaments. Often on the Baltic and Slavic patterns, there was an image of an inverted tree, “growing with its roots up, and branches going into the ground”. In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is the world tree. Yggdrasil is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson. In both sources, Yggdrasil is an immense ash tree that is central and considered very holy. The Æsir go to Yggdrasil daily to hold their courts. The branches of Yggdrasil extend far into the heavens, and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations: one to the well Urðarbrunnr in the heavens, one to the spring Hvergelmir, and another to the well Mímisbrunnr. Creatures live within Yggdrasil, including the harts Dáinn, Dvalinn, Duneyrr and Duraþrór, the giant in eagle-shape Hræsvelgr, the squirrel Ratatoskr, and the wyrm Níðhöggr. Scholarly theories have been proposed about the etymology of the name Yggdrasil, the potential relation to the trees Mímameiðr and Læraðr, and the sacred tree at Uppsala.” ref
“The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world’s mythological, religious, and philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life which appear in Genesis‘ Garden of Eden as part of the Jewish cosmology of creation, and the tree of knowledge connecting to heaven and the underworld such as Yggdrasil, are forms of the world tree or cosmic tree, and are portrayed in various religions and philosophies as the same tree. Various trees of life are recounted in folklore, culture and fiction, often relating to immortality or fertility. They had their origin in religious symbolism. According to Professor Elvyra Usačiovaitė, a “typical” imagery preserved in ancient iconography is that of two symmetrical figures facing each other, with a tree standing in the middle. The two characters may variously represent rulers, gods, and even a deity and a human follower.” ref
Ancient Mesopotamia
“The Assyrian tree of life was represented by a series of nodes and crisscrossing lines. It was apparently an important religious symbol, often attended to in Assyrian palace reliefs by human or eagle-headed winged genies, or the King, and blessed or fertilized with bucket and cone. Assyriologists have not reached consensus as to the meaning of this symbol. The name “Tree of Life” has been attributed to it by modern scholarship; it is not used in the Assyrian sources. In fact, no textual evidence pertaining to the symbol is known to exist. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a similar quest for immortality. In Babylonian religion, Etana, the King of Kish, searched for a ‘plant of birth’ to provide him with a son. This has a solid provenance of antiquity, being found in cylinder seals from the Akkadian Empire (2390–2249 BCE). The tree of life appears in Asherah iconography, particularly on the Lachish ewer and Pithos A from Kuntillet Ajrud, where it is flanked by ibexes. The tree’s design, with buds, flowers, and possibly almond drupes, resembles the menorah, which is thought to represent a stylized almond tree in Exodus 25:31-36 This suggests a continuation of Asherah’s cultic representation in the temple. Scholars have explored these connections, noting parallels between sacred trees, Asherah, and the menorah.” ref
Ancient Iran
“In the Avestan literature and Iranian mythology, there are several sacred vegetal icons related to life, eternality and cure, such as Amesha Spenta; Ameretat, the guardian of plants and goddess of trees and immortality; Gaokerena or white haoma, a tree that its vivacity would certify continuance of life in the universe; the bas tokhmak, a tree with remedial attribute, retentive of all herbal seeds, and destroyer of sorrow; Mashya and Mashyana, the parents of the human race; barsom, copped offshoots of pomegranate, gaz (Tamarix gallica), or haoma that Zoroastrians use in their rituals; and haoma, a plant, unknown today, that was the source of sacred potable. The Gaokerena is a large, sacred haoma planted by Ahura Mazda. Ahriman created a frog to invade and destroy the tree, aiming to prevent all trees from growing on the earth. As a reaction, Ahura Mazda created two kar-fish staring at the frog to guard the tree. The two fish always stare at the frog and stay ready to react to it. Ahriman is responsible for all evil, including death; Ahura Mazda is responsible for all good (including life). Haoma is another sacred plant because of the drink made from it. Preparing the drink by pounding and drinking it is a central feature of Zoroastrian ritual. Haoma is also personified as a divinity. It bestows essential qualities—health, fertility, husbands for maidens, and even immortality. The source of the earthly haoma plant is a shining white tree that grows on a paradisiacal mountain. Sprigs of this white haoma were brought to earth by divine birds. The tree is considerably diverse. Haoma is the Avestan form of the Sanskrit soma. The identity of the two in ritual significance is considered by scholars to point to a salient feature of an Indo-Iranian religion antedating Zoroastrianism. Another related issue in Persian mythology is Mashya and Mashyana, two trees that were the ancestors of all living beings. This myth is a prototype for the creation myth, in which gods create living beings. In Urartu in the Armenian highlands, the tree of life was a religious symbol and was drawn on walls of fortresses and carved on the armor of warriors. The branches of the tree were equally divided on the right and left sides of the stem, with each branch having one leaf, and one leaf on the apex of the tree. Servants stood on each side of the tree with one of their hands up as if they are taking care of the tree. The Borjgali (Georgian: ბორჯღალი) is an ancient Georgian tree of life symbol.” ref
Hinduism
“A genre of the sacred books of Hinduism, the Puranas, mention a divine tree called the Kalpavriksha. This divine tree is guarded by gandharvas in the garden of the mythological city of Amaravati under the control of Indra, the king of the devas (‘shiny’, ‘exalted’, ‘heavenly being’, ‘divine being’, ‘anything of excellence’, and a deity). Likewise, gandharvas are celestial beings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they are regarded to be the celestial demigods who serve as the musicians of the devas. In one story, for a very long time, the devas and the asuras decided to churn the milky ocean to obtain amrita, the nectar of immortality, and share it equally. During the churning, along with many other mythical items, emerged the Kalpavriksha. It is described to be gold in color and bear a mesmerising aura. It is said to be pleased with chanting and offers: when it is pleased, it grants every wish. Hindu tradition holds that there are five separate kalpavrikshas, and each of them grants different types of wishes. These trees also appear in the beliefs of Jainism.” ref
Chinese mythology
“Fusang is a mythical world tree or place located far east of China. In the Classic of Mountains and Seas and several contemporary texts, the term refers to a mythological tree of life, alternatively identified as a mulberry or a hibiscus, allegedly growing far to the east of China, and perhaps to various more concrete territories which are located to the east of the mainland. A country which was named Fusang was described by the native Buddhist missionary Huishen (慧深, Huìshēn), also variously romanized as Hui Shen, Hoei-sin, and Hwai Shan. In his record dated to CE 499 during China’s Northern and Southern dynastic period, he describes Fusang as a place which is located 20,000 Chinese li to the east of Dahan, and it is also located to the east of China (according to Joseph Needham, Dahan corresponds to the Buriat region of Siberia). An earlier account claims that in 219 BCE or 2,219 years ago, emperor Shi Huang sent an expedition of some 3,000 convicts to a place which was located far off to the east, across the ocean, a place which was called Fusang, where they were required to make a sacrifice to a volcano god who held the elixir of life. Apparently, two expeditions were undertaken by Xu Fu, the court sorcerer, in order to seek the elixir of life. The first expedition returned c. 210 BCE because Xu Fu claimed that a giant sea creature was blocking his men’s path. Archers were then sent to kill this monster when the expedition set out a second time, but it was never heard from again. However, “… asides in the Record of the Historian imply that its leader Xu Fu had returned to China long ago and was lurking somewhere near Langya, frittering away the expedition’s impressive budget.” ref
“In Chinese mythology, Fusang refers to a divine tree and an island which are both located in the East, from where the sun rises. A similar tree, known as the Ruomu (若木) exists in the west, and each morning, the sun was said to rise in Fusang and fall on Ruomu. According to Chinese legends, ten birds (typically ravens) lived in the tree, and because nine of the birds rested, the tenth bird would carry the Sun on its journey. This legend has similarities with the Chinese tale of the fictional hero Houyi, sometimes referred to as the Archer, who is credited with saving the world by shooting down nine of the suns when all ten suns simultaneously took to the air one day. Some scholars have identified the bronze trees which were found at the archaeological site Sanxingdui as these Fusang trees. In Chinese mythology, a carving of a tree of life depicts a phoenix and a dragon; the dragon often represents immortality. A Taoist story tells of a tree that produces a peach of immortality every three thousand years, and anyone who eats the fruit receives immortality. A sacrificial pit at Sanxingdui in Sichuan, China. Dating from about 1200 BCE or 3,200 years ago, it contained three bronze trees, one of them 4 meters high. At the base was a dragon, and fruit hanging from the lower branches. At the top is a bird-like (Phoenix) creature with claws. Also found in Sichuan, from the late Han dynasty (c. 25–220 CE), is another tree of life. The ceramic base is guarded by a horned beast with wings. It is a sacred beech tree planted by Kayra Han. Sometimes, it is considered axis mundi. The leaves of the tree represent coins and people. At the apex is a bird with coins and the Sun. The world tree or tree of life is an important symbol in Turkic mythology. It is a common motif in carpets. It is used in the logo of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Turkey) and the main design of the common Turkish lira sub-unit 5 kuruş. Tree of life is known as Ulukayın or Baiterek in Turkic communities. The tree of life connects the upper world, middle world and underworld. It is also imagined as the “white creator lord” (yryn-al-tojon), thus synonymous with the creator deity, giving rise to different worlds.” ref
Europe
“In Greek mythology, Hera is gifted a branch growing golden apples by her grandmother Gaia, which are then planted in Hera’s Garden of the Hesperides. The dragon Ladon guards the tree(s) from all who would take the apples. The three golden apples that Aphrodite gave to Hippomenes to distract Atalanta three times during their footrace allowed him to win Atalanta’s hand in marriage. Though it is not specified in ancient myth, many assume that Aphrodite gathered those apples from Hera’s tree(s). Eris stole one of these apples and carved the words ΤΗΙ ΚΑΛΛΙΣΤΗΙ, “to the fairest”, upon it to create the Apple of Discord. Heracles retrieved three of the apples as the eleventh of his Twelve Labors. The Garden of the Hesperides is often compared to Eden, the golden apples are compared to the forbidden fruit of the tree in Genesis, and Ladon is often compared to the snake in Eden, all of which is part of why the forbidden fruit of Eden is usually represented as an apple in European art, even though Genesis does not specifically name nor describe any characteristics of the fruit. In Dictionnaire Mytho-Hermetique (Paris, 1737), Antoine-Joseph Pernety, a famous alchemist, identified the tree of life with the Elixir of life and the Philosopher’s Stone. In Eden in the East (1998), Stephen Oppenheimer suggests that a tree-worshipping culture arose in Indonesia and was diffused by the so-called “Younger Dryas” event of c. 10,900 BCE or 12,900 years ago, after which the sea level rose. This culture reached China (Sichuan), then India and the Middle East. Finally the Finno-Ugric strand of this diffusion spread through Russia to Finland where the Norse myth of Yggdrasil took root. In Germanic paganism, trees played (and, in the form of reconstructive Heathenry and Germanic Neopaganism, continue to play) a prominent role, appearing in various aspects of surviving texts and possibly in the name of gods. The tree of life appears in Norse religion as Yggdrasil, the world tree, a massive tree (sometimes considered a yew or ash tree) with extensive lore surrounding it. Perhaps related to Yggdrasil, accounts have survived of Germanic Tribes honouring sacred trees within their societies. Examples include Thor’s Oak, sacred groves, the Sacred tree at Uppsala, and the wooden Irminsul pillar. In Norse Mythology, the apples from Iðunn‘s ash box provide immortality for the gods.” ref
Menorah “Tree of Life” (Asherah goddess related) symbol with 7 or 9 branches?
Jewish sources: Etz Chaim and Biblical tree of life
“Etz Chaim (Hebrew: עץ חיים), Hebrew for “tree of life,” appears in the Book of Genesis and is part of the story of the creation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Thus the term is a common term used in Judaism. The expression, found in the Book of Proverbs, is figuratively applied to the Torah itself. Etz Chaim is also a common name for yeshivas and synagogues as well as for works of Rabbinic literature. It is also used to describe each of the wooden poles to which the parchment of a Sefer Torah is attached. The tree of life is mentioned in the Book of Genesis; it is distinct from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they were driven out of the Garden of Eden. Remaining in the garden, however, was the tree of life. To prevent their access to this tree in the future, Cherubim with a flaming sword were placed at the east of the garden. In the Book of Proverbs, the tree of life is associated with wisdom: “[Wisdom] is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her, and happy [is every one] that retaineth her.” In Proverbs 15:4, the tree of life is associated with calmness: “A soothing tongue is a tree of life; but perverseness therein is a wound to the spirit.” In the Ashkenazic liturgy, the Eitz Chayim is a piyyut commonly sung as the Sefer Torah is returned to the Torah ark. The Book of Enoch, generally considered non-canonical, states that in the time of the great judgment, God will give all those whose names are in the Book of Life fruit to eat from the tree of life.” ref
“The menorah is a prominent symbol in the Jewish faith and plays a central role in the celebration of Hanukkah. Likewise, the “Tree of Life” carries different meanings across faiths but holds special meaning in Judaism for its connection to the Torah, the Jewish people’s most sacred text. Genesis, the first book of the Torah, locates the “Tree of Life” at the heart of the Garden of Eden (2.4–3:24), and Proverbs 3:18 teaches: “[The Torah] is a tree of life to those who hold her close.” For many, the tree represents growth, stability, and fertility as well as hope for and connection to future generations. The extensive roots and intertwined branches illustrate family connections.” ref
Kabbalah: Tree of life (Kabbalah)
Jewish mysticism depicts the tree of life in the form of ten interconnected nodes, as the central symbol of the Kabbalah. It comprises the ten Sefirot powers in the divine realm. The panentheistic and anthropomorphic emphasis of this emanationist theology interpreted the Torah, Jewish observance, and the purpose of Creation as the symbolic esoteric drama of unification in the sefirot, restoring harmony to Creation. From the Renaissance onwards, Kabbalah became incorporated as tradition in Christian Western esotericism as Hermetic Qabalah.
Northern America
“In a myth passed down among the Iroquois, The World on the Turtle’s Back, explains the origin of the land in which a tree of life is described. According to the myth, it is found in the heavens, where the first humans lived, until a pregnant woman fell and landed in an endless sea. Saved by a giant turtle from drowning, she formed the world on its back by planting bark taken from the tree. The tree of life motif is present in the traditional Ojibwe cosmology and traditions. It is sometimes described as Grandmother Cedar, or Nookomis Giizhig in Anishinaabemowin. In the book Black Elk Speaks, Black Elk, an Oglala Lakota (Sioux) wičháša wakȟáŋ (medicine man and holy man), describes his vision in which after dancing around a dying tree that has never bloomed he is transported to the other world (spirit world) where he meets wise elders, 12 men and 12 women. The elders tell Black Elk that they will bring him to meet “Our Father, the two-legged chief” and bring him to the center of a hoop where he sees the tree in full leaf and bloom and the “chief” standing against the tree. Coming out of his trance he hopes to see that the earthly tree has bloomed, but it is dead. The Oneidas tell that supernatural beings lived in the Skyworld above the waters which covered the earth. This tree was covered with fruits which gave them their light, and they were instructed that no one should cut into the tree otherwise a great punishment would be given. As the woman had pregnancy cravings, she sent her husband to get bark, but he accidentally dug a hole to the other world. After falling through, she came to rest on the turtle’s back, and four animals were sent out to find land, which the muskrat finally did.” ref
Mesoamerica: Mesoamerican world tree
The concept of world trees is a prevalent motif in the Mesoamerican cosmovision and iconography, appearing in the pre-Columbian era. World trees embody the four cardinal directions, which represented also the fourfold nature of a central world tree, a symbolic axis mundi connecting the planes of the Underworld and the sky with that of the terrestrial world. Depictions of world trees, both in their directional and central aspects, are found in the art and mythological traditions of cultures such as the Maya, Aztec, Izapan, Mixtec, Olmec, and others, dating to at least the Mid/Late Formative periods of the Mesoamerican chronology. The tomb of Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal of the Maya city-state of Palenque, who became its ajaw or leader when he was twelve years old, has tree of life inscriptions within the walls of his burial place, showing just how important it was. Among the Maya, the central world tree was conceived as or represented by a Ceiba pentandra and is known variously as a wacah chan or yax imix che in different Mayan languages. The trunk of the tree could also be represented by an upright caiman, whose skin evokes the tree’s spiny trunk. Directional world trees are also associated with the four Year Bearers in Mesoamerican calendars and associated with the directional colors and deities. Mesoamerican codices which have this association outlined include the Dresden, Borgia and Fejérváry-Mayer codices. It is supposed that Mesoamerican sites and ceremonial centers frequently had actual trees planted at each of the four cardinal directions, representing the quadripartite concept. World trees are frequently depicted with birds in their branches, and their roots extending into earth or water, sometimes atop a “water-monster,” symbolic of the underworld. The central world tree has also been interpreted as a representation of the band of the Milky Way.” ref
Egypt
“In Egyptian mythology, the Tree of Life is said to have been kept in an open courtyard on full display in the Sun temple of Ra in Heliopolis. It is believed to have been kept with the Ben-Ben Stone, which was a capstone in the shape of a pyramid that sat atop a sacred Obelisk. The Great Cat was a personification of the deity Ra, which is believed to have guarded the Tree of Life. In Egyptian mythology, the secretary of the sun god Ra and scribe of the underworld, Thoth, inscribed Ra’s name and the length of his reign on the leaves and fruit of the Tree of Life. The purpose of this was to protect Ra and preserve his name. Ancient Egyptians believed that eating the fruit of the sacred Ished Tree of Life that had been offered by the gods was a guarantee of eternal life. In Egyptian mythology, the Tree of Life was thought to have held the Knowledge of the Divine Plan. This was essentially a plan or timeline of all creation, starting at the very beginning of time. The Tree of Life in Ancient Egypt was home to the Phoenix, also known as the Bennu Bird. As such, it held strong links with resurrection and represented the rising sun. Egyptian mythology details instances in which the Sun god, Ra, would split the Ished Tree of Life in the morning after he was victorious over his enemies. The Tree of Life plays a key role in the creation story in Ancient Egyptian mythology. The myth goes that the Tree of Life rose from the Sacred Mound. Once it had risen, the tree’s branches reached up and out into the sky and supported the various stars and planets. Its branches also reached down into the watery abyss of the underworld. The trunk of the Tree of Life is also of individual significance. The trunk is believed to have represented the World Pillar around which the heavens would revolve. The World Pillar was the centre of the entire universe. At the foot of the Tree of Life were four river sources. The sources of these rivers would provide water to the world. The orientation of these four rivers was important, as they all correlated with a cardinal point of the compass. Each point of the compass, and its corresponding river, was associated with a specific element. For example, water was associated with the North Point, fire was associated with the South Point, air was associated with the East Point, and earth was associated with the West Point.” ref
The Baobab Tree: Africa’s Iconic “Tree of Life”
“Adansonia trees are known as baobabs. The eight species of Adansonia are native to Africa, Australia, and Madagascar, but have also been introduced to other regions of the world, including Barbados, where several of the baobabs there are suspected to have originated from Africa. Baobab trees hold cultural and spiritual significance in many African societies. They are often the sites of communal gatherings, storytelling, and rituals. An unusual baobab was the namesake of Kukawa, formerly the capital of the Bornu Empire, southwest of Lake Chad in Central Africa. In West Africa, the South Asian Moringa oleifera tree is regarded as a “tree of life” or “miracle tree” by some because it is arguably the most nutritious source of plant-derived food discovered on the planet.” ref, ref
“Native to the African savannah, where the climate is extremely dry and arid, it is a symbol of life and positivity in a landscape where little else can thrive. Over time, the Baobab has adapted to its environment. It is a succulent, which means that during the rainy season it absorbs and stores water in its vast trunk, enabling it to produce a nutrient-dense fruit in the dry season when all around is dry and arid. This is how it became known as “The Tree of Life”. Baobab trees grow in 32 African countries. They can live for up to 5,000 years, reach up to 30 metres high, and up to an enormous 50 metres in circumference. Baobab trees can provide shelter, food, and water for animals and humans, which is why many savannah communities have made their homes near Baobab trees. Every part of the baobab tree is valuable – the bark can be turned into rope and clothing, the seeds can be used to make cosmetic oils, the leaves are edible, the trunks can store water, and the fruit is extraordinarily rich in nutrients and antioxidants. Women in Africa have turned to the baobab fruit as a natural source of health and beauty for centuries. Baobab is the only fruit in the world that dries naturally on its branch. Instead of dropping and spoiling, it stays on the branch and bakes in the sun for 6 months, transforming its green velvety coating into a hard coconut-like shell.” ref
“The world tree is a motif present in several religions and mythologies, particularly Indo-European, Siberian, and Native American religions. The central world tree has also been interpreted as a representation of the band of the Milky Way.” ref
“Turtle Island is a name for Earth or North America, used by some American Indigenous peoples, as well as by some Indigenous rights activists. The name is based on a creation myth common to several indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands of North America.” ref
World Turtle (Mound of Creation)
“The World Turtle, also called the Cosmic Turtle or the World-bearing Turtle, is a mytheme of a giant turtle (or tortoise) supporting or containing the world. It occurs in Hindu mythology, Chinese mythology, and the mythologies of some of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
“The earth-diver is a common character in various traditional creation myths. In these stories, a supreme being usually sends an animal (most often a type of bird, but also crustaceans, insects, and fish in some narratives) into the primal waters to find bits of sand or mud with which to build habitable land.” ref
Axis Mundi Mythology– cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar, center of the world, mound/mountain of creation, or “World/Cosmic tree,” or “Eagle and Serpent tree.” ref, ref
“The World Turtle, also called the Cosmic Turtle or the World-bearing Turtle, is a mytheme of a giant turtle (or tortoise) supporting or containing the world. It occurs in Hindu mythology, Chinese mythology, and the mythologies of some of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.” ref
I am rather sure about the Mound order but not sure about the order of the mythology as mounds can be set in time by archaeology. To me, mounds relate mainly to the “Mound of Creation,” primeval mound/hill/mountain (that emerges out of water) or the “Axis Mundi” thinking: cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar, the center of the world, World tree, Sacred Mountain/World Mountain, etc. “(such as Mount Olympus in Greek mythology) or are related to famous events (like Mount Sinai in Judaism and descendant religions or Mount Kailash, Mount Meru in Hinduism). In some cases, the sacred mountain is purely mythical, like the Hara Berezaiti in Zoroastrianism. Mount Kailash is believed to be the abode of the deities Shiva and Parvati, and is considered sacred in four religions: Hinduism, Bon, Buddhism, and Jainism. Volcanoes, such as Mount Etna in Italy, were also considered sacred; Mount Etna is believed to have been the home of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and the forge.” ref
I explain how all mounds shared similar myths and world views; thus, this is why so many seem similar. I explain how Ancient Egypt, Sumerians, and Hinduism all have something similar to a Mound of Creation, and what the Shell mounds/Kurgans/Dolmens/Earth Mounds/Pyramids relate. In Siberia/Americas, it is more related to Earth Diver myths, but they also have animals build a Mound of Creation. Also, many Connect to the Axis mundi, which can and often does relate to a world mountain/mound of creation.
Axis Mundi
“In astronomy, axis mundi is the Latin term for the axis of Earth between the celestial poles. In a geocentric coordinate system, this is the axis of rotation of the celestial sphere. Consequently, in ancient Greco-Roman astronomy, the axis mundi is the axis of rotation of the planetary spheres within the classical geocentric model of the cosmos. In 20th-century comparative mythology, the term axis mundi – also called the cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar, the center of the world, or world tree – has been greatly extended to refer to any mythological concept representing “the connection between Heaven and Earth” or the “higher and lower realms.” ref
“Mircea Eliade introduced the concept in the 1950s. Axis mundi closely relates to the mythological concept of the omphalos (navel) of the world or cosmos. Items adduced as examples of the axis mundi by comparative mythologists include plants (notably a tree but also other types of plants such as a vine or stalk), a mountain, a column of smoke or fire, or a product of human manufacture (such as a staff, a tower, a ladder, a staircase, a maypole, a cross, a steeple, a rope, a totem pole, a pillar, a spire). Its proximity to heaven may carry implications that are chiefly religious (pagoda, temple mount, minaret, church) or secular (obelisk, lighthouse, rocket, skyscraper). The image appears in religious and secular contexts. The axis mundi symbol may be found in cultures utilizing shamanic practices or animist belief systems, in major world religions, and in technologically advanced “urban centers”. In Mircea Eliade‘s opinion: “Every Microcosm, every inhabited region, has a Centre; that is to say, a place that is sacred above all.” ref
“There are multiple interpretations about the origin of the concept of the axis mundi. One psychological and sociological interpretation suggests that the symbol originates in a natural and universal psychological perception – i.e., that the particular spot that one occupies stands at “the center of the world”. This space serves as a microcosm of order because it is known and settled. Outside the boundaries of the microcosm lie foreign realms that – because they are unfamiliar or not ordered – represent chaos, death, or night. From the center, one may still venture in any of the four cardinal directions, make discoveries, and establish new centers as new realms become known and settled. The name of China — meaning “Middle Nation” (中国 pinyin: Zhōngguó) – is often interpreted as an expression of an ancient perception that the Chinese polity (or group of polities) occupied the center of the world, with other lands lying in various directions relative to it.” ref
“A second interpretation suggests that ancient symbols such as the axis mundi lie in a particular philosophical or metaphysical representation of a common and culturally shared philosophical concept, which is that of a natural reflection of the macrocosm (or existence at grand scale) in the microcosm (which consists of either an individual, community, or local environment that shares the same principles and structures as the macrocosm). In this metaphysical representation of the universe, mankind is placed into an existence that serves as a microcosm of the universe or the entire cosmic existence, and who – in order to achieve higher states of existence or liberation into the macrocosm – must gain necessary insights into universal principles that can be represented by his life or environment in the microcosm. In many religious and philosophical traditions around the world, mankind is seen as a sort of bridge between either: two worlds, the earthly and the heavenly (as in Hindu, and Taoist philosophical and theological systems); or three worlds, namely the earthly, heavenly, and the “sub-earthly” or “infra-earthly” (e.g., the underworld, as in the Ancient Greek, Incan, Mayan, and Ancient Egyptian religious systems). Spanning these philosophical systems is the belief that man traverses a sort of axis, or path, which can lead from man’s current central position in the intermediate realms into heavenly or sub-earthly realms. Thus, in this view, symbolic representations of a vertical axis represent a path of “ascent” or “descent” into other spiritual or material realms, and often capture a philosophy that considers human life to be a quest in which one develops insights or perfections in order to move beyond this current microcosmic realm and to engage with the grand macrocosmic order.” ref
“In other interpretations, an axis mundi is more broadly defined as a place of connection between heavenly and the earthly realms – often a mountain or other elevated site. Tall mountains are often regarded as sacred and some have shrines erected at the summit or base. Mount Kunlun fills a similar role in China. Mount Kailash is holy to Hinduism and several religions in Tibet. The Pitjantjatjara people in central Australia consider Uluru to be central to both their world and culture. The Teide volcano was for the Canarian aborigines (Guanches) a kind of axis mundi. In ancient Mesopotamia, the cultures of ancient Sumer and Babylon built tall platforms, or ziggurats, to elevate temples on the flat river plain. Hindu temples in India are often situated on high mountains – e.g., Amarnath, Tirupati, Vaishno Devi, etc. The pre-Columbian residents of Teotihuacán in Mexico erected huge pyramids, featuring staircases leading to heaven. These Amerindian temples were often placed on top of caves or subterranean springs, which were thought to be openings to the underworld. Jacob’s Ladder is an axis mundi image, as is the Temple Mount. For Christians, the Cross on Mount Calvary expresses this symbol. The Middle Kingdom, China, had a central mountain, Kunlun, known in Taoist literature as “the mountain at the middle of the world”. To “go into the mountains” meant to dedicate oneself to a spiritual life.” ref
“As the abstract concept of axis mundi is present in many cultural traditions and religious beliefs, it can be thought to exist in any number of locales at once. Mount Hermon was regarded as the axis mundi in Canaanite tradition, from where the sons of God are introduced descending in 1 Enoch 6:6. The ancient Armenians had a number of holy sites, the most important of which was Mount Ararat, which was thought to be the home of the gods as well as the center of the universe. Likewise, the ancient Greeks regarded several sites as places of Earth’s omphalos (navel) stone, notably the oracle at Delphi, while still maintaining a belief in a cosmic world tree and in Mount Olympus as the abode of the gods. Judaism has the Temple Mount; Christianity has the Mount of Olives and Calvary; and Islam has the Ka’aba (said to be the first building on Earth), as well as the Temple Mount (Dome of the Rock). In Hinduism, Mount Kailash is identified with the mythical Mount Meru and regarded as the home of Shiva; in Vajrayana Buddhism, Mount Kailash is recognized as the most sacred place where all the dragon currents converge and is regarded as the gateway to Shambhala. In Shinto, the Ise Shrine is the omphalos.” ref
“Sacred places can constitute world centers (omphaloi), with an altar or place of prayer as the axis. Altars, incense sticks, candles, and torches form the axis by sending a column of smoke, and prayer, toward heaven. It has been suggested by Romanian religious historian Mircea Eliade that architecture of sacred places often reflects this role: “Every temple or palace – and by extension, every sacred city or royal residence – is a Sacred Mountain, thus becoming a Centre.” Pagoda structures in Asian temples take the form of a stairway linking earth and heaven. A steeple in a church or a minaret in a mosque also serve as connections of earth and heaven. Structures such as the maypole, derived from the Saxons‘ Irminsul, and the totem pole among indigenous peoples of the Americas also represent world axes. The calumet, or sacred pipe, represents a column of smoke (the soul) rising from a world center. A mandala creates a world center within the boundaries of its two-dimensional space analogous to that created in three-dimensional space by a shrine. In the classical elements and the Vedic Pancha Bhoota, the axis mundi corresponds to Aether, the quintessence.” ref
“A common shamanic concept, and a universally told story, is that of the healer traversing the axis mundi to bring back knowledge from the other world. It may be seen in the stories from Odin and the World Ash Tree to the Garden of Eden and Jacob’s Ladder to Jack and the Beanstalk and Rapunzel. It is the essence of the journey described in The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The epic poem relates its hero’s descent and ascent through a series of spiral structures that take him through the core of the earth, from the depths of hell to celestial paradise. It is also a central tenet in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Anyone or anything suspended on the axis between heaven and earth becomes a repository of potential knowledge. A special status accrues to the thing suspended: a serpent, a rod, a fruit, mistletoe. Derivations of this idea find form in the Rod of Asclepius, an emblem of the medical profession, and in the caduceus, an emblem of correspondence and commercial professions. The staff in these emblems represents the axis mundi, while the serpents act as guardians of, or guides to, knowledge.” ref
“Secular structures can also function as axes mundi. In Navajo culture, the hogan acts as a symbolic cosmic center. In some Asian cultures, houses were traditionally laid out in the form of a square oriented toward the four compass directions. A traditional home was oriented toward the sky through feng shui, a system of geomancy, just as a palace would be. Traditional Arab houses are also laid out as a square surrounding a central fountain that evokes a primordial garden paradise. Mircea Eliade noted that “the symbolism of the pillar in [European] peasant houses likewise derives from the ‘symbolic field’ of the axis mundi. In many archaic dwellings, the central pillar does in fact serve as a means of communication with the heavens, with the sky.” The nomadic peoples of Mongolia and the Americas more often lived in circular structures. The central pole of the tent still operated as an axis, but a fixed reference to the four compass points was avoided.” ref
“Plants often serve as images of the axis mundi. The image of the Cosmic Tree provides an axis symbol that unites three planes: sky (branches), earth (trunk), and underworld (roots). In some Pacific Island cultures, the banyan tree – of which the Bodhi tree is of the Sacred Fig variety – is the abode of ancestor spirits. In the Hindu religion, the banyan tree is considered sacred and is called ashwath vriksha (“Of all trees I am the banyan tree” – Bhagavad Gita). It represents eternal life because of its seemingly ever-expanding branches. The Bodhi tree is also the name given to the tree under which Gautama Siddhartha, the historical Buddha, sat on the night he attained enlightenment.” ref
“The Mesoamerican world tree connects the planes of the underworld and the sky with that of the terrestrial realm. The Yggdrasil, or World Ash, functions in much the same way in Norse mythology; it is the site where Odin found enlightenment. Other examples include Jievaras in Lithuanian mythology and Thor’s Oak in the myths of the pre-Christian Germanic peoples. The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in Genesis present two aspects of the same image. Each is said to stand at the center of the paradise garden from which four rivers flow to nourish the whole world. Each tree confers a boon. Bamboo, the plant from which Asian calligraphy pens are made, represents knowledge and is regularly found on Asian college campuses. The Christmas tree, which can be traced in its origins back to pre-Christian European beliefs, represents an axis mundi. In Yoruba religion, oil palm is the axis mundi (though not necessarily a “world tree”) that Ọrunmila climbs to alternate between heaven and earth.” ref
“The human body can express the symbol of the world axis. Some of the more abstract Tree of Life representations, such as the sefirot in Kabbalism and the chakra system recognized by Hinduism and Buddhism, merge with the concept of the human body as a pillar between heaven and earth. Disciplines such as yoga and tai chi begin from the premise of the human body as axis mundi. The Buddha represents a world center in human form. Large statues of a meditating figure unite the human form with the symbolism of the temple and tower. Astrology in all its forms assumes a connection between human health and affairs and celestial-body orientation. World religions regard the body itself as a temple and prayer as a column uniting earth and heaven. The ancient Colossus of Rhodes combined the role of the human figure with those of portal and skyscraper. The Renaissance image known as the Vitruvian Man represented a symbolic and mathematical exploration of the human form as world axis.” ref
The Center of the World “Axis Mundi” and/or “Sacred Mountains” Mythology Could Relate to the Altai Mountains, Heart of the Steppe
“Golden Mountains of Altai is the name of the Altai and Katun Natural Reserves, Lake Teletskoye, Belukha Mountain, and the Ukok Plateau. The region represents the most complete sequence of altitudinal vegetation zones in central Siberia, from steppe, forest-steppe, mixed forest, subalpine vegetation to alpine vegetation”. The Altai region is made up of four primary sites and landscapes: Mount Belukha, the Ukok Plateau, the Katun River, and the Karakol Valley. Mount Beluka is regarded as a sacred site to Buddhists and the Burkhanist. Their myths surrounding this portion of the mountain range lent credence to their claim that it was the location of Shangri-la (Shambala). The Ukok Plateau is an ancient burial site of the early Siberian people. Moreover, a number of myths are connected to this portion of the Golden Mountains. For example, the plateau was thought to have been the Elysian fields. The Katun River is an important religious location to the Altaians where they (during celebrations) utilize ancient ecological knowledge to restore and maintain the river. The Karakol Valley is home of three indigenous villages where tourism is greatly managed. While the Golden Mountains of Altai are listed on the World Heritage List under natural criteria, it holds information about the nomadic Scythian culture. The permafrost in these mountains has preserved Scythian burial mounds. These frozen tombs, or kurgans, hold metal objects, pieces of gold, mummified bodies, tattooed bodies, sacrificed horses, wood/leather objects, clothes, textiles, etc. However, the Ukok Plateau (in the Altai Mountains) is a sacred site to the Altai people, so archeologists and scholars who are looking to excavate the site for human remains raise controversy.” ref
Altai Mountains
“The Altai Mountains (also spelled Altay Mountains), are a mountain range in Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their headwaters. The massif merges with the Sayan Mountains in the northeast, and gradually becomes lower in the southeast, where it merges into the high plateau of the Gobi Desert. It spans from about 45° to 52° N and from about 84° to 99° E. The region is inhabited by a sparse but ethnically diverse population, including Russians, Kazakhs, Altais, and Mongols. The local economy is based on bovine, sheep, and horse husbandry, agriculture, forestry, and mining. The controversial Altaic language family takes its name from this mountain range.” ref
“The name comes from two words: al meaning “gold/reddish/yellowish” in Mongolic language, and -tai meaning “mountain” in Turkic languages too; thus, literally, the “Golden Mountain”. That matches their old Chinese name 金山, literally “Gold Mountain”. Also, the word altın/altun/al which means gold is a cognate word for Turkic and Mongolic languages. The mountains are called Altain nuruu (Алтайн нуруу) in Khalkha Mongolian, altai-yin niruɣu in Chakhar Mongolian, and Altay tuular (Алтай туулар) in the Altay language. They are also called Алтай таулары or التاي تاۋلارى in Kazakh; Altay dağları in Turkish; Altajskije gory (Алтайские горы) in Russian; Altay Taghliri (ىالتاي تاغلىرى or Алтай Тағлири) in Uyghur; ā’ěrtài shānmài in Chinese (阿尔泰山脉 simplified, 阿爾泰山脈 traditional, or اَعَرتَىْ شًامَىْ in Xiao’erjing); and Arteː shanmeː (Артэ Шанмэ) in Dungan.” ref
“In the north of the region is the Sailughem Mountains, also known as Kolyvan Altai, which stretch northeast from 49° N and 86° E towards the western extremity of the Sayan Mountains in 51° 60′ N and 89° E. Their mean elevation is 1,500 to 1,750 m. The snow-line runs at 2,000 m on the northern side and at 2,400 m on the southern, and above it the rugged peaks tower some 1,000 m higher. Mountain passes across the range are few and difficult, the chief being the Ulan-daban at 2,827 m (2,879 m according to Kozlov), and the Chapchan-daban, at 3,217 m, in the south and north respectively. On the east and southeast this range is flanked by the great plateau of Mongolia, the transition being affected gradually by means of several minor plateaus, such as Ukok (2,380 m) with Pazyryk Valley, Chuya (1,830 m), Kendykty (2,500 m), Kak (2,520 m), (2,590 m), and (2,410 m). This region is studded with large lakes, e.g. Uvs 720 m above sea level, Khyargas, Dorgon, and Khar 1,170 m, and traversed by various mountain ranges, of which the principal are the Tannu-Ola Mountains, running roughly parallel with the Sayan Mountains as far east as the Kosso-gol, and the Khan Khökhii mountains, also stretching west and east.” ref
“The Altai mountains are home to a diverse fauna, because of its different habitats, like steppes, northern taigas, and alpine vegetation. Steep slopes are home to the Siberian ibex (Capra sibirica), whereas the rare argali (Ovis ammon) is found on more gentle slopes. Deer are represented by five species: Altai wapiti (Cervus elaphus sibiricus), moose (Alces alces), forest reindeer (Rangifer tarandus valentinae), Siberian musk deer (Moschus moschiferus), and Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus). Moose and reindeer, however, are restricted to the northern parts of the mountain range. The wild boar (Sus scrofa) is found in the lower foothills and surrounding lowlands. Until recently, the Mongolian gazelle (Procapra gutturosa) was found in the Russian Altai mountains, more specifically in the Chuya River steppe close to the Mongolian border. Large predators are represented by snow leopards (Panthera uncia, syn. Uncia uncia), wolves (Canis lupus), lynx (Lynx lynx), and brown bears (Ursus arctos), in the northern parts also by the wolverine (Gulo gulo). The Tien Shan dhole (Cuon alpinus hesperius) (a northwestern subspecies of the Asiatic wild dog) also lives there. And until the 20th century, the Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) was found in the southern parts of the Altai mountains, where it reached Lake Zaisan and the Black Irtysh. Single individuals were also shot further north, for example, close to Barnaul. Closely related to the Caspian tiger is the extant Amur tiger, which has the taxonomic name Panthera tigris altaica. The wisent was present in the Altai mountains until the Middle Ages, perhaps even until the 18th century. Today, there is a small herd in a nursery in the Altai Republic.” ref
“The Altai mountains have retained a remarkably stable climate-changing little since the last ice age. In addition, the mix of mammals has remained largely the same, with a few exceptions such as extinct mammoths, making it one of the few places on earth to retain an ice age fauna. The Altai mountains were home to the Denisovan branch of hominids who were contemporaries of Neanderthals and of Homo sapiens (modern humans), descended from Hominids who reached Asia earlier than modern humans. The Denisova hominin, dated to 40,000 years ago, was discovered in the Denisova Cave of the Altai mountains in southern Siberia. Knowledge of the Denisovan humans derives primarily from DNA evidence and artifacts, as no complete skeletons have yet been recovered. DNA evidence has been unusually well preserved because of the low average temperature in the Denisova caves. Neanderthal bones and tools made by Homo sapiens have also been found in the Denisova Cave, making it the only place in the world where all three hominids are known to have lived.” ref
A dog-like canid from 33,000 years ago was found in the Razboinichya Cave. DNA analysis published affirmed that it was more closely related to modern dogs than to wolves. The Altai Mountains have been identified as being the point of origin of a cultural enigma termed the Seima-Turbino Phenomenon which arose during the Bronze Age around the start of the 2nd millennium BCE and led to a rapid and massive migration of peoples from the region into distant parts of Europe and Asia.” ref
The five highest mountains of the Altai are:
· Belukha, 4,506 m (14,783 ft), Kazakhstan–Russia
· Khüiten Peak , 4,374 m (14,350 ft), China–Mongolia
· Mönkh Khairkhan , 4,204 m (13,793 ft), Mongolia
· Sutai Mountain , 4,220 m (13,850 ft), Mongolia
· Tsambagarav , 4,195 m (13,763 ft), Mongolia ref
“Sacred mountains are central to certain religions and are the subjects of many legends. For many, the most symbolic aspect of a mountain is the peak because it is believed that it is closest to heaven or other religious worlds. Many religions have traditions centered on sacred mountains, which either are or were considered holy (such as Mount Olympus in Greek mythology) or are related to famous events (like Mount Sinai in Judaism and descendant religions). In some cases, the sacred mountain is purely mythical, like the Hara Berezaiti in Zoroastrianism. Mount Kailash is believed to be the abode of the Hindu deities Shiva and Parvati, and is considered sacred in four religions: Hinduism, Bon, Buddhism, and Jainism. Volcanoes, such as Mount Etna in Italy, were also considered sacred, Mount Etna being believed to have been the home of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and the forge. The north face of Mount Kailash, a mountain in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China which is considered sacred by four religions.” ref
Greek and Inca
“Mount Olympus is the highest mountain peak in Greece. It was once regarded as the “home of the Greek Gods/The Twelve Olympians of the Hellenistic World”. It was also considered the site of the War of the Titans (Titanomachy) where Zeus and his siblings defeated the Titans. Mount Othrys is a mountain in Central Greece, which is believed to be the home of the Titans during the ten-year war with the Gods of Mount Olympus.” ref
“Mount Ida, also known as Mountain of the Goddess, refers to two specific mountains: one in the Greek island of Crete and the other in Turkey (formerly known as Asia Minor). Mount Ida is the highest mountain on the island of Crete is the sacred mountain of the Titaness Rhea, also known as the mother of the Greek Gods. It is also believed to be the cave where Greek God Zeus was born and raised.” ref
“The other Mount Ida is located in Northwestern Turkey alongside the ruins of Troy (in reference to the Hellenistic Period). The mountain was dedicated to Cybele, the Phrygian (modern-day Turkey) version of Earth Mother. Cybele was the goddess of caverns and mountains. Some refer to her as the “Great Mother” or “Mother of the Mountain”. The mythic Trojan War is said to have taken place at Mount Ida and that the Gods gathered upon the mountaintop to observe the epic fight. Mount Ida in Turkey is also represented in many of the stories of Greek author Homer such as Iliad and Odyssey.” ref
“Mount Athos, located in Greece, is also referred to as the Holy Mountain. It has great historical connections with religion and classical mythology. In Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox forms of Christianity, it is believed that after the Ascension of the Lord, the Virgin Mary landed on the island and came upon a pagan temple. It was there that the pagan practitioners converted from paganism to Christianity. The Virgin Mary then blessed the land and claimed it her own.” ref
“In classical mythology, Mount Athos is named after the Thracian giant who battled Poseidon, God of the Sea, during the clash of the titans and Gods. It is also said that Greek historian was given the task of creating a canal through the mountain after the failed journey of Persian leader, Xerxes. Over time, Alexander the Great has become associated with the mountain for his worldly powers. The myth states that Roman architect Dinocrates had wanted to carve Alexander the Great’s figure onto the top of the mountain in tribute to him.” ref
“The ancient Inca displayed a connection with death and their mountains. It is well known by scholars that the Inca sensed a deep reservoir of spirituality along the mountain range. Situating their villages in the mountains, they felt these places acted as portal to the gods. Ritual child sacrifices called Capachochas were conducted annually, where the most precious gift that could be given (innocent, blemishless, perfect human life) would be sacrificed to the gods. Tremendous effort would be taken as the sacrificial victims would be paraded alive throughout the cities, with multiple festivals and feasts taking place. The final destination would be the tops of some of the highest mountains near their villages, leaving these sacrifices to freeze in the snow. These would take place during great times of distress, during times of famine, violent periods of war, and even during times of political shift. This connection with the mountain as a sacred space is paramount. There would be no other place that would be sufficient or acceptable enough for the gods to accept these gifts. It is neither a surprise nor a coincidence that their honored dead were placed on the highest peaks of the mountains to express the shared connection between the sacred mountain, the gods, and the dead.” ref
Other religious beliefs
“Machapuchare, a sacred Nepalese mountain, viewed from foothills. Various cultures around the world maintain the importance of mountain worship and sacredness. One example is the Taranaki peoples of New Zealand. The Taranaki tribe view Mount Taranaki as sacred. The tribe was historically sustained by this mountain’s waterways. As in other instances in Māori mythology, the mountain is anthropomorphised in various stories. For the tribespeople, Mount Taranaki has a deep spiritual significance and is seen as a life force. It is viewed as the place where life is given and to where people are returned after death.” ref
“In Korea, people have maintained ancient ways of worshiping mountain spirits. While they are not in fact worshiping the land itself, the gods associated with this worship are united to the land. These spirits are female entities to whom people pay tribute while passing by the mountains, asking for good luck and protection. People also travel to these mountains to ask for fertility. While people generally hold to these female deities for protection or to perpetuate life, one of their most important functions is to protect the dead. The ponhyangsansin is a guardian spirit that is protecting an important clan grave site in the village. Each mountain goddess has an equally interesting story that is tied to their accounts of war against Japan, and the historical legacy of their emperors. Each spirit learned difficult lessons and experienced some sort of hardship. These legacies in the mountains serve as a kind of monument to the history of Korea. While many of the accounts may be true, their details and accuracy are shrouded by time and ritual. While the inaugurations of new ponhyang san sin are not being conducted, fallen important clansmen and leaders are strategically placed in the mountains in order for these strong, heroine-like spirits may fiercely guard their graves. The history of Korea is in turn protecting its own future.” ref
“In Japan, Mount Kōya-san is the home to one of the holiest Buddhist monastery complexes in the country. It was founded by a saint, Kukai, who is also known as Kobo Dashi and is regarded as a famous wandering mystic; his teachings are infamous throughout Japan and he is credited with being an important figure in shaping early Japanese culture. Buddhists believe that Kobo Dashi is not dead, but will instead awake and assist in bringing enlightenment to all people, alongside the Buddha and other bodhisattvas. It is believed that he was shown the sacred place to build the monastery by a forest god; this site is now the location of a large cemetery that is flanked by 120 esoteric Buddhist temples. Approximately a million pilgrims visit Mount Kōya-san a year; these pilgrims have included both royals and commoners who wish to pay their respects to Kobo Dashi. Mount Fuji, known as Fuji-san in Japanese, is another sacred mountain in Japan. Several Shinto temples flank its base, which all pay homage to the mountain. A common belief is that Fuji-san is the incarnation of the earth spirit itself. The Fuki-ko sect maintains that the mountain is a holy being, and the home to the goddess Sengen-sama. Annual fire festivals are held there in her honor. Fuji-san is also the site of pilgrimages; reportedly, 40,000 people climb up to its summit every year.” ref
“Tibet’s Mount Kailash is a sacred place to five religions: Buddhism, Jainism, Hinduism, Bon Po (a native Tibetan religion prior to Buddhism), Sikhism, and Ayyavazhi religions. According to Hinduism and Ayyavazhi, Mount Kailash is the home of the deity Shiva. In the Hindu religion, Mount Kailash also plays an important role in Rama’s journey in the ancient Sanskrit epic, Ramayana. Buddhists hold that Mount Kailash is the home of Samvara, a guardian deity, and a representation of the Buddha. Buddhists believe that Mount Kailash has supernatural powers that are able to clean the sins of a lifetime of any person. Followers of Jainism believe that Kailash is the site where the founder of Jainism reached enlightenment. Bon Po teaches that Mount Kailash is the home of a wind goddess. Followers of Sikhism believe the 1st Sikh Guru, Guru Nanak arrived at Mt. Kailash during the 3rd Uddasi (divine journey) and debated with the Siddhas.” ref
“Mount Meru is a cosmic mountain which is described to be one of the highest points on Earth and is the center of all creation. In the Hindu religion, it is believed that Meru is home to the god Brahma, who is believed to be the father of the human race and all the demigods produced afterward. Indian cosmology believes that the sun, moon, and stars all revolve around Mount Meru. Folklore suggests the mountain rose up from the ground piercing the heavens giving it the moniker “navel of the universe”.” ref
“According to the Torah, and consequently the Old Testament of the Bible, Mount Sinai is the location that Moses received the Ten Commandments directly from God. The tablets form the covenant, which is a central cornerstone of the Jewish faith. Saint Catherine’s Monastery is located at the foot of Sinai. It was founded by empress Helena, who was the mother of the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine. It was completed under the rule of Justinian two centuries later. The monastery was visited by the prophet Muhammed, who blessed it and promised: “that it would be cherished by Muslims for all time”. Today, the monastery is home to a group of Greek Orthodox monks, as well as a large collection of Byzantine art, illuminated manuscripts, icons, and books; the collection of icons, in particular, has been proclaimed one of the oldest in the world.” ref
“The Navajo possess a strong belief system in regards to the natural-supernatural world and have a belief that objects have a supernatural quality. For example, the Navajo consider mountains to be sacred. There are four peaks, which are believed to have supernatural aspects. The mountains each represent a borderline of the original Navajo tribal land. The mountain ranges include Mount Taylor, the San Francisco Peaks, Blanca Peak, and Hesperus Peak located in the La Plata Mountains.” ref
“Each mountain/peak is representative of a color, direction, and correlates with a cultural light phenomenon dealing with the cosmic scheme of the rising and of the setting sun. Directionally, the mountains are described in a clockwise motion following the movement of the Sun beginning with the eastern mountain of Blanca Peak. Blanca Peak is associated with the color white and the “Dawn Man” referring to the rising of the sun. Next in the south is Mount Taylor, which is associated with the color blue and the “Horizontal Blue Man” referring to the daytime. In the west is the San Francisco Peaks, which is representative of the color yellow and the “Horizontal Yellow Woman” and is associated with the setting of the sun. And finally in the north is the Hesperus Peak of the La Plata Mountains which is given the color black and belongs to the light phenomenon of the “Darkness Woman” representing the nighttime.” ref
Community identity
“History shows that mountains were commonly part of a complex system of mountain and ancestor worship. Having immortalized fallen brethren in the edifice, the people share a common allegiance with all the other people of a community. The meanings that were etched into the mountain and mound terrain connected the villagers. They were all subject to the same landscape and village history, which were bound together by their cultural significance. The history of ancestors could be told by simply pointing at specific mountains and remembering the stories that were passed down throughout the generations. The worship of ancestors and the mountains were largely inseparable. An interconnected web between history, landscape, and culture was thus formed. Examples of this would be the Hindu belief that Mount Kailas is the final resting place for the souls of the dead, as well as the large cemetery placed on Mount Kōya-san.” ref
“Sacred mountains can also provide an important piece of a culture’s identity. For example, Bruno Messerli and Jack Ives write, “The Armenian people regard Mount Ararat, a volcano in eastern Turkey believed to be the site of Noah’s Ark in the Bible, to be a symbol of their natural and cultural identity”. As a result of the mountain’s role as a part of a cultural identity, even people who do not live close to the mountain feel that events occurring to the mountain are relevant to their own personal lives. This results in communities banning certain activities near the mountain, especially if those activities are seen as potentially destructive to the sacred mountain itself.” ref
Pilgrimages
“To date, Kailash has never been climbed, largely due to the fact that the idea of climbing the mountain is seen as a major sacrilege. Instead, the worshipful embark on a pilgrimage known as the kora. The kora consists of a 32-mile path that circles the mountain, which typically takes five days with little food and water. Various icons, prayer flags, and other symbols of the four religions that believe Kailash is sacred mark the way. To Buddhists and Hindus, the pilgrimage is considered a major moment in a person’s spiritual life. Olsen writes, “One circuit is believed to erase a lifetime of sin, while 108 circuits is believed to ensure enlightenment”. As one of the most sacred mountains in the Middle East, mentioned in the Old Testament can be seen on the mountain’s summit, such as the area where Moses “sheltered from the total glory of God”.” ref
“Sacred Mountains are often seen as a site of revelation and inspiration. Mount Sinai is an example, as this is the site where the covenant is revealed to Moses. Mount Tabor is where it is supposed Jesus was revealed to be the Son of God. Muhammed is said to have received his first revelation on Mount Hira. The mountains’ roles as places of revelation and transformation often serve to attract tourists as much as they do religious pilgrims. However, in some cases, the financial revenue is overlooked and sacred mountains are conserved first due to their role in the community. Members of The Aetherius Society conduct pilgrimages to 19 mountains around the world that they describe as being “holy mountains”.” ref
Conservation
“Sacred mountains are often viewed as the source of a power which is to be awed and revered. Often, this means that access to the sacred mountain is restricted. This could result in climbing being banned from a sacred mountain completely (as in the case of Mount Kailash) or for secular society to give the mountain a wide berth. Because of the respect accorded to a mountain’s sacred power, many areas have been declared off limit for construction and remain conserved. For example, a large amount of forest has been preserved due to its proximity to Mount Kōya-san. Additionally, sacred mountains can be seen as the source of something vital. This could be a blessing, water, life, or healing. Mount Kailash’s role as the source for four major rivers is celebrated in India and not simply seen as mundane. Rather, this also adds to its position as a sacred place, especially considering the sacred position of the Ganges river in Indian culture. Mountains that are considered home to deities are also central to prayers for the blessings from the gods reputed to live there. This also creates a sense of purity in the source of the mountain. This prompts people to protect streams from pollution that are from sacred mountains, for example.” ref
“Views of preservation and sacredness become problematic when dealing with diverse populations. When one observes the sacred mountain of the Sacramento Valley in the United States, it becomes clear that methods and opinions stretch over a vastly differing body of protesters. Shasta Mountain was first revered by the Native American tribe, the Wintu. Shasta was in effect a standing monument for the individuals of their cultural history. This bounded view of sacred mountains changed drastically during the 1800s. It is commonly assumed that sacred mountains are limited by a single society, trapped in a time capsule with only one definition to explain it: the indigenous tribe. Shasta’s glory had expanded to multiple regions of the world, communities of differing religions making their pilgrimage up to the summits of this glorious mountain. The Wintu tribe did not hold a monopoly on the sacredness anymore. There were others contesting to the meanings, adding new rituals and modifying old ones. With the advent of new technology and desires to turn this mountain into a skiing lodge, angry voices from all over the world rose up with variants of demands on why and how we should preserve this beautiful mountain.” ref
“Almost every day different religious practices such as nude bathing, camping out with magic crystals, yoga, and many “quasi-Christian” groups such as the I AM march their ways up to the tips of this mountain. With this activity the mountain pathways become clustered, cluttered, and littered. Even the pathways’ existence leads to erosion, and further slow degradation of the mountain. The Wintu tribe has voiced concerns and asked for support from the government to regulate the activities practiced on “their” mountain saying that “they are disturbed by the lack of respect” shown for this piece of land. It has become greatly debated if the more vulnerable and “spiritually desirable” places of the mountain should be closed and maintained only by the Wintu tribe, who see this land as a sacred graveyard of their ancestors, or open to all who seek spiritual fulfillment such as the modern-day group of the I AM.” ref
This art is a “Display at Chucalissa Mounds in Memphis showing all the elements involved in the Path of Souls death journey, a widely held belief system among the mound builders of America.” ref
“Artist Jack Johnson’s interpretation of southeastern Native cosmology, showing the tripartite division of the world. The axis mundi is depicted as a tree or post connecting the fire symbol of this world, the sun symbol of the upper world and the ‘swastika’ symbol of the lower world.” ref
“It should be remembered that the Mississippian culture that built Cahokia may have considered a cedar tree or a striped cedar pole to be a symbol of the Axis Mundi (also called the cosmic axis, world axis, world pillar, the center of the world, or world tree – has been greatly extended to refer to any mythological concept representing “the connection between Heaven and Earth” or the “higher and lower realms), the pillar connecting the above, middle, & below worlds, & around which the cosmos turns An American Yggdrasil (Norse tree of life). Some work has gone into reconstructing the woodhenge, and it is one of the sites around Cahokia that you can visit today. (The Solar Calendar of Woodhenge in Cahokia | Native America: Cities of the Sky).” – Vulpine Outlaw @Rad_Sherwoodism
“Items adduced as examples of the axis mundi by comparative mythologists include plants (notably a tree but also other types of plants such as a vine or stalk), a mountain, a column of smoke or fire, or a product of human manufacture (such as a staff, a tower, a ladder, a staircase, a maypole, a cross, a steeple, a rope, a totem pole, a pillar, a spire). Its proximity to heaven may carry implications that are chiefly religious (pagoda, temple mount, minaret, church) or secular (obelisk, lighthouse, rocket, skyscraper). The image appears in religious and secular contexts. The axis mundi symbol may be found in cultures utilizing shamanic practices or animist belief systems, in major world religions, and in technologically advanced “urban centers.” ref
Do we know what the symbols represent?
“Yes. It’s a bit more than I’d want to post on TwiX right now. It’s showing the 3-part universe, an upper, lower, and middle world, & the Milky Way is shown as well as Orion the Hand Constellation, Scorpius the ruler of the underworld, and Cygnus, the Judge. Also the main powers of the upper & lower worlds.” – Gregory L Little, Ed.D. @DrGregLittle2
Gregory L Little, Ed.D. BA/MS Psychology, Ed.D. Counseling/Ed. Psych Author since ’84 (70+ books/workbooks). Mound Builder Society: Be Kind; Respect Everything; Honor the Ancient Ones.
EVIDENCE FOR STEPPED PYRAMIDS OF SHELL IN THE WOODLAND PERIOD OF EASTERN NORTH AMERICA
Earth-diver myth
(creation myth or cosmogonic myth, which is a type of cosmogony,
a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it.)
“The earth-diver is a common character in various traditional creation myths. In these stories, a supreme being usually sends an animal (most often a type of bird, but also crustaceans, insects, and fish in some narratives) into the primal waters to find bits of sand or mud with which to build habitable land. Some scholars interpret these myths psychologically while others interpret them cosmogonically. In both cases, emphasis is placed on beginnings emanating from the depths.” ref
“According to Gudmund Hatt and Tristram P. Coffin, Earth-diver myths are common in Native American folklore, among the following populations: Shoshone, Meskwaki, Blackfoot, Chipewyan, Newettee, Yokuts of California, Mandan, Hidatsa, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Ojibwe, Yuchi, and Cherokee. American anthropologist Gladys Reichard located the distribution of the motif across “all parts of North America”, save for “the extreme north, northeast, and southwest.” ref
“In a 1977 study, anthropologist Victor Barnouw surmised that the earth-diver motif appeared in “hunting-gathering societies“, mainly among northerly groups such as the Hare, Dogrib, Kaska, Beaver, Carrier, Chipewyan, Sarsi, Cree, and Montagnais. Similar tales are also found among the Chukchi and Yukaghir, the Tatars, and many Finno-Ugric traditions, as well as among the Buryat and the Samoyed. In addition, the earth-diver motif also exists in narratives from Eastern Europe, namely Romani, Romanian, Slavic (namely, Bulgarian, Polish, Ukrainian, and Belarusian), and Lithuanian mythological traditions.” ref
“The pattern of distribution of these stories suggest they have a common origin in the eastern Asiatic coastal region, spreading as peoples migrated west into Siberia and east to the North American continent. However, there are examples of this mytheme found well outside of this boreal distribution pattern, for example the West African Yoruba creation myth of Ọbatala and Oduduwa. Characteristic of many Native American myths, earth-diver creation stories begin as beings and potential forms linger asleep or suspended in the primordial realm. The earth-diver is among the first of them to awaken and lay the necessary groundwork by building suitable lands where the coming creation will be able to live. In many cases, these stories will describe a series of failed attempts to make land before the solution is found.” ref
“Among the indigenous peoples of the Americas, the earth-diver cosmogony is attested in Iroquois mythology: a female sky deity falls from the heavens, and certain animals, the beaver, the otter, the duck, and the muskrat dive in the waters to fetch mud to construct an island. In a similar story from the Seneca, people lived in a sky realm. One day, the chief’s daughter was afflicted with a mysterious illness, and the only cure recommended for her (revealed in a dream) was to lie beside a tree and to have it be dug up. The people do so, but a man complains that the tree was their livelihood, and kicks the girl through the hole. She ends up falling from the sky to a world of only water, but is rescued by waterfowl.” ref
“A turtle offers to bear her on its shell, but asked where would be a definitive dwelling place for her. They decide to create land, and the toad dives into the depths of the primal sea to get pieces of soil. The toad puts it on the turtle’s back, which grows larger with every deposit of soil. In another version from the Wyandot, the Wyandot lived in heaven. The daughter of the Big Chief (or Mighty Ruler) was sick, so the medicine man recommends that they dig up the wild apple tree that stands next to the Lodge of the Mighty Ruler, because the remedy is to be found on its roots.” ref
“However, as the tree has been dug out, the ground begins to sink away, and the treetops catch and carry down the sick daughter with it. As the girl falls from the skies, two swans rescue her on their backs. The birds decide to summon all the Swimmers and the Water Tribes. Many volunteer to dive into the Great Water to fetch bits of earth from the bottom of the sea, but only the toad (female, in the story) is the one successful.” ref
The Hopewell pre-Columbian “mound-builders” Cosmos
“The People of the Eastern Woodlands clearly possessed a rich cosmological framework enhanced by an understanding of astronomy and mathematics. Subsumed in development, the sites are sequestered from the landscape to form an image that today’s society finds agreeable, an image that archaeologists possess the means to retract.” ref
Suggested Cosmology and Retracted Image: An Analysis of the Newark Earthworks
“Across American society today, prevailing trends purvey an understanding of Eastern Woodland Peoples as naturalistic itinerants with a deep and harmonious awareness of forests, waters, and the bounty offered therein. Almost as a default, ‘structure’ suggests images of impermanent longhouses and wigwams. Likewise, ‘culture’ suggests a reverence for the Earth. People seldom consider Native Americans movers and shapers of the landscapes around them, especially in the context of timelines extending back nearly 2000 years. In archaeological practice, the rigid assumptions of the populace at large endanger objective analysis from the outset, especially when it comes to the identification of significant sites and the decision to interpret evidence.” ref
“In Newark, Ohio, not far from Columbus, lies what basic historical literature refers to as “the largest set of geometric earthen enclosures in the world” (“Newark Earthworks”). Even though the area surrounding the sites is highly urbanized in a way that engulfs each one as a separate island of greenspace, archaeology is concerned with the ancient context that extends throughout the landscape. Here, sites of interest have been revealed by extrapolating Native American cosmology and mathematics from features on the landscape.” ref
“Recent studies using ground and aerial survey techniques emphasize the importance of Geller Hill in understanding the creation and significance of the Newark Earthworks. Plotted on a map in the midst of a flat plain, Geller Hill is a landmark. Using the diameter of Newark’s Observatory Circle (OCD) as a baseline, archaeologists recognize the significance placed on spatial distance by Hopewell peoples. Located approximately seven OCDs from the peak of Geller Hill, the centers of the Newark’s octagonal and circular earthworks appear to form the sides of an isosceles triangle. According to a local source, “the measured Geller Hill, Octagon, Great Circle triangle varies from the geometric ideal by an average of less than one percent,” much like other Hopewell sites (Romain).” ref
“Consistent use of the OCD lends credence to an integrated view of landscape and erodes the perception of Native American societies as hapless in their patterns of settlement and naive in their understanding of the universe. Altogether, the Newark Earthworks compose an extensive natural observatory that people used to position themselves within a valid reality. The triangle’s axis of symmetry “[aligns with] the moon’s maximum north rise point” and thereby associates the site with Hopewell ideas of a balance cosmos. Bradley T. Lepper goes so far as to compare the site with a “gigantic machine or factory” drawing together the energies of the Hopewell universe (Lepper).” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Women/Feminine-Natured people as the first Shamans from around 30,000 to 7,000 years ago?
“Chinese shamanism, alternatively called Wuism (Chinese: 巫教; pinyin: wū jiào; lit. ‘wu religion’, ‘shamanism‘, ‘witchcraft‘; alternatively 巫觋宗教 wū xí zōngjiào), refers to the shamanic religious tradition of China. Its features are especially connected to the ancient Neolithic cultures such as the Hongshan culture. Chinese shamanic traditions are intrinsic to Chinese folk religion. Various ritual traditions are rooted in original Chinese shamanism: contemporary Chinese ritual masters are sometimes identified as wu by outsiders, though most orders don’t self-identify as such. Also, Taoism has some of its origins from Chinese shamanism: it developed around the pursuit of long life (shou 壽/寿), or the status of a xian (仙, “mountain man”, “holy man”). The Chinese word wu 巫 “shaman, wizard”, indicating a person who can mediate with the powers generating things (the etymological meaning of “spirit”, “god”, or nomen agentis, virtus, energeia), was first recorded during the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600-1046 BCE or 3,600 to 3,046 years ago), when a wu could be either sex. During the late Zhou dynasty (1045-256 BCE) wu was used to specify “female shaman; sorceress” as opposed to xi 覡 “male shaman; sorcerer” (which first appears in the 4th century BCE Guoyu). Other sex-differentiated shaman names include nanwu 男巫 for “male shaman; sorcerer; wizard”; and nüwu 女巫, wunü 巫女, wupo 巫婆, and wuyu 巫嫗 for “female shaman; sorceress; witch”. The word tongji 童乩 (lit. “youth diviner”) “shaman; spirit-medium” is a near-synonym of wu. Modern Chinese distinguishes native wu from “Siberian shaman“: saman 薩滿 or saman 薩蠻; and from Indian Shramana “wandering monk; ascetic”: shamen 沙門, sangmen 桑門, or sangmen 喪門.” ref
Shamanism in Siberia
“A large minority of people in North Asia, particularly in Siberia, follow the religio-cultural practices of shamanism. Some researchers regard Siberia as the heartland of shamanism. The people of Siberia comprise a variety of ethnic groups, many of whom continue to observe shamanistic practices in modern times. Many classical ethnographers recorded the sources of the idea of “shamanism” among Siberian peoples. Siberian shamans’ spirit-journeys (reenacting their dreams wherein they had rescued the soul of the client) were conducted in, e.g., Oroch, Altai, and Nganasan healing séances. Shamanistic practice shows great diversity, even if restricted to Siberia. In some cultures, the music or song related to shamanistic practice may mimic natural sounds, sometimes with onomatopoeia. This holds true for the practices of the noaidi among Sami groups. Although the Sami people live outside of Siberia, many of their shamanistic beliefs and practice shared important features with those of some Siberian cultures. The joiks of the Sami were sung on shamanistic rites.” ref
“The intention to mimic natural sounds is present in some Siberian cultures as well: overtone singing, and also shamanic songs of some cultures can be examples. In a Soyot shamanic song, sounds of bird and wolf are imitated to represent the helping spirits of the shaman. The seances of Nganasan shamans were accompanied by women imitating the sounds of the reindeer calf, (thought to provide fertility for those women). In 1931, A. Popov observed the Nganasan shaman Dyukhade Kosterkin imitating the sound of polar bear: the shaman was believed to have transformed into a polar bear. Sound mimesis is not restricted to Siberian cultures and is not necessarily linked to shamanistic beliefs or practices. See, for example, Inuit throat singing, a game played by women, an example of Inuit music that employs overtone singing, and, in some cases, the imitation of natural sounds (mostly those of animals, e.g. geese). The imitation of animal sounds can also serve such practical reasons as luring game animals in a hunt.” ref
“Terminology in Siberian languages
- ‘shaman’: saman (Nedigal, Nanay, Ulcha, Orok), sama (Manchu). The variant /šaman/ (i.e., pronounced “shaman”) is Evenk (whence it was borrowed into Russian).
- ‘shaman’: alman, olman, wolmen (Yukagir)
- ‘shaman’: [qam] (Tatar, Shor, Oyrat), [xam] (Tuva, Tofalar)
- The Buryat word for shaman is бөө (böö) [bøː], from early Mongolian böge. Itself borrowed from Proto-Turkic *bögü (“sage, wizard”)
- ‘shaman’: ńajt (Khanty, Mansi), from Proto-Uralic *nojta (c.f. Sámi noaidi)
- ‘shamaness’: [iduɣan] (Mongol), [udaɣan] (Yakut), udagan (Buryat), udugan (Evenki, Lamut), odogan (Nedigal). Related forms found in various Siberian languages include utagan, ubakan, utygan, utügun, iduan, or duana. All these are related to the Mongolian name of Etügen, the hearth goddess, and Etügen Eke ‘Mother Earth’. Maria Czaplicka points out that Siberian languages use words for male shamans from diverse roots, but the words for female shaman are almost all from the same root. She connects this with the theory that women’s practice of shamanism was established earlier than men’s, that “shamans were originally female.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Asherah is related to the “Tree of Life” (Axis mundi: Snake/pole/piller/stele/world Tree/World Mountain/World Turtle/Mound of Creation: also related to the Milky Way: path/river/milk/smoke-fire/blood; all going to heaven/ancestors, “who are stars”).
Egyptian mythology
- Neith, goddess of war and the hunt
- Pakhet, a lioness huntress deity, whom the Greeks associated with Artemis
- Wepwawet, god of hunting and war, along with funerary practices
- Bastet, a cat goddess and natural hunter of reptiles and rodents. Greeks often associated her with Artemis, giving her the name Ailuros. ref
Osiris, the Egyptian “Ram-headed” god of herding or shepherd god, “Master of Animals”
“Osiris is represented in his most developed form of iconography wearing the Atef crown, which is similar to the White crown of Upper Egypt, but with the addition of two curling ostrich feathers at each side. He also carries the crook and flail. The crook is thought to represent Osiris as a shepherd god. The symbolism of the flail is more uncertain with shepherd’s whip, fly-whisk, or association with the god Andjety of the ninth nome of Lower Egypt proposed. He was commonly depicted as a pharaoh with a complexion of either green (the color of rebirth) or black (alluding to the fertility of the Nile floodplain) in mummiform (wearing the trappings of mummification from chest downward). The Pyramid Texts describe early conceptions of an afterlife in terms of eternal travelling with the sun god amongst the stars. Amongst these mortuary texts, at the beginning of the Fourth Dynasty, is found: “An offering the king gives and Anubis“. By the end of the Fifth Dynasty, the formula in all tombs becomes “An offering the king gives to Osiris.” ref
“Osiris as a “Ram god,” Osiris’ soul, or rather his ba, was occasionally worshipped in its own right, almost as if it were a distinct god, especially in the Delta city of Mendes. This aspect of Osiris was referred to as Banebdjedet, which is grammatically feminine (also spelt “Banebded” or “Banebdjed“), literally “the ba of the lord of the djed, which roughly means The soul of the lord of the pillar. The djed, a type of pillar, was usually understood as the backbone of Osiris. The Nile supplying water, and Osiris (strongly connected to the vegetable regeneration) who died only to be resurrected, represented continuity and stability. As Banebdjed, Osiris was given epithets such as Lord of the Sky and Life of the (sun god) Ra. Ba does not mean “soul” in the western sense, and has to do with power, reputation, force of character, especially in the case of a god. The imiut emblem- an image of a stuffed, headless skin of an animal tied to a pole mounting a pot, was a symbol associated both with Osiris, as god of the underworld, and with Anubis, god of mummification, and was sometimes included among a deceased person’s funerary equipment.” ref
“Since the ba was associated with power, and also happened to be a word for ram in Egyptian, Banebdjed was depicted as a ram, or as Ram-headed. A living, sacred ram was kept at Mendes and worshipped as the incarnation of the god, and upon death, the rams were mummified and buried in a ram-specific necropolis. Banebdjed was consequently said to be Horus’ father, as Banebdjed was an aspect of Osiris. Regarding the association of Osiris with the ram, the god’s traditional crook and flail are the instruments of the shepherd, which has suggested to some scholars also an origin for Osiris in herding tribes of the upper Nile. Annual ceremonies were performed in honor of Osiris in various places across Egypt. These ceremonies were fertility rites which symbolised the resurrection of Osiris. Recent scholars emphasize “the androgynous character of [Osiris’] fertility” clear from surviving material. For instance, Osiris’ fertility has to come both from being castrated/cut-into-pieces and the reassembly by female Isis, whose embrace of her reassembled Osiris produces the perfect king, Horus. Further, as attested by tomb-inscriptions, both women and men could syncretize (identify) with Osiris at their death, another set of evidence that underlines Osiris’ androgynous nature.” ref
“Certain animals did indeed have a sacred dimension in Egypt. Egyptologist Robert Partridge wrote about rams:
Rams, seen as a symbol of fertility, were identified with various gods, notably Khnum, a creator god, and Amun, the great god of the city of Thebes. Ram-headed sphinxes flank the entrance to the temple of Amun at Thebes. The bodies of some rams were mummified and equipped with gilded masks and even jewelry.” ref
Min (Menew, Menu, Amsu), Egyptian god Kamutef (“Bull of his mother”), “Master of Animals”
“Min (Ancient Egyptian: mnw), also called Menas, is an ancient Egyptian god whose cult originated in the predynastic period (4th millennium BCE or around 6,000 to 5,000 years ago). His other associations include the eastern desert and links to the god Horus. As the central deity of fertility and possibly orgiastic rites, Min became identified by the Greeks with the god Pan. Male deities as vehicles for fertility and potency rose to prevalence at the emergence of widespread agriculture. Male Egyptians would work in agriculture, making bountiful harvests a male-centered occasion. Thus, male gods of virility such as Osiris and Min were more developed during this time. Fertility was not associated with solely women, but with men as well, even increasing the role of the male in childbirth. As a god of male sexual potency, he was honoured during the coronation rites of the New Kingdom, when the Pharaoh was expected to sow his seed—generally thought to have been plant seeds. He was represented in many different forms, but was most often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding a “flail” or “whip/scourge.” ref
“In Egyptian art, Min is depicted as an anthropomorphic male deity with a masculine body, covered in shrouds, wearing a crown with feathers, and often holding his erect penis in his left hand and a “flail” that is possibly a stylised form of flail (referring to his authority, or rather that of the Pharaohs) in his upward facing right hand. Around his forehead, Min wears a red ribbon that trails to the ground, claimed by some to represent sexual energy. The legs are bandaged because of his chthonic force, in the same manner as Ptah and Osiris. His skin was usually painted black, which symbolized the fertile soil of the Nile. The crook and flail (heka and nekhakha) were symbols used in ancient Egyptian society. They were originally the attributes of the deity Osiris that became insignia of pharaonic authority. The shepherd’s crook stood for kingship and the flail for the fertility of the land. The earliest known example of a crook is from the Gerzeh culture (Naqada II), and comes from tomb U547 in Abydos. By late Predynastic times, the shepherd’s crook was already an established symbol of rule. The flail initially remained separate, being depicted alone in some of the earliest representations of royal ceremonial. Approximately by the time of the Second Dynasty, the crook and flail became paired.” ref, ref
“Percy Newberry, a specialist on ancient Egypt, speculated that the “flail” or “whip/scourge” of Osiris was more likely an instrument for collecting labdanum similar to that used in nineteenth-century Crete. He examined archaeological remains of such items and their representations in art, and found that they were mechanically incapable of acting as either a flail or whip and so must be some other instrument. Similarly to Crooks, he further noted that these items were also associated with shepherds, who used them to gather labdanum while their flocks grazed on and among the bushes from which the gum was gathered. Traditionally, they crossed over the chest when held; they probably represented the ruler as a shepherd whose beneficence is formidably tempered with might. In the interpretation of Toby Wilkinson, the flail used to goad livestock, was a symbol of the ruler’s coercive power: as shepherd of his flock, the ruler encouraged his subjects as well as restrained them. Still another interpretation, by E. A. Wallis Budge, is that the flail is what was used to thresh grain.” ref
“Min (Menew, Menu, Amsu) was an ancient Egyptian god whose worship dates back to the predynastic times. His early images are the oldest examples of large scale statuary found in Egypt so far. He was worshipped by King Scorpion of the Early Dynastic Period and his symbol appears on the El Amrah palette (which is also known as the min palette). His cult may have developed from the worship of his fetish, which was thought to be a barbed arrow, a thunderbolt, or a fossilized belemnite (an ancient relative of the cuttlefish). As time progressed, he was given a human form and represented by the Min standard which resembles a double-headed arrow on a hook. Alternatively, Min initially represented the constellation Orion and was thought to control thunder and rain (linking him to Set). This connection with Orion also connected Min with Horus because the three were depicted with their arms raised above their head (a pose linked to the “smiting” pose of the pharaoh) and later provided a connection with Osiris.” ref
“Min continued to be associated with Horus until the Middle Kingdom when he became more closely associated with fertility and the solar aspects of Horus were emphasised. Min was associated with Amun during the New Kingdom, partly because both were linked to the ram and the bull, both of which were seen as a symbols of virility. The composite god Amun-Min was known as Kamutef (“Bull of his mother”). In later periods, Min was linked to Reshep, the Semitic god of war and thunder. Both gods were thought to be married to Qadesh the Semitic love goddess, although Min was often considered to be the child of Reshep and Qadesh. It is perhaps unsurprising that the Greeks linked Min to their fertility god, Pan. Because of this association, they renamed named Akhmim, Panopolis (city of Pan).” ref
He was a god of the Eastern Desert, and a god and patron of traveling caravans. A reference in the Pyramid Texts to “the one who raises his arm in the east” is thought to relate to Min. He offered protection to travellers and traders and was also worshiped by the miners and masons who worked around the Wadi Hammamat. In this area, he was known as “Min, the (foremost) Man of the Mountain”. His association with the desert led to an association with foreign lands and with the god Set. Although he was associated with the desert, Min was a god of fertility and sexuality. He was associated with the Egyptian long-leaf lettuce (also a favourite food of Set) which was considered to be an aphrodisiac, as it secreted a milky substance which was likened to semen. Min was often shown standing before offering tables, covered with heads of lettuce.” ref
“At the beginning of the harvest season, Min’s statue was carried through the fields in a festival known as “the departure of Min”. Min blessed the harvest and the people held games in his honour, most of which involved the menfolk climbing a huge pole (which had a connection with fertility not unlike the maypole). It is thought that this is related to the construction of a huge festival pavilion where the festivities were held. Min was closely associated with fertility and agriculture, and so with Osiris. In depictions of one of Min’s festivals, the pharaoh hoes and waters the ground while Min watches. In another, the pharaoh ceremonially reaps the grain.” ref
“However, Min was not just a fertility god, but a patron of male sexuality who could help men to father children. When the pharaoh successfully fathered an heir he was identified with the god, and a virginal girl was sometimes called an “unploughed field”. As he represented male virility, it is not surprising that it was Min who presided over the Heb Sed festival, in which the pharaoh ran a course carrying ritual objects to rejuvenate him and to prove his virility. During the New Kingdom, the pharaoh was expected to sow his seed metaphorically using plant seeds to prove that he was fertile, although some scholars suggest that the pharaoh was also expected to prove that he was still sexually potent by ejaculating. He was also a lunar god (relating him to moisture and fertility) and was given the epithet, “Protector of the Moon”. The last day of the lunar month was sacred to Min, and by the Ptolemaic period, he was patron of the fifth month of the Egyptian calendar (called Tybi by the Greeks).” ref
“Min was generally thought to be the son and husband of the goddess of the east, Iabet. However, in Gebtu (which was the cult site of both Min and Isis) Min was considered to be the husband of Isis and the father of Horus (again associating him with Osiris). In Memphis, he was associated with Ptah as the composite god Ptah-Min. He was also linked to a number of leonine warlike goddesses (particularly Sekhmet). As a result, the body of Min is sometimes given the head of a lioness. He was also associated with the composite deity Mut–Isis–Nekhbet, known as “the Great Mother and Lady”. This deity was depicted as a winged goddess with leonine feet, an erect penis, and three heads (the head of a lion head wearing Min’s headdress, a woman’s head wearing the double crown of Egypt, and a vulture’s head wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt).” ref
“Min was generally depicted as a mummiform human man with an ithyphallic (erect and uncovered) penis wearing a crown with two large feathers (like that of Amun). In his left hand he holds his penis (although this is usually only apparent in statues because of the perspective applied to two dimensional images in Egyptian Art) and in his right hand he holds a flail up above his shoulder. The flail represents Pharonic power and fertility (it was used to thresh corn and remove the husk) and it is suggested that the position of his arm replicates the stance associated with Orion and that the position of his arm in relation to the flail represents sexual intercourse (with the flail representing a vagina and his arm representing his penis). Min’s skin is black (linking him to fertile black soil). Occasionally, he wears a red ribbon which may represent sexual power. When he takes the form of Amun-Min, he sometimes wears a sun disk between the two feathers on his headdress.” ref
“In both Akhmin and Coptos he was worshipped in the form of a white bull (representing virility) known as “Bull of the Great Phallus” and in Heliopolis he was associated with the Mnevis bull cult. When he is represented as the constellation Orion he can be distinguished from Osiris because the three bright stars of Orion’s belt are made to represent his erect penis. Because of his rather noticeable genitalia, images of Min were subject to a great deal of damage at the hands of more prudish Christians immigrants and during the Victorian period Egyptologists regularly omitted the lower part of his body in photographs and drawings. In a final insult to the god, nineteenth century scholars mistranslated his name as Khem (or Chem meaning “black” in Egyptian). This was in fact one of his epithets which related to his fertility aspect because black was associated with the fertile soil of the Nile. This black soil was so central to the Egyptian way of life that the word also became a common term for the land of Egypt itself. Min’s cult center was Gebtu (Koptos), the capital of the fifth Nome of Upper Egypt, but in later times he was also associated with Khent-Min (Panopolis, Akhmim) the capital of the ninth Nome of Upper Egypt.” ref
Predynastic Egyptian rock art as evidence for early elites’ rite of passage
“People express in ritual what moves them most, and their ritual behaviour reveals what moves the group. Rites of passage accompany almost every change of place, state, social position, and age. In potentially identifying rites of passage in prehistoric Egyptian rock art, the role of the liminal zone of the Eastern Desert is crucial. In this area, betwixt and between the normally ordered social world and the supernatural otherworld, the traveller engages with the transcendental, experiencing timelessness, sacralisation, and connecting with the sublimity of the cosmos in an area overwhelming the human scale. It constitutes a sacred domain where the usual rules are suspended and monstrous, minimised, and/or exaggerated forms can be generated. We can place the petroglyphs in the process by which early Egyptians were legitimised by journeying out there into the desert, returning as transformed and heroic figures. Thus, we can explain exaggerated features in animal depictions and the unrealistic integration of boats into hunting scenes.” ref
Bull-headed god Mnevis
“Mnevis (Ancient Greek: Μνέυις, Coptic: ⲉⲙⲛⲉⲩⲓ) is the Hellenized name of an ancient Egyptian bull god which had its centre of worship at Heliopolis, and was known to the ancient Egyptians as Mer-wer or Nem-wer. Although initially a separate god, it was later assimilated to the syncretized god Atum-Ra as his physical manifestation, and also considered as the ba of Ra. Mnevis is often depicted as a black bull wearing a solar disk and uraeus. As reported by Plutarch, the Mnevis bull was second only to the Memphite Apis bull in importance. Similar to the Apis bull, the Mnevis bull’s movements were thought to be driven by divine will and used as an oracle. The priesthood of Mnevis also went as far as to claim that Mnevis was none other than the father of the more famous Apis.” ref
The Mnevis bull was entitled to two concubines, more precisely two cows representing Hathor and Iusaaset. When the bull died, he was embalmed and buried with all honours in a dedicated necropolis which was located not far from the temple at Heliopolis. Another burial ground was reserved for the so-called Mothers of Mnevis, which were considered the embodiment of the cow-goddess Hesat. After a Mnevis bull’s death a replacement for him was sought, usually a completely black bull. There was only ever one Mnevis bull at a time. The cult of Mnevis was among the very few to be tolerated during the “Amarna heresy” of King Akhenaten, probably because of its solar attributes. It is known that Akhenaten ordered the construction of a necropolis for Mnevis bulls in Akhetaten, although it has not yet been found.” ref
Hindu mythology
- Banka-Mundi, goddess of the hunt and fertility
- Bhadra, god of hunting, one of Shiva‘s ganas
- Rudra, Rigvedic god associated with wind or storm, and the hunt ref
“Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. ‘energy, ability, strength, effort, power, might, capability’) “power over” anything in Hinduism, is the “Universal Power” that underlies and sustains all existence. Conceived as feminine in essence, Shakti refers to the personified energy or power of a male deity, often personified as the female consort of the given Hindu god. In Puranic Hinduism, Shiva and Shakti are the masculine and feminine principles that are complementary to each other. The male deity is purusha, pure consciousness, which creates the universe through the female creative energy of Shakti, which is prakriti, ‘nature’. Scholars assume goddess worship was prevalent in the Indus Valley Civilisation (3300–1300 BCE) as many terracotta female figurines with smoke-blacked headgears, suggesting their use in rituals, had been found in almost all the houses of Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. Numerous artefacts that appear to portray female deities were also found. Most of the goddesses in the Vedic era were presented as wives of the gods. They had no special powers nor an individual name either, rather they took their respective husband’s name with feminine suffixes, as with Indrani, the wife of Indra. Though the goddesses had no power, one Rigvedic hymn (10.159) addressed Indrani as Śacī Poulomī and presented her as the “deification” of Indra’s power.” ref
“Shaktism involves a galaxy of goddesses, all regarded as different aspects, manifestations, or personifications of the divine feminine energy called Shakti. It includes various modes of worship, ranging from those focused on the most worshipped Durga, to gracious Parvati, and the fierce Kali. The earliest archaeological evidence of what appears to be an Upper Paleolithic shrine for Shakti worship were discovered in the terminal Upper Paleolithic site of Baghor I (Baghor stone) in Sidhi district of Madhya Pradesh, India. The excavations, carried out under the guidance of noted archaeologists G. R. Sharma of Allahabad University and J. Desmond Clark of University of California and assisted by Jonathan Mark Kenoyer and J. N. Pal, dated the Baghor formation to between 9000 and 8000 BCE. The origins of Shakti worship also may be traced to Indus Valley Civilisation. Shaktism’s focus on the Divine Female does not imply a rejection of the male. It rejects masculine-feminine, male-female, soul-body, transcendent-immanent dualism, considering nature as divine. ” ref
Shiva, as a Hindu god of herding, “Master of Animals”
“The Shiva-related tradition is a major part of Hinduism, found all over the Indian subcontinent, such as India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia, such as Bali, Indonesia. Shiva-Rudra may have non-Vedic tribal roots, having “his origins in primitive tribes, signs and symbols,” but the oldest literary attestation is the associated Vedic minor deity Rudra, who may also have non-Aryan origins. The figure of Shiva as he is known today is an amalgamation of various older deities into a single figure, due to the process of Sanskritization and the emergence of the Hindu synthesis in post-Vedic times. How the persona of Shiva converged as a composite deity is not well documented, a challenge to trace, and has attracted much speculation. According to Vijay Nath: Vishnu and Siva […] began to absorb countless local cults and deities within their folds. The latter were either taken to represent the multiple facets of the same god or else were supposed to denote different forms and appellations by which the god came to be known and worshipped. […] Siva became identified with countless local cults by the sheer suffixing of Isa or Isvara to the name of the local deity, e.g., Bhutesvara, Hatakesvara, Chandesvara.” An example of assimilation took place in Maharashtra, where a regional deity named Khandoba is a patron deity of farming and herding castes. The foremost center of worship of Khandoba in Maharashtra is in Jejuri. Khandoba has been assimilated as a form of Shiva himself, in which case he is worshipped in the form of a lingam. Khandoba’s varied associations also include an identification with Surya and Karttikeya.” ref
“Prehistoric rock paintings dating to the Mesolithic from Bhimbetka rock shelters have been interpreted by some authors as depictions of Shiva. However, Howard Morphy states that these prehistoric rock paintings of India, when seen in their context, are likely those of a hunting party with animals, and that the figures in a group dance can be interpreted in many different ways. Of several Indus valley seals that show animals, one seal that has attracted attention shows a large central figure, either horned or wearing a horned headdress and possibly ithyphallic, seated in a posture reminiscent of the Lotus position, surrounded by animals. This figure was named by early excavators of Mohenjo-daro as Pashupati (Lord of Animals, Sanskrit paśupati), an epithet of the later Hindu deities Shiva and Rudra. Sir John Marshall and others suggested that this figure is a prototype of Shiva, with three faces, seated in a “yoga posture” with the knees out and feet joined. Semi-circular shapes on the head were interpreted as two horns. Scholars such as Gavin Flood, John Keay and Doris Meth Srinivasan have expressed doubts about this suggestion.” ref
“Gavin Flood states that it is not clear from the seal that the figure has three faces, is seated in a yoga posture, or even that the shape is intended to represent a human figure. He characterises these views as “speculative”, but adds that it is nevertheless possible that there are echoes of Shaiva iconographic themes, such as half-moon shapes resembling the horns of a bull. John Keay writes that “he may indeed be an early manifestation of Lord Shiva as Pashu-pati”, but a couple of his specialties of this figure does not match with Rudra. Writing in 1997, Srinivasan interprets what John Marshall interpreted as facial as not human but more bovine, possibly a divine buffalo-man. The interpretation of the seal continues to be disputed. McEvilley, for example, states that it is not possible to “account for this posture outside the yogic account”. Asko Parpola states that other archaeological finds such as the early Elamite seals dated to 3000–2750 BCE show similar figures and these have been interpreted as “seated bull” and not a yogi, and the bovine interpretation is likely more accurate. Gregory L. Possehl in 2002, associated it with the water buffalo, and concluded that while it would be appropriate to recognise the figure as a deity, and its posture as one of ritual discipline, regarding it as a proto-Shiva would “go too far.” ref
“The Vedic beliefs and practices of the pre-classical era were closely related to the hypothesised Proto-Indo-European religion, and the pre-Islamic Indo-Iranian religion. The similarities between the iconography and theologies of Shiva with Greek and European deities have led to proposals for an Indo-European link for Shiva, or lateral exchanges with ancient central Asian cultures. His contrasting aspects such as being terrifying or blissful depending on the situation, are similar to those of the Greek god Dionysus (god of wine-making, orchards, fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre), as are their iconic associations with bull, snakes, anger, bravery, dancing and carefree life. The ancient Greek texts of the time of Alexander the Great call Shiva “Indian Dionysus”, or alternatively call Dionysus “god of the Orient”. Similarly, the use of phallic symbol as an icon for Shiva is also found for Irish, Nordic, Greek (Dionysus) and Roman deities, as was the idea of this aniconic column linking heaven and earth among early Indo-Aryans, states Roger Woodward. Others contest such proposals, and suggest Shiva to have emerged from indigenous non-Aryan tribal origins.” ref
“Shiva as we know him today shares many features with the Vedic god Rudra (a Rigvedic deity associated with Shiva, the wind or storms, Vayu, medicine, and the hunt), and both Shiva and Rudra are viewed as the same personality in Hindu scriptures. The two names are used synonymously. Rudra, a Rigvedic deity with fearsome powers, was the god of the roaring storm. He is usually portrayed in accordance with the element he represents as a fierce, destructive deity. In RV 2.33, he is described as the “Father of the Rudras“, a group of storm gods. Flood notes that Rudra is an ambiguous god, peripheral in the Vedic pantheon, possibly indicating non-Vedic origins. Nevertheless, both Rudra and Shiva are akin to Wodan, the Germanic God of rage (“wütte”) and the wild hunt. Mallory and Adams also mention a comparison of Rudra with the Old Russian deity Rŭglŭ to reconstruct a Proto-Indo-European wild-god named *Rudlos, though they remind that the issue of the etymology remains problematic: from PIE *reud- (‘rend, tear apart’; cf. Latin rullus, ‘rustic’), or *reu- (‘howl’). A few texts such as Atharvashiras Upanishad mention Rudra, and assert all gods are Rudra, everyone and everything is Rudra, and Rudra is the principle found in all things, their highest goal, the innermost essence of all reality that is visible or invisible. Rudra’s evolution from a minor Vedic deity to a supreme being is first evidenced in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad (400–200 BCE), according to Gavin Flood, presenting the earliest seeds of theistic devotion to Rudra-Shiva. Here Rudra-Shiva is identified as the creator of the cosmos and liberator of Selfs from the birth-rebirth cycle.” ref, ref
“Shaivism is one of the four major sects of Hinduism, the others being Vaishnavism, Shaktism and the Smarta Tradition. Followers of Shaivism, called “Shaivas”, revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in all, the creator, preserver, destroyer, revealer and concealer of all that is. He is not only the creator in Shaivism, but he is also the creation that results from him, he is everything and everywhere. The Tantric Shiva (“शिव“) tradition ignored the mythologies and Puranas related to Shiva, and depending on the sub-school developed a variety of practices. For example, historical records suggest the tantric Kapalikas (literally, the ‘skull-men’) co-existed with and shared many Vajrayana Buddhist rituals, engaged in esoteric practices that revered Shiva and Shakti wearing skulls, begged with empty skulls, and sometimes used meat as a part of ritual.” ref
The Reason Ancient Indo-Europeans Carried Out Human Sacrifice
“The ultimate aim of the original Indo-European sacrifices, modelled after the cosmic sacrifice of the Purusha [a cosmic man whose sacrifice by the gods created all life] … must have been the liberation of the self from the illusions of the material fabric in which it is entangled and the direction of the energy of man into the divine consciousness. This liberation is the principal aim of yogic ascesis as well, which is, as J.C. Heesterman has pointed out, an internalisation of the sacrifice. Since the primary purpose of a sacrifice is indeed that of self-sacrifice, the sacrifice of a human involved in the proto-Vedic Purushamedha [a Śrauta ritual of human sacrifice] must originally have been conducted as a substitute for a sacrifice of the sacrificer himself, since the sacrificer is, in all Vedic sacrifices, identified with the victim. As Heesterman states, “self-sacrifice is an all-but-ubiquitous theme in the ritual brāhmana texts, the victim as well as the other offerings being regularly equated with the sacrificer”. That is why the victim in the Purushamedha was originally exclusively a brāhman or a kshatriya, since only these two castes were qualified to act as representatives of the Purusha and to conduct sacrifices.” ref
“At the same time, the sacrificial victim is always a male since only his energy can substitute for the phallic force of the Purusha that fills the universe with its life. We shall observe in our survey of the cosmological bases of sacrifices that the entire evolution of the material universe arises from repeated castrations, and preservations, of the divine phallus, first in the Ideal realm of the Purusha, then in the early cosmos of Brahman and, lastly, in the material universe, as the Tree of Life that arises from the underworld and extends to the heavens. If what is most important in the Purusha is his phallic power, as is evident also in the Hesiodic account of the castration of Ouranos by Chronos, it is probable that the sacrifice originally focussed on the victim’s phallus, as we observe, for example, in the veneration of the penis of a slaughtered stallion among the ancient Nordic peoples. Similarly, in the Equus October ceremony in ancient Rome a race-horse was slaughtered and its tail (standing no doubt for its penis) was brought to the regia.” ref
“In ancient Egypt, the castration of Re is represented as a self-castration. Hu, intellectual expression, and his consort, Sia, intuition, are said in a New Kingdom commentary on the Book of the Dead to be “the blood which fell from the phallus of Re, when he was going to mutilate himself”. Since the castration of Re corresponds to the castration of Anu in the Hurrian epic of the Kingship in Heaven, and the castration of Prajāpati by Shiva, we may assume that this event precedes the formation of the Cosmic Egg which, in the Purānas arises, from the seed of Prajāpati/Shiva. This may also have been the source of the practice noticed in some rituals of the Dionysiac religion that may have involved self-mutilation. Over time, however, the human victim was substituted with animals that equally represented the energy of the divine phallus, thus a horse or a bull, and finally with lesser animals such as sheep and goats. In all cases, however, the original significance of the sacrifice as a self-sacrifice is never forgotten, as many of the processes of the Vedic sacrifices as well as many of the accompanying Vedic chants reveal. The spiritual purpose of a sacrifice is indeed to control the sexual energy and convert it into spiritual energy directed to the attainment of the ideal “sattvic” state of the Purusha, that is, as the solar deity Vishnu.” ref
“It will be noted further that the phallic sacrifice of the ideal Purusha is repeated in the manifest cosmos, for such a sacrifice is necessary for the transference of the divine power to our solar system. The second sacrifice involves the destruction of Brahman/Prajāpati by his son Ganesha (Zeus/Seth) and the swallowing of the divine phallus by the latter so that the whole universe and its light moves into his body. Seth is seen, for instance, in the Egyptian mouth-opening ritual, to have been castrated or killed, for a bull representing Seth is slaughtered and its thigh is used to revive the dead Osiris. In the town of Saka, Seth, as a bull, undergoes self-castration and, in the Pap. d’Orbiney, Seth (called Bata in Saka), castrates himself in order apparently to avoid the sexual advances of his sister-in-law, and then goes into exile in foreign lands. This is clearly the source of the rites of the Phrygian Attis, mentioned in Lucian’s De Dea Syria. In the mouth-opening ceremony performed on divine statues, too, the “thigh” represents the divine genitals, which, according to the Orphic cosmogonies, Zeus (Seth) is said to have swallowed after they had been severed from Ouranos by Zeus’ father, Chronos. So it is not surprising that Seth’s genitals (“thigh”) are brought forward to revive the moribund Osiris with its life and light. According to the series entitled ‘The Contendings of Horus and Set’, too, the conflicts between the two gods include the violation of Horus the Younger by Seth and the castration of Seth by Horus. All these incidents focus on the importance of the divine phallus now as the life of the emerging universe as well as its light.” ref
“The transformations of the solar force that are recounted in the mythology are focused within the fire that is worshipped in the Āryan rituals. Indeed, the Vedic texts reveal a more than scientific understanding both of the several forms of heat that pervade the human microcosm and of the different parts of the flames of external fire. Such an understanding is clearly not a result of contests conducted among warriors but of the supernatural yogic discipline that informed the religion of the brāhmans and identifies them not just as wise men but indeed as “magicians”. This is, of course, the reason why the term “magi” used for their Iranian counterparts has long been equated with “magicians”. The Indo-European sacrifice was seen as important not only for the spiritual liberation of the sacrificer but also for the solar rebirth that it allows the sacrificer to undergo as a brāhman, or one who has realised the solar virtue of his soul, just as the death of Osiris is followed by his revival in our universe as the sun. In the Indian horse-sacrifice, ashvamedha, for instance, the horse represents the sun which has been lost and must be recovered.” ref
“Thus SB XIII,3,1,1 declares:
Prajâpati’s eye swelled; it fell out: thence the horse was produced; and inasmuch as it swelled (ashvayat), that is the origin and nature of the horse (ashva). By means of the Asvamedha the gods restored it to its place; and verily he who performs the Asvamedha makes Prajâpati complete, and he (himself) becomes complete; and this, indeed, is the atonement for everything, the remedy for everything. This is the same significance that attaches also to the Osirian funereal rites, especially the mouth-opening ritual. For the assault on the solar force by Seth is referred to as the damage or robbing of the “Horus eye” [the sun] which must be restored to Horus the Elder/Osiris.” ref
“By performing a sacrifice, the sacrificer is able not only to achieve a spiritual rebirth but thereby also to overcome death itself and achieve immortality. As Heesterman remarked, “In the sacrifice are summed up the two opposite poles of the cyclical rhythm of the cosmos, birth and death, ascension and descent, concentration and dispersion”. And indeed it is sacrifice which renders the gods themselves immortal, that is, by realising their essential self as immortals. According to SB XI,2,3,6, “In the beginning, indeed, the gods were mortal, and only when they had become possessed of the Brahman they were immortal.” This was achieved through a focus on the vital fire within as well as without man. As SB II,22,8ff makes clear, at first the gods noticed that Agni the fire alone was immortal and so they sought, through austerities and eulogies, to implant the fire within themselves and thus became immortal themselves. We see that the immortal self that is to be realised is primarily related to that of fire, Agni. The sacrifice is also a means of sustaining the immortality of the gods so that the latter may in turn bless the human sacrificer with boons such as rain, food, wealth, etc.” ref
“Ultimately, as SB XIV,32,1 declares, “the sacrifice is the self of all beings and of all gods”. The sacrificer who performs the sacrifice to serve the external macrocosmic powers of the gods is called a devayājin. The sacrificer who is concerned exclusively with the self (ātman) is an ātmayājin ( SB XI,2,6,13). And, as Heesterman points out, What distinguishes the self-sacrificer is his knowledge – the knowledge, that is, of the equivalence of ritual and self … Thus, he is freed from his mortal body, from evil, and construes with Rg-, Yajur- and Sāmaveda and with oblations a transcendental body … This transcendental body is no other than the ātman of the self-sacrificer, the erstwhile puruşa who no longer undergoes sacrifice but has mastered and integrated it.” ref
African hunting/herding deities
“Achimi was the buffalo god of the Kabyle people (a Berber ethnic group) of Algeria. With his father, the buffalo god Itherther, they were responsible for the development of hunting and meat-eating in Kabyle mythology. Achimi was the son of the first buffalo, Itherther, and Thamuatz. After a close encounter with the first humans, Achimi received advice from an ant who told him how the world worked. He said that if he wanted a comfortable but short life, he would have to live with and serve humans. If he wanted a long and free life, he could live wild but would always be hungry. Achimi chose freedom. The ant also told her that he could mate with his mother and sister. Achimi returned home and did so. When Itherther found out, the father and son fought. Defeated, Itherther ran away. With his mother and sister, Achimi reproduced to create a herd of buffalo. Many years later, when Achimi was old, the herd was cold, hungry, and suffering. Achimi remembered the advice of the ant and realised that it would be better to have a short but comfortable life living with humans. He took the herd to where the humans lived. The buffalo were welcomed, and from then on, mankind kept cattle.” ref
“Ogoun or loa, the Two-Spirit orisha who presides over fire, iron, hunting, politics, and war. Oshosi, the orisha also known as the “hunter of a single arrow”, also the deity of the forests. Yoruba mythology Etymology: from the Yoruba people in West Africa to include the countries Nigeria and Benin, foreparents to practices or Santería, Lucumí, and other religions of the Caribbean, and the Americas.” ref
“Khonvoum, supreme god of the Mbuti people (Central Sudanic languages and Bantu languages) in the Congo region of central Africa; the “great hunter.” Khonvoum is the supreme god and creator in the mythology of the Bambuti Pygmy people of central Africa. He is the “great hunter”, god of the hunt, and carries a bow made of two snakes which appears to mortals as a rainbow. He rules the heavens, and when the sun sets, he gathers pieces of the stars and throws them at the sun so that it may rise the next day in its full splendor. He contacts people by means of the mythical elephant Gor (the thunderer) or through a chameleon. Khonvoum created black and white people from black and white clay, and the Pygmies from red clay. For them, he also created the jungle with its lush vegetation and animal life.” ref, ref, ref
“Akan mythology: Ahosu, Goddess of hunting and the protector of wildlife, called upon for successful hunts. In myths, she killed people who overhunted or overharvested the forest’s resources. And Bosomtwe, god of fishing and sailors. The Akan people are a Kwa group living primarily in present-day Ghana and in parts of Ivory Coast and Togo in West Africa. The Akan speak languages within the Central Tano branch of the Potou–Tano subfamily of the Niger–Congo family. According to oral traditions, the Akan trace their origin to the Bono state in the forest–savanna transition zone. The Bono people recount Bonoman as the first centralized Akan state—with it’s capital Bono Manso founded by a leader named Asaman, who emerged with his people from a sacred cave known as Amowi near modern day Techiman. According to tradition, God created the Bono before the sky itself, and their land was the birthplace of humankind. The word “Bono” is said to mean “original” or “first. The earliest cultural developments in the Akan forest zone are associated with the Kintampo Complex (c. 2000–500 BCE), which marked the transition from foraging to sedentary village life. Archaeological evidence from central Ghana reveals that early communities practiced mixed farming, kept domestic animals, and produced decorated ceramics, polished stone tools, and terracotta figurines. The emergence of Bonoman, with Bono Manso as its political center, marks one of the earliest identifiable phases in the development of centralized Akan states.” ref, ref
“Akan clans: Oral traditions and sacred geography place the origins of several Akan clans at Asantemanso and Adansemanso, which are supported by archaeological findings of settlement continuity dating back to 700 BCE. Abusua is the name in Akan culture for a group of people that share common maternal ancestry governed by seven major ancient abosom (deities). The Abusua line is considered to be passed through the mother’s blood (mogya). There are several Abusua that transcend the different ethnic subgroups outside of the ancient seven. People of the same Abusua share a common ancestor somewhere within their bloodline, which may go back as far as thousands of years. It is a taboo to marry someone from the same Abusua. The different Abusua are the Agona (parrot), the Aduana (dog), the Asenie (bat), Oyoko (falcon/hawk), the Asakyiri (vulture), the Asona (crow), the Bretuo (leopard), and the Ekuona (bull).” ref, ref
Greek mythology
- Aristaeus, god of bee-keeping, cheese-making, herding, olive-growing, and hunting
- Artemis, goddess of the hunt, wild animals, and the moon
- Heracles Kynagidas
- Pan, in addition to being a god of the wild and shepherds, was also a hunting god.
- Persephone, the goddess of life and death, is also known for being Hades‘ wife. ref
Pan as Master of Animals
“In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Pan (/pæn/; Ancient Greek: Πάν, romanized: Pán) is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a
“Hermes was known as the patron god of flocks, herds, and shepherds, an attribute possibly tied to his early origin as an aspect of Pan. In Boeotia, Hermes was worshiped for having saved the town from a plague by carrying a ram or calf around the city walls. A yearly festival commemorated this event, during which a lamb would be carried around the city by “the most handsome boy” and then sacrificed, in order to purify and protect the city from disease, drought, and famine. Numerous depictions of Hermes as a shepherd god carrying a lamb on his shoulders (Hermes kriophoros) have been found throughout the Mediterranean world, and it is possible that the iconography of Hermes as “The Good Shepherd” had an influence on early Christianity, specifically in the description of Christ as “the Good Shepherd” in the Gospel of John.” ref
“The earliest written record of Hermes comes from Linear B inscriptions from Pylos, Thebes, and Knossos dating to the Bronze Age Mycenaean period. Here, Hermes’s name is rendered as e-ma-a (Ἑρμάhας). This name is always recorded alongside those of several goddesses, including Potnija, Posidaeja, Diwja, Hera, Pere, and Ipemedeja, indicating that his worship was strongly connected to theirs. This is a pattern that would continue in later periods, as worship of Hermes almost always took place within temples and sanctuaries primarily dedicated to goddesses, including Hera, Demeter, Hecate, and Despoina. The earliest known theological or spiritual documents concerning Hermes are found in the Homeric Hymns composed c. the 7th century BCE. In Homeric Hymn 4 to Hermes describes the god’s birth and his theft of Apollo‘s sacred cattle. In this hymn, Hermes is invoked as a god “of many shifts” (polytropos), associated with cunning and thievery, but also a bringer of dreams and a night guardian.” ref
“The cult of Hermes flourished in Attica, and many scholars writing before the discovery of the Linear B evidence considered Hermes to be a uniquely Athenian god. This region had numerous Hermai, or pillar-like icons, dedicated to the god marking boundaries, crossroads, and entryways. These were initially stone piles, later pillars made of wood, stone, or bronze, with carved images of Hermes, a phallus, or both. In the context of these herms, by the Classical period Hermes had come to be worshiped as the patron god of travelers and sailors. By the 5th century BCE, Hermai were also in common use as grave monuments, emphasizing Hermes’s role as a chthonic deity and psychopomp, (from the Greek word ψυχοπομπός, psychopompós, literally meaning the ‘guide of souls’) are creatures, spirits, angels, demons, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife.” ref, ref
“In many cultures, the shaman also fulfils the role of the psychopomp. This may include not only accompanying the soul of the dead, but also, at birth, helping to introduce the newborn child’s soul into the world. Many mythologies and superstitions simply have a personification of death as psychopomp. Psychopomps have been depicted at different times and in different cultures as anthropomorphic entities, horses, deer, dogs, whip-poor-wills, ravens, crows, vultures, owls, sparrows, and cuckoos. In the case of birds, these are often seen in huge masses, waiting outside the home of the dying. Classical examples of a psychopomp are the ancient Egyptian god Anubis, the deity Pushan in Hinduism, the Greek ferryman Charon, the goddess Hecate, and god Hermes, the Roman god Mercury, the Norse Valkyries, the Aztec Xolotl, the Slavic goddess Morana, and the Etruscan Vanth. The polytheistic concept of a specific deity of death is rejected by Abrahamic monotheism, which regards God as the only master of death and life. However, the archangel Samael can be regarded as the Jewish psychopomp, whose role in Talmudic and post-Talmudic theology is as the Angel of death.” ref
List of Hunting Deities
Thracian mythology
- Bendis, goddess of the hunt and the moon, whom the Greeks associated with Artemis.
- Thracian horseman, a hunting god on horseback. ref
Hittite mythology
Slavic mythology
Georgian mythology
- Apsat, god of the hunt, associated with fish and birds
- Dali, goddess of the hunt, associated with horned beasts of the mountain ref
Celtic mythology
- Arawn, king of Annwn in some Welsh legends and associated with hunting, dogs and stags
- Cernunnos, a horned god associated with fertility and hunting
- Gwyn ap Nudd, another king of Annwn in Welsh Mythology, associated with the Wild Hunt
- Nodens, god associated with healing, the sea, hunting and dogs
- Vosagus, Gaulish god of hunting and forests; gives his name to the Vosges region ref
Norse mythology
- Skaði, a jötunn and goddess associated with bowhunting, skiing, winter, and mountains
- Ullr Norse god of hunting, mountains, archery, and skiing. ref
Roman mythology
Finnish mythology
- Mielikki, goddess of forests and the hunt
- Nyyrikki, god of the hunt
- Tapio, East Finnish forest spirit to whom men prayed before a hunt ref
Siberian mythology
- Bugady Musun, Evenki mother goddess of animals
- Hinkon, Tungusic lord of the hunt ref
Inuit Mythology
- Arnakuagsak, goddess responsible for ensuring the hunters were able to catch enough food and that the people remained healthy and strong
- Arnapkapfaaluk, sea goddess who inspired fear in hunters
- Nerrivik, the sea mother and patron of fishermen and hunters
- Nujalik, goddess of hunting on land
- Pinga, goddess of the hunt, fertility, and medicine
- Sedna, goddess of the sea, marine animals, and sea hunting
- Tekkeitsertok, god of hunting and master of caribou ref
Mesoamerican mythology
- Ah Tabai, Maya god of the hunt
- Sip, a hunting god often shown with deer ears and antlers
- Yum Kaax, Maya god of the forest and the protector of game animals ref
Aztec mythology
Chinese mythology
- Fu Xi, the creator of fishery
- Jiang Ziya, a god of fishery
- Erlang Shen,god of hunting and protector of hunters ref
Japanese Mythology
- Takeminakata, god of wind, hunting and warfare. ref
Filipino mythology
- Abog: the Bagobo god of hunters
- Alagaka: the Tagalog protector of hunters
- Anlabban: the Isnag deity who looks after the general welfare of the people; special protector of hunters
- Amanikable: the Tagalog god of the sea who was spurned by the first mortal woman; also a god of hunters
- Bakero & Tawo-nga-talonon: Ati spirits of the forest; the first-fruits sacrifices of the hunt are offered to them through bits of meat, which would bring good luck to the people
- Cain: the Bugkalot headhunter creator of mankind; gave customs to the people; lived together with Abel in the sky but separated due to a quarrel
- Esa’: a Batak ancestor whose movements created the landscapes, which he named during a hunting journey with his dogs, who were after wild pigs
- Ga’ek Spirits: Bugkalot spirits in the Ga’ek magic plant used in relation to hunting and fishing; the naw-naw prayer is given to them
- Kabigat: the Bontok goddess of the moon who cut off the head of Chal-chal’s son; her action is the origin of headhunting
- Kalao: Bugkalot spirit birds; depicted as red hornbills who guide and protect hunters and their soul
- Kedes: the Aeta god of the hunt
- Okot: the Bicolano forest god whose whistle would lead hunters to their prey
- Paglingniyalan: the Tagalog god of hunters
- Sugudun: also called Sugujun; the Manobo god of hunters and trappers
- True: the Mamanwa deity of the forest and herder of hunting animals ref
Epipalaeolithic Near East
“The Epipalaeolithic Near East designates the Epipalaeolithic (“Final Old Stone Age”) in the prehistory of the Near East. It is the period after the Upper Palaeolithic and before the Neolithic, between approximately 25,000 and 11,500 years ago. The people of the Epipalaeolithic were nomadic hunter-gatherers who generally lived in small, seasonal camps rather than permanent villages. They made sophisticated stone tools using microliths—small, finely-produced blades that were hafted in wooden implements. These are the primary artifacts by which archaeologists recognise and classify Epipalaeolithic sites. The period is subdivided into Early (c. 25,000–19,000 years ago), Middle (19,000–15,000 years ago), and Late (15,000–11,500 years ago) phases. In the Mediterranean Levant, the Early Epipalaeolithic is characterised by the Kebaran culture, the Middle Epipalaeolithic by the Geometric Kebaran culture, and the Late Epipalaeolithic by the Natufian culture. In Mesopotamia, the Zagros, and the Iranian plateau, the entire period is associated with the Zarzian culture. The Epipalaeolithic of Anatolia is relatively poorly documented but displays cultural similarities to both the Levantine Epipalaeolithic and Aegean Mesolithic. With a few exceptions that resemble the Geometric Kebaran, the Arabian Peninsula is thought to have been largely uninhabitable during this period.” ref
“The Early Epipalaeolithic, also known as the Kebaran culture, lasted from 20,000 to 12,150 years ago. It followed the Levantine Aurignacian, formerly called the “Antelian period”, throughout the Levant. By the end of the Levantine Aurignacian, gradual changes occurred in stone industries. By 18,000 years ago, the climate and environment had changed and a transition period had started. The type site is Kebara Cave south of Haifa. The Kebaran was characterized by small, geometric microliths. The people were thought to lack the specialized grinders and pounders in later Near Eastern cultures. The Kebaran is preceded by the Athlitian phase of the Levantine Aurignacian and followed by the proto-agrarian Natufian culture of the Epipalaeolithic.” ref
“The appearance of the[Kebaran culture, of microlithic type, implies a significant rupture in the cultural continuity of the local Upper Paleolithic. The Kebaran culture, with its use of microliths, is also associated with the use of the bow and arrow and the domestication of the dog. The Kebaran is also characterised by the earliest collecting and processing of wild cereals, known due to the excavation of grain-grinding tools. This was the first step towards the Neolithic Revolution. The Kebaran people are believed to have migrated seasonally, dispersing to upland environments in the summer, and gathering in caves and rock shelters near lowland lakes in the winter. This diversity of environments may be the reason for the variety of tools in their toolkits. The Kebaran is generally considered ancestral to the later Natufian culture, which occupied much of the same range.” ref
“The earliest evidence for the use of composite cereal harvesting tools are the glossed flint blades that have been found at the site of Ohalo II, a 23,000-year-old fisher-hunter-gatherers’ camp on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Northern Israel. The Ohalo site is dated at the junction of the Upper Paleolithic and the Early Epipalaeolithic, and has been attributed to both periods. The wear traces on the tools indicate that these were used for harvesting near-ripe, semi-green wild cereals, shortly before grains ripen enough to disperse naturally. The study shows that the tools were not used intensively, and they reflect two harvesting modes: flint knives held by hand and inserts hafted into a handle. The finds reveal the existence of cereal harvesting techniques and tools some 8000 years before the Natufian and 12,000 years before the establishment of sedentary farming communities in the Near East during the Neolithic Revolution. Furthermore, the new finds accord well with evidence for the earliest ever cereal cultivation at the site, and for the use of stone-made grinding implements.” ref
“Evidence for symbolic behavior of Late Pleistocene foragers in the Levant has been found in engraved limestone plaquettes from the Epipalaeolithic open-air site Ein Qashish South in the Jezreel Valley of the Northern District of Israel. The engravings were uncovered in Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran deposits (ca. 23,000 and ca. 16,500 BP), and include the image of a bird, the first figurative representation known so far from a pre-Natufian Epipalaeolithic site, together with geometric motifs such as chevrons, cross-hatchings, and ladders. Some of the engravings closely resemble roughly contemporary European finds and may be interpreted as “systems of notations” or “artificial memory systems” related to the timing of seasonal resources and related important events for nomadic groups. Similar-looking signs and patterns are well known from the context of the local Natufian, a final Epipalaeolithic period when sedentary or semi-sedentary foragers started practicing agriculture.” ref
“The Late Epipalaeolithic is also called the Natufian culture. This period is characterized by the early rise of agriculture, which later emerged more fully in the Neolithic period. Radiocarbon dating places the Natufian culture between 12,500 and 9500 BCE, just before the end of the Pleistocene. This period is characterised by the beginning of agriculture. The Natufian culture is commonly split into two subperiods: Early Natufian (12,500–10,800 BCE) (Christopher Delage gives c. 13,000–11,500 years ago uncalibrated, equivalent to c. 13,700–11,500 BCE) and Late Natufian (10,800–9500 BCE). The Late Natufian most likely occurred in tandem with the Younger Dryas. The following period is often called the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and includes the Khiamian culture (9700 to 8600 BCE).” ref
“The Epipalaeolithic is best understood when discussing the southern Levant, as the period is well documented due to good preservation at the sites, at least of animal remains. The most prevalent animal food sources in the Levant during this period were: deer, gazelle, and ibex of various species, and smaller animals including birds, lizards, foxes, tortoises, and hares. Less common were aurochs, wild equids, wild boar, wild cattle, and hartebeest. At Neve David near Haifa, 15 mammal species were found, and two reptile species. Despite then being very close to the coast, the rather small number of seashells found (7 genera) and the piercing of many, suggests these may have been collected as ornaments rather than food. However, the period seems to be marked by an increase in plant foods and a decrease in meat-eating. Over 40 plant species have been found by analysing one site in the Jordan Valley, and some grains were processed and baked. Stones with evidence of grinding have been found. These were most likely the main food sources throughout the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A, which introduced the widespread agricultural growing of crops.” ref
Karaca Dağ mountain: “Cradle of Agriculture”
“Evidence from DNA fingerprinting suggests einkorn was first domesticated near Karaca Dağ in southeast Turkey. And the origin of wild emmer has been suggested, without universal agreement, to also likely be the Karaca Dağ mountain region of southeastern Turkey. Thus, the cradle of agriculture could be placed in southeastern Turkey, 10,000 years ago.” ref
“Ritual Practices and Conflict Mitigation at Early Neolithic Körtik Tepe and Göbekli Tepe. Violence with the Sacred in the Ancient Near East and Girardian Conversations at Çatalhöyük”
“The mimetic theory of René Girard, for whom human violence is rooted in the rivalry that stems from imitation and archaeologists working at the Neolithic sites of Çatalhöyük and Göbekli Tepe in Turkey. At both sites there is evidence of religious practices that center on wild animals, often large and dangerous in form. Is it possible that these wild animals were ritually killed in the ways suggested by Girardian theorists? Were violence and the sacred intimately entwined and were these the processes that made possible and even stimulated the origins of farming in the ancient Near East?” ref
“The cognitive principles of the social brain have remained unaltered since their appearance in anatomically modern humans in Africa some 200,000 years ago. However, by the Early Holocene these capacities, were being challenged by the outcomes of newly emerging lifeways , commonly referred to as ‘Neolithic’. Growing levels of sedentism and new and expanding social networks, were prompting a unique series of behavioural and cultural responses. In recent years, research at the early Neolithic (PPNA) occupation site of Körtik Tepe has provided evidence for heightened levels of interpersonal violence and homicide; yet, at the same time, there are no indications in the present archaeological record for between-group fighting (‘warfare’). In this study, we investigate whether this scenario, at a time when we might expect to see a rise in inter community frictions in the wake of adjusting subsistence strategies and socio-political boundaries, can be at least partially explained by René Girard’s mimetic theory. To this end we consult the pictorial repertoire from the contemporaneous and extraordinary site of Göbekli Tepe. ” ref
Alcohol and Rituals: The Rise of Early Paganism?
“Raqefet Cave, 13,000-year-old beer used for ritual feasting. Kortik Tepe, stone cups have produced evidence of tartaric acid, suggesting wine might have been part of burial rituals. Two trough-like limestone vessels from Göbekli Tepe also indicate that beer was used for ritual feasting.” ref, ref, ref, ref
“Map of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites in southwest Asia with archaeobotanical remains included in the database. Black symbols indicate sites for which sample-level data were available; white symbols indicate sites for which sample-level data were unavailable. Central Anatolian sites—1: Hacılar, 2: Erbaba, 3: Çatalhöyük, 4: Can Hasan III, 5: Aşikli Höyük, 6: Cypriot sites, 7: Mylouthkia, 8: Ais Yiorkis, 9: Kastros, Hayonim Cave, 10: Yiftahel, 11: Nahal Oren, 12: Kebara Cave, 13: Atlit-Yam, 14: Gilgal, 15: Netiv Hagdud, 16: Jericho, 17: Nahal Hemar, 18: Wadi Faynan 16, 19: Shkarat Msaied, 20: Beidha, 21: Ayn Abu Nukhayla, 22: Tell Ramad, 23: Gesher Benot Yaaqov, 24: Ohalo II, 25: Gesher, 26: Wadi al-Hammeh, 27: Iraq ed-Dubb, 28: Ain Ghazal, 29: Wadi el-Jilat 13, 30: Wadi el-Jilat 6 & 7, 31: Zahrat adh-Dhra 2, 32: el-Hemmeh, 33: Wadi Fidan A, 34: Wadi Fidan C, 35: Basta I, 36: Tell Ghoraifé, 37: Tell Aswad, 38: Dhuweilla, 39: Azraq 31, 40: Tell Ain el-Kerkh, 41: Tell Ras Shamra, 42: Tell Qaramel, 43: Tell Abr, 44: Dj’ade, 45: Halula, 46: Jerf el Ahmar, 47: Mureybet, 48: Abu Hureyra, 49: Douara Cave, 50: Cafer Höyük, 51: Gritille, 52: Nevali Çori, 53: Göbekli Tepe, 54: Tell Sabi Abyad II, 55: El Kowm I & II, 56: Çayönü, 57: Tell Bouqras, 58: Hallan Çemi, 59: Demirkoy, 60: Kortik Tepe, 61: Tell Maghzaliyeh, 62: Qermez Dere, 63: Yarym Tepe, 64: Nemrik 9, 65: Mlefaat, 66: Jarmo, 67: Chogha Golan, 68: Sheikh-e Abad, 69: Chia Sabz, 70: Tepe Ali Kosh, 71: Ganj Dareh Tepe, 72: Tepe Abdul Hosein, and 73: Chogha Bonut.” ref
Körtik Tepe
“Körtiktepe or Körtik Tepe is the oldest known Neolithic archaeological site in Turkey. Together with Tell Mureybet and Tell Abu Hureyra in northern Syria, Körtiktepe is one of the only three securely dated Younger Dryas sedentary sites in Upper Mesopotamia. The habitation of the site began in the first half of the 11th millennium BCE, approximately 10700 BCE (12,700 years ago), and persisted with consistent density until approximately 10400 BCE. Strontium and oxygen isotope analyses of human tooth enamel indicate that the inhabitants of the Younger Dryas occupations at Körtiktepe were born and grew up in or near the site. Although a potential minor flooding event transpired during the transition from the Younger Dryas to the Early Holocene, the site endured without evident abandonment, at least not for a prolonged interval. Occupation continued and thrived during the Early Holocene. The architectural tradition of constructing round plans established around 10400 BCE and continued without any fundamental alterations until the eventual desertion of the site. The site reached its peak in terms of occupation density around 9300 BCE. Subsequently, it experienced an unexplained abandonment, possibly attributed to natural disturbances such as flooding induced by the Holocene climate changes.” ref
Tell Qaramel
“Tell Qaramel in Aleppo Governorate, Syria, 25 km north of Aleppo in the Queiq river basin. The settlement has several circular stone towers dating back to the period between 10,650-9,650 BCE or 12, 650 to 11,650 years ago, making them the oldest such structures in the world. Evidence of settlement at the site from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A period through to the Hellenistic period. The pre-pottery Neolithic phase however is associated with a wider area of about 3.5 hectares, extending to the south and south-west of the tell and covered by up to 2.5 m of later deposits through the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Before the excavations began, it was assumed that permanent sedentary settlements would occur only in combination with the first farming of cereals, and the first domestication and keeping of animals such as sheep and goats, marking the start of the Neolithic period, part of a transition between the proto-Neolithic and Pre-Pottery Neolithic A cultures. However the remains of the structures uncovered at Tell Qaramel appear to be older than this, giving the first evidence of permanent stone-built settlement. The site is roughly contemporary to that of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey.” ref
“The excavators find an unbroken development (in contrast to e.g. in Jericho in the southern Levant) so are skeptical about the common division in “Pre-Pottery Neolithic A” and “Pre-Pottery Neolithic B” phases, instead preferring “Early Aceramic Neolithic” for the proto-neolithic and PPNA, and “Late Aceramic Neolithic” for PPNB and PPNC. The very early dates at Tell Qaramel appear too old as compared to dating of similar cultural phases at other sites. Particularly striking are the remains of a succession of five round stone structures which the excavators recognise as the remains of towers. The lower, oldest one was about 6 m in diameter and appears to have had some communal function, having an elevated hearth at the center with two benches centered on it. The fourth phase was most massive, at about 7.5m in diameter with stone walls of about 2.25 m thick; it had no internal structure. It was damaged by fire and rebuilt, and may have been a defensive structure. The earliest phase has been carbon-dated to between the eleventh millennium and 9670 BC. This dating makes the structure roughly two millennia older than the stone tower found at Jericho, which was previously believed to be the oldest known tower structure in the world.” ref
“Among the ornaments found was a rather large (52×40×26 mm) polished copper nugget from Horizon 2 – one of the earliest finds of metal in an archeological site. As malachite (copper carbonate) has been excavated too in Tell Qaramel, the copper nugget may have been collected from the (as yet unidentified) malachite source. An attempt had been made to drill a hole through the copper like with other stone beads, but technology was not yet sufficiently advanced to process metal. Remains of 34 individuals, from 23 graves, from the PPNA H3 period have been excavated, all adults: this may indicate that burial practice for infants and children was different, at another (as yet undiscovered) location or treated with less regard. Most bodies had their head removed, either by cutting shortly after death (as indicated by cut marks, and having the 1st vertebra remain with the skull), or after decay (leaving the vertebrae and lower mandible with the skeleton). This indicates a head cult, as is also attested in other pre-pottery Neolithic sites (notably Jericho, Tell Aswad, and Cayonu). While in some skulls teeth showed wear and caries, which is typical for a diet with carbohydrates from grain, others were in good condition, which may indicate a pre-Neolithic diet. Based on radiocarbon dating of 57 samples the skeleton date to 11,770–10,660 years ago.” ref
Mureybet
“Mureybet located on the west bank of the Euphrates in Raqqa Governorate, northern Syria. The site was excavated between 1964 and 1974 and has since disappeared under the rising waters of Lake Assad. Mureybet was occupied between 10,200 and 8000 BCE or 12,200 to 10,000 years ago and is the eponymous type site for the Mureybetian culture, a subdivision of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA). In its early stages, Mureybet was a small village occupied by hunter-gatherers. Hunting was important and crops were first gathered and later cultivated, but they remained wild. During its final stages, domesticated animals were also present at the site. When Mureybet became occupied around 10,200 BCE, climate was slightly colder and more humid than today, an effect of the onset of the Younger Dryas climate change event. Annual precipitation increased slightly from 230 millimetres (9.1 in) during the Natufian to 280 millimetres (11 in) during the Mureybetian occupation phases. The vegetation consisted of an open forest steppe with species like terebinths, almonds and wild cereals.” ref
“The excavations have revealed four occupation phases I–IV, ranging from the Natufian up to the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) and dating to 10,200–8000 BCE, based on AMS radiocarbon dates. Phase IA (10,200–9700 BCE) represents the Natufian occupation of Mureybet. It is characterized by hearths and cooking pits, but no dwelling structures have been identified. Among the crops that were harvested, and possibly even locally cultivated, were barley and rye. Very few sickle blades and querns were found. The inhabitants of Mureybet hunted gazelle and equids and fishing was also important. They had dogs, evidence for which is indirect at Mureybet but bones of which have been identified at nearby and contemporary Tell Abu Hureyra. Phases IB, IIA and IIB (9700–9300 BCE) make up the Khiamian, a poorly understood and sometimes disputed sub-phase straddling the transition from the Natufian to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA). Mureybet is the only site where Khiamian deposits are associated with architectural remains. The oldest of these remains date to phase IB and consist of a round semi-subterranean structure with a diameter of 6 metres (20 ft).” ref
“In the subsequent phases, slightly smaller round houses built at ground level also appeared, at least some of which were used simultaneously. The walls were built from compacted earth, sometimes reinforced with stones. Hearths and cooking pits were located outside the buildings. Harvested crops included barley, rye and Polygonum. Sickle blades and grinding stones are more common and show more use-wear, indicating that cereals became a more important component in the diet. The fauna at Mureybet changed significantly during phase IIB. Gazelle makes up 70% of the assemblage and small animals decrease in importance, although fish remained important. Toward the end of the Khiamian, equid hunting gained importance at the expense of gazelle. Phases IIIA and IIIB (9300–8600 BCE) represent the Mureybetian, a subphase of the PPNA that was named after Mureybet and is found in the area of the Middle Euphrates. Architecture diversified, with rectangular, multi-cellular buildings appearing next to the round buildings that were already known from the previous phases. Walls were built from cigar-shaped stones that were created by percussion and that were covered with earth.” ref
“Semi-subterranean structures also continued to be used and they are compared to similar structures found at nearby and contemporary Jerf el Ahmar, where the structures are interpreted as special buildings with a communal function. Many rooms in the rectangular structures were so small that they could only have served for storage. Hearths and cooking pits lined with stones continued to be located in the outdoor areas. The wild varieties of barley, rye and einkorn were consumed in phase III. Different lines of evidence suggest that these cereals were cultivated rather than gathered. Hunting of equids and aurochs was more important than of gazelle, while fish remains were rare in phase III contexts. Based on use-wear analysis, it could also be established that animal hides were processed at the site using bone and stone tools. The earliest known writing for record keeping evolved from a system of counting using small clay tokens. The earliest use of small clay tokens for counting were found in phase III. It coincided with a period of explosive rapid growth of the use of cereals in the Near East.” ref
“The last occupation phases, IVA (8600–8200 BCE) and IVB (8200–8000 BCE) date to the Early and Middle PPNB, respectively. No architecture has been encountered in phase IVA. No domesticated cereals were found, but this may be an effect of very small archaeobotanical sample that was retrieved from these phases. Hunting focused on equids, followed by aurochs. It could not be determined whether any domesticated animals were exploited in Mureybet. Mud-built walls of rectangular structures were uncovered in phase IVB. Domesticated sheep and goat were exploited in this period, and domesticated cattle may also have been present. The excavation of Mureybet has produced an abundance of lithic material. During all periods, flint was the main raw material from which tools were made. It was procured from local sources. Obsidian was much less common. Natufian tools include points, burins, scrapers, borers and herminettes, a kind of tool that was primarily used for woodwork.” ref
“Flint arrowheads appeared in the Khiamian period. Other stone tools included burins, end-scrapers and borers. Mureybetian stone tools included Mureybet arrowheads, scrapers and burins, while borers were much less common. During the PPNB phase, Byblos arrowheads replaced the Mureybetian types, and other technological improvements were also introduced. Apart from the lithics, other artefact categories were also present in Mureybet in smaller quantities. Personal ornaments in the Natufian period consisted of pierced shells and small stone and shell discs. Only a few bone tools were found. During the Khiamian, bone was used for needles, awls and axe sheaths. Beads were made from stone, freshwater shells and bone. Among the three figurines from this phase was one with clear anthropomorphic characteristics. The Mureybetian bone tool assemblage closely resembled its Khiamian predecessor. The presence of baskets at Mureybet has been inferred from use-wear analysis on flint and bone tools. Other artifact categories include limestone vessels, stone querns, beads, pendants, including one from ivory and eight anthropomorphic figurines made from limestone and baked earth. Seven of these figurines could be identified as women.” ref
Göbekli Tepe
“Göbekli Tepe is a Neolithic archaeological site in Upper Mesopotamia (al-Jazira) in modern-day Turkey. The settlement was inhabited from around 9500 BCE to at least 8000 BCE or 11,500 to 10,000 years ago, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. It is famous for its large circular structures that contain massive stone pillars – among the world’s oldest known megaliths. Many of these pillars are decorated with anthropomorphic details, clothing, and sculptural reliefs of wild animals, providing archaeologists rare insights into prehistoric religion and the particular iconography of the period. The 15 m (50 ft) high, 8 ha (20-acre) tell is densely covered with ancient domestic structures and other small buildings, quarries, and stone-cut cisterns from the Neolithic, as well as some traces of activity from later periods. The site was first used at the dawn of the southwest Asian Neolithic period, which marked the appearance of the oldest permanent human settlements anywhere in the world. Prehistorians link this Neolithic Revolution to the advent of agriculture but disagree on whether farming caused people to settle down or vice versa. Göbekli Tepe, a monumental complex built on a rocky mountaintop with no clear evidence of agricultural cultivation, has played a prominent role in this debate.” ref
“Recent findings suggest a settlement at Göbekli Tepe, with domestic structures, extensive cereal processing, a water supply, and tools associated with daily life. This contrasts with a previous interpretation of the site as a sanctuary used by nomads, with few or no permanent inhabitants. No definitive purpose has been determined for the megalithic structures, which have been popularly described as the “world’s first temple[s]”. They were likely roofed and appear to have regularly collapsed, been inundated by slope slides, and subsequently repaired or rebuilt. The architecture and iconography are similar to other contemporary sites in the vicinity, such as Karahan Tepe. As of 2021, around 10% of the site has been excavated. Additional areas were examined by geophysical surveys, which showed the mound to contain at least 20 large enclosures.” ref
“Göbekli Tepe is located in the Taş Tepeler (‘Stone Hills’), in the foothills of the Taurus Mountains. It overlooks the Harran plain and the headwaters of the Balikh River, a tributary of the Euphrates. The site is a tell (artificial mound) on a flat limestone plateau. In the north, a narrow promontory connects the plateau to the neighbouring mountains. The ridge descends steeply into slopes and cliffs in all other directions. The climate of the area was warmer and wetter when Göbekli Tepe was occupied than it is today. The site was surrounded by an open steppe grassland, with abundant wild cereals, including einkorn, wheat, and barley, and herds of grazing animals such as wild sheep, wild goat, gazelle, and equids. Large herds of goitered gazelle may have passed by the site in seasonal migrations. There is no evidence of substantial woodlands nearby; 90% of the charcoal recovered at the site was from pistachio or almond trees.” ref
“Like most Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) sites in the Urfa region, Göbekli Tepe was built at a high point on the edge of the mountains, giving it a wide view over the plain beneath and good visibility from the plain. This location also gave the builders good access to raw material: the soft limestone bedrock from which the complex was built and the flint to make the tools to work the limestone. The prehistoric village acquired drinking water through a rainwater harvesting system, consisting of carved channels that fed several cisterns carved into the bedrock under the site, which could hold at least 150 cubic metres (5,300 cu ft) of water. Additionally, the local water table may have been higher, activating springs closer to the site that are dormant today. Excavations have taken place at the southern slope of the tell, south, and west of a mulberry that marks an Islamic pilgrimage, but archaeological finds come from the entire plateau. The team also found many tools that remain. At the western escarpment, a small cave was discovered, and a small relief depicting a bovid was found. It is the only relief found in this cave.” ref
“Göbekli Tepe was built and occupied during the earliest part of the Southwest Asian Neolithic, known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN, c. 9600–7000 BCE). Beginning at the end of the last Ice Age, the PPN marks “the beginnings of village life”, producing the earliest evidence for permanent human settlements in the world. Archaeologists have long associated the appearance of these settlements with the Neolithic Revolution—the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture—but disagree on whether the adoption of farming caused people to settle down, or settling down caused people to adopt farming. Despite the name, the Neolithic Revolution in Southwest Asia was “drawn out and locally variable”. Elements of village life appeared as early as 10,000 years before the Neolithic in places, and the transition to agriculture took thousands of years, with different paces and trajectories in different regions. Archaeologists divide the Pre-Pottery Neolithic into two subperiods: the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA, c. 9600–8800 BCE) and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB, c. 8800 and 7000 BCE). The earliest phases at Göbekli Tepe have been dated to the PPNA; later phases to the PPNB.” ref
“Evidence indicates the inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe were hunter-gatherers who supplemented their diet with early forms of domesticated cereal and lived in villages for at least part of the year. Tools such as grinding stones, mortars, and pestles found at the site have been analysed and suggest considerable cereal processing. Archaeozoological evidence hints at “large-scale hunting of gazelle between midsummer and autumn.” PPN villages consisted mainly of clusters of stone or mud brick houses, but sometimes also substantial monuments and large buildings. These include the tower and walls at Tell es-Sultan (Jericho), as well as large, roughly contemporaneous circular buildings at Göbekli Tepe, Nevalı Çori, Çayönü, Wadi Feynan 16, Jerf el-Ahmar, Tell ‘Abr 3, and Tepe Asiab. Archaeologists typically associate these structures with communal activities which, together with the communal effort needed to build them, helped to maintain social interactions in PPN communities as they grew in size.” ref
“The T-shaped pillar tradition seen at Göbekli Tepe is unique to the Urfa region but is found at most PPN sites. These include Nevalı Çori, Hamzan Tepe, Karahan Tepe, Harbetsuvan Tepesi, Sefer Tepe, and Taslı Tepe. Other stone stelae—without the characteristic T shape—have been documented at contemporary sites further afield, including Çayönü, Qermez Dere, and Gusir Höyük.” ref
“Radiocarbon dating shows that the earliest exposed structures at Göbekli Tepe were built between 9500 and 9000 BCE, towards the end of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) period. The site was significantly expanded in the early 9th millennium BCE and remained in use until around 8000 BCE, or perhaps slightly later (the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B, PPNB). There is evidence that smaller groups returned to live amongst the ruins after the Neolithic structures were abandoned. Research led to a significant revision of some thoughts on chronology, including the abandonment of the hypothesis that the fill of the structures was brought from elsewhere, and a recognition that direct dates on plaster are affected by the old wood effect. Together with new radiocarbon dates, this has established the site’s absolute chronology as falling in the period 9500 to 8000 BCE – the late PPNA and PPNB. The large circular enclosures were attributed to Layer III, dated to the 10th millennium BCE (PPNA). The smaller rectangular structures and the abandonment of the site were assigned to Layer II in the 9th millennium BCE (early to middle PPNB). Layer I consisted of all post-Neolithic activities up to the modern surface.” ref
“The revised chronology consists of eight phases that span at least 1,500 years. It details the history of the large circular enclosures, including events that led to their alteration or abandonment, and the evolution of the domestic buildings surrounding them.
- Phase 1: The earliest settlement phase dates to the second half of the 10th millennium BCE and includes the first versions of enclosures A to D and round-oval domestic structures, which indicate a (semi) sedentary lifestyle.
- Phase 2: In the second phase (early 9th millennium BCE), significant modifications of enclosures A-D were undertaken: New walls were erected, which incorporated the first monolithic T-shaped pillars. An increasing number of domestic structures were built, still mostly oval-round, though with a rising tendency for a rectangular floor plan.
- Phases 3–5: In the early PPNB, the northern and western slopes saw the erection of rectangular (domestic) structures. They underwent multiple construction phases, such as adding benches with a T-shaped pillar and new inner walls, resulting in more rectangular rooms. The large enclosures were modified as well. Walls were repaired, and new ones were added. Benches were placed against the interior sides of phase 2 walls.
At the end of the early PPNB, a slope slide inundated the lower-lying structures, flushing sediments and domestic rubble (likely including midden and burials) downhill. This caused extensive damage to enclosure D and led to stabilisation works in Phase 5. Building C was reconstructed for the last time, and a terrace wall was placed above it to prevent future slope slides. Nonetheless, a second major slope-slide event occurred, which likely resulted in enclosure D being abandoned in the late 9th millennium BCE. - Phases 6 and 7: Building activity gradually declined in phases 6 and 7 (late 9th to early 8th millennium BCE). The loss of enclosures B and D may have led to the construction of building G and the “Lion Pillar Building”. In Phase 7, another terrace wall was constructed in a last attempt to stabilise the northern slope.
- Phase 8: In the final occupation period, small habitation structures were built within the remains of the abandoned Neolithic village.” ref
Large enclosures
“The first circular compounds appear around the latter half of the 10th millennium BCE. They range from 10 to 30 m (33 to 98 ft) in diameter. Their most notable feature is the T-shaped limestone pillars evenly set within thick interior walls of unworked stone. Four such circular structures have been unearthed so far. Geophysical surveys indicate that there are 16 more, enclosing up to eight pillars each, amounting to nearly 200. The slabs were transported from bedrock pits located approximately 100 m (330 ft) from the hilltop, with workers using flint points to cut through the limestone bedrock. The pillars are the oldest known megaliths in the world. Two taller pillars stand facing one another at the centre of each circle. Whether the circles were provided with a roof is uncertain. Stone benches designed for sitting are found in the interior. Many of the pillars are decorated with abstract, enigmatic pictograms and carved animal reliefs.” ref
“The pictograms may represent commonly understood sacred symbols, as known from Neolithic cave paintings elsewhere. The reliefs depict mammals such as lions, bulls, boars, foxes, gazelle, and donkeys; snakes and other reptiles; arthropods such as insects and arachnids; and birds, particularly vultures. Vultures also feature prominently in the iconography of Çatalhöyük and Jericho. Few humanoid figures have appeared in the art at Göbekli Tepe. Some of the T-shaped pillars have human arms carved on their lower half; however, this suggests to site excavator Schmidt that they are intended to represent the bodies of stylised humans (or perhaps deities). Loincloths appear on the lower half of a few pillars. Schmidt thought the horizontal stone slab on top symbolised shoulders, which suggests that the figures were left headless. Whether they were intended to serve as surrogate worshippers, symbolise venerated ancestors, or represent supernatural, anthropomorphic beings is unknown.” ref
“Some of the floors in this, the oldest layer, are made of terrazzo (burnt lime); others are the bedrock from which pedestals hold the large pair of central pillars, which were carved in high relief. Radiocarbon dating places the construction of these early circles c. 9000 BCE. Later enclosures were rectangular, perhaps to make more efficient use of space compared with circular structures. They often are associated with the emergence of the Neolithic, but the T-shaped pillars, the main feature of the older enclosures, also are present here, indicating that the buildings continued to serve the same function in the culture, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB). The adjoining rectangular, doorless, and windowless rooms have polished lime floors reminiscent of Roman terrazzo floors. Carbon dating has yielded dates between 8800 and 8000 BCE. Several T-pillars up to 1.5 metres tall occupy the centre of the rooms. A pair decorated with fierce-looking lions is the rationale for the name “lion pillar building” by which their enclosure is known.” ref
“The stone pillars in the enclosures at Göbekli Tepe are T-shaped, similar to other Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites in the region. Unlike at these other sites, however, many of the pillars are carved – typically in low relief, though sometimes in high relief. Most carvings depict animals, mostly serpents, foxes, and boars, but also gazelle, mouflon (wild sheep), onager, ducks, and vultures. Insofar as they can be identified, the animals are male and often depicted with an aggressive posture. Abstract shapes are also depicted as upright or horizontal H-shaped symbols, crescents, and disks. Depictions of humans are rare; pillar 43 in enclosure D includes a headless man with an erect phallus. However, the ‘T’-shape of the pillars themselves is anthropomorphic: the shaft is the body, and the top is the head. This is confirmed by the fact that some pillars include – in addition to animal reliefs – carvings of arms, hands, and loincloths.
“The two central pillars occupied a special place in the symbolic architecture of the enclosures. Those in Enclosure D represent humans, with arms, a belt, and a piece of cloth that hides the genitals. The sex of the individuals depicted cannot be identified, though Schmidt suggested that they are two men because the belts they wear are a male attribute in the period. There is only one certain representation of a woman, depicted naked on a slab. Schmidt and zooarchaeologist Joris Peters have argued that the variety of fauna depicted on the pillars means they likely do not express a single iconography. They suggest that, since many of the animals pictured are predators, the stones may have been intended to stave off evils through some form of magic representation or served as totems.
Domestic structures and Burials
“In the earliest occupation phase, round-oval domestic structures were built alongside the large enclosures, which indicates a (semi) sedentary lifestyle. Over time, there was an increasing tendency for these buildings to have rectangular floor plans. In the final settlement phase, only small structures were erected. “Before any burials were found, Schmidt speculated that graves could have been located in niches behind the walls of the circular building. Fragments of human crania with incisions were discovered at the site, interpreted as a manifestation of the widespread Neolithic skull cult. Special preparation of human crania in the form of plastered human skulls is known from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period at Levantine sites such as Tell es-Sultan (also known as Jericho), Tell Aswad, and Yiftahel, and later in Anatolia at Çatalhöyük.” ref
Other structures
“At the western edge of the hill, a lionlike figure was found. Flint and limestone fragments occur more frequently. It was, therefore, suggested that this could have been a sculpture workshop. It is unclear, on the other hand, how to classify three phallic depictions from the surface of the southern plateau. They are near the quarries of classical times, making their dating difficult. Apart from the tell, there is an incised platform with two sockets that could have held pillars and a flat bench surrounding it. This platform corresponds to the oldest parts of the tell. Continuing the naming pattern, it is called “complex E”. Owing to its similarity to the cult buildings at Nevalı Çori, it has also been called the “Temple of the Rock”. Its floor has been carefully hewn out of the bedrock and smoothed, reminiscent of the terrazzo floors of the younger complexes at Göbekli Tepe. Immediately northwest of this area are two cistern-like pits that are believed to be part of complex E. One of these pits has a table-high pin and a staircase with five steps. The structures at Göbekli Tepe have also yielded some smaller carved stones, which typically cannot be attributed to one period or another. The iconography of these objects is similar to that of the pillars, mostly depicting animals but also humans, again primarily male. One of the structures contained a “totem pole” dating to the early PPNB. Reassembled, it is 192 centimetres (6.30 ft) tall and 30 centimetres (0.98 ft) in diameter. It depicts three figures (from top to bottom): a predator (a bear or large felid) with a missing head and the neck and arms of a human; another figure missing a head with human arms, likely male; and a third figure with a head that had survived intact. Snakes are carved on either side.” ref
Later structures
“The uppermost layer of the tell is the shallowest but accounts for the longest period. It consists of loose sediments caused by erosion and the virtually uninterrupted use of the hill for agricultural purposes since it ceased to operate as a ceremonial centre. Around the beginning of the 8th millennium BCE, Göbekli Tepe lost its importance. The advent of agriculture and animal husbandry brought new realities to human life in the area, and the “Stone-age zoo” apparently lost whatever significance it had had for the region’s older, foraging communities. Over 7,000 grinding stones have been found, spanning the entirety of the site’s usage, which are suggested to have been used to process cereal based on phytoliths found in associated soil. However, it is unclear whether the cereal was wild or cultivated.” ref
“Klaus Schmidt’s view was that Göbekli Tepe was a stone-age mountain sanctuary. He suggested it was a central location for a cult of the dead (Sacrafived and Ritual anamials?) and that the carved animals are there to protect the dead. Butchered bones found in large numbers from the local game such as deer, gazelle, pigs, and geese have been identified as refuse from food hunted and cooked or otherwise prepared for the congregants. Zooarchaeological analysis shows that gazelle were only seasonally present in the region, suggesting that events such as rituals and feasts were likely timed to occur during periods when game availability was at its peak. Schmidt saw the construction of Göbekli Tepe as contributing to the later development of urban civilization.” ref
“Schmidt also speculated on the belief systems of the groups that created Göbekli Tepe based on comparisons with other shrines and settlements. He presumed shamanic practices. He suggested that the T-shaped pillars represent human forms, perhaps ancestors. In contrast, he saw a fully articulated belief in deities as not developing until later, in Mesopotamia, that was associated with extensive temples and palaces. This corresponds well with an ancient Sumerian belief that agriculture, animal husbandry, and weaving were brought to humans from the sacred mountain Ekur, which was inhabited by Annuna deities, very ancient deities without individual names. Schmidt identified this story as a primeval oriental myth that preserves a partial memory of the emerging Neolithic.” ref
“It is apparent that the animal and other images do not indicate organised violence, i.e., there are no depictions of hunting raids or wounded animals, and the pillar carvings generally ignore game on which the society depended, such as deer, in favour of formidable creatures such as lions, snakes, spiders, and scorpions. Expanding on Schmidt’s interpretation that round enclosures could represent sanctuaries, Gheorghiu’s semiotic interpretation reads the Göbekli Tepe iconography as a cosmogonic map that would have related the local community to the surrounding landscape and the cosmos.” ref
“The assumption that the site was strictly cultic in purpose and not inhabited has been challenged as well by the suggestion that the structures served as large communal houses, “similar in some ways to the large plank houses of the Northwest Coast of North America with their impressive house posts and totem poles.” It is unknown why the existing pillars were buried every few decades to be replaced by new stones as part of a smaller, concentric ring inside the older one. According to Rémi Hadad, in recent years, “the interpretative enthusiasm that sought to see Göbekli Tepe as a regional ceremonial centre where nomadic populations would periodically converge is giving way to a vision that is more in line with what is known about other large Pre-Pottery Neolithic sites, where ritual and profane functions coexist.” For example, the discovery of domestic buildings and rainwater harvesting systems has forced a revision of the ‘temple’ narrative. Claims have been made that it was an ancient astronomical observatory, but these have been largely rejected by the team working at the site.” ref
“Archaeobotanical evidence from southwest Asia is often interpreted as showing that the spectrum of wild plant foods narrowed during the origins of agriculture, but it has long been acknowledged that the recognition of wild plants as foods is problematic. Here, we systematically combine compositional and contextual evidence to recognise the wild plants for which there is strong evidence of their deliberate collection as food at pre-agricultural and early agricultural sites across southwest Asia. Through sample-by-sample analysis of archaeobotanical remains, a robust link is established between the archaeological evidence and its interpretation in terms of food use, which permits a re-evaluation of the evidence for the exploitation of a broad spectrum of wild plant foods at pre-agricultural sites, and the extent to which this changed during the development of early agriculture. Our results show that relatively few of the wild taxa found at pre- and early agricultural sites can be confidently recognised as contributing to the human diet, and we found no evidence for a narrowing of the plant food spectrum during the adoption of agriculture. This has implications for how we understand the processes leading to the domestication of crops, and points towards a mutualistic relationship between people and plants as a driving force during the development of agriculture.” ref
The collection of wild plant foods
“The emergence of agriculture in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) of southwest Asia marked a major change in human subsistence strategies, with a shift from communities based on the gathering of wild plants to those reliant primarily on the cultivation of eight founder crops (einkorn, emmer, barley, lentil, pea, chickpea, bitter vetch and flax). It is widely accepted that a broad spectrum of plant foods was exploited by late Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers and that there was a narrowing of this spectrum with the advent of domesticated crops and the emergence of agriculture. The rise and fall of a broad spectrum of food resources has been linked to notions of optimal foraging theory whereby, in the face of resource depletion due to population increase and/or environmental change, foragers increasingly exploited lower ranked resources which subsequently declined in importance with the advent of higher ranking resources such as domesticated plants and animals. Following this view, it has been argued that a broad range of small-seeded grasses contributed to the forager diet in the Upper Palaeolithic but that their contribution declined in comparison with that of wild cereals until the PPNA (early PPN), after which their significance was negligible. They see the flourishing of a broad range of plant foods in the Upper Palaeolithic as indicating a temporary switch to low-ranked foods due to pressure on food resources. There are several reasons, however, why the exploitation of a broad spectrum of foods might persist, including buffering against the risk of food shortages or a reluctance to abandon culturally preferred wild foods.” ref
“An alternative view is that, rather than reflecting an increased use of lower ranked taxa, the exploitation of a broad spectrum of foods was an opportunistic response to plentiful and diverse resource availability, which facilitated more permanent settlement, and included managed or domesticated plants alongside collected wild foods. There is some support for this view. Using a different quantification method, it is suggested that the use of small-seeded grasses did not fall sharply after the Epipalaeolithic period in the eastern Fertile Crescent, but rather that these grasses or other nongrass species continued to form a significant component of the diet throughout the PPNA, suggesting an opportunistic approach to the collection of wild plant foods. Though contradictory, the arguments are based on the assumption that the plant remains present on early sites were primarily collected as food. However, it has long been acknowledged that the recognition of wild plants as foods is problematic. First, there are other means by which seeds from wild plants may have inadvertently arrived on archaeological sites, including their unintentional collection together with wild food plants or with woody material, their arrival on site as weeds of crops, or their inclusion in animal dung. Secondly, even when it can be established that a plant was deliberately brought onto site, there are numerous reasons other than its use as food why it may have been collected, e.g. as building material, bedding or fuel. The aims of this paper are therefore (1) to distinguish the suite of wild plants for which there is strong evidence that they were (a) deliberately collected and (b) were intended to be used as food by pre-agricultural or early agricultural communities, and (2) to re-evaluate the evidence for the exploitation of a broad spectrum of wild plant foods, and the extent to which this changed during the development of early agriculture.” ref
Distinguishing wild plant foods from plants collected for other uses?
“Even when a case can be made for the deliberate collec-tion of wild plants, it cannot be assumed that they were collected for food. This must be inferred from the plant’s characteristics (e.g., whether edible, palatable, or nutritious), ethnographic evidence, and depositional context, such as association with evidence of food preparation or consumption. Here we define wild food plants as those consumed as staples, nutritional supplements or flavour-ings, and gives the recorded uses for food or other purposes of all the wild taxa listed as poten-tial candidates for deliberate collection. The purpose is to assist in distinguishing taxa that are likely to have been collected as food from those more likely to have been collected for other purposes, rather than to differenti-ate between different types of non-food use.” ref
“Several fruit and nut taxa (Pista-cia, Ficus, Prunus/Amygdalus, Celtis, Lycium), which may well have been collected as food. The seeds of many of the other wild taxa are also edible, including Poaceae, Fabaceae, Brassicaceae, Cyperaceae, Atriplex and Polygonum/Rumex. Plants collected for their seed have a good chance of being preserved archaeologically, especially if the seeds are parched during processing, as is common for Polygonum. The leaves and shoots of several of these taxa are also known ethnographically to be eaten as greens, as are the leaves and shoots of other taxa whose seed is not normally eaten (e.g. Lactuca, Juncus, Malva sylvestris and Suaeda). The tubers of Bolboschoenus maritimus, and other Cyperaceae species such as Cyperus esculentus, are another potential source of food.” ref
“These tubers are fully formed at about the time when plants are in seed, and seeds may be deposited at settlements if, for example, the above-ground parts were gathered during the uprooting of below-ground organs. Some of the plants can also be used for their oil or as flavouring, (e.g. Brassicaceae and Capparis). As well as food, there is a variety of other ethnographically attested plant uses. For example, many plants have been used for their medicinal properties, and those for which their seeds are utilised in this way include Atriplex, Descurainia sophia, and Ziziphora. Reeds and rushes are commonly collected for use as matting, bedding or in con-struction but, as has been noted, they are often used before they come into seed. Plants could also be used for dyeing (e.g. Arnebia decumbens) or decorative purposes (e.g. Crucianella, Heli-anthemum and M. sylvestris), and there is one instance of Helianthemum seeds stored in a pot within a shrine (at Çatal-höyük) for an unknown, but presumably socially significant, reason.” ref
“Although the taxa listed as potential food plants have met our criteria for deliberate collection in at least one context, it does not necessarily follow that they arrived on site as foods wherever they were found. There are also incidental routes by which potential food plants may have reached a site, such as when fruits or seeds were collected unintentionally with crops, foraged from wild species, or obtained from woody material or animal dung. For example, some mixed samples are extensive, and it is tempting to conclude that these represent the remains of plant food processing, mainly when they derive from hearths or other areas of burning. A closer examination of the botanical composition of such samples, however, suggests an alternative interpretation.” ref
“Many of these large, mixed samples are from Neolithic middens at Çatalhöyük, and the plant remains in these deposits are thought to derive partly from discarded house-hold refuse and partly from in situ burning. A comparison of the charred plant remains in sam-ples from one of these middens shows that both fire-spots and midden deposits exhibit a similar range of botanical compositions, suggesting that the plant remains derive from the same source. Many of the dominant taxa in these samples grow in saline habitats (Aeluropus, B. maritimus) or marshy areas (rushes), and others have small or hard-coated seeds (small-seeded legumes), Chenopodiaceae, Brassicaceae, Helianthemum (ledifolium) that survive passage through the ruminant digestive system. These, and several less dominant small-seeded taxa (Sporobolus (saline habitats), Chenopodium cheno-podioides, Juncus (marshy areas), Alopecurus, Artemisia annua), are suggestive of grazing habitats, and the burning of dung fuel has been suggested as a major contributor of the plant remains found in these deposits. The Çatalhöyük samples are not unique in this respect; for example, Epipalaeolithic samples from Abu Hureyra, including a large mixed sample, which plots with the large Çatalhöyük midden samples, are also composed of taxa consistent with derivation from dung.” ref
“So, even taxa that were sometimes brought to site as foods could, at other times and places, have arrived on site by other routes. These include taxa likely to survive ruminant digestion (e.g. Cyperaceae—especially B. maritimus—Jun-cus, Atriplex, Polygonum, Rumex, and small-seeded legumes) that are as likely to have been deposited in dung fuel as col-lected for food, especially with the development of animal management. Other plants, including some of the same taxa, may also have been collected for purposes other than food, such as for building materials (Cyperaceae, especially B. maritimus and Juncus) or dye plants (Arnebia decumbens). The use of these taxa as food cannot therefore be universally inferred.” ref
“The chronological and geographical distribution of deliberately collected wild food plants. Reserchers compared the wild plant foods recognised in pre-domes-tication periods with those following the advent of domes-ticated crops in order to evaluate the evidence for a narrow-ing of the wild plant food spectrum during the transition to agriculture. For samples dated to the PPNA or earlier, and so before the emergence of domesticated crops, several taxa were identified that best meet our criteria for recognition as wild plant foods, based on their composition and known use as food. These include wild grasses (Poaceae, especially Avena sterilis and Hordeum bulbosum/murinum), fruits and nuts (Prunus/Amygdalus, Pistacia and Ficus), members of the Brassicaceae (espe-cially Brassica/Sinapis) and other herbaceous species (B. maritimus, Lactuca, and Polygonum/Rumex species), of which Lactuca and Rumex are primarily eaten as greens and are less likely to be represented by their seeds. Of these, only Avena sterilis, Prunus/Amygdalus, Brassica/Sinapis, B. maritimus and Polygonum came from a sample with a DC score of ≥ 0.7 and so from the area of the “abundance-purity” plot associated with storage contexts. B. maritimus and Polygonum/Rumex may also have been deposited on some occasions as a result of the burning of dung, whether from wild or managed animals. Though it has been argued that the collection of dung from wild animals is unlikely, ethnographic evidence and counter-arguments have been presented to support the collection wild animal dung as a source of fuel.” ref
“Using the same criteria, a greater number of wild taxa were recognised as potentially collected in later PPN periods (Early PPNB to PPNC), after the emergence of domesti-cated crops. These include Descurainia (sophia), Capsella and Sisymbrium species (and perhaps other members of the Brassicaceae), fruits and nuts (Ficus, Pistacia and Celtis (tournefortii)), wild grasses (including Taeniatherum caput-medusae, Poa, Aeluropus, Alopecurus, Crypsis, Agrostis, Bromus and Lolium species), wild legumes (Fabaceae), both large-seeded (Vicia/Lathyrus) and small-seeded (including Trigonella (astroites), Astragalus, and Melilotus species), and a wide range of other herbaceous species, including members of the Boraginaceae (Buglossoides arvensis, B. tenuiflora and Arnebia decumbens). Of these, only the Brassicaceae and Boraginaceae species, Ficus, Celtis, Taeniatherum caput-medusae, Poa, Lathyrus and the her-baceous species, Helianthemum, B. maritimus, Atriplex, Suaeda and Lycium came from a sample with a DC score of ≥ 0.7, suggestive of storage. The use of dung fuel is also well documented in this period, which may account for some of the occurrences of taxa such as Helianthemum, B. maritimus, Atriplex and Suaeda.” ref
“Few taxa were recognised as likely to have been delib-erately collected in more than one of the five geographical regions (central Anatolia, Cyprus, southern and northern Levant, and the eastern Fertile Crescent). Those that do occur widely tend to be taxonomically diverse groupings, such as small-seeded legumes, Brassicaceae and small-seeded grasses. The exceptions to this are B. maritimus, Polygonum and/or Rumex, which are found in multiple regions. Moreover, within each region it is unusual for a taxon to be recognised as deliber-ately collected at more than one or two sites. Indeed, only 12 wild taxa excluding crop progenitors were found at more 1 3than one site, and many of these are those likely to be over-represented due to preservation bias—such as Boraginaceae species, the nutlets of which are encased in a siliceous outer coat, or fruits represented by their robust waste product (fruit stones). Rather than indicating genuine regional patterns in plant use, this probably reflects the difficulty of finding reli-able evidence for deliberate collection.” ref
The broad spectrum of plant food collection?
“We have brought together the botanical composition of samples, their archaeological context, and the potential use of the taxa dominant in samples, to systematically recognise those wild plants for which a good case can be made for their deliberate collection as food. On this basis, relatively few of the wild taxa found at pre- and early agricultural sites can be confidently recognised as contributing to the human diet at one time or another during the PPN, though we acknowledge that this group represents the minimum number of wild taxa used as food. In addition, some foods, such as fruits and nuts, may be overlooked because they are usually represented by the waste by-products of consumption, such as seeds and shells, rather than by the product consumed.” ref
“We can now re-evaluate the spectrum of wild food plants at pre-agricultural and early agricultural sites. One of the largest groups of wild taxa represented on pre-agricultural (PPNA and earlier) sites is the grasses, and these are usually assumed to have been collected for food. Our evidence indicates, however, that of the 40–50 genera of grasses represented in southwest Asia, there is strong evidence for the deliberate collection of only ten genera, each of which may represent no more than one collected species. On the other hand, our evidence has provided support for the deliberate collection of some taxa that have previously been only tentatively suggested as plant foods on the grounds of their overall abundance or ethnographic use, for example, B. maritimus, Atriplex, and Polygonum.” ref
“To some extent, therefore, our results have called into question the exploitation of a wide range of plant species by pre-agricultural communities in southwest Asia in the period leading up to domestication. Moreover, comparing the evidence from pre-agricultural sites, for which few wild food plants have been confidently recognised, with that from later proto- and early agricultural sites (EPPNB to PPNC), there is evidence for the collection of a broader range of wild plant foods at the latter, though this may reflect the greater quantity of evidence and the more frequent occurrence of unambiguous storage contexts and cooking or other processing involving fire. For these reasons, while we do not interpret this contrast as indicating an increase in the diversity of wild plant foods collected at these later PPN sites, we have found no evidence for a narrowing of the plant food spectrum during the adoption of agriculture.
“Rather, our results, based on taxa for which there is reliable evidence of their deliberate collection as food, suggest little change in the variety of wild plant foods exploited between pre-agricultural and proto-/early agricultural periods, despite the availability of potentially higher-ranked domesticated crops in the later period. This implies a persistence in opportunistic foraging throughout the PPN, and, if it occurred in resource-rich environments and encouraged increased sedentism, would have provided ample opportunity for experimentation in new exploitation techniques, during which time the cultivation of a range of different species could be trialled.” ref
“An important consequence of this interpretation of the archaeobotanical evidence is that it does not require an explanation for the emergence of agriculture to be based on an externally-driven demographic or environmental “push” model, whereby foragers were forced to exploit lower ranked plant species (in response to resource depletion) that sub-sequently declined with the advent of domesticated crops. Instead, continued opportunistic foraging may have provided a context for the development of a mutualistic relation-ship between people and certain plants, with both taking advantage of favourable conditions, a diverse and plentiful resource base for people, and a rich anthropogenic environ-ment for plants—that is to the evolutionary benefit of both and led ultimately to crop domestication and a dependence on agriculture.” ref
“For the first time, the botanical composition of individual archaeobotanical samples from across southwest Asia has been systematically combined with their archaeological context, with the aim of establishing a robust link between archaeological evidence and its interpretation in terms of deliberate collection and use of plants as food. This has put the recognition of wild plant foods on a firm footing and has led to the recognition of a suite of wild plant taxa for which there is strong evidence for their exploitation as plant foods at pre-agricultural and early agricultural sites in southwest Asia. This has shown that relatively few of the wild taxa found at pre- and early agricultural sites can be confidently recognised as contributing to the human diet. The approach adopted here has led to a reevaluation of the evidence for the exploitation of a broad spectrum of wild plant foods at pre-agricultural sites, and its supposed narrowing during the early development of agriculture. This has implications for how we understand the processes leading to the domestication of crops, and points towards a mutualistic relationship between people and plants as a driving force during the development of agriculture.” ref
“Hunter-gatherers in the Fertile Crescent may have started harvesting einkorn as early as 30,000 years ago, according to archaeological evidence from Syria.” ref
“Wheat gathering, Hunter-gatherers in West Asia harvested wild wheats for thousands of years before they were domesticated, perhaps as early as 21,000 BCE or 23,000 years ago, but they formed a minor component of their diets.” ref
Caring is wisdom, hate is ignorance.
I am a rationalist; thus, I am a champion of the love of wisdom. I welcome learning, as much as I strive to promote reason and teach. Reason is my only master. And may we all master reason.
The “Truth” is best championed in the sunlight of Challenge.
This blog aims to correct my previous ideas on the origins of deities, which I now recognize as flawed due to a better understanding of the facts and mythology involved. Being in error is inevitable, but how we react to it explains whether we love the truth or cling to ideas in error. I will change immediately if I realize or am shown that my beliefs are in error or need to be amended to the current facts known.
“The relationships between professional archaeologists and amateurs have often been longstanding and productive. There are many instances in which enthusiastic amateurs went on to complete college and graduate degrees and become professional archaeologists.” – John Hoopes: @KUHoopes
As an amateur prehistoric investigator, I appreciate how informative, helpful, and challenging academic ideas are; all of which have helped me better speculate on prehistory, always striving to let the facts speak for themselves, as I see professionals, like archaeologists, do.
“Amateurs can do amazing research in archaeology, just as they do in astronomy, geology, paleontology, and other fields. What professionalization provides are rigorous intellectual and ethical guidelines as well as rich contexts in the histories of these disciplines.” – John Hoopes: @KUHoopes
My response, “I value and appreceate all your help and guidance, John. I am better at what I do because of you.”
“And I feel the same about you, Damien. The world is a better place because of your poetry, your art, your podcasts, your social media posts, and all of the wonderful work that comes from your heart. You are seen and appreciated.” – John Hoopes: @KUHoopes
Burden of proof (philosophy)
“The burden of proof (Latin: onus probandi, shortened from Onus probandi incumbit ei qui dicit, non ei qui negat – the burden of proof lies with the one who speaks, not the one who denies) is the obligation on a party in a dispute to provide sufficient warrant for its position. When two parties are in a discussion, and one makes a claim that the other disputes, the one who makes the claim typically has a burden of proof to justify or substantiate that claim, especially when it challenges a perceived status quo. This is also stated in Hitchens’s razor, which declares that “what may be asserted without evidence may be dismissed without evidence.” Carl Sagan proposed a related criterion – “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” – which is known as the Sagan standard.” ref
Hitchens’s razor
“Hitchens’s razor is an epistemological razor that serves as a general rule for rejecting certain knowledge claims. It states “what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence“. The razor was created by and later named after author and journalist Christopher Hitchens (1949–2011). It implies that the burden of proof regarding the truthfulness of a claim lies with the one who makes the claim; if this burden is not met, then the claim is unfounded, and its opponents need not argue further in order to dismiss it. Hitchens used this phrase specifically in the context of refuting religious belief.” ref
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence
“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” (sometimes shortened to ECREE), also known as the Sagan standard, is an aphorism popularized by science communicator Carl Sagan. He used the phrase in his 1979 book Broca’s Brain and the 1980 television program Cosmos. It has been described as fundamental to the scientific method and is regarded as encapsulating the basic principles of scientific skepticism. The concept is similar to Occam’s razor in that both heuristics prefer simpler explanations of a phenomenon to more complicated ones. In application, there is some ambiguity regarding when evidence is deemed sufficiently “extraordinary.” It is often invoked to challenge data and scientific findings, or to criticize pseudoscientific claims. Some critics have argued that the standard can suppress innovation and affirm confirmation biases. Philosopher David Hume characterized the principle in his 1748 essay “Of Miracles.” Similar statements were made by figures such as Thomas Jefferson in 1808, Pierre-Simon Laplace in 1814, and Théodore Flournoy in 1899. The formulation “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof” was used a year prior to Sagan, by scientific skeptic Marcello Truzzi.” ref
Kebaran Culture
“The Kebaran culture, also known as the ‘Early Near East Epipalaeolithic‘, is an archaeological culture of the Eastern Mediterranean dating to c. 23,000 to 15,000 years ago. Its type site is Kebara Cave, south of Haifa. The Kebaran was produced by a highly mobile nomadic population, composed of hunters and gatherers in the Levant and Sinai areas who used microlithic tools. The Kebaran is preceded by the final phase of the Upper Paleolithic Levantine Aurignacian (also known as the Athlitian or Antelian) and followed by the proto-agrarian Natufian culture of the Epipalaeolithic. The appearance of the Kebaran culture, of microlithic type, implies a significant rupture in the cultural continuity of the Levantine Upper Paleolithic. The Kebaran culture, with its use of microliths, is associated with the use of the bow and arrow and the domestication of the dog. The Kebaran is also characterised by the earliest collection of wild cereals, known due to the uncovering of grain grinding tools. It was the first step towards the Neolithic Revolution. The Kebaran people are believed to have practiced dispersal to upland environments in the summer, and aggregation in caves and rock shelters near lowland lakes in the winter. This diversity of environments may be the reason for the variety of tools found in their kits.” ref
“Evidence for symbolic behavior of Late Pleistocene foragers in the Levant has been found in engraved limestone plaquettes from the Epipaleolithic open-air site Ein Qashish South in the Jezreel Valley, Israel. The engravings were uncovered in Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran deposits (ca. 23,000 and ca. 16,500 years ago), and include the image of a bird, the first figurative representation known so far from a pre-Natufian Epipaleolithic site in the region, together with geometric motifs such as chevrons, cross-hatchings, and ladders. Some of the engravings closely resemble roughly contemporary European finds, and may be interpreted as “systems of notations” or “artificial memory systems” related to the timing of seasonal resources and related important events for nomadic groups. Similar looking signs and patterns are well known from the context of the local Natufia, a final Epipaleolithic period when sedentary or semi-sedentary foragers started practicing agriculture.” ref
“The engravings found in Ein Qashish South involve symbolic conceptualization. They suggest that the figurative and non-figurative images comprise a coherent assemblage of symbols that might have been applied in order to store, share and transmit information related to the social activities and the subsistence of mobile bands. They also suggest a level of social complexity in pre-Natufian foragers in the Levant. The apparent similarity in graphics throughout the Late Pleistocene world and the mode of their application support the possibility that symbolic behavior has a common and much earlier origin. Situated in the Terminal Pleistocene, the Kebaran is classified as an Epipalaeolithic society. They are generally thought to have been ancestral to the later Natufian culture that occupied much of the same range, who advanced the use of wild grains, building on the Kebaran traits to acquire some symptoms of permanent settlements, agriculture, and hints of civilization. In the prehistoric site of Ein Gev, the skeleton of a 30-40-year-old woman associated with the Kebaran was discovered. The morphological characteristics assigned the individual to a Proto-Mediterranean population, being very similar to the Natufians.” ref
“The type site is Kebara Cave south of Haifa. The Kebaran was characterized by small, geometric microliths. The people were thought to lack the specialized grinders and pounders in later Near Eastern cultures. The Kebaran is preceded by the Athlitian phase of the Levantine Aurignacian and followed by the proto-agrarian Natufian culture of the Epipalaeolithic. The Kebaran culture, with its use of microliths, is also associated with the use of the bow and arrow and the domestication of the dog. The Kebaran is also characterised by the earliest collecting and processing of wild cereals, known due to the excavation of grain-grinding tools. This was the first step towards the Neolithic Revolution. Evidence for symbolic behavior of Late Pleistocene foragers in the Levant has been found in engraved limestone plaquettes from the Epipalaeolithic open-air site Ein Qashish South in the Jezreel Valley of the Northern District of Israel. The engravings were uncovered in Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran deposits (ca. 23,000 and ca. 16,500 BP), and include the image of a bird, the first figurative representation known so far from a pre-Natufian Epipalaeolithic site, together with geometric motifs such as chevrons, cross-hatchings, and ladders. Some of the engravings closely resemble roughly contemporary European finds and may be interpreted as “systems of notations” or “artificial memory systems” related to the timing of seasonal resources and related important events for nomadic groups. Similar-looking signs and patterns are well known from the context of the local Natufian, a final Epipalaeolithic period when sedentary or semi-sedentary foragers started practicing agriculture.” ref
“Wheat, barley, rye, and oats were gathered and eaten in the Fertile Crescent during the early Neolithic. Cereal grains 19,000 years old have been found at the Ohalo II site in Israel, with charred remnants of wild wheat and barley.” ref
“By 18,000 years ago, the climate and environment had changed, and a transition period had started. The hunter-gatherers of the Aurignacian would have had to modify their way of living and their pattern of settlement to adapt to the changing conditions.” ref
Genesis’s punishment for Adam seems to say that,
in the beginning, humans had agriculture and farming?
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Wild Cereal Consumption in Iran around 80,000 to 30,000 years ago, then spread out from there, going west to Italy and Syria by at least 30,000 years ago. As well as south to Egypt at least 30,000 years ago. Next, Egypt is believed to have migrated to Israel around 23,000 years ago. Then, Israel is believed to have migrated to North Africa 15,000 years ago.
Nazlet Khater Culture (50,000 to 30,000 years ago?)
“Nazlet Khater Skeleton, Upper Paleolithic, around 35,000 years ago. This specimen is the only complete modern human skeleton from the earliest Late Stone Age in Africa. Nazlet Khater is an archeological site located in Upper Egypt that has yielded evidence of early human culture and anatomically modern specimens dating to approximately thirty to fifty thousand years ago. Excavations at the Nazlet Khater 2 site (Boulder Hill) yielded the remains of two human skeletons. One of the skulls was that of a male subadult. The cranium was generally modern in form, but with a very wide face, and it evinced some archaic traits in the temple and mandible areas. Below the skull, the skeleton was robust, but otherwise, anatomically modern. Morphological analysis of the Nazlet Khater mandible indicates that the specimen was distinct from the examined Late Pleistocene and Holocene North African specimens.” ref, ref
“Researchers found a strong Stone Age Sub-Saharan affinities in the 33,000 year old skeleton from Nazlet Khater, Upper Egypt as the authors noted “The morphometric affinities of the 33,000 year old skeleton from Nazlet Khater, Upper Egypt are examined using multivariate statistical procedures. The results indicate a strong association between some of the sub-Saharan Middle Stone Age (MSA) specimens, and the Nazlet Khater mandible , which are different from modern sub saharan africans. Furthermore, the results suggest that variability between African populations during the Neolithic and Protohistoric periods was more pronounced than the range of variability observed among recent African and Levantine populations.” ref
“The Nazlet Khater 2 skeleton possesses two plesiomorphic features in its mandible, which are not found among coeval, anatomically modern, humans. This suggests that the ancestors of the specimen may have interbred with neighboring late archaic humans. At Nazlet Khater 4 to the southeast, Upper Paleolithic axes, blades, burins, end scrapers, and denticulates were also excavated. The site has been radiocarbon dated to between 30,360 and 35,100 years ago. The similarities between NK2 and Upper Paleolithic European samples may indicate a close relationship between this Nile Valley specimen and European Upper Paleolithic modern humans.” ref
The Upper Paleolithic Human Remains of Nazlet Khater 2 (Egypt) and Past Modern Human Diversity
“Abstract: The Nazlet Khater 2 skeleton was discovered in 1980 during the excavations of the Belgian Middle Egypt Prehistoric Project in the Nile Valley (Egypt). Its association with the early Upper Paleolithic chert mining site of Nazlet Khater 4 (NK 4) (whose exploitation period ranged from 35 to 40 ka) makes it the oldest almost complete Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 modern human skeleton in northern Africa. The Nazlet Khater 2 (NK 2) remains belong to a young adult male. It is well preserved with the exception of the distal part of the legs and the foot. Comparative analyses of the specimen underline the complex morphology of modern humans from this time period. NK 2 exhibits several retained archaic features, notably on the face and the mandible. The inner ear structures display morphological characteristics that stand on the edge of extant human variation. The postcranial remains have strong muscular insertions and are adapted to high biomechanical strength. Furthermore, NK 2 has vertebral and membral lesions. These postcranial characteristics might be related to intensive mining activities. The study of this specimen provides an opportunity to increase our understanding of past modern human diversity during this time period (MIS 3) for which very rare human remains are known.” ref
Morphology and affinities of the Nazlet Khater man
“The fragmentary Nazlet Khater skeleton, from the upper-Palaeolithic period of Egypt, belongs to a subadult male individual. The ramus mandibulae and squama temporalis display archaic characters; otherwise, the whole anatomical structure of the skeleton is modern. The leptodolichomorphy of the skull is like that found on the Capsian skeletons; the strong alveolar prognathism and several small anatomical features are similar to the skeletons of Djebel Sahaba and Wadi Halfa.” ref
Haplogroup E
“The frequency of E subclades has varied geographically over time due to founder effects in Neolithic, Bronze Age, and Iron Age populations, i.e., the migration of a small group of settlers carrying among whom one paternal lineage was much more common than any others. Examples of founder effects include E-V12 in southern Egypt, E-V13 in the Balkans, E-V32 in Somalia, E-V65 on the Mediterranean coast of Africa, and E-M81 in Northwest Africa.” ref
“E-V22 is found primarily in western Ethiopia, northern Egypt, and the southern Levant. In Europe, it is therefore associated with the Phoenicians and the Jews. The Phoenicians could have disseminated E-V22 to Sicily, Sardinia, southern Spain, and the Maghreb, and the Jews to Greece, mainland Italy, and Spain.” ref
“E-V12 is the most common subclade of M78 in southern Egypt (over 40% of the population), while its V32 subclade is the dominant paternal lineage in Somalia, southern Ethiopia, and northern Kenya. The moderate presence of V12* in the Near East and across Europe (except Nordic countries) indicates that it could have been a minor Neolithic lineage. Its V32 subclade has not been found outside Northeast Africa.” ref
“E-V65 is found chiefly in North Africa, with a maximum frequency (20-30%) observed in Libya, Tunisia, and northern Morocco. The absence of V65 from the Horn of Africa means that it would have originated in North Africa. Its TMRCA is very young, only 2,700 years. V65 has also been found at lower frequencies (0.5% to 5%) in Egypt, Greece, southern Italy, Sicily, and more interestingly among the Sardinians and the Basques, two population isolates with strong affinities with the Neolithic and Mesolithic populations of Europe, but both mostly lacking E-V13. However, V65 has not been found in the Levant, the Balkans, or in non-Mediterranean Europe, which disproves a Neolithic dispersal. Its strong North African distribution and very minor presence in parts of southern Europe with historical links to North Africa would rather suggest that this lineage was brought to southern Europe by immigrants from North Africa. In the case of Italy, this could have taken place any time from the Phoenician/Carthaginian period (c. 1000-146 BCE) until the Vandal Kingdom. In Greece, V65 could have come from the ancient colonies of Cyrenaica. In Iberia, V65 could have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar any time since the late Paleolithic.” ref
“Pre-Pottery Neolithic B remains from the Levant were found to have carried haplogroup E (1/7; ~14%). Most members of haplogroup E-M96 belong to E1, while haplogroup E2-M75 is rare. Haplogroup E1a is split into two main branches: E1a1 (E-M44), which has been mostly found in Europe, West Asia, and among Ashkenazi Jews; and E1a2 (E-Z958), which has been exclusively identified in Sub-Saharan Africa. E-M215 is found at high frequencies in North Africa, West Asia, East Africa, and Europe. E-M215 is most common among Afro-Asiatic speakers in the Near East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa, and it has also been reported among some Nilo-Saharan and Niger–Congo speakers in North East Africa and Sudan. E-M215 is far less common in West, Central, and Southern Africa, though it has been observed among some Khoisan speakers and among Niger–Congo speakers in Senegambia, Guinea-Bissau, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Namibia, and South Africa. Haplogroup E-V38 is the ancestor of E-M2 (E1b1a1), which is the most common subclade of E in the entirety of Sub-Saharan Africa, and is strongly associated with the expansion of Bantu speakers throughout Central and Southern Africa. Another descendant of E-V38, E-M329 (E1b1a2), has been observed in an Ethiopian hunter-gatherer from 4,200 ybp, and is mostly found in males from the Horn of Africa and Arabian Peninsula. On the other hand, haplogroup E-M215 (E1b1b) is distributed in high frequencies throughout North Africa, Western Asia, East Africa, and Europe. Haplogroup E-Z827 was found in Natufian samples (E-Z830+) dated to 10,000 ybp from Palestine, and is commonly found throughout West Asia, North Africa, Europe, and Ethiopia. Haplogroup E-V68 is also commonly observed in North Africa and West Asia, and has been found in Iberomaurusian remains dating to 15,000 ybp from Morocco, with its prolific downstream descendant E-V32 dominating male lineages in Horn of Africa. Private commercial DNA testing at Family Tree DNA shows numerous E-M75 males originating from the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Yemen, and the United Arab Emirates), and among Ashkenazi Jews. E-M75 has also been identified in a Lebanese male.” ref
“Haplogroup E1b1b (formerly known as E3b) represents the last major direct migration from Africa into Europe. It is believed to have first appeared in the Horn of Africa approximately 26,000 years ago and dispersed to North Africa and the Near East during the late Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods. E-M78 and E-Z827 originated respectively at 20,000 years and 24,000 years. E1b1b lineages are closely linked to the diffusion of Afroasiatic languages.” ref
“Lazaridis et al. (2016) tested the first ancient DNA samples from the Mesolithic Natufian culture in Israel, possibly the world’s oldest sedentary community, and found that the male individuals belonged either to haplogroups CT or E1b1 (including two E1b1b1b2 samples). These are to date the oldest known E1b1b individuals. The same haplogroups show up in Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Jordan, accompanied by new haplogroups (H2 and T). Besides, E1b1b was not found in Neolithic Iran or Anatolia, and only showed up twice among the hundreds of Neolithic European samples that have been tested. This evidence suggests that at the end of the last glaciation, 12,000 years ago, E1b1b men were present in the Levant, but not in other parts of the Near East. There is evidence that the Natufians already cultivated cereals like rye before the Neolithic period. Cereal farming may therefore trace its roots (literally) to the E1b1b tribes of the Mesolithic Levant.” ref
“Marieke van de Loosdrecht et al. (2018) tested the DNA of seven 15,000-year-old modern humans from Taforalt Cave in northeastern Morocco, and all of the six males belonged to haplogroup E-M78. Autosomally, they could be modelled as 2/3 Natufian and 1/3 Sub-Saharan African (West African), confirming the close genetic link between Late Paleolithic North Africans and Mesolithic South Levantines.” ref
“Nowadays, the highest genetic diversity of haplogroup E1b1b is observed in Northeast Africa, especially in Ethiopia and Somalia, which also have the monopoly of older and rarer branches like M281, V6, or V92. This suggests that E1b1b may indeed have appeared in East Africa, then expanded north until the Levant. Nevertheless, many lineages now found among the Ethiopians and Somalians appear to have come from the Fertile Crescent during the Neolithic period. This includes some E1b1b subclades like V22 (12,000 years old) and V32 (10,000 years old), but also undeniably Near Eastern lineages like T1a-CTS2214 and J1-L136.” ref
North African Neolithic cattle herder hypothesis?
“Decker et al (2013) reported that Iberian and Italian cattle possess introgression from African taurine, which could imply that cattle were not just domesticated in West Asia, but also independently in North Africa. If that is the case, E-M78 or E-M123 could have come to southern Europe through North African cattle herders during the Neolithic, although this hypothesis remains purely conjectural. See also: Southern Neolithic route brought Megaliths from the Levant to Western Europe.” ref
“The small presence of E-V13 in the Near East could be better explained by the extremely long Greek presence in the eastern Mediterranean from the time of Alexander the Great until the end of the Byzantine domination over the region during the Middle Ages. It would be unthinkable that over 1,500 years of Hellenisation and Byzantine rule in Anatolia and the Levant didn’t leave any genetic trace. In Anatolia, E-V13 is found mostly in the western third of the country, the region that used to belong to ancient Greece. The absence of E-V13 from Central Anatolia does not accord with a diffusion linked to Neolithic agriculture. There is clearly a radiation from Greece (where E-V13 makes up approximately 30% of the paternal lineages) to the East Mediterranean (where the frequency drops to under 5%). The highest frequencies of E-M123 are observed in Jordan (31% near the Dead Sea), Ethiopia (5-20%), Israel/Palestine (10-12% among the Palestinians and the Jews), among the Bedouins (8%), in Lebanon (5%), in North Africa (3-5%), Anatolia (3-6%) and southern Europe, particularly Italy (1 to 8%), in the Spanish region of Extremadura (4%), and the Balearic islands of Ibiza and Minorca (average 10%).” ref
“E-M123 originated some 19,000 years ago, during the last Ice Age Its place of origin is uncertain, but it was probably in the Red Sea region, somewhere between the southern Levant and Ethiopia. Its main subclade E-M34 most probably emerged in the Levant about 15,000 years ago. Soon afterwards, M34 split into two branches, M84 and Z841, which were probably found in the Fertile Crescent during the Neolithic period. It is not clear at present whether they expanded beyond the Near East during the Neolithic period, but they might have been part of the Neolithic expansion to North Africa and Iberia alongside haplogroups T1a and/or R1b-V88. L791 and Z21466 have a mostly European distribution today and their ages point toward a Neolithic diffusion. The PF6759 subclade seems to have reached Sardinia during the Neolithic period. The descendants of L791, Y2947, and Y4971, only appeared around 3500 BCE, during the Late Neolithic or Chalcolithic period. The K257 and Y4970 branch emerged around 3000 BCE and is found in Iran, Armenia, Turkey, Russia, Greece, Italy, and France, among others. It might be linked to the expansion of the Kura-Araxes culture from the southern Caucasus to Anatolia and Iran.” ref
“It would then have spread to Greece and Italy alongside haplogroup J2a1 and T1a-P77. Y6923 also emerged around 3500 BCE, but became almost extinct. All modern carriers of this lineage descend from a common ancestor who lived only 1,200 years ago, and all are Ashkenazi Jews. E-M34 lineages experienced a much more dramatic expansion during the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) period. CTS1096 split into three subclades around 7,500 to 7,000 years ago, a period that corresponds to the advent of the Copper Age around modern Kurdistan. These lineages continued to expand around the Middle East, Greece, and Italy during the Bronze Age. Nowadays, the FGC18412 (aka Y5412) clade is the main variety of M123 found in Europe. Also downstream of CTS1096, the Y14891 and Z21018 clades are typically found among people of Jewish ancestry, while PF6391 and Z21421 are found in the Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan) and the Arabian peninsula. F1382 appears to have expanded during the Iron Age from the Levant to the Arabian Peninsula, where it is almost exclusively found today.” ref
“Classical antiquity brought new waves of colonisation across the Mediterranean. The first colonists were Phoenicians, who came from present-day Lebanon and the Tartus province of Syria. The Phoenicians possessed a variety of paternal lineages reflecting the complex ancient history of the Middle East. One of them was E-M34 (notably Levantine clades like Y15558 and Z21421), which makes up about 15% of modern Lebanese Y-DNA, but was probably higher before the Greek, Roman, Arabic, Byzantine, medieval crusader, and Ottoman occupations altered the local gene pool. E-M34 is the main Middle Eastern variety of E1b1b and is thought to have arrived with the Proto-Semitic people in the Late Copper to Early Bronze Age. The Phoenicians would have spread E-M34 to Cyprus, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, Ibiza, and southern Iberia.” ref
The ancient Greeks contributed to the rediffusion of more E-M34 (and E-V13) around places such as Cyprus, Sicily, southern Italy, Liguria, Provence, eastern Spain, and basically all parts of the Classical ancient Greek world. Alexander’s conquest of the Middle East would have taken Greek male lineages much further afield, perhaps as far as Afghanistan and Pakistan, although only at trace frequencies. The Greeks remained in control of the Middle East until the Roman conquest, then regained influence over the region during the Byzantine period. It is likely that most E-V13 in the Middle East is ultimately of Greek or Roman origin, although some might have come with Bronze Age Indo-European migrations via Iran.” ref
“The acclaimed theoretical physicist Albert Einstein is presumed to have belonged to Y-haplogroup E-Z830 based on the results from a patrilineal descendant of Naphtali Hirsch Einstein, Albert Einstein’s great-grand-father. Approximately 20% of Ashkenazi Jews belong to haplogroup E1b1b. Ronny Decorte, a geneticist from the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, tested relatives of Adolf Hitler and determined that the Fürher belonged to haplogroup E1b1b. Ironically this haplogroup thought to be at the origin of Afro-Asiatic languages, which includes the Semitic languages and peoples that Hitler despised so much.” ref
“The peoples of Africa are characterized by regional genetic substructure and heterogeneity, depending on the respective ethno-linguistic identity, and, in part, explainable by the “multiregional evolution” of modern human lineages in various multiple regions of the African continent, as well as later admixture events, including back-migrations from Eurasia, of both highly differentiated West and East Eurasian components. Africans’ genetic ancestry is largely partitioned by geography and language family, with populations belonging to the same ethno-linguistic groupings showing high genetic homogeneity and coherence.” ref
“Humans living in wood huts were growing grain with pesky proto-weeds 11,000 years earlier than thought, international team of scientists finds. Evidence of cereal cultivation has been discovered at a 23,000-year-old site in the Galilee, doubling the age of the first attempts at farming.” ref
“Israeli archaeologists have unearthed evidence of early small-scale agricultural cultivation at Ohalo II, a 23,000-year-old hunter-gatherers’ sedentary camp on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Excavations at the site exposed six brush hut dwellings, a human grave, copious and well-preserved remains of both animal and plant foods, beads from the Mediterranean Sea, as well as evidence of flint tool manufacture and use.” ref
Wheat
“Wheat gathering, Hunter-gatherers in West Asia harvested wild wheats for thousands of years before they were domesticated, perhaps as early as 21,000 BCE, but they formed a minor component of their diets. In this phase of pre-domestication cultivation, early cultivars were spread around the region and slowly developed the traits that came to characterize their domesticated forms. Well-known wheat species and hybrids include the most widely grown common wheat (T. aestivum), spelt, durum, emmer, einkorn, and Khorasan or Kamut. Bread made from ground einkorn and the tubers of a form of club rush (Bolboschoenus glaucus) was made as early as 12,400 BCE. Wild einkorn was collected at sites such as Tell Abu Hureyra (c. 10,700–9000 BCE) and Mureybet (c. 9800–9300 BCE), The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BCE. Wild emmer was first cultivated in the southern Levant, as early as 9600 BCE. Genetic studies have found that, like einkorn, it was domesticated in southeastern Anatolia, but only once. But the earliest archaeological evidence for the domestic form comes after c. 8800 BCE in southern Turkey, at Çayönü, Cafer Höyük, and possibly Nevalı Çori. Genetic evidence indicates that it was domesticated in multiple places independently. The earliest secure archaeological evidence for domestic emmer comes from Çayönü, c. 8300–7600 BCE, where distinctive scars on the spikelets indicated that they came from a hulled domestic variety. Slightly earlier finds have been reported from Tell Aswad in Syria, c. 8500–8200 BCE, but these were identified using a less reliable method based on grain size. Einkorn and emmer are considered two of the founder crops cultivated by the first farming societies in Neolithic West Asia. Wheat was relatively uncommon for the first thousand years of the Neolithic (when barley predominated), but became a staple after around 8500 BCE. Domestic wheat was quickly spread to regions where its wild ancestors did not grow naturally. Emmer was introduced to Cyprus as early as 8600 BCE and einkorn c. 7500 BCE; emmer reached Greece by 6500 BCE, oldest hexaploid wheat has 6400–6200 BCE from Çatalhöyük. Egypt shortly after 6000 BCE, and Germany and Spain by 5000 BCE. “The early Egyptians were developers of bread and the use of the oven and developed baking into one of the first large-scale food production industries.” By 4000 BCE, wheat had reached the British Isles and Scandinavia. Wheat was also cultivated in India around 3500 BCE.” ref
Einkorn Wheat
“Einkorn wheat is one of the earliest cultivated forms of wheat, alongside emmer wheat (T. dicoccum). Hunter gatherers in the Fertile Crescent may have started harvesting einkorn as early as 30,000 years ago, according to archaeological evidence from Syria. Although gathered from the wild for thousands of years, einkorn wheat was first domesticated approximately 10,000 years ago in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) or B (PPNB) periods. Evidence from DNA fingerprinting suggests einkorn was first domesticated near Karaca Dağ in southeast Turkey, an area in which a number of PPNB farming villages have been found. One theory by Yuval Noah Harari suggests that the domestication of einkorn was linked to intensive agriculture to support the nearby Göbekli Tepe site. From the northern part of the Fertile Crescent, the cultivation of einkorn wheat spread to the Caucasus, the Balkans, and central Europe. Einkorn wheat was more commonly grown in cooler climates than emmer wheat, the other domesticated wheat. Cultivation of einkorn in the Middle East began to decline in favor of emmer wheat around 2000 BCE.” ref
Emmer Wheat
Along with einkorn, emmer was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East. Wild emmer is native to the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, growing in the grass and woodland of hill country from modern-day Israel to Iran. The origin of wild emmer has been suggested, without universal agreement among scholars, to be the Karaca Dağ mountain region of southeastern Turkey. Emmer wheat has been found in archaeological excavations and ancient tombs. Emmer was collected from the wild and eaten by hunter-gatherers for thousands of years before its domestication. Grains of wild emmer discovered at Ohalo II had a radiocarbon dating of 17,000 BCE, and at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) site of Netiv Hagdud are 10,000–9,400 years old.” ref
“The location of the earliest site of emmer domestication is still unclear and under debate. Some of the earliest sites with possible indirect evidence for emmer domestication during the Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B include Tell Aswad, Çayönü, Cafer Höyük, Aşıklı Höyük, Kissonerga-Mylouthkia [de], and Shillourokambos. Definitive evidence for the full domestication of emmer wheat is not found until the Middle Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (10,200 to 9,500 years ago), at sites such as Beidha, Tell Ghoraifé, Tell es-Sultan (Jericho), Abu Hureyra, Tell Halula, Tell Aswad, and Cafer Höyük. Emmer is found in a large number of Neolithic sites scattered around the Fertile Crescent. From its earliest days of cultivation, emmer was a more prominent crop than its cereal contemporaries and competitors, einkorn wheat and barley. Small quantities of emmer are present during Period 1 at Mehrgharh on the Indian subcontinent, showing that emmer was already cultivated there by 7000–5000 BCE.” ref
“In the Near East, in southern Mesopotamia in particular, cultivation of emmer wheat began to decline in the Early Bronze Age, from about 3000 BCE, and barley became the standard cereal crop. This has been related to increased salinization of irrigated alluvial soils, of which barley is more tolerant, although this study has been challenged. Emmer had a special place in ancient Egypt, where it was the main wheat cultivated in Pharaonic times, although cultivated einkorn wheat was grown in great abundance during the Third Dynasty, and large quantities of it were found preserved, along with cultivated emmer wheat and barleys, in the subterranean chambers beneath the Step Pyramid at Saqqara. The greater prevalence of emmer wheat in the diet of ancient Egypt may simply reflect a marked culinary or cultural preference, or may reflect growing conditions having changed after the Third Dynasty. Emmer and barley were the primary ingredients in ancient Egyptian bread and beer. Emmer wheat may be one of the five species of grain that have a special status in Judaism.” ref
More on Cereal Grains
“Barley, a major cereal grain was one of the first cultivated grains; consumption of wild barley, comes from the Epipaleolithic at Ohalo II at the southern end of the Sea of Galilee, where grinding stones with traces of starch were found. The remains were dated to about 23,000 BCE. The earliest evidence for the domestication of barley, in the form of cultivars that cannot reproduce without human assistance, comes from Mesopotamia, specifically the Jarmo region of modern-day Iraq, around 9,000–7,000 BCE.it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BCE, giving it nonshattering spikelets and making it much easier to harvest.” ref
“Rye grain, Evidence uncovered at the Epipalaeolithic site of Tell Abu Hureyra in the Euphrates valley of northern Syria suggests that rye was among the first cereal crops to be systematically cultivated, around 13,000 years ago. Domesticated rye occurs in small quantities at a number of Neolithic sites in Asia Minor (Anatolia, now Turkey), such as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B Can Hasan III near Çatalhöyük.” ref
“Oats, were cultivated for some thousands of years before they were domesticated. A granary from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, about 11,400 to 11,200 years ago in the Jordan Valley in the Middle East, contained a large number of wild oat grains.” ref
The origin of “Deities” (Sky Father/Master of Animals, a male hurding/hunting god, and Sky Mother, as seen in Earth Diver mythology, seemingly depicted together with a turtle at Nevali Cori) dates back to goat domestication 11,000 years ago, within the Trialetian culture, which is associated with R1b and also J Y-DNA haplogroups.
“The Caucasian-Anatolian area of Trialetian culture was adjacent to the Iraqi-Iranian Zarzian culture to the east and south, as well as the Levantine Natufian to the southwest. These groups were based on hunting mountain-dwelling goat-antelope “Caucasian ibex,” wild boar, and brown bear. Seen at Ali Tepe (Iran) 10,500 BCE, Cafer Hoyuk (Turkey) 8920 BCE, Hallan Çemi (Turkey) 8,600 BCE, and Nevali Çori (Turkey) 8,400 BCE.” ref
“Hunting Cult” (Cosmic Hunt) becomes “Herding Cult” Paganism 13,000 to 12,000 years ago
“Herding societies are nearly always that of a true hierarchical chiefdom rather than of an egalitarian society. Horticulture mixed with the domestication of animals seems to have predominated until even the least cultivable zones were filled. Sometimes, a complete symbiosis between a tribe/clan of herders and an adjacent tribe/clan of horticulturalists occurs to the point that they resemble a single society composed of two specialized castes, the herders occupying the superior position. Fully committed pastoralists manifest a considerable degree of cultural uniformity in economics, social organization, political order, and even in religion. Full pastoralism, with its powerful equestrian warriors, seems to have developed around 1500 to 1000 BCE, or around 3,500 to 3,000 years ago, in Inner Asia. Herders are likely to raid settled villages and frequently raid other herders as well.” ref
“To the extent that pastoral nomadic societies achieve wealth and success in herding and in war, they tend to solidify and extend their chiefdom structure. They also add to their religious organization a hierarchical principle, together with the content known as ancestor worship. Much of the mythology by which a primitive people explains itself and its customs comes in this way to have an ingredient familiar to readers of the Old Testament. Sometimes the significance of herding leads not only to the glorification of herds and herding, but even to a religious taboo against planting. Taboos, such as a belief that plowing and planting may defile the earth spirit. Or herders, in time of need, may engage in horticulture, but it is considered degrading to toil in farming, whereas herding is a very prideful occupation.” ref
“The Zagros mountain chain forms the western border of Iran, from its contact with the eastern Taurus in Turkey to the Persian Gulf. This mountain range, which provides a formidable barrier reaching elevations of 4000 m above sea level, is cut in various places by passes that provide communication with the lowland regions on either side. Recent studies show that human groups in the Zagros Mountains developed autonomously in relation to the Levant during the beginning of the Holocene, with local domestication of goats and an incipient agriculture based on barley. This originality, seen in the material culture, is confirmed by DNA analyses, which show that the first farmers of the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan) and the Zagros Mountains (Iran) were strongly differentiated genetically, and that each descended from local hunter-gatherers.” ref
“However the Neolithisation of Iran did not occur as a single event, but rather as a gradual unfolding of multiple episodes of Neolithisation producing patterns of change, continuity and adaptation over several millennia (Fazeli Nashli and Matthews, 2013; Roustaei and Mashkour, 2016): the central Zagros was a “formative zone” where human groups accomplished their own Neolithisation without significant external input; in the southern Zagros (Fars) and in northeast Iran, populations of hunter-gatherers progressively adopted the Neolithic way of life; on the central plateau and in the northwest of the country, not until the transition between the 7th and 6th millennia did settlements become established, with all the attributes of the Neolithic (domestication of plants and animals, pottery).” ref
“In this mosaic, the study of the circulation of obsidian, the sources for which are located in Turkey and the Caucasus, is one way to obtain concrete information on the relations that could have existed in the different phases of the Neolithic and the Chalcolithic between the Mesopotamian world and Iranian territory. Analyses of obsidian artefacts have been carried out on numerous Iranian sites, but these data are sparse, and the stratigraphical and chronological contexts of the artefacts often pose difficulties. A revision of the corpus of obsidian artefacts found on the sites throughout Iran has thus been undertaken for the Epipalaeolithic, Neolithi,c and Chalcolithic periods (ca. 18,000-3000 BCE). Although determination of provenance concerns only a limited number of artefacts per site, the information that they provide is essential to reconstruct, at least partially, the network of exchanges into which obsidian entered.” ref
“For each of the cultural phases studied, modelling by GIS proposes a network of pathways, with the goal of establishing hypotheses of circulation between the sources and the sites and of redistribution between the sites. In the Zagros mountains, after the Late Glacial Maximum (ca 20,000–18,000 BCE), the Upper Palaeolithic culture (Baradostian) was replaced by a local Epipalaeolithic culture characterized by a microlithic industry and named Zarzian after the cave of Zarzi in Iraqi Kurdistan. The sites are located in the northwest foothills of the Zagros (Zarzi, Shanidar, Zawi Chemi, Palegawra), but also in the central Zagros.” ref
“This study of the diffusion of obsidian in Iran and in the Iraqi provinces of the NW Zagros from the Epipalaeolithic to the end of the Chalcolithic reveals the diversity of relations that existed between this territory and the Mesopotamian world in these periods. The primary objective of this article was a revision of the corpus of obsidian artefacts found on the sites of the NW Zagros foothills and throughout Iran, for the Epipalaeolithic, Neolithic, and Chalcolithic periods (ca. 18,000-3000 BCE).” ref
Herded and hunted goat genomes from the dawn of domestication in the Zagros Mountains
“The Aceramic Neolithic (∼9600 to 7000 cal BCE or 11,600 to 9,000 years ago) period in the Zagros Mountains, western Iran, provides some of the earliest archaeological evidence of goat (Capra hircus) management and husbandry, dating back to circa 8200 cal BCE or 10,200 years ago, with detectable morphological changes appearing ∼approximately 1,000 years later. To examine the genomic imprint of initial management and its implications for the goat domestication process, we analyzed 14 novel nuclear genomes (mean coverage 1.13X) and 32 mitochondrial (mtDNA) genomes (mean coverage 143X) from two such sites, Ganj Dareh and Tepe Abdul Hosein. These genomes show two distinct clusters: those with domestic affinity and a minority group with stronger wild affinity, indicating that managed goats were genetically distinct from wild goats at this early horizon. This genetic duality, the presence of long runs of homozygosity, shared ancestry with later Neolithic populations, a sex bias in archaeozoological remains, and demographic profiles from across all layers of Ganj Dareh support management of genetically domestic goat by circa 8200 cal BCE, and represent the oldest to-this-date reported livestock genomes. In these sites a combination of high autosomal and mtDNA diversity, contrasting limited Y chromosomal lineage diversity, an absence of reported selection signatures for pigmentation, and the wild morphology of bone remains illustrates domestication as an extended process lacking a strong initial bottleneck, beginning with spatial control, demographic manipulation via biased male culling, captive breeding, and subsequently phenotypic and genomic selection.” ref
LORD OF THE ANIMALS
“The concept of a special type of deity or spirit that reigns over the animal kingdom is common among many Old and New World peoples. The universality of this conception suggests that, formerly, some form of cultural contact existed that bridged the continents. As a fundamental element in the life of the human as a hunter, a lord of the animals is a familiar figure among hunting cultures, but he also occurs, in modified forms, in many agrarian and pastoral societies. In the latter instance, the concept is often associated with a spiritual herdsman of wild game, a spirit analogue to human domesticators of animals. But the idea of an animal lord or spirit can be traced even further back than the development of herding—indeed, as concrete evidence shows, into the Old Stone Age. The lord of the animals often appears as a lord of the forest, mountain, or sea—natural areas that may possibly have been inhabited by individual spiritual sovereigns that eventually blended together to form a lord of animals. For many cultures, the forest (or tree), the mountain, and the cave are the preferred residences of the animal lord, though for hunters of sea mammals and fish, the sea floor and the deep sea are conceived as his abode. Occasionally, the lord is associated with the sun, the moon, a star, or a constellation.” ref
“The lord of the animals is often a helper of mankind. He guides the animals to the hunter or helps him discover the trail of his prey. In addition, he often provides a magical weapon or a mystical spell that assures success in finding game. Such assistance, however, often assumes that certain conditions are fulfilled or specific regulations observed: the lord of the animals punishes the malicious, those who wantonly kill more game than is needed and those who are disrespectful of the dead game, especially in handling the bones, which must be meticulously saved, for from the bones, the same type of animal will be re-created (with or without the intervention of the lord of the animals). It is most often assumed that the soul of the dead animal returns to its spiritual master, from whom it will receive another body. Frequently, the lord of the animals is held to be the creator of the game and is therefore often named “Father” or “Mother.” At the very least, he gives the animals their names or other distinguishing features. In cases of misbehavior on the part of the hunter, the animal lord either retains the game (which is often believed to reside with him) or strikes the guilty hunter down with sickness, or punishes him by withdrawing his luck in the hunt. To win his favor, the lord of the animals must be called upon before the hunt with a plea to release some of the game, and afterwards must be given thanks. Frequently, a small offering is also made before the expedition, some tobacco, for example, while after the hunt, a portion of the game might be left behind as an offering.” ref
“Precise physical descriptions of the lord of the animals vary considerably from culture to culture. He may appear in anthropomorphic as well as zoomorphic form, as a mixture of these or as some other fabulous creature, or as a giant or dwarf. In the majority of instances, the lord of the animals is masculine, but we often find a feminine conceptualization, and in some instances, a bisexual character. When envisioned in zoomorphic form, the lord of the animals often combines various parts or markings of different types of animals, thereby emphasizing and enhancing his authority over all game. In addition to belief in a lord of all animals, a corresponding or supplementary belief may exist in an individual master or lord of each separate kind of animal. Such a being is classified ethnologically as a “species spirit.” This spirit, when envisioned theriomorphically, may also represent another animal type besides its own—a relationship that is often alleged to exist naturally. Many scholars maintain that the belief in species spirits is a more recent manifestation of older, more general conceptions of the lord of the animals.” ref
“When the lord of the animals is associated with an individual representative of a specific kind of animal, a different situation develops. Such instances occur among hunting groups when a defined game animal plays a predominant role in tribal subsistence patterns. Frequently, the lord of the animals must be propitiated when a member of that particular species is killed. This expression of the idea of an animal lord can be accepted as a more ancient form, especially when it appears concurrently with the conceptualization of this deity as a prototypical or exaggerated version of that animal species. In such cases, the spirit is often envisioned as an exceptionally large, and therefore supernatural, member of the species in question. Sometimes he is conceived in human form, riding the animal with which he is particularly associated. In general, scholars hold the theriomorphic version of the lord of the animals to be older, in cultural-historical terms, than the anthropomorphic form. In this respect, frequent observation of ceremonies performed for the ritual handling of slain large game (bear, lion, elephant, etc.), and even prehistoric testimony about such ceremonies, have proved to be of great importance. The reverence shown to large game is closely associated with the original form of the lord of the animals and deserves further study.” ref
“A distinctive characteristic of the animal lord is the fact that, despite his role as protector of wild game, he makes certain concessions when considering the needs of the hunter. To the extent that this is true, the animal lord functions as a god of the hunt, which in some cases is the predominant role. This aspect has caused many researchers to seek his origin outside a purely zoological sphere. The question remains open, however, whether or not this hunting-god aspect is connected with the anthropomorphic aspect of the lord of the animals. An ethno-religious order can be arranged as follows. In many cases, particularly among hunting peoples, past as well as present, the lord of the animals is clearly a real god, distinctively named and sovereign over his realm. In other cases, however, he is merely a game spirit, who is named solely by his association with a particular animal species. Such a game spirit is sometimes outwitted because of his awkwardness and may be characterized by unpredictability, arbitrariness, and tomfoolery (i.e., he is a trickster); in many conceptions, he has the ability to transform himself into many forms and thereby confuse the hunter. In still other cases, the lord of the animals may have shrunk to a mere mythological or legendary figure disengaged from the immediate life of the society.” ref
“The distinctions between these different categories are, of course, not rigid. The relationship between the lord of the animals and other supernatural beings varies also. He may be incorporated within the character of a tribal father or of the supreme being that creates life and provides subsistence. Many ethnologists of the Vienna school, following Wilhelm Schmidt, viewed the lord of the animals as an offshoot of the supreme being. This theory contradicts an understanding of the lord of the animals as an older, independent god who served as a fundamental element in the construction of the idea of a supreme being. In the opinion of the notable historian of religions, Raffaele Pettazzoni, the supreme being himself was the lord of the animals. The primary areas of diffusion for the concept and veneration of a lord of the animals include northern Eurasia, ancient Europe, and Africa, as well as the regions occupied by the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas, from the extreme north to the southernmost tip. Such beliefs are also found elsewhere, but only occasionally.” ref
“It is in ancient Greece that one encounters the most familiar animal deity, Artemis, whose double role as goddess of the hunt and mistress of the animals was never fully understood. In Homer’s Iliad and other sources from antiquity, she is described in an obviously preexisting formula as potnia thērōn, or “mistress of the wild animals.” Although she cares for the animals as a mother does her children, she also hunts them with bow and arrow. The deer is her devoted companion, consistently appearing beside her in works of art, and she is sometimes referred to as the “deer huntress” in the Homeric Hymns. She is also mistress over the entire wild animal kingdom, which includes not only land animals but the birds in the sky and fish in the waters. Artemis herself is depicted as wild and uncanny and is sometimes pictured with a Gorgon’s head. The rituals by which she was venerated also took on an archaic character.” ref
“Reverence was displayed by the hunter’s hanging the skin of the animal, including the antlers, on a tree or special pole. Besides the deer, Artemis had other favorite animals, including the lion and, especially, the bear, which has led some researchers to the opinion that, although this was not understood by the Greeks, she originally appeared as a female bear. In keeping with this interpretation, Artemis has been associated with the lord of the animals in the Northern Hemisphere, where bear rituals were an essential religious element. Even among the ancient Greeks, Artemis was the central figure at the bear feast, and her tradition can be traced to a Cretan or Minoan goddess of animals. Diana was her counterpart among the Roman goddesses. During the period in which the Romans occupied Gaul, the goddess who was interpreted as the indigenous parallel to Diana was known as Artio (from the Celtic artos, “bear”; arta “female bear”). This information comes down to us in the form of a bronze votive offering with a Latin inscription found in Muri (near Bern, Switzerland), an area occupied by the Helvetii.” ref
“It depicts a sitting female who is being approached by a bear that has come out of a tree. The veneration displayed in Gaulish ceremonials to the slain bear as a lord of the animals closely resemble the rites dedicated to this animal over an extensive area. According to A. Irving Hallowell (1926), bear ceremonials are widespread among peoples of northern Eurasia, from the Finns, Saami (Lapps), and Mansi (Voguls) in the west, eastward through Siberia to the Yakuts and the Tunguz, further east to the Paleosiberian Nivkhi (Giliaks), the Chuckchi and the Ainu, and across the Bering Sea to the northern regions of North America. Although it cannot be generalized, the most suggestive interpretation of the intent of such ceremonies is that of the Japanese ethnologist Kyosuke Kindaichi concerning the bear feast of the Ainu. Kindaichi suggests that the bear itself is god. All animals are deities that live in human form in another world. When these deities occasionally come to this world, they appear in the form of animals. The bear is the highest of these gods. Any animal that is not captured, killed, and eaten by the Ainu has the unfortunate fate of wandering aimlessly throughout the world. The killing of an animal is therefore a sacred act, since the god himself has come into their midst. And with his coming he brings presents to mankind: his meat and fur. This divine animal, however, is satisfied, since it will now be able to return to its eternal home (“The Concepts behind the Ainu Bear Festival,” Southwest Journal of Anthropology 5, 1949).” ref
“To ascertain the antiquity of such bear cults, we must return to Europe. Caves in Switzerland, southern Germany, France, Silesia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia, dating from the middle to early Stone Age, have revealed small manmade stone chambers containing the skulls, teeth, and long bones of bears, arranged in orderly fashion. In addition to these bear burial sites, however, particularly important evidence of a bear cult dating from the early Paleolithic period has been obtained from a cave near Montespan in Haute-Garonne, France. In a vault at the end of a tunnel, a clump of molded clay was found that obviously represented a bear. Although headless, the animal figure was distinguishable by its legs and high, rounded withers. In the flat surface at the top of the figure, a hole was bored, apparently to support a forward-projecting pole. Instead of a clay head, which was sought in vain, a bear skull was discovered between the front legs. This led to the conclusion that the figure was a base constructed to support the head and skin of the animal on ceremonial occasions.” ref
“This conclusion found substantial support in a similar animal figure reported among the Mande in the western Sudan. A slain lion or leopard, either of which is equivalent to the bear in Europe, was skinned with the head attached. This skin was then laid over a headless clay figure of the animal. Such a figure was placed within a circular hedge of thornbushes especially constructed for ceremonial purposes. The existence of a Eur-African hunting culture has become an accepted doctrine among many ethnologists, most notably Hermann Baumann (1938). This example, along with many others, fits quite appropriately into a scheme of unifying factors that suggest connections between the two continents. The conceptual figure of a lord of the animals, appearing among less advanced hunting cultures like the San and the Pygmies in Africa, remains to this day a functional belief; one example should suffice. The creator god Khmwum is the supreme being among the Pygmies of Gabon. He lives in heaven and appears to humans as a rainbow in the eastern sky when he sees that they need his help. A singer raises his bow in the direction of this heavenly “bow” and intones: “Most powerful bow of the hunters that follows a herd of clouds that are like startled elephants, rainbow, give him [Khmwum] our thanks” (R. P. Trilles, Les pygmées de la forêt équatorial, Paris, 1931, p. 78).” ref
“In this way the supreme deity is identified with the lord of the animals. Khmwum also manifests himself to humans in dreams, appearing as a huge elephant who reports the location of an abundance of game. This gigantic elephant is called Gor, and he towers over the tallest tree in the forest. Blue in color, he supports the sky on his shoulders, and since he is immortal, no one can kill him. Gor is the chief of all elephants; he is responsible for giving them life and preserves them from the threat of extinction. He directs the elephants to those paths that the hunters take care to follow. A slain bull elephant is decorated with a bright blue liana, and the chief of the Pygmies dances on the carcass and sings to “father elephant.” This song is a solemn incantation in which the chief expresses the conviction that the elephant should not be outraged at being killed but pleased that he is going to the land of the spirits; he also says that the spear that erroneously took the elephant’s life was misguided. Such excuses are made to the hunted animal out of fear of revenge and a guilty conscience at having killed the animal; this is a widespread phenomenon, typical of a hunting mentality.” ref
“In northern Eurasia, we encounter the concept of a lord of the animals who either is anthropomorphic or has affinities with predominant animals other than the bear. Although such a concept occurs among numerous peoples in Eurasia, specific examples need not be mentioned here. In the New World, there exists, among the central and eastern Inuit (Eskimo), an extraordinary deity named Sedna, who is known as the goddess of the sea animals. She is an old woman who lives on the ocean floor and sends sea animals to the world above as long as humans do not aggravate her. If she does become angry, however, the shaman must venture on a dangerous journey to visit her below. Such an undertaking is made to pacify her so that she will release the animals once again. To accomplish this, the shaman must comb Sedna’s hair, which has become soiled by humans—particuarly women—whose violation of taboos causes her anger.” ref
“Through combing, the shaman cleanses her hair of dirt and parasites, an act that Sedna herself cannot perform, since she has no fingers. According to the mythology, Sedna lost her fingers as a young girl because of an undesirable suitor, the storm bird. He appeared as a human and followed Sedna and her father, who fled in a kayak across the water. In his fear Sedna’s father threw her into the water, but she held on tightly to the side of the boat. Her father then cut off all her fingers, and as they fell into the water they turned into seals and walruses. Sedna in turn sank to the ocean floor, where she took up her abode and became the mother of sea animals. The souls of these sea animals reside with her for a short period after their deaths; then, when the time has come, she restores them to life once again. Among the Inuit of western Alaska, a male moon spirit replaces Sedna as lord of the animals. When the shaman is called upon to represent the moon spirit, he wears a mask encircled by miniature figures of reindeer, seals, and salmon, which symbolically depict authority over the animals when the spirit is implored.” ref
“The lord of the animals plays an important role among many North American Indians, as for example the Algonquin tribes of the eastern woodlands. According to the Delaware, Misinghalikun (“living solid face”), the “boss” or master of the deer, who himself rides a deer, is the mentor of those placed under his protection. His position was obtained directly from the creator. When a hunter is leaving for the hunt, Misinghalikun will appear to him in person, wearing a bearskin with a large oval mask that is painted red on the right side and black on the left, a form that reflects his name. This masked figure accompanies the hunters a short distance into the woods, during which time a spokesman drops six pinches of tobacco in each of two fires while begging Misinghalikun to seek out deer and help the hunters. Numerous examples of the conceptual form of the lord of the animals in North America could be mentioned.” ref
“Josef Haekel (1959) collected all available material sources concerning the lord of the animals among the ancient, culturally advanced peoples of Mesoamerica and their descendants. Although the concept arose prior to the full development of these cultures, it becomes apparent that the lord of the animals also possessed qualities of an agrarian deity of the earth and master over cultivated plants. Even among the descendants of the advanced Andean cultures—the Quechua, Aymara, and others—this combined conceptual variation is known to occur. These characteristics are displayed in Pachamama, the Quechua earth mother who is at the same time the maternal progenitor of plants and of humans and animals. She is viewed as the actual owner of all llamas and alpacas, which she lends to humankind; if they are mishandled by humans, she repossesses them. A part of the ritual slaying of the llama involves the interment of the bones of that animal in a burial ground near the area in which the sacrifice took place. Such an act expresses trust that the earth mother will create a new animal from the bones of the old one—a notion typical of hunters.” ref
“Sometimes, however, Pachamama also functions as the mistress of the wild animals; thus, creatures like the guanaco, vicuña, and deer are referred to as “animals of the earth.” This is reflected in practices like the offering (by burial) of a sacrifice to Pachamama before the start of a vicuña hunt. Ideas and rites such as these, which either evolve in a hunting culture and are then superimposed on a pastoral one, or vice versa, are also found in the Old World; they have been observed, for instance, among the people of the Hindu Kush, particularly when the animals are conceived as being related. Like the Peruvians, the people of the Hindu Kush associate the wild and domesticated animals—in this instance, goats. European chroniclers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in the tropical lowlands of the Amazon continually encountered mention of a lord of the animals and a wild game spirit known as Korupira or Kaapora, a familiar figure among the Tupi-Guaraní tribes and comparable to a deity of other agricultural Indians. Among the mixed population of Brazil, belief in Korupira has likewise remained alive. Korupira’s characteristic traits were collected and recorded in 1920 by Theodor Koch-Grünberg, a renowned researcher of the Indians of the Amazon whose primary source materials included the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century chronicles.” ref
“Among the hunting and planting tribes of eastern Brazil, the Sun is often viewed as the protector of hunted game. The Ge-speaking Indians of this region turn to this male deity with a plea for the maintenance and increased abundance of the various animal species. An appearance of Father Sun to a hunter ensures a successful expedition. Similarly, the hunting and gathering tribes of Tierra del Fuego conceive of a masculine sun (Kran or Lem), who is the “owner” of the animals; he is called upon by the Selk’nam (Ona) and Yaghan peoples to help them acquire subsistence. Watauineiwa of the Yaghan, who is viewed by many researchers as the supreme deity of these people, is in actuality the creator and owner of all animals. He entrusts his animals to humans for food and other essential uses, but only to the extent to which they are needed for survival. He watches out for his animals and assures that they are not killed wantonly, lest the meat be wasted. All these traits can be identified most precisely in describing a lord of the animals, and have also been used by Pettazzoni in describing a supreme being.” ref
LADY OF THE ANIMALS
“The term Lady of the Animals is a scholarly convention used to describe anthropomorphic images of goddesses with companion animals. The image of the Lady of the Animals is well known to readers of the classics: Aphrodite riding a goose or in a chariot drawn by doves, Athena with her owl, and Artemis with her deer. But the image goes back much further than the classical age of Greece (fifth and fourth centuries BCE), even much further back than the times of Homer (before 700 BCE) and Hesiod (c. 700 BCE). Female images with zoomorphic body parts (wings, beaks, snake-like bodies, bear heads, and the like) are common in the Neolithic era in Old Europe (6500–3500 BCE) and elsewhere. Their origins can probably be traced to the Upper Paleolithic (30,000–10,000 BCE). The Lady of the Animals is found in almost all cultures. Because prehistory has left no written records, the interpretation of the meaning of the earliest images, called the Lady of the Animals, cannot be certain. She was known to her earliest worshipers as “Mother of All the Living” (a phrase used to refer to Eve in Genesis 3:20), as “Creatress,” “Goddess,” “Ancestress,” “Clan Mother,” “Priestess,” by a place or personal name, or, simply, as “Mother,” “Ma,” or “Nana.” Whatever she was called, the Lady of the Animals is an image of the awesome creative powers of women and nature. The term Mother of All the Living may, in fact, be more accurately descriptive of the wide range of creative powers depicted in images commonly called “Lady of the Animals.” ref
“A very early sculpture of a Lady of the Animals was found in Çatalhüyük, a Neolithic site in central Anatolia (central Turkey), dating from 6500 to 5650 BCE. Made of baked clay, she sits on a birthing chair or throne. She is full-breasted and big of belly, and she seems to be giving birth, for a head (not clearly human) emerges from between her legs. Her hands rest on the heads of two large cats, probably leopards, that stand at her sides. From Sumer (c. 2000 BCE), a Lady of the Animals appears in a terra-cotta relief, naked and winged, with two owls at her sides and her webbed feet resting on the backs of two monkeys. From Minoan Crete comes a small statue unearthed in the treasury of the new palace of Knossos (c. 1700–1450 BCE); staring as if in a trance, she holds in her outstretched arms two striped snakes; her breasts are exposed, and a small snake emerges from her bodice. In Ephesus, an enormous image of a Lady of the Animals dominated the great temple of Artemis or Diana (rebuilt 334 BCE and known as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world). Her many egg-shaped breasts symbolized her nurturing power, while the signs of the zodiac forming her necklace expressed her cosmic power. Her arms were extended in a gesture of blessing, and her lower body, shaped like the trunk of the tree of life, was covered with the heads of wild, domestic, and mythical animals. At her feet were beehives; at her sides, two deer. The city crowned her head.” ref
“In Asia Minor, the Lady of the Animals is known as Kubaba or Cybele and is flanked by lions. In Egypt, she is Isis, the falcon or Isis with falcon wings and a uraeus (snake) emerging from her forehead; she is also Hathor, the cow goddess or Hathor with the cow horns. In Canaan, she is Ashtoret or Astarte, holding snakes and flowers in her hands. In India, she is Tārā or Parvati astride a lion or Durgā riding a lion into battle and slaying demons with the weapons in her ten arms. In Japan, she is Amaterasu, the sun goddess, with her roosters that crow at dawn and her messengers, the crows. In China, she is Kwan Yin, standing on a dragon that symbolizes good fortune. To the Inuit (Eskimo) she is Sedna, goddess of the sea and sea animals, especially seals, walruses, and whales. To the Hopi, she is Kokyanguruti, or Spider Woman, the creatress and guardian of Mother Earth, who presides over emergence and return. To the Algonquin, she is Nokomis, the Grandmother, who feeds plants, animals, and humans from her breasts. In Mexico, she is Chicomecoatl, Heart of the Earth, with seven serpent messengers. In Africa, she is Osun with peacocks and Mami Wata with snakes. In Christianit,y her memory remains in the images of Eve with the snake and Mary with the dove. She lingers, too, in such folk images as Mother Goose, the Easter bunny, and the stork who brings babies.” ref
“Composed between 800 and 400 BCE, the Homeric Hymns, some of which may reflect earlier religious conceptions, provide two powerful written images of the Lady of the Animals that can help us interpret earlier drawn and sculpted images. In the “Hymn to Earth,” she is “well-founded Earth, mother of all, eldest of all beings. She feeds all creatures that are in the world, all that go upon the goodly land, and all that are in the paths of the seas, and all that fly.” In the “Hymn to the Mother of the Gods,” she is “well-pleased with the sound of rattles and timbrels, with the voice of flutes and the outcry of wolves and bright-eyed lions, with echoing hills and wooded coombes.” In these songs, the Lady of the Animals is cosmic power, the mother of all. The animals of the earth, sea, and air are hers, and the wildest and most fearsome animals—wolves and lions, as well as human beings—praise her with sounds. The Lady of the Animals is also earth, the firm foundation undergirding all life. The hills and valleys echo to her. In these images, she would not be called a “lady of the plants,” which suggests that the conceptions reflected in these hymns may have originated in preagricultural times. Jane Harrison (1903) has suggested that the “lady of the wild things” becomes “lady of the plants” only after human beings become agriculturalists.” ref
“Marija Gimbutas, Gertrude R. Levy, and E. O. James are among those who concur with Harrison in tracing the Goddess symbolism of the Neolithic and later periods to the Upper Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age (c. 30,000–10,000 BCE). Therefore, we must ask whether the image of the Lady of the Animals also goes back to the Paleolithic era. Many small figures of so-called pregnant Venuses have been dated to the Upper Paleolithic. Abundantly fleshed with prominent breasts, bellies, and pubic triangles, they were often painted with red ocher, which seems to have symbolized the blood of birth, the blood of life. These images have been variously interpreted. These images may be understood in relation to the cave art of the Paleolithic era. Paleolithic peoples decorated the labyrinthine paths and inner recesses of caves with abstract line patterns and with drawings and paintings of animals, such as bison and deer. Small human figures, both male and female, were sometimes painted in the vicinity of the much larger animals.” ref
“The drawings and paintings of these animals, and the rituals practiced in the inner reaches of the caves, have often been understood as hunting magic, done to ensure the capture of prey. But Gertrude R. Levy argues that the purposes of these rituals cannot have been simple “magic compulsion” but must have involved a desire for a “participation in the splendor of the beasts” (Levy, 1963, p. 20). If, as was surely the case later, Paleolithic peoples also understood the caves and their inner recesses to be the womb of Mother Earth, then is it not possible to recognize the aniconic image of the Lady of the Animals in the womb-cave onto which the animals were painted? And can we not also see the Lady of the Animals in the well-known Paleolithic carving found in Laussel of an unclothed full-bodied woman holding a bison horn? Must we not, then, interpret prehistoric rituals in the labyrinthine recesses of caves as a desire to participate in the transformative power of the creatress, the mother of all, the Lady of the Animals?” ref
“Anthropomorphic images of the Lady of the Animals appear in abundance in the Neolithic, or early agricultural period, which began about 9000 BCE in the Near East. Marija Gimbutas coined the term “Old Europe” to refer to the distinctive Neolithic and Chalcolithic (or Copper Age) civilizations of Central and Southern Europe, which included the lands surrounding the Aegean and Adriatic Seas, their islands, and extended as far north as Czechoslovakia, southern Poland, and western Ukraine. There is reason to believe that Neolithic-Chalcolithic cultures developed along similar lines in other parts of the world, including, for example, Africa, China, the Indus Valley, and the Americas. In Old Europe (c. 6500–3500 BCE), Gimbutas found a pre– Bronze Age culture that was “matrifocal and probably matrilinear, agricultural and sedentary, egalitarian and peaceful” (Gimbutas, 1982, p. 9). This culture was presided over by a goddess conceived as the source and giver of all. Although originally this goddess did not appear with animals, she herself had animal characteristics. One of her earliest forms was as the snake and bird goddess, who was associated with water and represented as a snake, water bird, duck, goose, crane, diving bird, or owl or as a woman with a bird head or birdlike posture. She was the creator goddess, the giver of life.” ref
“The goddess of Old Europe was also connected with the agricultural cycles of life, death, and regeneration. Here she appeared as, or was associated with, bees, butterflies, deer, bears, hares, toads, turtles, hedgehogs, and dogs. The domesticated dog, bull, male goat, and pig became her companions. To the Old Europeans, she was not a power transcendent of the earth but rather the power that creates, sustains, and manifests itself in the variety of life-forms within the earth and its cycles. Nor did the goddess represent “fertility” in a narrow sense of human, animal, and plant reproduction; rather, she was the giver of life, beauty, and creativity. Instead of celebrating humanity’s uniqueness and separation from nature, Old Europeans honored humanity’s participation in, and connection to, nature’s cycles of birth, death, and renewal. A combination of human and animal forms expressed her power more fully than the human figure alone. Many animals, such as the caterpillar-chrysalis-butterfly, the bird that flies in the air and walks on the earth, and the snake that crawls above and below the earth, have powers that humans lack.” ref
“In Old Europe, the creator goddess who appeared with animal characteristics was the primary image of the divine. According to Gimbutas, the “male element, man and animal, represented spontaneous and life-stimulating—but not life-generating—powers” (Gimbutas, 1982, p. 9). Gimbutas stated that women were symbolically preeminent in the culture and religion of Old Europe. Although women were honored, the culture itself was not “matriarchal,” as women did not dominate men but shared power with them. It is generally thought that women invented agriculture, which led to the Neolithic “revolution.” As the gatherers of plant foods in Paleolithic societies, women would have been the ones most likely to notice the connection between the dropping of a seed and the springing up of a new plant. Women are also the likely inventors of pottery and weaving in the Neolithic era, for pottery was used primarily for women’s work of food preparation and food storage, and weaving clothing and other items for use in the home is women’s work in almost all traditional cultures. Each of these inventions of the Neolithic era is a mystery of transformation—seed into plant into harvest, earth and fire into pot, wool and flax into clothing and blankets. If these mysteries were understood to have been given to women by the goddess and handed down from mother to daughter, this would have provided a material and economic basis for the preeminence of the female forms in religious symbolism.” ref
“The culture of Çatalhüyük, excavated by James Mellaart, seems similar to that found by Gimbutas in Old Europe. Like Gimbutas, Mellaart found a culture where women and goddesses were prominent, a culture that he believed to have been matrilineal and matrilocal and peaceful, and in which the goddess was the most powerful religious image. In Çatalhüyük, the Lady of the Animals was preeminent. Wall paintings in the shrines frequently depict a goddess, with outstretched arms and legs, giving birth, sometimes to bulls’ or rams’ heads. Other shrines depict rows of bull heads with rows of breasts; in one shrine, rows of breasts incorporate the lower jaws of boars or the skulls of foxes, weasels, or vultures. Besides the small figure, mentioned earlier, of the seated goddess, hands on her leopard companions, giving birth, Mellaart also found a sculpture of a woman in leopard-skin robes standing in front of a leopard. One shrine simply depicts two leopards standing face-to-face. Wall paintings of bulls were also frequent at the site. Mellaart believes that the religion of Çatalhüyük was centered on life, death, and rebirth. The bones of women, children, and some men were found buried under platforms in the living quarters and in the shrines, apparently after having been picked clean by vultures. According to Mellaart, vultures were also associated with the goddess, thus indicating that she was both giver and taker of life.” ref
“As Mellaart states in Earliest Civilizations of the Near East (1965), the land-based matrifocal, sedentary, and peaceful agricultural societies of the Near East were invaded by culturally inferior northern peoples starting in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE. These invaders and others who followed set the stage for the rise of the patriarchal and warlike Sumerian state about 3500 BCE. According to Gimbutas, the patriarchal, nomadic, and warlike proto-Indo-Europeans infiltrated the matrifocal agricultural societies of Old Europe between 4500 and 2500 BCE. As a result, in both the Near East and Old Europe, the creator goddess was deposed, slain, or made wife, daughter, or mother to the male divinities of the warriors. The Lady of the Animals did not disappear (religious symbols linger long after the end of the cultural situation that gave rise to them), but her power was diminished.” ref
“In the islands, which were more difficult to invade, the goddess-centered cultures survived and developed into Bronze Age civilizations. In Crete, the Lady of the Animals remained supreme until the Minoan civilization fell to the Mycenaeans about 1450 BCE. In the old and new palace periods of Minoan Crete (c. 2000–1450 BCE), a highly developed pre-Greek civilization based on agriculture, artisanship, and trade emerged. From existing archaeological evidence (Linear A, the written language of the Minoans, has not been translated), it appears that women and priestesses played prominent roles in religious rituals. There is no evidence that women were subordinate in society. Indeed, there is no clear evidence that the “palaces” were royal residences. The celebrated throne of “King Minos,” found by excavator Arthur Evans, is now thought by several scholars (including Nano Marinatos, Jacquetta Hawkes, Stylianous Alexiou, Helga Reusch, and Ruby Rohrlich) to have been occupied by a priestess or a queen, while others suggest that it dates from the time of Mycenean occupation of Knossos. In Minoan Crete, the goddess was worshiped at natural sites, such as caves or mountaintops, and in small shrines in the palaces and homes. She had attributes of both a mountain mother and a Lady of the Animals.” ref
“In Crete, the Lady of the Animals is commonly found in the company of snakes, doves, and trees, particularly the olive tree, which may have first been cultivated in Crete. In a seal ring found in the Dictean cave, the goddess appears with a bird or snake head between two winged griffins, the same animals that flank the throne of “Minos.” Other pervasive symbols in Crete include the stylized horns of consecration, which evoke not only the cow or bull but also the crescent moon, the upraised arms of Minoan goddesses and priestesses, and the double ax, which may originally derive from doubling the sacred female triangle, the place where life emerges. Heiresses and heirs to the Neolithic religion, the Minoans continued to understand the divine as the power manifesting itself in the cycles of nature. Thus, Cretan pottery and frescoes abound in rhythmical forms; images of waves, spirals, frolicking dolphins, undulating snakes, and graceful bull leapers are everywhere. The Minoans captured life in motion. Exuberant movement must have represented to them the dance of life, the dance of the Mother of All the Living, the Lady of the Animals.” ref
“Eventually, all the Neolithic and (isolated) Bronze Age cultures in which the creator goddess was supreme fell to patriarchal and warlike invaders. By the time of decipherable written records, we begin to see evidence that societies are ruled by warrior kings; goddesses are no longer supreme, and women are subordinated by law to their husbands. On mainland Greece, Apollo took over the holy site of Delphi, sacred first to Mother Earth and her prophetess, after slaying the python, the sacred snake that guarded the sanctuary. This act can be compared to Marduk’s slaying of the female sea snake (or dragon) Tiamat, to the association of the formerly sacred snake with sin and evil in Genesis 2–3, to St. George’s slaying of the dragon-snake, and to St. Patrick’s driving the snakes out of Ireland. According to the Olympian mythology found in Homer, Hesiod, and the Greek tragedies, Zeus, the Indo-European sky God, is named father and ruler of all the gods and goddesses. Hera, an indigenous goddess whose sanctuary at Olympia was older than that of Zeus, becomes his never fully subdued wife. Athena is born from the head of Zeus, but her mountain temples (for example, the Parthenon) and her companions, the owl and snake, indicate her connection to the mother of the living, the Lady of the Animals. Aphrodite retains her connection to the dove and the goose.” ref
“Artemis is the goddess of the untamed lands, mountain forests, and wild animals such as bears and deer. Although she is named a virgin goddess, she aids both human and animal mothers in giving birth. Of all the Olympian goddesses, Artemis retains the strongest connection to the Mother of All the Living, the Lady of the Animals. What happened to the goddesses in ancient Greece happened elsewhere. They were slain, tamed, made defenders of patriarchy and war, or relegated to places outside the city. Yet the attempt to banish the image of the Mother of All the Living, the Lady of the Animals, was never completely successful. Like an underground spring, she burst forth in images of Mary and the female saints throughout Christian history. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, she has reemerged in the work of feminist artists and in a widespread Goddess movement.” ref
Domestication and early agriculture in the Meditrranean Basin: Origins, diffusion, and impact
“The past decade has witnessed a quantum leap in our understanding of the origins, diffusion, and impact of early agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin. In large measure these advances are attributable to new methods for documenting domestication in plants and animals. The initial steps toward plant and animal domestication in the Eastern Mediterranean can now be pushed back to the 12th millennium years ago. Evidence for herd management and crop cultivation appears at least 1,000 years earlier than the morphological changes traditionally used to document domestication. Different species seem to have been domesticated in different parts of the Fertile Crescent, with genetic analyses detecting multiple domestic lineages for each species. Recent evidence suggests that the expansion of domesticates and agricultural economies across the Mediterranean was accomplished by several waves of seafaring colonists who established coastal farming enclaves around the Mediterranean Basin. This process also involved the adoption of domesticates and domestic technologies by indigenous populations and the local domestication of some endemic species. Human environmental impacts are seen in the complete replacement of endemic island faunas by imported mainland fauna and in today’s anthropogenic, but threatened, Mediterranean landscapes where sustainable agricultural practices have helped maintain high biodiversity since the Neolithic.” ref
“The transition from foraging and hunting; to farming and herding is a significant threshold in human history. Domesticates and the agricultural economies based on them are associated with radical restructuring of human societies, worldwide alterations in biodiversity, and significant changes in the Earth’s landforms and its atmosphere. Given the momentous outcomes of this transition it comes as little surprise that the origin and spread of domesticates and the emergence of agriculture remain topics of enduring interest to both the scholarly community and the general public. The past decade has seen remarkable analytical advances in documenting domestication (1), particularly in tracking the domestication of four major Near Eastern livestock species (sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs) and their subsequent dispersal throughout the Mediterranean Basin. New morphometric methods are tracking changes in human prey strategies that mark the transition from hunting to herding.” ref
“Genetic analyses bring fresh insights into initial livestock domestication and their dispersal. Small-sample atomic mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating provides refined chronological frameworks for these developments. These recent analytical advances, in turn, have produced an explosion of new information that is calling into question prevailing hypotheses about the origin and early spread of animal domesticates and the Neolithic lifeways of which they were a part. Here, the researcher brings together these different sources of information to consider the origins, diffusion, and impacts of domesticates and agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin, outlining our current understanding of these developments and highlighting promising areas for future study.” ref
“Archaeological assemblages from Iraq and Iran has identified the clear signature of a managed herd of goats (harvesting of young males and prolonged survivorship of females) at the site of Ganj Dareh in highland Iran. Directly dated to 9,900 years ago, the goats from this site show no evidence of size reduction or any other domestication-induced morphological change. Smaller body size and changes in the size and shape of horns [a morphological change clearly linked to domestication] appear 500–1,000 years later than this demographic shift, when managed animals were moved from the natural habitat of wild goats and introduced into hotter and more arid lowland Iran. These follow-on morphological changes likely reflect responses to new selective pressures, plus the now more limited opportunities for introgression between managed and wild animals or the restocking of herds with wild animals.” ref
“Clear-cut morphological responses to domestication (i.e., changes in horns in bovids and tooth size in pigs) are not evident in these four livestock species until ca. 9,500–9,000 years ago. As is the case with animal domestication in the Near East, the leading edge of plant domestication in the region is now recognized as an extended process. Evidence from multiple locations points to a prolonged period of human manipulation of morphologically wild, but possibly cultivated, plants, which, in certain species, resulted in the development of morphologically altered domesticated crops. This period of intensified plant management dates at least as far back as ca. 12,000 years ago, with morphological markers of crop domestication (i.e., nonshattering seed heads in cereals) not well established until ca. 10,500 years ago. Agricultural economies reliant on a mix of domesticated crops and livestock apparently do not fully crystallize in the region until ca. 9,500–9,000 years ago.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
“The genetic prehistory of humans in Asia, based on research using sequence data from humans who lived in Asia as early as 45,000 years ago. Genetic studies comparing present-day Australasians and Asians show that they likely derived from a single dispersal out of Africa, rapidly differentiating into three main lineages: one that persists partially in South Asia, one that is primarily found today in Australasia, and one that is widely represented across Siberia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia. Studies of ancient DNA from human remains in Asia dating from as far back as 45,000 years have greatly increased our understanding of the population dynamics leading to the current Asian populations.” ref
Ust’-Ishim man: Y-DNA haplogroupK2 and mt-DNA haplogroupR*
Tianyuan man: Y-DNA haplogroup K2b and mt-DNA haplogroup B
Yana Rhinoceros Horn Site: Y-DNA haplogroup P1 and mt-DNA haplogroup U
Sungir/Gravettian burials: Y-DNA haplogroup C1 and mt-DNA haplogroups U8c & U2
Ancient North Eurasians: Y-chromosome haplogroups P and its subclades R and Q and mt-DNA haplogroups U and R
Mal’ta–Buret’ culture: basalY-DNA haplogroup R* and mt-DNA haplogroup U
“MA-1 is the only known example of basal Y-DNA R* (R-M207*) – that is, the only member of haplogroup R* that did not belong to haplogroups R1, R2 or secondary subclades of these. The mitochondrial DNA of MA-1 belonged to an unresolved subclade of haplogroup U.” ref
“ANE ancestry has spread throughout Eurasia and the Americas in various migrations since the Upper Paleolithic, and more than half of the world’s population today derives between 5 and 42% of their genomes from the Ancient North Eurasians. Significant ANE ancestry can be found in Native Americans, as well as in Europe, South Asia, Central Asia, and Siberia. It has been suggested that their mythology may have featured narratives shared by both Indo-European and some Native American cultures, such as the existence of a metaphysical world tree and a fable in which a dog guards the path to the afterlife.” ref
To me, Animism starts in Southern Africa, then to West Europe, and becomes Totemism. Another split goes near the Russia and Siberia border becoming Shamanism, which heads into Central Europe meeting up with Totemism, which also had moved there, mixing the two which then heads to Lake Baikal in Siberia. From there this Shamanism-Totemism heads to Turkey where it becomes Paganism.
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Here are my thoughts/speculations on where I believe is the possible origin of shamanism, which may have begun sometime around 35,000 to 30,000 years ago seen in the emergence of the Gravettian culture, just to outline his thinking, on what thousands of years later led to evolved Asian shamanism, in general, and thus WU shamanism as well. In both Europe-related “shamanism-possible burials” and in Gravettian mitochondrial DNA is a seeming connection to Haplogroup U. And the first believed Shaman proposed burial belonged to Eastern Gravettians/Pavlovian culture at Dolní Věstonice in southern Moravia in the Czech Republic, which is the oldest permanent human settlement that has ever been found. It is at Dolní Věstonice where approximately 27,000-25,000 years ago a seeming female shaman was buried and also there was an ivory totem portrait figure, seemingly of her.
And my thoughts on how cultural/ritual aspects were influenced in the area of Göbekli Tepe. I think it relates to a few different cultures starting in the area before the Neolithic. Two different groups of Siberians first from northwest Siberia with U6 haplogroup 40,000 to 30,000 or so. Then R Haplogroup (mainly haplogroup R1b but also some possible R1a both related to the Ancient North Eurasians). This second group added its “R1b” DNA of around 50% to the two cultures Natufian and Trialetian. To me, it is likely both of these cultures helped create Göbekli Tepe. Then I think the female art or graffiti seen at Göbekli Tepe to me possibly relates to the Epigravettians that made it into Turkey and have similar art in North Italy. I speculate that possibly the Totem pole figurines seen first at Kostenki, next went to Mal’ta in Siberia as seen in their figurines that also seem “Totem-pole-like”, and then with the migrations of R1a it may have inspired the Shigir idol in Russia and the migrations of R1b may have inspired Göbekli Tepe.
I am looking into the seeming connections between totem poles, ceremonial poles, spirit poles, sacred poles, god/goddess poles, deities associated with poles (like an old woman or man that holds up the earth on a pole in mythology), sacred trees, pole star, axis mundi, maypole, Native American sun dance with poles, etc. I see lots of connections between Eurasia and Native American mythology and religious beliefs.
“The Gravettian is an archaeological industry of the European Upper Paleolithic that succeeded the Aurignacian circa 33,000 years ago. It is archaeologically the last European culture many consider unified, and had mostly disappeared by c. 22,000 years ago, close to the Last Glacial Maximum, although some elements lasted until c. 17,000 years ago. In modern-day Portugal, Spain and France, it was succeeded by the Solutrean and by the Epigravettian in Italy, the Balkans, Ukraine and Russia. The Gravettian culture is known for their artistic works including the famous Venus figurines, which were typically carved from either ivory or limestone. The culture was first identified at the site of La Gravette in the southwestern French department of Dordogne. While historically assumed to represent a genetically homogenous group, recent analysis of ancient DNA sequences suggests that the Gravettian was produced by multiple genetically divergent groups of hunter-gatherers.” ref
“Eastern Gravettian-producing groups belong to the Věstonice cluster, while western Gravettian-producing groups belong to the Fournol cluster, both of which have genetic continuity from producers of the earlier Aurignacian. Fournol cluster-related groups are thought to be the ancestors of the producers of the following Solutrean and Magdalenian cultures present in Western Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum, while the producers of the Epigravettian are genetically distinct from Gravettian-producing groups. Archaeologists usually describe two regional variants: the western Gravettian, known mainly from cave sites in France, Spain, and Britain, and the eastern Gravettian in Central Europe and Russia. The eastern Gravettians, which include the Pavlovian culture, were specialized mammoth hunters, whose remains are usually found not in caves but in open air sites.” ref
“The Pavlovian is an Upper Paleolithic culture, a variant of the Gravettian, that existed in the region of Moravia, northern Austria and southern Poland around 29,000–25,000 years ago. The culture used sophisticated stone age technology to survive in the tundra on the fringe of the ice sheets around the Last Glacial Maximum. Its economy was principally based on the hunting of mammoth herds for meat, fat fuel, hides for tents and large bones and tusks for building winter shelters. Excavation has yielded flint implements, polished and drilled stone artifacts, bone spearheads, needles, digging tools, flutes, bone ornaments, drilled animal teeth, and seashells. Art or religious finds are bone carvings and figurines of humans and animals made of mammoth tusk, stone, and fired clay. Textile impression made into wet clay give the oldest proof of the existence of weaving by humans. Evidence of cheek piercing has been found.” ref
R1b, which migrated from Siberia, was present in the Middle East around 22,000 years ago.
“Did These Ice Age Europeans Wear Cheek Piercings? Wear patterns on the teeth of skeletons found in Central Europe suggest children as young as 6 may have been wearing labrets between 25,000 and 29,000 years ago. Pavlovian people got their first labret at some point during childhood. Adults had more enamel wear on their cheek teeth than children did, and some adults showed evidence of having worn labrets on both sides of their face. Pavlovian individuals might have worn progressively larger labrets as they got older, Willman suggests. Or maybe they wore labrets to mark new life stages. “Having labrets seems to be related to belonging to the group.” The varying levels of tooth wear “may relate to individual choice, different life experiences that ‘earn’ labrets during life, like going through puberty or marriage.” Evidence showed that some of the individuals’ teeth had shifted in their mouths, which further supports a labret theory. Teeth rotation and crowding may have resulted from constantly wearing cheek piercings—“basically the opposite of what happens if you wear braces or [a] retainer to straighten your own teeth.” Archaeologists have not discovered any artifacts that resemble labrets among Pavlovian remains. But that’s not necessarily unusual: Many items used in the day-to-day lives of our hunter-gatherer ancestors were not preserved. The labrets may have been made of materials like leather or wood, which disintegrated over time. Another possibility is that the labrets were reused—“kept in circulation,” rather than buried with their original wearer. In the meantime, the possibility that Ice Age Europeans may have worn labrets “offers a window onto a long disappeared behavior.” This isn’t the first time evidence of piercings has been found, as research also suggests that a young adult male who lived between 12,000 and 20,000 years ago in present-day Tanzania likely had three facial piercings: one in his lower lip and one in each cheek. More broadly, archaeologists have found evidence of other types of body modification dating back hundreds or thousands of years. Our ancestors sported tattoos, changed the shape of their skulls, removed healthy teeth, wore nose rings and intentionally created scars on their skin.” ref
12,000 years ago, a shaman woman was buried at Çemka Höyük in Turkey, similar to others, like the 12,000 shaman woman burial in Israel as well as the phenomenon of Shamanism and the feminine
A “shaman” burial from the PPNA settlement of Çemka Höyük, Upper Tigris Basin, Turkiye
“Abstract: Knowledge of the burial customs of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) in the Near East is increasing. Particularly, lately a large number of burials and skeletal remains have been unearthed in the Upper Tigris Basin, thanks to a number of new excavation projects in recent years. The newly revealed findings indicate that PPNA burial customs varied considerably in the region from site to site. However, the 10th millennium BCE burial ÇH 2019/05 at Çemka Höyük shows as well that there are also different burial practices with in settlements. ÇH 2019/05 belongs to a female individual, accompanied by animal skeletal elements, who appears to may have been a shaman or at least had been buried by someone practicing ways associated with what we understand nowadays as animism or shamanism. Hence, the burial may represent one of the earliest known examples of its kind in an Anatolian Neolithic context.” ref
“Human remains from Near Eastern Neolithic sites show regional and chronological differences in sepulchral organization. However, few Near Eastern sites have provided information on burial customs for the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A. For example, if one does not take into account the human remains unearthed at sites set up in the Upper Tigris Valley, excavated in previous years, there are few humans remains in the Near East as a whole for the PPNA. Human remains from Körtik Tepe, Hasankeyf Höyük, Gre Fılla, Demirköy, Çayönü, Gusir Höyük, Boncuklu Tarla, and Çemka Höyük provide important information for the burial customs of the Upper Tigris region, and also those of the Near East.” ref
“At these sites, primary burials are in the majority, and skulls taken from Demirköy and Boncuklu Tarla are rarely found. Skeletons with traces of paint are characteristic at Körtik Tepe and Hasankeyf Höyük. At the same time, the absence of human remains at the Hallan Çemi site shows that there are differences within the same region. In contrast, human remains are rare in northern Syria. There are a few human skeletons in Tell Qaramel, Jerf el Ahmar, Dja’de, and Mureybet. In eastern Jezirah, the site of Nemrik 9 has yielded a number of humans remains related to primary and multiple burials and human remains related to secondary burials at Qermez Dere.” ref
“However, the practice of skull removal (isolated skulls and skull-less skeletons) and isolated human bones are found in a variety of architectural contexts; in or outside houses, in community buildings, etc, in the Middle Euphrates Valley, at Göbekli Tepe; in Northern Syria at Dja’de, Tell Abr 3 and Jerf el-Ahmar; Mureybet, Tell Qaramel; in Iraqi Jezirah at Nemrik 9 and Qermez Dere, as well as in the southern Levant. Indeed, funerary gestures are varied during the 10th millennium throughout the northern Near East. Above all, human remains are found in great quantities at some sites such as Körtik Tepe, and at some others, they are rarely found or not found at all. We also notice different modes of burial such as primary, secondary, skull-less skeletons or removed skulls.” ref
“In this regard, a cattle skull and a number of cattle bones, together with the remains of a small ruminant, a partridge bone, a canid bone, and a marten bone, associated with a PPNA burial in Çemka Höyük — dating to the end of the 10th millennium BCE — provide new insights into animal-human relationships at the dawn of the Neolithic in the Upper Tigris Valley. The finds and animal remain associated with the human burial context raise questions about the relationship between PPNA burial customs and the use of especially cattle skulls, and adds new data to the discussion on human-cattle relationship in the early Neolithic of Northern Mesopotamia. The Çemka Höyük settlement on the western flank of the Tigris River in Upper Mesopotamia (Mardin province, Turkey), with information on the Late Epipaleolithic and Early Neolithic periods, defined as the Proto-Neolithic. Despite the short-term nature of the excavations, the settlement provides new data about these eras in the region; in particular, the settlement is significant in terms of the Late Epipaleolithic–Neolithic transition as well as of architectural finds belonging to both periods. The rise of permanent settlements and domestic architecture is a focus of examination.” ref
Female Goddesses, to me, originated as sky deities (water) around 12,000/11,000 years ago (Iran, Turkey, upper Mesopotamia, and below the Caucasus), likely connected to the Herding cult paganism, and then evolved into Earth goddesses around 8,000 years ago, likely connected to the Farming cult paganism as seen in Central Turkey, such as at Catal Hoyuk.
“Ancient genomes from Aşıklı Höyük and Çatalhöyük from Central Anatolia, representing early (Aceramic) and late (Ceramic) Neolithic, respectively. A total of 22 genomes from Aşıklı (n=8) and Çatalhöyük (n=14), and combined these with published genomes from other Anatolian Neolithic sites (Boncuklu, Barcın, and Tepecik-Çiftlik). Genetic relationships among Anatolian Neolithic groups at both the individual-level and population-level found a strong genetic affinity between Aceramic Aşıklı and Boncuklu, supporting the notion that these early Neolithic populations from Central Anatolia may have been part of the same gene pool. Likewise, an observed genetic affinity between Çatalhöyük and other Anatolian Ceramic Neolithic populations (Barcın and Tepecik-Çiftlik). In addition, there is higher within-population genetic diversity in the Anatolian Ceramic Neolithic populations (Çatalhöyük, Barcın, and Tepecik-Çiftlik) compared to those of Aceramic Neolithic (Boncuklu and Aşıklı). Furthermore, our findings, based on a larger sample size, supported the notion of possible gene flow from the Levant and Iran to Anatolia during the transition from the Aceramic to the Ceramic Neolithic period, approximately 7,500 BCE, or around 9,500 years ago. Next, we studied genetic kinship among individuals co-buried within the same structures within Aceramic and Ceramic Neolithic settlements from both Central and Northwest Anatolia, to understand social structures of Neolithic societies in the earlier and later periods of Neolithic life in Anatolia. In the two Aceramic Neolithic societies from Central Anatolia, Aşıklı and Boncuklu, we identified close genetic kin-relationships (e.g., first-degree) among co-burials at a high frequency, while the frequency of genetically close relatives was lower among co-buried individuals in Çatalhöyük and Barcın, which represent Ceramic Neolithic societies from Central and Northwest Anatolia, respectively. Our findings supported the notion that genetic kinship patterns among co-buried individuals, who could represent households, might have changed over time during the transition from Aceramic to Ceramic Neolithic in Anatolia.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Genetic Relations to Ancient North Eurasians (ANE):
Eastern hunter-gatherer (EHG)
Caucasus hunter-gatherer (CHG)
Zagros/Iranian Hunter-Gatherer (IHG)
Iranian Neolithic Farmers (INF)
Anatolian hunter-gatherer (AHG)
Anatolian Neolithic Farmers (ANF)
Early European Farmers (EEF)
Yamnaya/Steppe Herders (WSH)
Villabruna 1 (burial)/Ripari Villabruna rock shelter in northern Italy (14,000 years old)
Satsurblia Cave (burial) in the Country of Georgia (13,000 years old)
Motala (burial) (8,000 years old)
Ancient North Eurasian (ANE)
Ancient Beringian/Ancestral Native American (AB/ANA)
Eastern Hunter-Gatherer (EHG)
Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHG)
Western Steppe Herders (WSH)
Scandinavian Hunter-Gatherer (SHG)
Early European Farmers (EEF)
Jōmon people (Ainu people OF Hokkaido Island)
Neolithic Iranian farmers (Iran_N) (Iran Neolithic)
Haplogroup R possible time of origin about 27,000 years in Central Asia, South Asia, or Siberia:
- Mal’ta–Buret’ culture (24,000-15,000 years ago)
- Afontova Gora culture (21,000-12,000 years ago)
- Trialetian culture (16,000–8000 years ago)
- Samara culture (7,000-6,500 years ago)
- Khvalynsk culture (7,000-6,500 years ago)
- Afanasievo culture (5,300-4,500 years ago)
- Yamna/Yamnaya Culture (5,300-4,500 years ago)
- Andronovo culture (4,000–2,900 years ago) ref
“R1b is the most common haplogroup in Western Europe, reaching over 80% of the population in Ireland, the Scottish Highlands, western Wales, the Atlantic fringe of France, the Basque country, and Catalonia. It is also common in Anatolia and around the Caucasus, in parts of Russia, and in Central and South Asia. Besides the Atlantic and North Sea coast of Europe, hotspots include the Po valley in north-central Italy (over 70%), Armenia (35%), the Bashkirs of the Urals region of Russia (50%), Turkmenistan (over 35%), the Hazara people of Afghanistan (35%), the Uyghurs of North-West China (20%) and the Newars of Nepal (11%). R1b-V88, a subclade specific to sub-Saharan Africa, is found in 60 to 95% of men in northern Cameroon.” ref
Haplogroup migrations related to the Ancient North Eurasians: I added stuff to this map to help explain.
People reached Lake Baikal Siberia around 25,000 years ago. They (to Damien) were likely Animistic Shamanists who were also heavily totemistic as well. Being animistic thinkers they likely viewed amazing things in nature as a part of or related to something supernatural/spiritual (not just natural as explained by science): spirit-filled, a sprit-being relates to or with it, it is a sprit-being, it is a supernatural/spiritual creature, or it is a great spirit/tutelary deity/goddess-god. From there comes mythology and faith in things not seen but are believed to somehow relate or interact with this “real world” we know exists.
Both areas of Lake Baikal, one on the west side with Ancient North Eurasian culture and one on the east side with Ancient Northern East Asian culture (later to become: Ancient Northeast Asian culture) areas are the connected areas that (to Damien) are the origin ancestry religion area for many mythologies and religious ideas of the world by means of a few main migrations and many smaller ones leading to a distribution of religious ideas that even though are vast in distance are commonly related to and centering on Lake Baikal and its surrounding areas like the Amur region and Altai Mountains region.
To an Animistic Thinker: “Things are not just as they seem, they may have a spirit, or spirit energy relates to them”
To a Totemistic Thinker: “Things are not just as they seem, they may have a spirit, or spirit energy relates to them; they may have religio-cultural importance.”
“Ancient North Eurasian population had Haplogroups R, P, U, and Q DNA types: defined by maternal West-Eurasian ancestry components (such as mtDNA haplogroup U) and paternal East-Eurasian ancestry components (such as yDNA haplogroup P1 (R*/Q*).” ref
Ancient DNA from Mesopotamia suggests distinct Pre-Pottery and Pottery Neolithic migrations into Anatolia
“Pre-Pottery Neolithic of Mesopotamia (Southeastern Turkey and Northern Iraq), Cyprus, and the Northwest Zagros, along with the first data from Neolithic Armenia and neighboring populations were formed through admixture of pre-Neolithic sources related to Anatolian, Caucasus, and Levantine hunter-gatherers, forming a Neolithic continuum of ancestry mirroring the geography of West Asia. Admixture between Mesopotamian-related and local Epipaleolithic-related sources, but the latter experienced additional Levantine-related gene flow, thus documenting at least two pulses of migration from the Fertile Crescent heartland to the early farmers of Anatolia.” ref
Early Neolithic Chronology and Lithic Industry of Tepe Abdul Hosein, Central Zagros, Iran
“The Neolithic period of the Central Zagros started as early as the 10th millennium BCE, as in Southeast Anatolia and the Middle Euphrates. Tepe Abdul Hosein is a rare Early Neolithic site in the central Zagros that has been the subject of controlled stratigraphic excavations. The results indicate that the main Neolithic occupations in this settlement comprised at least two phases: the earliest (ca. 8250–7800 cal. BCE or around 10,230 to 9,800 years ago) and the latest (ca. 7600–7550 cal. BCE or around 9,600 to 9,550 years ago), and that there was an evolution of lithic techno-typology during this period. In short, the Neolithic sequence of the Eastern Trench probably consists of at least two phases: early (ca. 8250-7800 cal. BCE) and late ones (ca. 7600-7550 cal. BCE), between which there was a gap of a couple of centuries.” ref
“Aceramic Neolithic occupation. Pullar placed it between the periods of occupation at Ganji Dareh and Sarab. The radiocarbon dating ascribed the earliest levels of Tepe Abdul Hosein to the contemporaneous with or right after the Aceramic Neolithic site of Ganji Dareh, but did not produce any dates for the later levels. The second is the relationship between the aceramic and ceramic levels. Although an occupational hiatus between them, the current literature often refers to Abdul Hosein as if it contained an uninterrupted sequence of the Aceramic to Ceramic Neolithic. Most of the cultural deposits belonged to the Aceramic Neolithic period, after which ceramic-bearing communities, probably belonging to the 5th millennium BCE, occupied this settlement.”
Genetics links Neolithic Boncuklu Tarla and Ganj Dareh
Haplogroup R2a, or haplogroup R-M124
“Haplogroup R2 is most often observed in Asia, especially on the Indian sub-continent and Central Asia. It is also reported at notable frequencies in Caucasus. Haplogroup R-L295 is a Y-chromosome haplogroup characterized by genetic marker L295. It is found in South Asia, Anatolia, Arabian Peninsula, Europe, & Central Asia so far. Haplogroup R-L263 is found in Greek Asia Minor & Armenia so far. Haplogroup R-L1069 is found in Kuwait so far. R-M124 is most often observed in Asia, especially on the Indian sub-continent and in Central Asia. It is also reported at notable frequencies in Caucasus.” ref
“The haplogroup R-M124 frequency of 6.1% (6/114) was found among overall Kurds while in one study which was done with 25 samples of Kurmanji Kurds from Georgia, R-M124 has been observed at 44% (11/25). In Caucasus high frequency was observed in Armenians from Sason at 17% (18/104) while it was observed at %1 in Armenians from Van. R2 has been found in Chechens at 16%. R-M124 has been found in approximately 8% (2/24) of a sample of Ossetians from Alagir.” ref
“In the Caucasus, around 16% of Mountain Jews, 8% of Balkarians, 6% of Kalmyks, 3% of Azerbaijanis, 2.6% of Kumyks, 2.4% of Avars, 2% of Armenians, and 1% to 6% of Georgians belong to the R-M124 haplogroup. Approximately 1% of Turks and 1% to 3% of Iranians also belong to this haplogroup. In Iran R-M124 follows a similar distribution as R1a1 with higher percentages in the southeastern Iran. It has been found at Frequencies of 9.1% at Isfahan, 6.9% at Hormozgan and 4.2% in Mazandaran.” ref
“In the R2-M124-WTY and R-Arabia Y-DNA Projects, Haplogroup R-M124 has appeared in the following Arab countries: Kuwait (3 clusters), United Arab Emirates (1 cluster), Syrian Arab Republic (1 cluster), and Tunisia (1 cluster). Thus, Haplogroup R-M124 has been observed among Arabs at low frequencies in 11 countries/territories (Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Qatar, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen) of the 22 Arab countries/territories so far. In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia so far has one family identified to have Haplogroup R2A (R-M124) of its paternal genome or Y-Chromosome updated 5 January; 2018.” ref
“Ancient samples of haplogroup R2a were observed in the remains of humans from Neolithic, Chalcolithic, and Bronze Age Iran and Turan; and Iron Age South Asia. R2a was also recovered from excavated remains in the South Asian sites of Saidu Sharif and Butkara from a later period. Haplogroup R-M124, along with haplogroups H, L, R1a1, and J2, forms the majority of the South Asian male population. The frequency is around 10-15% in India and Sri Lanka and 7-8% in Pakistan. Its spread within South Asia is very extensive, ranging from Baluchistan in the west to Bengal in the east; Hunza in the north to Sri Lanka in the south.” ref
“In Central Asia, Kazakh tribes vary from 1% to 12%. However, it is found at a higher percentage at about 25% among Tore Tribe / Genghis Khan’s descendant tribe. In Central Asia, Tajikistan shows Haplogroup R-M124 at 6%, while the other ‘-stan’ states vary around 2%. Bartangis of Tajikistan have a high frequency of R-M124 at about 17%, Ishkashimi at 8%, Khojant at 9%, and Dushanbe at 6%. Specifically, Haplogroup R-M124 has been found in approximately 7.5% (4/53) of recent Iranian emigrants living in Samarkand, 7.1% (7/99) of Pamiris, 6.8% (3/44) of Karakalpaks, 5.1% (4/78) of Tajiks, 5% (2/40) of Dungans in Kyrgyzstan, 3.3% (1/30) of Turkmens, 2.2% (8/366) of Uzbeks, and 1.9% (1/54) of Kazakhs.” ref
“A 2011 genetic study found R-M124 in 6.7% of Han Chinese from western Henan, 3.4% of Han Chinese from Gansu, and 2.1% to 4.2% of Uyghurs from Xinjiang. In a 2014 paper, R-M124 has been detected in 0.9% (1/110) of Han Chinese samples from China. The sample belonged to an individual from Jilin province.” ref
Explaining the rise of Proto-Indo-European (PIE)
The Indo-European language family was born south of the Caucasus
“Study: The Indo-European language family was born south of the Caucasus. Though over three billion people speak an Indo-European language, researchers are not sure where the language family originated. According to new research, the homeland of Proto-Indo-European was just south of the Caucasus, and the proto-language started to diverge about 8,100 years ago. (Credit: P. Heggarty et al., Science, 2023). Key Takeaways: We only have indirect evidence of the Proto-Indo-European language, which died out millennia ago. However, the language’s modern-day descendants, spoken by over 3 billion people, perhaps provide enough information to pinpoint its homeland. New research suggests that the birthplace of this language family was south of the Caucasus.” ref
“Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is a language that gave rise to many others. About 46% of humans, well over three billion people, are native speakers of an Indo-European language. But where did PIE first arise, and who spoke it: pastoralists from the Pontic steppe straddling eastern Europe and west Asia or agrarians from Anatolia in Turkey? The answer to that question has been eluding anthropologists for ages. And now, researchers in the journal Science suggest a third place: the Lesser Caucasus, primarily found in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and parts of eastern Turkey and southern Georgia.” ref
Indo-European is the Largest language family in the world
“PIE is both the deadest and most alive of languages. The last speaker died thousands of years ago, and if it was ever written down, we don’t know about it. The only evidence of PIE’s existence are the traces it left in the languages that descended from it. We say “only,” but that is a lot of evidence. Modern descendants of PIE include not only English, Spanish, and Russian, but also Persian, Hindi, Bengali, and dozens more. Indo-European is by far the largest language family in the world. Sino-Tibetan, which includes Mandarin Chinese, is a distant second, with about 1.3 billion native speakers.” ref
“For the better part of a century, linguists have been looking for clues to the origin of Indo-European from within the languages themselves. Using phylogenetic analysis — phylogenetics is the study of evolutionary relationships over time, be they organisms or languages — they have reconstructed a vocabulary for PIE that gives us an idea of the culture of the people who spoke it. We know they had words for bear (bʰérōs) and goose (h₂énos), willow (wélə) and honey (méli), and peat (péḱus) and enclosure (h₂órtos) .” ref
“Based on such evidence, two schools of thought emerged. One proposed that PIE originated some 6,000 years ago in the Pontic-Caspian steppe located north of the Black and Caspian Seas, in the flatlands that stretch from northeast Romania via southern Ukraine and southwestern Russia into the furthest west of Kazakhstan. The nomadic pastoralists who lived here tamed the horse, allowing them to migrate far and wide. This is called the steppe or kurgan hypothesis, the latter after the local word for the prehistoric burial mounds that dot the area.” ref
“Other scholars posit an older and more southerly beginning for PIE: around 9,000 years ago in Anatolia. Also known as Asia Minor, this peninsula bordered by the Black, Aegean, and Mediterranean Seas is the westernmost extension of Asia. Today, it is the Asian part of Turkey. The theory is that the language piggybacked on the spread of agriculture from here to large parts of the Old World.” ref
Were the Yamnaya the original Indo-Europeans?
“The kurgan hypothesis is the more widely accepted of the two. Many of its proponents think that PIE speakers, kurgan builders, and the ancient Yamnaya culture are actually one and the same. However, conflicting evidence from previous phylogenetic analyses has prevented either hypothesis from completely knocking out the other. So, the Max Planck team constructed a new dataset of core vocabulary from 161 Indo-European languages that was more comprehensive and balanced than previous samples. Using recent advances in phylogenetic analysis, they were able to estimate that PIE was approximately 8,100 years old, and that five main branches had already split off around 7,000 years ago.” ref
“The study’s results fit poorly with both the kurgan and Anatolian hypotheses. As a solution, the researchers propose a third possibility: an early homeland for PIE immediately south of the Caucasus, with one migration veering off north into the steppe. There, PIE speakers established a “secondary homeland,” from where Indo-European entered the rest of Europe beginning 5,000 years ago, courtesy of the Yamnaya and later expansions. By offering a hybrid of the farming and pastoralist theories about the spread of Indo-European, the south-of-Caucasus hypothesis suggests a solution for an enigma that has dogged the study of Indo-European for about 200 years.” ref
The spread of farming from the Caucasus to the Eastern European steppes
“Ganj Dareh is important in the study of Neolithic ceramics in Luristan and Kurdistan. This is a period beginning in the late 8th millennium, and continuing to the middle of the 6th millennium BCE. At Ganj Dareh, two early ceramic traditions are evident. One is based on the use of clay for figurines and small geometric pieces like cones and disks. These are dated ca. 7300-6900 BCE. The other ceramic tradition originated in the use of clay for mud-walled buildings (ca. 7300 BCE). These traditions are also shared by Tepe Guran, and Tepe Sarab. Tepe Asiab is also located near Tepe Sarab, and may be the earliest of all these sites. Both sites appear to have been seasonally occupied. Another site from the same period is Chia Jani, also in Kermanshah. Chia Jani is located about 60 km southwest from Ganj Dareh. Ali Kosh is also a related site of the Neolithic period.” ref
“Most Neolithic Iranian specimens from Ganj Dareh were found to belong to the paternal haplogroup R2a. The to date oldest sample of haplogroup R2a was observed in the remains of a Neolithic human from Ganj Dareh in western Iran (c. 10,162 years old). According to one model, the Mesolithic/Neolithic Iranian lineage are inferred to derive significant amounts of their ancestry from Basal Eurasian (c. 38–48%), with the remainder of ancestry being closer to Ancient North Eurasians or Eastern European Hunter-Gatherer (ANE/EHG; c. 52–62%).” ref
“Ganj Dareh, GD13a. mtDNA analysis shows that she belonged to Haplogroup X. She is phenotypically similar to the Anatolian early farmers and Caucasus Hunter-Gatherers. GD13a is genetically closest to the ancient Caucasus hunter-gatherers identified from human remains from Georgia (Satsurblia Cave and Kotias Klde). She belonged to a population (Neolithic Iranians) that was genetically distinct from the Neolithic Anatolian farmers.” ref
“Vallini et al. (2024), suggesting that the initial Iranian hunter-gatherer-like population formed primarily from a deep Ancient West Eurasian lineage (‘WEC2’, c. 72%), and from varying degrees of Ancient East Eurasian (c. 10%) and Basal Eurasian (c. 18%) components. The Ancient West Eurasian component associated with Iranian hunter-gatherers (WEC2) is inferred to have diverged from the West Eurasian Core lineage (represented by Kostenki-14; WEC), with the WEC2 component staying in the region of the Iranian Plateau, while the proper WEC component expanded into Europe.” ref
“The earliest evidence for occupation at Godin comes from Periods XI through VII, spanning the Early and Middle Chalcolithic. The site was already inhabited as early as c. 5200 BCE. The earliest pottery found was of the painted pottery traditions, including J ware (Godin pre-XI) related to Halaf culture pottery. The impressed Dalma ware (Dalma Tepe) (Godin XI/X) is very similar to the pottery traditions from the highlands north of Godin, especially from the area of Lake Urmia.” ref
“Level VIII is dated 4200–4000 BCE, contemporary with Terminal Ubaid period. According to Mitchell Rothman, at this time, during the Late Chalcolithic 1 period (LC 1), some substantial trading networks emerged in the area for trade in metals, and in precious or semi-precious stones, “During the time of Godin VIII, the LC 1, a real increase in the movement of these goods is evident across the region. For example, lapis lazuli, a semi-precious blue stone known to occur naturally only in the Badakshan area of northeastern Afghanistan, began to appear in LC1 sites in significant amounts (Herman 1968).” ref
“Thus, the importance of Godin Tepe may have been due to its position serving the early trade from the east, from as far as Afghanistan, and to the Mesopotamian flood plain. For example, lapis-lazuli was brought from Badakhshan in Afghanistan to Mesopotamia. The pottery of level V shows influences from the Uruk culture, with parallels at Susa, Uruk (IV), and Nippur. The typical Jemdet Nasr tall storage jars, known from Nippur, and the beveled rim bowls of Uruk are missing, however. Cuyler-Young suggested the existence of Elamite trading posts at the site during this period, which were established by merchants from Susa.” ref
“Traces of wine and beer found in ceramics dated to c. 3100–2900 BCE and along with the findings at Hajji Firuz Tepe, provide evidence of the early production of those beverages in the Zagros Mountains. Some Kura–Araxes culture potsherds also seem to appear in association with wine making. Level IV (3000–2650 BCE) represents the “invasion” of the northern Yanik-culture (or “Transcaucasian Early Bronze I culture”, also known as Kura–Araxes culture), well known from Yanik Tepe, Iran, near Lake Urmia. (Nevertheless, some other Kura-Araxes potsherds were found in yet deeper layers going back to the late fourth millennium BCE).” ref
- Yekaterinovsky Cape, a link between the Samara culture and early Khvalynsk
- “Steppe ancestry” step by step: Khvalynsk, Sredni Stog, Repin, Yamna, Corded Ware
- The Eneolithic cemetery at Khvalynsk on the Volga River
- The origin of objects of invertebrate descent from the Khvalynsk Eneolithic cemeteries (Northern Caspian region)
“The Darkveti-Meshoko culture (c.5000–3500/3300 BCE) is the earliest known farming community in the Northern Caucasus, but its contribution to the genetic profile of the neighboring steppe herders has re- mained unclear. We present analysis of human DNA from the Nalchik cemetery—the oldest Eneolithic site in the Northern Caucasus—which shows a link with the LowerVolga’s first herders of the Khvalynsk cul- ture. The Nalchik male genotype combines the genes of the Caucasus hunter-gatherers, the Eastern hunt- er-gatherers and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) farmers of western Asia. Improved comparative analysis suggests that the genetic profile of certain Khvalynsk individuals shares the genetic ancestry of the Unakozovo-Nalchik type population of the Northern Caucasus’ Eneolithic. Therefore, it seems that in the first half of the 5th millennium BCE, cultural and mating networks helped agriculture and pastoralism spread from West Asia across the Caucasian, into the steppes between the Don and the Volga in Eastern Europe.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
This art above explains my thinking from my life of investigation
I am an anarchist (Social anarchism, Left-wing anarchism, or Socialist anarchism) trying to explain prehistory as I see it after studying it on my own starting 2006. Anarchists are for truth and believe in teaching the plain truth; misinformation is against this, and we would and should fight misinformation and disinformation.
I see anarchism as a social justice issue not limited to some political issue or monetary persuasion. People own themselves, have self/human rights, and deserve freedoms. All humanity is owed respect for its dignity; we are all born equal in dignity and human rights, and no plot of dirt we currently reside on changes this.
I fully enjoy the value (axiology) of archaeology (empirical evidence from fact or artifacts at a site) is knowledge (epistemology) of the past, adding to our anthropology (evidence from cultures both the present and past) intellectual (rational) assumptions of the likely reality of actual events from time past.
I am an Axiological Atheist, Philosopher & Autodidact Pre-Historical Writer/Researcher, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Anarcho Humanist, LGBTQI, Race, & Class equality. I am not an academic, I am a revolutionary sharing education and reason to inspire more deep thinking. I do value and appreciate Academics, Archaeologists, Anthropologists, and Historians as they provide us with great knowledge, informing us about our shared humanity.
I am a servant leader, as I serve the people, not myself, not my ego, and not some desire for money, but rather a caring teacher’s heart to help all I can with all I am. From such thoughtfulness may we all see the need for humanism and secularism, respecting all as helpful servant leaders assisting others as often as we can to navigate truth and the beauty of reality.
‘Reality’ ie. real/external world things, facts/evidence such as that confirmed by science, or events taken as a whole documented understanding of what occurred/is likely to have occurred; the accurate state of affairs. “Reason” is not from a mind devoid of “unreason” but rather demonstrates the potential ability to overcome bad thinking. An honest mind, enjoys just correction. Nothing is a justified true belief without valid or reliable reason and evidence; just as everything believed must be open to question, leaving nothing above challenge.
I don’t believe in gods or ghosts, and nor souls either. I don’t believe in heavens or hells, nor any supernatural anything. I don’t believe in Aliens, Bigfoot, nor Atlantis. I strive to follow reason and be a rationalist. Reason is my only master and may we all master reason. Thinking can be random, but reason is organized and sound in its Thinking. Right thinking is reason, right reason is logic, and right logic can be used in math and other scientific methods. I don’t see religious terms Animism, Totemism, Shamanism, or Paganism as primitive but original or core elements that are different parts of world views and their supernatural/non-natural beliefs or thinking.
I am inspired by philosophy, enlightened by archaeology, and grounded by science that religion claims, on the whole, along with their magical gods, are but dogmatic propaganda, myths, and lies. To me, religions can be summed up as conspiracy theories about reality, a reality mind you is only natural and devoid of magic anything. And to me, when people talk as if Atlantis is anything real, I stop taking them seriously. Like asking about the reality of Superman or Batman just because they seem to involve metropolitan cities in their stores. Or if Mother Goose actually lived in a shoe? You got to be kidding.
We are made great in our many acts of kindness, because we rise by helping each other.
NE = Proto-North Eurasian/Ancient North Eurasian/Mal’ta–Buret’ culture/Mal’ta Boy “MA-1” 24,000 years old burial
A = Proto-Afroasiatic/Afroasiatic
S = Samara culture
ST = Proto-Sino-Tibetan/Sino-Tibetan
T = Proto-Transeurasian/Altaic
C = Proto-Northwest Caucasus language/Northwest Caucasian/Languages of the Caucasus
I = Proto-Indo-European/Indo-European
IB = Iberomaurusian Culture/Capsian culture
Natufian culture (15,000–11,500 years ago, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Negev desert)
Nganasan people/Nganasan language
Na-Dene languages/Dené–Yeniseian, Dené–Caucasian
Proto-Semitic/Semitic languages
24,000 years ago, Proto-North Eurasian Language (Ancient North Eurasian) migrations?
My thoughts:
Proto-North Eurasian Language (Ancient North Eurasian) With related Y-DNA R1a, R1b, R2a, and Q Haplogroups.
R1b 22,0000-15,000 years ago in the Middle east creates Proto-Afroasiatic languages moving into Africa around 15,000-10,000 years ago connecting with the Iberomaurusian Culture/Taforalt near the coasts of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.
R2a 10,000 years ago in Iran brings/creates Proto-Indo-European language and also a possibility is R1a in Russia around 9,000 years ago may have had a version of Proto-Indo-European language.
Around 14,000-10,000 years ago??? Proto-North Eurasian Language goes to the Yellow River basin (eventually relating with the Yangshao culture) in China creates Proto-Sino-Tibetan language.
Proto-Sino-Tibetan language then moves to the West Liao River valley (eventually relating with the Hongshan culture) in China creating Proto-Transeurasian (Altaic) language around 9,000 years ago.
N Haplogroups 9,000 years ago with Proto-Transeurasian language possibly moves north to Lake Baikal. Then after living with Proto-North Eurasian Language 24,000-9,000 years ago?/Pre-Proto-Yeniseian language 9,000-7,000 years ago Q Haplogroups (eventually relating with the Ket language and the Ket people) until around 5,500 years ago, then N Haplogroups move north to the Taymyr Peninsula in North Siberia (Nganasan homeland) brings/creates the Proto-Uralic language.
Q Haplogroups with Proto-Yeniseian language /Proto-Na-Dene language likely emerge 8,000/7,000 years ago or so and migrates to the Middle East (either following R2a to Iraq or R1a to Russia (Samara culture) then south to Iraq creates the Sumerian language. It may have also created the Proto-Caucasian languages along the way. And Q Haplogroups with Proto-Yeniseian language to a migration to North America that relates to Na-Dené (and maybe including Haida) languages, of which the first branch was Proto-Tlingit language 5,000 years ago, in the Pacific Northwest.
Sino-Tibetan language then moves more east in China to the Hemudu culture pre-Austronesian culture, next moved to Taiwan creating the Proto-Austronesian language around 6,000-5,500 years ago.
R1b comes to Russia from the Middle East around 7,500 years ago, bringing a version of Proto-Indo-European languages to the (Samara culture), then Q Y-DNA with Proto-Yeniseian language moves south from the (Samara culture) and may have been the language that created the Proto-Caucasian language. And R1b from the (Samara culture) becomes the 4,200 years or so R1b associated with the Basques and Basque language it was taken with R1b, but language similarities with the Proto-Caucasian language implies language ties to Proto-Yeniseian language.
Boncuklu Tarla, around 12,000 years old, Labret personal ornaments
“The site, Boncuklu Tarla, is renowned for its exceptional collection of diverse personal ornaments – more than 100,000 decorative artifacts have been found. Examples of jewelry pieces that look like labrets have been found dating back to 10,000 BCE (about 12,000 years old), but this is the most conclusive example to date. The earliest convincing evidence for the use of a labret in South-west Asia before this latest discovery dates to around 6,000 BCE. Other artifacts found scattered across South-west Asia were inferred to be piercings based on their shape; they weren’t found directly associated with the body parts through which they may have been worn. These objects were found in the graves of seven male adults and nine female adults, either perched on top of or close to their skeletons. Based on the sediment layer from which they were excavated, and previous carbon dating of those sediments, five of the 85 objects date back to around 10,000 to 8000 BCE, making them the earliest known examples of piercings. No children, however, had ear ornaments or labrets near their heads. Instead, they were often buried with pendants and beads, like in other cultures. Piercings were “probably something associated with being grown-up.” Other compilations of past research suggest the practice of wearing piercings emerged as early as approximately 6400 BCE in what is today Iran and spread through Mesopotamia. The custom later appeared in other societies throughout Africa, Central, and South America. Kodaş and colleagues have so far described 85 objects found in Boncuklu Tarla graves that appear to be ornaments worn in piercings, made of materials such as limestone, flint, copper, and obsidian, a volcanic glass.” ref
ref
“The manufacture and use of labret-like artefacts in South-west Asia begins in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA, c. 10,000–8800 BCE or 12,000 to 10,800 years ago) and continues through the Chalcolithic (c. 6000–3000 BCE 8,000 to 5,000 years ago).” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
I believe the paganistic ancestor/leader cult totems connect to the earlier Phallus Phenomenon (associated with Horned Animals, like bulls) starting around 36,000 years ago and connects to hunting cult magic or rituals in the hunting and gathering shamanistic-totamistic clans.
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Bear worship (to me, related to the Cosmic Hunt) often involves sacrifice
“Bear worship is the religious practice of the worship/sacrifice of bears found in many North Eurasian ethnic religions, such as among the Sami, Nivkh, Ainu, Basques, Germanic peoples, Slavs, and Finns. There are also a number of deities from Celtic Gaul and Britain associated with the bear. The Dacians, Thracians, and Getians in the Eastern Balkans were noted to worship bears and annually celebrate the bear dance festival. The bear is featured on many totems throughout northern cultures that carve them.” ref
“Iomante (イオマンテ), sometimes written as Iyomante (イヨマンテ), is an Ainu ceremony in which a brown bear is sacrificed. The word literally means “to send something/someone off”. In some Ainu villages, it is a Blakiston’s fish owl, rather than a bear, that is the subject of the ceremony. In Japanese, the ceremony is known as “sending off the bear” (熊送り, kumaokuri) or, sometimes, “the bear festival” (熊祭, kumamatsuri). In the modern day, the ceremony no longer involves the killing of an animal, but is performed for wild animals that die in accidents or captive animals that die of old age.” ref
The Mesopotamian “Bull of Heaven”
“In ancient Mesopotamian mythology, the Bull of Heaven is a mythical beast fought by the King of Uruk, Gilgamesh. The story of the Bull of Heaven is known from two different versions: one recorded in an earlier Sumerian poem and a later episode in the Standard Babylonian (a literary dialect of Akkadian) Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Sumerian poem, the Bull is sent to attack Gilgamesh by the goddess Inanna for reasons that are unclear. In the Sumerian poem Gilgamesh and the Bull of Heaven, Gilgamesh and Enkidu slay the Bull of Heaven, who has been sent to attack them by the goddess Inanna, the Sumerian equivalent of Ishtar. The plot of this poem differs substantially from the corresponding scene in the later Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh. In the Sumerian poem, Inanna does not seem to ask Gilgamesh to become her consort as she does in the later Akkadian epic. Furthermore, while she is coercing her father An to give her the Bull of Heaven, rather than threatening to raise the dead to eat the living as she does in the later epic, she merely threatens to let out a “cry” that will reach the earth.” ref
“The more complete Akkadian account comes from Tablet VI of the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which Gilgamesh refuses the sexual advances of the goddess Ishtar, the East Semitic equivalent of Inanna, leading the enraged Ishtar to demand the Bull of Heaven from her father Anu, so that she may send it to attack Gilgamesh in Uruk. Anu gives her the Bull, and she sends it to attack Gilgamesh and his companion, the hero Enkidu, who slay the Bull together. Numerous depictions of the slaying of the Bull of Heaven occur in extant works of ancient Mesopotamian art. Representations are especially common on cylinder seals of the Akkadian Empire (c. 2334 – 2154 BCE or 4,334 to 4,154 years ago). These show that the Bull was clearly envisioned as a bull of abnormally large size and ferocity. It is unclear exactly what the Bull of Heaven represents, however. Assyriologists Jeremy Black and Anthony Green observe that the Bull of Heaven is identified with the constellation Taurus and argue that the reason why Enkidu hurls the bull’s thigh at Ishtar in the Epic of Gilgamesh after defeating it may be an effort to explain why the constellation seems to be missing its hind quarters.” ref
“The bezoar ibex (Capra aegagrus aegagrus) is a wild goat subspecies that is native to the montane forested areas in the Caucasus and the Zagros Mountains.” ref
Traces of goat domestication in the Zagros Mountains
“Using a different criterion, that of when herds first show signs of human management, Dr. Zeder finds that goats and sheep were first domesticated about 11,000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought, with pigs and cattle following shortly afterwards. The map, from her article in the August 11 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows the regions and dates where the four species were first domesticated. Other dates, color-coded as to species, show where domesticated animals first appear elsewhere in the Fertile Crescent. The earlier dates mean that animals were domesticated at much the same time as crop plants, and bear on the issue of how this ensemble of new agricultural species – the farming package known as the Neolithic revolution – spread from the Near East to Europe.” ref
“Researchers report early evidence of goat domestication in Iran’s Zagros Mountains. The initial domestication of several species, including goats, occurred in the Fertile Crescent during the Aceramic Neolithic Period, around 9600-7500 BCE. However, the regional centers of such domestication remain unclear. Kevin G. Daly, Melinda Zeder, Daniel Bradley, and colleagues combined ancient genome sequencing and archaeozoological evidence from two sites in the central Zagros Mountains to trace the domestication of the goat (Capra aegagrus hircus) from the wild bezoar goat (Capra aegagrus). The two sites, Ganj Dareh and Tepe Abdul Hosein, are located in present-day western Iran, and radiocarbon dating indicates that the sites were occupied between 8200 and 7600 BCE. The authors sequenced DNA from bone samples and compared the sequences with modern and ancient goat genomes. The results suggest that initial goat herds were genetically distinct from hunted wild goats and do not show evidence of a severe genetic bottleneck, morphological divergence, or apparent changes in appearance until 7000 BCE. Bone analysis from this transitionary period revealed a selective culling of young male goats consistent with animal husbandry–a finding bolstered by the presence of greater diversity of mitochondrial lineages compared with Y-chromosome lineages. According to the authors, goats from these sites in the Zagros Mountains are likely genetically basal to other domestic goats and may represent the earliest known examples of goat herding.” ref
The Mountain Goat; Symbol of Rain In Iranian Pottery
“The designs drawn by the Iranians, especially drawings of Iran’s national animal, the mountain goat, have been infused with the spirit of simplicity and precision. These designs are unique in all of Asia. The prehistoric man lived in constant fear and anxiety. He feared the satanic force, and needed a stimulant to help him defend himself from this wicked force. That is the reason why he resorted to talismans, charms, and totems to the point of worshipping them. Studying prehistoric man’s creations, helps us discover his interest in exhibiting what they considered as the manifestations of the gods that they worshipped. For example, drawings of the sun, and the animals related to the sun, such as the eagle, lion, cow, deer, and the mountain goat, can be seen on pottery dating back to the 4th millennium BCE People wore necklaces with pendants of mountain goats, especially among Cassy tribes in Lorestan. These people needed a defender because they believed that, since time immemorial, hurricanes, floods, wild animals, etc. had threatened man, his home, livestock, and crops. Because they wanted to be safe, they began worshipping the gods and goddesses, or objects and animals which they presumed the gods and goddesses liked. Sometimes only one of the animal’s limbs or organs was drawn on pottery. For example, in the pottery made during the period between 3,000 to 4,000 BCE, there are drawings of the horns of cows, deer, and mountain goats, or the wings and claws of birds, together with geometrical designs. Each ancient tribe considered the mountain goat to be the symbol of one of the natural, beneficial elements. For example, in Lorestan, it symbolized the sun. Sometimes it symbolized the rain because in ancient times the moon was related to the rain, and the sun was related to the heat and dryness. There was also a relationship between the mountain goat’s twisted horns and the crescent – shaped moon.” ref
“That is why it was believed that the mountain goat’s twisted horns could bring about rainfall. In ancient Susa and Elam, the mountain goat was the symbol of prosperity and the god of vegetation. In Mesopotamia, the mountain goat symbolized the “Great god’s” bestial nature (The Great god appeared in the role of the god of plants, holding a tee branch in his hand, while the mountain goat ate its leaves). Prehistoric men had an astonishing skill in making pottery. They made the best types of pottery by hand, and by using the potter’s wheel. In these artifacts, they have demonstrated all aspects of their lives, such as their religion, mores and art. By studying these creations, we come to know the relationship between different civilizations. These ancient people, had great skill in depicting horned animals. Maybe the transformation of gods into different drawings of animals, is one of the reasons why animals were considered sacred, and why they became an interesting topic for the works of ancient artists and potters. Most of the prehistoric pottery were first designed with geometrical and decorative designs. Drawings of animals became common after some time, and after that, geometric shapes became widespread once again. This transformation is seen in most of the prehistoric Persian civilizations. The mountain goat motif emerges in different historical periods. In excavations of many hills, archeologists have discovered vessels bearing the same motif. Here, we shall refer to some of these instances: The Sialk Hill Civilization, in Kashan, lasted from the fifth millennium to the first millennium BCE The hill has six ancient layers, each layer containing distinct types of pottery and other artifacts. Flowers and trees such as the sunflower, and the ‘Tree of Life’ (The Sacred Tree), drawn in between the goat’s horns, are very interesting. The sunflower symbolized the sun, and was considered to be sacred.” ref
Rain Bull
“Capturing the Rain Animal: an important mythological and symbolic aspect of the rock art of the San in the Drakensberg Mountains in southern Africa. With more than 500,000 rock art sites, Africa is the world’s greatest repository of ancient rock art. Of Africa’s many rock art traditions, the San – or Bushman – rock art of the Drakensberg Mountains in southern Africa is one of the finest. Some of its images have details only the width of a hair, and its delicately shaded colours fade seamlessly from white through pink to dark red. For decades, researchers believed that San rock paintings were simply a record of daily life or a primitive form of hunting magic. But by linking specific San beliefs to recurrent features in the art, researchers such as Patricia Vinnicombe and David Lewis-Williams managed to crack the fundamental codes underlying San rock art, revealing a complex and sophisticated form of symbolic art. One aspect of this is capturing the rain animal.” ref
Rain-making was one of the San shamans’ most important tasks. The southern San thought of the rain as an animal. A male rain-animal, or rain-bull, was associated with the frightening thunderstorm that bellowed, stirred up the dust, and sometimes killed people with its lightning. The female rain animal was associated with soft, soaking rains. For the San, rain was life. When it fell, tubers that had lain hidden beneath the parched land sprang up, and the veld was renewed. Then antelopes were attracted to the new grass and bushes. Columns of falling rain were called the rain’s legs, while wisps of cloud were known as the rain’s hair; mist was said to be rain’s breath. When the San did a rain dance, they would go into a trance to capture one of these animals. In their trance, they would kill it, and its blood and milk became the rain.” ref
“Mehet-Weret or Mehturt (Ancient Egyptian: mḥt-wrt) is an ancient Egyptian deity of the sky in ancient Egyptian religion. Her name means “Great Flood”. She was mentioned in the Pyramid Texts. In ancient Egyptian creation myths, she gives birth to the sun at the beginning of time. In spell 17 of the Book of the Dead, the god Ra is born from her buttocks. In art, she is portrayed as a cow with a sun disk between her horns. She is associated with the goddesses Neith, Hathor, and Isis, all of whom have similar characteristics, and like them, she could be called the “Eye of Ra”. In some instances, she is simply an epithet for those goddesses. Her own titles included ‘mound’ and ‘island’ (mound of creation). Geraldine Pinch suggests that Mehet-Weret was also ‘probably’ the Milky Way in the night sky, to correspond with her identification as the celestial waters travelled by the solar barque.” ref
Pastoralists’ indigenous religious practices: capturing the “rain-bull”
“Ritual Cemeteries—For Cows and Then Humans—Plot Pastoralist Expansion Across Africa. As early herders spread across northern and then eastern Africa, the communities erected monumental graves which may have served as social gathering points. Testing religious beliefs Pastoralists’ indigenous religious practices: found that appeasing spirits (82%), sacrifice (89%), divination (76%), and communal ceremonies (94%) were practiced in the study areas. These systems have highly contributed to personal reproduction (55%), farming practices (45%), conflict resolution (60%), forecasting events (48%), healing (60%), social cohesion (70%), and local governing (50%) among the pastoralists.” ref
Mesopotamian Gods and the Bull
“In Mesopotamia, gods were associated with the bull from at least the Early Dynastic Period until the Neo-Babylonian or Chaldean Period. This relationship took on many forms; the bull could serve as the god’s divine animal, the god could be likened to the bull, or he could actually take on the form of the beast. In this paper, the various gods identified with or related to the bull will be identified and studied in order to identify which specific types of gods were most commonly and especially associated with the bull. The relationships between the gods and the bull are evident in textual as well as iconographic sources, although fewer instances of this connection are found in iconography. Examples of the portrayal of the association between the various gods and the bull in texts and iconography can be compared and contrasted in order to reveal differences and similarities in these portrayals.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Sacred Cattle in Egyptian Mythology
“Bat is a cow goddess in Egyptian mythology who was depicted as a human face with cow ears and horns or as a woman. Other feminine bovine deities include Sekhat-Hor, Mehet-Weryt, Shedyt, Hathor, Hesat, and Celestial Cow “Sky goddess” Nut. Their masculine counterparts include Apis, Mnevis, Buchis, Sema-wer, Ageb-wer. Cattle are prominent in some religions and mythologies. As such, numerous people throughout the world have at one point in time honored bulls as sacred. In the Sumerian religion, Marduk is the “bull of Utu”. In Hinduism, Shiva’s steed is Nandi, the Bull. The sacred bull survives in the constellation Taurus. The bull, whether lunar as in Mesopotamia or solar as in India, is the subject of various other cultural and religious incarnations.” ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Sumerian religion, Marduk is the “Bull of Utu”
“Taurus (Latin, ‘Bull‘) is one of the constellations of the zodiac and is located in the northern celestial hemisphere. Taurus is a large and prominent constellation in the Northern Hemisphere‘s winter sky. It is one of the oldest constellations, dating back to the Early Bronze Age at least, when it marked the location of the Sun during the spring equinox. Its importance to the agricultural calendar influenced various bull figures in the mythologies of Ancient Sumer, Akkad, Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Greece, and Rome. Its old astronomical symbol is (♉︎), which resembles a bull’s head. We cannot recreate a specific context for the bull skulls with horns (bucrania) preserved in an 8th millennium BCE sanctuary at Çatalhöyük in Central Anatolia. The sacred bull of the Hattians, whose elaborate standards were found at Alaca Höyük alongside those of the sacred stag, survived in Hurrian and Hittite mythology as Seri and Hurri (“Day” and “Night”), the bulls who carried the weather god Teshub on their backs or in his chariot and grazed on the ruins of cities.” ref
“The identification of the constellation of Taurus with a bull is very old, certainly dating to the Chalcolithic, and perhaps even to the Upper Paleolithic. Michael Rappenglück of the University of Munich believes that Taurus is represented in a cave painting at the Hall of the Bulls in the caves at Lascaux (dated to roughly 15,000 BCE), which he believes is accompanied by a depiction of the Pleiades. The name “seven sisters” has been used for the Pleiades in the languages of many cultures, including indigenous groups of Australia, North America and Siberia. This suggests that the name may have a common ancient origin. Taurus marked the point of vernal (spring) equinox in the Chalcolithic and the Early Bronze Age, from about 4000 to 1700 BCE, after which it moved into the neighboring constellation Aries. The Pleiades were closest to the Sun at vernal equinox around the 23rd century BCE. In Babylonian astronomy, the constellation was listed in the MUL.APIN as GU4.AN.NA, “The Bull of Heaven“. Although it has been claimed that “when the Babylonians first set up their zodiac, the vernal equinox lay in Taurus,” there is a claim that the MUL.APIN tablets indicate that the vernal equinox was marked by the Babylonian constellation known as “the hired man” (the modern Aries).” ref
“In the Old Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh, the goddess Ishtar sends Taurus, the Bull of Heaven, to kill Gilgamesh for spurning her advances. Enkidu tears off the bull’s hind part and hurls the quarters into the sky where they become the stars we know as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Some locate Gilgamesh as the neighboring constellation of Orion, facing Taurus as if in combat, while others identify him with the sun whose rising on the equinox vanquishes the constellation. In early Mesopotamian art, the Bull of Heaven was closely associated with Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare. One of the oldest depictions shows the bull standing before the goddess’ standard; since it has 3 stars depicted on its back (the cuneiform sign for “star-constellation”), there is good reason to regard this as the constellation later known as Taurus. The same iconic representation of the Heavenly Bull was depicted in the Dendera zodiac, an Egyptian bas-relief carving in a ceiling that depicted the celestial hemisphere using a planisphere. In these ancient cultures, the orientation of the horns was portrayed as upward or backward. This differed from the later Greek depiction where the horns pointed forward. To the Egyptians, the constellation Taurus was a sacred bull that was associated with the renewal of life in spring. When the spring equinox entered Taurus, the constellation would become covered by the Sun in the western sky as spring began. This “sacrifice” led to the renewal of the land. To the early Hebrews, Taurus was the first constellation in their zodiac and consequently it was represented by the first letter in their alphabet, Aleph.” ref
“In Greek mythology, Taurus was identified with Zeus, who assumed the form of a magnificent white bull to abduct Europa, a legendary Phoenician princess. In illustrations of Greek mythology, only the front portion of this constellation is depicted; this was sometimes explained as Taurus being partly submerged as he carried Europa out to sea. A second Greek myth portrays Taurus as Io, a mistress of Zeus. To hide his lover from his wife Hera, Zeus changed Io into the form of a heifer. Greek mythographer Acusilaus marks the bull Taurus as the same that formed the myth of the Cretan Bull, one of The Twelve Labors of Heracles. Taurus became an important object of worship among the Druids. Their Tauric religious festival was held while the Sun passed through the constellation. Among the arctic people known as the Inuit, the constellation is called Sakiattiat and the Hyades is Nanurjuk, with the latter representing the spirit of the polar bear. Aldebaran represents the bear, with the remainder of the stars in the Hyades being dogs that are holding the beast at bay.” ref
“In Buddhism, legends hold that Gautama Buddha was born when the full moon was in Vaisakha, or Taurus. Buddha’s birthday is celebrated with the Wesak Festival, or Vesākha, which occurs on the first or second full moon when the Sun is in Taurus. In 1990, due to the precession of the equinoxes, the position of the Sun on the first day of summer (June 21) crossed the IAU boundary of Gemini into Taurus. The Sun will slowly move through Taurus at a rate of 1° east every 72 years until approximately 2600, at which point it will be in Aries on the first day of summer.” ref
“The Sumerian guardian deity called lamassu was depicted as hybrids with bodies of either winged bulls or lions and heads of human males. The motif of a winged animal with a human head is common to the Near East, first recorded in Ebla around 3000 BCE. The first distinct lamassu motif appeared in Assyria during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser II as a symbol of power. “The human-headed winged bulls protective genies called shedu or lamassu, … were placed as guardians at certain gates or doorways of the city and the palace. Symbols combining man, bull, and bird, they offered protection against enemies.” ref
“The bull was also associated with the storm and rain god Adad, Hadad or Iškur. The bull was his symbolic animal. He appeared bearded, often holding a club and thunderbolt while wearing a bull-horned headdress. Hadad was equated with the Greek god Zeus; the Roman god Jupiter, as Jupiter Dolichenus; the Indo-European Nasite Hittite storm-god Teshub; the Egyptian god Amun. When Enki distributed the destinies, he made Iškur inspector of the cosmos. In one litany, Iškur is proclaimed again and again as “great radiant bull, your name is heaven” and also called son of Anu, lord of Karkara; twin-brother of Enki, lord of abundance, lord who rides the storm, lion of heaven.” ref
“The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh depicts the horrors of the rage-fueled deployment of the Bull of Heaven by Ishtar and its slaughter by Gilgamesh and Enkidu as an act of defiance that seals their fates:
Ishtar opened her mouth and said again, “My father, give me the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh. Fill Gilgamesh, I say, with arrogance to his destruction; but if you refuse to give me the Bull of Heaven I will break in the doors of hell and smash the bolts; there will be a confusion of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall bring up the dead to eat food like the living; and the hosts of the dead will outnumber the living.” Anu said to great Ishtar, “If I do what you desire there will be seven years of drought throughout Uruk when corn will be seedless husks. Have you saved grain enough for the people and grass for the cattle?” Ishtar replied “I have saved grain for the people, grass for the cattle.”…When Anu heard what Ishtar had said he gave her the Bull of Heaven to lead by the halter down to Uruk. When they reached the gates of Uruk the Bull of Heaven went to the river; with his first snort cracks opened in the earth and a hundred young men fell down to death.” ref
“With his second snort cracks opened and two hundred fell down to death. With his third snort cracks opened, Enkidu doubled over but instantly recovered, he dodged aside and leapt onto the Bull and seized it by the horns. The Bull of Heaven foamed in his face, it brushed him with the thick of its tail. Enkidu cried to Gilgamesh, “My friend we boasted that we would leave enduring names behind us. Now thrust your sword between the nape and the horns.” So Gilgamesh followed the Bull, he seized the thick of its tail, he thrust the sword between the nape and the horns and slew the Bull. When they had killed the Bull of Heaven they cut out its heart and gave it to Shamash, and the brothers rested.” ref
“In Ancient Egypt multiple sacred bulls were worshiped. A long succession of ritually perfect bulls were identified by the god’s priests, housed in the temple for their lifetime, then embalmed and buried. The mother-cows of these animals were also revered, and buried in separate locations.
- In the Memphite region, the Apis was seen as the embodiment of Ptah and later of Osiris. Some of the Apis bulls were buried in large sarcophagi in the underground vaults of the Serapeum of Saqqara, which was rediscovered by Auguste Mariette in 1851.
- Mnevis of Heliopolis was the embodiment of Atum–Ra.
- Buchis of Hermonthis was linked with the gods Ra and Montu. The catacombs for these bulls are now known as the Bucheum. Multiple Buchis mummies were found in situ during excavations in the 1930s. Some of their sarcophagi are similar to those in the Serapeum, others are polylithic (made from multiple stones).” ref
“Ka, in Egyptian, is both a religious concept of life-force/power and the word for bull. Andrew Gordon, an Egyptologist, and Calvin Schwabe, a veterinarian, argue that the origin of the ankh is related to two other signs of uncertain origin that often appear alongside it: the was-sceptre, representing “power” or “dominion”, and the djed pillar, representing “stability”. According to this hypothesis, the form of each sign is drawn from a part of the anatomy of a bull, like some other hieroglyphic signs that are known to be based on body parts of animals. In Egyptian belief semen was connected with life and, to some extent, with “power” or “dominion”, and some texts indicate the Egyptians believed semen originated in the bones. Therefore, Calvin and Schwabe suggest the signs are based on parts of the bull’s anatomy through which semen was thought to pass: the ankh is a thoracic vertebra, the djed is the sacrum and lumbar vertebrae, and the was is the dried penis of the bull.” ref
“In Cyprus, bull masks made from real skulls were worn in rites. Bull-masked terracotta figurines and Neolithic bull-horned stone altars have been found in Cyprus. Bulls were a central theme in the Minoan civilization, with bull heads and bull horns used as symbols in the Knossos palace. Minoan frescos and ceramics depict bull-leaping, in which participants of both sexes vaulted over bulls by grasping their horns.” ref
“The Iranian language texts and traditions of Zoroastrianism have several different mythological bovine creatures. One of these is Gavaevodata, which is the Avestan name of a hermaphroditic “uniquely created (-aevo.data) cow (gav-)”, one of Ahura Mazda‘s six primordial material creations that becomes the mythological progenitor of all beneficent animal life. Another Zoroastrian mythological bovine is Hadhayans, a gigantic bull so large that it could straddle the mountains and seas that divide the seven regions of the earth, and on whose back men could travel from one region to another.” ref
“In medieval times, Hadhayans also came to be known as Srīsōk (Avestan *Thrisaok, “three burning places”), which derives from a legend in which three “Great Fires” were collected on the creature’s back. Yet another mythological bovine is that of the unnamed creature in the Cow’s Lament, an allegorical hymn attributed to Zoroaster himself, in which the soul of a bovine (geush urvan) despairs over her lack of protection from an adequate herdsman. In the allegory, the cow represents humanity’s lack of moral guidance, but in later Zoroastrianism, Geush Urvan became a yazata representing cattle. The 14th day of the month is named after her and is under her protection.” ref
“Bulls appear on seals from the Indus Valley civilisation. In The Rig Veda, the earliest collection of Vedic hymns (c. 1500-1000 BCE), Indra is often praised as a Bull (Vṛṣabha – vrsa (he) plus bha (being) or as uksan, a bull aged five to nine years, which is still growing or just reached its full growth). The bull is an icon of power and virile strength in Aryan literature and other Indo-European traditions. Vrsha means “to shower or to spray”, in this context Indra showers strength and virility. Vṛṣabha is also an astrological sign in Indian horoscope systems, corresponding to Taurus.” ref
“The storm god Rudra is called a bull as are the Maruts or storm deities referred to as bulls under the command of Indra, thus Indra is called “bull with bulls.” The following excerpts from The Rig Veda demonstrate these attributes:
“As a bull I call to you, the bull with the thunderbolt, with various aids, O Indra, bull with bulls, greatest killer of Vrtra.” — Atri and the Last Sun” ref
“He the mighty bull who with his seven reins let loose the seven rivers to flow, who with his thunderbolt in his hand hurled down Ruhina as he was climbing up to the sky, he my people is Indra.” — Who is Indra?
“I send praise to the high bull, tawny and white. I bow low to the radiant one. We praise the dreaded name of Rudra.” — Rudra, father of the Maruts” ref.
“Nandi later appears in the Puranas as the primary vahana (mount) and the principal gana (follower) of Shiva. Nandi figures depicted as a seated bull are present at Shiva temples throughout the world. Kao (bull), a supernatural divine bull, appears in ancient Meitei mythology and folklore of Ancient Manipur (Kangleipak). In the legend of the Khamba Thoibi epic, Nongban Kongyamba, a nobleman of ancient Moirang realm, pretended to be an oracle and falsely prophesied that the people of Moirang would lead to miserable lives, if the powerful Kao (bull) roaming freely in the Khuman kingdom, wasn’t offered to the god Thangjing (Old Manipuri: Thangching), the presiding deity of Moirang. Orphan Khuman prince Khamba was chosen to capture the bull, as he was known for his valor and faithfulness.” ref
“Since to capture the bull without killing it was not an easy task, Khamba’s motherly sister Khamnu disclosed to Khamba the secrets of the bull, by means of which the animal could be captured. Bull figurines are common finds on archaeological sites across the Levant; two examples are the 16th century BCE (Middle Bronze Age) bull calf from Ashkelon, and the 12th century BCE (Iron Age I) bull found at the so-called Bull Site in Samaria on the West Bank. Both Baʿal and El were associated with the bull in Ugaritic texts, as it symbolized both strength and fertility.” ref
Exodus 32:4 reads “He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt’.” ref
Nehemiah 9:18 reads “even when they made an idol shaped like a calf and said, ‘This is your god who brought you out of Egypt!’ They committed terrible blasphemies.” ref
“Calf-idols are referred to later in the Tanakh, such as in the Book of Hosea, which would seem accurate as they were a fixture of near-eastern cultures. Solomon‘s “Molten Sea” basin stood on twelve brazen bulls. Young bulls were set as frontier markers at Dan and Bethel, the frontiers of the Kingdom of Israel. Much later, in Abrahamic religions, the bull motif became a bull demon or the “horned devil” in contrast and conflict to earlier traditions. The bull is familiar in Judeo-Christian cultures from the Biblical episode wherein an idol of the golden calf (Hebrew: עֵגֶּל הַזָהָב) is made by Aaron and worshipped by the Hebrews in the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula (Book of Exodus). The text of the Hebrew Bible can be understood to refer to the idol as representing a separate god, or as representing Yahweh himself, perhaps through an association or religious syncretism with Egyptian or Levantine bull gods, rather than a new deity in itself.” ref
“Among the Twelve Olympians, Hera‘s epithet Bo-opis is usually translated “ox-eyed” Hera, but the term could just as well apply if the goddess had the head of a cow, and thus the epithet reveals the presence of an earlier, though not necessarily more primitive, iconic view. (Heinrich Schlieman, 1976) Classical Greeks never otherwise referred to Hera simply as the cow, though her priestess Io was so literally a heifer that she was stung by a gadfly, and it was in the form of a heifer that Zeus coupled with her. Zeus took over the earlier roles, and, in the form of a bull that came forth from the sea, abducted the high-born Phoenician Europa and brought her, significantly, to Crete.” ref
“Dionysus was another god of resurrection who was strongly linked to the bull. In a worship hymn from Olympia, at a festival for Hera, Dionysus is also invited to come as a bull, “with bull-foot raging.” “Quite frequently he is portrayed with bull horns, and in Kyzikos he has a tauromorphic image,” Walter Burkert relates, and refers also to an archaic myth in which Dionysus is slaughtered as a bull calf and impiously eaten by the Titans.” ref
“For the Greeks, the bull was strongly linked to the Cretan Bull: Theseus of Athens had to capture the ancient sacred bull of Marathon (the “Marathonian bull”) before he faced the Minotaur (Greek for “Bull of Minos”), who the Greeks imagined as a man with the head of a bull at the center of the labyrinth. Minotaur was fabled to be born of the Queen and a bull, bringing the king to build the labyrinth to hide his family’s shame. Living in solitude made the boy wild and ferocious, unable to be tamed or beaten. Yet Walter Burkert‘s constant warning is, “It is hazardous to project Greek tradition directly into the Bronze Age.” Only one Minoan image of a bull-headed man has been found, a tiny Minoan sealstone currently held in the Archaeological Museum of Chania.” ref
“In the Classical period of Greece, the bull and other animals identified with deities were separated as their agalma, a kind of heraldic show-piece that concretely signified their numinous presence. The religious practices of the Roman Empire of the 2nd to 4th centuries included the taurobolium, in which a bull was sacrificed for the well-being of the people and the state. Around the mid-2nd century, the practice became identified with the worship of Magna Mater, but was not previously associated only with that cult (cultus). Public taurobolia, enlisting the benevolence of Magna Mater on behalf of the emperor, became common in Italy and Gaul, Hispania and Africa. The last public taurobolium for which there is an inscription was carried out at Mactar in Numidia at the close of the 3rd century. It was performed in honor of the emperors Diocletian and Maximian.” ref
“Another Roman mystery cult in which a sacrificial bull played a role was that of the 1st–4th century Mithraic Mysteries. In the so-called “tauroctony” artwork of that cult (cultus), and which appears in all its temples, the god Mithras is seen to slay a sacrificial bull. Although there has been a great deal of speculation on the subject, the myth (i.e. the “mystery”, the understanding of which was the basis of the cult) that the scene was intended to represent remains unknown. Because the scene is accompanied by a great number of astrological allusions, the bull is generally assumed to represent the constellation of Taurus. The basic elements of the tauroctony scene were originally associated with Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. Macrobius lists the bull as an animal sacred to the god Neto/Neito, possibly being sacrifices to the deity.” ref
“Tarvos Trigaranus (the “bull with three cranes”) is pictured on ancient Gaulish reliefs alongside images of gods, such as in the cathedrals at Trier and at Notre Dame de Paris. In Irish mythology, the Donn Cuailnge and the Finnbhennach are prized bulls that play a central role in the epic Táin Bó Cúailnge (“The Cattle Raid of Cooley”). Early medieval Irish texts also mention the tarbfeis (bull feast), a shamanistic ritual in which a bull would be sacrificed and a seer would sleep in the bull’s hide to have a vision of the future king. Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century CE, describes a religious ceremony in Gaul in which white-clad druids climbed a sacred oak, cut down the mistletoe growing on it, sacrificed two white bulls and used the mistletoe to cure infertility.” ref
“The druids—that is what they call their magicians—hold nothing more sacred than the mistletoe and a tree on which it is growing, provided it is Valonia oak. … Mistletoe is rare and when found it is gathered with great ceremony, and particularly on the sixth day of the moon….Hailing the moon in a native word that means ‘healing all things,’ they prepare a ritual sacrifice and banquet beneath a tree and bring up two white bulls, whose horns are bound for the first time on this occasion. A priest arrayed in white vestments climbs the tree and, with a golden sickle, cuts down the mistletoe, which is caught in a white cloak. Then finally they kill the victims, praying to a god to render his gift propitious to those on whom he has bestowed it. They believe that mistletoe given in drink will impart fertility to any animal that is barren and that it is an antidote to all poisons. Bull sacrifices at the time of the Lughnasa festival were recorded as late as the 18th century at Cois Fharraige in Ireland (where they were offered to Crom Dubh) and at Loch Maree in Scotland (where they were offered to Saint Máel Ruba).” ref
Cattle in religion and mythology
There are varying beliefs about cattle in societies and religions.
“Cattle are considered sacred in the Indian religions of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism, as well as in some Chinese folk religion and in African paganism. Cattle played other major roles in many religions, including those of ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, ancient Israel, and ancient Rome. In some regions, especially most states of India, the slaughter of cattle is prohibited and their meat (beef) may be taboo.” ref
“In ancient Egyptian religion, bulls symbolized strength and male sexuality and were linked with aggressive deities such as Montu and virile deities such as Min. Some Egyptian cities kept sacred bulls that were said to be incarnations of divine powers, including the Mnevis bull, Buchis bull, and the Apis bull, which was regarded as a manifestation of the god Ptah and was the most important sacred animal in Egypt. Cows were connected with fertility and motherhood. One of several ancient Egyptian creation myths said that a cow goddess, Mehet-Weret, who represented the primeval waters that existed before creation, gave birth to the sun at the beginning of time. The sky was sometimes envisioned as a goddess in the form of a cow, and several goddesses, including Hathor, Nut, and Neith, were equated with this celestial cow. The Egyptians did not regard cattle as uniformly positive. Wild bulls, regarded as symbols of the forces of chaos, could be hunted and ritually killed.” ref
“As cattle were a central part of the pastoralist economy of Ancient Nubia, Africa, they also played a prominent role in their culture and mythology, as evidenced by their inclusion in burials and rock art. Starting in the Neolithic period, cattle skulls, also known as bucrania, were often placed alongside human burials. Bucrania were a status symbol, and they were used frequently in adult male burials, occasionally in adult female burials, and rarely in child burials. In cemeteries at Kerma, there is a strong correlation between the number of bucrania and the quantity and lavishness of other grave goods. Dozens if not hundreds of cattle were often slaughtered as tribute for the burial of one individual; 400 bucrania were found at one tumulus alone at Kerma. The use of cattle skulls rather than those of sheep or goats reveals the importance of cattle in their pastoral economy, as well as the cultural associations of cattle with wealth, prosperity, and passage into the afterlife. Sometimes complete cattle were buried alongside their owner, symbolic of their relationship continuing into the afterlife.” ref
“Beginning in the third millennium BCE, cattle became the most popular motif in Nubian rock art. The bodies are usually depicted in profile, while the horns are facing forward. The length and shape of the horns and the pattern on the hide varied widely. Human silhouettes are often drawn alongside the cattle, symbolic of the important symbiotic relationship between cattle and humans. For pastoralists, drawing cattle may have also been a way to ensure the health of their herd. The role of cattle in Nubian mythology is more covert than in Egypt to the north, where several gods are often depicted as cattle; however, the significance of cattle in Nubian culture is evident in burial practices, understandings of the afterlife, and rock art.” ref
“Hinduism specifically considers the zebu (Bos indicus) to be sacred. Respect for the lives of animals including cattle, diet in Hinduism and vegetarianism in India are based on the Hindu ethics. The Hindu ethics are driven by the core concept of Ahimsa, i.e. non-violence towards all beings, as mentioned in the Chandogya Upanishad (~ 800 BCE). By mid 1st millennium BCE, all three major religions – Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism – were championing non-violence as an ethical value, and something that impacted one’s rebirth. By about 200 CE, food and feasting on animal slaughter were widely considered as a form of violence against life forms, and became a religious and social taboo. India, which has 79.80% Hindu population as of (2011 census), had the lowest rate of meat consumption in the world according to the 2007 UN FAO statistics, and India has more vegetarians than the rest of the world put together.” ref
“According to Ludwig Alsdorf, “Indian vegetarianism is unequivocally based on ahimsa (non-violence)” as evidenced by ancient smritis and other ancient texts of Hinduism.” He adds that the endearment and respect for cattle in Hinduism is more than a commitment to vegetarianism and has become integral to its theology. The respect for cattle is widespread but not universal. Animal sacrifices have been rare among the Hindus outside a few eastern states. To the majority of modern Indians, states Alsdorf, respect for cattle and disrespect for slaughter is a part of their ethos, and there is “no ahimsa without renunciation of meat consumption”. The cow in Hindu society is traditionally identified as a caretaker and a maternal figure, and Hindu society honors the cow as a symbol of unselfish giving, selfless sacrifice, gentleness, and tolerance.” ref
“Several scholars explain the veneration for cows among Hindus in economic terms, including the importance of dairy in the diet, the use of cow dung as fuel and fertilizer, and the importance that cattle have historically played in agriculture. Ancient texts such as Rig Veda, Puranas highlight the importance of cattle. The scope, extent, and status of cows throughout ancient India is a subject of debate. Cattle, including cows, were neither inviolable nor as revered in ancient times as they were later. A Gryhasutra recommends that beef be eaten by the mourners after a funeral ceremony as a ritual rite of passage. In contrast, the Vedic literature is contradictory, with some suggesting ritual slaughter and meat consumption, while others suggesting a taboo on meat eating. Many ancient and medieval Hindu texts debate the rationale for a voluntary stop to cow slaughter and the pursuit of vegetarianism as a part of a general abstention from violence against others and all killing of animals.” ref
“The interdiction of the meat of the bounteous cow as food was regarded as the first step to total vegetarianism. Dairy cows are called aghnya “that which may not be slaughtered” in the Rigveda. Yaska, the early commentator of the Rigveda, gives nine names for cow, the first being “aghnya”. The literature relating to cow veneration became common in 1st millennium CE, and by about 1000 CE vegetarianism, along with a taboo against beef, became a well accepted mainstream Hindu tradition. This practice was inspired by the beliefs in Hinduism that a soul is present in all living beings, life in all its forms is interconnected, and non-violence towards all creatures is the highest ethical value. The god Krishna and his Yadava kinsmen are associated with cows, adding to its endearment.” ref
“The cow veneration in ancient India during the Vedic era, the religious texts written during this period called for non-violence towards all bipeds and quadrupeds, and often equated killing of a cow with the killing of a human being specifically a Brahmin. The hymn 8.3.25 of the Hindu scripture Atharvaveda (~1200–1500 BCE) condemns all killings of men, cattle, and horses, and prays to god Agni to punish those who kill.” ref
“In the Puranas, which are part of the Hindu texts, the earth-goddess Prithvi was in the form of a cow, successively milked of beneficent substances for the benefit of humans, by deities starting with the first sovereign: Prithu milked the cow to generate crops for humans to end a famine. Kamadhenu, the miraculous “cow of plenty” and the “mother of cows” in certain versions of the Hindu mythology, is believed to represent the generic sacred cow, regarded as the source of all prosperity. In the 19th century, a form of Kamadhenu was depicted in poster-art that depicted all major gods and goddesses in it. Govatsa Dwadashi, which marks the first day of Diwali celebrations, is the main festival connected to the veneration and worship of cows as chief source of livelihood and religious sanctity in India, wherein the symbolism of motherhood is most apparent with the sacred cows Kamadhenu and her daughter Nandini.” ref
“Jainism is against violence to all living beings, including cattle. According to the Jaina sutras, humans must avoid all killing and slaughter because all living beings are fond of life, they suffer, they feel pain, they like to live, and long to live. All beings should help each other live and prosper, according to Jainism, not kill and slaughter each other. In the Jain religious tradition, neither monks nor laypersons should cause others or allow others to work in a slaughterhouse. Jains believe that vegetarian sources can provide adequate nutrition, without creating suffering for animals such as cattle. According to some Jain scholars, slaughtering cattle increases ecological burden from human food demands since the production of meat entails intensified grain demands, and reducing cattle slaughter by 50 percent would free up enough land and ecological resources to solve all malnutrition and hunger worldwide. The Jain community leaders, states Christopher Chapple, has actively campaigned to stop all forms of animal slaughter including cattle.” ref
“The texts of Buddhism state ahimsa to be one of five ethical precepts, which requires a practicing Buddhist to “refrain from killing living beings”. Slaughtering cow has been a taboo, with some texts suggesting that taking care of a cow is a means of taking care of “all living beings”. Cattle are seen in some Buddhist sects as a form of reborn human beings in the endless rebirth cycles in samsara, protecting animal life and being kind to cattle and other animals is good karma. Not only do some, mainly Mahayana, Buddhist texts state that killing or eating meat is wrong, it urges Buddhist laypersons to not operate slaughterhouses, nor trade in meat. Indian Buddhist texts encourage a plant-based diet.” ref
“According to Saddhatissa, in the Brahmanadhammika Sutta, the Buddha “describes the ideal mode of life of Brahmins in the Golden Age” before him as follows: Like mother (they thought), father, brother or any other kind of kin, cows are our kin most excellent from whom come many remedies. Givers of good and strength, of good complexion and the happiness of health, having seen the truth of this cattle, they never killed. Those Brahmins, then by Dharma, did what should be done, not what should not, and so aware they graceful were, well-built, fair-skinned, of high renown. While in the world, this lore was found, these people happily prospered. — Buddha, Brahmanadhammika Sutta 13.24, Sutta Nipāta” ref
“Saving animals from slaughter for meat, is believed in Buddhism to be a way to acquire merit for better rebirth. According to Richard Gombrich, there has been a gap between Buddhist precepts and practice. Vegetarianism is admired, states Gombrich, but often it is not practiced. Nevertheless, adds Gombrich, there is a general belief among Theravada Buddhists that eating beef is worse than other meat and the ownership of cattle slaughterhouses by Buddhists is relatively rare. Meat eating remains controversial within Buddhism, with most Theravada sects allowing it, reflecting early Buddhist practice, and most Mahayana sects forbidding it. Early suttas indicate that the Buddha himself ate meat and was clear that no rule should be introduced to forbid meat eating to monks. The consumption, however, appears to have been limited to pork, chicken and fish and may well have excluded cattle.” ref
“The term geush urva means “the spirit of the cow” and is interpreted as the soul of the earth. In the Ahunavaiti Gatha, Zoroaster accuses some of his co-religionists of abusing the cow while Ahura Mazda tells him to protect them. After fleeing to India, many Zoroastrians stopped eating beef out of respect for Hindus living there. The lands of Zoroaster and the Vedic priests were those of cattle breeders. The 9th chapter of the Vendidad of the Avesta expounds the purificatory power of cow urine. It is declared to be a panacea for all bodily and moral evils and features prominently in the 9-night purification ritual Barashnûm.” ref
“According to the Bible, the Israelites worshipped a cult image of a golden calf when the prophet Moses went up to Mount Sinai. Moses considered this a great sin against God. As a result of their abstention from the act, the Levite tribe attained a priestly role. A cult of golden calves appears later during the rule of Jeroboam. According to the Hebrew Bible, an unblemished red cow was an important part of ancient Jewish rituals. The cow was sacrificed and burned in a precise ritual, and the ashes were added to water used in the ritual purification of a person who had come in to contact with a human corpse. The ritual is described in the Book of Numbers in Chapter 19, verses 1–14.” ref
“Observant Jews study this passage every year as part of the weekly Torah portion called Chukat. A contemporary Jewish organization called the Temple Institute is trying to revive this ancient religious observance. Traditional Judaism considers beef kosher and permissible as food, as long as the cow is slaughtered in a religious ritual called shechita, and the meat is not served in a meal that includes any dairy foods. Some Jews committed to Jewish vegetarianism believe that Jews should refrain from slaughtering animals altogether and have condemned widespread cruelty towards cattle on factory farms. The red heifer or red cow is a particular kind of cow brought to priests for sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible. Jews and some Christian fundamentalists believe that once a red heifer is born they will be able to rebuild the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.” ref
“Oxen are one of the animals sacrificed by Greek Orthodox believers in some villages of Greece. It is especially associated with the feast of Saint Charalambos. This practice of kourbania has been repeatedly criticized by church authorities. The ox is the symbol of Luke the Evangelist. Among the Visigoths, the oxen pulling the wagon with the corpse of Saint Emilian lead to the correct burial site (San Millán de la Cogolla, La Rioja). In Greek mythology, the Cattle of Helios pastured on the island of Thrinacia, which is believed to be modern Sicily. Helios, the sun god, is said to have had seven herds of oxen and seven flocks of sheep, each numbering fifty head. A hecatomb was a sacrifice to the gods Apollo, Athena, and Hera, of 100 cattle (hekaton = one hundred).” ref
“The Greek gods also transformed themselves or others into cattle as a form of deception or punishment, such as in the myths of Io and Europa. In the myth of Pasiphaë, she falls in love with a bull as punishment by Poseidon. She gives birth to the Minotaur, a human-bull hybrid. In the ancient Anatolian civilization Hatti, the storm god was closely linked to a bull. Tarvos Trigaranus (the “bull with three cranes”) is pictured on ancient Gaulish reliefs alongside images of gods. There is evidence that ancient Celtic peoples sacrificed animals, which were almost always cattle or other livestock. Early medieval Irish texts mention the tarbfeis (bull feast), a shamanistic ritual in which a bull would be sacrificed and a seer would sleep in the bull’s hide to have a vision of the future king.” ref
“Cattle appear often in Irish mythology. The Glas Gaibhnenn is a mythical prized cow that could produce plentiful supplies of milk, while Donn Cuailnge and Finnbhennach are prized bulls that play a central role in the epic Táin Bó Cúailnge (“The Cattle Raid of Cooley”). The mythical lady Flidais, the main figure in the Táin Bó Flidhais, owns a herd of magical cattle.The name of the goddess of the River Boyne, Bóinn, comes from Archaic Irish *Bóu-vinda meaning the “bright or white cow”; while the name of the Corcu Loígde means “tribe of the calf goddess”. In Norse mythology, the primeval cow Auðumbla suckled Ymir, the ancestor of the frost giants, and licked Búri, Odin‘s grandfather and ancestor of the gods, out of the ice.” ref
“A beef taboo in ancient China was historically a dietary restriction, particularly among the Han Chinese, as oxen and buffalo (bovines) are useful in farming and are respected. During the Zhou dynasty, they were not often eaten, even by emperors. Some emperors banned killing cows. Beef is not recommended in Chinese medicine, as it is considered a hot food and is thought to disrupt the body’s internal balance. In written sources (including anecdotes and Daoist liturgical texts), this taboo first appeared in the 9th to 12th centuries (Tang–Song transition, with the advent of pork meat.)” ref
“By the 16th to 17th centuries, the beef taboo had become well accepted in the framework of Chinese morality and was found in morality books (善書), with several books dedicated exclusively to this taboo. The beef taboo came from a Chinese perspective that relates the respect for animal life and vegetarianism (ideas shared by Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism, and state protection for draught animals.) In Chinese society, only ethnic and religious groups not fully assimilated (such as the Muslim Huis and the Miao) and foreigners consumed this meat. This taboo, among Han Chinese, led Chinese Muslims to create a niche for themselves as butchers who specialized in slaughtering oxen and buffalo. Occasionally, some cows seen weeping before slaughter are often released to temples nearby.” ref
“Islam allows the slaughter of cows and consumption of beef, as long as the cow is slaughtered in a religious ritual called dhabīḥah or zabiha similar to the Jewish shechita. Although slaughter of cattle plays a role in a major Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, many rulers of the Mughal Empire had imposed a ban on the slaughter of cows owing to the large Hindu and Jain populations living under their rule. The second and longest surah of the Quran is named Al-Baqara (“The Cow”). Out of the 286 verses of the surah, 7 mention cows (Al Baqarah 67–73). The name of the surah derives from this passage in which Moses orders his people to sacrifice a cow in order to resurrect a man murdered by an unknown person. Per the passage, the “Children of Israel” quibbled over what kind of cow was meant when the sacrifice was ordered.” ref
“While addressing to children of Israel, it was said:
And when We did appoint for Moses forty nights (of solitude), and then ye chose the calf, when he had gone from you, and were wrong-doers. Then, even after that, We pardoned you in order that ye might give thanks. And when We gave unto Moses the Scripture and the criterion (of right and wrong), that ye might be led aright. And when Moses said unto his people: O my people! Ye have wronged yourselves by your choosing of the calf (for worship) so turn in penitence to your Creator, and kill (the guilty) yourselves. That will be best for you with your Creator, and He will relent toward you. Lo! He is the Relenting, the Merciful. (Al-Quran 2:51–54)” ref
“And when Moses said unto his people: Lo! God commandeth you that ye sacrifice a cow, they said: Dost thou make game of us ? He answered: God forbid that I should be among the foolish! They said: Pray for us unto thy Lord that He make clear to us what (cow) she is. (Moses) answered: Lo! He saith, Verily she is a cow neither with calf nor immature; (she is) between the two conditions; so do that which ye are commanded. They said: Pray for us unto thy Lord that He make clear to us of what colour she is. (Moses) answered: Lo! He saith: Verily she is a yellow cow. Bright is her colour, gladdening beholders. They said: Pray for us unto thy Lord that He make clear to us what (cow) she is. Lo! cows are much alike to us; and Lo! if God wills, we may be led aright. (Moses) answered: Lo! He saith: Verily she is a cow unyoked; she plougheth not the soil nor watereth the tilth; whole and without mark. They said: Now thou bringest the truth. So they sacrificed her, though almost they did not. And (remember) when ye slew a man and disagreed concerning it, and God brought forth that which ye were hiding. And We said: Smite him with some of it. Thus God bringeth the dead to life and showeth you His portents so that ye may understand. (Al-Quran 2:67–73)” ref
“Classical Sunni and Shia commentators recount several variants of this tale. Per some of the commentators, though any cow would have been acceptable, but after they “created hardships for themselves” and the cow was finally specified, it was necessary to obtain it at any cost. Historically, there was a beef taboo in ancient Japan, as a means of protecting the livestock population and due to Buddhist influence. Meat-eating had long been taboo in Japan, beginning with a decree in 675 that banned the consumption of cattle, horses, dogs, monkeys, and chickens, influenced by the Buddhist prohibition of killing. In 1612, the shōgun declared a decree that specifically banned the killing of cattle.” ref
“This official prohibition was in place until 1872, when it was officially proclaimed that Emperor Meiji consumed beef and mutton, which transformed the country’s dietary considerations as a means of modernizing the country, particularly with regard to consumption of beef. With contact from Europeans, beef increasingly became popular, even though it had previously been considered barbaric. Several shrines and temples are decorated with cow figurines, which are believed to cure illnesses when stroked.” ref
Pottery from at 10,000 at Boncuklu Höyük, to Aşıklı Höyük, to Çatalhöyük, then Europe by around 7,500 years ago.
Pottery moves from China to Siberia, then to the Middle East, and Europe
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Early Russian Pottery in Cisbaikal Kitoi culture 7,500 years ago, Samara culture 7,000 years ago, and Yamnaya culture 5,600–4,600 years ago, as well as Proto-Indo-European emergence
“The area east of Lake Baikal in Siberia is one of the few regions in Eurasia where pottery was already used during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. Such early pottery complexes were identified in Ust’-Karenga XII, Studenoye 1, Ust’-Menza 1, and Ust’-Khyakhta 3, dated at about 12-000-11,000 years ago. While around 20,000 years ago East Asian hunter-gatherers were already making ceramic pots. (It seems to Damien) that ceramics spread continually from the earliest centers in China, then Japan, and next the Russian Far East, lastly towards the west, all the way to Europe.” ref
“In North-Eastern Europe, Siberia, and certain southern European and North African sites, a “ceramic Mesolithic” can be distinguished between c. 9,000 and 5,850 years ago. Russian archaeologists prefer to describe such pottery-making cultures as Neolithic, even though farming is absent. The earliest manifestation of this type of pottery may be in the region around Lake Baikal in Siberia. It appears in the Yelshanka/Elshanka culture on the Volga in Russia 9,000 years ago, and from there spread via the Dnieper-Donets culture to the Narva culture of the Eastern Baltic, Europe’s oldest pottery. The culture extended along the Volga from Ulyanovsk Oblast in the north through the Samara Bend towards Khvalynsk Hills and the Buzuluk District in the south. Spreading westward along the coastline, it is found in the Ertebølle culture of Denmark and Ellerbek of Northern Germany, and the related Swifterbant culture of the Low Countries. Elshanka is believed to be the source from which the art of pottery spread south and westward towards the Balkans (with one particularly important site being the Surskoy Island in the Dnieper Rapids, where pottery was made from 8.200 to 7,800 years ago).” ref, ref
Haplogroup “R” as Paleolithic mammoth hunters
“Haplogroup R* originated in North Asia just before the Last Glacial Maximum (26,500-19,000 years ago). This haplogroup has been identified in the remains of a 24,000-year-old boy from the Altai region, in south-central Siberia (Raghavan et al. 2013). This individual belonged to a tribe of mammoth hunters that may have roamed across Siberia and parts of Europe during the Paleolithic. Autosomally, this Paleolithic population appears to have contributed mostly to the ancestry of modern Europeans and South Asians, the two regions where haplogroup R also happens to be the most common nowadays (R1b in Western Europe, R1a in Eastern Europe, Central and South Asia, and R2 in South Asia). The oldest forms of R1b (M343, P25, L389) are found dispersed at very low frequencies from Western Europe to India, a vast region where the nomadic R1b hunter-gatherers could have roamed during the Ice Age. The three main branches of R1b1 (R1b1a, R1b1b, R1b1c) all seem to have stemmed from the Middle East. The southern branch, R1b1c (V88), is found mostly in the Levant and Africa. The northern branch, R1b1a (P297), seems to have originated around the Caucasus, eastern Anatolia, or northern Mesopotamia, then to have crossed over the Caucasus, from where they would have invaded Europe and Central Asia. R1b1b (M335) has only been found in Anatolia.” ref
Haplogroup “R” as Neolithic cattle herders
“It has been hypothesized that R1b people (perhaps alongside neighbouring J2 tribes) were the first to domesticate cattle in northern Mesopotamia some 10,500 years ago. R1b tribes descended from mammoth hunters, and when mammoths went extinct, they started hunting other large game such as bison and aurochs. With the increase of the human population in the Fertile Crescent from the beginning of the Neolithic (starting 12,000 years ago), selective hunting and culling of herds started replacing indiscriminate killing of wild animals. The increased involvement of humans in the lives of aurochs, wild boars, and goats led to their progressive taming. Cattle herders probably maintained a nomadic or semi-nomadic existence, while other people in the Fertile Crescent (presumably represented by haplogroups E1b1b, G, and T) settled down to cultivate the land or keep smaller domesticates. The analysis of bovine DNA has revealed that all the taurine cattle (Bos taurus) alive today descend from a population of only 80 aurochs. The earliest evidence of cattle domestication dates from circa 8,500 BCE in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic cultures in the Taurus Mountains. The two oldest archaeological sites showing signs of cattle domestication are the villages of Çayönü Tepesi in southeastern Turkey and Dja’de el-Mughara in northern Iraq, two sites only 250 km away from each other. This is presumably the area from which R1b lineages started expanding – or in other words, the “original homeland” of R1b.” ref
“The early R1b cattle herders would have split into at least three groups. One branch (M335) remained in Anatolia, but judging from its extreme rarity today, it wasn’t very successful, perhaps due to the heavy competition with other Neolithic populations in Anatolia, or to the scarcity of pastures in this mountainous environment. A second branch migrated south to the Levant, where it became the V88 branch. Some of them searched for new lands south in Africa, first in Egypt, then colonising most of northern Africa, from the Mediterranean coast to the Sahel. The third branch (P297), crossed the Caucasus into the vast Pontic-Caspian Steppe, which provided ideal grazing grounds for cattle. They split into two factions: R1b1a1 (M73), which went east along the Caspian Sea to Central Asia, and R1b1a2 (M269), which at first remained in the North Caucasus and the Pontic Steppe between the Dnieper and the Volga.” ref
“It is not yet clear whether M73 actually migrated across the Caucasus and reached Central Asia via Kazakhstan, or if it went south through Iran and Turkmenistan. In any case, M73 would be a pre-Indo-European branch of R1b, just like V88 and M335. R1b-M269 (the most common form in Europe) is closely associated with the diffusion of Indo-European languages, as attested by its presence in all regions of the world where Indo-European languages were spoken in ancient times, from the Atlantic coast of Europe to the Indian subcontinent, which comprised almost all Europe (except Finland, Sardinia and Bosnia-Herzegovina), Anatolia, Armenia, European Russia, southern Siberia, many pockets around Central Asia (notably in Xinjiang, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan), without forgetting Iran, Pakistan, northern India and Nepal. The history of R1b and R1a are intricately connected to each others.” ref
The Levantine & African branch of R1b (V88)
“Like its northern counterpart (R1b-M269), R1b-V88 is associated with the domestication of cattle in northern Mesopotamia. Both branches of R1b probably split soon after cattle were domesticated, approximately 10,500 years ago (8,500 BCE). R1b-V88 migrated south towards the Levant and Egypt. The migration of R1b people can be followed archeologically through the presence of domesticated cattle, which appear in central Syria around 8,000-7,500 BCE (late Mureybet period), then in the Southern Levant and Egypt around 7,000-6,500 BCE (e.g. at Nabta Playa and Bir Kiseiba). Cattle herders subsequently spread across most of northern and eastern Africa. The Sahara desert would have been more humid during the Neolithic Subpluvial period (c. 7250-3250 BCE), and would have been a vast savannah full of grass, an ideal environment for cattle herding.” ref
“Evidence of cow herding during the Neolithic has shown up at Uan Muhuggiag in central Libya around 5500 BCE, at the Capeletti Cave in northern Algeria around 4500 BCE. But the most compelling evidence that R1b people related to modern Europeans once roamed the Sahara is to be found at Tassili n’Ajjer in southern Algeria, a site with famous pyroglyphs (rock art) dating from the Neolithic era. Some paintings dating from around 3000 BCE depict fair-skinned and blond or auburn-haired women riding on cows. The oldest known R1b-V88 sample in Europe is a 6,200-year-old farmer/herder from Catalonia tested by Haak et al. (2015). Autosomally, this individual was a typical Near Eastern farmer, possessing just a little bit of Mesolithic West European admixture.” ref
After reaching the Maghreb, R1b-V88 cattle herders could have crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to Iberia, probably accompanied by G2 farmers, J1 and T1a goat herders. These North African Neolithic farmers/herders could have been the ones who established the Almagra Pottery culture in Andalusia in the 6th millennium BCE.
“Nowadays, small percentages (1 to 4%) of R1b-V88 are found in the Levant, among the Lebanese, the Druze, and the Jews, and almost in every country in Africa north of the equator. Higher frequency in Egypt (5%), among Berbers from the Egypt-Libya border (23%), among the Sudanese Copts (15%), the Hausa people of Sudan (40%), the the Fulani people of the Sahel (54% in Niger and Cameroon), and Chadic tribes of northern Nigeria and northern Cameroon (especially among the Kirdi), where it is observed at a frequency ranging from 30% to 95% of men. According to Cruciani et al. (2010) R1b-V88 would have crossed the Sahara between 9,200 and 5,600 years ago, and is most probably associated with the diffusion of Chadic languages, a branch of the Afroasiatic languages. V88 would have migrated from Egypt to Sudan, then expanded along the Sahel until northern Cameroon and Nigeria. However, R1b-V88 is not only present among Chadic speakers, but also among Senegambian speakers (Fula-Hausa) and Semitic speakers (Berbers, Arabs).” ref
“R1b-V88 is found among the native populations of Rwanda, South Africa, Namibia, Angola, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Ivory Coast, Guinea-Bissau. The wide distribution of V88 in all parts of Africa, its incidence among herding tribes, and the coalescence age of the haplogroup all support a Neolithic dispersal. In any case, a later migration out of Egypt would be improbable since it would have brought haplogroups that came to Egypt during the Bronze Age, such as J1, J2, R1a, or R1b-L23. The maternal lineages associated with the spread of R1b-V88 in Africa are mtDNA haplogroups J1b, U5 and V, and perhaps also U3 and some H subclades (=> see Retracing the mtDNA haplogroups of the original R1b people).” ref
The North Caucasus and the Pontic-Caspian steppe: the Indo-European link
“Modern linguists have placed the Proto-Indo-European homeland in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe, a distinct geographic and archeological region extending from the Danube estuary to the Ural mountains to the east and North Caucasus to the south. The Neolithic, Eneolithic and early Bronze Age cultures in Pontic-Caspian steppe has been called the Kurgan culture (4200-2200 BCE) by Marija Gimbutas, due to the lasting practice of burying the deads under mounds (“kurgan”) among the succession of cultures in that region. It is now known that kurgan-type burials only date from the 4th millenium BCE and almost certainly originated south of the Caucasus. The genetic diversity of R1b being greater around eastern Anatolia, it is hard to deny that R1b evolved there before entering the steppe world.” ref
“Horses were first proto-domesticated (managed) around 4600 BCE in the Caspian Steppe, perhaps somewhere around the Don or the lower Volga, and soon became a defining element of steppe culture. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that R1b was already present in the eastern steppes at the time, so the domestication of the horse should be attributed to the indigenous R1a people, or tribes belonging to the older R1b-P297 branch, which settled in eastern Europe during the Late Paleolithic or Mesolithic period. Samples from Mesolithic Samara (Haak 2015) and Latvia (Jones 2017) all belonged to R1b-P297. Autosomally, these Mesolithic R1a and R1b individuals were nearly pure Mesolithic East European, sometimes with a bit of Siberian admixture, but lacked the additional Caucasian admixture found in the Chalcolithic Afanasevo, Yamna, and Corded Ware samples.” ref
“It is not yet entirely clear when R1b-M269 crossed over from the South Caucasus to the Pontic-Caspian steppe. This might have happened with the appearance of the Dnieper-Donets culture (c. 5100-4300 BCE). This was the first truly Neolithic society in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe. Domesticated animals (cattle, sheep, and goats) were herded throughout the steppes, and funeral rituals were elaborate. Sheep wool would play an important role in Indo-European society, notably in the Celtic and Germanic (R1b branches of the Indo-Europeans) clothing traditions up to this day. However, many elements indicate a continuity in the Dnieper-Donets culture with the previous Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, and at the same time, an influence from the Balkans and Carpathians, with regular imports of pottery and copper objects.” ref
“It is therefore more likely that Dnieper-Donets marked the transition of indigenous R1a and/or I2a1b people to early agriculture, perhaps with an influx of Near Eastern farmers from ‘Old Europe’. Over 30 DNA samples from Neolithic Ukraine (5500-4800 BCE) were tested by Mathieson et al. (2017). They belonged to Y-haplogroups I, I2a2, R1a, R1b1a (L754) and one R1b1a2 (L388). None of them belonged to R1b-M269 or R1b-L23 clades, which dominated during the Yamna period. Mitochondrial lineages were also exclusively of Mesolithic European origin (U4a, U4b, U4d, U5a1, U5a2, U5b2, as well as one J2b1 and one U2e1). None of those maternal lineages include typical Indo-European haplogroups, such as H2a1, H6, H8, H15, I1a1, J1b1a, W3, W4, or W5, which would later appear in the Yamna, Corded Ware, and Unetice cultures. Indeed, autosomally genomes from Neolithic Ukraine were purely Mesolithic European (about 90% EHG and 10% WHG) and completely lacked the Caucasian (CHG) admxiture later found in Yamna and subsequent Indo-European cultures during the Bronze Age.” ref
“The first clearly Proto-Indo-European cultures were the Khvalynsk (5200-4500 BCE) and Sredny Stog (4600-3900 BCE) cultures in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe. This is when small kurgan burials begin to appear, with the distinctive posturing of the dead on their backs with knees raised and oriented toward the northeast, which would be found in later steppe cultures as well. There is evidence of population blending from the variety of skull shapes. Towards the end of the 5th millennium, an elite started to develop with cattle, horses, and copper used as status symbols. It is at the turn of the Khvalynsk and Sredny Stog periods that R1b-M269’s main subclade, L23, is thought to have appeared, around 4,500 BCE. 99% of Indo-European R1b descends from this L23 clade. The other branch descended from M269 is PF7562, which is found mostly in the Balkans, Turkey, and Armenia today, and may represent an early Steppe migration to the Balkans dating from the Sredny Stog period.” ref
“Another migration across the Caucasus happened shortly before 3700 BCE, when the Maykop culture, the world’s first Bronze Age society, suddenly materialised in the north-west Caucasus, apparently out of nowhere. The origins of Maykop are still uncertain, but archeologists have linked it to contemporary Chalcolithic cultures in Assyria and western Iran. Archeology also shows a clear diffusion of bronze working and kurgan-type burials from the Maykop culture to the Pontic Steppe, where the Yamna culture developed soon afterwards (from 3500 BCE). Kurgan (a.k.a. tumulus) burials would become a dominant feature of ancient Indo-European societies and were widely used by the Celts, Romans, Germanic tribes, and Scythians, among others.” ref
The Yamna period (3500-2500 BCE) is the most important one in the creation of Indo-European culture and society. Middle Eastern R1b-M269 people had been living and blending to some extent with the local R1a foragers and herders for over a millennium, perhaps even two or three. The close cultural contact and interactions between R1a and R1b people all over the Pontic-Caspian Steppe resulted in the creation of a common vernacular, a new lingua franca, which linguists have called Proto-Indo-European (PIE). It is pointless to try to assign another region of origin to the PIE language. Linguistic similarities exist between PIE and Caucasian and Hurrian languages in the Middle East on the one hand, and Uralic languages in the Volga-Ural region on the other hand, which makes the Pontic Steppe the perfect intermediary region. During the Yamna period, cattle and sheep herders adopted wagons to transport their food and tents, which allowed them to move deeper into the steppe, giving rise to a new mobile lifestyle that would eventually lead to the great Indo-European migrations. This type of mass migration, in which whole tribes moved with the help of wagons, was still common in Gaul at the time of Julius Caesar, and among Germanic peoples in late Antiquity.” ref
“The Yamna horizon was not a single, unified culture. In the south, along the northern shores of the Black Sea coast until the north-west Caucasus, was a region of open steppe, expanding eastward until the Caspian Sea, Siberia, and Mongolia (the Eurasian Steppe). The western section, between the Don and Dniester Rivers (and later the Danube), was the one most densely settled by R1b people, with only a minority of R1a people (5-10%). The eastern section, in the Volga basin until the Ural mountains, was inhabited by R1a people with a substantial minority of R1b people (whose descendants can be found among the Bashkirs, Turkmans, Uyghurs, and Hazaras, among others).
“The northern part of the Yamna horizon was forest-steppe occupied by R1a people, also joined by a small minority of R1b (judging from Corded Ware samples and from modern Russians and Belarussians, whose frequency of R1b is from seven to nine times lower than R1a). The western branch would migrate to the Balkans and Greece, then to Central and Western Europe, and eventually return to their ancestral homeland in Anatolia in successive waves (Hittites, Phrygians, Armenians, etc.). The eastern branch would migrate to Central Asia, Xinjiang, Siberia, and South Asia (Iran, Pakistan, India). The northern branch would evolve into the Corded Ware culture and disperse around the Baltic, Poland, Germany, and Scandinavia.” ref
The Maykop culture, the R1b link to the Steppe?
“The Maykop culture (3700-2500 BCE) in the north-west Caucasus was, culturally speaking, a sort of southern extension of the Yamna horizon.Although not generally considered part of the Pontic-Caspian steppe culture due to its geography, the North Caucasus had close links with the steppes, as attested by numerous ceramics, gold, copper, and bronze weapons and jewelry in the contemporaneous cultures of Mikhaylovka, Sredny Stog, and Kemi Oba. The link between the northern Black Sea coast and the North Caucasus is older than the Maykop period. Its predecessor, the Svobodnoe culture (4400-3700 BCE), already had links to the Suvorovo-Novodanilovka and early Sredny Stog cultures. The even older Nalchik settlement (5000-4500 BCE) in the North Caucasus displayed a similar culture to that of Khvalynsk in the Caspian Steppe and Volga region. This may be the period when R1b started interacting and blending with the R1a population of the steppes.” ref
“The Yamna and Maykop people both used kurgan burials, placing their deads in a supine position with raised knees and oriented in a north-east/south-west axis. Graves were sprinkled with red ochre on the floor, and sacrificed domestic animals were buried alongside humans. They also had in common horses, wagons, a heavily cattle-based economy with a minority of sheep kept for their wool, use of copper/bronze battle-axes (both hammer-axes and sleeved axes), and tanged daggers. In fact, the oldest wagons and bronze artefacts are found in the North Caucasus, and appear to have spread from there to the steppes.” ref
“Maykop was an advanced Bronze Age culture, actually one of the very first to develop metalworking, and therefore metal weapons. The world’s oldest sword was found at a late Maykop grave in Klady kurgan 31. Its style is reminiscent of the long Celtic swords, though less elaborate. Horse bones and depictions of horses already appear in early Maykop graves, suggesting that the Maykop culture might have been founded by steppe people or by people who had a close link with them. However, the presence of cultural elements radically different from the steppe culture in some sites could mean that Maykop had a hybrid population. Without DNA testing, it is impossible to say if these two populations were an Anatolian R1b group and a G2a Caucasian group, or whether R1a people had settled there too. The two or three ethnicities might even have cohabited side by side in different settlements. The one typical Caucasian Y-DNA lineage that does follow the pattern of Indo-European migrations is G2a-L13, which is found throughout Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia. In the Balkans, the Danube basin, and Central Europe, its frequency is somewhat proportional to the percentage of R1b.” ref
“Maykop people are the ones credited for the introduction of primitive wheeled vehicles (wagons) from Mesopotamia to the Steppe. This would revolutionise the way of life in the steppe, and would later lead to the development of (horse-drawn) war chariots around 2000 BCE. Cavalry and chariots played an vital role in the subsequent Indo-European migrations, allowing them to move quickly and defeat easily anybody they encountered. Combined with advanced bronze weapons and their sea-based culture, the western branch (R1b) of the Indo-Europeans from the Black Sea shores are excellent candidates for being the mysterious Sea Peoples, who raided the eastern shores of the Mediterranean during the second millennium BCE.” ref
“The rise of the IE-speaking Hittites in Central Anatolia happened a few centuries after the disappearance of the Maykop and Yamna cultures. Considering that most Indo-European forms of R1b found in Anatolia today belong to the R1b-Z2103 subclade, it makes little doubt that the Hittites came to Anatolia via the Balkans, after Yamna/Maykop people invaded Southeast Europe. The Maykop and Yamna cultures were succeeded by the Srubna culture (1600-1200 BCE), possibly representing an advance of R1a-Z282 people from the northern steppes towards the Black Sea shores, filling the vacuum left by the R1b tribes who migrated to Southeast Europe and Anatolia.” ref
I believe the “Ceramic Mesolithic” period initially involved the spread of R1a and Q1a, originating from Siberia, which also introduced the earliest Kurgan burial of a male warrior chieftain and a warrior mentality. This is notable, as the first fortifications in Western Siberia are 8,000 years old, and near a 7,000-year-old Kurgan, which date back to this period and it is after these related culture reaches other areas that the warrior chieftain culture transmits and becomes the first proto kings, seen first in the Balkans Varna culture, then to the Caucasus and the Leyla-Tepe/Maykop cultures, as well as to the Sumerians in Iraq, and from them to Egypt in the south.
“Three Eneolithic males buried near Khvalynsk between 5,200 and 4,000 BCE, the Y-DNA R1b1a and R1a1, and mt-DNA H2a1, U5a1i, and Q1a, and mt-DNA U4.” ref
“The formation of the EHG ancestral component is estimated to have happened 13,000–15,000 years years ago. EHG associated remains belonged primarily to the human Y-chromosome haplogroups R1, with a lower frequency of haplogroup J and Q. Their mitochondrial chromosomes belonged primarily to haplogroup U2, U4, U5, as well as C1 and R1b. Geneflow from an East Asian-like source towards the EHG contributed around 9.4% (4.4%–14.7%). EHGs may have mixed with “an Armenian-like Near Eastern source”, which formed the Yamnaya culture, as early as the Eneolithic (5200-4000 BCE or 7,200 to 6,000 years ago). The EHG male of Samara (dated to ca. 5650–5550 BCE) carried Y-haplogroup R1b1a1a* and mt-haplogroup U5a1d. The other EHG male, buried in Karelia (dated to ca. 5500-5000 BCE) carried Y-haplogroup R1a1 and mt-haplogoup C1g. The authors of the study also identified a WHG cluster and an SHG cluster, intermediate between WHG and EHG. They suggested that EHGs harbored mixed ancestry from Ancient North Eurasians (ANEs) and WHGs.” ref
“A Samara hunter-gatherer of this era buried at Lebyazhinka IV, dated 5600-5500 BCE, was one of the first named examples of the EHG genetic type (Haak et al. 2015). This individual, like others from the same region, had no or very little CHG ancestry. The CHG mating network had not yet reached Samara by 5500 BCE or 7,500 years ago. The hunter-fisher camps that first appeared on the lower Volga around 6200 BCE or 8,200 years ago could represent the migration northward of un-admixed CHG hunter-fishers from the steppe parts of the southeastern Caucasus, a speculation that awaits confirmation from aDNA. After 5000 BCE, domesticated animals appeared in these same sites in the lower Volga, and in new ones, and in grave sacrifices at Khvalynsk and Ekaterinovka. CHG genes and domesticated animals flowed north up the Volga, and EHG genes flowed south into the North Caucasus steppes, and the two components became admixed. After approximately 4500 BCE, the Khvalynsk archaeological culture united the lower and middle Volga archaeological sites into one variable archaeological culture that kept domesticated sheep, goats, and cattle (and possibly horses). In my estimation, Khvalynsk might represent the oldest phase of PIE.” ref
“All of the authors who examined them agreed that these three Khvalynsk individuals, dated about 4500 BC, showed EHG ancestry admixed substantially with CHG, and not a trace of Anatolian Farmer ancestry, so the CHG was a Hotu-Cave or Kotias-Cave type of un-admixed CHG. The proportion of CHG in the Wang et al. (2018) bar graphs is about 20-30% in two individuals, substantially less CHG than in Yamnaya; but the third Khvalynsk individual had more than 50% CHG, like Yamnaya. The ca. 30 additional unpublished individuals from three middle Volga Eneolithic cemeteries, including Khvalynsk, preliminarily show the same admixed EHG/CHG ancestry in varying proportions. Most of the males belonged to Y-chromosome haplogroup R1b1a, like almost all Yamnaya males, but Khvalynsk also had some minority Y-chromosome haplogroups (R1a, Q1a, J, I2a2) that do not appear or appear only rarely (I2a2) in Yamnaya graves.” ref
“In ancient Ukraine, stone mace heads were first used nearly eight millennia ago.” ref
Info on the Eneolithic cemetery at Khvalynsk on the Volga River
“The genetically attested migrations of the third millennium BCE have made the origins and nature of the Yamnaya culture a question of broad relevance across northern Eurasia. But none of the key archaeological sites most important for understanding the evolution of Yamnaya culture are published in Western languages. These key sites include the fifth-millennium BCE Khvalynsk cemetery in the middle Volga steppes. When the first part of the Eneolithic cemetery (Khvalynsk I) was excavated, the graves displayed many material and ritual traits that were quickly recognized as similar and probably ancestral to Yamnaya customs, but without the Yamnaya kurgans. With the discovery of a second burial plot (Khvalynsk II) 120 m to the south, Khvalynsk became the largest excavated Eneolithic cemetery in the Don-Volga-Ural steppes (201 recorded graves), dated about 4500–4300 BCE or 6,500 to 6,300 years ago. It has the largest copper assemblage of the fifth millennium BCE in the steppes (373 objects) and the largest assemblage of sacrificed domesticated animals (at least 106 sheep-goat, 29 cattle, and 16 horses); and it produced four polished stone maces from well-documented grave contexts. The human skeletons have been sampled extensively for ancient DNA, the basis for an analysis of family relationships. This report compiles information from the relevant Russian-language publications and from the archaeologists who excavated the site, two of whom are co-authors, about the history of excavations, radiocarbon dates, copper finds, domesticated animal sacrifices, polished stone maces, genetic and skeletal studies, and relationships with other steppe cultures as well as agricultural cultures of the North Caucasus (Svobodnoe-Meshoko) and southeastern Europe (Varna and Cucuteni-Tripol’ye B1). Khvalynsk is described as a coalescent culture, integrating and combining northern and southern elements, a hybrid that can be recognized genetically, in cranio-facial types, in exchanged artifacts, and in social segments within the cemetery. Stone maces symbolized the unification and integration of socially defined segments at Khvalynsk.” ref
“The Eurasian Steppe, since the Paleolithic age, the Steppe Route has been the main overland route between Eastern Europe, North Asia, Central Asia, and East Asia, economically, politically, and culturally. The Eurasian Steppe extends for 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) from the Carpathian Basin to the western edge of Manchuria.” ref
“Wheat and barley evolved from large-seeded annual grasses in the arid, low latitudes of Asia; their spread into higher elevations and northern latitudes involved corresponding evolutionary adaptations in these plants, including traits for frost tolerance and shifts in photoperiod sensitivity. The adaptation of farming populations to these northern latitudes was also a complex and poorly understood process that included changes in cultivation practices and the varieties of crops grown. In this article, we push back the earliest dates for the spread of wheat and barley into northern regions of Asia as well as providing earlier cultural links between East and West Asia. The archaeobotanical, palynological, and anthracological data we present come from the Tongtian Cave site in the Altai Mountains, with a punctuated occupation dating between 5,200 and 3,200 calibrated years ago, coinciding with global cooling of the middle–late Holocene transition. These early low-investment agropastoral populations in the north steppe area played a major role in the prehistoric trans-Eurasian exchange. The spread of wheat and barley involves evolutionary and human adaptation, but has been difficult to date properly. Findings from a cave site suggest a much earlier transfer of cereal grains across Eurasia.” ref
Widespread horse-based mobility arose around 2200 BCE, or 4,200 years ago, in Eurasia
“Horses revolutionized human history with fast mobility. Geographic location of the archaeological sites. The size of each location is proportional to the number of horse genomes sequenced. The black dot points to the location of E. ovodovi outgroups. Reproductive control emerged following a severe domestication bottleneck starting no earlier than approximately 2700 BCE, and coincided with a sudden expansion across Eurasia that ultimately resulted in the replacement of nearly every local horse lineage. The Botai horse around 3500 BCE, a settlement from central Asia associated with corrals and a subsistence economy centred on horses. This supports local horse husbandry before the rise of modern domestic bloodlines.” ref
Herding societies
“The best known and purest pastoral nomads are found in the enormous arid belt from Morocco to Manchuria, passing through North Africa, Arabia, Iran, Turkistan, Tibet, and Mongolia. They include people as diverse as the Arabized North Africans and the Mongol hordes. Other less specialized and successful pastoralists include the Siberian reindeer herders, cattle herders of the grasslands of north-central Africa, and the Khoekhoe and Herero of southern Africa.” ref, ref
Evidence for the early dispersal of domestic sheep into Central Asia
“Archaeological and biomolecular evidence from Obishir V in southern Kyrgyzstan, establishing the presence of domesticated sheep by ca. 6,000 BCE. Zooarchaeological and collagen peptide mass fingerprinting show exploitation of Ovis and Capra, while cementum analysis of intact teeth implicates possible pastoral slaughter during the fall season. Most significantly, ancient DNA reveals these directly dated specimens as the domestic O. aries, within the genetic diversity of domesticated sheep lineages. Together, these results provide the earliest evidence for the use of livestock in the mountains of the Ferghana Valley, predating previous evidence by 3,000 years and suggesting that domestic animal economies reached the mountains of interior Central Asia far earlier than previously recognized.” ref, ref
“According to David W. Anthony, the Siberian Afanasevan culture population was descended from people who migrated c. 3700–3300 BCE or 5,700 to 5,300 years ago across the Eurasian Steppe from the pre-Yamnaya Repin culture of the Don-Volga region. It is considered “intrusive culture from the west”, with presumed Proto-Indo-European language, in respect to previous local Siberian cultures.” ref, ref
“Radiocarbon dating gave dates as early as 3705 BCE on wooden tools and 2874 BCE on human remains. The earliest of these dates have now been rejected, giving a date of around 3300 BCE for the start of the culture, and 2500 BCE for its termination. Afanasievo burials have been found as far as Shatar Chuluu in central Mongolia, confirming a further expansion about 1,500 km beyond the Altai Mountains. The Afanasievo culture is now considered as an integral part of the Prehistory of Western and Central Mongolia. While the Afanasievo culture was present in the Altai and western and central Mongolia, elements of a distinct neolithic culture were present in eastern Mongolia during the period of Prehistoric Mongolia. “The Afanasievo culture migration to the Altai was carried out by people with a Repin-type material culture, probably from the middle Volga-Ural region.” Early Tarim mummies from the late 3rd and early 2nd millennia BCE were unrelated to the Afanasevians and came from a genetically isolated population derived from Ancient North Eurasians, which had borrowed agricultural and pastoral practices from neighboring peoples. Because of its geographical location and dating, Anthony and earlier scholars such as Leo Klejn, J. P. Mallory and Victor H. Mair have linked the Afanasevans to the Proto-Tocharian language. Afanasievan ancestry persisted in Dzungaria at least until the second half of the 1st millennium BCE. The Shirenzigou culture (410–190 BCE), just northeast of the Tarim Basin, also appears to have been derived from the Afanasievans, which, in addition to linguistics, further reinforces an Afanasievo hypothesis for the Tocharians.” ref
“Mass graves were not usual for this culture. Afanasievo cemeteries include both single and small collective burials with the deceased usually flexed on their back in a pit. The burial pits are arranged in rectangular, sometimes circular, enclosures marked by stone walls. It has been argued that the burials represent family burial plots with four or five enclosures constituting the local social group. The Afanasievo economy included cattle, sheep, and goat. Horse remains, either wild or domestic, have also been found. The Afanasievo people became the first food-producers in the area. Tools were manufactured from stone (axes, arrowheads), bone (fish-hooks, points) and antler.” ref
“Among the antler pieces are objects that have been identified as possible cheek-pieces for horses. Artistic representations of wheeled vehicles found in the area has been attributed to the Afanasievo culture. Ornaments of copper, silver, and gold have also been found. The Afanasievans are now considered as the earliest herders of East Asia, who were instrumental in the establishment of the long tradition of pastoralism in Mongolia. Their rise also corresponds with the appearance of domesticated sheep, goats, and cattle, which marks the earliest spread of Near Eastern domesticated animals and pastoralism to Inner Asia. They also introduced the initial practice of copper and bronze metallurgy. Afanasievo burials include metal artifacts in copper, bronze (awls, knives), gold, and silver, as well as the remains of disassembled carts. The Afanasievos may have used cattle-drawn wagons, as did Yamnaya communities.” ref
“Petroglyphs of animals are associated with the area and period of the Afanasievo culture and share similarities with petroglyphs found in western and central Asia, such as the New Rock Art of Animal hunting, 3000 BCE or 5,000 years ago, Arkhangai Province, and Övörkhangai Province, Mongolia. Afanasievo individuals has shown that they were genetically very close to the Yamnaya population of the Pontic–Caspian steppe. The Afanasievo and Yamnaya populations were much more similar to each other than to groups geographically located between the two (which unlike Afanasievo samples carried a large amount of ancestry from eastern Siberian hunter-gatherers). This indicates that the Afanasievo culture was brought to the Altai region via migration from the western Eurasian steppe, which occurred with little admixture from local populations.” ref
“From the Altai mountains, steppe-derived Afanasievo ancestry spread to the east into Mongolia and to the south into Xinjiang. The Yamnaya-related lineages and ancestry in Afanasievo disappeared in the course of the Bronze Age in the Altai region and Mongolia, being replaced by the migrating populations from the Sintashta culture arriving from the west. In Dzungaria, Afanasievo-related ancestry persisted at least into the late first millennium BCE. The Afanasievo people, accompanied by their pastoralist technologies, are one of the major foreign contributors to the genetic profile of the modern northwestern Chinese. The genetic closeness of the Yamnaya and Afanasievo populations is also mirrored in the uniparental haplogroups, especially in the predominance of the Y-chromosome haplogroup R1b. A 2018 study analyzed the maternal haplogroups of 7 Afanasievo specimens. 71% belonged to West Eurasian maternal haplogroups U, H, and R, while 29% belonged to the East Eurasian maternal haplogroup C, maybe from Mongolia/North China (Amur River Basin/West Liao River Basin)/Devil’s Gate Cave (Amur River Basin). Chertovy Vorota Cave, also known as Devil’s Gate Cave Y-DNA haplogroup C2b-F6273/Y6704/Y6708, from one male is equivalent to C2b-L1373, the northern (Central Asian, Siberian, and indigenous American) branch of haplogroup C2-M217.” ref, ref
“Afanasievo burials are recorded as far as central Mongolia, at the sites of Altan Sandal and Shatar Chuluu. To their east, in the modern area of eastern Mongolia and beyond, resided Neolithic cultures of Prehistoric Mongolia, probably derived from the Ancient Northeast Asians, who were the predecessors of the Slab Grave culture of eastern Mongolia. Because of its numerous traits attributed to the early Indo-Europeans, like metal-use, horses, and wheeled vehicles, and cultural relations with Kurgan steppe cultures, the Afanasevans are believed to have been Indo-European-speaking. They were genetically similar to the Yamnaya populations of Western Steppe Herders. Genetic studies have demonstrated a discontinuity between Afanasievo and the succeeding Siberian-originating Okunevo culture, as well as genetic differences between Afanasievo and the Tarim mummies. A genomic study published in 2021 found that the population of earliest Tarim Basin cultures (the Tarim mummies, dated to c. 2000 BCE or 4,000 years ago) had high levels of Ancient North Eurasian ancestry and no connection with Afanasievo populations.” ref
“Numerous scholars have suggested that the Afanasievo culture may be responsible for the introduction of metallurgy to China. In particular, contacts between the Afanasievo culture and the Majiayao culture and the Qijia culture are considered for the transmission of bronze technology. The Afanasievo culture may also display cultural borrowings from the earlier Banpo culture (c. 4000 BCE), particularly in the area of painted pottery, suggesting influence from the Far East, specifically from Neolithic China, on the Afanasievo culture and other cultural complexes in the Middle Yenisei region. In the Altai Mountains and to the southeast, Afanasievans seem to have coexisted with the early period of the Chemurchek culture for some time, as some of their burials are contemporary and some of the artifacts of the burials coincide.” ref
“To the north, the Afanasievo culture was succeeded by the Okunev culture, which is considered as an extension of the Paleosiberian local non-Indo-European forest culture into the region. The Okunev culture nevertheless displays influences from the earlier Afanasievo culture. The region was subsequently occupied by the Andronovo, Karasuk, Tagar, and Tashtyk cultures, respectively. Allentoft et al. (2015) confirmed that the Afanasevo culture was replaced by the second wave of Indo-European migrations from the Andronovo culture during late Bronze Age and early Iron Age.” ref
“The Andronovo population was found to be genetically related, but clearly distinct from the Afanasievo population. Several scholars propose the Afanasievo culture as the ancestors of the Tocharians, who lived on the northern edge of the Tarim Basin (in present-day Xinjiang, China) in the first millennium CE. The Tocharian languages are believed to have become extinct during the 9th century CE. The Indo-European speaking Tocharian peoples of the Tarim city-states then intermixed with the Uyghurs, whose Old Uyghur language spread through the region.” ref
“Genetic studies on Iron Age individuals of the Shirenzigou site dated to circa 200 BCE or 2,200 years ago have shown a fairly balanced admixture between the West Eurasian and East Eurasian genetic pools. The West Eurasian component was Yamnaya-related, while the East Eurasian component was Northeast Asian-related. The Yamnaya component suggests a strong probability that the Shirenzigou populations were derived from the Afanasievo culture to the north, and spoke an Indo-European language. This reinforces an Afanasievo hypothesis for the Tocharians, often called the “Steppe hypotheses”, rather than a hypothesis favouring BMAC and Andronovo Culture origins, the “Bactrian Oasis hypotheses.” ref
Early contact between late farming and pastoralist societies in southeastern Europe
“Archaeogenetic studies have described two main genetic turnover events in prehistoric western Eurasia: one associated with the spread of farming and a sedentary lifestyle starting around 7000–6000 BCE and a second with the expansion of pastoralist groups from the Eurasian steppes starting around 3300 BCE. The period between these events saw new economies emerging on the basis of key innovations, including metallurgy, wheel and wagon, and horse domestication. However, what happened between the demise of the Copper Age settlements around 4250 BCE and the expansion of pastoralists remains poorly understood. To address this question, we analysed genome-wide data from 135 ancient individuals from the contact zone between southeastern Europe and the northwestern Black Sea region spanning this critical time period. While we observe genetic continuity between Neolithic and Copper Age groups from major sites in the same region, from around 4500 BCE on, groups from the northwestern Black Sea region carried varying amounts of mixed ancestries derived from Copper Age groups and those from the forest/steppe zones, indicating genetic and cultural contact over a period of around 1,000 years earlier than anticipated. We propose that the transfer of critical innovations between farmers and transitional foragers/herders from different ecogeographic zones during this early contact was integral to the formation, rise, and expansion of pastoralist groups around 3300 BCE.” ref
“It is not entirely clear how, when or where the domestication of the horse took place. Although horses appeared in Paleolithic cave art as early as 30,000 BCE, these were wild horses and were probably hunted for meat. The clearest evidence of early use of the horse as a means of transport is from chariot burials dated c. 2000 BCE. However, an increasing amount of evidence began to support the hypothesis that horses were domesticated in the Eurasian Steppes in approximately 3500 BCE. Discoveries in the context of the Botai culture had suggested that Botai settlements in the Akmola Province of Kazakhstan are the location of the earliest domestication of the horse. However, Taylor and Barrón-Ortiz (2021) argue that Botai findings only reflect intensive exploitation of wild horses—possibly involving some level of management, herding, or seasonal capture—but not full domestication in the way we see in later horse-using societies. Warmuth et al. (2012) pointed to horses having been domesticated around 3000 BCE in what is now Ukraine and Western Kazakhstan. The evidence is disputed by archaeozoologist Williams T. Taylor, who argues that domestication did not take place until around 2000 BCE. Genetic evidence indicates that domestication of the modern horse’s ancestors likely occurred in an area known as the Volga–Don, in the Pontic–Caspian steppe region of eastern Europe, around 2200 BCE. From there, use of horses spread across Eurasia for transportation, agricultural work, and warfare. Scientists have linked the successful spread of domesticated horses to observed genetic changes. They speculate that stronger backs (GSDMC gene) and increased docility (ZFPM1 gene) may have made horses more suitable for riding.” ref
Male “King/Ruler/Chief” was likely the first ritual sex with the sacred horse completing the ceremony then it changed to chief queen likely having sex with the horse then only as a symbolic act of chief queen laying down with a suffocated horse beneath a linen blanket and mimicked sex.
“Man/god with horse-sized penis participating in royal/fertility ritual? Indo-European horse-sacrifice is one of the world’s most ancient and widespread traditions. The great Indo-European tradition of horse sacrifice in a 4000-year historic context, from the Sintashta culture in Russia in the east to historical Scandinavia in the west. In a brief history of Indo-European studies on the great horse sacrifices, we will present Indian, Irish, Greek, and Roman sacrificial traditions and
discuss how similarities across time and space have, for over a century, led different scholars to retrace these traditions to a common ‘Proto-Indo-European’ origin.” ref
Mythology: Horse worship and White horse (mythology)
“The reconstructed myth involves the coupling of a king with a divine mare which produced the divine twins. A related myth is that of a hero magically twinned with a horse foaled at the time of his birth (for example Cuchulainn, Pryderi), suggested to be fundamentally the same myth as that of the divine twin horsemen by the mytheme of a “mare-suckled” hero from Greek and medieval Serbian evidence, or mythical horses with human traits (Xanthos), suggesting totemic identity of the hero or king with the horse.” ref
Vedic (Indian): Ashvamedha
“Ashvamedha was a political ritual that was focused on the king’s right to rule. The horse had to be a stallion and it would be permitted to wander for a year, accompanied by people of the king. If the horse roamed off into lands of an enemy then that territory would be taken by the king, and if the horse’s attendants were killed in a fight by a challenger then the king would lose the right to rule. But if the horse stayed alive for a year then it was taken back to the king’s court where it was bathed, consecrated with butter, decorated with golden ornaments, and then sacrificed. After the completion of this ritual, the king would be considered as the undisputed ruler of the land which was covered by the horse.” ref
- “the sacrifice is connected with the elevation or inauguration of a member of the Kshatriya warrior caste
- the ceremony took place in spring or early summer
- the horse sacrificed was a stallion which won a race at the right side of the chariot
- the horse sacrificed was white-colored with dark circular spots, or with a dark front part, or with a tuft of dark blue hair
- it was bathed in water, in which mustard and sesame are mixed
- it was suffocated alongside a hornless ram and a he-goat, among other animals
- the chief queen lay down with the suffocated horse beneath a linen blanket and mimicked sexual intercourse with it, while the other queens perambulated the scene, slapping their thighs and fanning themselves
- the stallion was dissected along the “knife-paths” — with three knives made from gold, copper, and iron — and its portions awarded to various deities, symbolically invoking sky, atmosphere, and earth, while other priests started reciting the verses of Vedas, seeking healing and rejuvenation for the horse.” ref
Sredny Stog culture with Horse Sacrifice and Flat-Grave burials
“The Sredny Stog culture is a pre-Kurgan archaeological culture from the 5th–4th millennia BCE. It seems to have had contact with the agricultural Cucuteni–Trypillian culture in the west, centered in modern-day Moldova, Romania and Ukraine, and was a contemporary of the Khvalynsk culture in the north-east, located in the middle Volga region. In its three largest cemeteries, Oleksandriia (39 individuals), Igren (17) and Deriivka II (14), evidence of burial in flat graves (ground level pits) has been found. This parallels the practice of the Cucuteni-Trypillia culture, and is in contrast with the later Yamnaya culture, which practiced tumuli burials. In Sredny Stog culture, the deceased were laid to rest on their backs with the legs flexed. The use of ochre in the burial was practiced, as with the kurgan cultures. For this and other reasons, Yuri Rassamakin suggests that the Sredny Stog culture should be considered as a real term, with at least four distinct cultural elements co-existing inside the same geographical area.” ref
“Dmytro Telegin has divided the chronology of Sredny Stog into two distinct phases. Phase I (middle 4th millennium BC, according to Telegin) included Sredny Stog complexes of the Strilcha Skelia-Sredny Stog II type that contained pottery without the corded ornament. Phase II (according to Telegin, middle 3rd millennium BCE) is represented by the Sredny Stog complexes of the Deriivka-Moliukhovyi Buhor type that used corded ware pottery which may have originated there, and stone battle-axes of the type later associated with expanding Indo-European cultures to the West. Most notably, it has perhaps the earliest evidence of horse domestication), with finds suggestive of cheek-pieces (psalia). However, there is no conclusive proof that those horses were used for riding since they were mainly employed for gathering food. Phase I is now dated to the middle 5th millennium BCE and Phase II – to the late 5th-first half of the 4th millennium BCE. Sredny Stog periodization has also undergone a revision in recent years.” ref
“In the context of the modified Kurgan hypothesis of Marija Gimbutas, this pre-kurgan archaeological culture could represent the Urheimat (homeland) of the Proto-Indo-European language which others associate with the later Yamnaya culture. It has been theorized that Cernavodă culture, together with the Sredny Stog culture, was the source of Anatolian languages and introduced them to Anatolia through the Balkans after Anatolian split from the Proto-Indo-Anatolian language, which some linguists and archaeologists place in the area of the Sredny Stog culture. Other studies have suggested that the Indo-European language family may have originated not in Eastern Europe, but among West Asian populations south of the Caucasus.” ref
“Guus Kroonen et al. 2022 found that the “basal Indo-European stage”, also known as Indo-Anatolian or Pre-Proto-Indo-European language, largely but not totally, lacked agricultural-related vocabulary, and only the later “core Indo-European languages” saw an increase in agriculture-associated words. According to them, this fits a homeland of early core Indo-European within the westernmost Yamnaya horizon, around and west of the Dnieper, while its basal stage, Indo-Anatolian, may have originated in the Sredny Stog culture, as opposed to the eastern Yamnaya horizon. They also argue that this new data contradicts a possible earlier origin of Pre-Proto-Indo-European among agricultural societies South of the Caucasus, rather “this may support a scenario of linguistic continuity of local non-mobile herders in the Lower Dnieper region and their genetic persistence after their integration into the successive and expansive Yamnaya horizon”. Furthermore the authors mention that this scenario can explain the difference in paternal haplogroup frequency between the Yamnaya and Corded Ware cultures, while both sharing similar autosomal DNA ancestry.” ref
“Examination of physical remains of the Sredny Stog people has determined that they were Europoid. A similar physical type prevails among the Yamnaya, who were tall and powerfully built. People of the neighboring Khvalynsk culture were less powerfully built. People of the preceding Dnieper–Donets culture were even more powerfully built than the Sredny Stog and Yamnaya. The culture ended at around 3500 BCE, when the Yamnaya culture expanded westward replacing Sredny Stog, and coming into direct contact with the Cucuteni–Trypillia culture culture in western Ukraine.” ref
“Mathieson et al. (2018) included a genetic analysis of a male buried at Olexandria (Ukraine) and dated to 4153-3970 calBC, ascribed to the Sredny Stog culture. He was found to be carrying the paternal haplogroup R1a1a1, and the maternal haplogroup H2a1a. He carried about 80% Western Steppe Herder (WSH) ancestry and about 20% Early European Farmer (EEF) ancestry. This Seredny Stog male was thought to be the first steppe individual found to have been carrying EEF ancestry. As a carrier of the 13910 allele, he was supposed to be the earliest individual ever examined who has had a genetic adaptation to lactase persistence.” ref
“However, the recent publication by David Reich Lab, October 2021, presented another date from a different sample of the same individual, 2134–1950 cal BCE, which could actually belong to Srubnaya culture period, as Haplotree Information Project considers this sample I6561 is from around 3650 years ago (c. 1700 BCE), and belongs to Y-DNA R1a-F2597*, corresponding to R1a-Y3. The WSH genetic cluster was a result of mixing between Eastern Hunter-Gatherers (EHGs) from Eastern Europe and Caucasus hunter-gatherers (CHGs). This mixing appears to have happened on the eastern Pontic–Caspian steppe starting around 5,000 BCE.” ref
“A preprint by Matilla et al. (2022) presented whole-genome analysis of a Sredny Stog individual, dated to 4320-4052 calBC, from the Deriivka II archaeological site in the Middle Dnieper Valley. The authors conclude that a third of the genetic ancestry of the individual was derived from the local Neolithic Dnieper Valley ancestry, while the rest was of the Yamnaya-related steppe ancestry. Another Eneolithic individual (4049-3945 calBCE) carrying steppe ancestry, potentially from a Serednii Stig population, was identified at the Trypillian settlement of Kolomyitsiv Yar Tract (KYT) near Obykhiv in central Ukraine. At the whole genome level, the KYT individual was close to the Yamnaya from Ukraine and Russia, without forming a clade with Yamnaya. The authors suggested that genetic ancestry of the KYT individual was plausibly derived from a proto-Yamnaya population, with admixture from Iron Gates Mesolithic.” ref
“The steppe ancestry, otherwise known as Western Steppe Herder WSH ancestry, found in the Sredny Stog culture is similar to that of the Khvalynsk culture, among whom there was no EEF admixture. Males of the Khvalynsk culture carried primarily the paternal haplogroup R1b, although a few samples of R1a, I2a2, Q1a and J have been detected. Succeeding Yamnaya males however, have been found to have carried only R1b and I2. This is similar to the males of the earlier Dnieper-Donets culture, who carried R and I only and were almost exclusively EHGs with Western Hunter-Gatherer (WHG) admixture.” ref
“The results suggest, as a possible yet highly simplified scenario, that the Yamnaya emerged through mixing between EHG and WHG males, and EEF and CHG females. This implies that the leading clans of the Yamnaya were of EHG paternal origin. On this basis, David W. Anthony argues that the Indo-European languages were originally spoken by EHGs. Another hypothesis about the origin of the Indo-European (IE) languages links them with the Eneolithic circum-Pontic trade network and suggests the emergence of the ancestral IE tongue in the North Pontic steppe. Recent genetic research found the Yamnaya to be a result of admixture between EHGs, CHGs, Anatolian Neolithic farmers and Levantine Neolithic farmers, with the mixture happening between an EHG + CHG population (Sredny Stog-like) and a CHG-like (CHG + Anatolia Neolithic + Levant Neolithic) population with the admixture occurring around 4,000 BCE.” ref
Samara culture with Horse Sacrifice and Kurgan burials
7,500-year-old Horse Sacrifice (its origin?)
“The Samara culture is an Eneolithic (Copper Age) culture dating to 5500 BCE/7,500 years ago (to 6,000 years ago?), the turn of the 5th millennium BCE, at the Samara Bend of the Volga River (modern Russia). The Samara culture is regarded as related to contemporaneous or subsequent prehistoric cultures of the Pontic–Caspian steppe, such as the Khvalynsk, Repin, and Yamna (or Yamnaya) cultures. Genetic analyses of a male buried at Lebyazhinka, radiocarbon dated to 5640-5555 years ago, found that he belonged to a population often referred to as “Samara hunter-gatherers,” a group closely associated with Eastern Hunter-Gatherers. The male sample carried Y-haplogroup R1b1a1a and mitochondrial haplogroup U5a1d.” ref
“The culture is characterized by the remains of animal sacrifice, which occur over most of the sites. There is no indisputable evidence of riding, but there were horse burials, the earliest in the Old World. Typically, the head and hooves of cattle, sheep, and horses are placed in shallow bowls over the human grave, smothered with ochre. Some have seen the beginning of the horse sacrifice in these remains, but this interpretation has not been more definitely substantiated. It is known that the Indo-Europeans sacrificed both animals and people, like many other cultures.” ref
“Some of the graves are covered with a stone cairn or a low earthen mound, the very first predecessor of the kurgan. The later, fully developed kurgan was a hill on which the deceased chief might ascend to the sky god, but whether these early mounds had that significance is unknown. Grave offerings included ornaments depicting horses. The graves also had an overburden of horse remains; it cannot yet be determined decisively if these horses were domesticated and ridden or not, but they were certainly used as a meat-animal. Most controversial are bone plaques of horses or double oxen heads, which were pierced.” ref
“From at least about 4500 BCE or around 6,500 years ago, a single dialect called Proto-Indo-European (PIE) existed as the forerunner of all modern Indo-European languages, but it left no written texts, and its structure is unknown.” ref
The prehistoric origins of the domestic horse and horseback riding
“The findings of Librado et al. (2021) show that modern domestic horses (DOM2) emerged in the lower Don-Volga region. They imply that horseback riding drove selection that resulted in these horses and fuelled their initial dispersal, and also that DOM2 horses replaced other horses because they were more suitable for riding due to their more docile temperaments and resilient backs. In this article, I argue that captive breeding of horses leading to their domestication began in about 4500-3000 BCE in the Pontic-Caspian steppe and made horseback riding necessary because managing horses, and especially moving them over long distances, required mounted herding. Horseback riding had been experimented with since the second half of the 5th millennium BCE, became common around 3100 BCE during the early stages of the Yamnaya culture, and necessary by the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE at the very latest. As horseback riding became more common, selection for malleable temperaments and resilient backs intensified, resulting in DOM2 horses by about 2300-2200 BCE in the lower Don-Volga region. The body size and weight-carrying ability of ancestral and early DOM2 horses were not limiting factors for horseback riding. The initial dispersal of DOM2 horses was facilitated by horseback riding and began by about 2300±150 BCE. Chariotry began to spread together with DOM2 horses after 2000 BC, but its high archaeological visibility may have inflated its importance, since chariots are of limited practical use for herding and other daily tasks.” ref
Khvalynsk culture with Horse Sacrifice and Kurgan burials
6,900-year-old Horse Sacrifice
“The Khvalynsk culture is a Middle Copper Age Eneolithic culture (c. 4,900 – 3,500 BCE ) of the middle Volga region. It takes its name from Khvalynsk in Saratov Oblast. The Khvalynsk culture is found from the Samara Bend in the north (the location of some of the most important sites such as Krivoluchye) to the North Caucasus in the south, from the Sea of Azov in the west to the Ural River in the east. It was preceded by the Early Eneolithic Samara culture. Sacrificial areas were found similar to those at Samara, containing horse, cattle, and sheep remains. Khvalynsk evidences the further development of the kurgan. It began in the Samara with individual graves or small groups, sometimes under stone.” ref
“Nina Morgunova regards Khvalynsk I as Early Eneolithic, contemporary with the second stage of Samara culture called Ivanovka and Toksky stage, which pottery was influenced by Khvalynsk culture, as a calibrated period of this second stage of Samara culture is 4,850–3,640 BCE. After c. 4,500 BCE, Khvalynsk culture united the lower and middle Volga sites keeping domesticated sheep, goats, cattle, and maybe horses. The Krivoluchie grave, which Gimbutas viewed as that of a chief, contained a long flint dagger and tanged arrowheads, all carefully retouched on both faces. In addition, there is a porphyry axe-head with lugs and a haft hole. These artifacts are of types that not too long after appeared in metal.” ref
“Although there are disparities in the wealth of the grave goods, there seems to be no special marker for the chief. This deficit does not exclude the possibility of a chief. In the later kurgans, one finds that the kurgan is exclusively reserved for a chief and his retinue, with ordinary people excluded. This development suggests a growing disparity of wealth, which in turn implies a growth in the wealth of the whole community and an increase in population. The explosion of the kurgan culture out of its western steppe homeland must be associated with an expansion of population. The causes of this success and expansion remain obscure.” ref
“Early examination of physical remains of the Khvalynsk people determined that they were Caucasoid. A similar physical type prevails among the Sredny Stog culture and the Yamnaya culture, whose peoples were powerfully built. Khvalynsk people were, however, not as powerfully built as the Sredny Stog and Yamnaya. The people of the Dnieper-Donets culture further west on the other hand, were even more powerfully built than the Yamnaya.” ref
“Recent genetic studies have shown that males of the Khvalynsk culture carried primarily the paternal haplogroup R1b, although a few samples of R1a, I2a2, Q1a, and J have been detected. They belonged to the Western Steppe Herder (WSH) cluster, which is a mixture of Eastern Hunter-Gatherer (EHG) and Caucasian Hunter-Gatherer (CHG) ancestry. This admixture appears to have happened on the eastern Pontic–Caspian steppe starting around 5,000 BCE. Mathieson et al. (2015, 2018) found in three Eneolithic males buried near Khvalynsk between 5,200 BC and 4,000 BCE the Y-haplogroups R1b1a and R1a1, and the mt-haplogroups H2a1, U5a1i, and Q1a and a subclade of U4.” ref
“A male from the contemporary Sredny Stog culture was found to have 80% WSH ancestry of a similar type to the Khvalynsk people, and 20% Early European Farmer (EEF) ancestry. Among the later Yamnaya culture, males carry exclusively R1b and I2. A similar pattern is observable among males of the earlier Dnieper-Donets culture, who carried only R and I and whose ancestry was exclusively EHG with Western Hunter-Gatherer (WHG) admixture.” ref
“The presence of EEF and CHG mtDNA and exclusively EHG and WHG Y-DNA among the Yamnaya and related WSHs suggest that EEF and CHG admixture among them was the result of mixing between EHG and WHG males, and EEF and CHG females. This suggests that the leading clans among the Yamnaya were of EHG paternal origin. According to David W. Anthony, this implies that the Indo-European languages were the result of “a dominant language spoken by EHGs that absorbed Caucasus-like elements in phonology, morphology, and lexicon” (spoken by CHGs) Other studies have suggested that the Indo-European language family may have originated not in Eastern Europe, but among West Asian (CHG-like) populations south of the Caucasus.” ref
5,000-year-old Horseback Riding?
“Archaeologists have previously found evidence of people consuming horse milk in dental remains and indications of horses controlled by harnesses and bits dating back more than 5,000 years, but that does not necessarily indicate the horses were ridden.” ref
“Clear evidence related to the world’s first horseback rider from hallmark damage that horseback riding does to the body. To identify horsemanship syndrome in ancient remains, the researchers developed a list of six indicators. They then set out to seek these indicators in bodies buried in Yamnaya kurgans (tomb mounds) excavated in Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary, dating between 5,020 to 4,500 years ago. Altogether, they studied 24 skeletons – most Yamnaya – and some from other cultures in the vicinity. Among the six indicators cited for habitual horsemanship are stress signals in the pelvis and thigh bones, because riding, especially without a saddle and stirrups, involves the rider tightening the thighs and straining the lower body with each step the animal takes, lest they fall off.” ref
“Nine of the bodies evinced at least four of the six characteristics, marking them as likely horseback riders. Of these, five exhibited at least five of the six pathologies, while one person buried in Strejnicu, Romania, had all six. There are caveats. There is no archaeological benchmark for “damage caused by riding a horse” as opposed to other theoretical strains. Basket weaving could result in some similar indicators, they point out. Absent benchmarking, then, interpretations may vary and comparison with other nomadic pre-and-post-horse peoples could help. That has not been done yet. However, the researchers feel that, taken together, the six indicators do the job.” ref
“Indirect evidence of riding by the Yamnaya is the speed of their spread to Hungary in the west and Siberia in the northeast. “Considering the vast geographical distances of 4,500 kilometers (almost 2,800 miles) between the Tisza River [in Hungary] and the Altai Mountains [in Siberia], the absence of roads and the small overall population sizes, it is difficult to envision how this expansion could have taken place without improved means of transport,” they write. So in short, Yamnaya seem to have been the first horse riders, back in the Early Bronze Age. The authors add that 15 of their 24 bodies had three of the six telltale features. Not everybody who rides a horse will develop all six.” ref
Yamnaya culture with Horse Sacrifice and Kurgan burials
- “Also known as the Yamnaya Culture, Pit Grave Culture or Ochre Grave Culture.
- Generally considered by linguists as the homeland of the Proto-Indo-European language.
- It probably originated between the Lower Don, the Lower Volga, and North Caucasus during the Chalcolithic, around what became the Novotitorovka culture (3300-2700 BCE) within the Yamna culture.
- Highly mobile steppe culture of pastoral nomads relying heavily on cattle (dairy farming). Sheep were also kept for their wool. Hunting, fishing, and sporadic agriculture were practiced near rivers.
- The first culture (along with Maykop) to make regular use of ox-drawn wheeled carts. Metal artifacts (tools, axes, tanged daggers) were mostly made of copper, with some arsenical bronze. Domesticated horses are used as pack animals and ridden to manage cattle herds.
- Coarse, flat-bottomed, egg-shaped pottery decorated with comb stamps and cord impressions.
- The dead were inhumed in pit graves inside kurgans (burial mounds). Bodies were placed in a supine position with bent knees and covered in ochre. Wagons/carts and sacrificed animals (cattle, horse, sheep) were present in graves, a trait typical of later Indo-European cultures.” ref
“The Yamnaya culture or the Yamna culture, also known as the Pit Grave culture or Ochre Grave culture, is a late Copper Age to early Bronze Age archaeological culture of the region between the Southern Bug, Dniester, and Ural rivers (the Pontic–Caspian steppe), dating to 3300–2600 BCE. It was discovered by Vasily Gorodtsov following his archaeological excavations near the Donets River in 1901–1903. Its name derives from its characteristic burial tradition: Я́мная (romanization: yamnaya) is a Russian adjective that means ‘related to pits (yama)’, as these people used to bury their dead in tumuli (kurgans) containing simple pit chambers.” ref
“The Yamna DNA samples recovered from elite Kurgan graves in southern Russia belonged overwhelmingly to haplogroup R1b-Z2103, the essentially eastern branch of Indo-European R1b. The absence of other main R1b subclades is probably due to the dominance of a single royal or aristocratic lineage among the Yamnayan elite buried in Kurgans. Other R1b subclades did show up in Germany (DF27, U152) and Ireland (L21) when Steppe-derived people reached those regions between 2500 and 2000 BCE. The only non-R1b sample found in Yamna was an I2a2a-L699, a lineage descended from WHG tribes that migrated to Eastern Europe, but came back with the Indo-European migrations and is now found especially in Central and Western Europe.” ref
“The Yamnaya economy was based upon animal husbandry, fishing, and foraging, and the manufacture of ceramics, tools, and weapons. The people of the Yamnaya culture lived primarily as nomads, with a chiefdom system and wheeled carts and wagons that allowed them to manage large herds. They are also closely connected to Final Neolithic cultures, which later spread throughout Europe and Central Asia, especially the Corded Ware people and the Bell Beaker culture, as well as the peoples of the Sintashta, Andronovo, and Srubnaya cultures. Back migration from Corded Ware also contributed to Sintashta and Andronovo. In these groups, several aspects of the Yamnaya culture are present. Yamnaya material culture was very similar to the Afanasevo culture of South Siberia, and the populations of both cultures are genetically indistinguishable. This suggests that the Afanasevo culture may have originated from the migration of Yamnaya groups to the Altai region or, alternatively, that both cultures developed from an earlier shared cultural source.” ref
“Genetic studies have suggested that the people of the Yamnaya culture can be modeled as a genetic admixture between a population related to Eastern European Hunter-Gatherers (EHG) and people related to hunter-gatherers from the Caucasus (CHG) in roughly equal proportions, an ancestral component which is often named “Steppe ancestry”, with additional admixture from Anatolian, Levantine, or Early European farmers. Genetic studies also indicate that populations associated with the Corded Ware, Bell Beaker, Sintashta, and Andronovo cultures derived large parts of their ancestry from the Yamnaya or a closely related population. According to the widely-accepted Kurgan hypothesis, of Marija Gimbutas, the people that produced the Yamnaya culture spoke a stage of the Proto Indo-European language, which later spread eastwards and westwards as part of the Indo-European migrations.” ref
“The Yamnaya culture was defined by Vasily Gorodtsov in order to differentiate it from the Catacomb and Srubnaya cultures that existed in the area, but were considered to be of a later period. Due to the time interval to the Yamnaya culture, and the reliance on archaeological findings, debate as to its origin is ongoing. In 1996, Pavel Dolukhanov suggested that the emergence of the Pit-Grave culture represents a social development of various different local Bronze Age cultures, thus representing “an expression of social stratification and the emergence of chiefdom-type nomadic social structures” which in turn intensified inter-group contacts between essentially heterogeneous social groups.” ref
“The origin of the Yamnaya culture continues to be debated, with proposals for its origins pointing to both the Khvalynsk and Sredny Stog cultures. The Khvalynsk culture (4700–3800 BCE) (middle Volga) and the Don-based Repin culture (c. 3950–3300 BCE) in the eastern Pontic-Caspian steppe, and the closely related Sredny Stog culture (c. 4500–3500 BCE) in the western Pontic-Caspian steppe, preceded the Yamnaya culture (3300–2500 BCE). The Yamnaya culture was succeeded in its western range by the Catacomb culture (2800–2200 BCE); in the east, by the Poltavka culture (2700–2100 BCE) at the middle Volga. These two cultures were followed by the Srubnaya culture (18th–12th century BCE).” ref
“Further efforts to pinpoint the location came from Anthony (2007), who suggested that the Yamnaya culture (3300–2600 BCE) originated in the Don–Volga area at c. 3400 BC, preceded by the middle Volga-based Khvalynsk culture and the Don-based Repin culture (c. 3950–3300 BCE), arguing that late pottery from these two cultures can barely be distinguished from early Yamnaya pottery. Earlier continuity from eneolithic but largely hunter-gatherer Samara culture and influences from the more agricultural Dnieper–Donets II are apparent.” ref
He argues that the early Yamnaya horizon spread quickly across the Pontic–Caspian steppes between c. 3400 and 3200 BCE: The spread of the Yamnaya horizon was the material expression of the spread of late Proto-Indo-European across the Pontic–Caspian steppes. […] The Yamnaya horizon is the visible archaeological expression of a social adjustment to high mobility – the invention of the political infrastructure to manage larger herds from mobile homes based in the steppes.” ref
“Alternatively, Parpola (2015) relates both the Corded ware culture and the Yamnaya culture to the late Trypillia (Tripolye) culture. He hypothesizes that “the Tripolye culture was taken over by PIE speakers by c. 4000 BCE,” and that in its final phase the Trypillian culture expanded to the steppes, morphing into various regional cultures which fused with the late Sredny Stog (Serednii Stih) pastoralist cultures, which, he suggests, gave rise to the Yamnaya culture. Dmytro Telegin viewed Sredny Stog and Yamna as one cultural continuum and considered Sredny Stog to be the genetic foundation of the Yamna.” ref
“The Yamnaya culture was nomadic or semi-nomadic, with some agriculture practiced near rivers, and a few fortified sites, the largest of which is Mikhaylivka. Characteristic for the culture are the burials in pit graves under kurgans (tumuli), often accompanied by animal offerings. Some graves contain large anthropomorphic stelae, with carved human heads, arms, hands, belts, and weapons. The dead bodies were placed in a supine position with bent knees and covered in ochre. Some kurgans contained “stratified sequences of graves.” Kurgan burials may have been rare, and were perhaps reserved for special adults, who were predominantly, but not necessarily, male. Status and gender are marked by grave goods and position, and in some areas, elite individuals are buried with complete wooden wagons. Grave goods are more common in eastern Yamnaya burials, which are also characterized by a higher proportion of male burials and more male-centred rituals than western areas.” ref
“The Yamnaya culture had and used two-wheeled carts and four-wheeled wagons, which are thought to have been oxen-drawn at this time, and there is evidence that they rode horses. For instance, several Yamnaya skeletons exhibit specific characteristics in their bone morphology that may have been caused by long-term horseriding. Metallurgists and other craftsmen are given a special status in Yamnaya society, and metal objects are sometimes found in large quantities in elite graves. New metalworking technologies and weapon designs are used.” ref
“Stable isotope ratios of Yamna individuals from the Dnipro Valley suggest the Yamnaya diet was terrestrial protein based with insignificant contribution from freshwater or aquatic resources. Anthony speculates that the Yamnaya ate meat, milk, yogurt, cheese, and soups made from seeds and wild vegetables, and probably consumed mead. Mallory and Adams suggest that Yamnaya society may have had a tripartite structure of three differentiated social classes, although the evidence available does not demonstrate the existence of specific classes such as priests, warriors, and farmers.” ref
“According to Jones et al. (2015) and Haak et al. (2015), autosomal tests indicate that the Yamnaya people were the result of a genetic admixture between two different hunter-gatherer populations: distinctive “Eastern Hunter-Gatherers” (EHG), from Eastern Europe, with high affinity to the Mal’ta–Buret’ culture or other, closely related people from Siberia and a population of “Caucasus hunter-gatherers” (CHG) who probably arrived from the Caucasus or Iran. Each of those two populations contributed about half the Yamnaya DNA. This admixture is referred to in archaeogenetics as Western Steppe Herder (WSH) ancestry.” ref
“Autosomal tests also indicate that the Yamnaya are the vector for “Ancient North Eurasian” admixture into Europe. “Ancient North Eurasian” is the name given in literature to a genetic component that represents descent from the people of the Mal’ta–Buret’ culture or a population closely related to them. That genetic component is visible in tests of the Yamnaya people as well as modern-day Europeans. Admixture between EHGs and CHGs is believed to have occurred on the eastern Pontic-Caspian steppe starting around 5,000 BCE, while admixture with Early European Farmers (EEF) happened in the southern parts of the Pontic-Caspian steppe sometime later. More recent genetic studies have found that the Yamnaya were a mixture of EHGs, CHGs, and to a lesser degree Anatolian farmers and Levantine farmers, but not EEFs from Europe due to lack of WHG DNA in the Yamnaya. This occurred in two distinct admixture events from West Asia into the Pontic-Caspian steppe.” ref
“Haplogroup R1b, specifically the Z2103 subclade of R1b-L23, is the most common Y-DNA haplogroup found among the Yamnaya specimens. This haplogroup is rare in Western Europe and mainly exists in Southeastern Europe today. Additionally, a minority are found to belong to haplogroup I2. They are found to belong to a wider variety of West Eurasian mtDNA haplogroups, including U, T, and haplogroups associated with Caucasus Hunter-Gatherers and Early European Farmers. A small but significant number of Yamnaya kurgan specimens from Northern Ukraine carried the East Asian mtDNA haplogroup C4. People of the Yamnaya culture are believed to have mostly brown eye color, light to intermediate skin, and brown hair color, with some variation.” ref
“Some Yamnaya individuals are believed to have carried a mutation to the KITLG gene associated with blond hair, as several individuals with Steppe ancestry are later found to carry this mutation. The Ancient North Eurasian Afontova Gora group, who contributed significant ancestry to Western Steppe Herders, are believed to be the source of this mutation. A study in 2015 found that Yamnaya had the highest ever calculated genetic selection for height of any of the ancient populations tested. It has been hypothesized that an allele associated with lactase persistence (conferring lactose tolerance into adulthood) was brought to Europe from the steppe by Yamnaya-related migrations.” ref
“A 2022 study by Lazaridis et al. found that the typical phenotype among the Yamnaya population was brown eyes, brown hair, and intermediate skin color. None of their Yamnaya samples were predicted to have either blue eyes or blond hair, in contrast with later Steppe groups in Russia and Central Asia, as well as the Bell Beaker culture in Europe, who did carry these phenotypes in high proportions.” ref
The geneticist David Reich has argued that the genetic data supports the likelihood that the people of the Yamnaya culture were a “single, genetically coherent group” who were responsible for spreading many Indo-European languages. Reich’s group recently suggested that the source of Anatolian and Indo-European subfamilies of the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) language may have been in west Asia, and the Yamna were responsible for the dissemination of the latter. Reich also argues that the genetic evidence shows that Yamnaya society was an oligarchy dominated by a small number of elite males.” ref
“The genetic evidence for the extent of the role of the Yamnaya culture in the spread of Indo-European languages has been questioned by Russian archaeologist Leo Klejn and Balanovsky et al., who note a lack of male haplogroup continuity between the people of the Yamnaya culture and the contemporary populations of Europe. Klejn has also suggested that the autosomal evidence does not support a Yamnaya migration, arguing that Western Steppe Herder ancestry in both contemporary and Bronze Age samples is lowest around the Danube in Hungary, near the western limits of the Yamnaya culture, and highest in Northern Europe, which Klejn argues is the opposite of what would be expected if the geneticists’ hypothesis is correct.” ref
“Marija Gimbutas identified the Yamnaya culture with the late Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE) in her Kurgan hypothesis. In the view of David Anthony, the Pontic-Caspian steppe is the strongest candidate for the Urheimat (original homeland) of the Proto-Indo-European language, citing evidence from linguistics and genetics which suggests that the Yamnaya culture may be the homeland of the Indo-European languages, with the possible exception of the Anatolian languages. On the other hand, Colin Renfrew has argued for a Near Eastern origin of the earliest Indo-European speakers.” ref
“According to David W. Anthony, the genetic evidence suggests that the leading clans of the Yamnaya were of EHG (Eastern European hunter-gatherer) and WHG (Western European hunter-gatherer) paternal origin and implies that the Indo-European languages were the result of “a dominant language spoken by EHGs that absorbed Caucasus-like elements in phonology, morphology, and lexicon.” It has also been suggested that the PIE language evolved through trade interactions in the circum-Pontic area in the 4th millennium BCE, mediated by the Yamna predecessors in the North Pontic steppe.” ref
“Guus Kroonen et al. 2022 found that the “basal Indo-European stage”, also known as Indo-Anatolian or Pre-Proto-Indo-European language, largely but not totally, lacked agricultural-related vocabulary, and only the later “core Indo-European languages” saw an increase in agriculture-associated words. According to them, this fits a homeland of early core Indo-European within the westernmost Yamnaya horizon, around and west of the Dnieper, while its basal stage, Indo-Anatolian, may have originated in the Sredny Stog culture, as opposed to the eastern Yamnaya horizon.” ref
“The Corded Ware culture may have acted as major source for the spread of later Indo-European languages, including Indo-Iranian, while Tocharian languages may have been mediated via the Catacomb culture. They also argue that this new data contradicts a possible earlier origin of Pre-Proto-Indo-European among agricultural societies South of the Caucasus, rather “this may support a scenario of linguistic continuity of local non-mobile herders in the Lower Dnieper region and their genetic persistence after their integration into the successive and expansive Yamnaya horizon”. Furthermore the authors mention that this scenario can explain the difference in paternal haplogroup frequency between the Yamnaya and Corded Ware cultures, while both sharing similar autosomal DNA ancestry.” ref
In the Baltic, Jones et al. (2017) found that the Neolithic transition – the passage from a hunter-gatherer economy to a farming-based economy – coincided with the arrival en masse of individuals with Yamnaya-like ancestry. This is different from what happened in Western and Southern Europe, where the Neolithic transition was caused by a population that came from Anatolia, with Pontic steppe ancestry being detected from only the late Neolithic onward. Per Haak et al. (2015), the Yamnaya contribution in the modern populations of Eastern Europe ranges from 46.8% among Russians to 42.8% in Ukrainians. Finland has the highest Yamnaya contributions in all of Europe (50.4%).” ref
“Studies also point to the strong presence of Yamnaya descent in the current nations of South Asia, especially in groups that are referred to as Indo-Aryans. According to Pathak et al. (2018), the “North-Western Indian & Pakistani” populations (PNWI) showed significant Middle-Late Bronze Age Steppe (Steppe_MLBA) ancestry along with Yamnaya Early-Middle Bronze Age (Steppe_EMBA) ancestry, but the Indo-Europeans of Gangetic Plains and Dravidian people only showed significant Yamnaya (Steppe_EMBA) ancestry and no Steppe_MLBA. The study also noted that ancient south Asian samples had significantly higher Steppe_MLBA than Steppe_EMBA (or Yamnaya). The study identified the Rors and Jats as the population in South Asia with the highest proportion of Steppe ancestry.” ref
“Lazaridis et al. (2016) estimated (6.5–50.2 %) steppe-related admixture in South Asians, though the proportion of Steppe ancestry varies widely across ethnic groups. According to Narasimhan et al. (2019), the Yamnaya-related ancestry, termed Western_Steppe_EMBA, that reached central and south Asia was not the initial expansion from the steppe to the east, but a secondary expansion that involved a group possessing ~67% Western_Steppe_EMBA ancestry and ~33% ancestry from the European cline. This group included people similar to that of Corded Ware, Srubnaya, Petrovka, and Sintashta. Moving further east in the central steppe, it acquired ~9% ancestry from a group of people that possessed West Siberian Hunter Gatherer ancestry, thus forming the Central Steppe MLBA cluster, which is the primary source of steppe ancestry in South Asia, contributing up to 30% of the ancestry of the modern groups in the region.” ref
“According to Unterländer et al. (2017), all Iron Age Scythian Steppe nomads can best be described as a mixture of Yamnaya-related ancestry and an East Asian-related component, which most closely corresponds to the modern North Siberian Nganasan people of the lower Yenisey River, to varying degrees, but generally higher among Eastern Scythians.” ref
Horse Worship/Sacrifice: mythical union of Ruling Elite/Kingship and the Horse
Horse Gods and Goddesses of the Ancient World
“Throughout history, white horses have been mythologized in many cultures. For example, Herodotus reported that white horses were held as sacred animals in the Achaemenid court of Xerxes the Great (ruled 486–465 BCE), In more than one tradition, a white horse carries patron saints or the world savior in the end times, including Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam.” ref
Aine: The Red Horse Goddess
“Aine is an Irish Celtic horse goddess and Fairy Queen who healed and granted fertility to her followers. Cnoc Aine in Knockainey was Aine’s center of worship. In ancient times, royalty performed marriages on top the hill to honor Aine and to seal the kingship. This act means Aine was an important sovereignty goddess. Aine’s sacred lake, Lough Gur, which isn’t far from Cnoc Aine, was used as a place of healing and transition from this life to the next.” ref
Aine’s Magical Abilities
“Aine was a fertility goddess, but also a goddess of healing, sovereignty, the otherworld, and abundance. As a fairy queen, she could shapeshift like any other fairy. She often turned into a large red mare, which made her a sacred horse goddess to the Celts. The color red signified the otherworld, bloodline, and the occult mysteries, which makes Aine a psychopomp to the afterlife.” ref
Ares the Horse God & His Warrior Horses
“Ares, the Greek god of war, was well-known for his destructive ways. Born to Zeus and Hera, Ares was a god that Zeus kept at arm’s distance. The Greeks were wary of Ares, as he had the reputation of being a cruel man-slaughterer. Ares is well-known for his scandalous affair Aphrodite. In this myth, Aphrodite’s angry husband catches Ares in a net and humiliates him in front of the gods.” ref
Ares’ Link to Animals
“Following this event, Ares turned himself into a boar when he learned Aphrodite had fallen in love with another god – Adonis. Then he charged at the boy with all his might. Ares and the horse are closely linked, as well as other animals like the bull and dog. Ares charged into battle in a chariot pulled by two divine horses. On his shield was an emblem of two war-waging, powerful horses. And the ancients sacrificed horses in Ares’ name.” ref
Belenus: The Shining Sun God
“Belenus, also known as Belenos, was a Celtic horse god who survived the Roman conquest and became part of the Gallo-Roman religion. As a sun god, solar wheels are sacred to Belenus. Belenus lends his name to the ancient Celtic sabbat Beltane. He was a sun god, and the beginning of May was once considered the official start to summer in Celtic times. He is sometimes depicted in a horse-drawn chariot similar to Apollo. Clay horse figurine offerings inundated his shrine in Burgundy, France.” ref
Epona: Celtic Goddess of Horses
“No deity’s name evokes the image of the horse quite like the name Epona. Epona was a widely-worshiped Celtic horse goddess in the region that is present-day France and Germany. Her cult survived the Roman conquest and became part of the Gallo-Roman religion. Her name literally means “Great Mare”. Epona the horse goddess ruled over all equine animals including donkeys, ponies, and mules. She is a fertility goddess who carries a cornucopia, grains, and is accompanied by foals.” ref
Freyr: Norse God of Peace and Prosperity (And Horses, Apparently)
“Freyr is the King of the Vanir, the Norse god of peace and prosperity. And while most associate Freyr with his sacred golden boar, he also has a horse ally named Bloody Hoof. In the Poetic Edda, Freyr gifts a divine horse to his messenger. This horse may have been Bloody Hoof, though the poem doesn’t clarify. In the Icelandic sagas, Freyr is closely associated with horse cults in the new settlement.” ref
Rhiannon: Welsh Fairy Queen & Horse Goddess
“Rhiannon is a Welsh mythical figure from The Mabinogion. She is a beautiful fairy maiden who marries a mortal Welsh king. Her story is a sad, yet inspiring one. Rhiannon is blamed for murdering her kidnapped son. She’s punished in a horrifying manner, while also grieving for her lost son. They strip away her dignity and force her to carry the castle’s guests on her back like a horse. Rhiannon never runs away or complains; she believes her good character will be restored. Her story is one of hope and strength and is empowering to women who have been oppressed or abused.” ref
Rhiannon’s Connection to Horses
“Rhiannon is a fairy goddess and therefore has dominion over wildlife, but her favorite animals are birds and horses. In the Mabinogi, Rhiannon is a mare and her son is a foal. She’s so strongly related to horses that scholars believe she could be the Welsh version of the continental horse goddess Epona. The fact she carries people around on her back like a horse is strong enough evidence to relate her to horses. Not to mention when her mortal husband first pursues her, Rhiannon escapes on her fairy horse.” ref
Shango and the Black Horse
“Shango is a horse god in the Yoruba religion. He is an Orisha of thunder, justice, virility, and fire (among other things). In legend, he was the fourth king of Oyo, the second dynasty of Oduduwa, in the Yoruba empire in West Africa. His consorts were Oshun, Oya, and Obba. He was son to Oddumare in some legends, and in others, he was the heir of Obbatala and Oddua. His sacred number is six, his colors are red and white, and his sacred day is December fourth because of his comparison to Saint Barbara.” ref
Shango’s Black Horse
“Sources say to place a black horse statue on Shango’s shrine. Shango rides his black horse in ancient sculptures all over Africa. In Medieval Africa, people saw horses as powerful figures – they were owned by warriors and royalty. Because of Shango’s kingship, he has a close association with horses but also because of sacred rituals.” ref
The Icelandic – “Horse of the Gods”
“Hardy, willing, friendly, versatile, sure-footed – the long list of positive breed characteristics puts the Icelandic Horse in a category of its own. Isolated for almost a thousand years, this unique creature is quickly growing in popularity around the globe. DNA evidence shows that Icelandic Horses are genetically linked to the Shetland Pony, the Norwegian Lyng Horse, and the Mongolian Horse. Archeologists believe that Viking explorers and brought their horses from Norway, and the recently conquered Shetland Islands, to Iceland in the late ninth century. Logic dictates that only the strongest and best of their stock would have survived the difficult journey.” ref
No equine breeding stock has been permitted to enter Iceland for almost a thousand years, preserving the “purity” and unique characteristics of the breed. The Icelandic has five natural gaits: walk, trot, tölt, canter, and pace. Not all horses have five gaits, but most have walk, trot, canter, and tölt, which is prized above others. Tölt, the “gait of the gods,” is a four beat trot, which is exceptionally smooth. A natural tölter is a joy to ride! Skeið, or “flying pace” is a very lateral gait with suspension. Horses can reach speeds of 35 miles per hour in pace. It feels like you are flying!” ref
Horses in Slavic Mythology
“As I finish up my first draft of book 1 in my Slavic fantasy series, my Slavic Saturday posts continue with an animal that plays a crucial role in both Slavic mythology and history: the horse. (June 2021 Updated) Note: If you enjoy Slavic mythology, check out A Dagger in the Winds, the first book in my Slavic fantasy series called The Frostmarked Chronicles. You can also join my monthly newsletter for updates and free novellas (such as the prequel, The Rider in the Night) set in the world of the series.” ref
“The three animals that appear the most in Slavic myths are the bear, the wolf, and the horse. In that trio, it would at first seem the horse is the odd one out. Both wolves and bears were seen as powerful forces of nature, though, and to the Slavs, the horse was no different.” ref
“As we talked about in my post about the Wenedowie/Veneti early Slavic tribe, agriculture was the center of their economy and way of life. And the key to their advanced agriculture was their early invention of the plow, which would often be pulled by horses. They helped farmers constantly. Without them, farming would have been a far more difficult ordeal (though it still was with their help). Horses held the power to carry and pull what humans could not, and that meant the early Slavs also saw each side of the horse—both the tender and the wild.” ref
“The multitude of sides to the horse are reflected in the many gods represented by it. Jaryło (Jarilo/Yarilo), a god of agriculture and spring, was often pictured riding a white horse with the coming of spring. One of his sisters, Dziewanna (Devana), was the goddess of the wilds and hunt, and her symbol was the mare. Dadźbóg (Dažbog), god of the sun, was said to be riding a chariot through the sky with three horses: gold, silver, and diamond. But not all the perceptions were positive. Czarnobóg (Chernobog), a dark god, rode a black horse when he faced his rival, Białobóg (Belobog), who rode a white horse.” ref
“This horse’s importance doesn’t stop with deities, though. In rituals conducted by wróżbici diviners, the behavior of horses would be used to determine whether the tribe should march to war or not. During weddings, horses were also considered to symbolize the young groom, and during many festivals, people dressed up as horses or rode them to symbolize great creatures or battles.” ref
The Horse, the Wheel, and Language
“The Horse, the Wheel, and Language: How Bronze-Age Riders from the Eurasian Steppes Shaped the Modern World is a 2007 book by the anthropologist David W. Anthony, in which the author describes his “revised Kurgan theory.” He explores the origins and spread of the Indo-European languages from the Pontic–Caspian steppe throughout Western Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia. He shows how the domesticated horse and the invention of the wheel mobilized the steppe herding societies in the Eurasian Steppe, and combined with the introduction of bronze technology and new social structures of patron-client relationships gave an advantage to the Indo-European societies. The book won the Society for American Archaeology‘s 2010 Book Award.” ref
Synopsis
“Anthony gives a broad overview of the linguistic and archaeological evidence for the early origins and spread of the Indo-European languages, describing a revised version of Marija Gimbutas‘s Kurgan hypothesis. Anthony describes the development of local cultures on the northern Black Sea coast, from hunter-gatherers to herders, under the influence of the Balkan cultures, which introduced cattle, horses, and bronze technology.” ref
“When the climate changed between 3500 and 3000 BCE, with the steppes becoming drier and cooler, those inventions led to a new way of life in which mobile herders moved into the steppes, developing a new kind of social organization with patron-client and host-guest relationships. That new social organization, with its related Indo-European languages, spread throughout Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia because of its ability to include new members within its social structures.” ref
“Part One covers theoretical considerations on language and archaeology. It gives an introductory overview of Indo-European linguistics (ch. 1); investigates the reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European (ch. 2); the dating of Proto-Indo-European (ch. 3); the specific vocabulary for wool and wheels (ch. 4); the location of the Proto-Indo-European homeland (ch. 5); and the correlation of these linguistic discoveries with archaeological evidence and the role of elite recruitment in language shift (ch. 6).” ref
“Part Two covers the development of the Steppe cultures and the subsequent migrations out of the Pontic-Caspian region into Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia. The splitting of the major branches of Indo-European (except perhaps Greek) can be correlated with archaeological cultures, showing steppe influences in a way that makes sense chronologically and geographically in light of linguistic reconstructions. Anthony gives an introduction to Part Two (ch. 7); describes the interaction between Balkan farmers and herders and steppe foragers at the Dniester River (in western Ukraine) and the introduction of cattle (ch. 8); the spread of cattle-herding during the Copper Age and the accompanying social division between high and low status (ch. 9); the domestication of the horse (ch. 10); the end of the Balkan cultures and the early migrations of Steppe people into the Danube Valley (ch. 11); the development of the steppe cultures during the Eneolithic, including the interaction with the Mesopotamian world after the collapse of the Balkan cultures and the role of Proto-Indo-European as a regional language (ch. 12); the Yamna culture as the culmination of these developments at the Pontic-Caspian steppes (ch. 13); the migration of Yamna people into the Danube Valley and the origins of the western Indo-European languages at the Danube Valley (Celtic, Italic), the Dniester (Germanic) and the Dnieper (Baltic, Slavic) (ch. 14); migrations eastward which gave rise to the Sintashta culture and Proto-Indo-Iranian (ch. 15); migrations of the Indo-Aryans southward through the Bactria-Margiana archaeological complex into Anatolia and India (ch. 16); and concluding thoughts (ch. 17).” ref
“According to Anthony, the development of the Proto-Indo-European cultures started with the introduction of cattle at the Pontic-Caspian steppes, which, until ca. 5200–5000 BCE, were populated by hunter-gatherers. The first cattle herders arrived from the Danube Valley at ca. 5800–5700 BCE, descendants from the first European farmers. They formed the Criş culture (5800–5300 BCE), creating a cultural frontier at the Prut-Dnister watershed. Anthony proposes that Proto-Indo-European emerged after ca. 3500 BCE. He bases that especially on his analysis of Indo-European terms for wool textiles and wheeled vehicles: “Neither woven wool textiles nor wheeled vehicles existed before about 4000 BCE. It is possible that neither existed before about 3500 BCE. Yet Proto-Indo-European speakers spoke regularly about wheeled vehicles and some sort of wool textile. This vocabulary suggests that Proto-Indo-European was spoken after 4000–3500 BCE.” ref
Cows, Copper, and Chiefs
“At ca. 5200–5000 BCE, the non-Indo-European Cucuteni-Tripolye culture (5200–3500 BCE) appears east of the Carpathian mountains, moving the cultural frontier to the Southern Bug valley, and the foragers at the Dniepr Rapids shifted to cattle herding, marking the shift to Dniepr-Donets II (5200/5000-4400-4200 BCE). The Dniepr-Donets culture kept cattle not only for ritual sacrifices but also for their daily diet. The Khvalynsk culture (4700–3800 BCE), located at the middle Volga, which was connected with the Danube Valley by trade networks, also had cattle and sheep, but they were “more important in ritual sacrifices than in the diet.” According to Anthony, “the set of cults that spread with the first domesticated animals was at the root of the Proto-Indo-European conception of the universe” in which cattle had an essential role. The Samara culture (early 5th millennium BCE), north of the Khvalynsk culture, interacted with the same. The steppe cultures were markedly different, economically and probably linguistically, from the Danube Valley and Balkan cultures at their west despite trade between them, the foragers of the northern forest zone, and from the cultures east of the Ural river.” ref
“The collapse of Old Europe led to a decrease in copper grave gifts in the North Pontic steppes. Between 3800 and 3300, substantial contact took place between the steppe cultures and Mesopotamia via the Maikop culture (3700–3000 BCE), in the northern Caucasus. To the west, Tripolye pottery begins to resemble Sredni Stog pottery, showing a process of assimilation between the Tripolye culture and the steppe cultures and a gradual breakdown of the cultural border between the two. Between 3800 and 3300 BCE, five eneolithic steppe cultures can be discerned, and Proto-Indo-European dialects may have then served as a regional language.” ref
“Anthony, following the methodology of Ringe and Warnow, proposes the following sequence:
- Pre-Anatolian (4200 BCE)
- Pre-Tocharian (3700 BCE)
- Pre-Germanic (3300 BCE)
- Pre-Italic and Pre-Celtic (3000 BCE)
- Pre-Armenian (2800 BCE)
- Pre-Balto-Slavic (2800 BCE)
- Pre-Greek (2500 BCE)
- Proto-Indo-Iranian (2200 BCE), split between Iranian and Old Indic 1800 BCE” ref
“Linking prehistoric archaeological remains with the development of language, David Anthony identifies the prehistoric peoples of central Eurasia’s steppe grasslands as the original speakers of Proto-Indo-European, and shows how their innovative use of the ox wagon, horseback riding, and the warrior’s chariot turned the Eurasian steppes into a thriving transcontinental corridor of communication, commerce, and cultural exchange.” ref
“The oldest samples of haplogroup C-M217 were found among Ancient Northeast Asians of the Amur River region. The Devils Gate male specimen was Y-DNA haplogroup C2b-F6273/Y6704/Y6708, equivalent to C2b-L1373, the northern (Central Asian, Siberian, and indigenous American) branch of haplogroup C2-M217. It is found mostly in Central Asia, Eastern Siberia, and has significant frequencies in parts of East Asia and Southeast Asia, including some populations in the Caucasus, Middle East, South Asia, and Eastern Europe. The haplogroup C-M217 is now found at high frequencies among Central Asian peoples, indigenous Siberians, and some Native peoples of North America. In particular, males belonging to peoples such as the Buryats, Evens, Evenks, Itelmens, Tom Tatars, Kalmyks, Kazakhs, Koryaks, Mongolians, Negidals, Nivkhs, Udege, and Ulchi. Hongshan culture DNA was N at from 63% subclade N1 (xN1a, N1c) and C, as well as O3a, with monumental architecture (such as pyramids starting at 5,000 years ago and the Goddess Temple as well, pointing to the existence of a new “chiefdom” in these prehistoric communities. It has been suggested that religious sacrifice might have been performed within the Hongshan culture (related to sacrifices originating from the Middle East and then Russia?), as well as the making of Cairns related to the Hongshan culture, discovered atop two nearby hills, with either round or square stepped tombs, made of piled limestone. Entombed inside were sculptures of dragons and tortoises. Just as suggested by evidence found at early Yangshao culture sites, Hongshan culture sites also provide the earliest evidence for feng shui. The presence of both round and square shapes at Hongshan culture ceremonial centres suggests an early presence of the gaitian cosmography (“round heaven, square earth”). Early feng shui relied on astronomy to find correlations between humans and the universe.” ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
“The three main zones of cultural and economic development: 1. mid-lower Yangzi River valley; 2. the riverine systems of southern China (Provinces of Guangdong-Guangxi-Yunnan); 3. the river valleys of mainland Southeast Asia.” ref
“Neolithic China corresponds to an economic revolution during which populations learned to produce their food resources through the domestication of plants and animals.” ref
Emerging/Developing Social Structure/Organization and Hierarchy in Northeastern China
“The Xinglongwa culture showed several signs of communal planning. At three Xinglongwa sites, houses were built in rows. Several Xinglongwa sites also featured a large central building. In addition, several Xinglongwa sites were surrounded by ditches. Xinglongwa also featured an unusual burial custom, as some bodies were buried directly under the houses. Jade objects were also discovered. In the most lavish grave, a man was buried with a pair of pigs, as well as jade objects. Male individuals apparently predominate over female individuals (23 males vs. 11 females). No men were over 55 in age, whereas all of the females belonged to middle-to-old age group (no one younger than 35 years old).” ref
“A Phoenix could “symbolize renewal in general as well as the sun.”
Sun spirits/Sun deities seem to relate to the new rise of Male Clans 7,000 years ago and Hierarchy.
“Early Hemudu had maternal clans, descent through the female line, but in later periods, shifted into patrilineal clans, the social status of men rose, and descent was passed through the male line.” ref
Bird-Sun and Bull-Moon spirits become the first Sky Father God and Sky Mother Goddess?
I believe the Sun Spirit observed in Neolithic China is related to the later Sky gods in Samara culture/Khvalynsk culture, such as High Gods, Sky Father, or Great Spirit, found in Siberian and Native American religions. I think it was a sky (day sun) spirit, at least 9,000, maybe 10,000 or more years old in Siberia, possibly first introduced by mt-DNA X, leaving the Middle East with this belief 12,000 to 11,000/10,000 years ago. Or it is older in Siberia, possibly dating back 15,000 to 12,000 years ago, before moving into the Middle East with R2a, which was present in Iran around 11,000 to 10,500 years ago, and subsequently attributed the sky (day sun) spirit to them. Or it could have also been in Siberia 24,000 years ago, then reached the Middle East by 22,000 years ago with R1b Y-DNA, seen in the Kebaran culture (23,000 to 15,000 years ago in the Levant and Sinai, and followed by the proto-agrarian Natufian culture), with possible sun and moon spirit beliefs seen in two art reliefs of a bird with three legs (Sun? three legs being dawn, Noon, and Dusk) and a Bull (Moon?). Or they started in the Middle East in the Kebaran culture (23,000 to 15,000 years ago), which makes the most sense to me now, as the sun matters the most to those caring about grains, not hunting and they were turned into Sky gods around the time of the new herding cult at 12,000 to 11,000 years ago, 13,000 years ago is the first alcohol in Israel, so this new creation may have influnced the swich from spirits to gods…
“Engraved plaque with bird and bull image from Ein Qashish South, Jezreel Valley, Israel, Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran date to 23,000-16,500 years ago. The Kebaran is also characterised by the earliest collection of wild cereals, known due to the uncovering of grain grinding tools. It was the first step towards the Neolithic Revolution.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
I believe the father/grandfather, Sky Sun Spirit, and the mother/grandmother, Sky Moon Spirit, became the Sky Deities, Sky Father God, and Sky Mother Goddess in the Middle East around 13,000 to 11,000 years ago after the invention of beer and herding, respectively. The Bull or horned animals are generally related to females from at least 35,000 to 7,000 years ago, or so. What I am less sure of is when the Spirit versions arose. I could say the Middle East, as it is where they became gods, but this would deny all the older art that seems to express not only male and female spirit beliefs, but also astrological beliefs beyond just the moon and sun. It appears to have originated in the Totemic Aurignacian, then seemingly transferred to the shamanistic Gravettian culture, which subsequently shared it with the Kostyonki culture, and from there, it was passed on to the Ancient North Eurasians. The Ancient North Eurasian culture then shared it with the Middle East’s Kebaran culture.
“About 50,000 years ago, a marked increase in the diversity of artifacts occurred. In Africa, bone artifacts and the first art appear in the archaeological record. The first evidence of human fishing is also noted, from artifacts in places such as Blombos Cave in South Africa. Archaeologists classify artifacts of the last 50,000 years into many different categories, such as projectile points, engraving tools, sharp knife blades, and drilling and piercing tools. Humankind gradually evolved from early members of the genus Homo—such as Homo habilis, who used simple stone tools—into anatomically modern humans as well as behaviourally modern humans by the Upper Paleolithic. At the end of the Paleolithic Age, specifically the Middle or Upper Paleolithic Age, humans began to produce the earliest works of art and to engage in religious or spiritual behavior such as burial and ritual. Conditions during the Paleolithic Age went through a set of glacial and interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures.” ref
“By c. 50,000 – c. 40,000 years ago, the first humans set foot in Australia. By c. 45,000 years ago, humans lived at 61°N latitude in Europe. By c. 30,000 years ago, Japan was reached, and by c. 27,000 years ago humans were present in Siberia, above the Arctic Circle. By the end of the Upper Paleolithic Age humans had crossed Beringia and expanded throughout the Americas continents. Nearly all of our knowledge of Paleolithic people and way of life comes from archaeology and ethnographic comparisons to modern hunter-gatherer cultures such as the !Kung San who live similarly to their Paleolithic predecessors. The economy of a typical Paleolithic society was a hunter-gatherer economy. Humans hunted wild animals for meat and gathered food, firewood, and materials for their tools, clothes, or shelters.” ref
“The population density was very low, around only 0.4 inhabitants per square kilometre (1/sq mi). This was most likely due to low body fat, infanticide, high levels of physical activity among women, late weaning of infants, and a nomadic lifestyle. In addition, even a large area of land could not support many people without being actively farmed – food was difficult to come by, and so groups were prevented from growing too large by the amount of food they could gather. Like contemporary hunter-gatherers, Paleolithic humans enjoyed an abundance of leisure time unparalleled in both Neolithic farming societies and modern industrial societies. At the end of the Paleolithic, specifically the Middle or Upper Paleolithic, people began to produce works of art such as cave paintings, rock art, and jewellery, and began to engage in religious behavior such as burials and rituals.” ref
“For the duration of the Paleolithic, human populations remained low, especially outside the equatorial region. The entire population of Europe between 16,000 and 11,000 years ago likely averaged some 30,000 individuals, and between 40,000 and 16,000 years ago, it was even lower at 4,000–6,000 individuals. However, remains of thousands of butchered animals and tools made by Palaeolithic humans were found in Lapa do Picareiro, a cave in Portugal, dating back between 41,000 and 38,000 years ago. Early dogs were domesticated sometime between 30,000 and 14,000 years ago, presumably to aid in hunting. However, the earliest instances of successful domestication of dogs may be much more ancient than this. Evidence from canine DNA collected by Robert K. Wayne suggests that dogs may have been first domesticated in the late Middle Paleolithic around 100,000 BP or perhaps even earlier.” ref
“Archaeological evidence from the Dordogne region of France demonstrates that members of the European early Upper Paleolithic culture known as the Aurignacian used calendars (c. 30,000 years ago). This was a lunar calendar that was used to document the phases of the moon. Genuine solar calendars did not appear until the Neolithic. Upper Paleolithic cultures were probably able to time the migration of game animals such as wild horses and deer. This ability allowed humans to become efficient hunters and to exploit a wide variety of game animals. Recent research indicates that the Neanderthals timed their hunts and the migrations of game animals long before the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. Paleolithic peoples suffered less famine and malnutrition than the Neolithic farming tribes that followed them. This was partly because Paleolithic hunter-gatherers accessed a wider variety of natural foods, which allowed them a more nutritious diet and a decreased risk of famine.” ref
“Many of the famines experienced by Neolithic (and some modern) farmers were caused or amplified by their dependence on a small number of crops. It is thought that wild foods can have a significantly different nutritional profile than cultivated foods. The greater amount of meat obtained by hunting big game animals in Paleolithic diets than Neolithic diets may have also allowed Paleolithic hunter-gatherers to enjoy a more nutritious diet than Neolithic agriculturalists. It has been argued that the shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture resulted in an increasing focus on a limited variety of foods, with meat likely taking a back seat to plants. It is also unlikely that Paleolithic hunter-gatherers were affected by modern diseases of affluence such as type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, and cerebrovascular disease, because they ate mostly lean meats and plants and frequently engaged in intense physical activity, and because the average lifespan was shorter than the age of common onset of these conditions.” ref
“Large-seeded legumes were part of the human diet long before the Neolithic Revolution, as evident from archaeobotanical finds from the Mousterian layers of Kebara Cave, in Israel. There is evidence suggesting that Paleolithic societies were gathering wild cereals for food use at least as early as 30,000 years ago. However, seeds—such as grains and beans—were rarely eaten and never in large quantities on a daily basis. Recent archaeological evidence also indicates that winemaking may have originated in the Paleolithic, when early humans drank the juice of naturally fermented wild grapes from animal-skin pouches. Paleolithic humans consumed animal organ meats, including the livers, kidneys, and brains. Upper Paleolithic cultures appear to have had significant knowledge about plants and herbs and may have sometimes practiced rudimentary forms of horticulture. In particular, bananas and tubers may have been cultivated as early as 25,000 years ago in southeast Asia. In the Paleolithic Levant, 23,000 years ago, cereals cultivation of emmer, barley, and oats has been observed near the Sea of Galilee.” ref
“Late Upper Paleolithic societies also appear to have occasionally practiced pastoralism and animal husbandry, presumably for dietary reasons. For instance, some European late Upper Paleolithic cultures domesticated and raised reindeer, presumably for their meat or milk, as early as 14,000 years ago. Humans also probably consumed hallucinogenic plants during the Paleolithic. Traces of 13,000-year-old beer found at ancient burial site in Israel. Humans might have started to enjoy a cold one some 13,000 years ago, according to new evidence discovered by an international team of archaeologists at a cave burial site near Haifa, Israel. Looking for clues into what plant foods the Natufian people, who lived between the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods, were eating, and during the search, they discovered the traces of a wheat-and-barley-based alcohol. The traces analysed were found in stone mortars – up to 60cm (24in) deep – carved into the cave floor, used for storing, pounding and cooking different species of plants, including oats, legumes and bast fibres, such as flax. The ancient brew, which was more porridge or gruel-like, is thought to have looked quite unlike what we know as beer today.” ref, ref
“Human societies from the Paleolithic to the early Neolithic farming tribes lived without states and organized governments. For most of the Lower Paleolithic, human societies were possibly more hierarchical than their Middle and Upper Paleolithic descendants, and probably were not grouped into bands, though during the end of the Lower Paleolithic, the latest populations of the hominin Homo erectus may have begun living in small-scale (possibly egalitarian) bands similar to both Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies and modern hunter-gatherers. Middle Paleolithic societies, unlike Lower Paleolithic and early Neolithic ones, consisted of bands that ranged from 20–30 or 25–100 members and were usually nomadic. These bands were formed by several families. Bands sometimes joined together into larger “macrobands” for activities such as acquiring mates and celebrations or where resources were abundant.” ref
“By the end of the Paleolithic era (c. 10,000 years ago), people began to settle down into permanent locations, and began to rely on agriculture for sustenance in many locations. Much evidence exists that humans took part in long-distance trade between bands for rare commodities (such as ochre, which was often used for religious purposes such as ritual) and raw materials, as early as 120,000 years ago in Middle Paleolithic. Inter-band trade may have appeared during the Middle Paleolithic because trade between bands would have helped ensure their survival by allowing them to exchange resources and commodities such as raw materials during times of relative scarcity (i.e. famine, drought). Like in modern hunter-gatherer societies, individuals in Paleolithic societies may have been subordinate to the band as a whole. Some sources claim that most Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies were possibly fundamentally egalitarian and may have rarely or never engaged in organized violence between groups (i.e. war).” ref
“Some Upper Paleolithic societies in resource-rich environments (such as societies in Sungir, in what is now Russia) may have had more complex and hierarchical organization (such as tribes with a pronounced hierarchy and a somewhat formal division of labor) and may have engaged in endemic warfare. Some argue that there was no formal leadership during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Like contemporary egalitarian hunter-gatherers such as the Mbuti pygmies, societies may have made decisions by communal consensus decision making rather than by appointing permanent rulers such as chiefs and monarchs. Nor was there a formal division of labor during the Paleolithic. Each member of the group was skilled at all tasks essential to survival, regardless of individual abilities. Theories to explain the apparent egalitarianism have arisen, notably the Marxist concept of primitive communism. Christopher Boehm (1999) has hypothesized that egalitarianism may have evolved in Paleolithic societies because of a need to distribute resources such as food and meat equally to avoid famine and ensure a stable food supply.” ref
“Raymond C. Kelly speculates that the relative peacefulness of Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies resulted from a low population density, cooperative relationships between groups such as reciprocal exchange of commodities and collaboration on hunting expeditions, and because the invention of projectile weapons such as throwing spears provided less incentive for war, because they increased the damage done to the attacker and decreased the relative amount of territory attackers could gain. However, other sources claim that most Paleolithic groups may have been larger, more complex, sedentary, and warlike than most contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, due to occupying more resource-abundant areas than most modern hunter-gatherers who have been pushed into more marginal habitats by agricultural societies.” ref
“Anthropologists have typically assumed that in Paleolithic societies, women were responsible for gathering wild plants and firewood, and men were responsible for hunting and scavenging dead animals. However, analogies to existing hunter-gatherer societies such as the Hadza people and the Aboriginal Australians suggest that the sexual division of labor in the Paleolithic was relatively flexible. Men may have participated in gathering plants, firewood, and insects, and women may have procured small game animals for consumption and assisted men in driving herds of large game animals (such as woolly mammoths and deer) off cliffs. Additionally, recent research by anthropologist and archaeologist Steven Kuhn from the University of Arizona is argued to support that this division of labor did not exist prior to the Upper Paleolithic and was invented relatively recently in human pre-history.” ref
“Sexual division of labor may have been developed to allow humans to acquire food and other resources more efficiently. Possibly, there was approximate parity between men and women during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, and that period may have been the most gender-equal time in human history. Archaeological evidence from art and funerary rituals indicates that a number of individual women enjoyed seemingly high status in their communities, and it is likely that both sexes participated in decision making. The earliest known Paleolithic shaman (c. 30,000 years ago) was female. Jared Diamond suggests that the status of women declined with the adoption of agriculture because women in farming societies typically have more pregnancies and are expected to do more demanding work than women in hunter-gatherer societies. Like most modern hunter-gatherer societies, Paleolithic and Mesolithic groups probably followed a largely ambilineal approach. At the same time, depending on the society, the residence could be virilocal, uxorilocal, and sometimes the spouses could live with neither the husband’s relatives nor the wife’s relatives at all. Taken together, most likely, the lifestyle of hunter-gatherers can be characterized as multilocal.” ref
“Upper Paleolithic humans produced works of art such as cave paintings, Venus figurines, animal carvings, and rock paintings. Upper Paleolithic art can be divided into two broad categories: figurative art such as cave paintings that clearly depicts animals (or more rarely humans); and nonfigurative, which consists of shapes and symbols. Cave paintings have been interpreted in a number of ways by modern archaeologists. The earliest explanation, by the prehistorian Abbe Breuil, interpreted the paintings as a form of magic designed to ensure a successful hunt. However, this hypothesis fails to explain the existence of animals such as saber-toothed cats and lions, which were not hunted for food, and the existence of half-human, half-animal beings in cave paintings. The anthropologist David Lewis-Williams has suggested that Paleolithic cave paintings were indications of shamanistic practices, because the paintings of half-human, half-animal figures and the remoteness of the caves are reminiscent of modern hunter-gatherer shamanistic practices. Symbol-like images are more common in Paleolithic cave paintings than are depictions of animals or humans, and unique symbolic patterns might have been trademarks that represent different Upper Paleolithic ethnic groups.” ref
To me, the art listed as Venus figurines is not just one thing or referencing only one thing either, but several possible things, such as an ancestor spirit as well as other spirits like sky spirits that are connected to the sun, moon, Milky Way, and stars.
“Venus figurines have evoked similar controversy. Archaeologists and anthropologists have described the figurines as representations of goddesses, pornographic imagery, apotropaic amulets used for sympathetic magic, and even as self-portraits of women themselves. R. Dale Guthrie has studied not only the most artistic and publicized paintings, but also a variety of lower-quality art and figurines, and he identifies a wide range of skill and ages among the artists. He also points out that the main themes in the paintings and other artifacts (powerful beasts, risky hunting scenes, and the over-sexual representation of women) are to be expected in the fantasies of adolescent males during the Upper Paleolithic. The “Venus” figurines have been theorized, not universally, as representing a mother goddess; the abundance of such female imagery has inspired the theory that religion and society in Paleolithic (and later Neolithic) cultures were primarily interested in, and may have been directed by, women. Adherents of the theory include archaeologist Marija Gimbutas and feminist scholar Merlin Stone, the author of the 1976 book When God Was a Woman.” ref
“According to James B. Harrod humankind first developed religious and spiritual beliefs during the Middle Paleolithic or Upper Paleolithic. Controversial scholars of prehistoric religion and anthropology, James Harrod and Vincent W. Fallio, have recently proposed that religion and spirituality (and art) may have first arisen in Pre-Paleolithic chimpanzees or Early Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan) societies. According to Fallio, the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans experienced altered states of consciousness and partook in ritual, and ritual was used in their societies to strengthen social bonding and group cohesion.” ref
“Middle Paleolithic humans’ use of burials at sites such as Krapina, Croatia (c. 130,000 years ago) and Qafzeh, Israel (c. 100,000 years ago) have led some anthropologists and archaeologists, such as Philip Lieberman, to believe that Middle Paleolithic humans may have possessed a belief in an afterlife and a “concern for the dead that transcends daily life”. Cut marks on Neanderthal bones from various sites, such as Combe-Grenal and Abri Moula in France, suggest that the Neanderthals—like some contemporary human cultures—may have practiced ritual defleshing for (presumably) religious reasons. According to recent archaeological findings from Homo heidelbergensis sites in Atapuerca, humans may have begun burying their dead much earlier, during the late Lower Paleolithic; but this theory is widely questioned in the scientific community.” ref
“Likewise, some scientists have proposed that Middle Paleolithic societies, such as Neanderthal societies, may also have practiced the earliest form of totemism or animal worship, in addition to their (presumably religious) burial of the dead. In particular, Emil Bächler suggested (based on archaeological evidence from Middle Paleolithic caves) that a bear cult was widespread among Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals. A claim that evidence was found for Middle Paleolithic animal worship c. 70,000 BCE originates from the Tsodilo Hills in the African Kalahari desert, has been denied by the original investigators of the site. Animal cults in the Upper Paleolithic, such as the bear cult, may have had their origins in these hypothetical Middle Paleolithic animal cults.” ref
“Animal worship during the Upper Paleolithic was intertwined with hunting rites. For instance, archaeological evidence from art and bear remains reveals that the bear cult apparently involved a type of sacrificial bear ceremonialism, in which a bear was shot with arrows, finished off by a shot or thrust in the lungs, and ritually worshipped near a clay bear statue covered by a bear fur with the skull and the body of the bear buried separately. Barbara Ehrenreich controversially theorizes that the sacrificial hunting rites of the Upper Paleolithic (and by extension Paleolithic cooperative big-game hunting) gave rise to war or warlike raiding during the following Epipaleolithic and Mesolithic or late Upper Paleolithic. “The existence of anthropomorphic images and half-human, half-animal images in the Upper Paleolithic may further indicate that Upper Paleolithic humans were the first people to believe in a pantheon of gods or supernatural beings, though such images may instead indicate shamanistic practices similar to those of contemporary tribal societies.” ref
“The earliest known undisputed burial of a shaman (and by extension the earliest undisputed evidence of shamans and shamanic practices) dates back to the early Upper Paleolithic era (c. 30,000 years ago) in what is now the Czech Republic. However, during the early Upper Paleolithic it was probably more common for all members of the band to participate equally and fully in religious ceremonies, in contrast to the religious traditions of later periods when religious authorities and part-time ritual specialists such as shamans, priests and medicine men were relatively common and integral to religious life. Religion was possibly apotropaic; specifically, it may have involved sympathetic magic. The Venus figurines, which are abundant in the Upper Paleolithic archaeological record, provide an example of possible Paleolithic sympathetic magic, as they may have been used for ensuring success in hunting and to bring about fertility of the land and women. The Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines have sometimes been explained as depictions of an earth goddess similar to Gaia, or as representations of a goddess who is the ruler or mother of the animals. James Harrod has described them as representative of female (and male) shamanistic spiritual transformation processes.” ref
Hadza Ancient Hunting Rituals
“The Hadzabe tribe, one of the last remaining hunter-gatherer societies in the world, practices ancient hunting rituals passed down through generations. These rituals are a key aspect of their spiritual and daily lives, reflecting their deep connection to the land and animals. When hunting, the Hadzabe utilize traditional methods such as bows and arrows, and their rituals are designed to ensure success, respect for nature, and gratitude for the animals they hunt. Hadzabe ancient hunting rituals are deeply ingrained in their culture and are considered sacred, guiding their survival in the Tanzanian wilderness. Visitors to Tanzania can witness these fascinating rituals firsthand, learning about the symbolic dances, chants, and prayers performed before and after a hunt. The Hadzabe tribe believes that the spirits of the animals guide the success of each hunt, and each step of the process is treated with reverence. Participating in a Hadzabe cultural tour with Tanzania Adventures Group allows travelers to experience these traditions in an authentic, respectful way, gaining an intimate understanding of how the tribe survives in harmony with nature.” ref
“The Hadza have been described as a population with little or no religion. Anthropologists agree, however, that they do have a cosmology – regardless of how we define religion. The Hadza cosmology includes the sun, moon, stars, and their ancestors. They have a creation story that describes how the Hadza came to populate the earth. It involves descending to earth, either from a baobab tree or down the neck of a giraffe. The Hadza do not have anything equivalent to religious leaders, churches, or organised meetings of any kind. There are no shamans or medicine men or women, and the Hadza do not practice witchcraft. They do, however, believe that other tribes have witchcraft and can successfully curse the Hadza. The strongest taboos and rituals surround epeme – which refers to a type of dance and certain cuts of animal meat. Like almost all other hunter-gatherer groups, the Hadza have an egalitarian social structure. They do not typically recognise land rights in the traditional sense, although they recognise an affinity with other Hadza groups that occupy the region. There is no political structure, formal or informal, at the tribal level. Society is typically organised in camps, which have a fluid composition of extended family and friends. Labour and food are shared between related and unrelated camp members. Hadza women have a great amount of autonomy and participate equally in decision–making with men.” ref
Men become “True” adult men or “Epeme” by killing large game
“The Hadza people embrace epeme, which can be understood as their concept of manhood, hunting, and the relationship between sexes. “True” adult men are called epeme men, which they become by killing large game, usually in their early 20s. Being an epeme comes with an advantage: only epeme men are allowed to eat certain parts of large game animals, such as warthog, giraffe, buffalo, wildebeest, and lion. The parts of these animals that are typically considered epeme are the kidney, lung, heart, neck, tongue, and genitals. No one besides other epeme men are allowed to be present for the epeme meat-eating. If a man still has not killed a large game animal by his thirties, he will automatically be considered epeme and will be allowed to eat the epeme meat. In addition to eating epeme meat, the epeme men participate in an epeme dance. In Jon Yates’s summary of Frank Marlowe’s account, this dance occurs every night when the moon isn’t visible, and must occur in near-complete darkness, with camp-fires extinguished. To begin the ritual, the women separate from the men and sit where they cannot be seen. The men gather behind a tree or hut and prepare for the dance.” ref
“In the pitch dark, as the women begin to sing, the first man starts to dance. He wears a headdress of dark ostrich feathers, bells on one of his ankles, a rattle in his hand, and a long black cape on his back. He stamps his right foot hard on the ground in time with the women’s singing, causing the bells to ring while marking the beat of the music with his rattle. He sings out to the women, who answer in a call and response. As the singing grows in strength, the women rise to join the man, who continues to dance—committing his efforts to a family member, one of the women, a friend, or one of his children. At this point, the child may join the dance as well. After each man has danced the epeme two or three times, the ritual is finished, by which time it is close to midnight. The ritual has been shown to promote social cohesion among the Hadza, and those who share the epeme dance show elevated levels of mutual trust and support.” ref
“Hadza cosmology examined through objects, rituals, and the Hadza concept of epeme. The objects are intimately linked to women and to aspects of the social and cosmological identity of the individual makers. One object is a materialisation of the woman’s name, and it leads to an examination by interview of naming practices more generally. Naming a child gives it a spirit and places the child in a strong family matrix, and since it receives two names, the child has two spirits and two families. Calling a person’s name is thus calling out to one of the spirits within the person. This practice of calling a name occurs during the epeme night dance ritual. Dancers call the name of a relative and turn into the spirit-beings of the named. In this ritual, we find that dancers, when calling the names of women, do so through the mediating power of objects.” ref
“Women typically forage in groups and target plant foods, while men tend to hunt solo or in a pair and focus on hunting and honey collection. When unsuccessful on a hunt (for game or honey), men will collect baobab fruit. Children also forage and are able to collect almost half of their daily caloric intake by the time they reach middle childhood. Children tend to focus on resources that are relatively easy to collect (eg berries, fruit, nuts) and are located close to camp. The Hadza, like most foraging populations, are central-place provisioners (a term used by Anthropologist Frank Marlowe in lieu of the term ‘central place foragers’). This means that they collect food on a daily basis and return to camp to distribute the food to weanlings, dependent children, elderly, or injured camp members. Food is widely shared within the family and with unrelated friends and neighbours. The Hadza have no food storage capabilities.” ref
“The Hadza are organized into bands or ‘camps’ of 20–30 people. Camps of over a hundred may form during berry season. There is no tribal or other governing hierarchy, and almost all decisions are made by reaching an agreement through discussion. The Hadza trace descent bilaterally (through both paternal and maternal lines), and almost all Hadza people can trace some kin tie to all other Hadza people. Furthermore, the Hadza are egalitarian, so there are no real status differences between individuals. While the elderly receive slightly more respect, all individuals are equal to others of the same age and sex, and compared to strictly stratified societies, women are fairly equal to men. This egalitarianism results in high levels of freedom and self-dependence. When conflict arises, one of the parties involved may voluntarily move to another camp as resolution. Ernst Fehr and Urs Fischbacher point out that the Hadza people “exhibit a considerable amount of altruistic punishment” to organize these tribes. The Hadza live in a communal setting and engage in cooperative child rearing, where many people, both related and unrelated, provide high-quality child care.” ref
“The Hadza are predominantly monogamous, though there is no social enforcement of monogamy. After marriage, the husband and wife are free to live where they decide, which may be with the father or mother’s family. This marital residence pattern is called ambilocality and is common among foragers. Specifically among Hadza, there is a slightly higher frequency of married couples living with the mother’s kin than with the father’s kin. Men and women value traits such as intelligence, strength, ability, skills, dexterity, and hard work when evaluating partners. They also value physical attractiveness, and many of their preferences for attractiveness, such as symmetry, averageness, and sexually dimorphic voice pitch, are similar to preferences found in Western nations. The Hadza do not follow a formal religion, and it has been claimed that they do not believe in an afterlife. Hadza offer prayers to Ishoko (the Sun) or to Haine (the moon) during hunts and believe they go to Ishoko when they die. They also hold rituals such as the monthly epeme dance for men at the new moon and the less frequent maitoko circumcision and coming-of-age ceremony for women.” ref
“Ishoko and Haine are mythological figures who are believed to have arranged the world by rolling the sky and the earth like two sheets of leather and swapping their order to put the sky above us; in the past, the sky was under the earth. These figures are described as making crucial decisions about the animals and humans by choosing their food and environment, giving people access to fire, and creating the capability of sitting. These figures have celestial connotations: Ishoko is a solar figure, and Haine, her husband, is a lunar figure. Uttering Ishoko’s name can be a greeting or a good wish to someone for a successful hunt. The character “Ishoye” seems to be another name for Ishoko. She is depicted in some tales as creating animals, including people. Some of her creatures later turned out to be man-eating giants, disastrous for their fellow giants and people. Seeing the disaster, she killed these giants, saying, “You are not people any longer.” ref
Hunter-Gatherers and the Origins of Religion
“Recent studies of the evolution of religion have revealed the cognitive underpinnings of belief in supernatural agents, the role of ritual in promoting cooperation, and the contribution of morally punishing high gods to the growth and stabilization of human society. The universality of religion across human society points to a deep evolutionary past. However, specific traits of nascent religiosity, and the sequence in which they emerged, have remained unknown. Here we reconstruct the evolution of religious beliefs and behaviors in early modern humans using a global sample of hunter-gatherers and seven traits describing hunter-gatherer religiosity: animism, belief in an afterlife, shamanism, ancestor worship, high gods, and worship of ancestors or high gods who are active in human affairs. We reconstruct ancestral character states using a time-calibrated supertree based on published phylogenetic trees and linguistic classification, and then test for correlated evolution between the characters and for the direction of cultural change. Results indicate that the oldest trait of religion, present in the most recent common ancestor of present-day hunter-gatherers, was animism, in agreement with long-standing beliefs about the fundamental role of this trait. Belief in an afterlife emerged, followed by shamanism and ancestor worship. Ancestor spirits or high gods who are active in human affairs were absent in early humans, suggesting a deep history for the egalitarian nature of hunter-gatherer societies. There is a significant positive relationship between most characters investigated, but the trait “high gods” stands apart, suggesting that belief in a single creator deity can emerge in a society regardless of other aspects of its religion.” ref
Sacred Hunting is a Rite of Passage
“A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage that occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status in society. Hunting is humanity’s original spiritual relationship between animals and ancestors, before and after hunts, humanity shared their stories, and revered having a direct relationship to the food they ate. Hunting magic is a form of magic used in hunter-gatherer societies that involves rock art in rituals to encourage a successful hunt. First observed among modern hunter-gatherers, it has been offered as a hypothesis to explain the purpose of ancient rock art from a functionalist approach. Proponents have pointed to violent imagery found in some rock art alongside animals as support for the hypothesis. Walter Burkert in Homo Necans suggested that hunting magic rituals are significant in the origin of religion. Van Gennep further distinguishes between “the secular” and “the sacred sphere. Laboratory experiments have shown that severe initiations produce cognitive dissonance. It is theorized that such dissonance heightens group attraction among initiates after the experience, arising from internal justification of the effort used. Rewards during initiations have important consequences in that initiates who feel more rewarded express stronger group identity. As well as group attraction, initiations can also produce conformity among new members. Psychology experiments have also shown that initiations increase feelings of affiliation. Initiation rites are seen as fundamental to human growth and development as well as socialization in many African communities. These rites function by ritually marking the transition of someone to full group membership. It also links individuals to the community and the community to the broader and more potent spiritual world.” ref, ref, ref
Human-Animal Empathy in Subsistence
“One of the most important relationships between humans and animals is that centered on subsistence, the means by which a group of individuals makes a living. In hunting-and-gathering and pastoral societies, the relationships between humans and animals are critical to human survival. Serving as meat, tools for hunting and for herding other animal species, and sources of commodities such as wool and leather, these societies’ animals are central to human lives. In such societies, human relationships with animals are typically characterized by animal empathy, or the sense of being attuned to the feelings or experiences of other beings—in this case, animals. Elaborate beliefs and rituals surrounding human-animal interdependence are common among hunter-gatherers and pastoralists.” ref
“The research of anthropologist Pat Shipman ([2015] 2017) suggests that human empathy and alliances with animals, especially dogs, gave humans an evolutionary advantage over animals. Relying on animals for survival prompted humans to develop not only improved hunting and meat-processing tools but also a deep understanding of their prey. Humans needed to be able to discern and predict animal behaviors, including migratory patterns. By the emergence of our species, Homo sapiens, some 300,000 years ago, humans had evolved to have a sophisticated empathic understanding of and relationship with animals. By the Upper Paleolithic (50,000–12,000 years ago), humans were leaving testimonials to their empathic relationships with animals in cave paintings.” ref
“One of the most outstanding early examples of animal art is the paintings found in the Lascaux cave in southwestern France, depicting the animals and plants that humans encountered some 17,000 years ago. These paintings were likely created over a range of years by several generations of hunters. Of the more than 6,000 images of humans, animals, and abstract signs, some 900 are animals. Animals that appear in these paintings include horses, deer, aurochs (wild cattle), bison, felines, a bird, a bear, and a rhinoceros. One black bull measures 5.6 meters (approximately 17 feet) in length. The animal is painted as if its legs are in motion. One of the felines appears to be urinating to mark its territory.” ref
“Many cultures continue to rely on wild animals for subsistence today. This dependence requires the mastery of various cognitive skills, including knowledge and understanding of animal behaviors. In all cultures, much of the socialization of children is connected to skills required for subsistence. In societies that rely on hunting for survival, children learn to be especially attentive to their environments. It is also common in such societies for children to keep pets, often the young of wild animals that have been hunted, such as birds and small mammals. Many wild animals are capable of being tamed by human handling when they are young. An animal is considered tamed when it has learned to tolerate human proximity and interaction for considerable periods of time.” ref
“Indigenous hunter-gatherers subsist on what their environment freely provides. They do not produce food but rather collect it. Indigenous hunters typically view animals as fellow sentient and spiritual beings with whom they must maintain a relationship of mutual respect. Commonly, they practice elaborate rituals associated with hunting, both to show respect for their prey and to increase the likelihood of success in the hunt. In his study of Yukaghir elk and reindeer hunters in Siberia, Danish anthropologist Rane Willerslev (2004) recorded many ritualistic hunting behaviors. These included taking a sauna bath several days before the hunt to diminish the hunters’ scent; using special language (code words) to talk about the hunt, never mentioning death or hunting directly, in order to deceive or confuse the animal spirits; and “feeding” a fire with alcohol and tobacco the night before the hunt to perfume the air and seduce the animal spirit to desire the hunter.” ref
“Even so, the hunters are never overconfident about the hunt, as they believe they risk their own identities as human beings when trying to lure an animal and its spirit. The bond between hunter and hunted in Indigenous societies is often viewed as tenuous, a relationship between equals in which the balance of power could shift in either direction. During the hunt itself, Yukaghir hunters wear wooden skis covered in elk leather so that their movements sound like the movements of an animal in snow, and they practice thinking like the elk or reindeer to lower the animals’ inhibitions so that they will allow the hunters to get near. The hunters even imagine themselves speaking to the animal, trying to diminish its fears. For the Yukaghir people, the hunt can be a dangerous interaction, and so respect is necessary at all times, even after the body of the animal has been taken.” ref
“Like hunter-gatherers, pastoralists also have empathic relationships with animals, but the nature of those relationships is different. Pastoralism, which is subsistence based on herding animals, can be either nomadic or transhumant. Nomadic pastoralism is herding based on the availability of resources and involves unpredictable movements, as herders decide from day to day where they will go next. Transhumant pastoralists have patterned movements from one location to another. The Izhma Komi and Nenets herders in Russia, discussed earlier in the chapter in the section on multispecies ethnography, practice nomadic pastoralism. While the relationship between nomadic pastoralists and their animals is based on respect and empathy, just as with hunter-gatherers, nomadic pastoralists are more involved in the daily lives of the animals they rely on.” ref
“Typically, the animals are herded into human campsites each night, and often their movements are monitored during the day. The animals are not physically dependent on humans, but the two groups are involved with each other, as herders offer supplemental food to the reindeer to reinforce their connection to the human campsites for the night. Both hunter-gatherers and nomadic pastoralists rely on their animals for meat and leather, but nomadic pastoralists might also harvest milk and use the animals as transport, two practices that require the animals to be more accustomed to human handling. The pastoral herd is more dependable as a food source than the wild animals of hunter-gatherers, but it is also more labor intensive and time consuming, requiring humans to manage the animals according to a daily routine.” ref
“Nomadic pastoralism is not as widely practiced as transhumant pastoralism, which evolved around the time of the rise of agriculture in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Transhumant pastoralists do not typically raise crops or forage for wild plants, and they are dependent on trade with agricultural societies for vegetable products. Interestingly, while there are cultures that practice strict vegetarianism and do not consume any meat products, such as the Hindu and Jain cultures in India, humans cannot live solely on meat. Arctic hunters who had no access to vegetation in the winter ate the stomach contents of grazing animals, such as caribou, to access vegetable matter. Transhumant pastoralists typically have a tenuous and competitive relationship with agriculturalist societies, as agriculturalists may not always have sufficient surplus for trade in years when there have been droughts or warfare, for example. At times, the relationships between sedentary agriculturalists and more mobile and dependent pastoralists break down into conflict involving threats, destruction of property, and even warfare.” ref
Early Warfare?
“Anthropologists disagree about whether warfare was common throughout human prehistory, or whether it was a more recent development, following the invention of agriculture or organised states. It is difficult to determine whether warfare occurred during the Paleolithic due to the sparseness of known remains. Some sources claim that most Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies were possibly fundamentally egalitarian and may have rarely or never engaged in organized violence between groups (i.e. war). Evidence of violent conflict appears to increase during the Mesolithic period, from around 10,000 years ago onwards. In War Before Civilization, Lawrence H. Keeley, a professor at the University of Illinois, says approximately 90–95% of known societies throughout history engaged in at least occasional warfare, and many fought constantly. Keeley describes several styles of primitive combat, such as small raids, large raids, and massacres. All of these forms of warfare were used by primitive societies, a finding supported by other researchers. Keeley explains that early war raids were not well organized, as the participants did not have any formal training. Scarcity of resources meant defensive works were not a cost-effective way to protect the society against enemy raids.” ref
“Was human fighting always there, as old as our species? Or is it a late cultural invention, emerging after the transition to agriculture and the rise of the state, which began, respectively, only around ten thousand and five thousand years ago? All human populations during the Pleistocene, until about 12,000 years ago, were hunter-gatherers, or foragers, of the simple, mobile sort that lacked accumulated resources. Studying such human populations that survived until recently or still survive in remote corners of the world, anthropology should have been uniquely positioned to answer the question of aboriginal human fighting or lack thereof. Yet access to, and the interpretation of, that information has been intrinsically problematic. The main problem has been the “contact paradox.” Prestate societies have no written records of their own. Therefore, documenting them requires contact with literate state societies that necessarily affects the former and potentially changes their behavior, including fighting. Since the rise of the state some 5,000 years ago, military activity has continued over much of the globe.” ref, ref
“Archeology is beset by well-recognized problems in addressing the antiquity of human fighting. Weapons for fighting before the introduction of metals are practically indistinguishable from hunting implements: stone axes, spears, and arrows. Specialized fighting equipment, such as shields, are made of perishable material — wood and leather — and do not survive. In the wake of Keeley’s book, archeological studies of the subject increased substantially, above all with respect to the more sedentary communities of foragers and horticulturalists that proliferated during the Holocene. The prevalence of palisades around settlements has been extensively documented, as have other defensive indications in settlements’ nucleation, protected location, and spacing with “no-man’s-land” between them. Holocene, which began approximately 11,700 years ago, human remains show widespread traces of violent trauma to crania and forearms (parrying fractures). The skeletal evidence is particularly striking. While rates of violent trauma varied considerably from place to place, they were exceedingly high in some areas and very high on average. Among the prehistoric hunter-gatherers of coastal Southern California, traces of healed cranial vault fractures range from 15% to nearly 40% among males and around 10% to 20% among females.” ref
“These rates are even higher when children of both sexes are factored out. The percentage for males from the earliest period in the sample (6630-4050 BCE) is close to 20% (again higher if only adults are counted). Traces of projectile injuries in the skeleton range from around 3% to over 20% in males and up to 10% among females. Broad surveys of the North American evidence reveal great variation between sites, with some recording exceedingly high rates of violence from the earliest settlement. In British Columbia, as in some other sites of the American Northwest (a prime case of the tribal-zone theory) violent skeletal trauma in the period 3500-1500 BCE is evident in 21% of 57 observable individuals. This is as high as the rate of violent trauma recorded for the subsequent period, between 1500 BCE and 500 CE, when the region’s population became denser and clustered into large villages.” ref
“It follows that increasing population density and social complexity were not the factors that inaugurated human fighting. The evidence from a comprehensive study of the Andes reveals a similar picture and similarly high rates of injuries. The cranial trauma frequencies studied varied significantly during the millennia from early human habitation to the rise of states and the Inca Empire. Nonetheless, the average rate for the Archaic, well before the coming of states, is around the average for the entire period and just under 15% for cranial trauma alone, and is skewed toward the adult male population. Note that signs of skeletal trauma remain undetected in many cases. Moreover, injuries to soft tissues, including fatal injuries, are not preserved.” ref
“This extensive archeological evidence has been particularly devastating for the Extended Rousseauan tribal-zone theory. As Ferguson, the theory’s most active exponent, conceded in his contribution to the edited volume that incorporated the earlier finds in this wave of research, “If there are people out there (sic!) who believe that violence and war did not exist until after the advent of Western colonialism, or of the state, or of agriculture, this volume proves them wrong.” Ferguson attempted to redress the balance in his next sentence: “Equally, if there are people who believe that all human societies have been plagued by violence and war, that they were always present in human evolutionary history, this volume proves them wrong.” However, the various claims in the second proposition were anything but “proved.” At best, they remained unproven and open to further investigation. Estimates for total deaths due to war vary widely. In one estimate, primitive warfare from 50,000 to 3000 BCE has been thought to have claimed 400 million±133,000 victims based on the assumption that it accounted for the 15.1% of all deaths. Ian Morris estimated that the rate could be as high as 20%. Other scholars find the prehistoric percentage much lower, around 2%, similar to the Neanderthals and ancestors of apes and primates. For the period 3000 BCE until 1991, estimates range from 151 million to several billion.” ref, ref
Hunting Ideology and Ritual Treatment of Animal Remains in Hunter-Gatherer Societies
“Ritual treatment of animal remains after hunt and consumption as an act of reciprocity with animal persons is a widespread practice among ethnographically documented northern hunter-gatherer societies. Often these practices and their associated set of beliefs are discussed as part of a broader complex of circumpolar cosmology and religion which is assumed to have arisen from historical continuities within the region and is assigned considerable time depth on that basis. However, the aforementioned practices and beliefs are by no means unique and can also be attested among various tropical hunter-gatherer groups. By way of a critical discussion of the “ontological turn” and enactivist theory, this paper suggests that, rather than through historical connections, the hunting rituals and beliefs may be better explained within the context of developmental histories of structural coupling between hunter and prey affected by bodily and empathic resonance and the complexity of the relation between epistemology and ontology.” ref
Where goods are free but knowledge costs: Hunter-gatherer ritual economics in Western Central Africa
“Forest hunter-gatherers in Western Central Africa participate in an unusual economic system that transacts material production in a very different way to intellectual production. While material goods, such as food, tools, or clothing, are generally freely given when demanded, intellectual goods, such as the right to perform specific rituals or to receive certain remedies, are exchanged for goods and money. These hunter-gatherer groups trade certain types of knowledge for material goods with each other, but never trade material goods for other material goods with each other, despite doing so with neighbouring farmers. They simply demand them from one another. The distribution of key aspects of this economic system across linguistic and international frontiers suggests that it is likely to have great antiquity. The hunter-gatherer ritual system is valued for immediately producing goods. This contrasts with cult associations among farming societies in Central and West Africa that focus on ensuring that goods will come in the future.” ref
“Although the exact time when humans first became religious remains unknown, research in evolutionary archaeology shows credible evidence of religious/ritualistic behavior from around the Middle Paleolithic era (45–200 thousand years ago). Religion requires a system of symbolic communication, such as language, to be transmitted from one individual to another. Philip Lieberman states “human religious thought and moral sense clearly rest on a cognitive-linguistic base”. From this premise science writer Nicholas Wade states:
- “Like most behaviors that are found in societies throughout the world, religion must have been present in the ancestral human population before the dispersal from Africa 50,000 years ago. Although religious rituals usually involve dance and music, they are also very verbal, since the sacred truths have to be stated. If so, religion, at least in its modern form, cannot pre-date the emergence of language. It has been argued earlier that language attained its modern state shortly before the exodus from Africa. If religion had to await the evolution of modern, articulate language, then it too would have emerged shortly before 50,000 years ago.” ref
“Another view distinguishes individual religious belief from collective religious belief. While the former does not require prior development of language, the latter does. The individual human brain has to explain a phenomenon in order to comprehend and relate to it. This activity predates by far the emergence of language and may have caused it. The theory is, belief in the supernatural emerges from hypotheses arbitrarily assumed by individuals to explain natural phenomena that cannot be explained otherwise. The resulting need to share individual hypotheses with others leads eventually to collective religious belief. A socially accepted hypothesis becomes dogmatic backed by social sanction. Language consists of digital contrasts whose cost is essentially zero. As pure social conventions, signals of this kind cannot evolve in a Darwinian social world—they are a theoretical impossibility. Being intrinsically unreliable, language works only if one can build up a reputation for trustworthiness within a certain kind of society—namely, one where symbolic cultural facts (sometimes called ‘institutional facts’) can be established and maintained through collective social endorsement. In any hunter-gatherer society, the basic mechanism for establishing trust in symbolic cultural facts is collective ritual.” ref
“Transcending the continuity-versus-discontinuity divide, some scholars view the emergence of language as the consequence of some kind of social transformation that, by generating unprecedented levels of public trust, liberated a genetic potential for linguistic creativity that had previously lain dormant. “Ritual/speech coevolution theory” exemplifies this approach. Scholars in this intellectual camp point to the fact that even chimpanzees and bonobos have latent symbolic capacities that they rarely—if ever—use in the wild. Objecting to the sudden mutation idea, these authors argue that even if a chance mutation were to install a language organ in an evolving bipedal primate, it would be adaptively useless under all known primate social conditions. A very specific social structure—one capable of upholding unusually high levels of public accountability and trust—must have evolved before or concurrently with language to make reliance on “cheap signals” (words) an evolutionarily stable strategy. The animistic nature of early human language could serve as the handicap-like cost that helped to ensure the reliability of communication. The attribution of spiritual essence to everything surrounding early humans served as a built-in mechanism that provided instant verification and ensured the inviolability of one’s speech.” ref
“Animal vocal signals are, for the most part, intrinsically reliable. When a cat purrs, the signal constitutes direct evidence of the animal’s contented state. The signal is trusted, not because the cat is inclined to be honest, but because it just cannot fake that sound. Primate vocal calls may be slightly more manipulable, but they remain reliable for the same reason—because they are hard to fake. Primate social intelligence is “Machiavellian“—self-serving and unconstrained by moral scruples. Monkeys and apes often attempt to deceive each other, while at the same time remaining constantly on guard against falling victim to deception themselves. Paradoxically, it is theorized that primates’ resistance to deception is what blocks the evolution of their signalling systems along language-like lines. Language is ruled out because the best way to guard against being deceived is to ignore all signals except those that are instantly verifiable. Words automatically fail this test.” ref
“Frans de Waal and Barbara King both view human morality as having grown out of primate sociality. Although morality awareness may be a unique human trait, many social animals, such as primates, dolphins, and whales, have been known to exhibit pre-moral sentiments. According to Michael Shermer, the following characteristics are shared by humans and other social animals, particularly the great apes:
attachment and bonding, cooperation and mutual aid, sympathy and empathy, direct and indirect reciprocity, altruism and reciprocal altruism, conflict resolution and peacemaking, deception and deception detection, community concern and caring about what others think about you, and awareness of and response to the social rules of the group.” ref
“De Waal contends that all social animals have had to restrain or alter their behavior for group living to be worthwhile. Pre-moral sentiments evolved in primate societies as a method of restraining individual selfishness and building more cooperative groups. For any social species, the benefits of being part of an altruistic group should outweigh the benefits of individualism. For example, a lack of group cohesion could make individuals more vulnerable to attack from outsiders. Being part of a group may also improve the chances of finding food. This is evident among animals that hunt in packs to take down large or dangerous prey. All social animals have hierarchical societies in which each member knows their own place. Social order is maintained by certain rules of expected behavior, and dominant group members enforce order through punishment. Additionally, higher-order primates also have a sense of fairness.” ref
“Chimpanzees live in fission-fusion groups that average 50 individuals. It is likely that early ancestors of humans lived in groups of similar size. Based on the size of extant hunter-gatherer societies, recent Paleolithic hominids lived in bands of a few hundred individuals. As community size increased over the course of human evolution, greater enforcement to achieve group cohesion would have been required. Morality may have evolved in these bands of 100 to 200 people as a means of social control, conflict resolution, and group solidarity. According to Dr. de Waal, human morality has two extra levels of sophistication that are not found in primate societies. Psychologist Matt J. Rossano argues that religion emerged after morality and built upon morality by expanding the social scrutiny of individual behavior to include supernatural agents. By including ever-watchful ancestors, spirits, and gods in the social realm, humans discovered an effective strategy for restraining selfishness and building more cooperative groups. The adaptive value of religion would have enhanced group survival. Rossano is referring here to collective religious belief and the social sanction that institutionalized morality. According to Rossano’s teaching, individual religious belief is thus initially epistemological, not ethical, in nature.” ref
“The use of symbolism in religion is a universal established phenomenon. Archeologist Steven Mithen contends that it is common for religious practices to involve the creation of images and symbols to represent supernatural beings and ideas. Because supernatural beings violate the principles of the natural world, there will always be difficulty in communicating and sharing supernatural concepts with others. This problem can be overcome by anchoring these supernatural beings in material form through representational art. When translated into material form, supernatural concepts become easier to communicate and understand. Due to the association of art and religion, evidence of symbolism in the fossil record is indicative of a mind capable of religious thoughts. Art and symbolism demonstrates a capacity for abstract thought and imagination necessary to construct religious ideas. Wentzel van Huyssteen states that the translation of the non-visible through symbolism enabled early human ancestors to hold beliefs in abstract terms.” ref
“Some of the earliest evidence of symbolic behavior is associated with Middle Stone Age sites in Africa. From at least 100,000 years ago, there is evidence of the use of pigments such as red ocher. Pigments are of little practical use to hunter-gatherers; thus, evidence of their use is interpreted as symbolic or for ritual purposes. Among extant hunter-gatherer populations around the world, red ocher is still used extensively for ritual purposes. It has been argued that it is universal among human cultures for the color red to represent blood, sex, life, and death. The use of red ocher as a proxy for symbolism is often criticized as being too indirect. Some scientists, such as Richard Klein and Steven Mithen, only recognize unambiguous forms of art as representative of abstract ideas. Upper Paleolithic cave art provides some of the most unambiguous evidence of religious thought from the Paleolithic. Cave paintings at Chauvet depict creatures that are half human and half animal.” ref
“Organized religion traces its roots to the Neolithic Revolution that began 11,000 years ago in the Near East, but may have occurred independently in several other locations around the world. The invention of agriculture transformed many human societies from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to a sedentary lifestyle. The Neolithic Revolution led to a population explosion and an acceleration in the pace of technological development. The transition from foraging bands to states and empires precipitated more specialized and developed forms of religion that reflected the new social and political environment. While bands and small tribes possess supernatural beliefs, these beliefs do not serve to justify a central authority, justify the transfer of wealth, or maintain peace between unrelated individuals. Organized religion emerged as a means of providing social and economic stability through the following ways:
- Justifying the central authority, which in turn possessed the right to collect taxes in return for providing social and security services.
- Bands and tribes consist of small number of related individuals. States and nations are composed of many thousands of unrelated individuals. Jared Diamond argues that organized religion served to provide a bond between unrelated individuals who would otherwise be more prone to enmity. In his book Guns, Germs, and Steel he argues that the leading cause of death among hunter-gatherer societies is murder.
- Religions that revolved around moralizing gods may have facilitated the rise of large, cooperative groups of unrelated individuals.” ref
“The states born out of the Neolithic Revolution, such as those of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, were theocracies with chiefs, kings, and emperors playing dual roles of political and spiritual leaders. Anthropologists have found that virtually all state societies and chiefdoms from around the world have been found to justify political power through divine authority. This suggests that political authority co-opts collective religious belief to bolster itself. Following the Neolithic Revolution, the pace of technological development (cultural evolution) intensified due to the invention of writing 5,000 years ago. Symbols that became words later on made effective communication of ideas possible. Printing, invented only over a thousand years ago, rapidly increased the speed of communication and became the main spring of cultural evolution. Writing is thought to have been first invented in either Sumeria or Ancient Egypt, and was initially used for accounting. Soon after, writing was used to record myth.” ref
“The first religious texts mark the beginning of religious history. The Pyramid Texts from ancient Egypt form one of the oldest known religious texts in the world, dating to between 2400 and 2300 BCE. Writing played a major role in sustaining and spreading organized religion. In pre-literate societies, religious ideas were based on an oral tradition, which was articulated by shamans and remained limited to the collective memories of the society’s inhabitants. With the advent of writing, information that was not easy to remember could easily be stored in sacred texts that were maintained by a select group (clergy). Humans could store and process large amounts of information with writing that otherwise would have been forgotten. Writing, therefore, enabled religions to develop coherent and comprehensive doctrinal systems that remained independent of time and place. Writing also brought a measure of objectivity to human knowledge. Formulation of thoughts in words and the requirement for validation made possible the mutual exchange of ideas and the sifting of generally acceptable from unacceptable ideas. The generally acceptable ideas became objective knowledge reflecting the continuously evolving framework of human awareness of reality that Karl Popper calls ‘verisimilitude’ – a stage on the human journey to truth.” ref
The Psychic Toll of Severing the Hunter-Prey Relationship
“A productive hunt is a violent act—success requiring, as it does, the dismemberment of a living creature. Yet, to focus alone on the concluding moment, the bloody brutality of the killing itself, risks obscuring a more subtle and significant meaning to this harsh affair. For hunter-gatherers, occupying environments where animal protein is essential to subsist, the hunt is an act of necessity. Such events, however destructive and aggressive as they tend to be, are commonly associated not with the hunter’s sense of malice, disdain, or even casual disinterest, but an abiding sense of respect and honor for his prey. Forager hunters commonly sing songs in praise of the game killed, use special honorific names or titles for them, or perform other rituals and offerings to appease their spirits. Guayaki-Ache hunters of the Amazon would often salute their prey after death and sing for them. Whales among the Nuu-chah-nulth of British Columbia were addressed as “queen” and associated with many special songs and rituals. Copper Inuit hunters of Victoria Island would throw out part of the liver of every caribou killed to gain the favor of the caribou spirit. Bear ceremonialism was widely practiced in traditional societies across Eurasia and North America, where bears were treated with special respect and ceremony both during the hunt and after death. Yukaghir hunters of Siberia would address the bear as “Grandfather” and apologize to their spirit for the killing.” ref
“This emotional connection between hunter and hunted raises important questions about what happens when an animal species disappears—what is the human response to such ill-fate? In a recent paper, “The material and mental effects of animal disappearance on indigenous hunter-gatherers, past and present,” anthropologists Eyal Halfon and Ran Barkai seek to evaluate that very question. Halfon and Barkai emphasize “the inextricable connection between hunter-gatherers and other living agents with whom they share the environment and on whose existence they depend. It is a complex, multifaceted bond. Animals, certainly large mammals, are among the hunter-gatherer’s most essential partners.” Halfon and Burkai explore how hunting societies often had a fundamentally different worldview regarding human-animal interactions than what is commonly found in agricultural societies and modern industrial nations. Animal prey and their spirits represented something close to equal partners in the struggle for survival, rather than being part of the kind of dominant-subservient relationship more likely to be associated with animal domestication. The relationship between hunter and prey can represent a reciprocal bond, infused with psychological meaning and spiritual weight.” ref
“While Halfon and Burkai explore some important patterns, we should also “be careful [not to] overly romanticize the relationship that foragers have with hunted game,” says evolutionary anthropologist Manvir Singh, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse. Singh tells me in an email that while “many peoples treat the killing of an animal with respect and follow up with apology or gratitude,” those same peoples might also “think that certain dangerous or peculiar animals are heinous shape-shifting sorcerers and deserve to be killed and disposed with. They might torture animals; they might let their children adopt them as pets [and] drag them around until they die; they might accidentally kill a tabooed animal or two in the forest and let it rot…” Across the Andaman Islanders, turtles were associated with many important feasts, their skulls were kept and displayed in places of honor to ensure hunting success and protection, and their fat was often used in key rituals. However, Islanders would also commonly capture turtles and roast them whole while still living over a slow fire, as they had particular taboos about spilling turtle blood. Pigs, turtles, and dugongs were also frequently cut up while still living, as Andaman hunters believed such practices conferred them particular beneficial properties from the animals.” ref
“For many arctic hunters, the necessity not only of meat for subsistence, but animal skins for warm clothing, shoes, household covers, and other items could promote overhunting and contribute to population crashes of reindeer and caribou. “And, of course, it was populations of foragers who critically contributed to the [worldwide] extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna,” Singh notes. Halfon and Burkai seem to largely agree, acknowledging in their paper that “indigenous people hunted (and continue to hunt) these animal ‘partners’ most probably even when they were on the verge of extinction.” Although they also argue that many of the particular rituals associated with the hunt “were probably meant to ensure the sustainability of these relationships.” They also cite case studies where contemporary indigenous hunters contested assessments of Western scientists regarding declines in local animal populations, such as a Yukaghir hunter who disagreed that overhunting was contributing to a 30 percent decline in elk populations, and proposed that the animals had simply “gone elsewhere.” Though they also provide counter-examples, where there was a keen local awareness problems posed by excessive hunting: “For instance, the extinction of caribou herds in the Labrador regions at the beginning of the 20th century following what Cree tribesmen themselves referred to as a ‘wasteful slaughter’ stood as an important lesson to them, one that was enforced upon the younger generations of hunters by the tribal elders.” ref
Hunter-Gatherer Sacrifices?
“Archaeologists investigating graves from the Upper Paleolithic Period (about 26,000 to 8000 BCE) uncovered several which indicated Europe’s prehistoric hunter-gathers may have practiced human sacrifice. What they found were pairs or even groups of people with rich burial offerings and decoration. Many of the remains were young or had deformities, such as dwarfism. The diversity of the individuals buried together and the special treatment they received could be a sign of ritual killing, said Vincenzo Formicola of the University of Pisa, Italy. “These findings point to the possibility that human sacrifices were part of the ritual activity of these populations,” Formicola wrote in a recent edition of the journal Current Anthropology. Most of the hunter-gatherers who lived in Europe during the Upper Paleolithic Period buried their dead.” ref
“Their graves – numerous and usually filled with offerings such as beads and ivory – are considered a good source of information on what they thought about spirituality and the afterlife, Formicola said. “All these multiple burials can hardly be the result of natural events … (and) human sacrifices could represent an additional explanation,” Formicola added. Human sacrifices have never been apparent in the archaeological record of Upper Paleolithic Europe. They do appear much later among more complex ancient societies, such as the Egyptians. The new findings could mean the hunter-gatherers were more advanced than once thought. “What (the data is) suggesting is that the Upper Paleolithic societies developed a complexity of interactions and a common system of beliefs, of symbols and of rituals which are unknown in small groups of modern foragers,” said Formicola.” ref
10 Ancient Cultures That Practiced Ritual Human Sacrifice
“The Incas, The Egyptians, The Aztecs, The Mesopotamians, The Hawaiians, The Celts, The Chinese, The Etruscans, The Israelites, and The Carthaginians.” ref
Early Sacrifice
“Sacrifices (i.e., the presentation of offerings to higher beings or to the dead) appear as early as the Middle Paleolithic Period. Pits with some animal bones have been found in the vicinity of burial sites; thus, it is a likely possibility that they represent offerings to the dead. There is a dispute over the interpretation of the arrangement of the skulls and long bones of bears, since they are deposited in such a manner that it is hardly possible to discern a profane explanation. It is assumed that they had a cultic or magical significance. Most likely, certain parts of the prey, such as the head and the meaty shanks, or at least the bones with brain and marrow, were sacrificed. Even if it cannot be definitely stated who the recipient of these sacrifices was, analogies with present-day “primitive” phenomena make it likely that a part of the prey was offered to a higher being who was believed to dispense nourishment.” ref
“It could also, however, have been a matter of preserving parts of animals in order to resurrect the entire animal and preserve the species. Furthermore, finds of bones and drawings show that the preservation of skulls with still attached vertebrae, ribs, and front legs of oxen and reindeer played a certain religious or magical role. The sinking of whole reindeer into lakes is hard to explain other than as a sacrifice. This might be traced to the idea that what occupies the centre of attention is not the individual hunted animal but the whole herd; no longer only a part of an animal but a whole animal as part of a herd is sacrificed. The custom also existed in recent times among hunters and herders of central and north Asia. As such, finds become more numerous, it seems evident that certain specific animals and parts of their bodies are selected for sacrifice. It is difficult to differentiate between animal sacrifices and the immediate cultic veneration of an animal at the burial sites of animals.” ref
“In the Neolithic Period, the sites became especially profuse and are usually found in connection with human burials; nevertheless, there are such burial sites of animals that are not related in this manner and that occur with pronounced frequency, characteristically in particular groups of cultures. In these cases, domestic animals almost exclusively are involved, and among them, the dog and the ox predominate. The question of human sacrifice is of special significance here. Human sacrifices often were related to cannibalism and to the sacrifice of animals. With conspicuous frequency, victims discerned in ceremonial remains are females and children, sometimes along with young pigs. This practice is similar to fertility and agricultural rites that are known to have been practiced in the early Mediterranean civilizations. It is also similar to beliefs and practices observed among present-day “primitive” agrarian peoples (in which pigs are often substituted for humans), such as in ceremonies of secret societies, initiation rites, sacrifices, celebrations of feasts of the dead, and notions about fertility, especially in connection with the growing and ripening of cultivated plants.” ref
“In comparison, the inclusion of servants or women in the burial sites of highly placed persons can hardly be called sacrifice in a strict sense—that is, an offering to a higher power or deity. Such inclusions most likely reflect the social status of the deceased leader and his need for servants in the afterlife, rather than an offering. It is a sacrifice in the wider sense of respect and awe for the person and status—and all that this conveyed—of the deceased leader. This practice becomes more important only where correspondingly differentiated social conditions are found (such as in the royal graves at Ur in Mesopotamia and in those of the Shang dynasty in China). Sometimes it took on almost unbelievable forms, especially in terms of the numbers of persons and animals interred with the deceased leader. The ritual preservation of objects also must be included in the realm of sacrifice (in a wider sense). This can be demonstrated for the first time in the Neolithic Period (for instance, the ritual depositing of axes); in later periods, it plays a large role. In finds from the Bronze Age on, weapons and jewelry frequently are found in wells and springs. In Iron Age finds, such objects are found in almost unbelievable quantities in a number of swamps and other bodies of water. It seems probable that they represent the sacrifice of war booty.” ref
“In the oldest known examples of graphic art, the representations of animals play a large part; humans appear rarely and then frequently with animal attributes or as mixed human–animal figures. In the context of the whole situation, the view that these representations were merely ornamentations or served a purely artistic need may be dismissed; they are found without boundaries and background on rock walls and are not part of an interrelated scene. It is evident that animals played a predominant role in the mental world of the Upper Paleolithic Period, insofar as this role is reflected in the art of the period. What is represented is, first of all, that which is essential to the animal, partly in its relation to the hunt, but also in relation to anthropomorphic figures showing the intermixing of human and animal forms. This indicates a special and intimate relationship between humans and animals that transcends and overcomes the boundaries between different realms of being that modern concepts and understanding require. This phenomenon is similar to what is still known today as animalism (or nagualism or theriocentrism). It is characterized by close magical and religious ties of humans with animals, especially with wild animals.” ref
“It is also characterized in terms of otherworldly and superworldly realms and practices, such as placating and begging for forgiveness of the game killed, performing oracles with animal bones, and performing mimic animal dances and fertility rites for animals. Animals were thought to be manlike, to have souls, or to be equipped with magical powers. Animalism thus expresses itself in various conceptions of how animals are regarded as guardian spirits and “alter egos,” of the facile and frequent interchangeability between human and animal forms, and also of a theriomorphically (animal-formed) envisioned higher being—one who changes between human and animal forms and unifies them. Higher, often theriomorphic, beings are gods who rule over the animals, the hunters, and the hunting territory, or spirits in the bushland and with the animals. It is obviously not possible to identify special occurrences or forms of such higher beings during the Paleolithic Period, but their general features may be safely assumed.” ref
“Animalism is, to a large extent, a basis for totemism, which involves various permanent relationships of individuals or groups to certain animals or other natural objects; hence, animalism is occasionally called “protototemism.” Individual and cultic totemism, as opposed to group totemism of an almost solely social function, are particularly close to animalism, whereas religious and cultic meanings in group or clan totemism are usually poorly developed. It is not possible to determine to what extent animalism had already assumed the character of true totemism in the Paleolithic Period; the early existence of clan totemism is improbable because it occurs primarily among peoples who are to some extent agrarian, and possibly a certain kind of sedentary life was a prerequisite to its development. Also, special sacrificial traditions were closely connected to game, particularly the custom of preserving the animal skeleton or a part of a skeleton in order to placate the ruler of the animals (see above) and to provide for the continuation of the species.” ref
“A certain kind of bear ceremonialism is rooted in this conception and is to be recognized in several finds and pictures from the Upper Paleolithic Period on. A skin with attached head was evidently draped over the body of a bear made out of clay; the skull and long bones of the bear were buried separately (a practice begun in the Middle Paleolithic Period); the bear was shot with arrows and killed by a shot or a thrust into the lungs; the animal or a bearlike figure was surrounded by dancers. Similar phenomena are documented for more recent periods, above all for the hunting cultures of Neolithic Siberia. These observations can be effortlessly fitted into the practice of bear ceremonialism that is still widely distributed in northern Eurasia and North America. The question of whether animals were the immediate objects of a cult is extremely difficult to judge in each particular case. Nevertheless, with the beginning of the Neolithic Period, animal phenomena appear that probably go beyond functioning merely as a sacrifice and symbol. This applies especially to representations of oxen and bulls and to the symbolism of bull heads and bull horns.” ref
Hunting With the Hadza
“Living near Lake Eyasi in northern Tanzania, the Hadza have managed to preserve their hunter-gatherer way of life for over 30,000 – maybe over 50,000 – years. Their language was once classified with the Khoisan due to similar click sounds, but it has since been reclassified as an isolate – a language unrelated to any other. They are also not closely genetically related to any other tribe. This, combined with their location in the Great Rift Valley, only adds to the intrigue and mystique of these wonderful people. Unlike most African tribes, even their oral history does not indicate that they moved to Hadzaland from elsewhere, making them one of the oldest tribes in Africa, if not the oldest.” ref
“In the absence of honeyguides, the three young hunters were more intent on shooting birds than communicating with them. Boubous, barbets, sparrows, and other small birds fell prey to the Hadza’s traditionally-made bows and arrows – from 30m away, sometimes even further! It’s not surprising they are such good shots. Young Hadza boys get their first bows and arrows at about three years of age – and so begins a life of constant practising and hunting, resulting in the astonishing accuracy and deadly precision we saw displayed. As we continued trailing behind the three young hunters, they would split up and lose sight of one another. They did not speak, but communicated using a range of whistles that enabled them to stealthily blend into their environment with very little disturbance. A few hours (and several small birds) later, the stealthy demeanour of the hunters changed. One shouted out from a distance, his calls echoing through the baobab-dotted landscape. The other two answered loudly and joyfully, their tone signalling that the hunt was over.” ref
“As they ran in the direction of the shouting, we followed as best we could. When we caught up, one hunter stood holding an adult Kirk’s dik-dik with a perfectly placed arrow through the shoulder. No sense of pride, celebration or achievement. He had simply done what he had set out to do, and they now had sufficient meat to return to camp. The dik-dik was slung over a shoulder, and we walked off towards a particularly large baobab. Baobab Trees are common in the area and form a very important part of the Hadza’s existence. The fruit makes up about 13% of their diet, and the trees often conceal large beehives that provide honey for the hunter-gatherers. This one provided shade and demarcated both the kitchen and dining room. The hunters lit a fire in no time and, when it was at its highest, placed the whole, unskinned, unbutchered dik-dik on the leaping flames. Their bows and arrows are still the same lengths as when they were first recorded, the height of the men and women are still the same, their favourite decorative colours, the methods they use to pacify bees with smoke and to collect the prized honey, and even the whistles and calls they share with the honeyguides, are all still the same.” ref
They relaxed and sat around chatting, and plucking the birds they had killed. Once all the hair had been burnt off the dik-dik, it was taken off the fire and gutted. The liver, diaphragm, and some cuts of shoulder were placed directly onto the now smouldering coals, as were the small birds. We were all offered a piece of the meat, but the birds were kept for the hunters themselves. They handle different kills in very specific ways. Small birds are eaten in the bush by the hunters, while larger prey that is small enough to be carried is taken back to be shared at camp. If they kill a big animal such as a kudu or giraffe, the whole camp is moved to the food source, where they feast for days. After being out for several hours, we headed back to camp, walking beneath the cathedral-like baobabs, musing over the day’s events, and the future of these amazing people. Authenticity and the pursuit thereof is something we all strive for, and seek to achieve in our lives. So, when we come across something truly authentic, we are faced with the dilemma of whether to share it or not.” ref
Hunting and Gathering by the Nordic Region Sami
“Sapmi is the homeland of the Sami peoples. Sapmi covers a large area (approximately 388,500 km2) of northern Norway, Sweden, Finland, and the Kola Peninsula of Russia. Long before man domesticated plants and animals for consumption, he lived what is called a “hunter-gatherer” lifestyle. This means his method of subsistence consisted of hunting, fishing, and trapping wild animals and gathering edible wild plant species. The Sami people, natives of the Scandinavian Arctic and sub-Arctic, survived for over 10,000 years as hunter-gatherers in a harsh environment. Like other hunter-gatherer societies of the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions of the world, this was only possible by having an intimate knowledge of the unique environment in which they lived. Besides having different methods of food acquisition, hunter-gatherer peoples differed from modern agricultural societies in several cultural respects. Because of the limited distribution of wild resources, the number of peoples that could survive on a given area of land was limited by the land’s capability of producing a sustainable food supply. Therefore, hunter-gatherers typically lived in “band”-level social units, consisting of one to several families. These bands were typically egalitarian, shared resources, and hunted and gathered cooperatively. These groups could split up or join with other bands in order to best exploit resources.” ref
“Also, because hunting and gathering depends on the health and vitality of the natural environment, these peoples tended to live a sustainable lifestyle by limiting their impact on nature. Some cultural differences existed among Sami peoples due to geographical variations and resulting differences in local ecosystems in which the groups resided. A good example of this in the common distinction between Sami living near and on the coast of Sapmi, known as “Coastal” or “Sea Sami,” as opposed to Sami who lived in the interior of Sapmi, who are called “Forest Sami” or “Mountain Sami.” Both groups relied heavily on reindeer and fish, although to varying degrees. Reindeer, which were domesticated by the Sami as decoy animals and beasts of burden, were also used for hunting. Tame female reindeer were used during mating season to lure bulls into range of bow and arrow or spear. Also, snares were sometimes placed in the antlers of tame bull reindeers during the rut. Wild reindeer that attempted to fight the decoy would become entangled in the snare and then be slaughtered by hunters.” ref
“Domesticated dogs, now known as the lapphund, were also used by the Sami to hunt reindeer. The dogs could either be used for tracking of could participate in herding reindeer into snares or corrals. Another method of hunting reindeer was to chase them down in deep snow while on skis, and then killing them with bow and arrow or spear. While reindeer were by far the most important resource for the Sami, other food sources were exploited when and where available. Bear hunting also played an important function in Sami culture and religion. The European brown bear, known as “him with a pelt,” was hunted according to a specific ritual. Bears found hibernating during the winter were awakened by hunters. Then, as the bear exited its den and reared up on its hind legs, a hunter would place a spear under its chest and brace it against the ground. The bear would then be impaled on the spear as it lunged toward the hunter. Although the bear was eaten, a ceremony was performed to appease its spirit. The bones were then placed in the correct anatomical position and were buried in a grave.” ref
The Myth of Man the Hunter: Women’s contribution to the hunt across ethnographic contexts
“The sexual division of labor among human foraging populations has typically been recognized as involving males as hunters and females as gatherers. Recent archeological research has questioned this paradigm with evidence that females hunted (and went to war) throughout the Homo sapiens lineage, though many of these authors assert the pattern of women hunting may only have occurred in the past. The current project gleans data from across the ethnographic literature to investigate the prevalence of women hunting in foraging societies in more recent times. Evidence from the past one hundred years supports archaeological finds from the Holocene that women from a broad range of cultures intentionally hunt for subsistence. These results aim to shift the male-hunter female-gatherer paradigm to account for the significant role females have in hunting, thus dramatically shifting stereotypes of labor, as well as mobility.” ref
Female cooperative labour networks in hunter–gatherers and horticulturalists
“Cooperation in food acquisition is a hallmark of the human species. Given that costs and benefits of cooperation vary among production regimes and work activities, the transition from hunting-and-gathering to agriculture is likely to have reshaped the structure of cooperative subsistence networks. Hunter–gatherers often forage in groups and are generally more interdependent and experience higher short-term food acquisition risk than horticulturalists, suggesting that cooperative labour should be more widespread and frequent for hunter–gatherers. Here we compare female cooperative labour networks of Batek hunter–gatherers of Peninsular Malaysia and Tsimane forager–horticulturalists of Bolivia. We find that Batek foraging results in high daily variation in labour partnerships, facilitating frequent cooperation in diffuse networks comprised of kin and non-kin. By contrast, Tsimane horticulture involves more restricted giving and receiving of labour, confined mostly to spouses and primary or distant kin. Tsimane women also interact with a few individuals in the context of hunting/fishing activities and forage mainly with spouses and primary kin. These differences give rise to camp- or village-level networks that are more modular (have more substructure when partitioned) among Tsimane horticulturalists. Our findings suggest that subsistence activities shape the formation and extent of female social networks, particularly with respect to connections with other women and non-kin. Researchers discuss the implications of restricted female labour networks in the context of gender relations, power dynamics, and the adoption of farming in humans.” ref
Hunter-gatherer men are not the selfless providers we thought
“Fearless men hunt big animals and women pick berries, and that tells us a lot about our societies today, right? Maybe not, according to a new study of modern hunter-gatherer men who have a surprising sweet tooth and a reluctance to share. RESEARCHERS HAVE LONG considered hunter-gatherer men as hard-working, selfless mates, hardly eating anything during their long hunting trips and saving most of the food they collected for their families and friends back home. This arrangement has been considered a key aspect in the evolution of our society, says Colette Berbesque, an anthropologist from the University of Roehampton in London. “Some scientists believe that men’s hunting and sharing meat with their family and other members of the community is one of the most critical elements in human evolution, and has led to traits such as our large brains, our long lifespan, and our ability to be highly cooperative,” she says. However, a new study published in the journal Evolution & Human Behaviour – led by Colette, working with researchers from the US, UK, and Tanzania – begs to differ. After following the daily activities of 75 hunter-gatherer men of the Hadza tribe in northern Tanzania for almost 1000 hours, the researchers found these men were not quite the family providers everyone thought – they ate most of the food they collected, and it turns out they have a sweet tooth for honey. The Hadza are one of the few remaining hunter-gatherer societies that continue to follow a traditional lifestyle, which can be traced back to our early beginnings. It is thought that the first humans were hunter-gatherers, and even our non-human ancestors, such as Homo erectus, are believed to have been hunter-gatherers.” ref
“Today, the Hadza tribe is made up of about 1000 people. Men in this society are in charge of finding meat, the main source of protein for the whole community, while women gather roots, fruits and other foods they can find. Scientists have pondered two main ideas to explain the behaviour of modern hunter-gatherer men. One suggests the men are doing their best to find food for their families, and if they come home with nothing, it’s because it was not possible to find food, leaving them to rely on food gathered by their wives and possibly other men to share meat with them. The alternative scenario suggests men are trying to hunt for large game, and so they might pass up smaller animals because the goal is not so much to feed their families, “but more to show off,” explains Colette. Contradicting both hypotheses, this recent study found Hadza hunter-gatherer men actually ate most of the food they found, bringing back less than less than 10% of what they collected. They also had a keen taste for honey, consuming all they could when they found it. In fact, during the researchers’ observations, honey was found and eaten roughly every other time a hunter left camp to hunt and they ate most of it – providing over 85% of all the calories Hadza men consumed before bringing anything home for others. They weren’t just snacking, either – they were eating 2,405 calories per day on average. “What we found does not support either of these ideas very well,” says Colette. “They neither showed off, nor killed themselves to bring the food they found home for their families. They usually ate what they needed and returned with the rest.” ref
Australia’s Martu – selfless hunters for social capital
“These new findings don’t apply to all hunter-gatherer groups, says Rebecca Bird, an anthropologist from Penn State University in the USA, who has worked extensively with the Martu people from central Western Australia, who still hunt and gather using ancient traditional customs. During her research, Rebecca observed Martu men eating only minimal amounts of food during their hunting trips – “just enough to keep from collapsing with hunger,” she says. “For the older people, I’ve even seen them come across a tiny patch of fruit and eat only one or two, and save the rest to share amongst everyone sitting around the fire at the end of the day.” Martu men also go out on their own or sometimes in pairs but, unlike Hadza, they bring back most of their bounty – and Rebecca thinks an important reason for this has to do with how others will see them. “If you were to eat before you took the food back to camp, it would be incredibly selfish of you, you’d get a reputation as a greedy person, and you would appear to be an unsuccessful, unskilled hunter. You get a lot of social capital by coming back starving and showing you can wait until everyone eats,” she says.” ref
“The behaviour of the Hadza resembles more of a “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” approach, says Colette, and so the findings of this new study add a twist to the classic story of the selfless hunter-gatherer man. So why are the Hadza eating most of the food they find, while the Martu share? Rebecca says there may be more at stake for the Martu than just bringing home the bacon. “Maybe the Martu are so generous because they are building trust for cooperation in other ways, which might be due to their highly unpredictable environment,” she says. “Men in particular don’t hunt cooperatively very often, but they do cooperate in ritual business and build alliances very carefully to avert possible fights. In the past, alliances were very important for obtaining marriage partners.” The Hadza, by contrast, do not form complex or long-standing political alliances, says Colette. “The Hadza are very egalitarian […] this means trying to get social prestige has the potential to backfire, and make a Hadza man look like he is trying to be a leader –which is something they resist as a group,” she explains, adding, “Most of our previous ideas about how Hadza men shared came from large game, which is relatively rare and treated differently from other foraged foods. It is shared widely perhaps because it is fairly rare to get and can’t be eaten by a single person before it goes bad.” ref
Tutelary Deities
“A tutelary 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. Chinese folk religion, both past and present, includes a myriad of tutelary deities. Exceptional individuals may become deified after death. In Hinduism, tutelary deities are known as ishta-devata and Kuldevi or Kuldevta. Gramadevata are guardian deities of villages. In Korean shamanism, jangseung and sotdae were placed at the edge of villages to frighten off demons. They were also worshiped as deities. 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. In Philippine animism, Diwata or Lambana are deities or spirits that inhabit sacred places like mountains and mounds and serve as guardians. Thai provincial capitals have tutelary city pillars and palladiums. The guardian spirit of a house is known as Chao Thi or Phra Phum. Almost every Buddhist household in Thailand has a miniature shrine housing this tutelary deity, known as a spirit house. And in Tibetan Buddhism has Yidam as a tutelary deity.” ref
Grandmother-Mother Ancestor Spirits
“Ancestor worship is perhaps the world’s oldest religion. Some anthropologists theorize that it grew out of belief in some societies that dead people still exist in some form because they appear in dreams. Ancestor worship involves the belief that the dead live on as spirits and that it is the responsibility of their family members and descendants to make sure that they are well taken care of. If they are not they may come back and cause trouble to the family members and descendants that have ignored or disrespected them. Unhappy dead ancestors are greatly feared and every effort is made to make sure they are comfortable in the afterlife. Accidents and illnesses are often attributed to deeds performed by the dead and cures are often attempts to placate them.” ref
“In some societies, people go out of their way to be nice to one another, especially older people, out of fear of the nasty things they might do when they die. Ancestor worship is found in many forms in cultures throughout the world, Veneration of ancestors is regarded as a means through which an individual can assure his or her own immortality. Children are valued because they could provide for the spirits of their parents after death. Family members who remained together and venerated their forebears with strict adherence to prescribed ritual find comfort in the belief that the souls of their ancestors are receiving proper spiritual nourishment and that they are insuring their own soul’s nourishment after death.” ref
“Göbekli Tepe, engraving of a female person (seemingly in the birth position) and the Bear totem pole
giving birth to a human with pottery are from layer II, around 10,000 years ago.” ref
“Göbekli Tepe is a Neolithic archaeological site in Upper Mesopotamia (al-Jazira) in modern-day Turkey. The settlement was inhabited from around 9500 BCE to at least 8000 BCE or around 11,500 to 10,000 years ago, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic. Elements of village life appeared as early as 10,000 years before the Neolithic in places, and the transition to agriculture took thousands of years, with different paces and trajectories in different regions. It is famous for its large circular structures that contain massive stone pillars – among the world’s oldest known megaliths. Many of these pillars are decorated with anthropomorphic details, clothing, and sculptural reliefs of wild animals, providing archaeologists rare insights into prehistoric religion and the particular iconography of the period. The 15 m (50 ft) high, 8 ha (20-acre) tell is densely covered with ancient domestic structures and other small buildings, quarries, and stone-cut cisterns from the Neolithic, as well as some traces of activity from later periods. The site was first used at the dawn of the southwest Asian Neolithic period, which marked the appearance of the oldest permanent human settlements anywhere in the world. Prehistorians link this Neolithic Revolution to the advent of agriculture but disagree on whether farming caused people to settle down or vice versa. Göbekli Tepe, a monumental complex built on a rocky mountaintop with no clear evidence of agricultural cultivation, has played a prominent role in this debate. Recent findings suggest a settlement at Göbekli Tepe, with domestic structures, extensive cereal processing, a water supply, and tools associated with daily life. This contrasts with a previous interpretation of the site as a sanctuary used by nomads, with few or no permanent inhabitants. No definitive purpose has been determined for the megalithic structures, which have been popularly described as the “world’s first temple[s]”. They were likely roofed and appear to have regularly collapsed, been inundated by slope slides, and subsequently repaired or rebuilt. The iconography of these objects is similar to that of the pillars, mostly depicting animals but also humans, again primarily male.” ref
“The architecture and iconography are similar to other contemporary sites in the vicinity, such as Karahan Tepe. Evidence indicates the inhabitants of Göbekli Tepe were hunter-gatherers who supplemented their diet with early forms of domesticated cereal and lived in villages for at least part of the year. Archaeologists divide the Pre-Pottery Neolithic into two subperiods: the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA, c. 9600–8800 BCE) and the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB, c. 8800 and 7000 BCE). The earliest phases at Göbekli Tepe have been dated to the PPNA; later phases to the PPNB. PPN villages consisted mainly of clusters of stone or mud brick houses, but sometimes also substantial monuments and large buildings. These include the tower and walls at Tell es-Sultan (Jericho), as well as large, roughly contemporaneous circular buildings at Göbekli Tepe, Nevalı Çori, Çayönü, Wadi Feynan 16, Jerf el-Ahmar, Tell ‘Abr 3, and Tepe Asiab. Archaeologists typically associate these structures with communal activities which, together with the communal effort needed to build them, helped to maintain social interactions in PPN communities as they grew in size. The T-shaped pillar tradition seen at Göbekli Tepe is unique to the Urfa region but is found at most PPN sites. These include Nevalı Çori, Hamzan Tepe, Karahan Tepe, Harbetsuvan Tepesi, Sefer Tepe, and Taslı Tepe. Other stone stelae—without the characteristic T shape—have been documented at contemporary sites further afield, including Çayönü, Qermez Dere, and Gusir Höyük.” ref
Animal Deities? Are the Bull symbol on the side and the big cat a Possible Type of or similar to a Tutelary Deity? Then there is yet another grouping of three animals, one being an odd bulged head bull, could they possibly be a Type of or similar to Tutelary Deities?
Göbekli Tepe involves a male-dominated society?
“So far, every known depiction – as long as their sex is clearly recognizable – seems to be male, be it animals or humans. The only exception is a later added graffiti of a single woman on a stone slab in one of the later PPN B buildings. While this may somehow denote the site of Göbekli Tepe as a refuge of male hunters, it does, of course, not at all mean that women did not play a role in PPN society. There is a wide range of finds clearly connected to women in the contemporary settlements for instance – however, at Göbekli Tepe they (respectively their activity) remain invisible as of yet.” ref
I see a similarity in the bear art that I think could be female as well as doing the same spread leg gesture.
Women and Sacred (BEARS) Animals?
“In the “hunters’ religion” preserved among the northern Finno-Ugric peoples, bear ceremonies are central. The Khanty, Mansi, Nenets, Sami, Finns, and Karelians have all been acquainted with myths and rites connected with the bear. The myths recount that the bear is of heavenly origin and is the son of the god of the sky; it descends from heaven and, when it dies, returns there. There is also a story about a marriage between a bear and a woman from which a tribe of the Skolt Sami (in Finland) is said to be descended. The bear-killing ceremony is divided into two acts—the killing itself and the feast afterward. Killing a bear that was protected by a forest guardian spirit involved a complicated ritual, which ended with bringing the bear home. Women believed that they had to keep at a distance so that the bear would not make them pregnant.” ref
Ancestor veneration in China: “Chinese traditional primordial religion” has been defined as the traditional religious system organized around the worship of ancestor-gods. Chinese ancestor worship, or Chinese ancestor veneration, also called the Chinese patriarchal religion, is an aspect of the Chinese traditional religion that revolves around the ritual celebration of the deified ancestors and tutelary deities of people with the same surname organized into lineage societies in ancestral shrines. Ancestors, their ghosts, or spirits, and gods are considered part of “this world”, that is, they are neither supernatural (in the sense of being outside nature) nor transcendent in the sense of being organized beyond nature. The ancestors are humans who have become godly beings, beings who keep their individual identities. For this reason, Chinese religion is founded on the veneration of ancestors. Ancestors are believed to be a means of connection to the supreme power of god Tian as they are considered embodiments or reproducers of the creative order of Heaven.” ref
“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 pagan religions 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, with examples including the Greek Hestia and Norse Frigg. 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.” ref
I view these art scenes as hunting cult behavior of the early paganist males with a totemistic type of warrior-shaman, in demonstrations of bravery taunting and ritually playing with strong animals such as bears and bulls. Cult ritual, not just standard hunting. None of the average male hunters are depicted as wearing a leopard skin crown. It is thus a special or elite thing to wear a leopard skin crown and only a few have this. Moreover, I see this not as standard hunting for food but rather cult ritual hunting behaviors. At Catal Huyuk, some of the cultic hunting scenes depict possible goddesses, female shamanistic pagan figures, or female ancestor spirits. However, possibly it could be all of these characteristics, which was a female ancestor spirit of a female shaman that turned into a goddess or demigoddess protector. Is there one ancestor goddess or demigoddess in each of these three hunting scenes? Well, I think it likely could be so or at least something like that as all others seem to be men. ref, ref, ref, ref
To me, my referencing of Catal Huyuk cultic hunting totemistic “warrior-shaman” type it meant to be similar in some ways to the Norse and Germanic peoples paganistic shamanism that involved a sacred trance-like battle-fury closely linked to a particular totem animal, which for Catal Huyuk males was seemingly the leopard (wearer of “leopard -shirts”) and whom I surmise believed they drew their power from the leopard and were devoted to leopard cults. Viking Age “warrior-shamans” had two main totem animal groups, such as the berserkers (wearer of “bear-shirts”) who thought they drew their power from the bear and were devoted to bear cults and ulfheonar (“wolf-hides”) who thought they drew their power from the bear and were devoted to bear cults. Moreover, the wolf type of warrior-shamans appears among the legends of the Indo-Europeans, Turks, Mongols, and even Native American cultures. ref, ref
Cultic Hunting at Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city”
12,000 years ago, a shaman woman was buried at Çemka Höyük in Turkey, similar to others, like the 12,000 shaman woman burial in Israel as well as the phenomenon of Shamanism and the feminine
“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
ref
Haplogroup R possible time of origin about 27,000 years in Central Asia, South Asia, or Siberia:
- Mal’ta–Buret’ culture (24,000-15,000 years ago)
- Afontova Gora culture (21,000-12,000 years ago)
- Trialetian culture (16,000–8000 years ago)
- Samara culture (7,000-6,500 years ago)
- Khvalynsk culture (7,000-6,500 years ago)
- Afanasievo culture (5,300-4,500 years ago)
- Yamna/Yamnaya Culture (5,300-4,500 years ago)
- Andronovo culture (4,000–2,900 years ago) ref
Trialetian sites
Caucasus and Transcaucasia:
- Edzani (Georgia)
- Chokh (Azerbaijan), layers E-C200
- Kotias Klde, layer B” ref
Eastern Anatolia:
- Hallan Çemi[9] (from ca. 8.6-8.5k BC to 7.6-7.5k BCE)
- Nevali Çori shows some Trialetian admixture in a PPNB context” ref
Trialetian influences can also be found in:
- Cafer Höyük
- Boy Tepe” ref
Southeast of the Caspian Sea:
- Hotu (Iran)
- Ali Tepe (Iran) (from cal. 10,500 to 8,870 BCE)
- Belt Cave (Iran), layers 28-11 (the last remains date from ca. 6,000 BCE)
- Dam-Dam-Cheshme II (Turkmenistan), layers7,000-3,000 BCE)” ref
“The belonging of these Caspian Mesolithic sites to the Trialetian has been questioned. Little is known about the end of the Trialetian. 6k BC has been proposed as the time on which the decline phase took place. From this date are the first evidence of the Jeitunian, an industry that has probably evolved from the Trialetian. Also from this date are the first pieces of evidence of Neolithic materials in the Belt cave.” ref
“In the southwest corner of the Trialetian region it has been proposed that this culture evolved towards a local version of the PPNB around 7,000 BCE, in sites as Cafer Höyük. Kozłowski suggests that the Trialetian does not seem to have continuation in the Neolithic of Georgia (as for example in Paluri and Kobuleti). Although in the 5,000 BCE certain microliths similar to those of the Trialetian reappear in Shulaveris Gora (see Shulaveri-Shomu) and Irmis Gora.” ref
“The genome of a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer individual found at the layer A2 of the Kotias Klde rock shelter in Georgia (labeled KK1), dating from 9,700 years ago, has been analyzed. This individual forms a genetic cluster with another hunter-gatherer from the Satsurblia Cave, the so-called Caucasian Hunter-Gatherer (CHG) cluster. KK1 belongs to the Y-chromosome haplogruoup J2a (an independent analysis has assigned him J2a1b-Y12379*).” ref
“Although the belonging of the Caspian Mesolithic to the Trialetian has been questioned, it is worth noting that genetic similarities have been found between an Mesolithic hunther-gatherer from the Hotu cave (labeled Iran_HotuIIIb) dating from 9,100-8,600 BCE and the CHG from Kotias Klde. The Iran_HotuIIIb individual belongs to the Y-chromosome haplogroup J (xJ2a1b3, J2b2a1a1) (an independent analysis yields J2a-CTS1085(xCTS11251,PF5073) -probably J2a2-). Then, both KK1 and Iran_HotuIIIb individuals share a paternal ancestor that lived approximately 18.7k years ago (according to the estimates of full). At the autosomal level, it falls in the cluster of the CHG’s and the Iranian Neolithic Farmers.” ref
“Göbekli Tepe (“Potbelly Hill”) is a Neolithic archaeological site near the city of Şanlıurfa in Southeastern Anatolia, Turkey. Dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic, between c. 9500 and 8000 BCE, the site comprises a number of large circular structures supported by massive stone pillars – the world’s oldest known megaliths. Many of these pillars are richly decorated with abstract anthropomorphic details, clothing, and reliefs of wild animals, providing archaeologists rare insights into prehistoric religion and the particular iconography of the period..” ref
“North Africa is considered a distinct geographic and ethnic entity within Africa. shaped by the back-migration of several Eurasian lineages in Paleolithic and Neolithic times. More recent influences from sub-Saharan Africa and Mediterranean Europe are also evident. Northwest Algeria’s population has Y-chromosome haplogroups E and R, which are the most prevalent in North Africa and Europe, respectively. The Eurasian component in Algeria is 90% for the Y chromosome. The unexpected presence of the European-derived Y-chromosome lineages R-M412, R-S116, R-U152, and R-M529 in Algeria and the rest of the Maghreb could point to direct maritime contacts between the European and North African sides of the western Mediterranean. Male lineages also provide support to a Paleolithic Asia to Africa back migration with Holocene trans-Saharan spreads as testified by the haplogroup R-V88 distribution. A wet period beginning around 9,000 years ago brought Saharan and Mediterranean Neolithic influences to the autochthonous Capsian Epipaleolithic. It seems that since that time, Berber Afroasiatic dialects gave some cultural homogeneity to the anthropologically diverse populations of the Maghreb. In historical times, North Africa was affected by the expansion of several Mediterranean civilizations, particularly the Phoenicians and Romans, who left their cultural influences with only minor demic impact on the Berber population.” ref
“E-V65, E-M81 and J1-M267 confirm the geographic and ethnic identity of Algeria but, while E-M81 represents an autochthonous group that sharply decreases in Egypt, J1-M267 points to a Levantine influence. Haplogroups G-M201, L-M20, R2-M124, T-M70, J2-M172 and the majority of derived J2 sub-groups all reflect West Asian influences on Europe with only weak inputs on North Africa. On their part, several European I sub-groups also extend to West Asia with minor gene flow to the African countries. Exceptions to this general pattern are the subgroups J2-M67 and R-M412 that have similar frequencies in Algeria as in Europe, and R2-M124 whose frequency in Egypt is not significantly different from the mean value of European and West Asian areas. Within North Africa, the Maghreb region appears well differentiated from Egypt, which, reflecting its geographical position, is near to the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula. The most influential haplogroups in the first component separation are: E-M81, E-V65 and R-V88 that pull the North African countries together, and J-M172, R-M173, R-M17, R-M124 and R-L23 that pull West Asian countries in the opposite direction. In the second component, haplogroups R-L11, R-M529, R-U198, I-M223 and I-M26 are responsible for the spread of the European Mediterranean countries away from Egypt and Arabia, which in turn are pulled by J-M267, B-M60, E-V22 and E-M123.” ref
Origin and diffusion of human Y chromosome haplogroup J1-M267
“Human Y chromosome haplogroup J1-M267 is a common male lineage in West Asia. Studies associate this haplogroup with the spread of farming from the Fertile Crescent to Europe, the spread of mobile pastoralism in the desert regions of the Arabian Peninsula, the history of the Jews, and the spread of Islam. Haplogroup J1-M267. We show that this haplogroup evolved ~ 20,000 years ago somewhere in northwestern Iran, the Caucasus, the Armenian Highland, and northern Mesopotamia. The major branch—J1a1a1-P58—evolved during the early Holocene ~ 9500 years ago somewhere in the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, and southern Mesopotamia. Haplogroup J1-M267 expanded during the Chalcolithic, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age. Most probably, the spread of Afro-Asiatic languages, the spread of mobile pastoralism in the arid zones, or both of these events together explain the distribution of haplogroup J1-M267 we see today in the southern regions of West Asia. Haplogroup J1a1a1-P58 started to diverge most probably in a region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the southern Levant, and southern Mesopotamia. The small-scale migration of people from northern West Asia to these regions, among whom J1a1a1-P58 evolved, obviously occurred between the origins of J1a1a-Z2359 and J1a1a1-P58. The most conservative estimate is 7,400–15,700 years ago.” ref
“Studies associate haplogroup J-M304 with the spread of farming from the Near East to Europe. Around the time of the Neolithic demographic transition, the genome-wide ancestry of West Asian populations was geographically structured into three groups. Among them, haplogroup J-M304 is found in the Caucasus/Iranian and Anatolian hunter-gatherers and farmers, but not in the Levantine ones. Unfortunately, so far aDNA studies are missing from the Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia, where haplogroup J-M304 is frequent nowadays. This haplogroup splits into J1-M267 and J2-M172. While haplogroup J2-M172 is associated more with agriculture in the northern latitudes of West Asia, haplogroup J1-M267 has been connected with the spread of the pastoral economies in the West Asian arid zones. The distribution pattern of haplogroup J1-M267 is remarkable. It has two high-frequency regions—one in the Northeast Caucasus and another in the Arabian Peninsula, southern Mesopotamia, and the southern Levant. The region between them has a lower frequency, but high genetic diversity. A unique SNP marker—known as P58 or Page8—defines the major branch, which according to different classifications, is named as J1c3, J1e, J1b, or J1a2a1a2. This branch is prevalent in the Arabian Peninsula, southern Iraq, and the Levant. Y chromosome haplogroup J1-M267 evolved in the northern parts of West Asia around the LGM. A limited number of founders migrated south—to the Arabian Peninsula, the southern Levant, and southern Mesopotamia, where the J1a1a1-P58 branch evolved in the early Holocene. Haplogroup J1-M267 expanded during the Chalcolithic, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age, coinciding with the spread of Afro-Asiatic languages combined with the diffusion of arid pastoralism in the desert regions of West Asia. The spread of Islam did not substantially affect the distribution of haplogroup J1-M267 in West Asia.” ref
“Haplogroup J1-M267 probably evolved in the region encompassing northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran 9,000 to 24,000 years ago. The oldest human aDNA reported so far, belonging to this haplogroup, originates from an individual, who lived ~ 13,300 years ago in the Caucasus during the Late Upper Paleolithic. Previous studies have linked different past environmental, demographic, and cultural events to the current distribution of this haplogroup. The early presence of the J1a1a-Z2359 branch adjacent to present-day northern Iran suggests the origin of this branch in the northern West Asian regions. The J1a1a2-ZS4393 branch consists of two recently diverged samples from Yemen. Our phylogeographic survey has identified specimens likely connected to this branch. These specimens occur over a wide geographic area encompassing West Asia and East Africa. In East Africa, 40% of haplogroup J1-M267 lineages belong to this group. J1a1a1-P58 represents the major branch of haplogroup J1-M267. The frequency culminates in the Arabian Peninsula, southern Mesopotamia, and the southern Levant. Moderate frequencies occur in the northern parts of West Asia, North Africa, and East Africa. Lower frequencies occur in Europe, Central Asia, and South Asia. It is defined by 23 SNPs and coalesces 9,500 years ago (95% HPD = 7,400–11,700 years ago).” ref
“Early splitting of the J1a1a1-P58 branch results in the minor branches and singleton lineages distributed overwhelmingly among the modern populations of the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, southern Mesopotamia, and East Africa. These are J1a1a1b-Z18315, J1a1a1a2-ZS1280, J1a1a1a3-B2146 and J1a1a1a1b-B2062. In the northern parts of West Asia, they are virtually absent. A sub-branch of J1a1a1-P58—J1a1a1a1a-Z1853—coalesces ~ 7,300 years ago (95% HPD = 5,700–9,000 years ago). This branch retains an important phylogeographic mark as the branch to which most of the northern West Asian J1a1a1-P58 lineages belong. Nevertheless, the J1a1a1a1a-Z1853 branch occurs primarily in the southern regions of West Asia. Most of the ancient members are found in the Levant and Egypt. Among them is the oldest known aDNA, belonging to haplogroup J1a1a1-P58. Minor branches of the J1a1a1a1a-Z1853 contain samples from Europe as well. These are J1a1a1a1a1b-Z18297, J1a1a1a1a1a2-ZS2524, and J1a1a1a1a1a1b-B2069, coalescing ~ 4,000–6,000 years ago.” ref
“Haplogroup J1-M267 time from its origin at the late LGM until ~ 6,000 years ago. The ancestral population of haplogroup J1-M267 was not impacted by the putative population expansion during the Neolithic. After ~ 6,000 years ago, effective population size of haplogroup J1-M267 grows intensively until ~ 2,000 years ago. Analysis suggests the origin of haplogroup J1-M267 in West Asia, confirming previous assumptions. Most of the deeply diverged lineages belong to the populations from the northern latitudes of the region, in line with the finding of the late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer from the South Caucasus. Our analyses provide better statistical confidence for the origin of haplogroup J1-M267 in the area encompassing the Caucasus, the Armenian Highland, and the Zagros Mountains. Ancient populations living in the Caucasus and the Zagros Mountains also shared genome-wide ancestry, differing from that of the Levantine and Anatolian populations during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Therefore, the Y chromosome haplogroup J1-M267 and genome-wide ancestry support similar conclusions about human demography in the region at this time. At least three branches of the haplogroup J1-M267 diversified ~ 13,000 years ago. These are J1b-F4306, J1a2-PH77, and J1a1a-Z2359. During these cold and harsh climatic conditions—known as the Younger Dryas (11,700–12,900 years ago)—the mountainous areas in northern West Asia likely ensured enough resources for the survival of the populations among which these lineages evolved.” ref
“The frequency of modern variation and the phylogeny of the J1a1b-Z18375 branch suggest an origin in the Caucasus or the immediate vicinity. Compared to other Caucasian lineages (J1b-F4306 and J1a2-PH77), this branch diversified later: in the Chalcolithic or the Bronze Age ~ 6,500 years ago (95% HPD = 5,000–8,000 years ago). Interestingly, an ancient individual from the Caucasus belonging to J1a1b-Z18375 is found in the assemblage of the Bronze Age Kura-Araxes cultural tradition. This cultural tradition probably originated in the Caucasus and may explain the radiation of this branch. This finding is consistent with the autosomal DNA analysis of the Anatolian Bronze Age individuals who trace ~ 32% of their ancestry ultimately from the Caucasus hunter-gatherers/Iranian farmers. The presence of the ancient Levantine J1a1b-Z18375 individuals and the sub-branch composed by an Assyrian, an Iraqi, and an individual with Turkish ancestry, coalescing ~ 3,300 years ago (95% HPD = 2,400–4,300 years ago), may be explained by the suggested connection of the Hurro-Urartian languages with the eastern Caucasian languages within the so-called Alarodian language family. More samples are necessary to better understand the demographic processes that shaped the distribution of the J1a1b-Z18375 branch.” ref
“Haplogroup J1a1a1-P58 diverged starting from ~ 9,500 years ago (95% HPD = 7,400–11,700 years ago), i.e. during the early Holocene. This time corresponds to the origin of farming in West Asia. Nevertheless, the population size of haplogroup J1-M267 remained small during the early Holocene, contrary to the conclusions suggested previously. Phylogeographic analysis reveals that the initial divergence results in lineages mostly present in the Arabian Peninsula, the southern Levant, and southern Mesopotamia. In contrast, all, but one northern West Asian representatives of this branch belong to the lineage coalescing only ~ 7.,300 years ago (95% HPD = 5,700–9,000 years ago). On average, this postdates the TMRCA of the entire haplogroup J1a1a1-P58 by ~ 2,000 years ago. Bayesian phylogeographic analysis, genotypes of additional samples as well as the prevalence of haplogroup J1a1a1-P58 support its origin in the southern regions of West Asia. Our conclusions contradict the earlier suggestions based on the high diversity of Y chromosome STRs in the populations of the Zagros and Taurus Mountains and northern Mesopotamia. However, the high STR diversity may be better explained by the different coalescence patterns of haplogroup J1a1a1-P58 in the northern versus the southern regions of West Asia. A larger number of samples—coalescing, on average, to more recent times in the southern regions—may shift the modal haplotype from the root haplotype and bias their STR-based TMRCA estimates. Moreover, earlier studies noticed high STR-based TMRCAs in the southern populations of the Arabian Peninsula.” ref
Haplogroup J2 DNA and “Herding cult paganism”
Haplogroup J2 is related to the diffusion of domesticated cattle and goats, and thus to me, the “Herding cult paganism,” not the cereal Agriculture “Farming Cult paganism.”
“J2b DNA West Iran Early Neolithic (8205–7756 BCE or 10,205 to 9,756 years ago): one of three people from Tepe Abdul Hosein, located South East of Ganj Dareh in Central Zagros. J2b, which is estimated at 15,800 years ago, while AH2 DNA is about 10,000 years old.” ref
J2 Hunter-Gatherers became Hunter/Herders
“It is possible that J2 hunter-gatherers then goat/sheep herders also lived in the Fertile Crescent during the Neolithic period, although the development of early cereal agriculture is thought to have been conducted by men belonging primarily to haplogroups G2a (northern branch, from Anatolia to Europe), as well as E1b1b and T1a (southern branch, from the Levant to the Arabian peninsula and North Africa). The geographic distribution of haplogroup J2 suggests that it could initially have dispersed during the Neolithic from the Zagros mountains and northern Mesopotamia across the Iranian plateau to South Asia and Central Asia, and across the Caucasus to Russia (Volga-Ural). The first expansion probably correlated with the diffusion of domesticated of cattle and goats (starting c. 8000-9000 BCE), rather than with the development of cereal agriculture in the Levant. There is a distinct association of ancient J2 civilisations with bull worship. The oldest evidence of a cult of the bull can be traced back to Neolithic central Anatolia, notably at the sites of Çatalhöyük and Alaca Höyük. Bull depictions are omnipresent in Minoan frescos and ceramics in Crete. Bull-masked terracotta figurines and bull-horned stone altars have been found in Cyprus (dating back as far as the Neolithic, the first presumed expansion of J2 from West Asia). The Hattians, Sumerians, Babylonians, Canaaites, and Carthaginians all had bull deities (in contrast with Indo-European or East Asian religions). The sacred bull of Hinduism, Nandi, present in all temples dedicated to Shiva or Parvati, does not have an Indo-European origin, but can be traced back to Indus Valley civilisation. Minoan Crete, Hittite Anatolia, the Levant, Bactria, and the Indus Valley also shared a tradition of bull leaping, the ritual of dodging the charge of a bull. It survives today in the traditional bullfighting of Andalusia in Spain and Provence in France, two regions with a high percentage of J2 lineages.” ref
“In human genetics, Haplogroup J-M172 or J2 is a Y-chromosome haplogroup which is a subclade (branch) of haplogroup J-M304. Haplogroup J-M172 or J2 is common in modern populations in Western Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Southern Europe, Northwestern Iran, and North Africa. It is thought that J-M172 may have originated in the Caucasus, Anatolia, and/or Western Iran. Ancient J-M410, specifically subclade J-Y12379*, has been found, in a Mesolithic context, in a tooth from the Kotias Klde Cave in western Georgia from the Late Upper Palaeolithic (13,300 years old) and the Mesolithic (9,700 years old). This sample has been assigned to the Caucasus hunter-gatherers (CHG) autosomal component. J-M410, more specifically its subclade J-PF5008, has also been found in a Mesolithic sample from the Hotu and Kamarband Caves located in Mazandaran Province of Iran, dating back to 9,100-8,600 BCE (approximately 11,000 years ago). Both samples belong to the Trialetian Culture. It is likely that J2 men had settled over most of Anatolia, the South Caucasus, and the Zagros mountains by the end of the Last Glaciation 12,000 years ago.” ref
“Likely the earliest known migration of J2, expanded possibly from Anatolia and the Caucasus. Today’s populations, Eu 9 (the post-mutation form of M172) is strongest in the Caucasus, Asia Minor and the Levant, whilst Eu 10 becomes stronger and replaces the frequency of Eu 9 as one moves south into the Arabian Peninsula, so that people from the Caucasus met with Arabs near and between Mesopotamia (Sumer/Assyria) and the Negev Desert, as “Arabisation” spread from Arabia to the Fertile Crescent and Turkey. It has been proposed that haplogroup subclade J-M410 was linked to populations on ancient Crete by examining the relationship between Anatolian, Cretan, and Greek populations from around early Neolithic sites in Crete. Haplogroup J-M172 was associated with Neolithic Greece (ca. 8500 – 4300 BCE or 10,500 to 6,300 years ago).” ref
“The genetic history of Egypt reflects its geographical location at the crossroads of several major biocultural areas: North Africa, the Sahara, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and sub-Saharan Africa. In addition three ancient Egyptian individuals were analysed for Y-DNA, two were assigned to Middle Eastern haplogroup J and one to haplogroup E1b1b1a1b2. Both of these haplogroups are carried by modern Egyptians, and also common among Afroasiatic speakers in Northern Africa, Eastern Africa and the Middle East. The researchers cautioned that the examined ancient Egyptian specimens may not be representative of those of all ancient Egyptians since they were from a single archaeological site from the northern part of Egypt. The analyses revealed that Ancient Egyptians had higher affinities with Near Eastern and European populations than modern Egyptians do, likely due to the 8% increase in the African component found in modern Egyptians. Verena Schuenemann and the authors of this study suggest a high level of genetic interaction with the Near East since ancient times, probably going back to Prehistoric Egypt although the oldest mummies at the site were from the New Kingdom: “Our data seem to indicate close admixture and affinity at a much earlier date, which is unsurprising given the long and complex connections between Egypt and the Middle East. Most Ethiopians came from an admixture, and that the larger fraction of Sub-Saharan genes came during the Neolithic times, “before the beginning of the Egyptian civilisation”. The study also found the gene frequency of North African populations and, to a lesser extent, East Africa to be intermediate between Africa and Europe. In addition, some studies suggest ties with populations in the Middle East, as well as some groups in southern Europe, and a closer link to other North Africans.” ref
“These connections date back to Prehistory and occurred at a variety of scales, including overland and maritime commerce, diplomacy, immigration, invasion and deportation”. Genetic analysis of modern Egyptians reveals that they have paternal lineages common to other indigenous Afroasiatic speaking populations in North Africa, West Asia, Anatolia and Horn of Africa; Some studies have proposed the view that these lineages would have spread into North Africa and Horn of Africa from Western Asia during the Neolithic Revolution and were maintained by the predynastic period. A study by Luis et al. (2004) found that the male haplogroups in a sample of 147 Egyptians were E1b1b (36.1%, predominantly E-M78), J (32.0%), G (8.8%), T (8.2%), and R (7.5%). The study found that “Egypt’s NRY frequency distributions appear to be much more similar to those of the Middle East than to any sub-Saharan African population, suggesting a much larger Eurasian genetic component … The cumulative frequency of typical sub-Saharan lineages (A, B, E1b1a) is 3.4% in Egypt … whereas the haplogroups of Eurasian origin (Groups C, D, and F–Q) account for 59% [in Egypt].” E1b1b subclades are characteristic of some Afro-Asiatic speakers and are believed to have originated in either the Middle East, North Africa, or the Horn of Africa.” ref
“Other studies have shown that modern Egyptians have genetic affinities primarily with populations of North Africa and the Middle East, and to a lesser extent the Horn of Africa and European populations. North African genomes and other populations using Ancient DNA reference populations, this sample of Egyptian genomes were found to share more affinity with Middle Eastern populations compared to other North Africans. Egyptians carry more of the Caucasus hunter gatherer / Iran Neolithic component compared to other North Africans, more of the Natufian related component and less of the Iberomaurusian related component than other North Africans, and also less of the Steppe / European hunter gatherer component, consistent with Egypt’s geographical proximity to southwest Asia. 45% of Copts in Sudan carry haplogroup J1. Next most common was E1b1b, the most common haplogroup in North Africa. Both paternal lineages are common among other regional Afroasiatic-speaking populations, such as Beja, Ethiopians, and Sudanese Arabs, as well as non-Afroasiatic-speaking Nubians. E1b1b reaches its highest frequencies among North African and Horn of Africa populations such as Amazighs and Somalis. The next most common haplogroups borne by Copts are R1b (15%), most common in Europe.” ref
“Modern Egyptians, with haplotypes V, XI, and IV being most common. Haplotype V is common among all North Africans and has a low frequency outside the North African region. Haplotypes V, XI, and IV are all predominantly North African/Horn of African/Sub-Saharan African (related to Bantu expansion) haplotypes, respectively, and they are far more dominant in Egyptians than in Middle Eastern or European groups. The pattern of diversity for these variants in the Egyptian Nile Valley was largely the product of population events that occurred in the late Pleistocene to mid-Holocene through the First Dynasty. Two haplogroups, E1b1b and J, that are carried by both ancient and modern Egyptians. Five populations in Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt, as well as published data from Moroccan populations, suggested that the North African pattern of Y-chromosomal variation, including in Egypt, is largely of Neolithic origin. The study analyzed North African oppulations, including North Egyptians and South Egyptians, as well as samples from southern Europe, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa, and revealed the following conclusions about the male-lineage variation in North Africa: “The lineages that are most prevalent in North Africa are distinct from those in the regions to the immediate north and south: Europe and sub-Saharan Africa … two haplogroups predominate within North Africa, together making up almost two-thirds of the male lineages: E3b2 and J* (42% and 20%, respectively). E3b2 is rare outside North Africa, and is otherwise known only from Mali, Niger, and Sudan to the immediate south, and the Near East and Southern Europe at very low frequencies. Haplogroup J reaches its highest frequencies in the Middle East.” ref
“Haplogroup J has also been found among two ancient Hyksos-related mummies excavated at the Abusir el-Meleq archaeological site in Middle Egypt, which date from a period between the late New Kingdom and the Roman era. Haplogroup J-M267 is found in its greatest concentration in the Caucasus and Iran where it formed. Outside of this region, haplogroup J-M304 has a significant presence in other parts of the Middle East as well as in North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Arabian peninsula. It also has a moderate occurrence in Southern Europe, especially in central and southern Italy, Malta, Greece and Albania. The J-M410 subclade is mostly distributed in Asia Minor, Greece and southern Italy. Additionally, J-M304 is observed in Central Asia and South Asia, particularly in the form of its subclade J-M172. J-M267 originated in the Middle East. It is found in parts of the Near East, Anatolia and North Africa, with a much sparser distribution in the southern Mediterranean flank of Europe, and in Ethiopia.” ref, ref
“An ancient sample of J1 was found at Satsurblia Cave circa 11,000 BCE, specifically belonging to the rare J1-FT34521 subclade. The ancient individual from Satsurblia was male with black hair, brown eyes, and light skin. Chiaroni 2009 proposed that J-P58 (that they refer to as J1e) might have first dispersed during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period, “from a geographical zone, including northeast Syria, northern Iraq, and eastern Turkey toward Mediterranean Anatolia, Ismaili from southern Syria, Jordan, Palestine, and northern Egypt.” They further propose that the Zarzian material culture may be ancestral. They also propose that this movement of people may also be linked to the dispersal of Semitic languages by hunter-herders, who moved into arid areas during periods known to have had low rainfall. Thus, while other haplogroups including J-M267 moved out of the area with agriculturalists who followed the rainfall, populations carrying J-M267 remained with their flocks (King 2002 and Chiaroni 2008). According to this scenario, after the initial neolithic expansion involving Semitic languages, which possibly reached as far as Yemen, a more recent dispersal occurred during the Chalcolithic or Early Bronze Age (approximately 3000–5000 BCE or around 5,000 to 7,000 years ago), and this involved the branch of Semitic which leads to the Arabic language. The authors propose that this involved a spread of some J-P58 from the direction of Syria towards Arab populations of the Arabian Peninsula and Negev. On the other hand, the authors agree that later waves of dispersion in and around this area have also had complex effects upon the distributions of some types of J-P58 in some regions.” ref
Nomadic pastoralism: “hunter-herders”
“Nomadic pastoralism, also known as nomadic herding, is a form of pastoralism in which livestock are herded in order to seek for fresh pastures on which to graze. Nomadic pastoralism was a result of the Neolithic Revolution and the rise of agriculture. During that revolution, humans began domesticating animals and plants for food and started forming cities. Nomadism generally has existed in symbiosis with such settled cultures, trading animal products (meat, hides, wool, cheese, and other animal products) for manufactured items not produced by the nomadic herders. Henri Fleisch tentatively suggested the Shepherd Neolithic industry of Lebanon may date to the Epipaleolithic and that it may have been used by one of the first cultures of nomadic shepherds in the Beqaa valley. Andrew Sherratt demonstrates that “early farming populations used livestock mainly for meat, and that other applications were explored as agriculturalists adapted to new conditions, especially in the semi‐arid zone. The agriculturist lives from domesticated plants, and the pastoralist lives from domesticated animals. Since animals are higher on the food chain, pastoralism supports a smaller population than agriculture. Pastoralism predominates where low rainfall makes farming impractical. Full pastoralism required the Secondary products revolution when animals began to be used for wool, milk, riding, and traction as well as meat. Where grass is poor, herds must be moved, which leads to nomadism.” ref
“In the past, it was asserted that pastoral nomads left no archaeological presence or were impoverished, but this has now been challenged, and it was clearly not so for many ancient Eurasian nomads, who have left very rich kurgan burial sites. Pastoral nomadic sites are identified based on their location outside the zone of agriculture, the absence of grains or grain-processing equipment, limited and characteristic architecture, a predominance of sheep and goat bones, and by ethnographic analogy to modern pastoral nomadic peoples Juris Zarins has proposed that pastoral nomadism began as a cultural lifestyle in the wake of the 8,200 year old or 6200 BC climatic crisis when Harifian pottery making hunter-gatherers in the Sinai fused with Pre-Pottery Neolithic B agriculturalists to produce the Munhata culture, a nomadic lifestyle based on animal domestication, developing into the Yarmoukian and thence into a circum-Arabian nomadic pastoral complex, and spreading Proto-Semitic languages. In Bronze Age Central Asia, nomadic populations are associated with the earliest transmissions of millet and wheat grains through the region that eventually became central for the Silk Road. Early Indo-European migrations from the Pontic–Caspian steppe spread Yamnaya Steppe pastoralist ancestry and Indo-European languages across large parts of Eurasia. By the medieval period in Central Asia, nomadic communities exhibited isotopically diverse diets, suggesting a multitude of subsistence strategies.” ref
“The Kotias Klde individual belongs to Y-DNA haplogroup J2b and mtDNA haplogroup H13c, which has an estimated coalescence time of 17,000–24,000 years ago, thus placing the origin of this subclade during the Last Glacial Maximum.” ref
“Caucasus Hunter-Gatherers (CHG) are genetically close to Early Neolithic individuals from the Zagros (Abdul Hosein, Ganj Dareh, Guran, Wezmeh cave) belonging to the Iran_N cluster, but they also share a unique ancestry with Caucasus_UP (18%) and an EHG-related ancestry (10%). Mesolithic individuals (Iran_EP or Iran_HG) from caves southeast of the Caspian Sea (Belt, Hotu) also belong to the Iran_N cluster, with a contribution (9.4%) from EHG (Eastern Hunter-Gatherers) in the case of Hotu layer IIIb. These Mesolithic individuals predate the advent of farming anywhere in Iran, which implies that the ancestors of Iran_N farmers were present in western and northern Iran as early as the very beginning of the Holocene. CHG and Iran_N often appear as interchangeable sources for Holocene populations; various names have been created to group them together, generally as Iran_N/CHG, Iran/Caucasus ancestry, and Zagros/Caucasus.” ref
“In the northwest foothills of the Zagros (NE Iraq), the sites of Shanidar layer B1 and Bestansur present a strong Iran_N/CHG component (75–80%) complemented by contributions from the Levant, the contribution from central Anatolia being almost non-existent. In the region of Mardin (NW Iraq, SE Turkey), the populations of Nemrik 9 and Boncuklu Tarla are also characterised by a strong Iran_N/CHG ancestry (from 50 to 70%). It is not possible to determine a favoured link with either the Zagros or the Caucasus, as the two sources have an equivalent influence in the models.” ref
“In the upper valley of the Tigris (southeast Turkey), the population of Çayönü presents a mixture of three gene pools: about 33% of Iran_N/CHG, a major component of central Anatolia, and a minor component of Levant_PPN. However, this site produced an outlier (cay008), which carried 50% Anatolia_EP (Pınarbaşı) and 50% Iran_N/CHG ancestry, lacking the significant South Levant component found in the rest of the Çayönü genomes. The mtDNA haplogroup of cay008 (haplogroup T2g) was a clear outlier within the Çayönü sample, which consisted mostly of haplogroup K1, suggesting that the Iran_N/CHG-like ancestry of cay008 was inherited from her maternal side and that her migrant ancestors interbred with local individuals. Thus, Çayönü had a genetically diverse population, carrying mixed ancestry from the western and the eastern Fertile Crescent, as well as receiving immigrants. Iran_N/CHG ancestry might actually represent northwest Zagros ancestry (Bestansur, Shanidar) rather than central Zagros ancestry (Ganj Dareh), which would also be compatible with Çayönü’s material cultural affinities with northwest Zagros (pressure technique, Çayönü tools …).” ref
“In the middle valley of the Euphrates (southeast Turkey), Nevalı Çori revealed a mixture of the same three gene pools as previously, but in different proportions: about 43% Levant_PPN + 42% Anatolia_EP + 15% Iran_N/CHG. In the models, CHG and Iran_N are interchangeable as sources of inland admixture for most cases. A single individual from Nevalɪ Çori was conspicuous for its elevated collagen δ13C values, indicative of a substantial contribution of C4 plants, supporting the hypothesis that this particular individual was a late immigrant to the site.” ref
“In central Anatolia, the genetic data obtained from the sites of Aşıklı, Boncuklu, Musular, Çatal Höyük, and Tepecik-Çiftlik show a strong genetic continuity with the hunter-gatherers of Pınarbaşı (Anatolia_EP or Anatolian_HG). But they also show an Iran_N/CHG ancestry appearing in the 11th millennium years ago (9th millennium BCE), that is stronger at Aşıklı Hoyuk than at Boncuklu, which points to gene flow from the east (through Upper Mesopotamia) into Anatolia. For the end of the 10th millennium years ago (8th millennium BCE), the site of Musular presents evidence for the addition of another ancestry appearing from the Levant. In the 9th millennium years ago (7th millennium BCE) at Çatal Hüyük, the Iran_N/CHG incoming ancestry reached a maximum of 18.1%. It varies between 8.3% and 13.7% at Tepecik-Çiftlik, but this site contains two individuals (Tep003 and Tep001) who show a stronger genetic affinity with Iran_N/CHG, 23.3% and 29.1% respectively.” ref
“In western Anatolia, in the Levant and Cyprus, as well as, north of the Caucasus, in Ukraine, the contribution of Iran_N/CHG is practically non-existent. Thus, the presence of Iran_N/CHG is manifested over a vast territory to the south of the Caucasus, from the shores of the Caspian to central Anatolia, including the northwest foothills of the Zagros and Upper Mesopotamia (upper basins of the Tigris and the Euphrates). The decreasing proportions of the Iran_N/CHG gene pool from east to west confirm the existence of a genetic cline resulting from a process of interbreeding between populations during the Early Holocene.” ref
“In the Caucasus, they are called ‘Kmlo tools’ or ‘tools with hook-like extension’ or ‘lekala’. They are attested in the cave of Kmlo-2 (or Apnagyugh-8) at the eastern foot of the Aragats massif from the beginning of level III, that is, ca. 10,500 years ago (8500 cal BCE). In Georgia, in the first half of the 10th millennium years ago (8th millennium BCE), the Mesolithic individual of Kotias Klde, genetically of the CHG cluster, was buried with ‘a tool with hook-like extension’. In Armenia, on the site of Lernagog, southwest of Kmlo-2, in an occupation dated to ca. 9,000–8,600 years ago (7000-6600 cal BCE), almost 15% of the obsidian artifacts found are ‘Kmlo tools’. Farther north, on the southwest flank of the Greater Caucasus from the Black Sea to South Ossetia, a pre-Neolithic culture, the Paluri-Nagutny culture, whose lithic industry is in flint, is characterised by a similar type of denticulated tool, referred to as ‘lekala’ or ‘hook-like tool’; but none of the sites in this culture has been dated by C14.” ref
“In the northern Near East, these are known as ‘Çayönü tools’, also named ‘steeply retouched backed blades’, ‘beaked blades’, ‘tools with a steep lamellar retouch’ or ‘strangulations’. They appeared in the upper basin of the Tigris at Cayönü beginning in the Grill Plan phase in the second half of the 11th millennium years ago (9th millennium BCE), then spread in the following millennium across Upper Mesopotamia from the upper Euphrates (Cafer Höyük, Boytepe) to the foothills of the Zagros (Bestansur, Shimshara), where they have been found in considerable number. According to the traces of use, these tools served mainly to work mineral materials. The characteristics observed on ‘Çayönü tools’, such as the location of the abrasion and the form and pattern of striations comprising the abrasions, appear similar to those on ‘Kmlo tools’. Furthermore, the use-life suggested in studies of ‘Çayönü tools’ could be comparable to that of ‘Kmlo tools’: the tools began use as unretouched blades, then the edges were re-sharpened by pressure-flaking, and finally, in some cases, the edges were re-sharpened by burin-blow.” ref
“Given that the defining characteristic of the ‘Kmlo tools’ and the ‘Çayönü tools’ is a series of distinct steep pressure retouching along one or both lateral edges, it is unlikely to have been invented independently at the same time in two separate locations in the northern part of Southwest Asia; these tools are considered rather to represent the same tool type and its variants. They therefore suggest a cultural interaction in the second half of the 11th millennium years ago (9th millennium BCE) in the mountainous areas between the southern Caucasus and the southeastern Taurus. Towards the end of the 11th millennium years ago (9th millennium BCE), Upper Mesopotamia adopted a production economy, whereas the Caucasus preserved a Mesolithic mode of life up to the end of the 9th millennium years ago (7th millennium BCE). Similarly, in the Late PPNB (second half of the 10th millennium years ago or 8th millennium BCE), the ‘Big Arrowhead Industry’, which originated in the Levant, is attested as far as the Upper Mesopotamia and the Zagros/Taurus zone, but not the South Caucasus, which did not adopt this type of artefact. The contacts between the Caucasus and Southwest Asia thus remained occasional. They are probably evidence for the existence of a wide network of social interactions and had to do with exchanges, especially in relation to marriages, as is suggested by the outlier cay008 at Çayönü in Upper Mesopotamia.” ref
Göbekli Tepe and WF16 as nodes within a social network
“Steps towards farming in Southwest Asia involved the exploitation of wild cereals by Late Pleistocene hunter-gatherers, their cultivation during the tenth to ninth millennium BCE or around 12,000 to 11,000 years ago, by Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA) communities in the Middle Euphrates and Southern Levant, as well as the exploitation of legumes, fruits, and nuts in eastern regions—today’s Iran and Iraq. The first steps towards the domestication of goats are known from the Zagros Mountains in the ninth millennium BCE or around 11,000 years ago, but, as with cereals and legumes, there were likely multiple loci and different pathways towards such domestication. These and other constitutive elements merged to create sedentary communities that were increasingly reliant on domesticated plants and animals: the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B ‘farming villages’, first appearing in the Euphrates Valley c. 9200 BCE or around 11,200 years ago, rapidly spreading throughout Southwest Asia. How plant cultivation and animal herding are articulated with changes in climate, population, sedentism, social relations, ideology, notions of property, and cognition have been long debated.” ref
“The 1994 discovery and excavation of Göbekli Tepe in Upper Mesopotamia (southern Turkey) has influenced this debate in two key ways. With its impressive PPNA art and architecture, dated to between c. 9800 and 8300 BCE or around 11,800 to 10,300 years ago, it places emphasis on ideological change occurring within hunter-gatherer communities, supporting Cauvin’s view that developments in cognition and symbolism had priority over economic change during the transition to farming. Second, Göbekli Tepe shifts attention away from the Southern to the Northern Levant, the north also having the wild ancestors of wheat and barley; this has been termed ‘the cradle of agriculture.’ Ideology and domestication may have been related: Mithen has suggested that the intensive harvesting of wild cereals to feed large gatherings at Göbekli Tepe may have led to domesticated strains as “an accidental by-product of the ideology that drove hunter-gatherers to carve and erect massive pillars of stone,” a view now supported by the evidence for feasting and a “massive presence of cereals” at the site.” ref
“Göbekli Tepe was likely a gathering place for hunter-gatherers from dispersed residential groups. Seasonal aggregations are a core element of the hierarchal social networks that characterize hunter-gatherers: individuals, families, residential groups, seasonal and periodic gatherings, and regional populations. Such networks serve multiple functions: to maintain food security, to resolve social tensions and mitigate conflict, to facilitate cooperation, to achieve reproductive success, and to maintain population viability. The flow of ideas, material culture, and people enables dispersed communities to follow similar trajectories of change while maintaining local identities.” ref
“Ethnographic accounts for the spatial scale of such social networks suggest that those of the Late Epipalaeolithic (c. 13 000–10 000 BCE or around 15,000 to 12,000 years ago) and PPNA (c. 10 000–8200 BCE or around 12,000 to 10,200 years ago) would have connected people throughout Southwest Asia, approximately 1200km from north to south and 800km east to west. In addition to Göbekli Tepe, gathering places—nodes within the social networks—are likely to be represented by sites with particularly large structures, such as Karahan Tepe, Hallan Çemi and Jerf el Ahmar in the north, and Wadi Hammeh 27, Mallaha and Jericho in the south. With its large amphitheater-like building (Structure O75), the site of WF16 is yet another candidate for a seasonal or periodic gathering place in the Southern Levant (Figure 2). WF16 is located at the head of the Wadi Faynan in southern Jordan. Excavated between 2008 and 2010, the site dates to c. 9800–8200 BCE or around 11,800 to 10,200 years ago, with a focus on activity between 9400 and 9100 BCE or around 11,400 to 11,100 years ago. The bird bones recovered from the site are dominated by raptors. Zooarchaeological analysis suggests that the capture of buzzards, predominantly Buteo buteo, during the spring and/or autumn provided an occasion for seasonal gatherings. Performance, ceremony, and ritual likely took place within the amphitheater-like structure, using costume and body decoration made from bird skins, feathers, and talons.” ref
“Fertile crescent Neolithic B circa 7500 BC; black squares indicate pre-agricultural sites.” ref
“The Pre-Pottery Neolithic (PPN) represents the early Neolithic in the Levantine and upper Mesopotamian region of the Fertile Crescent, dating to c. 12,000 – c. 8,500 years ago (10000 – 6500 BCE). It succeeds the Natufian culture of the Epipalaeolithic Near East (also called Mesolithic), as the domestication of plants and animals was in its formative stages, having possibly been induced by the Younger Dryas. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic culture came to an end around the time of the 8.2-kiloyear event, a cool spell centered on 6200 BCE that lasted several hundred years. It is succeeded by the Pottery Neolithic.” ref
“The Pre-Pottery Neolithic is divided into Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA 10000–8800 BCE) and the following Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB 8800–6500 BCE). These were originally defined by Kathleen Kenyon in the type site of Jericho (Palestine). The Pre-Pottery Neolithic precedes the ceramic Neolithic (Yarmukian culture, 6400 – 6200 BCE). At ‘Ain Ghazal, in Jordan, the culture continued for a few more centuries as the so-called Pre-Pottery Neolithic C culture. Around 11000 years ago (9000 BCE), during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), the “world’s first town,” Jericho, appeared in the Levant, although the adequacy of this title has since been challenged. The Pre-Pottery Neolithic is divided into Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (10000 – 8800 BCE) and the following Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (8800 – 6500 BCE). PPNB differed from PPNA in showing greater use of domesticated animals, a different set of tools, and new architectural styles. Work at the site of ‘Ain Ghazal in Jordan has indicated a later Pre-Pottery Neolithic C period. Juris Zarins has proposed that a Circum Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex developed in the period from the climatic crisis of 6200 BCE, partly as a result of an increasing emphasis in PPNB cultures upon domesticated animals and a fusion with Harifian hunter-gatherers in the Southern Levant, with affiliate connections with the cultures of Fayyum and the Eastern Desert of Egypt. Cultures practicing this lifestyle spread down the Red Sea shoreline and moved east from Syria into southern Iraq. In Israel, PPNC sites are rather rare. By 2008, only four sites had been clearly identified: Ashkelon (Afridar) and ‘Atlit Yam on the coast, stratum II at Tel ‘Ali one mile south of the Sea of Galilee, and Ha-Gosherim in the north.” ref
A Little on Goats
“The goat or domestic goat (Capra hircus) is a species of goat-antelope that is mostly kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (C. aegagrus) of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the family Bovidae, meaning it is closely related to the sheep. It was one of the first animals to be domesticated, in Iran around 10,000 years ago. Goats feature in mythology, folklore, and religion in many parts of the world, including in the classical myth of Amalthea, in the goats that pulled the chariot of the Norse god Thor, in the Scandinavian Yule goat, and in Hinduism’s goat-headed Daksha. In Christianity and Satanism, the devil is sometimes depicted as a goat. The Modern English word goat comes from Old English gāt “goat, she-goat”, which in turn derives from Proto-Germanic *gaitaz (cf. Dutch/Frisian/Icelandic/Norwegian geit, German Geiß, and Gothic gaits), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰaidos meaning “young goat” (cf. Latin haedus “kid”). In Africa and the Middle East, goats are typically run in flocks with sheep. This maximizes the production per acre, as goats and sheep prefer different food plants. Multiple types of goat-raising are found in Ethiopia, where four main types have been identified: pastured in annual crop systems, in perennial crop systems, with cattle, and in arid areas, under pastoral (nomadic) herding systems. In all four systems, however, goats were typically kept in extensive systems, with few purchased inputs.” ref
“Goats are among the earliest animals to have been domesticated by humans. A genetic analysis confirms the archaeological evidence that the wild bezoar ibex, found today in the Zagros Mountains, but formerly widespread in Anatolia, is the likely original ancestor of all or most domestic goats today. Neolithic farmers began to herd wild goats primarily for easy access to milk and meat, as well as to their dung, which was used as fuel; and their bones, hair, and sinew were used for clothing, building, and tools. The earliest remnants of domesticated goats dating 10,000 years Before Present are found in Ganj Dareh in Iran. Goat remains have been found at archaeological sites in Jericho, Choga Mami, Djeitun, and Çayönü, dating the domestication of goats in Western Asia at between 8,000 and 9,000 years ago. Sheep and goats are closely related: both are in the subfamily Caprinae. However, they are separate species, so hybrids rarely occur and are always infertile. Goats are as intelligent as dogs by some studies. When handled as a group, goats display less herding behavior than sheep. Goats try to communicate with people like domesticated animals such as dogs and horses. They look to a human for assistance when faced with a newly-modified challenge.” ref
“In classical myth, Amalthea is either a nymph who fed the infant god Jupiter with goat’s milk, or the goat who suckled the infant. In another legend, the god broke one of the goat’s horns, endowing it with the power to fill itself with whatever its owner wanted, making it the cornucopia or horn of plenty. The ancient city of Ebla in Syria contains a tomb with a throne decorated with bronze goat heads, now called “The Tomb of the Lord of the Goats”. In Norse mythology, the god of thunder, Thor, has a chariot that is pulled by the goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr At night when he sets up camp, Thor eats the meat of the goats, but takes care that all bones remain whole. Then he wraps the remains up, and in the morning, the goats always come back to life to pull the chariot. When a farmer’s son who is invited to share the meal breaks one of the goats’ leg bones to suck the marrow, the animal’s leg remains broken in the morning, and the boy is forced to serve Thor as a servant to compensate for the damage. Possibly related, the Yule goat (Julbocken) is a Scandinavian Christmas tradition. It originally denoted the goat that was slaughtered around Yule, now more often a goat figure made out of straw. It is used for the custom of going door-to-door singing carols and getting food and drinks in return, often fruit, cakes and sweets. The Gävle goat is a giant version of the yule goat, erected every year in the Swedish city of Gävle.” ref
“In Finland the tradition of Nuutinpäivä—St. Knut’s Day, January 13—involves young men dressed as goats (Finnish: Nuuttipukki) who visit houses. Usually, the dress was an inverted fur jacket, a leather or birch bark mask, and horns. Unlike the analogous Santa Claus, Nuuttipukki was a scary character (cf. Krampus). The men dressed as Nuuttipukki wandered from house to house, came in, and typically demanded food from the household and especially leftover alcohol. In Finland, the Nuuttipukki tradition is kept alive in areas of Satakunta, Southwest Finland, and Ostrobothnia. Nowadays, the character is usually played by children and involves a happy encounter. The goat is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac. Several mythological hybrid creatures contain goat parts, including the Chimera. The Capricorn constellation sign in the Western zodiac is usually depicted as a goat with a fish’s tail. Fauns and satyrs are mythological creatures with human bodies and goats’ legs. The lustful Greek god Pan similarly has the upper body of a man and the horns and lower body of a goat. A goatee is a tuft of facial hair on a man’s chin, named for its resemblance to a goat’s beard.” ref
“In Hinduism, Daksha, one of the prajapati, is sometimes depicted with the head of a male goat. A legend states that Daksha failed to invite Shiva to a sacrifice; Shiva beheaded Daksha, but when asked by Vishnu, restored Daksha to life with the head of a goat. Goats are mentioned many times in the Bible. Their importance in ancient Israel is indicated by the seven different Hebrew and three Greek terms used in the Bible. A goat is considered a “clean” animal by Jewish dietary laws and a kid was slaughtered for an honored guest. It was also acceptable for some kinds of sacrifices. Goat-hair curtains were used in the tent that contained the tabernacle (Exodus 25:4). Its horns can be used instead of sheep’s horn to make a shofar. On Yom Kippur, the festival of the Day of Atonement, two goats were chosen and lots were drawn for them. One was sacrificed and the other allowed to escape into the wilderness, symbolically carrying with it the sins of the community. From this comes the word “scapegoat“. In Matthew 25:31–46, Jesus said that like a shepherd he will separate the nations, rewarding the sheep, those who have shown kindness, but punishing the goats. The devil is sometimes depicted, like Baphomet, as a goat, making the animal a significant symbol throughout Satanism. The inverted pentagram of Satanism is sometimes depicted with a goat’s head of Baphomet, which originated from the Church of Satan.” ref
“Rams, seen as a symbol of fertility, were identified with various gods, notably Khnum, a creator god, and Amun, the great god of the city of Thebes. Ram-headed sphinxes flank the entrance to the temple of Amun at Thebes. The bodies of some rams were mummified and equipped with gilded masks and even jewellery. Goats have been around a long time. Mesopotamians wrote poems about goats, depicted them in golden sculptures, worshiped them as gods, and made the goat-god Capricorn into a Zodiac sign. Goats have been taken all over the world to trade as sources of meat, wool, and milk. Goats are mentioned in the Bible as well as in Buddhist, Confucian, and Zoroastrian texts. In Greek myths, the gods were nursed on goat’s milk.” ref
“Fifth Century BCE Greek historian Herodotus wrote in Book 2 of “Histories”: Now the reason why those of the Egyptians whom I have mentioned do not sacrifice goats, female or male, is this: — the Mendesians count Pan to be one of the eight gods (now these eight gods they say came into being before the twelve gods), and the painters and image-makers represent in painting and in sculpture the figure of Pan, just as the Hellenes do, with goat’s face and legs, not supposing him to be really like this but to resemble the other gods; the cause however why they represent him in this form I prefer not to say. The Mendesians then reverence all goats and the males more than the females (and the goatherds too have greater honour than other herdsmen), but of the goats one especially is reverenced, and when he dies there is great mourning in all the Mendesian district: and both the goat and Pan are called in the Egyptian tongue Mendes. Moreover, in my lifetime, there happened in that district this marvel, that is to say, a he-goat had intercourse with a woman publicly, and this was so done that all men might have evidence of it.” ref
“In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Pan is the god of the wild, shepherds and flocks, rustic music and impromptus, and companion of the nymphs. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat, in the same manner as a faun or satyr. With his homeland in rustic Arcadia, he is also recognized as the god of fields, groves, wooded glens, and often affiliated with sex; because of this, Pan is connected to fertility and the season of spring. Many modern scholars consider Pan to be derived from the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European god *Péh₂usōn, whom they believe to have been an important pastoral deity (*Péh₂usōn shares an origin with the modern English word “pasture”). The Rigvedic psychopomp god Pushan (from PIE zero grade *Ph₂usōn) is believed to be a cognate of Pan. The connection between Pan and Pushan, both of whom are associated with goats, was first identified in 1924 by the German scholar Hermann Collitz. The familiar form of the name Pan is contracted from earlier Πάων, derived from the root *peh₂- (guard, watch over). According to Edwin L. Brown, the name Pan is probably a cognate with the Greek word ὀπάων “companion.” ref
“In his earliest appearance in literature, Pindar‘s Pythian Ode iii. 78, Pan is associated with a mother goddess, perhaps Rhea or Cybele; Pindar refers to maidens worshipping Cybele and Pan near the poet’s house in Boeotia. Being a rustic god, Pan was not worshipped in temples or other built edifices, but in natural settings, usually caves or grottoes such as the one on the north slope of the Acropolis of Athens. These are often referred to as the Cave of Pan. The only exceptions are the Sanctuary of Pan on the Neda River gorge in the southwestern Peloponnese – the ruins of which survive to this day – and the Temple of Pan at Apollonopolis Magna in ancient Egypt. In the fourth century BCE Pan was depicted on the coinage of Pantikapaion. In the mystery cults of the highly syncretic Hellenistic era, Pan is identified with Phanes/Protogonos, Zeus, Dionysus and Eros. In some early sources such as Pindar (c. 518 – c. 438 BCE) and Hecataeus (c. 550 – c. 476 BCE), he is called the child of Penelope by Apollo. Apollodorus records two distinct divinities named Pan; one who was the son of Hermes and Penelope, and the other who had Zeus and a nymph named Hybris for his parents, and was the mentor of Apollo.” ref
“The goat-god Aegipan was nurtured by Amalthea with the infant Zeus in Crete. In Zeus’ battle with Typhon, Aegipan and Hermes stole back Zeus’ “sinews” that Typhon had hidden away in the Corycian Cave. Pan aided his foster-brother in the battle with the Titans by letting out a horrible screech and scattering them in terror. According to some traditions, Aegipan was the son of Pan, rather than his father. The constellation Capricornus is traditionally depicted as a sea-goat, a goat with a fish’s tail (see “Goatlike” Aigaion called Briareos, one of the Hecatonchires). A myth reported as “Egyptian” in Hyginus‘s Poetic Astronomy (which would seem to be invented to justify a connection of Pan with Capricorn) says that when Aegipan—that is Pan in his goat-god aspect—was attacked by the monster Typhon, he dived into the river Nile; the parts above the water remained a goat, but those under the water transformed into a fish. There was a legend that Pan seduced the moon goddess Selene, deceiving her with a sheep’s fleece.” ref
“Pan could be multiplied into a swarm of Pans, and even be given individual names, as in Nonnus‘ Dionysiaca, where the god Pan had twelve sons that helped Dionysus in his war against the Indians. Their names were Kelaineus, Argennon, Aigikoros, Eugeneios, Omester, Daphoenus, Phobos, Philamnos, Xanthos, Glaukos, Argos, and Phorbas. Two other Pans were Agreus and Nomios. Both were the sons of Hermes, Agreus’ mother being the nymph Sose, a prophetess: he inherited his mother’s gift of prophecy, and was also a skilled hunter. Nomios’ mother was Penelope (not the same as the wife of Odysseus). He was an excellent shepherd, seducer of nymphs, and musician upon the shepherd’s pipes. Most of the mythological stories about Pan are actually about Nomios, not the god Pan. Although, Agreus and Nomios could have been two different aspects of the prime Pan, reflecting his dual nature as both a wise prophet and a lustful beast” ref.
“Aegipan, literally “goat-Pan,” was a Pan who was fully goatlike, rather than half-goat and half-man. When the Olympians fled from the monstrous giant Typhoeus and hid themselves in animal form, Aegipan assumed the form of a fish-tailed goat. Later he came to the aid of Zeus in his battle with Typhoeus, by stealing back Zeus’ stolen sinews. As a reward the king of the gods placed him amongst the stars as the Constellation Capricorn. The mother of Aegipan, Aix (the goat), was perhaps associated with the constellation Capra. Sybarios was an Italian Pan who was worshipped in the Greek colony of Sybaris in Italy. The Sybarite Pan was conceived when a Sybarite shepherd boy named Krathis copulated with a pretty she-goat amongst his herds.” ref
Khnum, “Goat/Sheep Head” God, created Humans from Clay
“The creation of life from clay (or soil, earth, dust, or mud) appears throughout world religions and mythologies, some of the earliest occurring in the creation myths about the origin of man in the cosmology of the ancient Near East. The idea occurs in both biblical cosmology and Quranic cosmology. The clay represents an unformed, chaotic material which is shaped and given form by the gods in a creative process. A related motif is the use of clay to seed or create the world. In southwest Asia, the clay-shaping was cast as a magical act. In the same way that humans would use clay to make terracotta images of their gods, so the gods moulded humans out of clay in their godlike form. They were described as obtaining this material by pinching off pieces of wet mud.” ref
“The Epic of Gilgamesh states that the goddess Aruru created humans and animals out of clay. The epic goes on to narrate how Aruru also creates Enkidu out of a pinch of clay. Aruru was a Mesopotamian goddess, who can be translated as “the one who lets the seed flow” or “outlet of water.” She eventually came to be viewed as analogous to Ninhursag. Enkidu (Sumerian: 𒂗𒆠𒄭 EN.KI.DU10) was a legendary figure in ancient Mesopotamian mythology, wartime comrade and friend of Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Their exploits were composed in Sumerian poems and in the Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh, written during the 2nd millennium BCE.” ref, ref, ref
“Enkidu is the oldest literary representation of the wild man, a recurrent motif in artistic representations in Mesopotamia and in Ancient Near East literature. The apparition of Enkidu as a primitive man seems to be a potential parallel of the Old Babylonian version (1300–1000 BCE), in which he was depicted as a servant-warrior in the Sumerian poems. There have been suggestions that he may be the “bull-man” shown in Mesopotamian art, having the head, arms, and body of a man, and the horns, ears, tail and legs of a bull. Thereafter, a series of interactions with humans and human ways bring him closer to civilization, culminating in a wrestling match with Gilgamesh, king of Uruk. Enkidu embodies the wild or natural world. Though equal to Gilgamesh in strength and bearing, he acts in some ways as an antithesis to the cultured, city-bred warrior-king.” ref
“The tales of Enkidu’s servitude are narrated in five surviving Sumerian poems, developing from a slave of Gilgamesh into a close comrade by the last poem, which describes Enkidu as Gilgamesh’s lover. In the epic, Enkidu is created as a rival to king Gilgamesh, who tyrannizes his people, but they become friends and together slay the monster Humbaba and the Bull of Heaven; because of this, Enkidu is punished and dies, representing the mighty hero who dies early. The deep, tragic loss of Enkidu profoundly inspires in Gilgamesh a quest to escape death by obtaining godly immortality. Enkidu has virtually no existence outside the stories relating to Gilgamesh. To the extent of current knowledge, he was never a god to be worshipped, and is absent from the lists of deities of ancient Mesopotamia. He seems to appear in an invocation from the Paleo-Babylonian era aimed at silencing a crying baby, a text which also evokes the fact that Enkidu would be held to have determined the measurement of the passage of time at night, apparently in relation to his role as herd keeper at night in the epic.” ref
“Humbaba (Ḫumbaba; 𒄷𒌝𒁀𒁀, Ḫumbāba, with an optional determinative 𒀭), originally known as Ḫuwawa in Sumerian (𒄷𒉿𒉿, Ḫuwāwa), was a figure in Mesopotamian mythology. The origin and meaning of his name are unknown. He was portrayed as an anthropomorphic figure comparable to an ogre or giant. But during the journey, Gilgamesh had a number of dreams foretelling his confrontation with Humbaba, in which the guardian of the cedar forest appears in various symbolic non-anthropomorphic guises meant to highlight his power: as an avalanche, a thunderstorm, an Anzû bird, and a wild bull. After a long journey, Gilgamesh and Enkidu reach the cedar forest. After entering it, they hear Humbaba’s roar, which is compared to the voice of Adad/Hadad, the Mesopotamian weather god or storm- and rain-god in the Canaanite and ancient Mesopotamian religions.” ref, ref
“Adad/Hadad was attested in Ebla as “Hadda” in c. 2500 BCE or around 4,500 years ago. From the Levant, Hadad was introduced to Mesopotamia by the Amorites, where he became known as the Akkadian (Assyrian–Babylonian) god Adad. Adad and Iškur are usually written with the logogram 𒀭𒅎 dIM – the same symbol used for the Hurrian god Teshub. Hadad was also called Rimon/Rimmon, Pidar, Rapiu, Baal-Zephon, or often simply Baʿal (Lord); however, the latter title was also used for other gods. The bull was the symbolic animal of Hadad. He appeared bearded, often holding a club and thunderbolt and wearing a bull-horned headdress. Hadad was equated with the Greek god Zeus, the Roman god Jupiter (Jupiter Dolichenus), as well as the Babylonian Bel.” ref
“The creation of life from clay which is likely the most famous example of this, and it is in the biblical Book of Genesis (2:7), where Adam is made out of dust, an idea that appears across the Bible (Job 10:9; Psalm 90:3; 104:29; Isaiah 29:16, etc.). The idea is also found in the Epic of Gilgamesh where the goddess Aruru creates Enkidu from clay, in Egyptian mythology where Khmun makes man out of clay, and various Greek texts crediting Prometheus (one of the Titans) with doing the same. Later, the concept would influence art history, such as the impact it had on the work of Giorgio Vasari.” ref
“In Ancient Egypt, it was the Egyptian god Khnum that was most commonly associated with the creation of humans. Khnum is said to create human children from clay before placing them into their mother’s womb. Khnum was the crafter of all living things, including some gods, on the potter’s wheel: “You are the master of the wheel, who is pleased to model on the wheel . . . you have made humans on the wheel, you have created the gods; you have modelled the small and large cattle; you have formed everything on your wheel each day, in your name Khnum the potter.” ref
“Khnum, was one of the earliest-known Egyptian deities in Upper Egypt, originally associated with the Nile cataract. He held the responsibility of regulating the annual inundation of the river, emanating from the caverns of Hapi, the deity embodying the flood. Since the annual flooding of the Nile brought with it silt and clay, and its water brought life to its surroundings, he eventually became known as the creator of human bodies and the life force kꜣ (“ka”). Using a potter’s wheel and clay, he fashioned these entities and placed them within their mothers’ wombs. Often, his creative endeavors were overseen by another god. He was later described as having moulded the other deities, and was revered as the creator of the animal kingdom. Banebdjedet was the equivalent god in Lower Egypt. Worship of Khnum spanned from the First Dynasty and persisted even into the Greco-Roman period when rule by native dynasties had ended. Initially, his primary cult center was at Herwer in Middle Egypt. While his presence on the island of Elephantine dates back to the Early Dynastic Period, it wasn’t until the New Kingdom that he ascended to become the principal deity of the island, acquiring the title as the overseer of the First Cataract of the Nile River. At Elephantine, Khnum formed a divine triad alongside the goddesses Satis and Anuket. His religious significance also extended to Esna, located south of Thebes.” ref
“Khnum’s primary function in the inception of human beings was typically portrayed with the horns of a ram, one of the sacred animals worshiped in Ancient Egypt, representing aspects such as fertility, rebirth, regeneration, and resurrection. He was originally illustrated with horizontally spiraled horns (based on the Ancient Egyptian corkscrew-horned sheep, an extinct subspecies of the barbary sheep), but his representation later evolved to feature the down-turned horns of Ammon in the New Kingdom (based on the extinct sheep subspecies Ovis platyra palaeoaegyptiacus). Khnum’s imagery also includes the crocodile head, denoting his dominion over the Nile. He can additionally be found wearing the atef crown adorned with two feathers, or the white crown of Upper Egypt.” ref
“The hieroglyphic symbol hnm (𓎸 ) often appearing in Khnum’s name is derived from the word hnmt, signifying “well”, or “spring”. His name can also be connected to a Semitic root meaning “sheep”. Alternatively, the formation of the name can be interpreted as “the beloved divine being”. Khnum is also often described with the term iw m hapy, meaning “the coming of the Nile”. Additionally, he is called Khnum-Ra, representing his role in the Nile cataract as the soul of the sun-god, Ra. Khnum’s positions and powers are described through various titles such as the “Creator god”, “Potter god”, “Lord of Life”, “Lord of the Field”, “Lord of Esna”, “the good protector”, and “Lord of the crocodiles”. Over time, the Egyptian word khn.m was later created to mean “shape” or “build”, akin to Khnum’s divine powers in creation. His significance also led to early theophoric names of him, for children, such as Khnum-Khufwy “Khnum is my Protector”, the full name of Khufu, builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza.” ref
“The worship of Khnum centered on two principal riverside sites, Elephantine and Esna, which were regarded as sacred sites. At Elephantine, he was worshipped alongside Satis and Anuket, while at Esna, he was worshipped alongside Menhit, Nebtu, Neith and Heka. Banebdjedet was the equivalent god in Lower Egypt. Khnum has also been related to the deity Min. Min, also called Menas, is an ancient Egyptian god whose cult originated in the predynastic period (4th millennium BCE or around 6,000 to 5,000 years ago). He was represented in many different forms, but was most often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding a flail. Min’s shrine was crowned with a pair of bull horns. As the central deity of fertility and possibly orgiastic rites, Min became identified by the Greeks with the god Pan. Male deities as vehicles for fertility and potency rose to prevalence at the emergence of widespread agriculture. Male Egyptians would work in agriculture, making bountiful harvests a male-centered occasion. Thus, male gods of virility such as Osiris and Min were more developed during this time. Fertility was not associated with solely women, but with men as well, even increasing the role of the male in childbirth.” ref, ref
“The crook and flail (heka and nekhakha) were symbols used in ancient Egyptian society. They were originally the attributes of the deity Osiris that became insignia of pharaonic authority. The shepherd’s crook stood for kingship and the flail for the fertility of the land. The earliest known example of a crook is from the Gerzeh culture (Naqada II), and comes from tomb U547 in Abydos. By late Predynastic times, the shepherd’s crook was already an established symbol of rule. The flail initially remained separate, being depicted alone in some of the earliest representations of royal ceremonial. Approximately by the time of the Second Dynasty, the crook and flail became paired. Percy Newberry, a specialist on ancient Egypt, speculated that the “flail” or “whip/scourge” of Osiris was more likely an instrument for collecting labdanum similar to that used in nineteenth-century Crete. He examined archaeological remains of such items and their representations in art, and found that they were mechanically incapable of acting as either a flail or whip and so must be some other instrument. Similarly to crooks, he further noted that these items were also associated with shepherds, who used them to gather labdanum while their flocks grazed on and among the bushes from which the gum was gathered.” ref
“Banebdjedet also spelled Banebdjed is an Ancient Egyptian ram god with a cult centre at Mendes. Khnum was the equivalent god in Upper Egypt. Most notably known for appearing in the myth of Horus and Set. His wife was the goddess Hatmehit (“Foremost of the Fishes”), who was perhaps the original deity of Mendes. Their offspring was “Horus the Child” and they formed the so-called “Mendesian Triad”. The words for “ram” and “soul” sounded the same in Egyptian, so ram deities were at times regarded as appearances of other gods. Typically, the horned god Banebdjedet was depicted with four rams’ heads to represent the four Bas of the sun god. He may also be linked to the first four gods to rule over Egypt (Osiris, Geb, Shu and Ra–Atum), with large granite shrines to each in the Mendes sanctuary.” ref
“The Book of the Heavenly Cow describes the “Ram of Mendes” as being the Ba of Osiris, but this was not an exclusive association. A story dated to the New Kingdom describes him as being consulted by the “Divine Tribunal” to judge between Horus and Seth, but he proposes that Neith do it instead as an act of diplomacy. As the dispute continues, it is Banebdjedet who suggests that Seth be given the throne as he is the elder brother. In a chapel in the Ramesseum, a stela records how the god Ptah took the form of Banebdjedet, in view of gaining his virility, in order to have union with the woman who would conceive Rameses II.” ref
Horned Deity
“Deities depicted with horns or antlers are found in numerous religions across the world. Horned animals, such as bulls, goats, and rams, may be worshiped as deities or serve as inspiration for a deity’s appearance in religions that venerate animal gods. Many pagan religions include horned gods in their pantheons, such as Pan in Greek mythology and Ikenga in Odinala. Some neopagan religions have reconstructed these deities into the concept of the Horned God, representing the male aspect of divinity in Wiccan belief. In Abrahamic religions, horned deities are often associated with demonology. Christian demons are described as having horns in the Book of Revelation, and figures such as Satan, Baphomet, and Beelzebub are typically depicted with horns.” ref
“The Canaanite deity Moloch, according to the Bible, was often depicted as a bull, and became a bull demon in Abrahamic traditions. Other deities such as Baal and El were likely originally horned bull gods. Several Indus seals show a fighting scene between a tiger-like beast and a man with horns, hooves and a tail, who has been compared to the Mesopotamian bull-man Enkidu, also a partner of Gilgamesh, and suggests a transmission of Mesopotamian mythology.[The Pashupati seal, a seal discovered during the excavation of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan has drawn attention as a possible representation of a “proto-Shiva” figure. This “Pashupati” (Lord of animal-like beings – Sanskrit paśupati) seal shows a seated figure with horns, possibly ithyphallic, surrounded by animals. A divinity mentioned in Jain sources known as Harinegameshin is sometimes described as having the head of an antelope or goat.” ref
“In ancient Egyptian religion, bulls held significant symbolic and religious importance. The Apis bull, for instance, was one of the most revered sacred animals, associated with fertility, regeneration, and divine power. Worshiped in the Memphis region, the bull was believed to embody the spirit of Ptah, god of craftsmen, and later became linked with Osiris, the god of the afterlife. In Ptolemaic Egypt, Mnevis, another bull god, was considered the ba of Ra and the physical manifestation of Atum. Bat, the principal goddess of Hu, was depicted as woman with a cow’s ears and horns. Her worship dates back to the earliest times, possibly originating from Late Paleolithic cattle herding. By the Middle Kingdom period, her identity and attributes were absorbed by Hathor, goddess of love and femininity. Like Bat, Hathor was depicted as a woman with a cow’s ears and horns. The notable distinction between their depictions is that Bat’s horns curve inward, while Hathor’s horns curve outward slightly, which may reflect the different breeds of cattle herded in various eras.” ref
“Isis, another maternal goddess, was traditionally depicted with a throne on her head. However, during the Old Kingdom period, she was portrayed with cow horns framing a sun disk, specifically in the Pyramid Texts. The ram, symbolizing fertility and war, was revered with such gods as Heryshaf in Heracleopolis and Khnum in Elephantine and Esna. Khnum’s wife, Satet, is traditionally depicted with antelope horns. In Mendes, Banebdjedet was typically shown with four ram heads to represent the four souls (Ba) of the sun god. Banebdjedet may also be linked to the first four gods to rule over Egypt, Osiris, Geb, Shu and Ra-Atum, with large granite shrines devoted to each in the Mendes sanctuary. The Book of the Heavenly Cow describes the “Ram of Mendes” as being the Ba of Osiris, but this was not an exclusive association.” ref
“Amun, the supreme Egyptian god, was often represented with a ram’s head, a depiction that may have originated from other regions of North Africa since the Lithic period. Although the most modern sources ignored the existence of Amun in the Berber mythology, he was attested to in earlier sources as a god of the Berbers. In Awelimmiden Tuareg, the name Amanai is believed to have the meaning of “God“. The Ancient Libyans may have worshipped the setting sun, which was personified by Amon, who was represented by the ram‘s horns. The name of the ancient Berber tribes: Garamantes and Nasamonians are believed by some scholars to be related to the name Amun. Adherents of Odinani worship the Ikenga, god of honest achievement, whose two horns symbolize self-will. Small wooden statues of him are made and praised as personal altars.
“The cult of Amun was likely introduced to Greece early on, possibly through the Greek colony of Cyrene, and came to be venerated in cities such as Thebes, Sparta, Aphytis, Megalopolis, and Delphi. Amun was identified by these Greeks as a form of Zeus, resulting in depictions of the god with horns. According to Arrian, Curtius, Diodorus, Justin, and Plutarch, Alexander the Great visited the Oracle of Ammon at Siwa, after the battle of Issus, where he was declared the son of Amun. Alexander styled himself as the son of Zeus-Amun and even demanded to be worshiped as a god. Pan was a Greek god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds and rustic music, and was depicted with the horns and hooves of a goat. The moon goddess, Selene, was also commonly described as “horned”, respresenting the crescent moon, and associated with the bull. In Orphism, Zagreus, an equivalent of Dionysus, was described as “bull-faced”; possibly influencing Dionysus’ epithet Tauros (“bull”) and depictions of him with horns, as attested by Plutarch. In Euripides‘ The Bacchae, there is a scene were King Pentheus sees a horned Dionysus, resulting in him losing his sanity.” ref
A Little on Sheep
“Sheep are most likely descended from the wild mouflon of Europe and Asia, with Iran being a geographic envelope of the domestication center. One of the earliest animals to be domesticated for agricultural purposes, sheep are raised for fleeces, meat (lamb, hogget or mutton), and milk. A sheep’s wool is the most widely used animal fiber, and is usually harvested by shearing. As a key animal in the history of farming, sheep have a deeply entrenched place in human culture, and are represented in much modern language and symbolism. As livestock, sheep are most often associated with pastoral, Arcadian imagery. Sheep figure in many mythologies—such as the Golden Fleece—and major religions, especially the Abrahamic traditions. In both ancient and modern religious ritual, sheep are used as sacrificial animals.” ref
“The exact line of descent from wild ancestors to domestic sheep is unclear. The most common hypothesis states that Ovis aries is descended from the Asiatic (O. gmelini) species of mouflon; the European mouflon (Ovis aries musimon) is a direct descendant of this population. Sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated by humankind (although the domestication of dogs probably took place 10 to 20 thousand years earlier); the domestication date is estimated to fall between 11,000 and 9000 BCE in Mesopotamia and possibly around 7000 BCE in Mehrgarh in the Indus Valley. The rearing of sheep for secondary products, and the resulting breed development, began in either southwest Asia or western Europe. Initially, sheep were kept solely for meat, milk, and skins. Archaeological evidence from statuary found at sites in Iran suggests that selection for woolly sheep may have begun around 6000 BCE, and the earliest woven wool garments have been dated to two to three thousand years later. Sheep husbandry spread quickly in Europe. Excavations show that in about 6000 BCE, during the Neolithic period of prehistory, the Castelnovien people, living around Châteauneuf-les-Martigues near present-day Marseille in the south of France, were among the first in Europe to keep domestic sheep.” ref
“Practically from its inception, ancient Greek civilization relied on sheep as primary livestock, and were even said to name individual animals. Ancient Romans kept sheep on a wide scale, and were an important agent in the spread of sheep raising. Pliny the Elder, in his Natural History (Naturalis Historia), speaks at length about sheep and wool. Sheep are flock animals and strongly gregarious; much sheep behavior can be understood on the basis of these tendencies. The dominance hierarchy of sheep and their natural inclination to follow a leader to new pastures were the pivotal factors in sheep being one of the first domesticated livestock species. Farmers exploit flocking behavior to keep sheep together on unfenced pastures such as hill farming, and to move them more easily. For this purpose shepherds may use herding dogs in this effort, with a highly bred herding ability. Sheep are food-oriented, and association of humans with regular feeding often results in sheep soliciting people for food. Sheep establish a dominance hierarchy through fighting, threats and competitiveness. Dominant animals are inclined to be more aggressive with other sheep, and usually feed first at troughs.”Sheep recognize and are attracted to individual sheep and humans by their faces, as they possess similar specialized neural systems in the temporal and frontal lobes … individual sheep can remember 50 other different sheep faces for over 2 years.” ref
“Sheep were kept for their meat, milk, skins, and wool, and flocks of sheep were used to trample newly sown seed into the ground. Egyptians used animals, particularly sheep, for money. Gold pieces have been that are shaped like sheep. These are believed to have been early money. Famous reference to wool and sheep from the ancient world include Jason’s quest for the Golden Fleece, Ulysses escaping from the Cyclops by clinging onto the underbelly of a ram, and Penelope’s nightly unraveling of her weaving to keep suitors away until Ulysses returned. Salome’s veils may have been wool and Cleopatra most likely used a wool carpet to smuggle herself in to see Caesar.” ref
“Sheep have had a strong presence in many cultures, especially in areas where they form the most common type of livestock. In the English language, to call someone a sheep or ovine may allude that they are timid and easily led. In contradiction to this image, male sheep are often used as symbols of virility and power; the logos of the Los Angeles Rams football team and the Dodge Ram pickup truck allude to males of the bighorn sheep, Ovis canadensis.” ref
“Counting sheep is popularly said to be an aid to sleep, and some ancient systems of counting sheep persist today. Sheep also enter in colloquial sayings and idiom frequently with such phrases as “black sheep“. To call an individual a black sheep implies that they are an odd or disreputable member of a group. This usage derives from the recessive trait that causes an occasional black lamb to be born into an entirely white flock. These black sheep were considered undesirable by shepherds, as black wool is not as commercially viable as white wool. Citizens who accept overbearing governments have been referred to by the Portmanteau neologism of sheeple. Somewhat differently, the adjective “sheepish” is also used to describe embarrassment.” ref
“In antiquity, symbolism involving sheep cropped up in religions in the ancient Near East, the Mideast, and the Mediterranean area: Çatalhöyük, ancient Egyptian religion, the Cana’anite and Phoenician tradition, Judaism, Greek religion, and others. Religious symbolism and ritual involving sheep began with some of the first known faiths: Skulls of rams (along with bulls) occupied central placement in shrines at the Çatalhöyük settlement in 8,000 BCE. In Ancient Egyptian religion, the ram was the symbol of several gods: Khnum, Heryshaf and Amun (in his incarnation as a god of fertility). Other deities occasionally shown with ram features include the goddess Ishtar, the Phoenician god Baal-Hamon, and the Babylonian god Ea-Oannes. In Madagascar, sheep were not eaten as they were believed to be incarnations of the souls of ancestors.” ref
“There are many ancient Greek references to sheep: that of Chrysomallos, the golden-fleeced ram, continuing to be told through into the modern era. Astrologically, Aries, the ram, is the first sign of the classical Greek zodiac, and the sheep is the eighth of the twelve animals associated with the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, related to the Chinese calendar. It is said in Chinese traditions that Hou ji sacrificed sheep. Mongolia, shagai are an ancient form of dice made from the cuboid bones of sheep that are often used for fortunetelling purposes. Sheep play an important role in all the Abrahamic faiths; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and King David were all shepherds. According to the Biblical story of the Binding of Isaac, a ram is sacrificed as a substitute for Isaac after an angel stays Abraham’s hand (in the Islamic tradition, Abraham was about to sacrifice Ishmael). Eid al-Adha is a major annual festival in Islam in which sheep (or other animals) are sacrificed in remembrance of this act.” ref
“Sheep are occasionally sacrificed to commemorate important secular events in Islamic cultures. Greeks and Romans sacrificed sheep regularly in religious practice, and Judaism once sacrificed sheep as a Korban (sacrifice), such as the Passover lamb. Ovine symbols—such as the ceremonial blowing of a shofar—still find a presence in modern Judaic traditions. Collectively, followers of Christianity are often referred to as a flock, with Christ as the Good Shepherd, and sheep are an element in the Christian iconography of the birth of Jesus. Some Christian saints are considered patrons of shepherds, and even of sheep themselves. Christ is also portrayed as the Sacrificial lamb of God (Agnus Dei) and Easter celebrations in Greece and Romania traditionally feature a meal of Paschal lamb. A church leader is often called the pastor, which is derived from the Latin word for shepherd. In many western Christian traditions bishops carry a staff, which also serves as a symbol of the episcopal office, known as a crosier, modeled on the shepherd’s crook.” ref
Debate between sheep and grain
“The “Debate between sheep and grain” or “Myth of cattle and grain” is a Sumerian disputation and creation myth, written on clay tablets in the mid to late 3rd millennium BCE. Seven “debate” topics are known from the Sumerian literature, falling in the category of ‘disputations‘; some examples are: the Debate between Winter and Summer; the Debate between bird and fish; the Tree and the Reed; and the Debate between silver and copper. These topics came some centuries after writing was established in Sumerian Mesopotamia. The debates are philosophical and address humanity’s place in the world. First published as “Sumerian religious texts” in “Miscellaneous Babylonian Inscriptions“, number eight, entitled “A New Creation Myth”. The tablet is 5 by 2.6 by 1.25 inches (12.7 by 6.6 by 3.2 cm) at its thickest point. Barton describes the text as an “elaborate statement of the non-existence of many things once upon a time” and considers it a “statement that mankind was brought into existence through the physical union of a god and a goddess.” ref
“Further translated parts of the text and discusses the myth saying, “One of the most remarkable tablets in the Museum is number 14005, a didactic poem in 61 lines on the period of pre-culture and institution of paradise by the earth god and the water god in Dilmun“. It was then increased to two hundred lines and the myth called cattle and grain, it has been called it the “second myth significant for the Sumerian concept of the creation of man”. Other translations were taken from “Sumerian Epics and Myths”, naming them simply “grain” and “sheep” (also known as cattle).” ref
“The story opens with a location, “the hill of heaven and earth,” which is discussed by Chiera as “not a poetical name for the earth, but the dwelling place of the gods, situated at the point where the heavens rest upon the earth. It is there that mankind had their first habitat, and there the Babylonian Garden of Eden is to be placed.” The Sumerian word Edin, means “steppe” or “plain”, so modern scholarship has abandoned the use of the phrase “Babylonian Garden of Eden” as it has become clear that the “Garden of Eden” was a later concept.” ref
“It has been suggested that this area was restricted for gods, noting that field plans from the Third Dynasty of Ur use the term hursag (“hill“) to describe the hilly parts of fields that are hard to cultivate due to the presence of prehistoric tell mounds (ruined habitations). The story of the god An creating the cattle-goddess, Lahar, and the grain goddess, Ashnan, to feed and clothe the Anunnaki, who in turn made man. Lahar and Ashnan are created in the “duku” or “pure place” and the story further describes how the Anunnaki create a sheepfold with plants and herbs for Lahar and a house, plough, and yoke for Ashnan, describing the introduction of animal husbandry and agriculture. The story continues with a quarrel between the two goddesses over their gifts which eventually resolves with Enki and Enlil intervening to declare Ashnan the victor.” ref
“Samuel Noah Kramer has noted the parallels and variations between the story and the later one of Cain and Abel in the Bible Book of Genesis (Genesis 4:1–16). Ewa Wasilewska mentions, “this text is not very clear, allowing for the interpretation that humankind was already present before Lahar and Ashnan were created and it was them, not the Anunnakû, who were not able to provide for themselves and for the deities until they were given divine ‘breath’ (Lyczkowska and Szarzynska 1981). However, it seems that Kramer’s translation is more appropriate concerning the Sumerian realm in which each and every creation must have had its clearly described purpose”. Karen Rhea Nemet-Nejat noted the use of measuring rods in the tale as being linked to the history of writing, which developed in order to keep count of animals and produce. Jeremy Black suggests that the victory of grain perhaps implies that man can live without domestic animals, but cannot survive without bread. He goes on to point out that the debates on both sides are roughly equal.” ref
“The introduction to the myth reads:
When, upon the hill of heaven and earth, An created the Annunaki, since he neither spawned nor created Grain with them, and since in the Land he neither fashioned the yarn ofUttu(the goddess of weaving) nor pegged out the loom for Uttu—with no Sheep appearing, there were no numerous lambs, and with no goats, there were no numerous kids, the sheep did not give birth to her twin lambs, and the goat did not give birth to her triplet kids; the Annunaki, the great gods, did not even know the names Grain or Sheep. There was no grain of thirty days; there was no grain of forty days; there was no grain of fifty days; there was no small grain, grain from the mountains or grain from the holy habitations. There was no cloth to wear; Uttu had not been born—no royal turban was worn; lordNiĝir-si, the precious lord, had not been born; Thegod of wild animalshad not gone out into the barren lands. The people of those days did not know about eating bread. They did not know about wearing clothes; they went about with naked limbs in the Land. Like sheep they ate grass with their mouths and drank water from the ditches.” ref
“The benefits that grain and sheep bring to the habitation are also described:
They brought wealth to the assembly. They brought sustenance to the Land. They fulfilled the ordinances of the gods. They filled the store-rooms of the Land with stock. The barns of the Land were heavy with them. When they entered the homes of the poor who crouch in the dust they brought wealth. Both of them, wherever they directed their steps, added to the riches of the household with their weight. Where they stood, they were satisfying; where they settled, they were seemly. They gladdened the heart of An and the heart of Enlil.” ref
“The final merits of grain are emphasized in a proverb at the end of the myth:
From sunrise till sunset, may the name of Grain be praised. People should submit to the yoke of Grain. Whoever has silver, whoever has jewels, whoever has cattle, whoever has sheep shall take a seat at the gate of whoever has grain, and pass his time there.” ref
- From a Gerzeh/Naqada II Late Predynastic Egyptian palette with a goddess “Bat/Hathor” cow-head sun/stars motif.
- From a Hierakonpolis late Gerzeh/Naqada II Predynastic or early Naqada III Proto-Dynastic Egyptian porphyry fluted bowl with two reliefs on the rim, one of which was a goddess “Hathor/Bat” cow-head sun/stars motif.
- From an Abydos tomb, u-210 which held a small seal with a goddess “Bat/Hathor” sun/stars motif from the Gerzeh/Naqada II Late Predynastic Egyptian period.
- A Mongolian Copper Age bull sun/star shamanism petroglyph
- A Mongolian Bronze Age deer sun/star shamanism petroglyph symbol.
- A Kyrgyzstan Saimaly-Tash possibly Bronze Age shamanism cow-sun person symbol petroglyph.
- Similar X-ray style images among different peoples of the North from Siberia to Central Asia with shamanism petroglyphs of horned animals with sun symbols from possibly as old as the Neolithic to the Bronze Age. ref, ref, ref
A Little on Cattle
“Cattle was raised on estates, primarily in the delta, in ancient Egypt to supply royalty with meat. Reliefs show men milking cows and slaughtering cattle on a large scale at a royal processing center. Cattle were part of the staple diet of the Egyptians, suggesting that grazing land was available for the Egyptians during the times when the Nile receded. However, during the inundation, cattle were brought to the higher levels of the flood plain area and were often fed the grains harvested from the previous year.” ref
“Cattle are prominent in some religions and mythologies. As such, numerous peoples throughout the world have at one point in time honored bulls as sacred. In the Sumerian religion, Marduk is the “bull of Utu“. In Hinduism, Shiva‘s steed is Nandi, the Bull. The sacred bull survives in the constellation Taurus. The bull, whether lunar as in Mesopotamia or solar as in India, is the subject of various other cultural and religious incarnations as well as modern mentions in New Age cultures. Aurochs are depicted in many Paleolithic European cave paintings such as those found at Lascaux and Livernon in France. Their life force may have been thought to have magical qualities, for early carvings of the aurochs have also been found. The impressive and dangerous aurochs survived into the Iron Age in Anatolia and the Near East and were worshipped throughout that area as sacred animals; the earliest remnants of bull worship can be found at neolithic Çatalhöyük. We cannot recreate a specific context for the bull skulls with horns (bucrania) preserved in an 8th millennium BCE sanctuary at Çatalhöyük in Central Anatolia. The sacred bull of the Hattians, whose elaborate standards were found at Alaca Höyük alongside those of the sacred stag, survived in Hurrian and Hittite mythology as Seri and Hurri (“Day” and “Night”), the bulls who carried the weather god Teshub on their backs or in his chariot and grazed on the ruins of cities.” ref
“In Cyprus, bull masks made from real skulls were worn in rites. Bull-masked terracotta figurines and Neolithic bull-horned stone altars have been found in Cyprus. Bulls were a central theme in the Minoan civilization, with bull heads and bull horns used as symbols in the Knossos palace. Minoan frescos and ceramics depict bull-leaping, in which participants of both sexes vaulted over bulls by grasping their horns. Bulls appear on seals from the Indus Valley civilisation. The Iranian language texts and traditions of Zoroastrianism have several different mythological bovine creatures. One of these is Gavaevodata, which is the Avestan name of a hermaphroditic “uniquely created (-aevo.data) cow (gav-)”, one of Ahura Mazda‘s six primordial material creations that becomes the mythological progenitor of all beneficent animal life. Another Zoroastrian mythological bovine is Hadhayans, a gigantic bull so large that it could straddle the mountains and seas that divide the seven regions of the earth, and on whose back men could travel from one region to another.” ref
“In medieval times, Hadhayans also came to be known as Srīsōk (Avestan *Thrisaok, “three burning places”), which derives from a legend in which three “Great Fires” were collected on the creature’s back. Yet another mythological bovine is that of the unnamed creature in the Cow’s Lament, an allegorical hymn attributed to Zoroaster himself, in which the soul of a bovine (geush urvan) despairs over her lack of protection from an adequate herdsman. In the allegory, the cow represents humanity’s lack of moral guidance, but in later Zoroastrianism, Geush Urvan became a yazata representing cattle. The 14th day of the month is named after her and is under her protection. In The Rig Veda, the earliest collection of Vedic hymns (c. 1500-1000 BCE), Indra is often praised as a Bull (Vṛṣabha – vrsa (he) plus bha (being) or as uksan, a bull aged five to nine years, which is still growing or just reached its full growth).” ref
“Tarvos Trigaranus (the “bull with three cranes”) is pictured on ancient Gaulish reliefs alongside images of gods, such as in the cathedrals at Trier and at Notre Dame de Paris. In Irish mythology, the Donn Cuailnge and the Finnbhennach are prized bulls that play a central role in the epic Táin Bó Cúailnge (“The Cattle Raid of Cooley”). Early medieval Irish texts also mention the tarbfeis (bull feast), a shamanistic ritual in which a bull would be sacrificed and a seer would sleep in the bull’s hide to have a vision of the future king. Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century AD, describes a religious ceremony in Gaul in which white-clad druids climbed a sacred oak, cut down the mistletoe growing on it, sacrificed two white bulls, and used the mistletoe to cure infertility.” ref
“The bull is an icon of power and virile strength in Aryan literature and other Indo-European traditions. Vrsha means “to shower or to spray”, in this context Indra showers strength and virility. Vṛṣabha is also an astrological sign in Indian horoscope systems, corresponding to Taurus. Bull figurines are common finds on archaeological sites across the Levant; two examples are the 16th century BCE (Middle Bronze Age) bull calf from Ashkelon, and the 12th century BCE (Iron Age I) bull found at the so-called Bull Site in Samaria on the West Bank. Both Baʿal and El were associated with the bull in Ugaritic texts, as it symbolized both strength and fertility. Exodus 32:4 reads “He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt’. Nehemiah 9:18 reads “even when they made an idol shaped like a calf and said, ‘This is your god who brought you out of Egypt!’ They committed terrible blasphemies.” ref
“Calf-idols are referred to later in the Tanakh, such as in the Book of Hosea, which would seem accurate as they were a fixture of near-eastern cultures. Solomon‘s “Molten Sea” basin stood on twelve brazen bulls. Young bulls were set as frontier markers at Dan and Bethel, the frontiers of the Kingdom of Israel. Much later, in Abrahamic religions, the bull motif became a bull demon or the “horned devil” in contrast and conflict to earlier traditions. The bull is familiar in Judeo-Christian cultures from the Biblical episode wherein an idol of the golden calf (Hebrew: עֵגֶּל הַזָהָב) is made by Aaron and worshipped by the Hebrews in the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula (Book of Exodus). The text of the Hebrew Bible can be understood to refer to the idol as representing a separate god, or as representing Yahweh himself, perhaps through an association or religious syncretism with Egyptian or Levantine bull gods, rather than a new deity in itself.” ref
“The Sumerian guardian deity called lamassu was depicted as hybrids with bodies of either winged bulls or lions and heads of human males. The motif of a winged animal with a human head is common to the Near East, first recorded in Ebla around 3000 BCE. The first distinct lamassu motif appeared in Assyria during the reign of Tiglath-Pileser II as a symbol of power. “The human-headed winged bulls protective genies called shedu or lamassu, … were placed as guardians at certain gates or doorways of the city and the palace. Symbols combining man, bull, and bird, they offered protection against enemies. The bull was also associated with the storm and rain god Adad, Hadad or Iškur. The bull was his symbolic animal. He appeared bearded, often holding a club and thunderbolt while wearing a bull-horned headdress. Hadad was equated with the Greek god Zeus; the Roman god Jupiter, as Jupiter Dolichenus; the Indo-European Nasite Hittite storm-god Teshub; the Egyptian god Amun. When Enki distributed the destinies, he made Iškur inspector of the cosmos. In one litany, Iškur is proclaimed again and again as “great radiant bull, your name is heaven” and also called son of Anu, lord of Karkara; twin-brother of Enki, lord of abundance, lord who rides the storm, lion of heaven.” ref
“The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh depicts the horrors of the rage-fueled deployment of the Bull of Heaven by Ishtar and its slaughter by Gilgamesh and Enkidu as an act of defiance that seals their fates:
Ishtar opened her mouth and said again, “My father, give me the Bull of Heaven to destroy Gilgamesh. Fill Gilgamesh, I say, with arrogance to his destruction; but if you refuse to give me the Bull of Heaven I will break in the doors of hell and smash the bolts; there will be a confusion of people, those above with those from the lower depths. I shall bring up the dead to eat food like the living; and the hosts of the dead will outnumber the living.” Anu said to great Ishtar, “If I do what you desire there will be seven years of drought throughout Uruk when corn will be seedless husks. Have you saved grain enough for the people and grass for the cattle?” Ishtar replied “I have saved grain for the people, grass for the cattle.”…When Anu heard what Ishtar had said he gave her the Bull of Heaven to lead by the halter down to Uruk. When they reached the gates of Uruk the Bull of Heaven went to the river; with his first snort cracks opened in the earth and a hundred young men fell down to death. With his second snort cracks opened and two hundred fell down to death. With his third snort cracks opened, Enkidu doubled over but instantly recovered, he dodged aside and leapt onto the Bull and seized it by the horns. The Bull of Heaven foamed in his face, it brushed him with the thick of its tail. Enkidu cried to Gilgamesh, “My friend we boasted that we would leave enduring names behind us. Now thrust your sword between the nape and the horns.” So Gilgamesh followed the Bull, he seized the thick of its tail, he thrust the sword between the nape and the horns and slew the Bull. When they had killed the Bull of Heaven they cut out its heart and gave it to Shamash, and the brothers rested.” ref
“In Ancient Egypt multiple sacred bulls were worshiped. A long succession of ritually perfect bulls were identified by the god’s priests, housed in the temple for their lifetime, then embalmed and buried. The mother-cows of these animals were also revered, and buried in separate locations.
- In the Memphite region, the Apis was seen as the embodiment of Ptah and later of Osiris. Some of the Apis bulls were buried in large sarcophagi in the underground vaults of the Serapeum of Saqqara.
- Mnevis of Heliopolis was the embodiment of Atum–Ra.
- Buchis of Hermonthis was linked with the gods Ra and Montu. The catacombs for these bulls are now known as the Bucheum. Multiple Buchis mummies were found in situ. Some of their sarcophagi are similar to those in the Serapeum, others are polylithic (made from multiple stones).” ref
“Ka, in Egyptian, is both a religious concept of life-force/power and the word for bull. Andrew Gordon, an Egyptologist, and Calvin Schwabe, a veterinarian, argue that the origin of the ankh is related to two other signs of uncertain origin that often appear alongside it: the was-sceptre, representing “power” or “dominion”, and the djed pillar, representing “stability”. According to this hypothesis, the form of each sign is drawn from a part of the anatomy of a bull, like some other hieroglyphic signs that are known to be based on body parts of animals. In Egyptian belief semen was connected with life and, to some extent, with “power” or “dominion”, and some texts indicate the Egyptians believed semen originated in the bones. Therefore, Calvin and Schwabe suggest the signs are based on parts of the bull’s anatomy through which semen was thought to pass: the ankh is a thoracic vertebra, the djed is the sacrum and lumbar vertebrae, and the was is the dried penis of the bull.” ref
“In Ancient Egypt, both cows and bulls held significant cultural, religious, and symbolic importance, though their roles and perceptions were quite distinct. Bulls were used in religious ceremonies not only because of their association with deities but also due to their symbolic representation of strength, fertility, and life’s renewal. Their sacrifice was a way to appease gods or celebrate significant events, embodying the cyclical nature of life and death. Cows, particularly, were linked to goddesses like Hathor, who was often depicted with cow horns or as a cow herself, symbolizing motherhood, love, and nourishment. Isis was also associated with cow imagery, especially in her protective maternal role towards Horus.” ref
“The 3,000-year-old Cow Couch from Tutankhamen’s Tomb represented the ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor. The Hathor Cow was a goddess of love, happiness, music, and the heavens, “whose speckled belly formed the starry sky,” (Saqqara Online).” ref
“Bat is a cow goddess in Egyptian mythology who was depicted as a human face with cow ears and horns or as a woman. Evidence of the worship of Bat exists from the earliest records of the religious practices in ancient Egypt. By the time of the Middle Kingdom, after the unification of Lower Egypt and Upper Egypt, her identity and attributes were subsumed within that of the goddess Hathor, a similar goddess worshipped in another nome. The imagery of Bat persisted throughout the history of ancient Egypt on the sistrum, a sacred instrument that remained associated with religious practices. The worship of Bat dates to earliest times in ancient Egypt and may have its origins in Late Paleolithic cattle herding cultures. Bat was the chief goddess of Seshesh, otherwise known as Hu or Diospolis Parva, the 7th nome of Upper Egypt. The epithet, Bat, may be linked to the word ba with the feminine suffix ‘t’. A person’s ba roughly equates to one’s personality or emanation and often is translated as ‘soul’.” ref
“Although it was rare for Bat to be clearly depicted in painting or sculpture, some notable artifacts (such as the upper portions of the Narmer Palette) include depictions of the goddess in bovine form. In other instances she was pictured as a celestial bovine creature surrounded by stars, or as a woman. More commonly, Bat was depicted on amulets, with a human face, but with bovine features, such as the ears of a cow and the inward-curving horns of the type of cattle first herded by the Egyptians. Bat became strongly associated with the sistrum and the center of her cult was known as the “Mansion of the Sistrum“. The sistrum is an ankh-shaped musical instrument, which was one of the most frequently used sacred instruments in ancient Egyptian temples. Some instruments would include depictions of Bat, with her head and neck as the handle and base and with its rattles placed between her horns. The imagery is repeated on each side of the instrument, having two faces, as mentioned in the Pyramid Texts: I am Praise; I am Majesty; I am Bat with Her Two Faces; I am the One Who Is Saved, and I have saved myself from all things evil.” ref
“The imagery of Bat as a divine cow was remarkably similar to that of Hathor, a parallel goddess from another nome. In two dimensional images, both goddesses often are depicted straight on, facing the onlooker and not in profile in accordance with the characteristic Egyptian convention. The significant difference in their depictions is that the horns of Bat curve inward and those of Hathor curve outward slightly. It is possible that this could be based in the different breeds of cattle herded at different times. Hathor‘s cult center was in the 6th Nome of Upper Egypt, adjacent to the 7th nome where Bat was the cow goddess, which may indicate that once they were the same goddess in Predynastic Egypt. By the Middle Kingdom, the cult of Hathor had again absorbed that of Bat in a manner similar to other mergers in the Egyptian pantheon.” ref
“Hesat is an ancient Egyptian goddess in the form of a cow. She was said to provide humanity with milk (called “the beer of Hesat”) and in particular to suckle the pharaoh and several ancient Egyptian bull gods. In the Pyramid Texts she is said to be the mother of Anubis and of the deceased king. She was especially connected with Mnevis, the living bull god worshipped at Heliopolis, and the mothers of Mnevis bulls were buried in a cemetery dedicated to Hesat. In Ptolemaic times (304–30 BC) she was closely linked with the goddess Isis. In Egyptian mythology, Hathor is one of the main cattle deities as she is the mother of Horus and Ra and closely associated with the role of royalty and kingship. Hesat is one of Hathor’s manifestations, usually portrayed as a white cow representing purity and the milk that she produces to give life to humanity. Other feminine bovine deities include Sekhat-Hor, Mehet-Weryt, and Shedyt. Their masculine counterparts include Apis, Mnevis, Sema-wer, Ageb-wer.” ref
“Nut, also known by various other transcriptions, is the goddess of the sky, stars, cosmos, mothers, astronomy, and the universe in the ancient Egyptian religion. She was seen as a star-covered nude woman arching over the Earth, or as a cow. She was depicted wearing the water-pot sign (nw) that identifies her. The pronunciation of ancient Egyptian is uncertain because vowels were long omitted from its writing, although her name often includes the unpronounced determinative hieroglyph for “sky“. Her name Nwt, itself also meaning “Sky”, is usually transcribed as “Nut” but also sometimes appears in older sources as Nunut, Nenet, Nuit or Not. She also appears in the hieroglyphic record by a number of epithets, not all of which are understood. She is considered one of the oldest deities among the Egyptian pantheon, with her origin being found on the creation story of Heliopolis. She was originally the goddess of the nighttime sky, but eventually became referred to as simply the sky goddess.” ref
“Her headdress was the hieroglyph of part of her name, a pot, which may also symbolize the uterus. Mostly depicted in nude human form, Nut was also sometimes depicted in the form of a cow whose great body formed the sky and heavens, a sycamore tree, or as a giant sow, suckling many piglets (representing the stars). Some scholars suggested that the Egyptians may have seen the Milky Way as a celestial depiction of Nut. A sacred symbol of Nut was the ladder used by Osiris to enter her heavenly skies. This ladder-symbol was called maqet and was placed in tombs to protect the deceased, and to invoke the aid of the deity of the dead. Nut and her brother, Geb, may be considered enigmas in the world of mythology. In direct contrast to most other mythologies which usually develop a sky father associated with an Earth mother (or Mother Nature), she personified the sky and he the Earth.” ref
“Nut appears in the creation myth of Heliopolis which involves several goddesses who play important roles: Tefnut (Tefenet) is a personification of moisture, who mated with Shu (Air) and then gave birth to Sky as the goddess Nut, who mated with her brother Earth, as Geb. From the union of Geb and Nut came, among others, the most popular of Egyptian goddesses, Isis, the mother of Horus, whose story is central to that of her brother-husband, the resurrection god Osiris. Osiris is killed by his brother Set and scattered over the Earth in 14 pieces, which Isis gathers up and puts back together. Nut was the goddess of the sky and all heavenly bodies, a symbol of protecting the dead when they enter the afterlife. According to the Egyptians, during the day, the heavenly bodies—such as the Sun and Moon—would make their way across her body. Then, at dusk, they would be swallowed, pass through her belly during the night, and be reborn at dawn. Nut is also the barrier separating the forces of chaos from the ordered cosmos in the world. She was pictured as a woman arched on her toes and fingertips over the Earth; her body portrayed as a star-filled sky. Nut’s fingers and toes were believed to touch the four cardinal points or directions of north, south, east, and west.” ref
“Because of her role in saving Osiris, Nut was seen as a friend and protector of the dead, who appealed to her as a child appeals to its mother: “O my Mother Nut, stretch Yourself over me, that I may be placed among the imperishable stars which are in You, and that I may not die.” Nut was thought to draw the dead into her star-filled sky, and refresh them with food and wine: “I am Nut, and I have come so that I may enfold and protect you from all things evil.” She was often painted on the inside lid of the sarcophagus, protecting the deceased. The vaults of tombs were often painted dark blue with many stars as a representation of Nut. The Book of the Dead says, “Hail, thou Sycamore Tree of the Goddess Nut! Give me of the water and of the air which is in thee. I embrace that throne which is in Unu, and I keep guard over the Egg of Nekek-ur.” ref
“Unlike bulls, cows were generally not sacrificed because of their sacred status. They were symbols of fertility, life, and protection. The reverence for cows is evident from historical accounts, like those by Herodotus, who noted the Egyptians’ aversion to harming cows. The act of sacrifice was part of a broader ritualistic system where offerings were made to appease gods, ensure fertility, and maintain the balance of life and death. The bull’s death was considered a sacred act that could purify or renew sacred spaces, like temples. The cult of Apis dates back to at least the 18th Dynasty (c. 1550–1292 BCE), with the Serapeum’s use spanning from the New Kingdom to the Ptolemaic Period (over 1400 years).” ref
“The cult of Apis contributed to the economy, with people making offerings, which could range from food to more valuable items, supporting the temple’s staff and activities. The raising of the Apis bull was a complex blend of religious duty, cultural practice, and royal propaganda, showcasing the intricacy of ancient Egyptian society’s relationship with the divine. The Apis was considered a manifestation of the god Ptah, the creator god of Memphis, but later also linked with Osiris, the god of the afterlife, and thus seen as an intermediary between humans and gods. The bull represented strength, fertility, and the rejuvenation of life. It was seen as a living representation of the kingship, symbolizing the pharaoh’s power and divine status. The Apis bull was an immensely significant figure in ancient Egyptian religion, embodying the concept of divine kingship and fertility, and so the bull chosen to be Apis had to meet specific physical criteria: black with a white triangle on the forehead, an eagle-shaped mark on the back, double hairs on the tail, and a scarab-shaped mark under its tongue.” ref
Indo-European “Cow”
“There is thinking that IE gwou- (“cow”) and Sinitic /*[ŋ]ʷə/ (< uvular?) (“cow”) are related. Some scientific research lends further credibility to this supposition. Tsung-tung Chang already published on this idea in his “Indo-European Vocabulary in Old Chinese“, Sino-Platonic Papers, 7 (January, 1988), p. 18 (of i, 56), citing Pokorny 482 gʷou and giving “gou” as his OS reconstruction.” ref
“Etymology of English “cow”:
From Middle English cou, cu, from Old English cū (“cow”), from Proto-Germanic *kūz (“cow”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cow”). Cognate with Sanskrit गो (go), Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs), Persian گاو (gāv)), Proto-Slavic *govędo (Serbo-Croatian govedo, Russian говядина (govjadina) (“beef”)), Scots coo (“cow”), North Frisian ko, kø (“cow”), West Frisian ko (“cow”), Dutch koe (“cow”), Low German Koh, Koo, Kau (“cow”), German Kuh (“cow”), Swedish ko (“cow”), Norwegian ku (“cow”), Icelandic kýr (“cow”), Latin bōs (“ox, bull, cow”), Armenian կով (kov, “cow”). The plural kine is from Middle English kyne, kyn, kuin, kiin, kien (“cows”), either a double plural of Middle English ky, kye (“cows”), equivalent to modern kye + -en, or inherited from Old English cȳna (“cows’, of cows”), genitive plural of cū (“cow”), “female of a bovine animal,” especially the domestic ox, Middle English cu, qu, kowh, from Old English cu “cow,” from Proto-Germanic *kwon (source also of Old Frisian ku, Middle Dutch coe, Dutch koe, Old High German kuo, German Kuh, Old Norse kyr, Danish, Swedish ko), earlier *kwom, from PIE root *gwou- “ox, bull, cow.” Middle English cou, from Old English cū; see gwou- in Indo-European roots. gwou-, Ox, bull, cow.” ref
Proto-Indo-European “Cattle” deity?
“Jaan Puhvel has proposed a cattle god called *Welnos, which he links to the Slavic god Veles, the Lithuanian god Velnias, and less certainly to Old Norse Ullr. Wérunos is an inferred deity from the Proto-Indo-European pantheon, thought to be linked with the protection of cattle, with potential connections traced through several Indo-European mythologies, including those of the Slavs, Lithuanians, Latvians, Norse, and Old English cultures.” ref, ref
“This ‘Cattle’ deity called *Welnos is deduced primarily from the attributes of Veles in Slavic mythology, Velnias in Lithuanian belief, and Velns in Latvian folklore, all of whom are guardians of herds. Additionally, Welnos’s name is believed to share roots with Old Norse terms Valfǫðr (a nickname for Odin) and Valhǫll (Odin’s hall in the afterlife). Jaan Puhvel also posits that Welnos may also link to the concept of the Elysian Fields within Greek mythology and rituals, although concrete evidence of a cattle deity in these northern traditions remains scant. Earlier academics, like Max Muller, speculated on the connections between Welnos and other deities such as the Sanskrit Varuna and the Greek Ouranos, suggesting a broader thematic resonance across Indo-European mythologies. Wérunos is theorized to represent a more benign aspect of the divine sky, embodying the night and serving as a counterpoint to Dyēus, who symbolizes the aggressive daytime sky. Additionally, Wérunos might have been embroiled in a conflict mirroring that between Perun and Veles, indicating a narrative of celestial rivalry within these ancient belief systems.” ref
Proto-Indo-European/táwros or *(s)téh₂wros: wild bull, aurochs
Descendants:
- Proto-Albanian: *taura (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Balto-Slavic: *taurás (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Germanic: *steuraz, *þeuraz (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Celtic: *tarwos (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Hellenic: *táuros (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Indo-Iranian: *stáwras (see there for further descendants)
- Proto-Italic: *tauros (see there for further descendants)
- Lusitanian: taurom
“Borrowed from or into Proto-Semitic *ṯawr- (“bull, ox”), or both originated from a common unknown source. (The unconditioned /a/ suggests a non-Indo-European etymon.).” ref
ON THE CREATION OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS IN PIE MYTHOLOGY
“At the beginning, for proto-Indo-European mythology, there were two men and a Bull. These men were twin brothers, Manu and Yemo. Manu was the first Priest, Yemo was the first King. Manu sacrificed his brother, dismembered his body and with his parts he formed the world. Then he sacrificed the bull, dismembered its body and with his parts Manu created edible plants and domestic animals. Yemo, the first dead men, became King of the Dead, and his realm he opened for all those who followed. This is, according to Lincoln, the Proto-Myth of Creation among the Proto-Indo Europeans. As soon as these PIE evolved into the different IE peoples, this myth changed, evolved, and adapted itself to different environments, to different points of view, until it became almost completely disguised into folklore and religion. But this original proto-myth underlies all IE cosmologies, every IE creation myth, and every IE sacrifice. For Sacrifice is, according to this cosmovision, the act of reunification of this Cosmos that was once divided.” ref
“Although the European and Indo-Iranian versions differ on this matter, Lincoln argues that the primeval cow was most likely sacrificed in the original myth, giving birth to the other animals and vegetables, since the pastoral way of life of Proto-Indo-Iranian speakers was closer to that of Proto-Indo-European speakers. According to Lincoln, Manu and Yemo seem to be the protagonists of “a myth of the sovereign function, establishing the model for later priests and kings”, while the legend of Trito should be interpreted as “a myth of the warrior function, establishing the model for all later men of arms”. The myth indeed recalls the Dumézilian tripartition of the cosmos between the priest (in both his magical and legal aspects), the warrior (the Third Man), and the herder (the cow). Linguists have been able to reconstruct the names of some deities in the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) from many types of sources. Some of the proposed deity names are more readily accepted among scholars than others. According to philologist Martin L. West, “the clearest cases are the cosmic and elemental deities: the Sky-god, his partner Earth, and his twin sons; the Sun, the Sun Maiden, and the Dawn; gods of storm, wind, water, fire; and terrestrial presences such as the Rivers, spring and forest nymphs, and a god of the wild who guards roads and herds.” ref
“The story of Trito served as a model for later cattle raiding epic myths and most likely as a moral justification for the practice of raiding among Indo-European peoples. In the original legend, Trito is only taking back what rightfully belongs to his people, those who sacrifice properly to the gods. The myth has been interpreted either as a cosmic conflict between the heavenly hero and the earthly serpent, or as an Indo-European victory over non-Indo-European people, the monster symbolizing the aboriginal thief or usurper. Some scholars have proposed that the primeval being *Yemo was depicted as a two-fold hermaphrodite /Intersex person rather than a twin brother of *Manu, both forming indeed a pair of complementary beings entwined together. The Germanic names Ymir and Tuisto were understood as twin, bisexual or hermaphrodite, and some myths give a sister to the Vedic Yama, also called Twin and with whom incest is discussed. In this interpretation, the primordial being may have self-sacrificed, or have been divided in two, a male half and a female half, embodying a prototypal separation of the sexes.
“Intersex people are people born with any of several sex characteristics, including chromosome patterns, gonads, or genitals that, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, “do not fit typical binary notions of male or female bodies.” ref
“The Indo-European cosmogony refers to the creation myth of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European mythology. The comparative analysis of different Indo-European tales has led scholars to reconstruct an original Proto-Indo-European creation myth involving twin brothers, *Manu– (‘Man’) and *Yemo– (‘Twin’), as the progenitors of the world and mankind, and a hero named *Trito (‘Third’) who ensured the continuity of the original sacrifice. Although some thematic parallels can be made with Ancient Near East (the primordial couple Adam and Eve), and even Polynesian or South American legends, the linguistic correspondences found in descendant cognates of *Manu and *Yemo make it very likely that the myth discussed here has a Proto-Indo-European (PIE) origin. Philological parallels between the Germanic and Indo-Iranian texts may have an inherited Indo-European motif of the creation of the world from the sacrifice and dismemberment of a primordial androgyne (both masculine and feminine characteristics).” ref
“The basic Indo-European root for the divine creation is *dheh1, ‘to set in place, lay down, or establish’, as attested in the Hittite expression nēbis dēgan dāir (“…established heaven (and) earth”), the Young Avestan formula kə huvāpå raocåscā dāt təmåscā? (“What skillful artificer made the regions of light and dark?”), the name of the Vedic creator god Dhātr, and possibly in the Greek name Thetis, presented as a demiurgical goddess in Alcman‘s poetry. The concept of the Cosmic Egg, symbolizing the primordial state from which the universe arises, is also found in many Indo-European creation myths. A similar depiction of the appearance of the universe before the act of creation is given in the Vedic, Germanic, and, at least partly, in the Greek tradition.” ref
“The first man, Manu, and his giant twin Yemo are crossing the cosmos, accompanied by a primordial cow. To create the world, Manu sacrifices his brother and, with the help of heavenly deities (the Sky-Father, the Storm-God, and the Divine Twins), forges both the natural elements and human beings from his twin’s remains. Manu thus becomes the first priest after initiating sacrifice as the primordial condition for the world order. His deceased brother Yemo turns into the first king as social classes emerge from his anatomy (the priesthood from his head, the warrior class from his breast and arms, and the commoners from his sexual organs and legs). Although the European and Indo-Iranian versions differ on this matter, the primeval cow was most likely sacrificed in the original myth, giving birth to the other animals and vegetables. Yemo may have become the King of the Otherworld, the realm of the dead, as the first mortal to die in the primordial sacrifice, a role suggested by the Indo-Iranian and, to a lesser extent, in the Germanic, Greek, and Celtic traditions.” ref
“First Warrior: To the third man Trito, the celestial gods offer cattle as a divine gift, which is stolen by a three-headed serpent named *Ngwhi (‘serpent’; and the Indo-European root for negation). Trito first suffers at his hands, but fortified by an intoxicating drink and aided by a helper-god (the Storm-God or *Haner, ‘Man’), together they go to a cave or a mountain, and the hero finally manages to overcome the monster. Trito then gives the recovered cattle back to a priest for it to be properly sacrificed. He is now the first warrior, maintaining through his heroic deeds the cycle of mutual giving between gods and mortals.” ref
“According to Lincoln, Manu and Yemo seem to be the protagonists of “a myth of the sovereign function, establishing the model for later priests and kings”, while the legend of Trito should be seen as “a myth of the warrior function, establishing the model for all later men of arms”. He has thus interpreted the narrative as an expression of the priests’s and kings’s attempt to justify their role as indispensable for the preservation of the cosmos, and therefore as essential for the organization of society. The motif indeed recalls the Dumézilian tripartition of the cosmos between the priest (in both his magical and legal aspects), the warrior (the Third Man), and the herder (the cow).” ref
Cattle-raiding myth
“The story of Trito served as a model for later cattle raiding epic myths and most likely as a moral justification for the practice of raiding among Indo-European peoples. In their legends, Trito is portrayed as only taking back what rightfully belongs to his people, those who sacrifice properly to the gods. Although cattle raiding is a common theme found in all societies keeping cattle, it was particularly popular among Indo-European peoples, as attested by the legends of Indra and the Panis, Beowulf and Grendel, the quest of Queen Medb for the Bull, or Odysseus hunting down the cattle of Helios.” ref
“The myth has been variously interpreted as a cosmic conflict between a heavenly hero and an earthly serpent; as a depiction of the male fellowships’ struggle to protect society against external evil; or as an Indo-European victory over non-Indo-European people, the monster symbolizing the aboriginal thief or usurper. The Vedic serpent Vṛtrá is indeed described as a *dāsa, an aboriginal inhabitant who is inimical to the Indo-European invaders; the Iranian serpent Aži Dahāka carries in his name the pejorative suffix -ka; and the Latin inimical giant Cācus is depicted as a non-Indo-European aborigine (incola), hostile to Romans and Greeks alike. According to Martin L. West, the Proto-Indo-European name *Trito (‘Third’) may have been a “poetic or hieratic code-name, fully comprehensible only with specialized knowledge.” ref
“The archaic Proto-Indo-European language (at least 4,500–4,000 BCE or 6,500 to 6,000 years ago) had a two-gender system which originally distinguished words between animate and inanimate, a system used to separate a common term from its deified synonym. For instance, fire as an active principle was *h₁n̥gʷnis (Latin ignis; Sanskrit Agní), while the inanimate, physical entity was *péh₂ur (Greek pyr; English fire). During this period, Proto-Indo-European beliefs were still animistic, and their language did not yet make formal distinctions between masculine and feminine, although it is likely that each deity was already conceived as either male or female. Most of the goddesses attested in later Indo-European mythologies come from pre-Indo-European deities eventually assimilated into the various pantheons following the migrations, like the Greek Athena, the Roman Juno, the Irish Medb, or the Iranian Anahita. Diversely personified, they were frequently seen as fulfilling multiple functions, while Proto-Indo-European goddesses shared a lack of personification and narrow functionalities as a general characteristic. The most well-attested female Indo-European deities include *H₂éwsōs, the Dawn, *Dʰéǵʰōm, the Earth, and *Seh₂ul, the Sun.” ref
“Gods had several titles, typically “the celebrated”, “the highest”, “king”, or “shepherd“, with the notion that deities had their own idiom and true names which might be kept secret from mortals in some circumstances. In Indo-European traditions, gods were seen as the “dispensers” or the “givers of good things” (*déh₃tōr h₁uesuom). Although certain individual deities were charged with the supervision of justice or contracts, in general, the Indo-European gods did not have an ethical character. Their immense power, which they could exercise at their pleasure, necessitated rituals, sacrifices, and praise songs from worshipers to ensure they would, in return, bestow prosperity to the community. The idea that gods were in control of the nature was translated in the suffix *-nos (feminine *-nā), which signified “lord of”. According to West, it is attested in Greek Ouranos (“lord of rain”) and Helena (“mistress of sunlight”), Germanic *Wōðanaz (“lord of frenzy”), Gaulish Epona (“goddess of horses”), Lithuanian Perkūnas (“lord of oaks”), and in Roman Neptunus (“lord of waters”), Volcanus (“lord of fire-glare”) and Silvanus (“lord of woods”).” ref
“*Seh₂ul and *Meh₁not are reconstructed as the Proto-Indo-European deity of the Sun and deity of the Moon respectively. Their gender varies according to the different mythologies of the Indo-European peoples. The daily course of *Seh₂ul across the sky on a horse-driven chariot is a common motif among Indo-European myths. While it is probably inherited, the motif certainly appeared after the introduction of the wheel in the Pontic–Caspian steppe about 3500 BCE or around 5,500 years ago, and is therefore a late addition to Proto-Indo-European culture. Although the sun was personified as an independent deity, the Proto-Indo-Europeans also visualized the sun as the “lamp of Dyēws” or the “eye of Dyēws. The substratum of Proto-Indo-European mythology is animistic. This native animism is still reflected in the Indo-European daughter cultures. In Norse mythology the Vættir are for instance reflexes of the native animistic nature spirits and deities. Trees have a central position in Indo-European daughter cultures, and are thought to be the abode of tree spirits. In Indo-European tradition, the storm is deified as a highly active, assertive, and sometimes aggressive element; the fire and water are deified as cosmic elements that are also necessary for the functioning of the household; the deified earth is associated with fertility and growth on the one hand, and with death and the underworld on the other.” ref
“The earth goddess, *Dʰéǵʰōm, is portrayed as the vast and dark house of mortals, in contrast with Dyēws, the bright sky and seat of the immortal gods. She is associated with fertility and growth, but also with death as the final dwelling of the deceased. She was likely the consort of the sky father, *Dyḗws Ph₂tḗr. The duality is associated with fertility, as the crop grows from her moist soil, nourished by the rain of Dyēws. The Earth is thus portrayed as the giver of good things: she is exhorted to become pregnant in an Old English prayer; and Slavic peasants described Zemlja-matushka, Mother Earth, as a prophetess that shall offer favorable harvest to the community. The unions of Zeus with Semele and Demeter is likewise associated with fertility and growth in Greek mythology. This pairing is further attested in the Vedic pairing of Dyáus Pitā and Prithvi Mater, the Greek pairing of Ouranos and Gaia, the Roman pairing of Jupiter and Tellus Mater from Macrobius‘s Saturnalia, and the Norse pairing of Odin and Jörð. Although Odin is not a reflex of *Dyḗws Ph₂tḗr, his cult may have subsumed aspects of an earlier chief deity who was. The Earth and Heaven couple is, however, not at the origin of the other gods, as the Divine Twins and Hausos were probably conceived by Dyēws alone.” ref
“Cognates include the Albanian Dheu and Zonja e Dheut, Great Mother Earth and Earth Goddess, respectively; Žemyna, a Lithuanian goddess of earth celebrated as the bringer of flowers; the Avestan Zām, the Zoroastrian concept of ‘earth’; Zemes Māte (“Mother Earth”), one of the goddesses of death in Latvian mythology; the Hittite Dagan-zipas (“Genius of the Earth”); the Slavic Mati Syra Zemlya (“Mother Moist Earth”); the Greek Chthôn (Χθών), the partner of Ouranos in Aeschylus‘ Danaids, and the chthonic deities of the underworld. The possibilities of a Thracian goddess Zemelā (*gʰem-elā) and a Messapic goddess Damatura (*dʰǵʰem-māter), at the origin of the Greek Semele and Demeter respectively, are less secured. The commonest epithets attached to the Earth goddess are *Pleth₂-wih₁ (the “Broad One”), attested in the Vedic Pṛthvī, the Greek Plataia and Gaulish Litavis, and *Pleth₂-wih₁ Méh₂tēr (“Mother Broad One”), attested in the Vedic and Old English formulas Pṛthvī Mātā and Fīra Mōdor. Other frequent epithets include the “All-Bearing One”, the one who bears all things or creatures, and the “mush-nourishing” or the “rich-pastured.” ref
“Although the linguistic evidence is restricted to the Vedic and Balto-Slavic traditions, scholars have proposed that Proto-Indo-Europeans conceived the fire as a divine entity called *h₁n̥gʷnis. “Seen from afar” and “untiring”, the Indic deity Agni is pictured in the Rigveda as the god of both terrestrial and celestial fires. He embodied the flames of the sun and the lightning, as well as the forest fire, the domestic hearth fire and the sacrificial altar, linking heaven and earth in a ritual dimension. Another group of cognates deriving from the Balto-Slavic *ungnis (“fire”) is also attested. Early modern sources report that Lithuanian priests worshipped a “holy Fire” named Ugnis (szwenta), which they tried to maintain in perpetual life, while Uguns (māte) was revered as the “Mother of Fire” by the Latvians. Tenth-century Persian sources give evidence of the veneration of fire among the Slavs, and later sources in Old Church Slavonic attest the worship of fire (ogonĭ), occurring under the divine name Svarožič, who has been interpreted as the son of Svarog.
“The name of the fire god in the Albanian pagan mythology – Enji, from PIE *h₁n̥gʷnis – is evidently contained in the week day name that was dedicated to him – e enjte – the Albanian word for Thursday. He is thought to have been worshiped by the Illyrians in antiquity, being the most prominent god of the pantheon when week day names were formed in the Albanian language. In Albanian tradition, the fire – zjarri – is deified, with the power to ward off evil and darkness, give strength to the Sun (Dielli, who is worshiped as the god of light and giver of life), sustain the continuity between life and afterlife and between the generations. The divine power of fire is used by Albanians for the hearth and the rituals, including calendar fires, sacrificial offerings, divination, purification, and protection from big storms and other potentially harmful events. The Albanian fire worship and rituals are associated with the cult of the Sun, the cult of the hearth (vatër) and the ancestor, and the cult of fertility in agriculture and animal husbandry.” ref
“In other traditions, as the sacral name of the dangerous fire may have become a word taboo, the reflexes of the Indo-European root *h₁n̥gʷnis served instead as an ordinary term for fire, as in the Latin ignis. Scholars generally agree that the cult of the hearth dates back to Proto-Indo-European times. The domestic fire had to be tended with care and given offerings, and if one moved house, one carried fire from the old to the new home. The Avestan Ātar was the sacral and hearth fire, often personified and honored as a god. In Albanian beliefs, Nëna e Vatrës (“the Hearth Mother”) is the goddess protector of the domestic hearth (vatër). Herodotus reported a Scythian goddess of hearth named Tabiti, a term likely given under a slightly distorted guise, as she might represent a feminine participial form corresponding to an Indo-Iranian god named *Tapatī, “the Burning one”. The sacral or domestic hearth can likewise be found in the Greek and Roman hearth goddesses Hestia and Vesta, two names that may derive from the PIE root *h₁w-es- (“burning”). Both the ritual fires set in the temples of Vesta and the domestic fires of ancient India were circular, rather than the square form reserved for public worship in India and for the other gods in Roman antiquity. Additionally, the custom that the bride circles the hearth three times is common to Indian, Ossetian, Slavic, Baltic, and German traditions, while a newly born child was welcomed into a Greek household when the father circled the hearth carrying it in the Amphidromia ceremony.” ref
“Proto-Indo-European religion was centered on sacrificial rites of cattle and horses, probably administered by a class of priests or shamans. Animals were slaughtered (*gʷʰn̥tós) and dedicated to the gods (*deywṓs) in the hope of winning their favour. The Khvalynsk culture, associated with the archaic Proto-Indo-European language, had already shown archeological evidence for the sacrifice of domesticated animals. Proto-Indo-Europeans likely had a sacred tradition of horse sacrifice for the renewal of kingship involving the ritual mating of a queen or king with a horse, which was then sacrificed and cut up for distribution to the other participants in the ritual. The king as the high priest would have been the central figure in establishing favourable relations with the other world. Georges Dumézil suggested that the religious function was represented by a duality, one reflecting the magico-religious nature of priesthood, while the other is involved in religious sanction to human society (especially contracts), a theory supported by common features in Iranian, Roman, Scandinavian, and Celtic traditions. The reconstructed cosmology of the Proto-Indo-Europeans shows that ritual sacrifice of cattle, the cow in particular, was at the root of their beliefs, as the primordial condition of the world order. The myth of *Trito, the first warrior, involves the liberation of cattle stolen by a three-headed entity named *Ngʷʰi. After recovering the wealth of the people, Trito eventually offers the cattle to the priest in order to ensure the continuity of the cycle of giving between gods and humans. The word for “oath”, *h₁óitos, derives from the verb *h₁ey- (“to go”), after the practice of walking between slaughtered animals as part of taking an oath.” ref
“In Jewish tradition, the Red Heifer sacrifice is detailed in the Old Testament. According to the text, the ashes of a red heifer cow, ‘without blemish’, was sacrificed and its ashes were used in purification rituals of Jews. According to the Jewish tradition, a perfectly red heifer cow is required for purification before the Third Temple can be built. The ashes were used to cleanse a person from ritual impurity, particularly those who had come into contact with a corpse. The Red Heifer is a symbol of purity and the restoration of ritual cleanliness in Jewish tradition. According to the Jewish texts, a Red Heifer is a cow that is entirely red in color, without any blemish or markings, and has never been used for work. This specific type of cow is required for a ritual purification process described in the Hebrew Bible. This purification process was considered necessary for people to participate in certain religious activities, such as entering the Temple in Jerusalem or partaking in specific religious ceremonies.” ref
Red Bull – The Indo-European Sky Father
“Red Bull symbolism of the Indo-European Sky Father, best known to us via the Vedas. The Cow in the context of the Vedas is a frequent symbol and metaphor for the Earth, for the Wife of the Sky Father, for Vak Devi [the Goddess of Speech]; the Nourisher of All via Her Milk [and the Streams of Speech are likewise thought of as Milk, interestingly enough]. It would therefore make sense for the male counterpart to this Goddess to be a Bull. Especially given the noted temperament of the Bull and His formidable power. And, of course, the ‘Fertility’ connotation – which we find specifically referenced in an array of hymnals upon the subject, such as those to the Sky Father as Parjanya. With the Bellowing of the Bull finding expression as the Roaring of Thunder (the ‘Resonant Speech’); and the fierce exhalations through His Nostrils as the Winds, the clouds, likewise, from the ‘hot breath’ of His Anger and His Life, His Vitality [and in the archaic Indo-European conceptry, the ‘smoking breath’ of anger, and that of life, were, effectively, one]. Indeed, we might even speculate as to the Horns being symbolically resonant with the arcening Lightning; or the Thundering Hooves being exactly that; the potential utilization of the bull to draw a plough or other earthenworks creator finding resonancy with the Bull symbolism in relation to the Channel for the Waters in various Vedic hymnals upon the subject.” ref
“It should therefore come as no surprise that we find the Bull as the Emblem of the Sky Father – something which occurs also in the post-Vedic Hindu religion, wherein Lord Shiva is directly hailed as ‘He Who Has The Bull For His Ensign’ – Vrishabhadhvaja . And which may find a certain residual currency with the frequency with which Zeus and Poseidon are associated with Bulls also; as well as the recurrent Bull symbolism of Dionysus, and the Cow symbolism of Hera. However, we should also note that it is not only the Sky Father that is hailed as a Bull. Indra, too, the Striker/Thunderer Son of the Sky Father is spoken of as a Bull; as are the Asvins – Sons of the Sky Father, two; and, for that matter, the Maruts, Who possess similar ultimate paternity. So, evidently these are cases of ‘Like Father, Like Sons’; and mean that further contextual information is necessary afore directly ascribing a given ‘Bull’ mention to the Sky Father specifically. So what are some of these contextual qualifiers? Well, generally speaking we are looking for two (overlapping) things – first, those situations wherein a Vedic deific expression we know to be the Sky Father is hailed as a Bull ; and second, those situations wherein the theological role and ritualine function involved in the line is coterminous with that of the Sky Father. Hence as we shall see, the “Red Bull” – and also a certain provision of … energy, perhaps we might even figuratively suggest “wings” via His Divine Grace.” ref
“The ‘Red’ element is quite key. For it stands for the Radiant Energy – that of Fire , and of the Sky-Disc that is the Sun. Hence the frequency with which it is Agni specifically hailed as the Red Bull – for what colour is Flame. And, flowing from this, partially why we find the mentions for the Red Bull in connexion with the pious conduct of proper rites. Because Agni is, by necessity, integral to these – as, of course, is Brihaspati / Brahmahaspati ; Agni representing the Fire at the heart of proceedings, Brihaspati standing for the officiating role via the enunciation of the Sacred Speech, the Songs of Prayer. This also helps to explain the mentions for Soma as the Bull – for this is produced in the ritualine sense via the precise application of the pious rites (that is to say, Agni & Brihaspati ) , in accordance with the Law (that is to say, Varuna) , and is brought forth to empower the imbiber (in just the same manner that Agni , Shiva as Shyena – the Raptor – flies the Soma ; or, in the Nordic expression of this same myth and rite, as Odin bears the Mead of Poetry in form of an Eagle; and, as we shall see, there is frequent co-occurrence of the Falcon or Eagle in relation to the Bull in these hymnals for just this reason – for the Sky Father is not bound only to a single animalistic form in association nor mythic conceptry).” ref
“However, what is additionally interesting to us is that the hailing for Agni , as the Altar-Fire and the Empowerment thereto [Agni, as is well-known, derives from the Proto-Indo-European term for ‘Living Fire’, ‘Animate Fire’ – whereas ‘Fire’ itself derives from the PIE for the inanimate ‘mundane’ kind of Flame] , is not confined exclusively to this sphere. Rather, it is directly and intentionally doubled to refer to the Sun. Which makes multiple layers of good mythologic and theologic sense. For the Sun is also a Fire ; and, indeed, is the Source of all Energy, all Life. Just as we find the Sky Father being hailed as in the relevant hymnaic conceptry. You can also see this in the frequent Hindu invocation for the Powers of the Sun in the course of our rites and rituals (the Gayatri Mantra is a stellar example); and it is not hard to see how this, too, links back to the ‘bright drop’ of the Soma and the investiture of life-energy which goes along therewith. Particularly given the several Sanskrit terms that are effective doublets for ‘illumination’ via the Solar Rays and for Speech, Prayer, Sacred Song and Rite.” ref
“And while a direct association of the Sky Father with the Sun might seem a little curious, given that Surya is the Vedic Sun God … as we have repeatedly demonstrated elsewhere in the course of my work, both the Vedic and the broader Indo-European conceptry upon this point are rather more complex than that. For a start, there are recurrent direct identifications of the Sun as the Eye of the Sky Father. For a second, there is the very fact itself that Dyaus refers to the Radiant Heaven – made so by the Sun. For the third, there are actually multiple Vedic Sun Gods and Gods referred to as The Sun; including, for the fourth, the Sky Father – hence the paternity of various figures in the Vedic understanding, being Surya … where in the Greek these are the Sons and Daughter of Zeus. And in any case, our inference is not really required – take, for example, RV VII 88 2: “I take the face of Varuṇa for Agni’s. / So might he bring-Lord also of the darkness-the light in heaven that I may see its beauty!” Agni as the Sky Father Visage of the Day, Varuna as the Sky Father Visage of the Night.” ref
“Animal sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of animals, usually as part of a religious ritual or to appease or maintain favour with a deity. Animal sacrifices were common throughout Europe and the Ancient Near East until the spread of Christianity in Late Antiquity, and continue in some cultures or religions today. Human sacrifice, where it existed, was always much rarer. Animal sacrifice should generally be distinguished from the religiously prescribed methods of ritual slaughter of animals for normal consumption as food. During the Neolithic Revolution, early humans began to move from hunter-gatherer cultures toward agriculture, leading to the spread of animal domestication. In a theory presented in Homo Necans, mythologist Walter Burkert suggests that the ritual sacrifice of livestock may have developed as a continuation of ancient hunting rituals, as livestock replaced wild game in the food supply. Animal sacrifice was general among the ancient Near Eastern civilizations of Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Persia, as well as the Hebrews (covered below). Unlike the Greeks, who had worked out a justification for keeping the best edible parts of the sacrifice for the assembled humans to eat, in these cultures the whole animal was normally placed on the fire by the altar and burned, or sometimes it was buried.” ref
“Ancient Egypt was at the forefront of domestication, and some of the earliest archeological evidence suggesting animal sacrifice comes from Egypt. However, animal sacrifice was not a central practice of Egyptian religion, but was rather a peripherical occurrence that happened away from worshippers. The oldest Egyptian burial sites containing animal remains originate from the Badari culture of Upper Egypt, which flourished between 4400 and 4000 BCE or 6,400 to 6,000 years ago. Sheep and goats were found buried in their own graves at one site, while at another site gazelles were found at the feet of several human burials. At a cemetery uncovered at Hierakonpolis and dated to 3000 BCE or 5,000 years ago, the remains of a much wider variety of animals were found, including non-domestic species such as baboons and hippopotami, which may have been sacrificed in honor of powerful former citizens or buried near their former owners. According to Herodotus, later Dynastic Egyptian animal sacrifice became restricted to livestock – sheep, cattle, swine and geese – with sets of rituals and rules to describe each type of sacrifice.” ref
“By the end of the Copper Age in 3000 BCE, animal sacrifice had become a common practice across many cultures, and appeared to have become more generally restricted to domestic livestock. At Gath, archeological evidence indicates that the Canaanites imported sacrificial sheep and goats from Egypt rather than selecting from their own livestock. At the Monte d’Accoddi in Sardinia, one of the earliest known sacred centers in Europe, evidence of the sacrifice of sheep, cattle and swine has been uncovered by excavations, and it is indicated that ritual sacrifice may have been common across Italy around 3000 BCE and afterwards. At the Minoan settlement of Phaistos in ancient Crete, excavations have revealed basins for animal sacrifice dating to the period 2000 to 1700 BCE or 4,000 to 3,700 years ago. However, remains of a young goat were found in Cueva de la Dehesilla (es), a cave in Spain, related to a funerary ritual from the Middle Neolithic period, dated to between 4800 and 4000 BCE 6,800 to 6,000 years ago.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
“The Sumerian word for “god” Dingir (????) that originally was an ideogram for the Sumerian word “sky” or “heaven” was then extended to a logogram for the word (Dingir) (“goddess” or “god”). The three symbols relate to the holy triad: Inanna/Ishtar, Nanna/Sin, Utu/Shamash, that is morning star (Venus), lunar (moon crescent), solar disk (sun). The concept of “divinity” in Sumerian is closely associated with the heavens, as is evident from the fact that the cuneiform sign doubles as the ideogram for “sky”, and that its original shape is the picture of a star. The original association of “divinity” is thus with “bright” or “shining” hierophanies in the sky.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
The Star of Ishtar or Star of Inanna
“Goddesses Ishtar/Inanna were worshipped in Sumer at least as early as the Uruk period (6000 – 5,100 years ago). The Star of Ishtar or Star of Inanna is a symbol of the ancient Sumerian goddess Inanna and her East Semitic counterpart Ishtar. Alongside the lion, it was one of Ishtar’s primary symbols. Because Ishtar was associated with the planet Venus, the star is also known as the Star of Venus.” ref
“The star of Inanna usually had eight points, though the exact number of points sometimes varies. Six-pointed stars also occur frequently, but their symbolic meaning is unknown. It was Inanna’s most common symbol and, in later times, it became the most common symbol of the goddess Ishtar, Inanna’s East Semitic counterpart. It seems to have originally borne a general association with the heavens, but, by the Old Babylonian Period, it had come to be specifically associated with the planet Venus, with which Ishtar was identified. Starting during this same period, the star of Ishtar was normally enclosed within a circular disc. During later times, slaves who worked in Ishtar’s temples were sometimes branded with the seal of the eight-pointed star. On boundary stones and cylinder seals, the eight-pointed star is sometimes shown alongside the crescent moon, which was the symbol of Sin, god of the Moon, and the rayed solar disk, which was a symbol of Shamash, the god of the Sun.” ref
STAR-WORSHIP: By Executive Committee of the Editorial Board., M. Seligsohn
“Star-Worship Among the Israelites”
This [astrolatry/astrotheology] is perhaps the oldest form of idolatry practiced by the ancients. According to Wisdom xiii. 2, the observation of the stars in the East very early led the people to regard the planets and the fixed stars as gods. The religion of the ancient Egyptians is known to have consisted preeminently of sun-worship. Moses sternly warned the Israelites against worshiping the sun, moon, stars, and all the host of heaven (Deut. iv. 19, xvii. 3); it may be said that the prohibition of making and worshiping any image of that which is in heaven above (Ex. xx. 4; Deut. v. 8) implies also the stars and the other celestial bodies. The Israelites fell into this kind of idolatry, and as early as the time of Amos they had the images of Siccuth and Chiun, “the stars of their god” (Amos v. 26, R. V.); the latter name is generally supposed to denote the planet Saturn. That the kingdom of Israel fell earlier than that of Judah is stated (II Kings xvii. 16) to have been due, among other causes, to its worshiping the host of heaven. But the kingdom of Judah in its later period seems to have out-done the Northern Kingdom in star-worship. Of Manasseh it is related that he built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of Yhwh, and it seems that it was the practice of even kings before him to appoint priests who offered sacrifices to the sun, the moon, the planets, and all the host of heaven. Altars for star-worship were built on the roofs of the houses, and horses and chariots were dedicated to the worship of the sun (ib. xxi. 5; xxiii. 4-5, 11-12). Star-worship continued in Judah until the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign (621 B.C.), when the king took measures to abolish all kinds of idolatry (ib.). But although star-worship was then abolished as a public cult, it was practiced privately by individuals, who worshiped the heavenly bodies, and poured out libations to them on the roofs of their houses (Zeph. i. 5; Jer. viii. 2, xix. 13). Jeremiah (vii. 18) describes the worship of the queen of heaven to have been more particularly common among the women. Ezekiel, who prophesied in the sixth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin (591 B.C.), describes the worship of the sun as practiced in the court of the Temple (Ezek. viii. 16et seq.), and from Jer. xliv. 17 et seq. it may be seen that even after the destruction of the Temple the women insisted on continuing to worship the queen of heaven. In Job (xxxi. 26 et seq.) there is an allusion to the kissing of the hand in the adoration of the moon (see Moon, Biblical Data). According to Robertson Smith (“The Religion of the Semites,” p. 127, note 3, Edinburgh, 1889), star-worship is not of great antiquity among the Semites in general, nor among the Hebrews in particular, for the latter adopted this form of idolatry only under the influence of the Assyrians. But Fritz Hommel (“Der Gestirndienst der Alten Araber,” Munich, 1901) expresses the opposite opinion. He points to the fact that the Hebrew root which denotes the verb “to swear” is the same as that which denotes “seven,” and claims that this fact establishes a connection between swearing and the seven planets; and he furthermore declares that there are many Biblical pieces of evidence of star-worship among the ancient Hebrews. Thus, the fact that Terah, Abraham’s father, had lived first at Ur of the Chaldees, and that later he settled at Haran (Gen. xi. 31), two cities known from Assyrian inscriptions as places of moon-worship, shows that Abraham’s parents were addicted to that form of idolatry. According to legend, Abraham himself worshiped the sun, moon, and the stars before he recognized the true God in Yhwh (see Abraham in Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature). The golden calf, Hommel declares, was nothing more than an emblem of the moon-god, which, in the Assyrian inscription, is styled “the youthful and mighty bull” and the lord of the heavenly hosts (comp. “Yhwh Ẓeba’ot,” which term is intentionally omitted from the Pentateuch). He assigns the same character to the two calves made by Jeroboam several centuries later (I Kings xii. 28). The ancient Hebrews, being nomads, like the Arabs favored the moon, while the Babylonians, who were an agricultural nation, preferred the sun. But, as appears from Ezek. xx. 7-8, the moon-worship of the Israelites, even while they were still in Egypt, was combined with sun-worship. The close similarity between the ancient Hebrews and the southern Arabs has led Hommel furthermore to find allusion to moon-worship in such Hebrew names as begin with “ab” (= “father”), as in “Abimelech” and “Absalom,” or with “‘am” (= “uncle”), as in “Amminadab” and “Jeroboam,” because these particles, when they appear in the names of southern Arabs, refer to the moon. The term “star-worship” (“‘abodat kokabim u-mazzalot”) in the Talmud and in post-Talmudic literature is chiefly a censor’s emendation for “‘abodah zarah.” In connection with star-worship, it is related in the Mishnah (‘Ab. Zarah iv. 7) that the Rabbis (“zeḳenim”) were asked if God dislikes idolatry why He did not destroy the idols. The Rabbis answered: “If the heathen worshiped only idols perhaps God would have destroyed the objects of their adoration, but they worship also the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the host of heaven, and God can not destroy the world on account of the heathen.” ref
Astrotheology and Shamanism
Stellar allusions appear early in the history of religions. In Shaman: The Wounded Healer
“It is really only in Egypt, Asia, and in primitive Europe that what we call sun worship ever attained sufficient popularity to become at any time, as in Egypt for instance, really dominant. If you consider that, on the other side of the Atlantic, the solar religion was developed only in Peru and Mexico, only, that is, among the two ‘civilized’ peoples of America, the only two who attained any level of real political organization, then you cannot help discerning a certain connection between the predominance of sun religions and what I may call ‘historic’ destinies. It could be said that where ‘history is on the march,’ thanks to kings, heroes, or empires, the sun is supreme.” ref
Sky Burials: Animism, Totemism, Shamanism, and Paganism
Ancestor Belief Connections to the Star people or the People of the Stars?
A Lakota legend speaks of seven maidens being chased by a bear. On their knees, they prayed for divine intervention, the result being that the ground beneath them erupted, high into the air, lifting them out of harm’s way, as the bear clawed at the risen ground. The result was Devil’s Tower (Wyoming), the bear’s claws having carved vertical geological features into the rock, and the seven maidens having been installed above as the Pleiades. The Hopi believe their ancestors came from the Pleiades, the place, or people they call Chuhukon, or, those who cling together, a reference it seems to that tightly grouped starry cluster, as it appears to the naked eye. Likewise, early Dakota legends speak of the Pleiades, or Tiyami, as the abode of the ancestors. Other native oral histories, or legends, speak of an origin, if not in the Pleiades, then in the stars generally, or other constellations. The Cree, for example, arrived on earth from the stars, as spirits, and then became human beings. The Zuni Indians offer one of many belief systems, if not actual experiences, related to ancestors who came from the sky, a phrasing that has since morphed into the more new age Star People reference, as opposed to Sky People. ref
Astrology India and Japan
In India, there is a long-established and widespread belief in astrology. It is commonly used for daily life, particularly in matters concerning marriage and career, and makes extensive use of electional, horary and karmic astrology. Indian politics have also been influenced by astrology. It is still considered a branch of the Vedanga. Recent genome studies appear to show that most South Asians are descendants of two major ancestral components, one restricted to South Asia (Ancestral South Indian) and the other component (Ancestral North Indian) more closely related to those in Central Asia, West Asia and Europe. The macrohaplogroup M which is considered as a cluster of the proto-Asian maternal lineages represents more than 60% of South Asian MtDNA. Virtually all modern Central Asian MtDNA M lineages seem to belong to the Eastern Eurasian (Mongolian) rather than the South Asian subtypes of haplogroup M, which indicates that no large-scale migration from the present Turkic-speaking populations of Central Asia occurred to India. The absence of haplogroup M in Europeans, compared to its equally high frequency among South Asians, East Asians and in some Central Asian populations contrasts with the Western Eurasian leanings of South Asians. Due to its great age, haplogroup M is a mtDNA lineage which does not correspond well to present-day ethnic groups. It is found among Siberian, Native American, East Asian, Southeast Asian, Central Asian, South Asian, Melanesian, European, Northeast African, and various Middle Eastern populations at varying frequencies. Moreover, recently it has been detected ancient gene flow from early modern humans into Eastern Neanderthals from the Altai Mountains in Siberia at roughly 100,000 years ago. These data contrast with the phylogenetic hypothesis of a sole and fast dispersal of modern humans out of Africa around 60 kya following a southern route. In principle, it could be adduced, as it was in the case of the early human remains from Skhul and Qafzeh in the Levant, that the presence in China and Siberia of modern humans at that time was the result of a genetically unsuccessful exit from Africa. Among the descendant lineages of haplogroup M are C, D, E, G, Q, and Z. Z and G are found in North Eurasian populations, C and D exists among North Eurasian and Native American populations, E is observed in Southeast Asian populations, and Q is common among Melanesian populations. The lineages M2, M3, M4, M5, M6, M18, and M25 are exclusive to South Asia, with M2 reported to be the oldest lineage on the Indian sub-continent. M1 has been observed among ancient Egyptian mummies excavated at the Abusir el-Meleq archaeological site in Middle Egypt, which date from the Pre-Ptolemaic/late New Kingdom and Roman periods. Fossils at the Early Neolithic site of Ifri n’Amr or Moussa in Morocco, which have been dated to around 5,000 BCE, have also been found to carry the M1 subclade. These ancient individuals bore an autochthonous Maghrebi genomic component that peaks among modern Berbers, indicating that they were ancestral to populations in the area. The ancient Egyptian aristocrats Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht were also found to belong to the M1a1 subclade. The half-brothers lived during the 12th Dynasty, with their tomb located at the Deir Rifeh cemetery in Middle Egypt. Haplotypes with HVSI transitions defining 16129- 16223-16249-16278-16311-16362; and 16129-16223-16234-16249-16211-16362 have been found in Thailand and among the Han Chinese and these were originally thought to be members of Haplogroup M1. However, on the basis of currently available FGS sequences, carriers of these markers have been found to be in the D4a branch of Haplogroup D, the most widespread branch of M 1 in East Asia. There are two principal branches, D4 and D5’6. D1 is a basal branch of D4 that is widespread and diverse in the Americas. D2, which occurs with high frequency in some arctic and subarctic populations (especially Aleuts), is a subclade of D4e1 parallel to D4e1a and D4e1c, so it properly should be termed D4e1b. D3, which has been found mainly in some Siberian populations and in Inuit of Canada and Greenland, is a branch of D4b1c.
- D4 (3010, 8414, 14668): The subclade D4 is the most frequently occurring mtDNA haplogroup among modern populations of northern East Asia, such as Japanese, Okinawans, Koreans, and Mongolic– or Tungusic-speaking populations of northern China. D4 is also the most common haplogroup among the Buryats and Khamnigans of the Buryat Republic, the Kalmyks of the Kalmyk Republic, and the Telenghits and Kazakhs of the Altai Republic. Spread also all over China, Southeast Asia, Siberia, Central Asia, and indigenous peoples of the Americas.
- D5’6 (16189): Mainly in East Asia and Southeast Asia, especially among Chinese people. Generally lower in Siberia, Central Asia, and East India, though the D5a2a2 subclade is prevalent among the Yakuts of Siberia. ref, ref, ref, ref
Symbolic stars and Chinese astrology
“The symbolic stars” is sometimes translated literally, as “gods and devils”; but in fact, the symbolic stars do not relate to any ghosts or celestial beings— in this case, “shen” means beneficial influence, and “sha” means baneful influence of the cyclical signs of the heavenly stems and earthly branches. In Chinese astrology, there are more than 180 symbolic stars. The calculation of the symbolic stars is logically connected to the theory of Yin and Yang, Five Elements, Ten Gods theory, Na Yin melodic elements theory, Twelve Energy States, etc. The symbolic stars are like the “leaves” of the heavenly stems and earthly branches in the big tree of Chinese astrology and can provide a very specific information in the horoscope analysis. The symbolic stars are used in many methods of Chinese astrology and metaphysics: Four Pillars of Destiny, Zi wei dou shu, Da Liu Ren, and Feng Shui.” ref, ref
“Chinese astrology is based on the traditional astronomy and calendars. The development of Chinese astrology is tied to that of astronomy, which came to flourish during the Han Dynasty (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD). Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy(theory of the three harmony: heaven, earth, and water), and uses the principles of yin and yang and concepts that are not found in Western astrology, such as the Wu Xing teachings, the 10 Celestial stems, the 12 Earthly Branches, the lunisolar calendar (moon calendar and sun calendar), and the time calculation after year, month, day, and shichen. Recently, a large number of graves were excavated at a necropolis called Hengbei located in the southern part of Shanxi Province, China, on the Central Plain (link), that dates back to approximately 3,000 years ago (Zhou dynasty), a key transitional period for the rise of the Han Chinese. In a previous study investigating when haplogroup Q1a1 entered the genetic pool of the Han Chinese, we analyzed Y chromosome single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from human remains excavated from the Hengbei (HB) site and identified haplogroups for 27 samples. Haplogroup Q is found predominantly in Central Siberia, Central Asia and among Native Americans. Approximately 90% of pre-Columbian Native Americans belonged to haplogroup Q, and all descend from the branch Q1a2a1 (L54), including various subclades of Q1a2a1a1 (M3) and Q1a2a1a2 (Z780). In Europe haplogroup Q is found chiefly in southern Sweden (5%), among Ashkenazi Jews (5%), and is various isolated pockets in central and Eastern Europe such as the Rhône-Alpes region of France, southern Sicily, southern Croatia, northern Serbia, parts of Poland and Ukraine. Šarić et al. (2013) also found 6.1% of haplogroup Q out of 412 samples from the island of Hvar in southern Croatia (accompanied by 2% of East Asian mtDNA haplogroup F).” ref, ref
“Approximate migration route and the origin of Africa domestic cattle. Circle regions represent the expected center of cattle domestication. Migration route from outside Africa and within Africa was shown by color arrows, and the color of the arrow represents the migration time and its origin.” ref
“New zooarchaeological discoveries in the Middle Nile support the scenario that proto-pastoralist communities arrived from the sub-Saharan region with large ruminants at the beginning of the Holocene. Until now, it has been accepted that domesticated cattle arrived in Africa in 6000 BCE or 8,000 years ago from the Middle East. New osteometric data from Letti Desert 2 (LTD2) in Sudan analysed through the point-scale method, as well as the age-profile, suggest that cattle could have been domesticated independently in Africa at the same time as in the Middle East, that is, around 10,000 years ago.” ref
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.
- 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
Neolithic Ritual Sites with T-Pillars and other Cultic Pillars
Göbekli Tepe 12,000 years old T-shaped Pillars are not Alone (not Ancient Aliens)
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
Early North African Cattle Domestication and the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba region of southern Egypt
“Nearly four decades have passed since an independent North African centre for cattle domestication was first proposed in 1980, based on the Combined Prehistoric Expedition’s work in the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba region of southern Egypt, and the initial rigorous debates between Andrew B. Smith and Fred Wendorf, Romuald Schild and Achilles Gautier. More recently, geneticists have entered the fray with determinations on the spread of haplotypes, and the timing thereof, that extend the scope and increase the complexity of the debate. Here, a new look at the botanical data and a re-analysis of the geology of Bir Kiseiba–Nabta Playa rejects the ecological foundations of the early African domestication model, while a detailed examination of the published osteological and radiometric data from the same area reveals a more nuanced picture than has been recognised to date. These results are placed into context by a wider review of the genetic and other archaeological evidence from the Western Desert of Northeast Africa, where no other cattle remains designated as domesticated have been found. It is concluded that (a) Bos remains from the early Holocene at Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba were those of hunted aurochs; (b) domesticated caprines were likely present in Northeast Africa before domesticated cattle; and (c) the domesticated cattle spreading across Northeast and northern Africa, including Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba, from the late seventh millennium BCE or early sixth millennium BCE onwards were descendants of Bos taurus domesticated in the Middle Euphrates area of the Middle East.” ref, ref
“Nabta Playa, small seasonal camps in the region dating to the 9th–8th millennia BCE. Larger settlements began to appear at Nabta Playa by the 7th millennium BCE. Early cattle remains from Nabta Playa were of wild-hunted aurochs, while domesticated cattle were introduced to northeast Africa in the late 7th millennium BCE, originating from cattle domesticated in the Euphrates Valley. Also, in the late 7th millennium BCE, goats and sheep, apparently imported from Western Asia, appear. Many large hearths also appear. Around 6800 BCE, they began to make pottery locally. Early pottery from the Nabta Playa-Bir Kiseiba area has characteristics unlike pottery from surrounding regions. This is followed by pottery with characteristics found only in the Western Desert. Later pottery from c. 5500 BCE (Al Jerar phase) has similarities with pottery from the Sudanese region. Pottery decorations included complex patterns of impressions applied with a comb in a rocking motion.” ref, ref
“By the 6th millennium BCE, evidence of a prehistoric religion or cult appears. From 5500 BCE, the Late Neolithic period began, with “a new group that had a complex social system expressed in a degree of organisation and control not previously seen.” These new people were responsible for sacrificial cattle burials in clay-lined and roofed chambers covered by rough stone tumuli. It has been suggested that the associated cattle cult indicated in Nabta Playa marks an early evolution of Ancient Egypt’s Hathor cult. For example, Hathor was worshipped as a nighttime protector in desert regions (see Serabit el-Khadim). To directly quote professors Wendorf and Schild: … there are many aspects of political and ceremonial life in prehistoric Egypt and the Old Kingdom that reflects a strong impact from Saharan cattle pastoralists … Rough megalithic stone structures buried underground are also found in Nabta Playa, one of which included evidence of what Wendorf described as perhaps “the oldest known sculpture in Egypt.” ref, ref
“In the 5th millennium BCE, these peoples fashioned what may be among the world’s earliest known archeoastronomical devices (roughly contemporary to the Goseck circle in Germany and the Mnajdra megalithic temple complex in Malta). These include alignments of stones that may have indicated the rising of certain stars and a “calendar circle” that indicates the approximate direction of summer solstice sunrise. “Calendar circle” may be a misnomer as the spaces between the pairs of stones in the gates are a bit too wide, and the distances between the gates are too short for accurate calendar measurements.” ref, ref
“Astrophysicist Thomas G. Brophy suggests the hypothesis that the southerly line of three stones inside the Calendar Circle represented the three stars of Orion’s Belt, and the other three stones inside the calendar circle represented the shoulders and head stars of Orion as they appeared in the sky. These correspondences were for two dates – circa 4800 BCE and at precessional opposition – representing how the sky “moves” long term. Brophy proposes that the circle was constructed and used circa the later date, and the dual date representation was a conceptual representation of the motion of the sky over a precession cycle. Near the Calendar Circle, which is made of smaller stones, there are alignments of large megalithic stones. The southerly lines of these megaliths, Brophy argues, aligned to the same stars as represented in the Calendar Circle, all at the same epoch, circa 6270 BCE. Brophy argues that the Calendar Circle correlation with Orion’s belt occurred between 6400 and 4900 BCE, matching radio-carbon dates of some campfires in the area.” ref, ref
Constellation
“A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object. The first constellations were likely defined in prehistory. People used them to relate stories of their beliefs, experiences, creation, and mythology. Different cultures and countries invented their own constellations, some of which lasted into the early 20th century before today’s constellations were internationally recognized. The recognition of constellations has changed significantly over time. Many changed in size or shape. Some became popular, only to drop into obscurity. Some were limited to a single culture or nation. Naming constellations also helped astronomers and navigators identify stars more easily. Many officially recognized constellations are based on the imaginations of ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean mythologies. Some of these stories seem to relate to the appearance of the constellations, e.g. the assassination of Orion by Scorpius, their constellations appearing at opposite times of year.” ref
“It has been suggested that the 17,000-year-old cave paintings in Lascaux, southern France, depict star constellations such as Taurus, Orion’s Belt, and the Pleiades. However, this view is not generally accepted among scientists. Inscribed stones and clay writing tablets from Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) dating back to around 3000 BCE, or approximately 5,000 years ago, provide the earliest generally accepted evidence for humankind’s identification of constellations. It seems that the bulk of the Mesopotamian constellations were created within a relatively short interval from around 1300 to 1000 BCE. Mesopotamian constellations appeared later in many of the classical Greek constellations. The oldest Babylonian catalogues of stars and constellations date back to the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age, most notably the Three Stars Each texts and the MUL.APIN, an expanded and revised version based on more accurate observation from around 1000 BCE. However, the numerous Sumerian names in these catalogues suggest that they built on older, but otherwise unattested, Sumerian traditions of the Early Bronze Age.” ref
“Twelve (or thirteen) ancient constellations belong to the zodiac (straddling the ecliptic, which the Sun, Moon, and planets all traverse). The origins of the zodiac remain historically uncertain; its astrological divisions became prominent c. 400 BCE or around 2,400 years ago in Babylonian or Chaldean astronomy. Constellations appear in Western culture via Greece and are mentioned in the works of Hesiod, Eudoxus, and Aratus. The traditional 48 constellations, consisting of the zodiac and 36 more (now 38, following the division of Argo Navis into three constellations) are listed by Ptolemy, a Greco-Roman astronomer from Alexandria, Egypt, in his Almagest. The formation of constellations was the subject of extensive mythology, most notably in the Metamorphoses of the Latin poet Ovid. Constellations in the far southern sky were added from the 15th century until the mid-18th century, when European explorers began traveling to the Southern Hemisphere. Due to Roman and European transmission, each constellation has a Latin name.” ref
“In 1922, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) formally accepted the modern list of 88 constellations, and in 1928 adopted official constellation boundaries that together cover the entire celestial sphere. Any given point in a celestial coordinate system lies in one of the modern constellations. Some astronomical naming systems include the constellation where a given celestial object is found to convey its approximate location in the sky. The Flamsteed designation of a star, for example, consists of a number and the genitive form of the constellation’s name. Other star patterns or groups called asterisms are not constellations under the formal definition, but are also used by observers to navigate the night sky. Asterisms may be several stars within a constellation, or they may share stars with more than one constellation. Examples of asterisms include the teapot within the constellation Sagittarius, or the big dipper in the constellation of Ursa Major.” ref
Nabta Playa
“Nabta Playa was once a large endorheic basin in the Nubian Desert, located approximately 800 kilometers south of modern-day Cairo or about 100 kilometers west of Abu Simbel in southern Egypt, 22.51° north, 30.73° east. Today the region is characterized by numerous archaeological sites. The Nabta Playa archaeological site, one of the earliest of the Egyptian Neolithic Period, is dated to circa 7500 BCE or around 9,500 years ago. Although today the western Egyptian desert is totally dry, this was not always the case. There is good evidence that there were several humid periods in the past (when up to 500 mm of rain would fall per year), the most recent one during the last interglacial and early last glaciation periods which stretched between 130,000 and 70,000 years ago. During this time, the area was a savanna and supported numerous animals such as extinct buffalo and large giraffes, varieties of antelope and gazelle. Beginning around the 10th millennium BC, this region of the Nubian Desert began to receive more rainfall, filling a lake. Early people may have been attracted to the region due to the source of water.” ref
“Archaeological findings indicate the presence of small seasonal camps in the region dating to the 9th–8th millennia BC. Fred Wendorf, the site’s discoverer, and ethno-linguist Christopher Ehret have suggested that the people who occupied this region at that time may have been early pastoralists, or like the Saami practiced semi-pastoralism. This is disputed by other sources as the cattle remains found at Nabta have been shown to be morphologically wild in several studies, and hunter-gatherers at the nearby Saharan site of Uan Afada in Libya were penning wild Barbary sheep, an animal that was never domesticated. According to Michael Brass (2018) early cattle remains from Nabta Playa were wild hunted aurochs, whilst domesticated cattle were introduced to northeast Africa in the late 7th millennium BC, originating from cattle domesticated in the Euphrates valley.” ref
“The Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba region of southern Egypt, and the initial rigorous debates. More recently, geneticists have entered the fray with determinations on the spread of haplotypes, and the timing thereof, that extend the scope and increase the complexity of the debate. Here, a new look at the botanical data and a re-analysis of the geology of Bir Kiseiba–Nabta Playa rejects the ecological foundations of the early African domestication model, while a detailed examination of the published osteological and radiometric data from the same area reveals a more nuanced picture than has been recognized to date. These results are placed into context by a wider review of the genetic and other archaeological evidence from the Western Desert of Northeast Africa, where no other cattle remains designated as domesticated have been found. It is concluded that (a) Bos remains from the early Holocene at Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba were those of hunted aurochs; (b) domesticated caprines were likely present in Northeast Africa before domesticated cattle; and (c) the domesticated cattle spreading across Northeast and northern Africa, including Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba, from the late seventh millennium BCE or early sixth millennium BCE onwards were descendants of Bos taurus domesticated in the Middle Euphrates area of the Middle East.” ref
“Most researchers thought the first domesticated cattle in Africa arrived from the Near East, perhaps as early as 7800 years ago. But in the 1980s, a few archaeologists began to argue that inhabitants of northeastern Africa had domesticated cattle independently some 10,000 years ago. A statistical analysis revealed three major genetic trends within current cattle populations across Africa. Two influences came from outside Africa. The genetic signature of zebu–a type of humped cattle domesticated some 8000 years ago in the area of Pakistan–was most prominent in cattle in the Horn of Africa. From this, the team concluded that zebu were introduced to that region primarily through sea trade. Cattle populations across northern Africa, in contrast, contained genetic influence from taurine cattle, which were domesticated at least 8000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent of Turkey and other countries. Another sizable component of the genetic variation featured neither of these influences, leading Hanotte’s team to suspect that it represents a unique domestication of native wild cattle in Africa. A few skeptics remain. “The article does not prove an earlier independent domestication event in Africa,” says Andrew Smith of the University of Cape Town, South Africa. For that, he wants to see archaeological evidence for African cattle domestication that might place it before the same achievement in Near East Asia. Fiona Marshall of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, however, is more impressed. To her, the new finding reinforces the idea that people living in Africa during the last 10,000 or so years took an unusual path to food production: domesticating livestock before plants.” ref
“Larger settlements began to appear at Nabta Playa by the 7th millennium BC, relying on deep wells for sources of water. Small huts were constructed in straight rows. Sustenance included wild plants, such as legumes, millets, sorghum, tubers, and fruit. Around 6800 BCE or around 8,800 years ago they began to make pottery locally. In the late 7th millennium BCE goats and sheep, apparently imported from Western Asia, appear. Many large hearths also appear. Early pottery from the Nabta Playa-Bir Kiseiba area has characteristics unlike pottery from surrounding regions. This is followed by pottery with characteristics found only in the Western Desert. Later pottery from c. 5500 BCE (Al Jerar phase) has similarities with pottery from the Sudanese region. Pottery decorations included complex patterns of impressions applied with a comb in a rocking motion.” ref
“Northwest African Neolithic initiated by migrants from Iberia (Portugal and Spain) and the Levant (includes present-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Palestinian territories, and most of Turkey southwest of the middle Euphrates). During the Neolithic expansion, various megalithic cultures developed in the Iberian Peninsula. An open seas navigation culture from the east Mediterranean, called the Cardium culture, also extended its influence to the eastern coasts of the peninsula, possibly as early as the 5th millennium BCE. These people may have had some relation to the subsequent development of the Iberian civilization. This pottery style gives its name to the main culture of the Mediterranean Neolithic: Cardium pottery culture or Cardial culture, or impressed ware culture, which eventually extended from the Adriatic sea to the Atlantic coasts of Portugal and south to Morocco. Older Neolithic cultures existed already at this time in eastern Greece and Crete, apparently having arrived from Anatolia, but they appear distinct from the Cardial or impressed ware culture. The ceramic tradition in the central Balkans also remained distinct from that along the Adriatic coastline in both style and manufacturing techniques for almost 1,000 years from the 6th millennium BCE. Early Neolithic impressed pottery is found in the Levant, and certain parts of Anatolia, including Mezraa-Teleilat, and in North Africa at Tunus-Redeyef, Tunisia. Impressed pottery also appears in Egypt. Along the East Mediterranean coast impressed ware has been found in North Syria, Israel, and Lebanon. In northwestern Africa, lifestyle transitioned from foraging to food production around 7,400 years ago but what sparked that change remains unclear. Archaeological data support conflicting views: (1) that migrant European Neolithic farmers brought the new way of life to North Africa or (2) that local hunter-gatherers adopted technological innovations. The latter view is also supported by archaeogenetic data. Here we fill key chronological and archaeogenetic gaps for the Maghreb, from Epipalaeolithic to Middle Neolithic, by sequencing the genomes of nine individuals (to between 45.8- and 0.2-fold genome coverage). Notably, we trace 8,000 years of population continuity and isolation from the Upper Palaeolithic, via the Epipaleolithic, to some Maghrebi Neolithic farming groups. However, remains from the earliest Neolithic contexts showed mostly European Neolithic ancestry. We suggest that farming was introduced by European migrants and was then rapidly adopted by local groups. During the Middle Neolithic a new ancestry from the Levant appears in the Maghreb, coinciding with the arrival of pastoralism in the region, and all three ancestries blend together during the Late Neolithic. Our results show ancestry shifts in the Neolithization of northwestern Africa that probably mirrored a heterogeneous economic and cultural landscape, in a more multifaceted process than observed in other regions.” ref, ref, ref
“Joel D. Irish (2001), reported in “Holocene Settlement of the Egyptian Sahara”, based on osteological and dental data suggested a mainly sub-Saharan African affinity and origin at Nabta (with sub-Saharan tendencies most commonly detected), but also possible North African tendencies, concluding that, “Henneberg et al. suggest that the Nabta Playa people may have been most similar to Negroes from south of the Sahara. The present qualitative dental comparison tentatively supports this conclusion.”. Some researchers, including Christopher Ehret, have suggested a Nilo-Saharan linguistic affinity for the Nabta people.” ref
“By the 6th millennium BC or between 8,000 to 7,000 years ago, evidence of a prehistoric religion or cult appears. From 5500 BCE or around 7,500 years ago the Late Neolithic period began, with “a new group that had a complex social system expressed in a degree of organisation and control not previously seen.” These new people were responsible for sacrificial cattle burials in clay-lined and roofed chambers covered by rough stone tumuli. It has been suggested that the associated cattle cult indicated in Nabta Playa marks an early evolution of Ancient Egypt‘s Hathor cult. For example, Hathor was worshipped as a nighttime protector in desert regions (see Serabit el-Khadim). To directly quote professors Wendorf and Schild: “… there are many aspects of political and ceremonial life in prehistoric Egypt and the Old Kingdom that reflects a strong impact from Saharan cattle pastoralists …” Rough megalithic stone structures buried underground are also found in Nabta Playa, one of which included evidence of what Wendorf described as perhaps “the oldest known sculpture in Egypt.” ref
“In the 5th millennium BC or between 7,000 to 6,000 years agothese peoples fashioned what may be among the world’s earliest known archeoastronomical devices (roughly contemporary to the Goseck circle in Germany and the Mnajdra megalithic temple complex in Malta). These include alignments of stones that may have indicated the rising of certain stars and a “calendar circle” that indicates the approximate direction of summer solstice sunrise. “Calendar circle” may be a misnomer as the spaces between the pairs of stones in the gates are a bit too wide, and the distances between the gates are too short for accurate calendar measurements.” An inventory of Egyptian archaeoastronomical sites for the UNESCO World Heritage Convention evaluated Nabta Playa as having “hypothetical solar and stellar alignments.” ref
“Astrophysicist Thomas G. Brophy suggests the hypothesis that the southerly line of three stones inside the Calendar Circle represented the three stars of Orion’s Belt and the other three stones inside the calendar circle represented the shoulders and head stars of Orion as they appeared in the sky. These correspondences were for two dates – circa 4800 BC and at precessional opposition – representing how the sky “moves” long term. Brophy proposes that the circle was constructed and used circa the later date, and the dual date representation was a conceptual representation of the motion of the sky over a precession cycle. Near the Calendar Circle, which is made of smaller stones, there are alignments of large megalithic stones. The southerly lines of these megaliths, Brophy argues, aligned to the same stars as represented in the Calendar Circle, all at the same epoch, circa 6270 BCE. Brophy argues that the Calendar Circle correlation with Orion’s belt occurred between 6400 and 4900 BCE or around 8,400 to 6,900 years ago, matching radio-carbon dates of some campfires in the area.” ref
“A 2007 article by a team of University of Colorado archaeoastronomers and archaeologists (Malville, Schild, Wendorf and Brenmer, three of whom had been involved in the original discovery of the site and its astronomical alignment) responded to the work of Brophy and Rosen, in particular their claims for an alignment with Sirius in 6088 BC and other alignments which they dated to 6270 BC, saying that these dates “are about 1500 years earlier than our best estimates for the Terminal Neolithic and the construction of megalithic structures” at Nabta Playa.” ref
“The Sirius alignment in question was originally proposed by Wendorf and Malville, for one of the most prominent alignments of megaliths labelled the “C-line”, which they said aligned to the rising of Sirius circa 4820 BCE or around 6,820 years ago. Brophy and Rosen stated in 2005 that megalith orientations and star positions reported by Wendorf and Malville were in error, noting that “Given these corrected data, we see that Sirius actually aligned with the C-line circa 6000 BCE. We estimate that 6088 BCE or around 8,088 years ago Sirius had a declination of -36.51 degrees, for a rising azimuth exactly on the C-line average”. However, according to Malville, Schild et al. (2007) the dates proposed by Brophy are inconsistent with the archaeological evidence, and “inference in archaeoastronomy must always be guided and informed by archaeology, especially when substantial field work has been performed in the region”. They also concluded that, on closer inspection, the C-line of megaliths “consists of stones resting on the sides and tops of dunes and may not represent an original set of aligned stele.” ref
“More complex structures followed during a megalith period the researchers dated to between about 4500 to 3600 BCE or around 6,500 to 5,600 years ago. Using their original measurements, complemented by satellite imagery and GPS measurements by Brophy and Rosen, they confirmed possible alignments with Sirius, Arcturus, Alpha Centauri, and the Belt of Orion. They suggest that there are three pieces of evidence suggesting astronomical observations by the herdsmen using the site, which may have functioned as a necropolis. “The repetitive orientation of megaliths, stele, human burials and cattle burials reveals a very early symbolic connection to the north.” Secondly, there is the orientation of the cromlech mentioned above. The third piece of evidence is the fifth millennium alignments of stele to bright stars. They conclude their report by writing that “The symbolism embedded in the archaeological record of Nabta Playa in the Fifth Millennium BCE is very basic, focussed on issues of major practical importance to the nomads: cattle, water, death, earth, sun and stars.” ref
“Harifian culture (Harifian tool-making)
Dates: 8,800 — 8,000 B.C.E.
Major sites: Negev Desert
Preceded by: Qadan culture
Followed by: Faiyum A
“The Harifians are viewed as migrating out of the Fayyum and the Eastern Deserts of Egypt during the late Mesolithic to merge with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) culture, whose tool assemblage resembles that of the Harifian. This assimilation led to the Circum-Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex, a group of cultures that invented nomadic pastoralism, and may have been the original culture which spread Proto-Semitic languages throughout Mesopotamia. The Harifian is a specialized regional cultural development of the Epipalaeolithic of the Negev Desert. It corresponds to the latest stages of the Natufian culture. Like the Natufian, it is characterized by semi-subterranean houses. These are often more elaborate than those found at Natufian sites. For the first-time arrowheads are found among the stone tool kit. Andy Burns states “The Harifian dates to between approximately 10,800/10,500bp and 10,000/10,200bp. It is restricted to the Sinai and Negev, and is probably broadly contemporary with the Late Natufian or Pre-Pottery Neolithic A. Microlithic points are a characteristic feature of the industry, with the Harif point being both new and particularly diagnostic – Bar-Yosef (1998) suggests that it is an indication of improved hunting techniques. Lunates, isosceles and other triangular forms were backed with retouch, and some Helwan lunates are found. This industry contrasts with the Desert Natufian which did not have the roughly triangular points in its assemblage. There are two main groups within the Harifian. One group consists of ephemeral base camps in the north of Sinai and western Negev, where stone points comprise up to 88% of all microliths, accompanied by only a few lunates and triangles. The other group consists of base camps and smaller campsites in the Negev and features a greater number of lunates and triangles than points. These sites probably represent functional rather than chronological differences. The presence of Khiam points in some sites indicates that there was communication with other areas in the Levant at this time.” Harifian has close connections with the late Mesolithic cultures of Fayyum and the Eastern Deserts of Egypt, whose tool assemblage resembles that of the Harifian. Fusion with animal domestication elements of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) culture is hypothesised by Juris Zarins, to have led to the Circum Arabian Nomadic Pastoral Complex, a group of cultures that invented nomadic pastoralism, and may have been the original culture which spread Proto-Semitic languages throughout the region.” Ref Ref
Cattle
“Cattle (Bos taurus) are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus Bos. Mature female cattle are called cows and mature male cattle are bulls. Cattle are commonly raised for meat, for dairy products, and for leather. As draft animals, they pull carts and farm implements. Around 10,500 years ago, taurine cattle were domesticated from wild aurochs progenitors in central Anatolia, the Levant, and Western Iran. A separate domestication event occurred in the Indian subcontinent, which gave rise to zebu. The term cattle was borrowed from Anglo-Norman catel (replacing native Old English terms like kine, now considered archaic, poetic, or dialectal), itself from Medieval Latin capitale ‘principal sum of money, capital’, itself derived in turn from Latin caput ‘head’. Cattle originally meant movable personal property, especially livestock of any kind, as opposed to real property (the land, which also included wild or small free-roaming animals such as chickens—they were sold as part of the land).” ref
“The word is a variant of chattel (a unit of personal property) and closely related to capital in the economic sense. The word cow came via Anglo-Saxon cū (plural cȳ), from Common Indo-European gʷōus (genitive gʷowés) ‘a bovine animal’, cf. Persian: gâv, Sanskrit: go-. In older English sources such as the King James Version of the Bible, cattle often means livestock, as opposed to deer, which are wild. Cattle have played a key role in human history, having been domesticated since at least the early Neolithic age. Archaeozoological and genetic data indicate that cattle were first domesticated from wild aurochs (Bos primigenius) approximately 10,500 years ago. There were two major areas of domestication: one in central Anatolia, the Levant, and Western Iran, giving rise to the taurine line, and a second in the area that is now Pakistan, resulting in the indicine line. Modern mitochondrial DNA variation indicates the taurine line may have arisen from as few as 80 aurochs tamed in the upper reaches of Mesopotamia near the villages of Çayönü Tepesi in what is now southeastern Turkey, and Dja’de el-Mughara in what is now northern Syria.” ref
“Although European cattle are largely descended from the taurine lineage, gene flow from African cattle (partially of indicine origin) contributed substantial genomic components to both southern European cattle breeds and their New World descendants. A study on 134 breeds showed that modern taurine cattle originated from Africa, Asia, North and South America, Australia, and Europe. Some researchers have suggested that African taurine cattle are derived from a third independent domestication from the North African aurochs. Whether there have been two or three domestications, European, African, and Asian cattle share much of their genomes both through their species ancestry and through repeated migrations of livestock and genetic material between species, as shown in the diagram.” ref
“Cattle were originally identified as three separate species: Bos taurus, the European or “taurine” cattle (including similar types from Africa and Asia); Bos indicus, the Indicine or “zebu”; and the extinct Bos primigenius, the aurochs. The aurochs is ancestral to both zebu and taurine cattle. They were later reclassified as one species, Bos taurus, with the aurochs (B. t. primigenius), zebu (B. t. indicus), and taurine (B. t. taurus) cattle as subspecies. However, this taxonomy is contentious, and authorities such as the American Society of Mammalogists treat these taxa as separate species.” ref
“Complicating the matter is the ability of cattle to interbreed with other closely related species. Hybrid individuals and even breeds exist, not only between taurine cattle and zebu (such as the sanga cattle (Bos taurus africanus x Bos indicus), but also between one or both of these and some other members of the genus Bos – yaks (the dzo or yattle), banteng, and gaur. Hybrids such as the beefalo breed can even occur between taurine cattle and either species of bison, leading some authors to consider them part of the genus Bos, as well. The hybrid origin of some types may not be obvious – for example, genetic testing of the Dwarf Lulu breed, the only taurine-type cattle in Nepal, found them to be a mix of taurine cattle, zebu, and yak.” ref
“The aurochs originally ranged throughout Europe, North Africa, and much of Asia. In historical times, its range became restricted to Europe, and the last known individual died in Mazovia, Poland, around 1627. Breeders have attempted to recreate a similar appearance to the aurochs by crossing traditional types of domesticated cattle, producing the Heck breed. A group of taurine-type cattle exist in Africa; they either represent an independent domestication event or were the result of crossing taurines domesticated elsewhere with local aurochs, but they are genetically distinct; some authors name them as a separate subspecies, Bos taurus africanus. The only pure African taurine breeds remaining are the N’Dama, Kuri, and some varieties of the West African Shorthorn.” ref
“Feral cattle are those that have been allowed to go wild. Populations exist in many parts of the world, sometimes on small islands. Some, such as Amsterdam Island cattle, Chillingham cattle, and Aleutian wild cattle have become sufficiently distinct to be described as breeds. From early in civilisation, cattle have been used in barter. Cattle play a part in several religions. The ox is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac. The astrological sign Taurus is represented as a bull in the Western zodiac.” ref
“New zooarchaeological discoveries in the Middle Nile support the scenario that proto-pastoralist communities arrived from the sub-Saharan region with large ruminants at the beginning of the Holocene. Although cattle were domesticated slightly later than sheep and goats, they seem to be an extremely important species in the history of mankind in Eurasia and especially in Africa. Until now, it has been accepted that domesticated cattle arrived in Africa in 6000 BCE or around 8,000 years ago from the Middle East. New osteometric data from Letti Desert 2 (LTD2) in Sudan analysed through point-scale method as well as age-profile suggest that cattle could had been domesticated independently in Africa at the same time as in the Middle East, that is around 10,000 years ago.” ref
“Currently, the oldest archaeozoological evidence of domestication of the wild ancestor of cattle – the aurochs (Bos primigenius) comes from the Middle Euphrates and is dated to 10,000-9,000 BCE. The identification of the wild ancestor, the aurochs, from domesticated cattle is relatively straightforward, based on the change in body proportions and, above all, the reduction in size with the disappearance of sexual dimorphism. However, the identification of animals in the early stages of domestication is a highly complex task that requires multi-faceted contextual studies. Such studies must take into account a number of natural factors, including climatic changes, the hunting impact, and those resulting from herding, such as selection.” ref
“Although studies employing statistical analyses of osteometric data or age-of-death profiles are beset with significant shortcomings, they have proved invaluable for identifying the early stages of domestication. This is particularly the case when changes in sexual dimorphism in cattle in western Asia are under consideration. Nevertheless, this kind of comprehensive research and examination of morphological alterations within early cattle populations is only feasible in the Middle East, where access to extensive archaeozoological collections and a multitude of chronologically and ecologically consistent sites is far greater than in the Nile Valley.” ref
“Genetic studies also play a pivotal role in the cattle domestication debate. The prevailing theory suggests that cattle around the world are descendants of a small population of aurochs domesticated around 11,000 years ago in the Middle Euphrates zone. From there, via Sinai, at the turn of 7/6 millennium BCE, cattle and other domesticated animals, such as sheep, goats, and pigs, are thought to have spread across Africa. Thus, the prevailing view currently encountered in academic discourse is that the domestication of animals in Asia, Europe, and Africa was a homogenous process “invented” in the Middle East, from where the know-how or the animals themselves spread with humans.” ref
“Half a century ago, based on discoveries made in the Southwest of Egypt (Nabta Playa in Western Desert), a hypothesis was proposed about the possibility of local cattle domestication in Africa. Although it was supported by ecological, archaeological, linguistic, and some genetic evidence, the hypothesis was poorly supported by direct osteological data. The very early dating (9-8 millennium BCE) of the Nabta Playa sites, the lack of conclusive, statistically significant osteological data, and the generally limited state of research on early Holocene settlement in North Africa led to the rejection of the idea of domestication of cattle in Africa.” ref
“Intensive genetic research conducted in the early 21st century additionally ruled out the domestication of cattle in Africa, even though it was assumed for a long time that the African aurochs (Bos primigenius opistonomus/africanus) influenced the genotype of modern African cattle. Due to natural conditions (high temperatures, extremely dry climate), ancient DNA from African aurochs and an early form of domestic cattle has been very difficult to obtain and analysed to a very limited extent. The first and the only genomic data to date from a single aurochs from 9000 years ago comes from Morocco. The earliest autosomal genomes and mitogenomes of African domestic cattle come from bones dated between 2800 and 2000 years ago, but it should be noted that positive genetic results are usually only obtained from 300 (!) year old remains. Research is therefore almost exclusively based on modern genetic material or fossil data from outside Africa.” ref
“Today, nearly 500 million people around the globe sustain themselves through itinerant pastoralism; half of them are Africans. The emergence of cattle herding in Africa marked a key moment in the continent’s history. Pastoral communities with complex social systems are perceived as the main element that initiated the emergence of the oldest civilisations in the Northeast of Africa. Also, today, a complex system of herding fundamentally affects the economy, society, and demography of sub-Saharan and East Africa. Yet, in the academic discourse to date, the picture of Neolithic communities focused on crop cultivation and sedentary farming has placed herding on the margins of the global debate about neolithisation and the origins of the process of animal domestication.” ref
“In this article, we revisit the thesis that cattle domestication took place in Africa at the same time as in the Middle East and that African pastoralism could has a native origin, supporting it with new zooarchaeological findings. A key element is the data from Letti Desert 2 (LTD2) site in North Sudan, published in details for the first time and dated with a consistent series of radiocarbon dating to the mid- 8th millennium BCE. Due to the very limited collection of osteological and osteometric data, the findings from Letti cannot provide a final proof for the local domestication of cattle in Africa. They are circumstantial evidence and a factor which suggests that we should not close the debate and continue our archaeozoological and archaeological research to test the hypothesis that independently of the Middle East, communities may have taken steps to control wild cattle herds in order to secure access to meat or perhaps other benefits.” ref
“The LTD2 site was discovered in 2022 during surface surveys in the Letti Basin, Middle Nile. It is located on an elevation that is part of the edge of a plateau overlooking one of the ancient watersheds of the Nile. During two field seasons, the work focused on the trench designated LTD2/A (10 × 5m). Three stratigraphic horizons were distinguished at this site. The clusters of human bones found on the surface were identified as relics of burials eroded by deflation. We assume that the burials were a part of a Neolithic cemetery with its core area excavated by about 180 m to the east (LTD2/B – Fig. 3C). The radiocarbon dating of these remains indicates inhumation in the 5th or 4th millennium BCE. Therefore, we should assume that the current surface layer in area LTD2/A includes remains of settlements from the early Holocene and relics of later activities (isolated fragments of pottery, stone tools, and deflated burials). For this reason, in further analysis, materials from this horizon (i.e., from Loci 1 and 2) are treated as contaminated, although containing early-Holocene materials (cattle remains included).” ref
“The most important bone materials discussed in this paper come from subsurface layers and cut features (Loci 3–5) of 0.5m thickness in total. In these layers we found numerous fragments of technologically and typologically homogeneous ceramics ornamented with alternate pivoting stamp, lithic artifacts dominated by the cutting inserts of composite tools, and mineralized animal remains (Table 1). Ostrich eggshell (OES) beads and a small clay zoomorphic figurine were manifestations of non-utilitarian art. The assemblage of cultural artifacts from the Early Holocene settlement of LTD2 differs significantly from the most abundantly recorded collections from Mesolithic sites in the region. Radiocarbon dating of ostrich egg pieces found at each level (surface including) indicate, in most cases, that the 8th millennium BCE was a period of at least several phases of settlement. Two samples (Poz-164652, Poz-164653) suggest a more recent chronology (turn of the 7th and 6th millennia BCE). However, these last results were obtained from the analysis of carbonate fractions of dentin and enamel from cattle (none of these samples were burnt). Therefore, they may reflect the age of secondary processes (recrystallisation) long after the death of the organism.” ref
“Meanwhile, the deepest horizon – Locus 6 was a layer of rock debris combined with silt, which formed the natural substrate in the early Holocene. It still contained a trace amount of early Holocene relics (lithics, single potsherds). We analysed a total of 2402 animal remains, including invertebrates and vertebrates, using archaeozoological methods. The remains were well-preserved, wherever coming from the current surface (Loci 1–2) or subsurface levels (Loci 3–5) with fragmentation primarily resulting from anthropogenic activities. Thus, we assume the whole collection of animal remains is homogenous and came from early-Holocene settlement (what is confirmed by coherent OES dating). The bones were partially mineralized and have a thin layer of calcite on their surface. Animal remains were subject to taxonomic and anatomical identification as well as the identification of the size class, body sides, and body parts. They were also assessed in terms of age at death, sex, and morphological characteristics of the animals.” ref
“Where the necessary morphological characteristics were preserved, osteometric data were collected according to standardised protocol. The NISP classification, the minimum number of elements, and the standardised minimum number of animal units (%MAU) were used to estimate the quantification methods. The remains from LTD2/A displayed an advanced level of mineralization, which caused the ZooMS and DNA analyses to fail. Various statistical methods adapted for the analysis of morphological and osteometric data are being used in archaeozoology, the most popular is the LSI scaling technique. However, due to limited cattle metric data set from LTD2, with no measurements homogeneity (longitudinal, latitudinal, anatomically diverse), we chose the point scale method, which has been successfully used for three decades in studies in Central Europe, the Middle East and NE Africa. It allows us to use all the bone measurements we obtained for comparison. The method is described in details below (sections Archaeozoological analysis/Morphological analysis).” ref
“In terms of morphology and size, the cattle discovered at LTD2 correspond to indigenous African cattle. These were large primigenic cattle (c. 130–150 cm WH). The osteometric data for cattle from LTD2/A that we registered fit well within the ranges of metric data for domestic cattle both from Neolithic (Wadi Khashab, 5th mill. BCE) and ancient Kerma (3rd -2nd mill. BCE) sites. The dimensions of the bones and teeth of the cattle in LTD2 fit into the medium-large range of dimensions of cattle from NE Africa. However, they are clearly larger than the dimensions of taurine cattle, that we observe in some Neolithic deposits and much later local cattle populations. The bones of cattle from LTD2 are also partly similar to the size of aurochs bones in the region, which may be due to the strong sexual dimorphism in the aurochs.” ref
“This feature has so far contributed to the difficulty of unequivocally identifying cattle domestication in archaeozoological studies in Africa, although in-depth analyses of morphological features in terms of sexual dimorphism in the Middle East have been successful in identifying the early stages of cattle domestication. We have identified cattle remains based on characteristic details in the skeleton, and comparative collections. The identification of cattle (Bos) in this case is not in doubt, not least because the only morphologically similar bovid species – the buffalo (Syncerus caffer) – is not reported in Early Holocene faunal material in the Middle Nile Valley, but is recorded southerly, in central Sudan. Detailed analyses of buffalo ecology highlight that it was more adapted to the forests and savannas of sub-Saharan Africa, suggesting that its geographical range rarely included the Nile Valley.” ref
“Discoveries of relatively rich collections of aurochs remains at Late Pleistocene sites in the Middle Nile Valley attest to the southern range of this species, much further than previously assumed. The identification of domesticated cattle features is much more problematic. Due to the availability of osteometric data, it was possible to compile a summary considering metric data of Pleistocene and Holocene aurochs from the Nile Valley, and rich collections of undoubted domesticated cattle from NE African sites dated to 5,000-1,000 BCE. It was therefore necessary to support our studies with other proxies. The age-at-death profile for cattle from LTD2 provides such support. Cattle was the only group of animals from LTD2 in which we find the remains of very young (around 6 months) and immature (3–4 years) individuals together with the remains of mature individuals. The remains of all other wildlife species (antelopes, warthogs, porcupines, etc.) were exclusively from mature individuals. Herd reduction through the elimination of redundant juveniles: males and females after calving, is considered one of the primary markers of ruminant domestication.” ref
“Over 10,000 years ago, groups of people returned to the Middle Nile after millennia of a late-Pleistocene settlement hiatus. They settled in LTD2, among other places. Their return coincided with dynamic climate changes involving the northward shift of the monsoon range and the savannah zone. According to our findings based on environmental studies, the behavior of these communities was related to the exploitation of the Sudan Savannah Zone ecosystem. Animals of the Bos genus arrived in the Nile Valley the same way. They, along with the local antelope and warthog species, were one of the main sources of meat for humans.” ref
“However, they were the only animals to be killed at various ages, also when young. A behavioral/settlement link with natural pasture ecosystems for herds of herbivores and particularly with the cattle lead us to identify these groups as proto-pastoralists. The term ‘proto-pastoralist’ appears in a variety of research contexts, particularly related to the transition from hunter-gatherer communities to more structured forms of herd management. It can be posited that an intensification of interspecies relations was occurring, though this still did give a limited alterations in the cultural system and, on the second side, in animal morphology. It would be inaccurate to characterise the Early Holocene communities of Letti as pastoralists, but we do see features of nomadism in them and a close association with herds of (wild?) cattle.” ref
“In the 7th millennium BCE, which was significantly later than the arrival of the hypothetical proto-pastoralists we have introduced to the debate, settled communities appeared in the region. The behaviour of these new communities was associated with the exploitation of exclusively wild elements of the aquatic and coastal environment, hence they were referred to as Mesolithic/Aqualithic in earlier publications. Both the proto-pastoralist communities and those described as Mesolithic were producing ceramic vessels, albeit representing markedly different traditions (Mesolithic “Karmakol” ware commonly tempered with chaff or mica. The early Holocene communities appeared by the Nile in the region of the so-called Nile Great Bend where the three dry valleys connecting the Nile, Kordofan (Wadi el- Melik), and the Mega-Chad (Wadi Howar) zone converge. Throughout subsequent millenia, they served as excellent migration routes, providing seasonal access to resources, namely, plants and water.” ref
“The communities of the 8th millennium BCE inhabited the Nile Valley selecting specific fertile areas, called “basins”, including Letti and Selima. This is evidenced by archaeological records from LTD2 and el-Barga sites. These are regions in which, in a slightly later period (6-5 millennium BCE), the formation of increasingly large necropolises, e.g. R12, Kadruka was observed. The feature linking the studied communities from the 8th and 5th, as well as the 3rd millennium BCE is the significant role of cattle in the economy, symbolism, and burial practices. From 2000 BCE these animals were widely replaced with significantly smaller taurine cattle in the Middle Nile area. Due to progressing climate and environmental changes, since the 3rd millennium BCE, there has been a shift of pastoral communities, in which cattle were used in many areas of ritual, social, and economic life, away from the Nile and further to the South.” ref
“Beef was the staple of the diet of religious and social elites also in later periods of Nubia’s history, even though environmental conditions were unfavourable to breeding cattle locally (desertification). The analysis of strontium isotopes in cattle from sites of the Kush civilisation (1000 BCE – 350 CE) and later – up to the post-medieval times, provides clear evidence that a significant part of the population originated outside of the Nile Valley. New paleontological and archaeological discoveries indicate that the relationship between humans and cattle in Africa has a much longer history than previously assumed. One hypothesis suggests that the remains of Pleistocene aurochs discovered in North Africa are usually associated with Acheulean sites (1.7–0.13 Mya) and migrations of the Homo erectus towards Europe. Discoveries from the Middle Nile Valley indicate that at the time of our species Out of Africa, c. 50,000 years ago (MIS3) the area was inhabited by communities that seasonally specialised in hunting aurochs.” ref
“The results of our research led us to propose a thesis that at the time of the last drastic aridification (MIS2) in Central Africa refugial areas for the savannah ecosystem were preserved, e.g., in the Mega-Chad and Kordofan zones (Fig. 8). Finds of aurochs remains from Kashm el-Girba dating to over 8000 BCE support this assumption (Peters, 1989b). Hunting specialisation, recorded in the late Pleistocene, was hypothetically conducive to controlling herds of select animals, to following them, and to protecting them (theses already proposed at the dawn of modern science although since the mid-20th century superseded by the concept of the Neolithic Revolution). They could constitute a “living resource” and a safety net in emergency situations. This set of human behaviours could consequently promoted the transition to the early stage of domestication, without strong interference from behavioural, morphological, and physiological changes in the animals, as was the case in the Middle East. In the early Holocene, when the savannah extended to the Southern Sahara once again (Nicoll, 2004), people and the cattle previously isolated in the central part of Sahel migrated to the Nile Valley.” ref
“The zooarchaeological criteria commonly used to identify the local domestication of a species on the basis of morphology based on the frequency of occurrence of the remains of the wild ancestor in the osteological material; the so-called ‘intermediate form’ and the remains of animals showing signs of domestication (e.g. reduced size, altered proportions, lack of horns). The large reduction in size of the animals could have been caused, in addition to ecological factors, either by hunting selection, by a drastic change in the diet of the domesticated animals, and by natural or deliberate selection. This direction of morphological change was favourable for agricultural communities living in dense settlements, such as those typical of the Fertile Crescent. African cattle populations, may have been subject to a different model of evolution, because of the different model of pastoralism has developed in sub-Saharan Africa, namely nomadic pastoralism. In this model, under the ecologically favourable conditions of the early Holocene, there may not have been drastic changes in the diet and behaviour of animals compared to their wild ancestors, nor in their morphology as a result of deliberate selection.” ref
“Consequently, there are no factors that could cause rapid and very pronounced morphological changes, such as a reduction in body size or proportions. This is supported by zooarchaeological and osteometric data. The size of African aurochs corresponds in part to that of early cattle. Of course, both archaeozoological and ethnographic data suggest that a marked reduction in size of cattle in pastoralists herds can also be observed, but this is more likely to apply to assemblages much younger than the 8th millennium BCE. As can be seen, the application of identification criteria based on morphological traits, as defined for studies in the Middle East, cannot provide satisfactory results in Africa. If these criteria are applied, only the taurine cattle from Southwest Asia, which appeared by the Nile only in the 6th millennium BCE, can be recognised as “fully” domesticated.” ref
Early North African Cattle Domestication
“Nearly four decades have passed since an independent North African centre for cattle domestication was first proposed in 1980, based on the Combined Prehistoric Expedition’s work in the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba region of southern Egypt, and the initial rigorous debates between Andrew B. Smith and Fred Wendorf, Romuald Schild and Achilles Gautier. More recently, geneticists have entered the fray with determinations on the spread of haplotypes, and the timing thereof, that extend the scope and increase the complexity of the debate. Here, a new look at the botanical data and a re-analysis of the geology of Bir Kiseiba–Nabta Playa rejects the ecological foundations of the early African domestication model, while a detailed examination of the published osteological and radiometric data from the same area reveals a more nuanced picture than has been recognised to date. These results are placed into context by a wider review of the genetic and other archaeological evidence from the Western Desert of Northeast Africa, where no other cattle remains designated as domesticated have been found. It is concluded that (a) Bos remains from the early Holocene at Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba were those of hunted aurochs; (b) domesticated caprines were likely present in Northeast Africa before domesticated cattle; and (c) the domesticated cattle spreading across Northeast and northern Africa, including Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba, from the late seventh millennium BC or early sixth millennium BCE onwards were descendants of Bos taurus domesticated in the Middle Euphrates area of the Middle East.” ref
“This paper presents a reassessment of the botanical, faunal and geomorphological data from Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba to determine whether or not an early Holocene timeframe for cattle domestication, as proposed by the Combined Prehistoric Expedition, remains a plausible explanatory model. It begins with a summary of the arguments by the main scholars involved in the debate, to provide context, and an outline of the data brought to bear so far. In a paper in African Archaeological Review, addressing early cattle domestication, Stock and Gifford-Gonzalez agreed the DNA evidence favoured a Near Eastern origin for domestic cattle but, critically, they did not re-examine the geological and botanical data from Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba. Nor did their paper, or the Combined Prehistoric Expedition’s faunal reports, look at the stratigraphical distribution of the cattle bones from the area and their associated radiocarbon dates. I turn to the original geological report to argue that more water was present on the surface during the early Holocene than acknowledged in the early cattle domestication model, and draw upon additional geological reports, which have been little cited in the debate, in support. I also draw upon comparisons with other archaeological and modern semi-arid regions to refute the claim that the ecology of the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba area during the early Holocene was capable of supporting only small game animals and gazelle, which is the underpinning of the early cattle domestication model.” ref
“The re-assessment also encompasses the middle Holocene of Nabta Playa. Wasylikowa’s botanical study of the middle Holocene botanical remains did not list the water requirements of all the families and genera of plants, which is done here. Nabta Playa’s faunal materials are also examined and evaluated. The radiocarbon distribution dates for the cattle remains are made explicit for the first time: using Gautier’s own measurements and distinction between morphologically domesticated and wild cattle, combined with the data from Smith’s and Grigson’s papers, the available data shows a later appearance for domesticated cattle at Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba than had previously been assumed. The results are then integrated into a review of the genetic and archaeological data from elsewhere in the Eastern Sahara, the current patterns in the study of domestication from the Near East and spread of domestic cattle and caprines in the Arabian peninsula. It is concluded that the first archaeological visibility of domesticated cattle derives from the mid sixth millennium BC onwards and that the most plausible explanation is that they originated from a founding population in the Near East, although the possibility of limited genetic introgression from African aurochs (Bos primigenius) is not ruled out.” ref
“The Combined Prehistoric Expedition argued and continues to argue for the remains to be assigned domesticated status (Bos taurus), on the basis that the reconstructed ecological conditions were inadequate for aurochs to have been supported without human intervention and control. It was this argument, and the presence of early pottery, which led them to designate these earliest occupation layers ‘Neolithic’. Their independent African domestication model hypothesised that these early Holocene cattle were brought from the Nile Valley, where there was adequate pasture and water, when the rains returned to the desert. The independent African domestication model has been extensively debated since 1980. The arguments have traditionally revolved around the criteria for determining domesticated status. Di Lernia and Smith have also underlined anthropological and terminological problems, while Usai has questioned the stratigraphic relationship between the few fragmentary early Bos remains and the radiocarbon-dated samples assigning them to the early Holocene.” ref
“Smith countered that an environment capable of supporting gazelles (Gazella dama, Gazella dorcas) and hares (Lepus capensis) would have provided enough vegetation cover for addax (Addax nasomaculatus), elephants (Loxodonta Africana), oryx (Oryx dammah) and rhino (Diceros bicornis, Ceratotherium simum), which can survive in dry climates. He also queried the absence of Bubal hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus) amongst the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba faunal remains when Bos primigenius and hartebeest are found together at Palaeolithic sites in the Nile Valley, where they co-inhabited similar ecological environments. Pasture and bodies of water adequate to support domestic cattle, gazelles and hares would also have been sufficient for larger semi-arid adapted animals such as oryx, addax, giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) and ostrich (Struthio camelus), which are amongst the animals present for parts of the year in the semi-arid Wadi Howar in northern Sudan. Elephants are present in parts of the Namib desert. Hartebeest occur in a variety of ecologies, including semi-arid environments. With no ecological zone known today containing only hares and gazelles, Smith contends that the faunal records at Nabta Playa are fragmentary and incomplete, but they could also simply reflect deliberate social choices. A well-known example of the latter is the early Holocene fauna from the Acacus Mountains where Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia) predominated.” ref
“Smith undertook an inter-regional comparative analysis of African and European wild and domestic Bos using the standard animal method, namely in this instance the metapodial distal width, and the distal width of the humeri. The results placed the cattle remains from the El Nabta/Al Jerar Maximum site of E-77-1 within the known size range for Bos primigenius. The subsequent Ru’at El Ghanam Middle Neolithic remains are ascribed by him to domesticated cattle. Consequently, Smith proposed an alternative model which claimed that domesticated cattle, sheep (Ovis ammon f. aries) and goats (Capra aegagrus f. hircus) arrived from the Near East shortly before 6000 BCE or around 8,000 years ago, in the late seventh millennium BC. In support, he also argued that indigenous, independent domestication of cattle in Northeast Africa would have entailed a radical shift in how animals are viewed and exploited amongst hunter-forager societies lacking a concept of human ownership of animals.” ref
“Although there was management of Barbary sheep during the Late Acacus period (c. 8100–6300 BCE) of the central Sahara, which may be construed as a form of ownership and a change from the way animals were viewed prior to the introduction of Near Eastern domesticates into North Africa, Smith counters that this was ‘probably as a result of long-standing predation strategies’, and states that: We must ask why these strategies did not continue towards domestication, as seen in the goats from Iran? Was it because domestic animals came in from the outside, making Barbary sheep irrelevant in the equation? Or was it because a lack of the sedentary stage around fixed resources, such as domesticated plants, did not result in the animal resources coming under pressure by increasing human numbers, requiring greater manipulation of the herds?” ref
“Consequently, he believes that this ideological shift towards private ownership with socially hierarchical communities occurred after Northeastern African hunter-collectors came into contact with trickles of immigrants from the Near East familiar with handling domesticates, resembling the way domestic stock were introduced into southern Africa. In an attempt to shed new light on this debate, Caroline Grigson re-examined the Bos remains from Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba. She compared the results with her measurements on wild and domesticated cattle fossil remains from the Nile Valley, and concluded that the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba cattle fell within the range of Bos primigenius. However, her study has been criticized for failing to account for the possibility of size variability in Bos primigenius populations between her European, Levantine and Haua Fteah (North Africa) samples and their wild counterparts in the Nile Valley.” ref
“Additional criticism has been levelled at the employment of linguistic and mtDNA data in support of the early domestication model by Wendorf and Schild. The methodological basis of Christopher Ehret’s linguistic reconstruction has been criticised in general by Kevin MacDonald and, in specific regard to early Bos, by the current author: Ehret has bracketed a period around 8000 BCE or around 10,000 years ago for Proto-Northern Sudanic (part of the Nilo-Saharan language family), which includes words indicative of the exploitation of Bos. But such an analysis is risky as most linguistic roots describing wild or domestic Bos are neutral and the same words that later were applied to domesticated Bos may well have been originally applied to their wild ancestors.” ref
“The mtDNA originally analysed by Bradley et al. was claimed to reveal a late Pleistocene divergence between African and European Bos primigenius, supporting the hypothesis that African Bos primigenius were the primary source for the early Saharan domesticated cattle. Despite its subsequent incorporation by Wendorf and Schild into their early domestication model, the study did not shed light on the timing or the mechanisms involved in the domestication process. In conjunction with recent reviews of genetic data suggestive of introgression of Y-chromosomal data from African Bos primigenius into African Bos taurus descended from Near Eastern stock, a re-examination of the archaeobotanical, faunal and geomorphological data from the early and middle Holocene periods in the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba region is appropriate in order to determine whether the ecological underpinnings of the early African independent domestication model are valid.” ref
Early Holocene Ecological Shifts in the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba Region
“The Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba area is located within two different present-day rainfall zones of influence: the winter Mediterranean rainfall zone and the summer rainfall Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). With the onset of what Haynes termed the ‘Neolithic pluvial’ or what others have called the African Humid Period or ‘Holocene optimum’, the ecology underwent a change from hyper-arid to semi-arid conditions. The ITCZ belt shifted c. 250 km northwards in the second half of the tenth millennium BCE; eventually, the isohyets shifted northwards by 400–550 km. By c. 8500 BCE or around 10,500 years ago, the Sahelian semi-desert zone had advanced up to the 24°N latitude, while Neumann states that summer rainfall occurred from the 22° latitude southwards. This was the start of the El Adam period at Nabta Playa (22°31′59″N), which was then on the new northern margin of the summer rainfall Sahelian belt. More broadly across the Sahara, fluvial networks developed which supported standing bodies of water, with temporal lags between increased rainfall and human re-occupation of the desert related to local geomorphological and hydrogeologic factors.” ref
“Deflated depressions became playas. Their water came from local recharging of the water tables, which caused them to rise above the new depressed ground level, or were sheetwash lying on top of the water table a couple of metres below ground level. Nabta Playa and, in particular, Bir Kiseiba, are examples of the former, and their water varied in intensity and volume affecting the extent of available vegetation cover. At Nabta Playa, the lower portion of the basin formed a large seasonal lake where ‘surface water would last for several weeks or months after the seasonal rains’. Remnants of the ancient shore lines have been found at El Gebel El Beid Playa to the Northeast of Nabta Playa, the Kiseiba escarpment, and other playa basins: ‘The formation of some of the Bir Kiseiba playas can probably be related to the truncation of the land surface by deflation almost to the level of the water-table during the Early Neolithic’.” ref
“In a little-referenced but important article, Haynes and Haas state that:
… remnants of beach deposits along the scarp indicate that some of these basins may have coalesced into larger lakes in early Holocene time sometime near 8250 BCE around 10,250 years ago. Playa mulls intermixed with aeolian sand make up the floor and in places, as at Nabta playa, are underlain by Pleistocene dunes believed to be overlying bedrock shale. Thus, with the onset of pluvial conditions, rainwater saturated the dunes and collected on the clay floor as sediments washed into the basin. With the return of arid conditions, the surface water evaporated, and the lacustrine deposits suffered deflation until limited by the shallow groundwater. Subsequent return to pluvial conditions would, via dune windows in the wind-scoured floor of the playa, recharge the local water table until a new lake had formed.” ref
“An annual precipitation of c. 100 mm would have been sufficient to have this effect, which challenges the notion that insufficient water was available to support more than small game animals. Today, acacia semi-desert scrub predominates on sand between the present-day 50 and 250 mm isohyets in the Sudan. A dense cover of grasses and herbs grows after the first consequential rains (July) and is complete at the end of the season (September). Panicum turgidum dominates the grasses and is particularly prevalent in the lower rainfall zones on sandy dunes which it stabilises. The Bayuda Desert, which is presently situated at the 100 mm isohyet that moved northwards to the vicinity of Nabta Playa, is dominated by acacia.” ref
“The brief seasonal showers provide forage particularly along wadis for Bayuda pastoralists’ light herds consisting mainly of sheep and goats and limited numbers of cattle. A little further north, acacia scrub is present in southwestern Wadi Halfa, while Acacia, Capparis decidua and Tamarix depend on groundwater in the interconnected Laqiya Valley, Wadi Shaw and Wadi Sahal, which received an annual rainfall of 5–10 mm. The presence of multiple plant species within modern-day semi-desert environments leaves open a possibility that the early archaeobotanical record from the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba region may have been influenced by deliberate human selective activities. At Nabta Playa, signs of huts and remnants of hearths and numerous lithics were recently located on a phytogenic dune at Site E-06-1 and dated to as early as c. 8400 BCE. Despite the onset of more humid conditions, the El Adam and subsequent El Ghorab phases still saw some eolian sand and phytogenic dune activity. E-06-1 and E-77-7 (at the neighbouring El Gebal El Beid Playa, radiocarbon-dated to 8424–7735 BCE) are the two El Adam period sites that have yielded viable botanical samples.” ref
“At E-06-1, the samples are from different plants with overlapping rainfall tolerances: Tamarix (75–500 mm); Citrullus colocynthis (perennial desert gourd which tolerates 250–1500 mm and irregular precipitation due to its long roots which can tap underground reserves of water); Echinochloa colona (400–1000 mm); and Poaceae grass. The nearby site of E-77-7 yielded 625 charcoal samples in which Tamarix was the only identified plant, which may potentially indicate that it was a preferred source of wood (if Tamarix nilotica), but it can also grow in monotype stands if the water table is no less than 8 m below the surface. Leguminosae (50–1800 mm) and Panicum turgidum (200–250 mm) seeds were also found. In addition, El Hadidi identified Salsola baryosma, Phragmites australis (an aquatic or subaquatic reed) and fibrous grass roots in the Lower Level at E-77-7.” ref
“Acacia and other tree or large bush species are not present in the very limited floral remains from E-06-1. Sahelian flora though is present in early Holocene levels to the south in northern Sudan at El Atrun, Oyo and Selima, which may indicate an incomplete botanical record from the El Adam phase at Nabta Playa. Acacia and Tamarisk are both able to survive in (semi-) arid conditions. Although there are modern oases in southwestern Egypt with only Tamarix, Acacia–Panicum and Tamarix–Stipagrostis were present along with denser herbaceous vegetation in wadis from the Acacus mountains during the middle Holocene of the Central Sahara. The tamarix monotypic stands in the oases are dependent on groundwater. This argument, combined with the presence of Phragmites australis at E-77-7 and geomorphological data from the Bir Kiseiba playas has implications not only for reconstruction of the early Holocene environment but also for the availability of water and vegetation at certain times of the year to support both humans and semi-arid adapted antelopes with similar or lesser water needs.” ref
“For the early independent African domestication model, the absence of hartebeest remains is particularly puzzling. Hartebeest are grazers surviving on grasses and legumes who inhabit dry savannahs, semi-arid grassland, and wooded grasslands. In areas with water scarcity, they derive moisture from melons, tubers, and roots for days or months. In other words, based on water resources and the availability of adequate pasture, hartebeest, which co-existed with aurochs in the Nile Valley, and other bovids such as oryx could have survived in the same ecological environment as the hypothetically domesticated Bos in the early cattle domestication model, although their remains (bar possible oryx in the wetter Ru’at El Ghanam Middle Neolithic) are not present in the recovered faunal assemblages.” ref
“The question of seasonal migration by the early occupants of the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba area has most recently been addressed by Donatella Usai. Usai has proposed seasonal movement between Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba and the Second Cataract region of the Nile Valley. She points out the technological similarities between the El Ghorab and El Nabta industries and the Shamarkian group, and that the site of 11-I-13 in Wadi Karagan (Nile Valley) is strikingly similar to the El Ghorab. There are no domesticated cattle remains at Wadi Karagan. Despite the claim by Wendorf and Schild that there is no El Nabta/Al Jerar-like complex in the Nile Valley, Usai suggests that sites 626 and 628 to the west of the Nile were intermediary camps for hunter-forager peoples moving out of the Nile Valley during flood season, before they moved into the desert after the summer rains in an integrated cultural and ecological system. Based on these combined re-analyses, there is no ecological or Nile Valley archaeological evidence for the early Holocene inhabitants of Bir Kiseiba—Nabta Playa having incorporated habitually domesticated cattle into their socio-economy.” ref
The El Nabta/Al Jerar Maximum and the Ecology of Nabta Playa
The Afro-Asian monsoon grew stronger around the beginning of the El Nabta/Al Jerar Maximum. This resulted in an increase in the ground and surface water in the southern Western Desert. Maximum lacustrine conditions were reached more broadly across the Sahara up to 25oN at c. 6500 BCE or around 8,500 years ago. Botanical samples from this period are available from eight sites: seven from Nabta Playa and one (E-77-7) from El Gebel El Beid Playa. At E-77-7, Acacia ehrenbergiana, Hyphaene thebaica, Medicago sp., Salsola baryostna, Tamarix sp. and fibrous grass roots were recovered from the Middle Layer (ascribed to the El Nabta phase).” ref
“The Nabta Playa site E-75-6 yielded fruit and seed remains, together with wood charcoal, in greater quantity than at any of the other sites: c. 460 samples, including 371 bulk soil samples, collected in the 1990–1992 seasons, of which c. 439 were analysed. The site is described as composed of three levels: Upper, Middle and Lower. The single charcoal date of 9360 ± 70 bp from the Lower Level falls within the defined El Adam cultural entity and is listed by Wendorf and Schild as ‘entity questionable’. However, the first study of plant remains lists three types deriving from the Lower Level (El Adam phase). The majority of the plant remains derive from the Middle Level (El Nabta), while the remainder are from the Upper Level (Al Jerar). The site consists of the remnants of huts and pits covered by clays and silts. The remains were recovered both from three pits and from four hut floors where they were likely charred in or near hearths.” ref
“In total, 15 families with 65 taxa were identified from E-75-6, of which grasses, legumes, and sedges predominated. Wasylikowa measured the abundance, density, and frequency of occurrence of the seeds to determine their significance in reconstructing the ecology and potential use by the inhabitants. Human selective action was strong. Economic requirements (food and fuel) appear to have been the dominant reason for the presence of most of the specimens, while medicinal purposes and accidental inclusion from dung and hut construction cannot be ruled out. Many of the sedge species, although edible, grow in wet conditions and could be taken as reflective of local ecology. More broadly, however, as Wasylikowa noted, ‘The numerical relations between diaspores of different species do not correspond to those between species in the [wider landscape’s flora]. Any reconstruction of the former vegetation and paleoecological conditions is, therefore, strongly restricted by the origin of the material.’ It appears though to broadly reflect the diverse ecological conditions of adequate bodies of freshwater, grasses stabilising dunes, plenty of moisture, scrubland and aquatic species bordering shores that rose and fell with seasonal rains averaging 200 mm.” ref
“This phase saw the appearance of plant storage pits, which represent a shift to intensive harvesting and storage as part of a delayed-return economy. At E-75-6, there are c. 20 huts, more than 30 pits and a walk-in well dug to facilitate access to the underground water table, which argues for semi-sedentary occupations. Whereas the preceding El Adam and El Ghorab occupations occurred during summer, the more abundant El Nabta/Al Jerar semi-sedentary settlements are stated by the excavators to have spanned autumn to the onset of the summer rainfall. However, there are no unequivocal signs of intensive social differentiation, although it appears that broad-spectrum economic exploitation and delayed return occurred, which may have entailed socially-mediated and negotiated resource acquisition, laying the socio-ideological foundations for the inhabitants to be receptive to incorporating new forms of animal exploitation in the succeeding phases.” ref
“Gautier believes that their biochemical markings are indicative of a Middle Palaeolithic origin. Regardless, elephants are known from modern semi-arid and arid deserts such as the Namib Desert in Namibia. While areas in the Western Desert such as Abu Ballas, Gilf Kebir and the Selima Sandsheet, plus Wadi Howar and Wadi Shaw in the Sudan, have yielded remains of giraffe, giraffes are only present in the Late Neolithic faunal record at Nabta Playa, when there was greater aridification. However, no numbers are provided by Gautier. There is no ecological rationale for either species not to have been present during the early Neolithic, unless they were not being hunted to any great extent and their meat not brought back to the encampments along the playas.” ref
“Three fragments, including one distal metacarpal moiety from E-75-8, are identified as oryx; two of these fragments may also be addax. The latter two are from a mixed Ru’at El Ghanam or Ru’at El Baqar Humid Interphase and Late Neolithic deposit, while the other was found on the playa’s surface. Addax and oryx have similar distribution patterns. Both can live in arid and semi-arid ecologies, and oryx are frequently found in association with gazelle. At Tin Ouaffadene (Niger), oyrx are also found together with elephant remains. Oryx drink water where it is present and derive sustenance from acacia fruits and leaves, grasses and shrubs, and moisture from succulent bulbs and wild melons.” ref
“Therefore, addax or oryx, or both, were present at E-75-8 at a time when the environment was slightly wetter than in the early Holocene, but worse than during the Al Jerar Humid Interphase. Their remains have not been described from the faunal records of earlier phases. They should have been more abundant in the earlier faunal record if the full range of faunal diversity was represented, especially with the presence of water for a significant portion of the year, even more so as they are a companion to gazelle, with old males associating with dama gazelle herds. What this indicates is that the addax/oryx was either not hunted very often or it was hunted away from the camps and any remnants brought back to camp were not preserved, which further renders the faunal records unrepresentative of the diversity in the broader landscape.” ref
“Thirteen ‘domesticated’ caprines are assigned to the Al Jerar, but Gautier believes that these are more likely to be remains of Barbary sheep, while domesticated caprines are present from the Ru’at El Ghanam onwards. The caprine remains are very fragmentary or incomplete. For the Ru’at El Ghanam, the caprines are detailed from the excavated dune section of site E-75-8. Gautier’s Table 23.1 assigns them to site E-75-8 A (layers 1–3), subsurface, and spits 5–9. Spit 9 is the oldest, but there is no indication from Gautier of which spits contained caprine remains. However, information in this regard is provided by Close: Re-excavation of E-75-8 has confirmed the presence of domesticated sheep/goat in El Ghanam Middle Neolithic, specifically in the three upper spits, 5–7.” ref
“Unfortunately, the state of preservation of the bones precluded their being dated directly; this is not uncommon in extremely arid environments. Thus, strictly speaking, the possibility remains that the sheep/goat are intrusive from the overlying El Baqar Late Neolithic, but their distribution within the Middle Neolithic makes this possibility remote. If they were intrusive from above, then they would be most numerous in Spit 5 and would rapidly decrease in frequency below that. However, although the overall frequencies of bones in Spits 5 and 6 are essentially the same, the absolute number of sheep/goat remains in Spit 6 is twice that of Spit 5. We may, therefore, be confident that the domesticated sheep/goat really do date from El Ghanam Middle Neolithic.” ref
“At E-75-8, caprines are absent from Spits 8 and 9. They are present in Spit 7, which has the most cultural materials but in smaller numbers than in Spit 6. Disappointingly, the caprine numbers are not broken down by spit and Gautier’s table lumps Spits 5–9 together. Cattle appear later than the caprines. Remains from the 1977 excavation’s designated Unit 2 at E-75-8 are broadly bracketed to around c. 5600–5480 BCE or around 7,600 to 7,480 years ago, while pre-1990s excavation units 4 and 5 are part of the Late Neolithic. The cattle remains collected during and after the 1990 excavations are—for the Middle Neolithic—found on the boundary between the Ru’at El Ghanam Middle Neolithic and the Late Neolithic and in Spit 5. An instance for Spit 7 is labelled ‘one doubtful subadult sesamoid’ by Gautier.” ref
“At E-94-1N, at the northern end of the Nabta basin, lies a cluster of tumuli, nine of which have been excavated and contain articulated cattle remains. The earliest is the famous articulated cow tumulus of Site E-94-1N, with its burial pit and hypothesised wooden roof. Regularly cited as being dated to c. 5400 BCE, its radiocarbon date of 6480 ± 270 bp has a wide one sigma error range of 5976–4835 cal BCE. Potential animal tumuli also exist at Bir Murr 1 (110 km northwest of Nabta Playa), where three stone structures have been located. The structures reportedly have similarities to the Nabta Playa tumuli and are dated to c. 5250 BCE.” ref
“In addition, Gautier’s published analysis clusters the fragmentary early Neolithic Bos within the size range of small aurochs. Most of the highly fragmentary and poorly preserved Bos remains assigned to the El Adam, with the notable exception of two molars, are fragments of an adult phalanx and a cannon bone’s distal condyle from Site E-80-4, surface finds. This raises questions of their stratigraphical provenance beyond a generalised time period, due to the practice of excavating in artificial spits. Measurements for just five individuals attributed to the Ru’at El Ghanam show a shift for four to the lowest end of aurochs and within the uppermost range of domesticated cattle; the other measurement is firmly within the range of most of the measurements provided by Gautier for small wild aurochs from the early Neolithic, which could be read as hypothetical evidence for the presence of aurochs in this part of the Western Desert at this time. The later period measurements show a clear shift to domesticated cattle.” ref
“Gautier’s analysis produces similar results to Smith’s comparative metrical analysis, using the standard animal method, of aurochs samples from the Maghreb, Bos primigenius from Europe and Kom Ombo (Nile Valley), and domesticated Bos from Arlit (Sahara), the Maghreb and Europe, as well as modern zebu cattle from the Tilemsi Valley in Mali. Unfortunately, Gautier does not provide a breakdown of the distal condylar width of the humeri and the distal width of the metapodials by site or by period, and therefore most of the data behind Gautier’s analysis could not be overlaid on Smith’s for a like-for-like comparison. However, five cattle bones described in Gautier with comparative measurements were able to be included by Smith. Unfortunately, there are no good published images of the bones. The two El Nabta/Al Jerar specimens fall within the range of Bos primigenius while the Ru’at el Ghanam specimen is within the range of domesticated cattle for the metapodial widths, and likewise for the one El Nabta/Al Jerar and one Ru’at el Ghanam specimens respectively.” ref
“Grigson used the standard animal method but does not provide her measurements in mm, which precludes overlapping the data in her figures with Smith’s. Grigson also does not break down her measurements by period to look at temporal variances. However, it is important to note that some of Grigson’s measurements fall within the range of aurochs (of unspecified date) from the Nile Valley. While Grigson and Smith’s analyses have been criticised on the basis that a limited sample size from the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba region could have skewed the results, due to inter-population size variability, it is noteworthy that all three analyses show that at least the earlier Holocene cattle from the area fall within the range of aurochs but not domestic cattle. Two analyses show that cattle remains from the middle Neolithic onwards are predominantly within the range of domesticated cattle.” ref
“Gautier, however, previously advanced a counter-argument against the use of size criteria to judge the domestic or non-domestic status of early Saharan cattle remains: ‘The early cattle of Nabta Playa and Bir Kiseiba are also large, but if we are dealing with an early phase of domestication, then the decline in size in response to poor ecological conditions may not yet have begun.’ Gautier repeats this argument. However, Linseele noted: While the Pleistocene African aurochs was as at least as large as its Holocene Danish cousin, the Holocene African aurochs was clearly smaller and would have reached only the size of the Pleistocene African females. The size decline recorded during the Holocene from northwestern to southeastern Europe and from there to the Near East appears to have continued down to Africa. Within northern Africa, aurochs size was variable. The available measurements point to a Pleistocene African aurochs that was at least as robust as its Holocene northern European relatives, although its successors from the Holocene may have been more slender.” ref
“Linseele also concluded that although the size of African Holocene aurochs was also more uniform than that of their Pleistocene counterparts, there is a slight overlap in size between large male domestic cattle from the modern Nile Valley and African Holocene aurochs. Linseele’s fig. 12 shows that the overlap is small, which correlates with the trend shown by Gautier and Smith, while Grigson’s analysis would be compatible with sexual dimorphic differences with large males and smaller females for middle and late Holocene domesticated cattle from Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba. Furthermore, the dates of the first appearance of cattle remains during the Ru’at El Ghanam Middle Neolithic place the decrease in size of domesticated cattle towards and at the end of the period, c. 5600–5400 BCE, after the first appearance of caprines. Taken together at face value, these measurements and dates mark the Post-Al Jerar Arid Phase as a juncture after which first small numbers of caprines and subsequently morphologically domesticated cattle become visible in the archaeological record in this region of the Western Desert.” ref
Signatures of Domestication, and Their Timing in the Adjacent Near East
“According to Zeder, the harvesting age profiles and the corresponding degree of sexual dimorphism are more relevant than previously traditional measurements in marking the onset of animal domestication. Male goats and sheep were targeted between the ages of two and three, which is a strategy reliant upon conserving the females and the presence of enough young males in surrounding wild herds to fill the vacancies. Later, as herding takes hold, females past their prime reproductive years are killed. Young males not required for reproductive activities are also disposed of, but their more friable bones are less likely to survive in the archaeological record, and this may be particularly true under the harsh preservation conditions in the Western Desert of Egypt.” ref
“Zeder’s analyses show clear profiles useful for distinguishing between hunting, management and domestication. Differential targeting creates the effect of an apparent overall reduction in anatomical body size, which could be mistaken for a sign of morphological domestication (involving genetic manipulation through selective breeding), when instead focus on sex is the primary factor. Unfortunately, evaluation of the sex of the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba cattle remains has not been possible due to their fragmentary nature. Therefore, the herd composition and culling or hunting strategies cannot be determined. Recently, in Europe, decreasing size of Bos has been attributed to possible sub-adult breeding, where newborns were smaller due to birthing constraints.” ref
“Caprines and cattle have behavioural attributes conducive to domestication, notably a dominance hierarchy which could be co-opted and subsequently manipulated in favour of individuals with less aggressive tendencies. In southeastern Anatolia, herd management of sheep was in place around 8500 BCE. At Ganj Dareh (northern Iran), for goats, the demographic markers appear c. 7900 BCE, while managed goats appear c. 8200 in southeastern Anatolia, and at Abu Hureyra (Syria) c. 7600 BCE. The earliest Near Eastern sites showing signs of aurochs domestication are located in the Middle Euphrates Valley. Djade el Mughara (northern Iraq) was occupied c. 8650–8250 BCE (Early Pre-Pottery Neolithic) and a sample yielded the earliest securely archaeologically dated T3 haplotype that is common to later Bos taurus. To the west, morphologically wild cattle first appear in Cyprus, where they are not native, from 8250 to 8150 BCE onwards, while morphologically domesticated cattle are present in central Anatolia after 6000 BCE.” ref
“In the Arabian Peninsula, Drechsler has suggested that caprines and domesticated cattle appear between 6800 and 6200 BCE in the margins to the east and south. There is an ongoing debate over whether this represents the arrival of Levantine herders or the adaptation and integration of low numbers of domesticated stock into hunter-gatherer economies, or a mixture of both in different areas of the Peninsula. Regardless, the rock art of Shuwaymis in northwestern Saudi Arabia (Ha’il Province) has been taken to indicate the adoption of cattle into formerly hunter-gatherer economies, with the possible addition of peoples with livestock from the eastern Jordan steppe during Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (c. 6800–4900 BCE). A recent paper mentions the presence of possible domesticated cattle between 5200 and 5070 BCE at Jebel Oraf 2 (northern Saudi Arabia). Together, these data support the plausibility of Close’s hypothesis of an initial southern route for the arrival of caprines in Northeast Africa via the Red Sea.” ref
“At c. 6200 BCE or 8,200 years ago, there was a cold period lasting two to four centuries in the Near East and North Africa. In North Africa, this resulted in drier conditions, while west Asia experienced c. 300 years of aridification and cooling. Shortly afterwards, as discussed below, low numbers of caprines are detected in North Africa, followed by domesticated cattle and indications of cultivation activities of Near Eastern domesticated cereals from the mid sixth millennium BCE.” ref
Implications of Haplotype Diversity for the Origins of Domesticated Cattle
“The pioneering mtDNA study of modern cattle by Bradley et al. looked at the short segments of the control region, the main non-coding DNA area of the mtDNA genome. It showed a deep time depth for the divergence for African taurines from European and Asian taurines, but it has since been shown that there was admixture between the latter two taurines due to intentional exportation of European cattle. Decker et al. also hypothesised that African taurines were less divergent than their European and Asian counterparts when introgression from African aurochs was modelled, which would not be expected if there was an independent centre for domesticated cattle in North Africa from which African Bos taurus are descended. The degree of introgression is currently unknowable as no North African aurochs DNA has yet been extracted, although it has been estimated to reach a high of 26%. Genetic introgressions are known from other species and these results are also stated by Decker et al. to be consistent with linkage disequilibrium patterns showing a larger than expected ancestral population for African taurines.” ref
“Within the T1 haplogroup are haplotypes that appear to be unique to and diverse within Africa; there are also microsatellite variations which are suggestive of both indigenous origins and of gene flow from the Middle East being predominantly male. In addition, there appears to have been a Y2 multilocus microsatellite introgression from African Bos primigenius into later African Bos taurus, which would be in line with introgressions detected between European Bos primigenius and Bos taurus. Introgression has previously been postulated for the early cattle domestication model to be responsible for delays in the onset of a decrease in size, but quite how it would work over a span of nearly 3000 years until the early–mid sixth millennium BCE in the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba region has not been made explicit. However, introgressive capture, whereby animals domesticated in one area have picked up genetic diversity from local wild populations, has been a recurrent process in animal dispersal. It appears, therefore, that there may have been a period or periods of cross-fertilisation between African aurochs and incoming domesticated cattle, although this remains to be proven.” ref
“While multiple Near Eastern centres of management of sheep and goats have been postulated, aurochs were much larger and behaviourally more dangerous, and it has been estimated that Bos taurus is descended from a small group of c. 80 female individuals (or 23–452 for a 95% confidence interval). Sequencing data has shown the existence of two clades which both arose in the Near East: T1′2′3, with the former T4 subsumed within T3, and T5. As noted by Bonfiglio et al., T1 is ‘two control region mutations away (16050, 16113) from the node T1′2′3″, with a coalescence range of 13,000–10,000 years ago. Achilli et al. argue that the T1 haplogroup from African samples differs from the T1′2′3 ancestor by one mutation and two mutations from the T3 ancestor. These and other studies show that the T1 haplogroup found in African Bos taurus originates in the Fertile Crescent.” ref
“Olivieri et al. undertook Bayesian and phylogenetic analyses on 31 mitogenomes from the Domiatry and Menofi cattle breeds in the Nile Delta. High haplotype and haplogroup affiliation diversity were detected. They report the presence of T2 and T3 in high frequency, which is in contrast to the breeds in most of the rest of the African continent, as well as haplogroup Q1. Significantly, they state that ‘their “randomly collected” samples are also characterised by an extremely high haplotype diversity, with each mitogenome harbouring a different haplotype. Furthermore, almost all haplotypes depart directly from the respective haplogroup root, with a star-like topology and a rather similar average number of nucleotide differences within each haplogroup’. The reconstructed coalescence dates for especially T1 and Q1 pre-date the 11,000–10,000 years ago range given by Zeder and Helmer et al. for initial domestication of cattle by 4,000–5,000 years ago, indicative of sequence diversity in the ancestral aurochs populations in the Middle Euphrates Valley. Their analysis also demonstrates that there was movement of domesticated cattle from the Levant but not southern Egypt into the Delta region.” ref
The Wider Egyptian Desert Context
“The earliest archaeologically-known occurrence of domesticated caprines in North East Africa is at Sodmein Cave on the Red Sea coast, where a sheep or goat phalanx was unearthed below a feature dated to 6218–6034 BCE. Overall, Vermeersch et al. state that as few as ten bones of caprines are present in the mid-Holocene layers, while a further 12 specimens could be either domesticated caprines, Barbary sheep or ibex. The lithics are typical of hunter-collectors and have similarities with the Egyptian Western Desert bifacial technocomplex characterised by large points, including Djara and possibly Bashendi A facially retouched points.” ref
“In the Fayum, the earliest sheep appear at Qasr El-Sagha XI/81 (c. 5400 BCE), while there are cattle, goat and sheep at IX/8 around 5200 BCE. In Level 1 at Merimde Beni Salama, both Near Eastern cereal domesticates and animals are present from 4850–4650 BCE onwards. However, these dates for the Fayum and the Nile Delta may eventually be pushed back. Shirai has argued that similarities between bifacial sickle blade technologies from Caton-Thompson’s excavations and surface collections in the Fayum and the Lodian culture in the Levant (c. 5850–5500 BCE), and Neolithic bifacial axes and small bifacial projectile points, suggest cultural diffusion of technologies outside of the Delta. However, an earlier date for the Fayum may be problematic as Kom W is currently dated to the mid fifth millennium BC, and the earliest dates on cereals from Merimde and Sias in the Nile Delta are in the range c. 4800–4400 BCE (Merimde) and by the start of the sixth millennium BCE (Sias).” ref
“Elsewhere, outside of the Nile Valley in the Western Desert at Farafra Oasis, goat and sheep were first present between c. 5900 and 5500 BCE. They occurred alongside cultivated wild cereals in a mixed delayed-return economy. To the southeast of Farafra Oasis, Dakhleh Oasis had favourable geological conditions, being protected from northerly winds by an escarpment. As at Bir Kiseiba and most likely Nabta Playa, groundwater was close to the surface. Early and middle-Holocene faunal assemblages from the Epipalaeolithic (Masara, c. 8300–6500 BCE) and early Neolithic (Bashendi A, c. 6400–5650 BCE) phases of Dakhleh Oasis have certain characteristics in common, namely medium-sized bovids such as hartebeest (further highlighting its absence from the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba area) and gazelle, and small animals such as hares.” ref
“There are no wild or domesticated cattle remains in its Bashendi A faunal assemblage. The communities were mobile foragers, with increased sedentism arising in late Bashendi A (c. 6000–5650 BCE) at Locality 270 and the Farafra Oasis sites of Hidden Valley and Sheik el Obeiyid, with numerous stone slab features. At Nabta Playa during the El Nabta/Al Jerar Maximum there is evidence for increased sedentism, such as hand-dug wells, but there were no slab structures. It is during the Late Bashendi A, c. 5900 BCE, that goats appear at Dakhleh Oasis Site 270. Most of the succeeding Bashendi B faunal remains derive from pits, and they include mature and juvenile cattle, goat, gazelle and hartebeest. The best samples of domestic cattle come from the pits of Site 271, where the earliest date of 6360 ± 120 bp has a calibrated one-sigma range of 5551–5037 BCE.” ref
It is speculated that there was a bimodal rainfall pattern (two rainy seasons) during the time of Late Bashendi A at Dakhleh Oasis, which resulted in an increased supply of readily available water. Numerous sites were occupied across the Western Desert at this time. Manning and Timpson also reconstruct fluctuating demographic trends during the Holocene, and a significant decline after 5600 BCE following a lengthy period of steady growth, increased pasture and available plant resources. As McDonald has argued: Intensification may also have been driven by (or have promoted) increased social complexity … Socioeconomic differentiation may have been emerging in Late Bashendi A times, the main categories of evidence being site structure (site size plus the distribution on site of cultural material, and the presence of ‘prestige technologies’. Briefly, the size of 270 and the distribution within it of artefacts, structures and features (including large possible fire pits), plus the settlement pattern elsewhere in southeastern Dakhleh, suggest a large population (minimally, of several hundred) broken down into social groups of various composition, and engaged in diverse activities at various times of the year. Such circumstances might have required an entity to play managerial and mediating roles.” ref
“Increased sedentism raises the possibility of socio-ideological changes rendering the communities more receptive to incorporating—at first—small numbers of domesticates. Delayed return and exploitative surpluses incorporate notions of ownership, which is partially evidenced at Dakhleh Oasis and Nabta Playa by the mid Holocene by the number of sites and structures. The El Nabta/Al Jerar Maximum produced an ecological backdrop against which a potentially multi-faceted return exploitative economy arose at Nabta Playa. Stone bracelets have been interpreted as markers of emerging, transient elites by Kevin MacDonald, and they are present during Bashendi B at Dakhleh Oasis. This is earlier than my previous hypothesis of the first convincing cultural markers of incipient social complexity in ethnically and culturally mixed populations in North Africa arising c. 4000 BCE through mobile elites.” ref
“Such multi-layered social systems would be expressed through continually negotiated relationships and socially mediated redistribution of resources, which may have predisposed the socio-economic and ideological outlook of communities in the Western Desert to incorporate small numbers of domesticates arriving as the result of ‘leakages’ from the Levant and Sinai. The trend toward increased sedentism, with attendant material manifestations of potential social elites, is reversed in Bashendi B (c. 5400–3800 BCE) with forager-herders and open air sites. The lithic assemblage, which include grinding stones, headstones and tentative sickles, and also retains portable tools such as small arrowheads, supports a reconstruction of a mobile society exploiting a broad spectrum of resources, including small numbers of domestic livestock.” ref
“More generally, Riemer has looked at the relationship between people and objects of mobility, using the portable material refuse traditionally associated with pastoralism as a proxy for human mobility in detailed contextual analysis. He concluded that there is little archaeological data to support an early independent African centre of cattle domestication and a spread of domesticated cattle from a core Nabta Playa–Bir Kiseiba region. His data showed that, across the Sahara, there are no sites with unambiguously domesticated cattle found outside of the Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba area prior to the sixth millennium BCE. In addition to the aforementioned sites, a goat or sheep molar dating to c. 4900 BCE has been found at Djara (phase B), while limited numbers of sheep dating to 5900–4900 BCE are found at Glass Area 81/61 (Willmann’s Camp). At Kharga Oasis, c. 200 km to the west of the Nile Valley with which it maintained contact, pastoralists inhabited KS43 (4800–4400 BCE) during the winter season. Its faunal remains include caprines and cattle.” ref
“Further evidence of trade links to the Red Sea is provided by the presence of cowrie beads in the Western Desert. Sites south of 25.5°N are, by contrast, placed in a different facies characterised by microlithic arrowheads. Riemer also concluded that there is an orientation towards the northern bifacial tradition from 5400 BCE onwards, which may be connected with a wider adoption of domesticates, including cattle, between neighbours or with the movement of peoples as the aridification of the Western Desert continued. Manning and Timpson modelled a population decline starting shortly beforehand, at c. 5600 BCE, which is around the time of Bashendi B and shortly before domesticated cattle appear at Dakhleh Oasis.
“Prior small-scale movement of domesticates from the Near East would have provided the apprenticeship (as well as the T1 haplotype) needed for North Africans to learn about animal husbandry. Handling large-bodied domesticates like cattle would have been very difficult without prior experience of dealing with small stock. Julius Caesar described aurochs thus: Their strength and speed are extraordinary; they spare neither man nor wild beast which they have espied. These the Germans take with much pains in pits and kill them. The young men harden themselves with this exercise, and practice themselves in this kind of hunting, and those who have slain the greatest number of them, having produced the horns in public, to serve as evidence, receive great praise. But not even when taken very young can they be rendered familiar to men and tamed.” ref
Discussion
“At Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba, the sites represent a palimpsest of occupations which, considering that most of the excavations proceeded by spits rather than stratigraphic layers, makes it difficult to discern discrete occupational events. It also raises issues of contemporaneity between botanical, faunal, and material culture assemblages and dated materials. The Combined Prehistoric Expedition has not succeeded in obtaining direct dates on the fragments of cattle remains. Neither are there published descriptions with full measurements of all specimens permitting independent, complete verification of the faunal assemblages. However, this re-analysis of the little-discussed geomorphic data from Bir Kiseiba provides a different perspective on the hydroclimatic conditions there during the early Holocene. It, together with revisiting the botanical data, strongly indicates that the early Holocene ecology at Nabta Playa—Bir Kiseiba was capable of supporting both small game animals such as hares, medium-sized bovids beyond gazelles such as hartebeest and wild Bos, and other semi-arid adapted animals.” ref
“The lithic assemblages too are similar to hunter-collector toolkits, possessing no significant distinguishing features indicative of herding. Together with the botanical and fragmentary faunal data and the presence of arid-adapted addax/oryx in the later wetter mid Holocene, and Bos primigenius depicted in undated rock art elsewhere in the Sahara, there is no conclusive evidence for the presence of habitually or morphologically domesticated cattle in the early Holocene of Northeast Africa. It is only later during the El Nabta/Al Jerar Maximum and Late Bashendi A phases at Nabta Playa and Dakhleh Oasis, and the near contemporary sites at Farafra Oasis, that semi-sedentism and storage indicative of delayed-return economies emerged. The change laid the ideological foundations for the subsequent integration of at first low numbers of caprines and later cattle into the broad-spectrum economies of the Western Desert at different times. The spread was made possible and facilitated by trade links stretching from the Western Desert to the Red Sea, evidenced by the appearance of cowrie beads.” ref
“In the southern Levant, domesticated cattle appear by 6500 BCE, which is contemporary with the period of 6800–6200 BCE bracketed for the eastern and southern margins of the Arabian Peninsula. However, only low numbers of domesticated caprines have been found at Sodmein Cave on the Red Sea coast, which is the earliest known appearance on the African continent. Arguably, through the choices they made, the local inhabitants adopted and modified the range of domesticated animals used by their Near Eastern counterparts to their specific socio-economic requirements. By 5900 BCE, caprines are likely present at Nabta Playa, while the earliest verifiable occurrence of domesticated cattle there is c. 5600 BCE, but both are dated later at other Western Desert sites: e.g. Dakhleh Oasis (goats c. 5900 BC, cattle c. 5551–5037 BCE); Farafra Oasis (caprines 5900–5500 BCE); Fayum (Qasr El-Sagha caprines c. 5400 BCE, cattle c. 5200 BCE); and Djara (phase B, caprines c. 4900 BCE).” ref
“Cattle have previously been stated to appear in the central Sahara from the mid sixth millennium BCE onwards, but the early dates have wide error margins and their appearance after 5500 BCE falls within the spectrum of dates for the spread of cattle east to west across the Sahara. More recently, new dates for Takarkori show that the pastoral period begins from c. 6300 BCE for the Acacus Mountains (Libyan Sahara). However, the dung present in the earliest two pastoral sub-phases of Takarkori’s Early Pastoral period (c. 6300–5750 and c. 5750–5350 BCE) has not been conclusively identified as deriving from both Barbary sheep and cattle together, which is pertinent as dung in the preceding Late Acacus period (c. 8100–6300 BC) is from Barbary sheep, and for the time being this leaves open the question of the composition of pastoral herds at the onset of pastoralism in the central Sahara.” ref
“Further south, in the Sudan, there is evidence for domestic cattle at el-Barga (near Kerma) around 5750 BCE, and the presence of domestic wheat and barley, from the second half of the sixth millennium BCE, and at least throughout the fifth millennium BCE, at R12, Ghaba and Kadruka 1, which are all upstream south of Kerma. This date from el-Barga, together with the data from the Acacus Mountains in the central Sahara, indicates that there was possibly a southern dispersal of (limited?) numbers of domesticated cattle along a southern route at or close to the time caprines were first introduced into Northeast Africa. The adoption of elements from Near Eastern economies at different times masks the variable nature of subsistence strategies practised by the inhabitants of the Western Desert, and indeed the Fayum. Possibly a key driver in the eventual adoption of cattle into already mixed economies was its use as a source of fat, requiring well-fed cattle which would also have been necessary for milk production, as the aridification of the desert continued from the middle of the sixth millennium BCE onwards and population numbers declined, culminating in the emergence of mobile herder groups.” ref
“As McDonald and others have noted, Western Desert lithic technologies evolved locally, and plant exploitation and cultivation activities did not include Near Eastern summer rainfall crops. However, population movement from the Levant into the Nile Delta via the land barrier, or using small sea-going craft, with diffusion from the Delta into the Western Desert, as well as an earlier and possibly also contemporary route across the Red Sea, meant that there was cultural contact with all its attendant possibilities of exchange of animals and indeed maybe apprenticeships on controlling and herding those animals. Anthropologically, it is very difficult for hunters to become herders, but if there were small-scale exchanges through trade and migration between North Africa and the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula, similar to what has been proposed for the spread of domesticates into southern Africa, then there is the apprenticeship (as well as the T1 haplotype) needed for communities in Northeast Africa to encounter animal husbandry.” ref
“This is where the progression from small stock (goats and sheep) in the Levantine region to the incorporation of domesticated cattle seems to be the most likely trajectory and argues against a reverse trajectory in Northeast Africa, where there would be a two-thousand-year gap between the earliest habitually domesticated cattle and the first caprines according to the early independent African centre of domestication model. What is clear from the growing body of data on Bos taurus DNA is that its domestication happened outside of North Africa in the Middle Euphrates Valley. The first generation of genetic results tended to interpret signatures of introgressive capture for multiple domestication centres. The results from modern DNA analyses, coupled with (a) this re-examination of the ecological underpinnings of the early African cattle domestication model and (b) the dates of the appearances of caprine and cattle domesticates in a minimum of two diffusionist waves via different land and sea routes from a current bracketed date of c. 6300 BC onwards, show that the time has come to abandon the long-standing hypothesis of an early Holocene independent centre of cattle domestication in Northeast Africa.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
The exchange of people, ideas, and material-culture including, to me, the new god (Sky Father) and goddess (Earth Mother) religion between the Cucuteni-Trypillians and others which is then spread far and wide by the Proto-Indo-Europeans, Yamnaya, and beyond?
“These ideas are my speculations from the evidence.”
European Culture Links:
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*
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
“The Great Spirt and the Evil one Native American (Navajo): the Fathers of All Fathers. The Supreme Being. The Father of the Holy People. The Great Spirit. (watches us by light like sun light or moon light) = Sky Father creator and maker to all things, corn pollen prayer are offered, sacred stone offering to, protect us by the light of the sun. The Great Spirit is a common reference among many Native American Tribes.” ref, ref
There are three types of the Great Spirit thinking (to me):
- Great Spirit (animistic type): “Great Mystery” likely no referred gender.
- Great Spirit (totemistic/shamanistic type): “Great Spirit” is likely not fully seen as a god/goddess-type spirit, it could be an animal but may have male or female gender.
- Great Spirit (paganistic type): “Great/High God” likely a male gender commonly related to the sun or blue/clear sky.
The Great Spirit
“The Great Spirit” is the English translation of the name of the creator god in many Native American traditions, particularly Algonquian and Siouan tribes. Since Algonquian tribes were the first Native American cultures encountered by English speakers, “Great Spirit” became a common term referring to Native American creator deities in general, and was also frequently used as the word for “God” in translations of Christian texts into Native American languages. Indeed, many Native American people consider the Great Spirit and the Christian God to be one and the same. Other Native American people are less receptive to this idea, believing that today’s notion of the Great Spirit was mostly constructed by missionaries. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle– many Native American tribal traditions definitely did include some form of the Great Spirit in their creation myths and religious rituals, but some tribes never had such traditions until after colonization. And in other tribes, while there had always been the belief in a Great Spirit or Great Mystery that provided order to the spiritual world, this belief system became significantly altered after contact with Christianity, and modern conceptions of the Native American Great Spirit may not be a very accurate representation of the original Native spirituality.” ref
“Makunaima: High God, Creator, “God” or “Great Spirit” but not personified. Tribal affiliation: Akawaio, Pemon, Macusi, Carib. Related figures in other tribes: Kururumany (Arawak). The Sun, the Frog, and the Fire-Sticks: A Guyanese Carib legend about Makunaima and his twin brother Pia.” ref
For ethnographic reference on ancient religion and deities/spirits:
Ancient Near Eastern cosmology
“Ancient Near Eastern cosmology can be divided into its cosmography, the physical structure and features of the cosmos; and cosmogony, the creation myths that describe the origins of the cosmos in the texts and traditions of the ancient Near Eastern world. The cosmos and the gods were also related, as cosmic bodies like heaven, earth, the stars were believed to be and/or personified as gods, and the sizes of the gods were frequently described as being of cosmic proportions. The cosmology of the ancient Near East refers to what was believed about where the universe came from, how it developed, and how it looked like today, in the ancient Near East, a region from ancient times that roughly corresponds to the modern Middle East (including Mesopotamia, Egypt, Persia, the Levant, Anatolia, and the Arabian Peninsula). The basic understanding of the world in this region from premodern times included a flat earth, a solid layer or barrier above the sky (the firmament), a cosmic ocean located above the firmament, a region above the cosmic ocean where the gods lived, and a netherworld located at the furthest region in the direction down.” ref
“Creation myths explained where the universe came from, including which gods created it (and how), as well as how humanity was created. These beliefs are attested as early as the fourth millennium BCE and dominated until the modern era, with the only major competing system being the Hellenistic cosmology that developed in Ancient Greece in the mid-1st millennium BCE. “Geographically, these views are known from the Mesopotamian cosmologies from Babylonia, Sumer, and Akkad; the Levantine or West Semitic cosmologies from Ugarit and ancient Israel and Judah (the biblical cosmology); the Egyptian cosmology from Ancient Egypt; and the Anatolian cosmologies from the Hittites. This system of cosmology went on to have a profound influence on views in early Greek cosmology, later Jewish cosmology, patristic cosmology, and Islamic cosmology (including Quranic cosmology).” ref
Cosmography (structure of the cosmos)
“Ancient Near Eastern civilizations held to a fairly uniform conception of cosmography. This cosmography remained remarkably stable in the context of the expansiveness and longevity of the ancient Near East, but changes were also to occur. Widely held components of ancient Near Eastern cosmography included: a flat earth and a solid heaven (firmament), both of which are disk-shaped, primordial cosmic ocean. When the firmament is created, it separates the cosmic ocean into two bodies of water: the heavenly upper waters are located on top of the firmament, which act as a source of rain. The lower waters that the earth is above and that the earth rests on; they act as the source of rivers, springs, and other earthly bodies of water. The region above the upper waters, namely the abode of the gods, the netherworld, the furthest region in the direction downwards, below the lower waters.” ref
“Keyser, categorizing ancient Near Eastern cosmology as belonging to a larger and more cross-cultural set of cosmologies, he describes as a “cradle cosmology,” offers a longer list of shared features. Some cosmographical features have been misattributed to Mesopotamian cosmologies, including the idea that ziggurats represented cosmic objects reaching up to heaven or the idea of a dome- or vault-shaped (as opposed to a flat) firmament. Another controversy concerns if the ancient Near Eastern cosmography was purely observational or phenomenological. However, a number of lines of evidence, including descriptions from the cosmological texts themselves, presumptions of this cosmography in non-cosmological texts (like incantations), anthropological studies of contemporary primitive cosmologies, and cognitive expectations that humans construct mental models to explain observation, support that the ancient Near Eastern cosmography was not phenomenological.” ref
Cosmogony (creation of the cosmos)
“Ancient Near Eastern cosmogony also included a number of common features that are present in most if not all creation myths from the ancient Near East. Widespread features included: Creatio ex materia from a primordial state of chaos; that is, the organization of the world from pre-existing, unordered and unformed (hence chaotic) elements, represented by a primordial body of water, the presence of a divine creator, the Chaoskampf motif: a cosmic battle between the protagonist and a primordial sea monster. The separation of undifferentiated elements (to create heaven and earth), and the creation of mankind. Lisman uses the broader category of “Beginnings” to encompass three separate though inter-related categories: the beginning of the cosmos (cosmogony), the beginning of the gods (theogony), and the beginning of humankind (anthropogeny). There is evidence that Mesopotamian creation myths reached as far as Pre-Islamic Arabia.” ref
“The Mesopotamian cosmos can be imagined along a vertical axis, with parallel planes of existence layered above each other. The uppermost plane of existence was heaven, being the residence of the god of the sky Anu. Immediately below heaven was the atmosphere. The atmosphere extended from the bottom of heaven (or the lowermost firmament) to the ground. This region was inhabited by Enlil, who was also the king of the gods in Sumerian mythology. The cosmic ocean below the ground was the next plane of existence, and this was the domain of the sibling deities Enki and Ninhursag. The lowest plane of existence was the underworld. Other deities inhabited these planes of existence even if they did not reign over them, such as the sun and moon gods. In later Babylonian accounts, the god Marduk alone ascends to the top rank of the pantheon and rules over all domains of the cosmos. The three-tiered cosmos (sky-earth-underworld) is found in Egyptian artwork on coffin lids and burial chambers.” ref
“There were many ways to speak about or refer to the totality of the world, equivalent to contemporary words like “cosmos” or “universe”. This included phrases like “heaven and earth” or “heaven and underworld”. Terms like “all” or “totality” similarly connoted the entire universe. These ideas are found in hymns and royal inscriptions found in temples. Temples symbolized cosmic structures that reached heaven at their height and the underworld at their depths/foundations. Surviving evidence does not specify the exact physical bounds of the cosmos or what lies beyond the region described in the texts. The idea of a center to the cosmos played a role in elevating the status of whichever place was chosen as the cosmic center and in reflecting beliefs of the finite and closed nature of the cosmos. Babylon was described as the center of the Babylonian cosmos. In parallel, Jerusalem became “the navel of the earth” (Ezekiel 38:12). The finite nature of the cosmos was also suggested to the ancients by the periodic and regular movements of the heavenly bodies in the visible vicinity of the Earth.” ref
“Heaven and earth” was a common phrase to the refer to the entire cosmos, describing it by its two main parts. Sometimes, a third region was added to refer to the entire cosmos in addition to these two, usually the netherworld or the region between heaven and earth. Heaven was believed to be located in the direction up (the word “heavenward” was synonymous with “upward”). It was the dwelling place of the gods, whereas earth was the dwelling place for humans. “Earth” means the land and the sea, but sometimes, it only means land (the terrestrial regions inhabited by humans and where they grew vegetation). The word heaven could refer to the general plane upwards inaccessible to humans, but often, it specifically means the firmament (a solid celestial barrier believed to be located above the sky). Although the gods and humans live in the two different planes of the cosmos in the present, some creation mythologies held that gods and humans once co-existed in the primordial past. In some myths, gods could dwell at the extreme ends of the earth, still beyond human reach. Temples could function as a cosmic axis that united the heavenly and earthly planes.” ref
“Mythical bonds, akin to ropes or cables, played the role of cohesively holding the entire world and all its layers of heaven and Earth together. These are sometimes called the “bonds of heaven and earth”. They can be referred to with terminology like durmāhu (typically referring to a strong rope made of reeds), markaṣu (referring to a rope or cable, of a boat, for example), or ṣerretu (lead-rope passed through an animals nose). A deity can hold these ropes as a symbol of their authority, such as the goddess Ishtar “who holds the connecting link of all heaven and earth (or netherworld)”. This motif extended to descriptions of great cities like Babylon which was called the “bond of [all] the lands,” or Nippur which was “bond of heaven and earth,” and some temples as well.” ref
Three heavens and earths
“In Mesopotamian cosmology, heaven and earth both had a tripartite structure: a Lower Heaven/Earth, a Middle Heaven/Earth, and an Upper Heaven/Earth. The Upper Earth was where humans existed. Middle Earth, corresponding to the Abzu (primeval underworldly ocean), was the residence of the god Enki. Lower Earth, the Mesopotamian underworld, was where the 600 Anunnaki gods lived, associated with the land of the dead ruled by Nergal. As for the heavens: the highest level was populated by 300 Igigi (great gods), the middle heaven belonged to the Igigi and also contained Marduk’s throne, and the lower heaven was where the stars and constellations were inscribed into. The extent of the Babylonian universe, therefore, corresponded to a total of six layers spanning heaven and Earth. Notions of the plurality of heaven and earth are no later than the 2nd millennium BCE and may be elaborations of earlier and simpler cosmographies. Some texts describe seven heavens and seven earths, but within the Mesopotamian context, this is likely to refer to a totality of the cosmos with some sort of magical or numerological significance, as opposed to a description of the structural number of heavens and Earth. Israelite texts do not mention the notion of seven heavens or earths.” ref
“One text (KAR 307) describes the cosmos in the following manner, with each of the three floors of heaven being made of a different type of stone:
30 “The Upper Heavens are Luludānītu stone. They belong to Anu. He (i.e. Marduk) settled the 300 Igigū (gods) inside. 31 The Middle Heavens are Saggilmud stone. They belong to the Igīgū (gods). Bēl (i.e. Marduk) sat on the high throne within, 32 the lapis lazuli sanctuary. And made a lamp? of electrum shine inside (it). 33 The Lower Heavens are jasper. They belong to the stars. He drew the constellations of the gods on them. 34 In the … …. of the Upper Earth, he lay down the spirits of mankind. 35 [In the …] of the Middle earth, he settled Ea, his father. 36 […..] . He did not let the rebellion be forgotten. 37 [In the … of the Lowe]r earth, he shut inside 600 Anunnaki. 38 […….] … […. in]side jasper.” ref
“Another text (AO 8196) offers a slightly different arrangement, with the Igigi in the upper heaven instead of the middle heaven, and with Bel placed in the middle heaven. Both agree on the placement of the stars in the lower heaven. Exodus 24:9–10 identifies the floor of heaven as being like sapphire, which may correspond to the blue lapis lazuli floor in KAR 307, chosen potentially for its correspondence to the visible color of the sky. One hypothesis holds that the belief that the firmament is made of stone (or a metal, such as iron in Egyptian texts) arises from the observation that meteorites, which are composed of this substance, fall from the firmament.” ref
Firmament
“The Firmament was believed to be a solid boundary above the Earth, separating it from the upper or celestial waters. In the Book of Genesis, it is called the raqia. In ancient Egyptian texts, and from texts across the Near East generally, the firmament was described as having special doors or gateways on the eastern and western horizons to allow for the passage of heavenly bodies during their daily journeys. These were known as the windows of heaven or the gates of heaven. Canaanite text describe Baal as exerting his control over the world by controlling the passage of rainwater through the heavenly windows in the firmament. In Egyptian texts particularly, these gates also served as conduits between the earthly and heavenly realms for which righteous people could ascend. The gateways could be blocked by gates to prevent entry by the deceased as well. As such, funerary texts included prayers enlisting the help of the gods to enable the safe ascent of the dead. Ascent to the celestial realm could also be done by a celestial ladder made by the gods. Multiple stories exist in Mesopotamian texts whereby certain figures ascend to the celestial realm and are given the secrets of the gods.” ref
“Four different Egyptian models of the firmament and/or the heavenly realm are known. One model was that it was the shape of a bird: the firmament above represented the underside of a flying falcon, with the sun and moon representing its eyes, and its flapping causing the wind that humans experience. The second was a cow, as per the Book of the Heavenly Cow. The cosmos is a giant celestial cow represented by the goddess Nut or Hathor. The cow consumed the sun in the evening and rebirthed/rebirthed/rencarnated it in the next morning. The third is a celestial woman, also represented by Nut. The heavenly bodies would travel across her body from east to west. The midriff of Nut was supported by Shu (the air god) and Geb (the earth god) lay outstretched between the arms and feet of Nut. Nut consumes the celestial bodies from the west and gives birth to them again in the following morning. The stars are inscribed across the belly of Nut, and one needs to identify with one of them, or a constellation, in order to join them after death. The fourth model was a flat (or slightly convex) celestial plane which, depending on the text, was thought to be supported in various ways: by pillars, staves, scepters, or mountains at the extreme ends of the Earth. The four supports give rise to the motif of the “four corners of the world.” ref
A belief in a “Flat” Earth
“The ancient Near Eastern earth was a single-continent disk resting on a body of water: Flat Earth, sometimes compared to a raft. An aerial view of the cosmography of the earth is pictorially elucidated by the Babylonian Map of the World. Here, the city Babylon is near the Earth’s center and it is on the Euphrates river. Other kingdoms and cities surround it. The north is covered by an enormous mountain range, akin to a wall. This mountain range was traversed in some hero myths, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh where Gilgamesh travels past it to an area only accessible by gods and other great heroes. The furthest and most remote parts of the earth were believed to be inhabited by fantastic creatures. In the Babylonian Map, the world continent is surrounded by a bitter salt-water Ocean (called marratu, or “salt-sea”) akin to Oceanus described by the poetry of Homer and Hesiod in early Greek cosmology, as well as the statement in the Bilingual Creation of the World by Marduk that Marduk created the first dry land surrounded by a cosmic sea. Egyptian cosmology appears to have also shared this view, as one of the words used for sea, shen-wer, means “great encircler”. World-encircling oceans are also found in the Fara tablet VAT 12772 from the 3rd millennium BC and the Myth of Etana.” ref
Four corners of the earth
“Texts mention the four corners of the world, referring to the extremities of the world. A common title among powerful kings who ascribed to themselves that they ruled over this area was King of the Four Corners. For example, Hammurabi (ca. 1810–1750 BCE) received the title of “King of Sumer and Akkad, King of the Four Quarters of the World”. Monarchs of the Assyrian Empire, like Ashurbanipal, also took on this title. (Although the title implies a square or rectangular shape, in this case it is taken to refer to the four quadrants of a circle, which is joined at the world’s center.) Likewise, the “four corners” motif would also appear in some biblical texts, such as Isaiah 11:12. In Greco-Roman and Jewish literature, the phrase “ends of the earth” referred to the outermost points of the earth that terminated at Oceanus, the outer ocean circling around the earth disc. The furthest point south was identified with Ethiopia and Sheba, and to the West, Spain, specifically the city of Gades.” ref
Cosmic mountain: Mashu, Axis mundi, and World tree
“According to iconographic and literary evidence, the cosmic mountain, known as Mashu in the Epic of Gilgamesh, was thought to be located at or extend to both the westernmost and easternmost points of the earth, where the sun could rise and set respectively. As such, the model may be called a bi-polar model of diurnal solar movement. The gates for the rising and setting of the sun were also located at Mashu. Some accounts have Mashu as a tree growing at the center of the earth with roots descending into the underworld and a peak reaching to heaven. The cosmic mountain is also found in Egyptian cosmology, as Pyramid Text 1040c says that the mountain ranges on the eastern and western sides of the Nile act as the “two supports of the sky.” In the Baal Cycle, two cosmic mountains exist at the horizon acting as the point through which the sun rises from and sets into the underworld (Mot). The tradition of the twin cosmic mountains may also lie behind Zechariah 6:1.” ref
Mound of Creation (first land/Earth, World Turtle, Earth Diver, Cosmic EGG)
“Earth-diver creation in which a diver, usually a bird or amphibian sent by a creator, plunges to the seabed through a primordial ocean to bring up sand or mud which develops into a terrestrial world. In these stories a supreme being usually sends an animal (most often a type of bird, but also crustaceans, insects, and fish in some narratives) into the primal waters to find bits of sand or mud with which to build habitable land. Emergence myths in which progenitors pass through a series of worlds and metamorphoses until reaching the present world. In emergence myths, humanity emerges from another world into the one they currently inhabit. The previous world is often considered the womb of the earth mother, and the process of emergence is likened to the act of giving birth. Creation by the splitting or ordering of a primordial unity such as the cracking of a cosmic egg or a bringing order from chaos. The World Turtle, also called the Cosmic Turtle or the World-Bearing Turtle, is a mytheme of a giant turtle (or tortoise) supporting or containing the world. It occurs in Hinduism, Chinese mythology, and the mythologies of some of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Ancient Egyptian creation myths are the ancient Egyptian accounts of the creation of the world. The ancient Egyptians had many creator gods and associated legends. Thus, the world or more specifically Egypt was created in diverse ways according to different parts of ancient Egypt. The different myths have some elements in common. They all held that the world had arisen out of the lifeless waters of chaos, called Nu. They also included a pyramid-shaped mound, called the benben, which was the first thing to emerge from the waters.” ref, ref, ref
“The imagery of the pyramidal mound derived from the highest mounds of earth emerging as the river receded. The sun was also closely associated with creation, and it was said to have first risen from the mound, as the general sun-god Ra or as the god Khepri, who represented the newly-risen sun. There were many versions of the sun’s emergence, and it was said to have emerged directly from the mound or from a lotus flower that grew from the mound, in the form of a heron, falcon, scarab beetle, or human child. Another common element of Egyptian cosmogonies is the familiar figure of the cosmic egg, a substitute for the primeval waters or the primeval mound. One variant of the cosmic egg version teaches that the sun god, as primeval power, emerged from the primeval mound, which stood in the chaos of the primeval sea.” ref
Upper waters: Cosmic ocean
“Above the firmament was a large, cosmic body of water which may be referred to as the cosmic ocean or celestial waters. In the Tablet of Shamash, the throne of the sun god Shamash is depicted as resting above the cosmic ocean. The waters are above the solid firmament that covers the sky. In the Enuma Elish, the upper waters represented the waters of Tiamat, contained by Tiamat’s stretched out skin. Canaanite mythology in the Baal Cycle describes the supreme god Baal as enthroned above the freshwater ocean. Egyptian texts depict the sun god sailing across these upper waters. Some also convey that this body of water is the heavenly equivalent of the Nile River.” ref
Heavenly bodies, Spirits, Ancestors, and Deities
“The earliest undercurrents of Mesopotamian religious thought are believed to have developed in Mesopotamia in the 6th millennium BCE, coinciding with when the region began to be permanently settled with urban centres. The earliest evidence of Mesopotamian religion dates to the mid-4th millennium BCE, coincides with the invention of writing, and involved the worship of forces of nature as providers of sustenance. In the 3rd millennium BCE, objects of worship were personified and became an expansive cast of divinities with particular functions. The last stages of Mesopotamian polytheism, which developed in the 2nd and 1st millennia BCE, introduced greater emphasis on personal religion and structured the gods into a monarchical hierarchy, with the national god of each state being the head of the pantheon. The very earliest undercurrents of Mesopotamian religious thought are believed to have developed in the first half of the sixth millennium BCE, at the time people first began to permanently settle in Mesopotamia owing to improved irrigation. The early religious developments of the region are unknown since they preceded the invention of writing. The first evidence for what is recognisably Mesopotamian religion can be seen with the invention in Mesopotamia of writing circa 3500 BCE or 5,500 years ago.” ref
“The people of Mesopotamia originally consisted of two groups, East Semitic speakers of Akkadian and the people of Sumer, who spoke Sumerian, a language isolate. These peoples were members of various city-states and small kingdoms. The Sumerians left the first records, and are believed to have been the founders of the civilization of the Ubaid period (6500 to 3800 BCE) in Upper Mesopotamia. By historical times they resided mostly in southern Mesopotamia, which was known as Sumer (and much later, Babylonia), and had considerable influence on the Akkadian speakers and their culture. Akkadian speakers are believed to have entered the region at some point between 4000 and 3000 BCE, with Akkadian names first appearing in the regnal lists of these states c. 29th century BCE.” ref
“The Sumerians were advanced: as well as inventing writing, they developed early forms of mathematics, early wheeled vehicles/chariots, astronomy, astrology, a written code of law, organised medicine, advanced agriculture and architecture, and the calendar. They created the first city-states such as Uruk, Ur, Lagash, Isin, Kish, Umma, Eridu, Adab, Akshak, Sippar, Nippur, and Larsa, each of them ruled by an ensí. The Sumerians remained largely dominant in this synthesised culture, however, until the rise of the Akkadian Empire under Sargon of Akkad circa 2335 BCE, which united all of Mesopotamia under one ruler and conquered areas of Anatolia, Levant, and Ancient Iran. There was increasing syncretism between the Sumerian and Akkadian cultures and deities, with the Akkadian speakers typically preferring to worship fewer deities but elevating them to greater positions of power.” ref
“Sumer, or the claimed ‘land of civilized kings’, flourished in Mesopotamia, now modern-day Iraq, around 4500 BC. Sumerians created an advanced civilization with its own system of elaborate language and writing, architecture and arts, astronomy, and mathematics. Their religious system was a complex one comprised of hundreds of gods. According to the ancient texts, each Sumerian city was guarded by its own god; and while humans and gods used to live together, the humans were servants to the gods. The Sumerian creation myth can be found on a tablet in Nippur, an ancient Mesopotamian city founded in approximately 5000 BCE. In Sumerian art, deities can be identified as gods by their distinctive hats, often featuring multiple horns. The creation of Earth (Enuma Elish) according to the Sumerian tablets begins like this:
When in the height heaven was not named, And the earth beneath did not yet bear a name,
And the primeval Apsu, who begat them, And chaos, Tiamut, the mother of them both
Their waters were mingled together, And no field was formed, no marsh was to be seen;
When of the gods none had been called into being, And none bore a name, and no destinies were ordained;
Then were created the gods in the midst of heaven, Lahmu and Lahamu were called into being…” ref
“The world was thought to be created ex materia. That is, out of pre-existing, and unformed, eternal matter. This is in contrast to the later notion of creation ex nihilo, which asserts that all the matter of the universe was created out of nothing. The primeval substance had always existed, was unformed, divine, and was envisioned as an immense, cosmic, chaotic mass of water or ocean (a representation that still existed in the time of Ovid). In the Mesopotamian theogonic process, the gods would be ultimately generated from this primeval matter, although a distinct process is found in the Hebrew Bible where God is initially distinct from the primeval matter. For the cosmos and the gods to ultimately emerge from this formless cosmic ocean, the idea emerged that it had to be separated into distinct parts and therefore be formed or organized. This event can be imagined of as the beginning of time. Furthermore, the process of the creation of the cosmos is coincident or equivalent to the beginning of the creation of new gods. In the 3rd millennium BCE, the goddess Nammu was the one and singular representation of the original cosmic ocean in Mesopotamian cosmology.” ref
“From the 2nd millennium BCE onwards, this cosmic ocean came to be represented by two gods, Tiamat and Abzu who would be separated from each other to mark the cosmic beginning. The Ugaritic god Yam from the Baal Cycle may also represent the primeval ocean. Sumerian and Akkadian sources understand the matter of the primordial universe out of which the cosmos emerges in different ways. Sumerian thought distinguished between the inanimate matter that the cosmos was made of and the animate and living matter that permeated the gods and went on to be transmitted to humans. In Akkadian sources, the cosmos is originally alive and animate, but the deaths of Abzu (male deity of the fresh waters) and Tiamat (female sea goddess) give rise to inanimate matter, and all inanimate matter is derived from the dead remains of these deities.” ref
“Like many nations in Mesopotamian history, Akkadian speaking Assyria was originally, to a great extent, an oligarchy rather than a monarchy. From the 21st century BCE authority was considered to lie with “the city”, and the polity had three main centres of power—an assembly of elders, a hereditary ruler, and an eponym. The ruler presided over the assembly and carried out its decisions. He was not referred to with the usual Akkadian term for “king”, šarrum; that was instead reserved for the city’s patron deity Ashur, of whom the ruler was the high priest. The ruler himself was only designated as “steward of Assur” (iššiak Assur), where the term for steward is a borrowing from Sumerian ensí. The third centre of power was the eponym (limmum), who gave the year his name, similarly to the eponymous archon and Roman consuls of classical antiquity. He was annually elected by lot and was responsible for the economic administration of the city, which included the power to detain people and confiscate property. The institution of the eponym as well as the formula iššiak Assur lingered on as ceremonial vestiges of this early system throughout the history of the Assyrian monarchy.” ref
“The religion of the Neo-Assyrian Empire centered around the Assyrian king as the king of their lands as well. However, kingship at the time was linked very closely with the idea of divine mandate. The Assyrian king, while not being a god himself, was acknowledged as the chief servant of the chief god, Ashur. In this manner, the king’s authority was seen as absolute so long as the high priest reassured the peoples that the gods, or in the case of the henotheistic Assyrians, the god, was pleased with the current ruler. For the Assyrians who lived in Assur and the surrounding lands, this system was the norm. For the conquered peoples, however, it was novel, particularly to the people of smaller city-states. In time, Ashur was promoted from being the local deity of Assur to the overlord of the vast Assyrian domain, which spread from the Caucasus and Armenia in the north to Egypt, Nubia and the Arabian Peninsula in the south, and from Cyprus and the eastern Mediterranean Sea in the west to central Iran in the east. Assur, the patron deity of the city of Assur from the late Bronze Age, was in constant rivalry with the patron deity of the fellow Akkadian speaking state of Babylonia, Marduk. Worship was conducted in his name throughout the lands dominated by the Assyrians. With the worship of Assur across much of the Fertile Crescent, the Assyrian king could command the loyalty of his fellow servants of Assur.” ref
Sun
“The sun god (represented by the god Utu in Sumerian texts or Shamash in Akkadian texts) rises in the day and passes over the earth. Then, the sun god falls beneath the earth in the night and comes to a resting point. This resting point is sometimes localized to a designated structure, such as the chamber within a house in the Old Babylonian Prayer to the Gods of the Night. To complete the cycle, the sun comes out in the next morning. Likewise, the moon was thought to rest in the same facility when it was not visible. A similar system was maintained in Egyptian cosmology, where the sun travelled beneath the surface of the earth through the underworld (known among ancient Egyptians as Duat) to rise from the same eastern location each day. These images result from anthropomorphizing the sun and other astral bodies also conceived as gods.” ref
“For the sun to exit beneath the earth, it had to cross the solid firmament: this was thought possible by the existence of opening ways or corridors in the firmament (variously illustrated as doors, windows or gates) that could temporarily open and close to allow astral bodies to pass across them. The firmament was conceived as a gateway, with the entry/exit point as the gates; other opening and closing mechanisms were also imagined in the firmament like bolts, bars, latches, and keys. During the sun’s movement beneath the earth, into the netherworld, the sun would cease to flare. This enabled the netherworld to remain dark. But when it rose, it would flare up and again emit light. This model of the course of the sun had an inconsistency that later models evolved to address. The issue was to understand how, if the sun came to a resting point beneath the earth, could it also travel beneath the earth the same distance under it that it was observed to cross during the day above it such that it would rise periodically from the east. One solution that some texts arrived at was to reject the idea that the sun had a resting point. Instead, it remained unceasing in its course.” ref
“Overall, the sun god’s activities in night according to Sumerian and Akkadian texts proceeds according to a regular and systematic series of events: (1) The western door of heaven opens (2) The sun passes through the door into the interior of heaven (3) Light falls below the western horizon (4) The sun engages in certain activities in the netherworld like judging the dead (5) The sun enters a house, called the White House (6) The sun god eats the evening meal (7) The sun god sleeps in the chamber agrun (8) The sun emerges from the chamber (9) The eastern door opens and the sun passes through as it rises. In many ancient near eastern cultures, the underworld had a prominent place in descriptions of the sun journey, where the sun would carry out various roles including judgement related to the dead.” ref
“In legend, many hero journeys followed the daily course of the sun god. These have been attributed to Gilgamesh, Odysseus, the Argonauts, Heracles, and, in later periods, Alexander the Great. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh reaches the cosmic mountain Mashu, which is either two mountains or a single twin-peaked mountain. Mashu acts as the sun-gate, from where the sun sets in its path to and out from the netherworld. In some texts, the mountain is called the mountain of sunrise and sunset. According to the Epic:
The name of the mountain was Mashu. When [he] arrived at Mount Mashu, which daily guards the rising [of the sun,] – their tops [abut] the fabric of the heavens, their bases reach down to Hades – there were scorpion-men guarding its gate, whose terror was dread and glance was death, whose radiance was terrifying, enveloping the uplands – at both sunrise and sunset they guard the sun…” ref
“Another texts describing the relationship between the sun and the cosmic mountain reads:
O Shamash, when you come forth from the great mountain, When you come forth from the great mountain, the mountain of the deep, When you come forth from the holy hill where destinies are ordained, When you [come forth] from the back of heaven to the junction point of heaven and earth…” ref
Moon
Mesopotamians believed the moon to be a manifestation of the moon god, known as Nanna in Sumerian texts or Sîn in Akkadian texts, a high god of the pantheon, subject to cultic devotion, and father of the sun god Shamash and the Venus god Inanna. The path of the moon in the night sky and its lunar phases were also of interest. At first, Mesopotamia had no common calendar, but around 2000 BCE, the semi-lunar calendar of the Sumerian center of Nippur became increasingly prevalent. Hence, the moon god was responsible for ordering perceivable time. The lunar calendar was divided into twelve months of thirty days each. New months were marked by the appearance of the moon after a phase of invisibility.” ref
“The Enuma Elish creation myth describes Marduk as arranging the paths of the stars and then spends considerable space on Marduk’s ordering of the moon:
12 He made Nannaru (=the moon-god) appear (and) entrusted the night to him. 13 He assigned him as the jewel of the night to determine the days. 14 Month by month without cease, he marked (him) with a crown: 15 “At the beginning of the month, while rising over the land, 16 you shine with horns to reveal six days. 17 On the seventh day, (your) disc shall be halved. 18 On the fifteenth day, in the middle of each month, you shall stand in opposition. 19 As soon as Šamaš (= the sun-god) sees you on the horizon, 20 reach properly your full measure and form yourself back. 21 At the day of disappearance, approach the path of Šamaš. 22 [… 3]0. day you shall stand in conjunction. You shall be equal to Šamaš.” ref
“The ideal course of the moon was thought to form one month every thirty days. However, the precise lunar month is 29.53 days, leading to variations that made the lunar month counted as 29 or 30 days in practice. The mismatch between the predictions and reality of the course of the moon gave rise to the idea that the moon could act according to its expected course as a good omen or deviate from it as a bad omen. In the 2nd millennium BCE, Mesopotamian scholars composed the Enūma Anu Enlil, a collection of at least seventy tablets concerned with omens. The first fourteen (1–14) relate to the appearance of the moon, and the next eight (15–22) deal with lunar eclipses. The moon was also assigned other functions, such as providing illumination during the night, and already in this period, had a known influence on the tides. During the day when the moon was not visible, it was thought that the moon descended beneath the flat disk of the earth and, like the sun, underwent a voyage through the underworld. The cosmic voyage and motion of the moon also allowed it to exert influence over the world; this belief naturally allowed for the practice of divination to arise.” ref
Stars and planets
“Mesopotamian cosmology would differ from the practice of astronomy in terms of terminology: for astronomers, the word “firmament” was not used but instead “sky” to describe the domain in which the heavenly affairs were visible. The stars were located on the firmament. The earliest texts attribute to Anu, Enlil, and Enki (Ea) the ordering of perceivable time by creating and ordering the courses of the stars. Later, according to the Enuma Elish, the stars were arranged by Marduk into constellations representing the images of the gods. The year was fixed by organizing the year into twelve months, and by assigning (the rising of) three stars to each of the twelve months. The moon and zenith were also created. Other phenomena introduced by Marduk included the lunar phases and lunar scheme, the precise paths that the stars would take as they rose and set, the stations of the planets, and more.” ref
“Another account of the creation of the heavenly bodies is offered in the Babyloniaca of Berossus, where Bel (Marduk) creates stars, sun, moon, and the five (known) planets; the planets here do not help guide the calendar (a lack of concern for the planets also shared in the Book of the Courses of the Heavenly Luminaries, a subsection of 1 Enoch). Concern for the establishment of the calendar by the creation of heavenly bodies as visible signs is shared in at least seven other Mesopotamian texts. A Sumerian inscription of Kudur-Mabuk, for example, reads “The reliable god, who interchanges day and night, who establishes the month, and keeps the year intact.” Another example is to be found in the Exaltation of Inanna.
“Egyptian astronomy started in prehistoric times, in the Predynastic Period. In the 5th millennium BCE, the stone circles at Nabta Playa may have made use of astronomical alignments. By the time the historical Dynastic Period began in the 3rd millennium BCE, the 365 day period of the Egyptian calendar was already in use, and the observation of stars was important in determining the annual flooding of the Nile. The Egyptian pyramids were carefully aligned towards the pole star, and the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak was aligned on the rising of the midwinter Sun. Astronomy played a considerable part in fixing the dates of religious festivals and determining the hours of night, and temple astrologers were especially adept at watching the stars and observing the conjunctions and risings of the Sun, Moon, and planets, as well as the lunar phases. Egyptian astronomy dates back to prehistoric times. The presence of stone circles at Nabta Playa in Upper Egypt from the 5th millennium BCE show the importance of astronomy to the religious life of ancient Egypt, even in the prehistoric period. The annual flooding of the Nile meant that the heliacal risings, or first visible appearances of stars at dawn, were of special interest in determining when this might occur.” ref
“The constellation system used among the Egyptians also appears to have been essentially of native origin. Archaeological evidence has linked fractal geometry designs among Sub-Saharan African cultures with Egyptian cosmological signs. The precise orientation of the Egyptian pyramids serves as a lasting demonstration of the high degree of technical skill attained in the 3rd millennium BCE. It has been shown the pyramids were aligned towards the pole star, which, because of the precession of the equinoxes, was at that time Thuban, a faint star in the constellation of Draco. Evaluation of the site of the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak, taking into account the change over time of the obliquity of the ecliptic, has shown that the Great Temple was aligned on the rising of the midwinter Sun. The length of the corridor down which sunlight would travel would have limited illumination at other times of the year.” ref
“Astronomy played a considerable part in religious matters for fixing the dates of festivals and determining the hours of the night. The titles of several temple books are preserved, recording the movements and phases of the Sun, Moon, and stars. The rising of Sirius (Egyptian: Sopdet, Greek: Sothis) at the beginning of the inundation was a particularly important point to fix in the yearly calendar. One of the most important Egyptian astronomical texts was the Book of Nut, going back to the Middle Kingdom or earlier. For Ancient Egyptians, the death of a king had a strong connection to the stars. They believed once a king was deceased, their soul would rise to the heavens and become a star. The Pyramid Texts describe the king ascending and becoming the Morning Star among the Imperishable Stars of past kings.” ref
“The word “star” (mul in Sumerian; kakkabu in Akkadian) was inclusive to all celestial bodies, stars, constellations, and planets. A more specific term for planets existed, however (udu.idim in Sumerian; bibbu in Akkadian, literally “wild sheep”) to distinguish them from other stars (of which they were a subcategory): unlike the stars thought to be fixed in their location, the planets were observed to move. By the 3rd millennium BC, the planet Venus was identified as the astral form of the goddess Inanna (or Ishtar), and motifs such as the morning and evening star were applied to her. Jupiter became Marduk (hence the name “Marduk Star”, also called Nibiru), Mercury was the “jumping one” (in reference to its comparatively fast motion and low visibility) associated with the gods Ninurta and Nabu, and Mars was the god of pestilence Nergal and thought to portend evil and death. Saturn was also sinister. The most obvious characteristic of the stars was their luminosity, and their study for the purposes of divination, solving calendrical calculations, and predictions of the appearances of planets, led to the discovery of their periodic motion. From 600 BC onwards, the relative periodicity between them began to be studied.” ref
Milky Way
“There are many myths and legends about the origin of the Milky Way, the crowd of stars that makes a distinctive bright streak across the night sky. Many Native American tribes, including the Lakota and Hopi, viewed the Milky Way as the “Spirit Road” or “Path of Souls.” They believed that after death, the soul undertook a journey along this celestial road to the spirit world, passing various challenges and eventually, reuniting with ancestors in the spirit world.” ref, ref
“In Egyptian mythology, the Milky Way was considered a pool of cow’s milk. The Milky Way was deified as a fertility cow-goddess by the name of Bat (later on syncretized with the sky goddess Hathor). The astronomer Or Graur has suggested that the Egyptians may have seen the Milky Way as a celestial depiction of the sky goddess Nut. In the Babylonian epic poem Enûma Eliš, the Milky Way is created from the severed tail of the primeval salt water dragoness Tiamat, set in the sky by Marduk, the Babylonian national god, after slaying her.[29][30] This story was once thought to have been based on an older Sumerian version in which Tiamat is instead slain by Enlil of Nippur,[31][32] but is now thought to be purely an invention of Babylonian propagandists with the intention to show Marduk as superior to the Sumerian deities.[32] Another myth about Labbu is similarly interpreted.” ref
“Both Babylonian and Israelite texts describe one of the divisions of the cosmos as the underworldly ocean. In Babylonian texts, this is coincided with the region/god Abzu. In Sumerian mythology, this realm was created by Enki. It was also where Enki lived and ruled over. Due to the connection with Enki, the lower waters were associated with wisdom and incantational secret knowledge. In Egyptian mythology, the personification of this subterranean body of water was instead Nu. The notion of a cosmic body of water below the Earth was inferred from the realization that much water used for irrigation came from under the ground, from springs, and that springs were not limited to any one part of the world. Therefore, a cosmic body of water acting as a common source for the water coming out of all these springs was conceived.” ref
Underworld: Ancient Mesopotamian underworld and Egyptian underworld
“The Underworld/Netherworld (kur or erṣetu in Sumerian) is the lowest region in the direction downwards, below even Abzu (the primeval ocean/lower waters). It is geographically parallel with the plane of human existence, but was so low that both demons and gods could not descend to it. One of its names was “Earth of No Return”. It was, however, inhabited by beings such as ghosts, demons, and local gods. The land was depicted as dark and distant: this is because it was the opposite of the human world and so did not have light, water, fields, and so forth. According to KAR 307, line 37, Bel cast 600 Annunaki into the underworld.” ref
“They were locked away there, unable to escape, analogous to the enemies of Zeus who were confined to the underworld (Tartarus) after their rebellion during the Titanomachy. During and after the Kassite period, Annunaki were largely depicted as underworld deities; a hymn to Nergal praises him as the “Controller of the underworld, Supervisor of the 600”. In Canaanite religion, the underworld was personified as the god Mot. In Egyptian mythology, the underworld was known as Duat and was ruled by Osiris, the god of the afterlife. It was also the region where the sun (manifested by the god Ra) made its journey from west (where it sets) to the east (from where it would rise again the next morning).” ref
Origins of humanity
“Many stories emerged to explain the creation of humanity and the birth of civilization. Earlier Sumerian language texts from the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC can be divided into two traditions depending on if they come from the city of Nippur or the city of Eridu. The Nippur tradition asserts that Heaven (An) and Earth (Ki) were coupled in a cosmic marriage. After they are separated by Enlil, Ki receives semen from An and gives rise to the gods, animals, and man. The Eridu tradition says that Enki, the offspring of An and Namma (in this tradition, the freshwater goddess) is the one who creates everything. Periodical relations between Enki and Ninhursaga (in this tradition, the personification of Earth) gives rise to vegetation. With the help of Namma, Enki creates man from clay. A famous work of the Eridu tradition is Eridu Genesis. A minority tradition in Sumerian texts, distinct from Nippur and Eridu traditions, is known from KAR 4, where the blood of a slaughtered deity is used to create humanity for the purpose of making them build temples for the gods.” ref
“Later Akkadian language tradition can be divided into various minor cosmogonies, cosmogonies of significant texts like Enuma Elish and Epic of Atrahasis, and finally the Dynasty of Dunnum placed in its own category. In the Atrahasis Epic, the Anunnaki gods force the Igigi gods to do their labor. However, the Igigi became fed up with this work and rebel. To solve the problem, Enlil and Mami create humanity by mixing the blood of gods with clay, who in the stead of the Igigi are assigned the gods’ work. In the Enuma Elish, divine blood alone is used to make man.” ref
“The creation of life from clay (or soil, earth, dust, or mud) appears throughout world religions and mythologies, some of the earliest occurring in the creation myths about the origin of man in the cosmology of the ancient Near East. The idea occurs in both biblical cosmology and Quranic cosmology. The clay represents an unformed, chaotic material which is shaped and given form by the gods in a creative process. A related motif is the use of clay to seed or create the world. In southwest Asia, the clay-shaping was cast as a magical act. In the same way that humans would use clay to make terracotta images of their gods, so the gods moulded humans out of clay in their godlike form. They were described as obtaining this material by pinching off pieces of wet mud. The most famous example of this is in the biblical Book of Genesis (2:7), where Adam is made out of dust, an idea that appears across the Bible (Job 10:9; Psalm 90:3; 104:29; Isaiah 29:16, etc.). The idea is also found in the Epic of Gilgamesh where the goddess Aruru creates Enkidu from clay, in Egyptian mythology where Khmun makes man out of clay, and various Greek texts crediting Prometheus (one of the Titans) with doing the same.” ref
Ancestor worship
“Ancestor reverence is not generally the same as the worship of a deity or deities. The veneration of the dead, including one’s ancestors, is based on love and respect for the deceased. In some cultures, it is related to beliefs that the dead have a continued existence, and may possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. Some groups venerate their direct, familial ancestors. Most cultures that practice ancestor veneration do not call it “ancestor worship”. In English, the word worship usually but not always refers to the reverent love and devotion accorded a deity (god) or God. However, in other cultures, this act of worship does not confer any belief that the departed ancestors have become some kind of deity. Rather, the act is a way to express filial duty, devotion, and respect, and look after ancestors in their afterlives as well as seek their guidance for their living descendants. In this regard, many cultures and religions have similar practices. Some may visit the graves of their parents or other ancestors, leave flowers and pray to them in order to honor and remember them, while also asking their ancestors to continue to look after them.” ref
“Ancestor worship is a combination of many distinctive elements, beliefs, and rituals that had an important social meaning in ancient societies. Remains of ancestors and associated beliefs and rituals have been found in numerous archaeological sites of the Near East, and the role of ancestors in ancient communities should not be underestimated, they involve the characteristics of ancestor worship, which can be seen with a focus on the archaeological remains found in the major geographical centres of Mesopotamia dated to the third millennium BCE. Ancient Israelite religion and ancestor worship? It is thought that the word Sheol (the afterlife referred to in Biblical literature) comes from the word meaning “to inquire”. Pre-Israelite Cannanites gave their ancestors offerings of food and drink, as well as symbolic vessel offerings which, even empty, provided both in the afterlife. In light of this, “honor thy father and mother” is thought by some to have referenced this practice, notably as it predates the ban of ancestor worship and necromancy by Josiah.” ref, ref
“Although some historians claim that ancient Egyptian society was a “death cult” because of its elaborate tombs and mummification rituals, it was the opposite. The philosophy that “this world is but a vale of tears” and that to die and be with God is a better existence than an earthly one was relatively unknown among the ancient Egyptians. This was not to say that they were unacquainted with the harshness of life; rather, their ethos included a sense of continuity between this life and the next. The Egyptian people loved the culture, customs and religion of their daily lives so much that they wanted to continue them in the next—although some might hope for a better station in the Beautiful West (Egyptian afterlife). Tombs were housing in the Hereafter and so they were carefully constructed and decorated, just as homes for the living were. Mummification was a way to preserve the corpse so the ka (soul) of the deceased could return to receive offerings of the things s/he enjoyed while alive. If mummification was not affordable, a “ka-statue” in the likeness of the deceased was carved for this purpose. The Blessed Dead were collectively called the akhu, or “shining ones” (singular: akh). They were described as “shining as gold in the belly of Nut” (Gr. Nuit) and were indeed depicted as golden stars on the roofs of many tombs and temples.” ref
“The process by which a ka became an akh was not automatic upon death; it involved a 70-day journey through the duat, or Otherworld, which led to judgment before Wesir (Gr. Osiris), Lord of the Dead where the ka‘s heart would be weighed on a scale against the Feather of Ma’at (representing Truth). However, if the ka was not properly prepared, this journey could be fraught with dangerous pitfalls and strange demons; hence some of the earliest religious texts discovered, such as the Papyrus of Ani (commonly known as The Book of the Dead) and the Pyramid Texts were actually written as guides to help the deceased successfully navigate the duat. If the heart was in balance with the Feather of Ma’at, the ka passed judgment and was granted access to the Beautiful West as an akh who was ma’a heru (“true of voice”) to dwell among the gods and other akhu. At this point only was the ka deemed worthy to be venerated by the living through rites and offerings. Those who became lost in the duat or deliberately tried to avoid judgment became the unfortunate (and sometimes dangerous) mutu, the Restless Dead.” ref
“For the few whose truly evil hearts outweighed the Feather, the goddess Ammit waited patiently behind Wesir’s judgment seat to consume them. She was a composite creature resembling three of the deadliest animals in Egypt: the crocodile, the hippopotamus and the lion. Being fed to Ammit was to be consigned to the Eternal Void, to be “unmade” as a ka. Besides being eaten by Ammit, the worst fate a ka could suffer after physical death was to be forgotten. For this reason, ancestor veneration in ancient Egypt was an important rite of remembrance in order to keep the ka “alive” in this life as well as in the next. Royals, nobles and the wealthy made contracts with their local priests to perform prayers and give offerings at their tombs. In return, the priests were allowed to keep a portion of the offerings as payment for services rendered. Some tomb inscriptions even invited passers-by to speak aloud the names of the deceased within (which also helped to perpetuate their memory), and to offer water, prayers or other things if they so desired. In the private homes of the less wealthy, niches were carved into the walls for the purpose of housing images of familial akhu and to serve as altars of veneration. Many of these same religious beliefs and ancestor veneration practices are still carried on today in the religion of Kemetic Orthodoxy.” ref
“A funerary cult is a body of religious teaching and practice centered on the veneration of the dead, in which the living are thought to be able to confer benefits on the dead in the afterlife or to appease their otherwise wrathful ghosts. Rituals were carried on for the benefit of the dead, either by their relatives or by a class of priests appointed and paid to perform the rites. These rituals took place at the tombs of the dead themselves or at mortuary temples appointed to this purpose. Funerary cults are found in a wide variety of cultures.” ref
“In Sumer, Assyria, and Babylonia, funerary cults were called kispu. This funerary cult mostly revolved around caring for deceased kin, with a specific family member assigned to providing for a specific ghost. The ghosts were provided with food and other goods; however, the provision of clean water was of particular importance. Both deceased men and women were supposed to receive this care. Without this care, the dead had the potential to become a malicious supernatural force. With this care, the dead family continues to participate in the lives of the living family. Also, the practice of recycling the names of the deceased allowed for familial continuity. In Assyria, this was done by any consanguineal kin. A Babylonian variation of this cult treats the veneration of the dead as an extension of the veneration for parents. Offspring were responsible for this care. Scholar Miranda Bayliss had stated the function of this cult was to alleviate guilt and other tensions from the death of the deceased and form solidarity and continuity within the family.” ref
“Typically, only close kin received this care. When ancestors beyond the individual’s grandparents were venerated, it was done at large gatherings of extended kin groups. This also functioned to promote solidarity within the larger kin group. Funerary cults are especially associated with ancient Egypt, where it was common for royalty, those associated with royalty, cats, and the wealthy to be mummified. This practice was done so as to preserve their bodies for the journey to the afterlife. The deity Osiris, who was the dying and reviving god and Lord of the Egyptian afterlife, was usually depicted as a mummy in Egyptian art. Also at Bubastis, where Bast was worshiped, there was a massive cat cemetery. Cats were also thought to journey to the afterlife, usually to join their owners. These needed their own material goods for this journey, such as food.” ref
“The ancient Greek hero cult was also a funerary cult; in the original sense, a hero was a deified or semi-divine ancestor, worshiped at a shrine for his power to assist the living. The ancient Greek religion had three main aspects: the Gods, the heroes, and the dead. The dead are powerless and the Gods all-powerful, while the heroes are dead (live only in legend and memory) and are powerful. Heroes occupy a liminal space between the Gods and mortals. Mortals sacrificed livestock and plants at Heroes’ tombs to intervene and commune with the Gods on their behalf. The Samnites and Etruscans of the Italian peninsula painted the underworld deities Aita, Vanth, Phersipnei, and Letham on the walls of tombs. The Roman Empire also had a funerary cult, revolving around Dionysus. Dionysus, (along with being lord of wine and parties) had been reborn many times and had rescued his mother Semele from the Underworld (the Roman afterlife, ruled by Hades). Each Roman God had his or her own clique of devotees, and it was thought that Dionysus could protect his initiates from death.” ref
“Chinese ancestor veneration, also called Chinese ancestor worship, is an aspect of the Chinese traditional religion which revolves around the ritual celebration of the deified ancestors and tutelary deities of people with the same surname organised into lineage societies in ancestral shrines. Ancestors, their ghosts, or spirits, and gods are considered part of “this world”. They are neither supernatural (in the sense of being outside nature) nor transcendent in the sense of being beyond nature. The ancestors are humans who have become godly beings, beings who keep their individual identities. For this reason, Chinese religion is founded on veneration of ancestors. Ancestors are believed to be a means of connection to the supreme power of Tian as they are considered embodiments or reproducers of the creative order of Heaven. It is a major aspect of Han Chinese religion, but the custom has also spread to ethnic minority groups.” ref
“Tian (天) is one of the oldest Chinese terms for heaven and a key concept in Chinese mythology, philosophy, and cosmology. In Taoism and Confucianism, Tian (the celestial aspect of the cosmos, often translated as “Heaven“) is mentioned in relationship to its complementary aspect of Dì (地, often translated as “Earth“). They are thought to maintain the two poles of the Three Realms of reality, with the middle realm occupied by Humanity (人, rén), and the lower world occupied by demons (魔, mó) and “ghosts”, the damned, (鬼, guǐ). Tian was variously thought of as a “supreme power reigning over lesser gods and human beings” that brought “order and calm… or catastrophe and punishment”, a deity, destiny, an impersonal force that controls events, a holy world or afterlife containing other worlds or afterlives, or one or more of these.” ref
“For the etymology of Tian, Schuessler links it with the Turkic and Mongolian word tengri ‘sky’, ‘heaven’, ‘deity’ or the Tibeto-Burman words taleŋ (Adi) and tǎ-lyaŋ (Lepcha), both meaning ‘sky’ or ‘God’. Tengri is the all-encompassing God of Heaven in the traditional Turkic, Yeniseian, Mongolic, and various other nomadic religious beliefs. Linguist Stefan Georg has proposed that the Turkic word ultimately originates as a loanword from Proto-Yeniseian *tɨŋgVr- “high”. Worship surrounding Tengri is called Tengrism. The core beings in Tengrism are the Sky Father (Tenger Etseg) and the Earth Mother (Umay Ana). It involves ancestor worship, as Tengri was thought to have been the ancestral progenitor of mankind in Turkic regions and Mongolia, shamanism, animism, and totemism.Tengri was the chief deity worshipped by the ruling class of the Central Asian steppe peoples in 6th to 9th centuries (Turkic peoples, Mongols and Hungarians). Tengri was the main god of the Turkic pantheon, controlling the celestial sphere. Tengri is considered to be similar to the Indo-European sky god, *Dyeus, and the structure of the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion is closer to that of the early Turks than to the religion of any people of Near Eastern or Mediterranean antiquity.” ref ref
Nudity in Religion
“Nudity is the state of being in which a human is without clothing. While estimates vary, for the first 90,000 years of prehistory, anatomically modern humans were often or mostly naked, living in hospitable climates, and had not developed the crafts needed to make clothing. Clothing can insulate against cold or hot conditions, and it can provide a hygienic barrier, keeping infectious and toxic materials away from the body. Clothing has significant social factors as well. Wearing clothes is a variable social norm. Estimates of when humans began wearing clothes vary from 40,000 to as many as 3 million years ago, but recent studies suggest humans were wearing clothing at least 100,000 years ago. Kittler, Kayser and Stoneking suggest that the invention of clothing may have coincided with the northward migration of modern Homo sapiens away from the warm climate of Africa, which is thought to have begun between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago. Archaeologists have identified very early sewing needles of bone and ivory from about 30,000 BCE, found near Kostenki, Russia, and a needle at least 50,000 years old from Denisova Cave in Siberia made by Denisovans. Dyed flax fibers that date back to 34,000 BCE and could have been used in clothing have been found in a prehistoric cave in Georgia.” ref, ref
“All humans lived in hunter-gatherer societies until 20,000 years ago, and they were naked. In the tropical regions of Africa, Australia, the Americas, and Southeast Asia, this way of life continued until a few hundred years ago. Perhaps the last uncontacted hunter-gatherers are the community of a few hundred individuals on one of the Andaman Islands. The Europeans who first contacted tropical peoples reported that they were unashamedly naked, only occasionally wrapping themselves in capes in colder weather. Many pastoral societies in warmer climates are also minimally clothed or naked while working. This practice continued when western clothing was first introduced; for example, Aboriginal Australians in 1819 wore only the jackets they were given, but not pants. The habitual use of clothing is one of the changes that mark the end of the Neolithic and the beginning of civilization, between 7,000 and 9,000 years ago. Much of what is known about the early history of clothing is from depictions of the higher classes, there being few surviving artifacts. Everyday behaviors are rarely represented in historical records. Clothing and adornment became part of the symbolic communication that marked a person’s membership in their society, thus nakedness meant being at the bottom of the social scale, lacking in dignity and status. In each culture, ornamentation represented the wearer’s place in society; position of authority, economic class, gender role, and marital status. From the beginning of civilization, there was ambiguity regarding everyday nakedness and the nudity in depictions of deities and heroes indicating positive meanings of the unclothed body.” ref
“Among ancient “so-called” civilizations, only Abrahamic societies associated nakedness primarily with sin or shame regarding sexuality. For millennia, from Mesopotamia to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt, the majority of men and women wore a cloth wrapped or tied to cover the lower part of the body. Both men and women would be bare-chested and barefoot. Complete nakedness was embarrassing due to the social connotations of low status and deprivation rather than shame regarding sexuality. Slaves might not be provided with clothing. Other workers would be naked while performing many tasks, particularly if hot, dirty, or wet; farmers, fishermen, herders, and those working close to fires or ovens. Only the upper classes were habitually dressed. It was not until the later periods, in particular the New Kingdom of Egypt (1550–1069 BCE), that functionaries in the households of the wealthy began wearing refined dress, and upper-class women wore elaborate dresses and ornamentation which covered their breasts. These later styles are often shown in film and TV as representing Ancient Egypt in all periods. The naked human body was one of the first subjects of prehistoric art, including the numerous female figurines found throughout Europe, the earliest now dating from 40,000 years ago. The meaning of these objects cannot be determined, however the exaggeration of breasts, bellies, and buttocks indicate more symbolic than realistic interpretations. Alternatives include symbolism of fertility, abundance, or overt sexuality in the context of beliefs in supernatural forces. Surviving examples of ancient art indicate that the modern concept of pornography did not exist before Christianity, with many examples not only of nudity but also of sexual activity.” ref
“In the Islamic societies of Africa, nudity is forbidden, while in sub-Saharan countries that never abandoned—or are reasserting—pre-colonial norms, partial or complete nudity is accepted as natural. In contemporary rural villages, both boys and girls are allowed to play totally nude, and women bare their breasts in the belief that the meaning of naked bodies is not limited to sexuality. Full or partial nudity is observed among some Burkinabese and Nilo-Saharan (e.g. Nuba and Surma people)—during particular occasions; for example, stick-fighting tournaments in Ethiopia. In Lagos, Nigeria, some parents continue to allow children to be naked until puberty. The upper torso of women is not sexual due to the general acceptance of breastfeeding in Africa, while their legs are covered by skirts to a greater extent than by Western clothing. In Brazil, the Yawalapiti—an Indigenous Xingu tribe in the Amazon Basin—practice a funeral ritual known as Quarup to celebrate life, death and rebirth. The ritual involves the presentation of all young girls who have begun menstruating since the last Quarup and whose time has come to choose a partner. The Awá hunters, the male members of an Indigenous people of Brazil living in the eastern Amazon rainforest, are “completely naked except for a piece of string decorated with bright bird feathers tied to the end of their penises”. This minimalist dress code reflects the spirit of the hunt and being overdressed may be considered ridiculous or inappropriate.” ref
“As humans became behaviorally modern, body adornments such as jewelry, tattoos, body paint and scarification became part of non-verbal communications, indicating a person’s social and individual characteristics. Indigenous peoples in warm climates used clothing for decorative, symbolic, or ceremonial purposes but were often nude, having neither the need to protect the body from the elements nor any conception of nakedness being shameful. In many societies, both ancient and contemporary, children might be naked until the beginning of puberty. Women may not cover their breasts due to the association with nursing babies more than with sexuality. In the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean, from Mesopotamia to the Roman Empire, proper attire was required to maintain social standing. The majority might possess a single piece of cloth that was wrapped or tied to cover the lower body; slaves might be naked. However, through much of Western history until the modern era, people of any status were also unclothed by necessity or convenience when engaged in labor and athletics; or when bathing or swimming. Such functional nudity occurred in groups that were usually, but not always, segregated by sex. Although improper dress might be socially embarrassing, the association of nudity with sin regarding sexuality began with Judeo-Christian societies, spreading through Europe in the post-classical period. Traditional clothing in temperate regions worldwide also reflect concerns for maintaining social status and order, as well as by necessity due to the colder climate. However, societies such as Japan and Finland maintain traditions of communal nudity based upon the use of baths and saunas that provided alternatives to sexualization.” ref
“Male nudity was celebrated in ancient Greece to a greater degree than any culture before or since. The status of freedom, maleness, privilege, and physical virtues were asserted by discarding everyday clothing for athletic nudity. Nudity became a ritual costume by association of the naked body with the beauty and power of the gods who were depicted as perfect naked humans. In Etruscan and early Roman athletics, in which masculinity involved prudishness and paranoia about effeminacy, the Greek traditions were not maintained because public nudity became associated with homoeroticism. In the Roman Empire (27 BCE – 476 CE), the status of the upper classes was such that nudity was of no concern for men, and for women only if seen by their social superiors. At the Roman baths (thermae), which had social functions similar to a modern beach, mixed nude bathing may have been the norm up to the fourth century CE. Although it is usually associated with eroticism, the nude can have various interpretations and meanings, from mythology to religion, including anatomical study, or as a representation of beauty and aesthetic ideal of perfection, as in Ancient Greece. Its representation has varied according to the social and cultural values of each era and each people, and just as for the Greeks the body was a source of pride, for the Jews—and therefore for Christianity—it was a source of shame, it was the condition of slaves and the miserable.” ref, ref
“Nudity in religion deals with religious beliefs as the basis for modern attitudes and behaviors regarding nudity. The nude in the classical world was an icon of ideal proportion, expressed in sculptural representations of gods and goddesses, heroes and heroines, and athletes. The Ubaid period (c. 5500–3700 BCE) is a prehistoric period of Mesopotamia. Stamp seals had been in use in Upper Mesopotamia since the seventh millennium BCE. By the time of the Ubaid period, a wide range of motifs had developed, including geometric patterns and depictions of animals and, occasionally, humans, sometimes seemingly naked. The Ubaid period saw the first depictions of ibex-headed and bird-headed humans. The majority of Ubaid figurines represented various animals, including sheep, cattle, and dogs. Human figurines were already present in previous periods. The majority of the human figures are female, but male and figurines without gender emphasis exist as well. Those from the early Ubaid reflect a continuation of earlier traditions.” ref, ref
“A single, painted figurine from the Ubaid 0 levels at Tell el-‘Oueili has been interpreted as an early representation of the so-called ‘ophidian figurines’, which became common in the later Ubaid. Both seating and standing figurines were created, with paint used to detail body parts, clothing, and body modifications. “Ophidian figures” have been exclusively found at various southern Mesopotamian sites. They are characterised by a slender body, a long, reptilian head with incised eyes and mouth, and a small, three-dimensional nose. This particular rendering of the face may be a representation of a mask or possibly headshaping. The hands are placed before the abdomen, sometimes with incised fingers. The figurines are thought to be naked. Paint is sometimes used to indicate hair or other details. In the earlier Ubaid, ophidian figures were only used in domestic contexts, whereas in Ubaid 3-4, they appear in graves as well, indicating a shift in how these figures were used. The rarity of ophidian figures as grave gifts may indicate differential treatment of the dead, possibly based on age, kinship, or social standing.” ref
“In the Ubaid period, there is some evidence for emerging wool production in the fifth millennium BCE, i.e., late Ubaid. Some of the earliest evidence comes in the form of an animal figurine from Iran, dated to c. 5000 BCE, with incised decorations that might possibly represent wool. At Kosak Shamali, an Ubaid site in northern Syria, indirect evidence for wool production has been found in the form of spindle whorls, clay scrapers, and a clay sealing with a cord impression that might have come from rope spun from wool fibers. The animal bone assemblage at this site had a large percentage of domesticated sheep and goat, with changes in the assemblage suggesting that the production of secondary products (such as wool and milk) became more important toward the late Ubaid and the Uruk period. The spindle whorls from Kosak Shamali, and also those from Telul eth-Thalathat II (northern Iraq), gradually decreased in weight, which could indicate that more and more finer-quality or softer fibers were spun. At Tell Surezha (Iraqi Kurdistan), evidence from animal bones also suggests that wool production may have been important.” ref
“During the late Ubaid period, around 4500–4000 BCE, there was some increase in social polarization, with central houses in the settlements becoming larger. But there were no real cities until the later Uruk period. The Uruk period (c. 4000 to 3100 BCE; also known as Protoliterate period) existed from the protohistoric Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age period in the history of Mesopotamia, after the Ubaid period and before the Jemdet Nasr period. Named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization. The late Uruk period (34th to 32nd centuries) saw the gradual emergence of the cuneiform script and corresponds to the Early Bronze Age; it has also been described as the “Protoliterate period”. It was during this period that pottery painting declined as copper started to become popular, along with cylinder seals.” ref, ref
Naked – Ruler/King/Chief shepherd: nakedness and power
“Several naked statuettes of bearded men with derby-like hats (Uruk, possibly the priest-king), 4th millennium BCE. A Mesopotamian king as Master of Animals seems to be depicted on the Gebel el-Arak Knife, dated circa 3300-3200 BCE, Abydos, Egypt, but with cloths, as its main difference; otherwise, it was a similar statuette of a bearded man with derby-like hat. This work of art suggests early relations between Egypt and Mesopotamia, showing the influence of Mesopotamia on Egypt at an early date and the state of Mesopotamian royal iconography during the Uruk period.” ref, ref, ref
“It is commonly assumed that the Priest-King finds its most dramatic representation on the Uruk Vase (multiple men are naked in a line holding up offerings). To the upper left of the reconstructed scene on the Uruk Vase, the man in the net kilt is usually assumed as the archetypical Priest-King, who was in turn identified with the human figure with a “brimmed cap” found in other forms of iconography, on cylinder seals, on varied types of reliefs, and a few cases in round sculpture. Based on these varied sources, it has been summarized that this figure may have served as a warrior, justice enforcer, hunter or master of animals, herder, priest, wealth collector for the temple, and consort of Inana. In lieu of the Priest-King of Uruk “only the ruler’s role as consummate builder and architect, an important aspect of royal service noted first in the art of the Early Dynastic period, seems to be missing from the visual evidence of the Uruk and Jamdat Nasr periods, although this may be due to the vagaries of excavation.” ref
“In a recent study devoted to the Priest-King, a term Steinkeller maintains to describe the ruler of Uruk, he focused only on the ritual aspect, which seems to him the defining aspect of the problem. In dealing with art-historical materials, Steinkeller is convinced that the scene on the top register of the Uruk Vase found its abbreviated versions on cylinder seals that “obviously constituted a treasured heirloom” that was excavated as part of a deposit in the latest phase of level III of the Eanna precinct. In this view, both the scenes on the top register of the Uruk Vase and those on cylinder seals depict the delivery of food offerings to Inana by the Priest-King. “This relationship was reciprocal, with the Priest-King feeding Inana on behalf of the community he ruled over, and with Inana providing the Uruk community with agricultural abundance and protection in return, and making the Priest-King her chosen representative.” In the same essay devoted to the Priest-King of Uruk, Steinkeller challenged two Specific proposals concerning the iconographic interpretation of the Uruk Vase: the first suggests that the Priest-King figure may not be human but divine, and the second, that the female counterpart of the Priest-King on the Uruk Vase and the seals could actually be a mortal or “an elite woman linked to Inana.” ref
“He is often represented as a warrior fighting human enemies or wild animals, e.g. in the ‘Stele of the Hunt’ found at Uruk, in which he defeats lions with his bow. He is also found in victory scenes accompanied by prisoners or structures. He also is shown leading cult activities, as on a vase from Uruk of the Jemdet Nasr period which shows him leading a procession towards a goddess, who is almost certainly Inanna. In other cases, he is shown feeding animals, which suggests the idea of the king as a shepherd, who gathers his people together, protects them, and looks after their needs, ensuring the prosperity of the kingdom. These motifs match the functions of the subsequent Sumerian kings: war-leader, chief priest, and builder. Scholars have proposed that this figure should be called the ‘Priest-King’. This ruler may be the person designated in Uruk III tablets by the title of en.” ref
“Researchers who analyse the appearance of the state as being characterised by greater central control and stronger social hierarchy are interested in the role of the elites who sought to reinforce and organise their power over a network of people and institutions and to augment their prestige. This development is also connected with the changes in iconography and with the emergence of an ideology of royalty intended to support the construction of a new kind of political entity. The elites played a role as religious intermediaries between the divine world and the human world, notably in sacrificial ritual and in festivals which they organised and which assured their symbolic function as the foundation of social order. This reconstruction is apparent from the friezes on the great alabaster vase of Uruk and in many administrative texts, which mention the transport of goods to be used in rituals. In fact, according to the Mesopotamian ideology known in the following period, human beings had been created by the gods in order to serve them, and the goodwill of the latter was necessary to ensure the prosperity of society.” ref
The Kassite ‘Naked Goddess’: Analysis and Interpretation
She Who Wrote: Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia, ca. 3400–2000 BCE
Interpreting Feminine and Masculine Nakedness/Nudity in Mesopotamia and Egypt
THE ESSENTIAL BODY: MESOPOTAMIAN CONCEPTION OF THE GENDERED BODY
Where are their clothes?: Explaining the nudity of classical Grecian-Roman sculptures
“In Mesopotamia, most people owned a single item of clothing, usually a linen cloth that was wrapped and tied. Possessing no clothes meant being at the bottom of the social scale, being indebted, or if a slave, not being provided with clothes. In the Uruk period there was recognition of the need for functional and practical nudity while performing many tasks, although the nakedness of workers emphasized the social difference between servants and the elite, who were clothed. Sculpture representations of nudity indicates positive associations, in particular the fertility of women with large breasts and wide hips. The assumption of sexual shame regarding nudity may be based upon later interpretations. Male nudity represented defeat in battle and death. The identity of the goddess depicted in the Burney Relief is a topic of scholarly debate, with Lilith, Ishtar/Inanna, or Kilili, her messenger, and Ereshkigal being proposed.” ref
“Although the genitals of adults were generally covered, nakedness in ancient Egypt was not a violation of any social norm, but more often a convention indicating lack of wealth; those who could afford to do so covered more. Nudity was considered a natural state. Ancient Egyptians had no qualms about nudity. But that doesn’t mean they ran around naked all day. They did have a sense of style — the clothes tended to be simple, with jewelry adding colorful accents. What did ancient Egyptians wear? For young children, the answer was nothing, and for older children, they wore clothing like that of their parents, a kilt, or skirt, for boys, a simple linen dress for girls.” ref, ref
“For the average person in ancient Egypt clothing changed little from its beginnings until the Middle Kingdom. Both men and women of the lower classes were commonly bare-chested and barefoot, wearing a simple loincloth or skirt around their waist. Slaves might not be provided with clothing. Servants were nude or wore loincloths. Laborers would be naked while performing many tasks, particularly if hot, dirty, or wet; farmers, fishermen, herders, and those working close to fires or ovens. During the Early Dynastic Period, (3150–2686 BCE), and the Old Kingdom, (2686–2180 BCE) the majority of men and women wore similar attire. Skirts called shendyt—which evolved from loincloths and resembled kilts—were customary apparel. Women of the upper classes commonly wore a kalasiris (καλάσιρις), a dress of loose, draped, or translucent linen which came to just above or below the breasts. Female servants and entertainers at banquets were partly clothed or naked. Children might go without clothing until puberty, at about age 12. The status of upper-class children was shown by wearing jewelry, not clothing. Being born naked, humans were also nude in the afterlife (although in new bodies at the prime of life). In the First Intermediate Period (2181–2055 BCE) and the Middle Kingdom (2055–1650 BCE) clothing for most people remained the same, but fashion for the upper classes became more elaborate. During the Second Intermediate Period (1650–1550 BCE) portions of Egypt were controlled by Nubians and by the Hyksos, a Semitic people. During the brief New Kingdom (1550–1069 BCE), Egyptians regained control. Upper-class women wore elaborate dresses and ornamentation that covered their breasts. Those serving in the households of the wealthy also began wearing more refined dress. These later styles are often shown in film and TV as representing ancient Egypt in all periods.” ref
“In some ancient Mediterranean cultures, even well past the hunter-gatherer stage, athletic and/or cultist nudity of men and boys – and rarely, of women and girls – was a natural concept. The Minoan civilization prized athleticism, with bull-leaping being a favourite event. Both men and women participated wearing only a loincloth. Every day, men wore a normal dress that was bare-chested, whilst women wore an open-fronted dress. Male nudity was celebrated in ancient Greece to a greater degree than any culture before or since. Hesiod, the writer of the poem Theogony, which describes the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods in Ancient Greek religion, suggested that farmers should “Sow naked, and plough naked, and harvest naked, if you wish to bring in all Demeter‘s fruits in due season.” The status of freedom, maleness, privilege, and physical virtues were asserted by discarding everyday clothing for athletic nudity. Nudity became a ritual costume by association of the naked body with the beauty and power of the gods.” ref
“The female nude emerged as a subject for art in the 5th century BCE, illustrating stories of women bathing both indoors and outdoors. The passive images reflected the unequal status of women in society compared to the athletic and heroic images of naked men. In Sparta during the Classical period, women were also trained in athletics. Scholars do not agree whether they also competed in the nude, the same word (gymnosis, γύμνωσις: naked or lightly clothed) was used to describe the practice. Women may have competed in specific events, such as foot racing or wrestling, which was consistent with the need to develop endurance. It is otherwise agreed that Spartan women in the classical period were nude only for specific religious and ceremonial purposes. In the Hellenistic period Spartan women trained with men, and participated in more athletic events. However, unlike the later Roman baths, those in Hellenistic Greece were segregated by sex.” ref
“In general, however, concepts of either shame or offense, or the social comfort of the individual, seem to have been deterrents of public nudity in the rest of Greece and the ancient world in the east and west, with exceptions in what is now South America, and in Africa and Australia. Polybius asserts that Celts typically fought naked: “The appearance of these naked warriors was a terrifying spectacle, for they were all men of splendid physique and in the prime of life.” In Greek culture, depictions of erotic nudity were considered normal. The Greeks were conscious of the exceptional nature of their nudity, noting that “generally in countries which are subject to the barbarians, the custom is held to be dishonourable; lovers of youths share the evil repute in which philosophy and naked sports are held, because they are inimical to tyranny;” the origins of nudity in ancient Greek sport are the subject of a legend about the athlete Orsippus of Megara.” ref
“Heroic nudity or ideal nudity is a concept in classical scholarship to describe the un-realist use of nudity in classical sculpture to show figures who may be heroes, deities, or semi-divine beings. This convention began in Archaic and Classical Greece and continued in Hellenistic and Roman sculpture. In ancient Greek art, warriors on reliefs and painted vases were often shown as nude in combat, which was not in fact the Greek custom, and in other contexts. Idealized young men (but not women) were carved in kouros figures, and cult images in the temples of some male deities were nude. Later, portrait statues of the rich, including Roman imperial families, were given idealized nude bodies; by now this included women. The bodies were always young and athletic; old bodies are never seen. Pliny the Elder noted the introduction of the Greek style to Rome.” ref
“The Greek traditions were not maintained in the later Etruscan and Roman athletics because its public nudity became associated with homoeroticism. Early Roman masculinity involved prudishness and paranoia about effeminacy. The toga was essential to announce the status and rank of male citizens of the Roman Republic (509–27 BCE). The poet Ennius declared, “exposing naked bodies among citizens is the beginning of public disgrace”. Cicero endorsed Ennius’ words. In the Roman Empire (27 BCE – 476 CE), the status of the upper classes was such that public nudity was of no concern for men, and for women only if seen by their social superiors. At the public Roman baths (thermae), which had social functions similar to a modern beach, mixed nude bathing may have been the norm up to the fourth century CE. Jews during the Greco-Roman period maintained negative attitudes towards nudity, both as a temptation for illicit sexuality and a distraction from the life of holiness.” ref
“Ancient Roman attitudes toward male nudity differed from those of the Greeks, whose ideal of masculine excellence was expressed by the nude male body in art and in such real-life venues as athletic contests. The toga, by contrast, distinguished the body of the adult male citizen of Rome. The poet Ennius (c. 239–169 BCE) declared that “exposing naked bodies among citizens is the beginning of public disgrace (flagitium),” a sentiment echoed by Cicero. Public nudity might be offensive or distasteful even in traditional settings; Cicero derides Mark Antony as undignified for appearing near-naked as a participant in the Lupercalia festival, even though it was ritually required. Negative connotations of nudity included defeat in war, since captives were stripped and sold into slavery. Slaves for sale were often displayed naked to allow buyers to inspect them for defects, and to symbolize that they lacked the right to control their own bodies. The disapproval of nudity was less a matter of trying to suppress inappropriate sexual desire than of dignifying and marking the citizen’s body. Thus, the retiarius, a type of gladiator who fought with face and flesh exposed, was thought to be unmanly.” ref
“The influence of Greek art, however, led to “heroic” nude portrayals of Roman men and gods, a practice that began in the 2nd century BCE. When statues of Roman generals nude in the manner of Hellenistic kings first began to be displayed, they were shocking—not simply because they exposed the male figure, but because they evoked concepts of royalty and divinity that were contrary to Republican ideals of citizenship as embodied by the toga. In art produced under Augustus Caesar, the adoption of Hellenistic and Neo-Attic style led to more complex signification of the male body shown nude, partially nude, or costumed in a muscle cuirass. Romans who competed in the Olympic Games presumably followed the Greek custom of nudity, but athletic nudity at Rome has been dated variously, possibly as early as the introduction of Greek-style games in the 2nd century BCE but perhaps not regularly until the time of Nero around 60 CE.” ref
“In ancient Indian cultures, there was a tradition of extreme asceticism (obviously minoritarian) that included full nudity. This tradition continued from the gymnosophists (philosophers in antiquity) to certain holy men (who may, however, cover themselves with ashes) in present-day Hindu devotion and in Jainism. In the 4th century BCE, Alexander the Great encountered, in India, wandering groups of naked holy men whom he dubbed the naked philosophers (Gr gymnos: naked; sophist: knowledge). The philosopher Onesicritus investigated their beliefs and lifestyle. Pyrrho the Sceptic was impressed and incorporated nudity into his philosophy. The Gymnosophists were Hindus, but Jain and Ajivika monks practiced nudity as a statement that they had given up all worldly goods. The philosophical basis of nudity arises out of the concept of ‘Purushartha’ (four ends of human life). ‘Purushartha’ (Puruṣārtha) are ‘Kama’ (enjoyment), ‘Artha’ (wealth), ‘Dharma’ (virtue) and ‘Moksha’ (liberation). It is ‘Purushartha’ which impels a human being towards nudity or any of its related aspect(s) either for spiritual aim or for the aim of enjoyment. Practice of ‘Dharma’ (virtue) brings good result(s) and non-practice of ‘Dharma’ leads to negative result(s).” ref
“In the spiritual aspect of Hinduism nudity symbolises renunciation of the highest type. A nude person or deity (for example, some depictions of Kali) denotes one who is devoid of maya or attachment to the body and one who is an embodiment of infinity. Trailanga Swami, the famous nude saint of India, had given an explanation for nudity in religion in the following words, “Lahiri Mahasaya is like a divine kitten, remaining wherever the Cosmic Mother has placed him. While dutifully playing the part of a worldly man, he has received that perfect Self-realization which I have sought by renouncing everything – even my loincloth!” ref
“In comparison, in the material aspect, nudity is considered an art. This view is supported by Sri Aurobindo in his book The Renaissance in India. He says about Hinduism in the book – “Its spiritual extremism could not prevent it from fathoming through a long era the life of the senses and its enjoyments, and there too it sought the utmost richness of sensuous detail and the depths and intensities of sensual experience. Yet it is notable that this pursuit of the most opposite extremes never resulted in disorder…” Extreme hedonists and materialists like the Charvakas are very candid with regard to pursuing of sensual pleasures. They say, “Marthakamaveva purusharthau” (Riches and pleasure is the summum bonum of life). There is another sloka in support of their view – “Anganalingananadijanyam sukhameva purusatha” (The sensual pleasure arising from the embrace of a woman and other objects is the highest good or end). For non-hedonists pursuing kama (sensual pleasures) accompanied with dharma (virtue) can be the highest ideal or goal in life. There is nothing wrong in it.” ref
Some of the famous nude male and female yogi (male and female saints of India) of Hinduism include Akka Mahadevi, Lalla Yogishwari (Lalleshwari), Trailanga Swami, Harihar Baba, Tota Puri. Also in the biography of saint Gorakhnath we have reference to nude male and female yogis who had visited the famous Amarnath Temple during medieval period of India. Among the Hindu religious sects, only the sadhus (monks) of the Nāga sect can be seen nude. They usually wear a loin-cloth around their waist, but not always; and usually remain in their Akhara or deep forest or isolation and come out in public only once every four years during Kumbh Mela. They have a very long history and are warrior monks, who usually also carry a talwar (sword), trishula (trident), bhala (javelin) or such weapons, and in medieval times have fought many wars to protect Hindu temples and shrines. In India, Digambara monks reject any form of clothing and practice nudity. Digambara (lit. ‘sky clad’) is one of the two main sects of Jainism. However, the Shvetambara sect is “white-clad” and their holy statues may or may not wear a loincloth as seen in artefacts excavated from the Kankali Tila.” ref
Lingam (phallus-like), cylindrical pillar-like symbol of Shiva
“The lingam of the Shaivism tradition is a short, cylindrical pillar-like symbol of Shiva, made of stone, metal, gem, wood, clay, or precious stones. Various styles of lingam iconography are found on the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. The historic lingam iconography has included: Lingam-yoni, wherein the lingam is placed within a lipped, disked structure that is an emblem of goddess Shakti, and this is called the yoni. Together they symbolize the union of the feminine and the masculine principles, and “the totality of all existence. A lingam, sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. The lingam of the Shaivism tradition is a short, cylindrical pillar-like symbol of Shiva, made of stone, metal, gem, wood, clay, or precious stones. It is often represented within a disc-shaped platform, the yoni – its feminine counterpart, consisting of a flat element, horizontal compared to the vertical lingam, and designed to allow liquid offerings to drain away for collection.” ref
“The lingam is an emblem of generative and destructive power. While rooted in representations of the male sexual organ, the lingam is regarded as the “outward symbol” of the “formless reality”, the symbolization of merging of the ‘primordial matter’ (Prakṛti) with the ‘pure consciousness’ (Purusha) in transcendental context. The lingam-yoni iconography symbolizes the merging of microcosmos and macrocosmos, the divine eternal process of creation and regeneration, and the union of the feminine and the masculine that recreates all of existence. The lingam is typically the primary murti or devotional image in Hindu temples dedicated to Shiva, also found in smaller shrines, or as self-manifested natural objects. The lingam is conceptualized both as an emblem of generative and destructive power, particularly in the esoteric Kaula and Tantra practices, as well as the Shaivism and Shaktism traditions of Hinduism.” ref
“The word lingam (phallus -like) is found in Sanskrit texts, such as Shvetashvatara Upanishad, Samkhya, Vaisheshika and others texts with the meaning of “evidence” of God and God’s existence, or existence of formless Brahman. The original meaning of lingam as “sign” is used in Shvetashvatara Upanishad, which says “Shiva, the Supreme Lord, has no liūga”, liuga (Sanskrit: लिऊग IAST: liūga) meaning he is transcendental, beyond any characteristic and, specifically, the sign of gender. The term also appears in early Indian texts on logic, where an inference is based on a sign (linga), such as “if there is smoke, there is fire” where the linga is the smoke. It is a religious symbol in Hinduism representing Shiva as the generative power, all of existence, all creativity and fertility at every cosmic level. To some Shaivites the lingam symbolizes the axis of the universe.” ref
“The sexualization is criticized by Stella Kramrisch and Moriz Winternitz who opines that the lingam in the Shiva tradition is “only a symbol of the productive and creative principle of nature as embodied in Shiva”, and it has no historical trace in any obscene phallic cult. According to Alex Wayman, various works on Shaivism by some Indian authors, following the Shaiva philosophical texts and spiritual interpretations, “deny that the linga is a phallus.” To the Shaivites, a linga is neither a phallus nor do they practice the worship of erotic penis-vulva; rather, the linga-yoni is a symbol of cosmic mysteries, the creative powers, and the metaphor for the spiritual truths of their faith.” ref
“It has been proposed that certain artifacts found at Harappan sites may be evidence of yoni-linga worship in the Indus Valley Civilization. Lingam/yoni shapes have been recovered from the archaeological sites at Harappa and Mohenjo-daro, part of the Indus Valley civilisation. Some of the stones found in Mohenjodaro are unmistakably phallic stones”. These are dated to some time before 2300 BCE. Similarly, states Chakravarti, the Kalibangan site of Harappa has a small terracotta representation that “would undoubtedly be considered the replica of a modern Shivlinga [a tubular stone].” In the Harappan sites, objects that resemble “lingam” have been found. That includes “a seated trident-headed ithyphallic figure”, which was found on Indus seals, “has been compared to Shiva as meditating ascetic“, states Srinivasan. While Harappan discoveries include “short cylindrical pillars with rounded tops”, there is no evidence that the people of Indus Valley Civilization worshipped these artifacts as lingams.” ref
“It has also been said that the hypotheses of linga and yoni worship by the Harappans have rested on rather slender grounds, and that, for instance, the interpretation of the so-called ring-stones as yonis seems untenable”. With the single exception of the unidentified photography of a realistic phallic object, there is no archaeological evidence to support claims of special sexually-oriented aspects of Harappan religion”. However, a re-examination of Indus Valley sites suggests that the hypothesis cannot be ruled out because erotic and sexual scenes such as ithyphallic males, naked females, a human couple having intercourse, and trefoil imprints have now been identified at the Harappan sites. The “finely polished circular stand” may be a yoni, although it was found without the linga. The absence of linga, states Parpola, may be because it was made from wood, which did not survive. But this relatively rare artifact can be interpreted in many ways. Another Indus stamp seal often called the Pashupati seal, has an image with a general resemblance with Shiva and “the Indus people may well have created the symbolism of the divine phallus”, but given the available evidence we cannot be certain, nor do we know that it had the same meaning as some currently project them to might have meant.” ref
“The word lingam is not found in the Rigveda, or the other Vedas. However, Rudra (proto-Shiva, wind or storms, Vayu, medicine, and the hunt) is found in the Vedic literature. Rudra “mightiest of the mighty” (a comparison with the Old Russian deity Rŭglŭ to reconstruct a Proto-Indo-European wild-god named *Rudlos), the Dancer of the calm and awful dance, who is Kali with her garland of skulls trampling naked in battle and flecked with the blood of the slaughtered Titans, who is the cyclone, the fire, the earthquake, pain, famine, revolution, ruin, and the swallowing ocean. Worship of the lingam was not a part of the Vedic religion. The worship of the lingam originated from the famous hymn in the Atharva Veda Samhita sung in praise of the Yupa-Stambha, the sacrificial post. In that hymn, a description is found of the beginningless and endless Stambha or Skambha, and it is shown that the said Skambha is put in place of the eternal Brahman. Just as the Yajna (sacrificial) fire, its smoke, ashes, and flames, the Soma plant, and the ox that used to carry on its back the wood for the Vedic sacrifice gave place to the conceptions of the brightness of Shiva’s body, his tawny matted hair, his blue throat, and the riding on the bull of the Shiva, the Yupa-Skambha gave place in time to the Shiva-Linga.” ref, ref, ref
“Shiva is one of the most widely known and revered Hindu gods. Shiva is often worshipped as one member of the Holy Trinity of Hinduism, with the gods Brahma (the Creator) and Vishnu (the Protector) being the other deities. But Shiva has different aspects that appear at different times. Shiva is often depicted as the destroyer, and will appear as a naked ascetic accompanied by demons, encircled with serpents and necklaces of skulls. Sometimes Shiva wanders into crematoriums, smears his body with ash, and dances in the light of the funeral pyres, reminding all about the transitory nature of material things. Another common form is that of Dancing Shiva Nataraja. This is Shiva engaged in a cosmic dance. It is believed that the energy from this dance sustains the cosmos, and when Shiva is finished with this dance, this universe will end, and a new one will begin. Sometimes the creative force of Shiva is depicted, and in particular, Shiva is represented by a phallus, known as the lingam.” ref
Nude Paleolithic Art and Fertility Cult
“In the Paleolithic (35,000– 8000 BCE), humans hunted and lived in caves, producing cave paintings. In Paleolithic art, the nude was strongly linked to the cult of fertility, represented by Venus figurines. Most of them come from the Aurignacian and Gravettian periods and are generally carved in limestone, ivory, or steatite. The Venus figurines of Willendorf, Lespugue, Menton, Laussel, etc., stand out. At the male level, the representation of erect phalli in isolated form or in full body was also a sign of fertility, as in the Cerne Abbas Giant (Dorset, England). In cave paintings—especially those developed in the French-Cantabrian and Levantine—hunting scenes are common, or scenes of rites and dances, where the human figure, simplified to stick figures, is sometimes represented, highlighting sexual organs. In the first religions, from the Sumerian to the Egyptian, the ancient cult of Mother Earth was related to the new anthropomorphic deities, linking the feminine form with nature, insofar as both are generators of life. Thus, the Egyptian twin gods Geb and Nut represented the earth and the sky, from whose union all the elements were born. In other cases, the gods are related to cosmological elements, such as the goddess Ishtar with the planet Venus, generally represented naked and winged, with a crescent moon on her head. Other representations of the Mother goddess are usually more or less clothed figures, but with bare breasts, such as the famous Snake Goddess (Heraklion Archaeological Museum), a Minoan statuette from around 1550 BCE. These representations were the starting point for the iconography of Greek and Roman goddesses such as Artemis, Diana, Demeter, and Ceres. In Egypt, nudity was seen naturally, and abounds in representations of court scenes, especially in dances and scenes of feasts and celebrations. But it is also present in religious themes, and many of their gods, represented in anthropomorphic form, appear nude or semi-nude in statues and wall paintings. It also appears in the representation of the human being himself, whether pharaoh or slave, military or civil servant, such as the famous Seated Scribe.” ref
“A Venus figurine is any Upper Palaeolithic statue portraying a woman, usually carved in the round. Most have been unearthed in Europe, but others have been found as far away as Siberia and distributed across much of Eurasia. However, there are some in Aurignacian era, and Magdalenian era, most date from the Gravettian period (26,000–21,000 years ago). However, findings are not limited to this period; for example, the Venus of Hohle Fels dates back at least 35,000 years to the Aurignacian era, and the Venus of Monruz dates back about 11,000 years ago dating to the Magdalenian era, which made many stilized art its nakedness is either suddle or not the focus and yet some of the most sexulized rock art is in the Magdalenian era as well. Upper Palaeolithic female figurines are collectively described as “Venus figurines” in reference to the Roman goddess of beauty Venus. The original cultural meaning and purpose of these artefacts is not known. It has frequently been suggested that they may have served a ritual or symbolic function. There are widely varying and speculative interpretations of their use or meaning: they have been seen as religious figures, an expression of health and fertility, grandmother goddesses, or as self-depictions by female artists. Like many prehistoric artefacts, the exact cultural meaning of these figures may never be known. Archaeologists speculate, however, that they may be symbolic of security and success, hunting magic, fertility cult related, a female clan ancestor, “female Shaman,” spirit being representation, or, less likely, mother goddess.” ref
Ancent DNA
Aurignacian Genetics: Y-DNA C1a, C1b, and K2a, and mt-DNA M, N, R, and U. ref
Gravettian Genetics: Y-DNA CT, I, IJK, BT, C1a2, and F, and mt-DNA M, U5, U2, and U. ref
Magdalenian Genetics: Y-DNA I and HIJK, and mt-DNA U8b, U5b, and U. ref
Paleolithic Y-chromosomal haplogroups by chronological period
- Proto-Aurignacian (47,000 to 43,000 years ago; eastern Europe): F
- Aurignacian Culture (43,000 to 28,000 years ago ; all ice-free Europe): CT, C1a, C1b, I
- Gravettian Culture (31,000 to 24,000 years ago; all ice-free Europe): BT, CT, F, C1a2
- Epiravettian Culture (22,000 to 8,000 years ago; Italy): R1b1a
- Magdalenian Culture 17,000 to 12,000 years ago; Western Europe): IJK, I
- Epipaleolithic France (13,000 to 10,000 years ago): I
- Azilian Culture (12,000 to 9,000 years ago; Western Europe): I2 ref
Paleolithic mitochondrial haplogroups by chronological period
- Proto-Aurignacian (47,000 to 43,000 years ago; eastern Europe): N, R*
- Aurignacian Culture (43,000 to 28,000 years ago; all ice-free Europe): M, U, U2, U6
- Gravettian Culture (31,000 to 24,000 years ago; all ice-free Europe): M, U, U2’3’4’7’8’9, U2, U5, U8c
- Solutrean Culture (22,000 to 17,000 years ago; France, Spain): U
- Epiravettian Culture (22,000 to 8,000 years ago; Italy): U2’3’4’7’8’9, U5b2b
- Magdalenian Culture 17,000 to 12,000 years ago; Western Europe): R0, R1b, U2’3’4’7’8’9, U5b, U8a
- Epipaleolithic France (13,000 to 10,000 years ago): U5b1, U5b2a, U5b2b
- Epipaleolithic Germany (13,000 to 11,000 years ago): U5b1
- Azilian Culture (12,000 to 9,000 years ago; Western Europe): U5b1h ref
Mesolithic Y-chromosomal haplogroups by country
- Ireland: I2a1b, I2a2
- Britain: IJK, I2a2
- France: I, I2a1b2
- Luxembourg: I2a1b
- Germany: I2a2a
- Spain: C1a2
- Italy: I, I2a2
- Sweden: I2a1, I2a1a1a*, I2a1b, I2c2
- Estonia: R1a-YP1272
- Latvia: I2a1, I2a1b, I2a2a1, I2a2a1b, Q1a2, R1b1a1a-P297
- Lithuania: I2a1b, I2a1a2a1a-L233
- Serbia: I, I2, I2a1, I2a2, I2a2a-M223, I2a2a-Z161, R, R1b1a-L794
- Romania: R, R1, R1b
- Ukraine: IJ, I, I2, I2a1, I2a2, I2a2a, I2a2a1b1-L702, R1a, R1b1a-L794
- Russia: J, R1a1*, R1a1-YP1301, R1b1a, R1b1a1a-P297 ref
Mesolithic mitochondrial haplogroups by country
- Croatia: U5b2a5
- France: U5a2 (x2), U5b1, U5b1b
- Germany, Luxembourg: U2e, U4, U5a, U5a2c, U5a2c3, U5b, U5b1a, U5b1d1, U5b2a2, U5b2c1
- Greece: K1c
- Italy: U5b1
- Lithuania: U4, U5b
- Poland: U5a, U5b, U5b1b
- Spain: U5b, U5b1, U5b2c1
- Russia: C, C1g, C5d, D, H, U2e, U4, U4a, U4a1, U5a, U5a1, U5a1d, T, Z1a
- Sweden: U2e1, U4b1, U5a1, U5a2, U5a2d
- Sweden (Pitted Ware): H, H1f, HV0, K1a, K1a1, T2b, U, U4, U4a1, U4d, U5a, U5a1a’g, U5b, U5b1, U5b2b1a ref
“The vagina and vulva have been depicted from prehistory onwards. At a site called Abri Castanet in France, consists mainly of circular carvings most likely meant to represent the vulva. The carvings were etched into the ceiling of a now-collapsed rock shelter about 37,000 years ago. It should be no surprise that early humans decorated their surroundings with symbols of fertility, so the discovery that the oldest rock art ever found in Europe depicts a vulva isn’t exactly making waves. Visual art forms representing the female genitals encompass two-dimensional (e.g. paintings) and three-dimensional (e.g. statuettes). As long ago as 35,000 years ago, people sculpted Venus figurines that exaggerated the abdomen, hips, breasts, thighs, or vulva. Hinduism has created the symbol of the yoni, and this may indicate the value that Hindu society has given female sexuality and the vagina’s ability to birth life. Two-dimensional and three-dimensional representations of the vulva, i.e. paintings and figurines, exist from tens of millennia ago. They are some of the earliest works of prehistoric art. The cave of Chufín located in the town of Riclones in Cantabria (Spain) has prehistoric rock art which may be a depiction of the vulva. The cave was occupied at different periods, the oldest being around 20,000 years ago. Aside from schematic engravings and paintings of animals, there are also many symbols, such as those known as “sticks”. There is also a large number of drawings using points (puntillaje), including one which has been interpreted as a representation of a vulva.” ref, ref
“A Venus figurine is an Upper Paleolithic statuette portraying a woman. Most have been unearthed in Europe, but others have been found as far away as Siberia, extending their distribution across much of Eurasia. Most of them date from the Gravettian period (28,000–22,000 years ago), but examples exist as early as the Venus of Hohle Fels, which dates back at least 35,000 years to the Aurignacian, and as late as the Venus of Monruz, from about 11,000 years ago in the Magdalenian. These figurines were carved from soft stone (such as steatite, calcite or limestone), bone or ivory, or formed of clay and fired. The latter are among the oldest ceramics known. In total, over a hundred such figurines are known; virtually all of modest size, between 4 cm and 25 cm in height. Most of them have small heads, wide hips, and legs that taper to a point. Various figurines exaggerate the abdomen, hips, breasts, thighs, or vulva. In contrast, arms and feet are often absent, and the head is usually small and faceless.” ref
“The ancient Sumerians regarded the vulva as sacred, and a vast number of Sumerian poems praising the vulva of the goddess Inanna have survived. In Sumerian religion, the goddess Nin-imma is the divine personification of female genitalia. Her name literally means “lady female genitals”. She appears in one version of the myth of Enki and Ninsikila in which she is the daughter of Enki and Ninkurra. Enki rapes her and causes her to give birth to Uttu, the goddess of weaving and vegetation. Vaginal fluid is always described in Sumerian texts as tasting “sweet” and, in a Sumerian Bridal Hymn, a young maiden rejoices that her vulva has grown hair. Clay models of vulvae were discovered in the temple of Inanna at Ashur; these models likely served as some form of amulets, possibly to protect against impotency. The vulva is the oldest and most common object in prehistoric art. Carved in stone or painted on cave walls, images of the vulva were created around the world. Vulva—humanity’s first and most sacred symbol—has been almost completely obscured. Even the term for imagery of the vulva (yonic, in case you’re wondering) is obscure. Once revered, the vulva’s inherent power in bringing forth new life made it dangerous, and men tried—and are still trying—to denude it of power, tame, control, and erase it.” ref, ref
“A phallus (pl.: phalli or phalluses) is a penis (especially when erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimetic image of an erect penis. The symbolic version of the phallus, a phallic symbol, is meant to represent male generative powers. In art history, a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic. Any object that symbolically—or, more precisely, iconically—resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic (as in “phallic symbol“). Such symbols often represent fertility and cultural implications that are associated with the male sexual organ, as well as the male orgasm. The term is a loanword from Latin phallus, itself borrowed from Greek φαλλός (phallos), which is ultimately a derivation from the Proto-Indo-European root *bʰel– “to inflate, swell”. Compare with Old Norse (and modern Icelandic) boli, “bull. Figures of Kokopelli and Itzamna (as the Mayan tonsured maize god) in Pre-Columbian America often include phallic content. Additionally, over forty large monolithic sculptures (Xkeptunich) have been documented from Terminal Classic Maya sites.” ref
“The phallus played a role in the cult of Osiris in ancient Egyptian religion. When Osiris’ body was cut in 14 pieces, Set scattered them all over Egypt, and his wife Isis retrieved all of them except one, his penis, which a fish swallowed; Isis made him a wooden replacement. The phallus was a symbol of fertility, and the god Min was often depicted as ithyphallic, that is, with an erect penis. In traditional Greek mythology, Hermes, the god of boundaries and exchange (popularly the messenger god), is considered to be a phallic deity by association with representations of him on herms (pillars) featuring a phallus. There is no scholarly consensus on this depiction, and it would be speculation to consider Hermes a fertility god. Pan, son of Hermes, was often depicted as having an exaggerated erect phallus. Priapus is a Greek god of fertility whose symbol was an exaggerated phallus. The son of Aphrodite and Dionysus, according to Homer and most accounts, he is the protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia.” ref
Hunter-Gatherer Shaman: The Evolution of the “Belief” in Magic
“Magic, or magick, has been a vital part of human culture for thousands of years. From ancient shamanic practices to modern neopagan religions, the practice of using the belief in supernatural powers or rituals thought to influence events has evolved significantly throughout human history. Wherever the Indo-European people traveled, they brought their stories and magic with them. This is evident in the recurring themes and motifs found in Indo-European mythology and folklore, such as the idea of a sky god or goddess, which appears in many myths ranging from Zeus to Dyaus Pita. Magic played an important role in early Indo-European cultures. It was often used to influence the natural world and protect against malevolent spirits or enemies. Examples of magical practices include the use of charms and amulets, divination, and the invocation of deities.Examples of magical practices and beliefs in ancient Indo-European civilizations include the use of runes in Norse mythology, the practice of sacrifice in Vedic religion, and the use of magic spells in ancient Greek and Roman cultures. These practices reflect the close relationship between magic and religion in early human societies.” ref
“The history of magic includes its roots in shamanism and its incorporation into religious and mystery cult practices. Shamanism is an ancient spiritual practice that involves using altered states of consciousness, such as trance or vision, to connect with the spirit world. It is believed to have originated in hunter-gatherer societies as a means of connecting with nature and the divine. Shamans were revered as healers, diviners, and mediators between the human and spirit realms. Shamanism has been practiced in various cultures worldwide, from Siberia to South America. Examples of shamanic practices include drumming, chanting, and the use of psychoactive plants. Beliefs associated with shamanism may include animism, the belief that all things have a spirit, and ancestor worship. Shamanism and magic are closely related, as both involve the use of supernatural powers or rituals to influence events. One of the oldest magical religions in the world Shamanism was present in early Indo-European cultures, as well as in many other cultures around the world. Animism, a common belief system among hunter-gatherer societies, is often associated with shamanic practices.” ref
“A large minority of people in North Asia, particularly in Siberia, follow the religio-cultural practices of shamanism. Some researchers regard Siberia as the heartland of shamanism. The people of Siberia comprise a variety of ethnic groups, many of whom continue to observe shamanistic practices in modern times. Many classical ethnographers recorded the sources of the idea of “shamanism” among Siberian peoples. Siberian shamans’ spirit-journeys (reenacting their dreams wherein they had rescued the soul of the client) were conducted in, e.g., Oroch, Altai, and Nganasan healing séances. Shamanistic practice shows great diversity, even if restricted to Siberia. In some cultures, the music or song related to shamanistic practice may mimic natural sounds, sometimes with onomatopoeia. This holds true for the practices of the noaidi among Sami groups. Although the Sami people live outside of Siberia, many of their shamanistic beliefs and practice shared important features with those of some Siberian cultures. Sound mimesis is not restricted to Siberian cultures and is not necessarily linked to shamanistic beliefs or practices. Yup’ik groups comprise a huge area stretching from Eastern Siberia through Alaska and Northern Canada (including Labrador Peninsula) to Greenland. Like Yup’ik cultures themselves, shamanistic practices reveal diversity, shamanism might include beliefs in soul dualism, where the free-soul of the shaman could fly to celestial or underneath realms, contacting mythological beings, negotiating with them in order to cease calamities or achieve success in hunt.” ref
“See, for example, Inuit throat singing, a game played by women, an example of Inuit music that employs overtone singing, and, in some cases, the imitation of natural sounds (mostly those of animals, e.g. geese). The imitation of animal sounds can also serve such practical reasons as luring game in a hunt. The traditional Siberian shamanic culture of the Yeniseian-speaking Ket people is closely related to that of other Indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Americas. They belong mostly to Y-DNA haplogroup Q-M242. Ket shamanism shared features with those of Turkic and Mongolic peoples. Besides that, there were several types of shamans, differing in function (sacral rites, curing), power, and associated animal (deer, bear). Also among Kets (like at several other Siberian peoples, e.g. Karagas), there are examples of using skeleton symbolics, Hoppál interprets it as a symbol of shamanic rebirth, although it may symbolize also the bones of the loon (the helper animal of the shaman, joining air and underwater world, just like the shaman who travelled both to the sky and the underworld as well). The skeleton-like overlay represented shamanic rebirth, also among some other Siberian cultures. The Altai Turks may be related to neighboring Ugrian, Samoyed, Ket, or Mongols. There may also be ethnographic traces of such a past of these nowadays Turkic-speaking peoples of the Altai. For example, some of them have phallic-erotic fertility rites, and that can be compared to similar rites of Ugrians.” ref
“Religion and alcohol have a complex history. The world’s religions have had different relationships with alcohol, reflecting diverse cultural, social, and religious practices across different traditions. In the writings of the ancient Sumerians, beer was considered a magical brew from the gods, endowing the drinker with health, peace of mind, and happiness. They even had a goddess of beer named Ninkasi. In Babylon, beer was considered a divine drink, a true gift from the Gods. It was also a sign of wealth. In Ancient Egyptian religion, beer and wine were drunk and offered to the gods in rituals and festivals. Beer and wine were also stored with the mummified dead in Egyptian burials. Other ancient religious practices, like Chinese ancestor worship, Sumerian and Babylonian religion, used alcohol as offerings to the gods and to the deceased. The Mesopotamian cultures had various wine gods, and a Chinese imperial edict (c. 1,116 BCE) states that drinking alcohol in moderation is prescribed by Heaven. In the Norse religion, the drinking of ales and meads was important in several seasonal religious festivals, such as Yule and Midsummer, as well as more common festivities like wakes, christenings, and ritual sacrifices called Blóts. In the ancient Mediterranean world, the Cult of Dionysus and the Orphic mysteries used wine as part of their religious practices. During Dionysian festivals and rituals, wine was drunk as a way to reach ecstatic states along with music and dance. Intoxication from alcohol was seen as a state of possession by the spirit of the god of wine, Dionysus. Religious drinking festivals called Bacchanalia were popular in Italy and associated with the gods Bacchus and Liber. These Dionysian rites were frequently outlawed by the Roman Senate. Psychoactive substances may also play a significant part in the development of religion and religious views as well as in rituals. The most common drugs in the historical religions are cannabis and alcohol.” ref, ref, ref
“Beer was invented in Mesopotamia by hunter-gatherers who learned to ferment wild grains. They soon settled in villages to cultivate and brew. The ruins of Mesopotamian civilizations are full of hundreds of clay tablets and artifacts that record the methods and means of making and drinking beer; they even depict drinking councils. Cups and vessels for drinking and manufacturing wine were also found. Archaeologists discovered and deciphered an ode to Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing. This poem contained the oldest known recipe for making beer, using barley from bread. The most ancient depiction of beer drinking is found on a 6,000-year-old clay tablet showing people sipping the beverage through straws from a large communal bowl. Many early states were deeply invested in alcoholic beverages. In focusing on the political instrumentality of these beverages, however, archaeologists have often lost sight of what makes them such an effective tool of statecraft. People seek out alcoholic beverages because of their inebriating potential, their ability to transform people, places, atmospheres, and events. Early states were often deeply invested in the production and distribution of alcoholic beverages. They poured resources and labor into the effort a clear sign that alcoholic beverages were performing crucial work as tools of statecraft. When highlighting the political instrumentality of these beverages, however, we have often lost sight of what makes them such effective tools. People value alcoholic beverages because of the effects that they produce.” ref, ref
Maces originated in the Middle East approximately 12,000 years ago, coinciding with the rise of agricultural and herding/hunting cults. It is also the time of alcohol, slavery, and forced power. Evidence of slavery dates back 11,000 years to the Neolithic Revolution.
“Evidence of slavery predates written records; the practice has existed in many cultures and can be traced back 11,000 years ago due to the conditions created by the invention of agriculture during the Neolithic Revolution. Economists have modeled the circumstances under which slavery (and variants such as serfdom) appear and disappear. In the course of human history, slavery was a typical feature of what many label as civilization. Economic surpluses and high population densities were conditions that made mass slavery viable. And chattel slavery survived longest in the Middle East. Slavery is more common when the tasks are relatively simple and thus easy to supervise, such as large-scale monocrops, such as sugarcane and cotton, in which output depended on economies of scale. This enables systems of labour, such as the gang system in the United States, to become prominent on large plantations where field hands toiled with factory-like precision. The labour market, as institutionalized under contemporary capitalist systems, has been criticized by mainstream socialists and by anarchists, who utilise the term wage slavery as a pejorative or dysphemism for wage labour. Socialists draw parallels between the trade of labour as a commodity and slavery. Cicero is also known to have suggested such parallels. Likewise, Bride kidnapping, Forced marriages, or early marriages are often considered types of slavery.” ref, ref
“Many historical cases of enslavement occurred as a result of breaking the law, becoming indebted, suffering a military defeat, or exploitation for cheaper labor; other forms of slavery were instituted along demographic lines such as race or sex. Slavery has been found in some hunter-gatherer populations, particularly as hereditary slavery, but the conditions of agriculture with increasing social and economic complexity offer greater opportunity for mass chattel slavery. Slavery was institutionalized by the time the first civilizations emerged (such as Sumer in Mesopotamia, which dates back as far as 3500 BCE or 5,500 years ago). Slavery features in the Mesopotamian Code of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BC), which refers to it as an established institution. Slavery occurred in civilizations including ancient Egypt, ancient China, the Akkadian Empire, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, ancient Israel, ancient Greece, ancient India, the Roman Empire, the Arab Islamic Caliphates and Sultanates, Nubia, Aksum the pre-colonial empires of Sub-Saharan Africa, and the pre-Columbian civilizations of the Americas. Ancient slavery consisted of a mixture of debt-slavery, punishment for crime, prisoners of war, child abandonment, and children born to slaves. Slavery was widespread in the ancient world in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and the Americas.” ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
R1b1b (Rb1-V88)
“R1b1b (PF6279/V88; previously R1b1a2) is defined by the presence of SNP marker V88, the discovery of which was announced in 2010 by Cruciani et al. Marcus et al. (2020) provide strong evidence for this proposed model of North to South trans-Saharan movement: The earliest basal R1b-V88 haplogroups are found in several Eastern European Hunter-Gatherers close to 11,000 years ago. The haplogroup then seemingly spread with the expansion of Neolithic farmers, who established agriculture in the Western Mediterranean by around 7500 years ago. R1b-V88 haplogroups were identified in ancient Neolithic individuals in Germany, central Italy, Iberia, and, at a particularly high frequency, in Sardinia. A part of the branch leading to present-day African haplogroups (V2197) was already derived in Neolithic European individuals from Spain and Sardinia, providing further support for a North-to-South trans-Saharan movement. European autosomal ancestry, mtDNA haplogroups, and lactase persistence alleles have also been identified in African populations that carry R1b-V88 at a high frequency, such as the Fulani and Toubou. The presence of European Neolithic farmers in Africa is further attested by samples from Morocco dating from c. 5400 BCE or around 7,400 years ago onwards.” ref
“Apart from individuals in southern Europe and Western Asia, the majority of R-V88 was found in the Sahel, especially among populations speaking Afroasiatic languages of the Chadic branch. Based on a detailed phylogenic analysis, D’Atanasio et al. (2018) proposed that R1b-V88 originated in Europe about 12,000 years ago and crossed to North Africa between 8000 and 7000 years ago, during the ‘Green Sahara‘ period. R1b-V1589, the main subclade within R1b-V88, underwent a further expansion around 5500 years ago, likely in the Lake Chad Basin region, from which some lines recrossed the Sahara to North Africa. Studies in 2005–08 reported “R1b*” at high levels in Jordan, Egypt and Sudan. Subsequent research by Myres et al. (2011) indicates that the samples concerned most likely belong to the subclade R-V88. According to Myres et al. (2011), this may be explained by a back-migration from Asia into Africa by R1b-carrying people. Contrary to other studies, Shriner & Rotimi (2018) associated the introduction of R1b into Chad with the more recent movements of Baggara Arabs.” ref
Ceramic Mesolithic
“In North-Eastern Europe, Siberia, and certain southern European and North African sites, a “ceramic Mesolithic” can be distinguished between c. 9,000 to 5,850 years ago. Russian archaeologists prefer to describe such pottery-making cultures as Neolithic, even though farming is absent. This pottery-making Mesolithic culture can be found peripheral to the sedentary Neolithic cultures. It created a distinctive type of pottery, with a point or knob base and flared rims, manufactured by methods not used by the Neolithic farmers. Though each area of Mesolithic ceramic developed an individual style, common features suggest a single point of origin. The earliest manifestation of this type of pottery may be in the region around Lake Baikal in Siberia. It appeared in the Yelshanka culture on the Volga in Russia 9,000 years ago, and from there spread via the Dnieper-Donets culture to the Narva culture of the Eastern Baltic. Spreading westward along the coastline it is found in the Ertebølle culture of Denmark and Ellerbek of Northern Germany, and the related Swifterbant culture of the Low Countries. A 2012 publication in the Science journal, announced that the earliest pottery yet known anywhere in the world was found in Xianrendong cave in China, dating by radiocarbon to between 20,000 and 19,000 years before present, at the end of the Last Glacial Period. It then pottery moves to Siberia from China and then, from there, west.” ref
Elshanka culture
“The Elshanka culture (Russian: Елшанская культура) was a Subneolithic or very early Neolithic culture that flourished in the middle Volga region in the 7th millennium BCE. The sites are mostly individual graves scattered along the Samara and Sok rivers. They revealed Europe’s oldest pottery. The culture extended along the Volga from Ulyanovsk Oblast in the north through the Samara Bend towards Khvalynsk Hills and the Buzuluk District in the south. No signs of permanent dwellings have been found. Elshanka people appear to have been hunters and fishermen who had seasonal settlements at the confluences of rivers. Most grave goods come from such settlements.” ref
“Elshanka is believed to be the source from which the art of pottery spread south and westward towards the Balkans (with one particularly important site being the Surskoy Island in the Dnieper Rapids where pottery was made from 6200 to 5800 BCE). Elshanka pots, dated from 6700 BCE onwards, usually have simple ornaments, though some have none. They were made “of a clay-rich mud collected from the bottoms of stagnant ponds, formed by the coiling method and were baken in open fires at 450-600 degrees Celsius. A man buried at Lebyazhinka IV (a site usually assigned to the Elshanka culture) had the Haplogroup R1b. I. Vasiliev and A. Vybornov, citing the similarity of pottery, assert that Elshanka people were the descendants of the Zarzian culture who had been ousted from Central Asia by progressive desertification. Other researchers see Elshanka ceramic industry as a local attempt at reproducing Zarzian pots.” ref
“A rapid cooling around 6200 BCE and influences from the Lower Volga region led the Elshanka culture to be succeeded by the Middle Volga culture (with more complex ceramic ornaments) which lasted until the 5th millennium BCE. It was succeeded in the region by the better known Samara culture. Linguist Asko Parpola (2022) associates the Elshanka culture with the Pre-Proto-Indo-European language, stating that Elshanka expanded northwards into the forest zone as the Kama culture, reflecting a migration of Pre-PIE speakers into the Pre-Proto-Uralic-speaking area and thus possibly explaining the Indo-Uralic linguistic parallels.” ref
“The mace, one of the most important weapons and ceremonial artifacts in the Ancient Near East, first appeared in the tenth millennium BCE, during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A. Given the considerable importance of this new evidence for understanding the role and status of the mace in the Ancient Near East, it is timely to present the state of the research that has recently emerged from sites in Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and Jordan.” ref
“The Neolithisation process in Europe resulted in dramatic technological and cultural shifts, which included novel subsistence practices. There are two major groups of models that explain the Neolithisation process: demic diffusion models describe Neolithisation as a colonization process by farmers that is propelled by exponential population growth characteristic of the Neolithic, whereas acculturation models outline the process as one in which at least some of the transition entails Indigenous hunting-foraging groups that adopt farming following periods of variable length during which they interact with neighboring exogenous farmers. Across most of Europe, the Neolithic transition was genetically defined by a profound population replacement, consistent with the demic diffusion of peoples from Anatolia. The Anatolian farmers reached the Balkans and other regions of Southeast Europe in the seventh millennium BCE and subsequently spread further via the Mediterranean and later through the Danube, substantially replacing Indigenous Mesolithic European populations.” ref
“In contrast to Central Europe, areas of Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, Moldova, Western Russia, and Romania, did not adopt agriculture until the Late Neolithic (~ 4500 BCE or around 6,500 years ago), although various sedentary and semi-sedentary hunter-gatherers Mesolithic groups in these regions began using pottery as early as 8500 BCE or around 10,500 years ago. The Cucuteni-Trypillia cultural complex (CTCC) is a grouping of several interrelated Middle Neolithic/Eneolithic archaeological cultures in parts of Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. This complex stretches from the Transylvanian Alps to the Dnieper River and is named for the type-sites of Cucuteni in Iași County, Romania, and Trypillia (also known as Tripolye, in Russian) in Kyiv oblast, Ukraine. The Cucuteni and Trypillia cultures have common roots in the Precucuteni culture; the earliest CTCC sites are found in the piedmont of the Carpathian Mountains, and the earliest radiocarbon dates (from the Precucuteni 2 period) date to around 4800 BCE or around 6,800 years ago. The CTCC originated from the interaction of several Danubian Neolithic groups, with evidence for similarities in house construction, ceramic styles, and lithic artifact production.” ref
“Following the origin of this cultural complex in the Carpathian piedmont, the CTCC eventually occupied a territory covering much of the modern territories of Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania. The first diagnostically Early Trypillia (Trypillia A) sites diverged from the Precucuteni culture ~ 4500 BCE or around 6,500 years ago in the Dniester River valley. Later population movements, occurring from the middle period (Trypillia BI) onward, saw the Trypillia culture expand to Volhynia in the west and the Dnieper River in the east. This territorial expansion is believed to have resulted primarily from demographic increases associated with a successful agropastoral subsistence strategy, and the search for new arable land for cultivation. However, some population growth may have been the product of Trypillian populations incorporating indigenous hunting and gathering (HG) groups, such as members of the Bug-Dneister culture. Another mode of population increase could have been the acculturation of refugees following the collapse of the Neolithic in Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria. During the middle-to-late periods of the Trypillia culture (Trypillia BII to CI; 4100–3400 BCE or around 6,100 to 5,400 years ago), some CTCC groups established extremely large settlements in Central Ukraine, often referred to as “giant-settlements” or “megasites,” which attained sizes of 100–320 ha. Rapid demographic growth within the CTCC around the turn of the fourth millennium BCE necessitated the exploitation of new territories, precipitating migrations to previously peripheral areas.” ref
“Hypotheses for the rise of the megasites, in particular, are varied; it has been suggested that they may have been a defensive response to threats posed by steppe pastoralists or competing sub-groups within the CTCC, or that they simply represent ephemeral episodes of population agglomeration due to large-scale migration from the Dniester region. Even though Trypillian populations established a high density of settlements in Western and Central Ukraine, very few burials have been located. Only a handful of cemeteries dating to the Late Trypillia period were excavated during the 1960s and 1970s, such as Chapaievka in Ukraine and Vykhvatyntsi in Moldova. While these sites give some glimpse into Trypillian mortuary behavior, they are limited in their temporal scope and have not been subjected to modern laboratory analyses. To better understand the origins, connections, and diversity of the CTCC, we collected human remains from three chambers at the site of Verteba Cave (VC) in Ternopil oblast, Ukraine, one of the few sites that contain human remains associated with the CTCC (fig). Accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) 14C dates of human and faunal remains place the Trypillian occupation of VC to between 3950 and 3520 cal BCE or around 5,950 to 5,520 years ago.” ref
“On the basis of the ceramic assemblages present in the cave and a sample of lower-resolution liquid scintillation 14C dates, it is probable that occupation continued for some time into the Late Trypillia (CII) period and Early Bronze Age transition. More recently, AMS radiocarbon dating has also identified deposits at different locations throughout the cave dating to the Mesolithic (7950–7490 cal BCE or around 9,950 to 9,490 years ago), Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Medieval period. Skeletal assemblages were taken from three separate chambers (Site 7, Site 17, and Site 20) of the cave (fig). Each of these chambers contains CTCC material culture; however, burials in the cave are secondary in nature, and disturbance through human activity during antiquity and bioturbation complicate the reconstruction of the cave’s use and chronology. Most individuals in this study come from Site 7, which has been extensively documented through ceramic analysis and radiocarbon dating, with peak occupation dated to periods CI and early CII of the Trypillia periodization (~ 3900–3350 BCE or around 5,900 to 5,350 years ago). Interpretations regarding the use of the cave are varied, including its use as a temporary shelter, ritual site, or mortuary location. There is additional evidence to support the idea that the burials in the cave, which are largely commingled and secondary in nature, are representative of victims of warfare or sacrifice.” ref
“The elite individual from the Yekaterinovsky Cape and the materials of his grave, which seemed quite old:
For the burial of 45 in the laboratory of the University of Pennsylvania, a 14C date was obtained: PSUAMS-2880 (Sample ID 16068)> 30 kDa gelatin Russia. 12, Ekaterinovka Grave 45 14C age 6325 ± 25 δ 13C (‰) –23.6 δ15 N (‰) 14.5. The results of dating suggest chronological proximity with typologically close materials from Yasinovatsky and Nikolsky burial grounds (Telegini et al. 2001: 126). The date obtained also precedes the existing dates for the Khvalynsk culture (Morgunova 2009: 14–15), which, given the dominance of Mariupol traits of the burial rite and inventory, confirms its validity. However, the date obtained for human bones does not exclude the possibility of a “reservoir effect” when the age can increase three or more centuries (Shishlin et al. 2006: 135–140).” ref
“Now the same date is being confirmed by the latest study published on the site, by Korolev, Kochkina, and Stachenkov (2019) and it seems it is really going to be old. Abstract (in part the official one, in part newly translated for clarity):
For the first time, pottery of the Early Eneolithic burial ground Ekaterinovsky Cape is published. Ceramics were predominantly located on the sacrificial sites in the form of compact clusters of fragments. As a rule, such clusters were located above the burials, sometimes over the burials, some were sprinkled with ocher. The authors have identified more than 70 vessels, some of which have been partially reconstructed. Ceramic was made with inclusion of the crushed shell into molding mass. The rims of vessels had the thickened «collar»; the bottoms had a rounded shape. The ornament was located on the rims and the upper part of the potteries. Fully decorated vessels are rare. The vessels are ornamented with prints of comb and rope stamps, with small pits. A particularity of ceramics ornamentation is presented by the imprints of soft stamps (leather?) or traces of leather form for the making of vessels. The ornamentation, made up of «walking comb» and incised lines, was used rarely as well as the belts of pits made decoration under «collar» of a rim. Some features of the ceramics decoration under study relate it with ceramics of the Khvalynsk culture. The ceramics of Ekaterinovsky Cape burial ground is attributed by the authors to the Samara culture. The ceramic complex under study has proximity to the ceramics from Syezzhe burial ground and the ceramics of the second phase of Samara culture. The chronological position is determined by the authors as a later period than the ceramics from the Syezzhe burial ground, and earlier than the chronological position of ceramics of the Ivanovka stage of the Samara culture and the Khvalynsk culture.” ref
“More specifically:
Based on ceramic fragments from a large vessel from a cluster of sq.m. 14, the date received was: SPb-2251–5673 ± 120 years ago. The second date was obtained in fragments from the aggregation [see picture above] from the cluster of sq.m. 45–46: SPb-2252–6372 ± 100 years ago. The difference in dating indicates that the process of determining the chronology of the burial ground is far from complete, although we note that the earlier date almost coincided with the date obtained from the human bone from individual 45 (Korolev, Kochkina, Stashenkov, 2018, p. 300). Therefore, the ceramics of the burial ground Ekaterinovsky Cape possess an originality that determines the chronological position of the burial ground between the earliest materials of the burial type in Syezzhe and the Khvalynsk culture. Techno-typological features of dishes make it possible to attribute it to the Samara culture at the stage preceding the appearance of Ivanovska-Khvalynsk ceramics.” ref
“It seems that this site showed cultural influences from the upstream region near the Kama-Vyatka interfluve, too, according to Korolev, Kochkina, Stashenkov, and Khokhlov (2018):
In 2017, excavation of burial ground Ekaterinovsky Cape were continued, located in the area of the confl uence of the Bezenchuk River in the Volga River. During the new excavations, 14 burials were studied. The skeleton of the buried were in a position elongated on the back, less often – crooked on the back with knees bent at the knees. In one burial (No. 90), a special position of the skeleton was recorded. In the burial number 90 in the anatomical order, parts of the male skeleton. This gave grounds for the reconstruction of his original position in a semi-sitting position with the support of elbows on the bottom of the pit. Noteworthy inventory: on the pelvic bones on the left lay a bone spoon, near the right humerus, the pommel of a cruciform club was found.A conclusion is made about the high social status of the buried. The results of the analysis of the burial allow us to outline the closest circle of analogies in the materials of Khvalynsky I and Murzikhinsky burial grounds.” ref
“The older Khvalynsk I Khvalynsk II individuals, supposedly dated ca. 5200-4000 BCE (most likely after 4700 BCE), and younger Yekaterinovsky individuals, supposedly of the fourth quarter of the 5th millennium (ca. 4250-4000 BCE), are possibly to be considered, in fact, roughly reversed, if not chronologically, at least culturally speaking. Interestingly, this gives a new perspective to the presence of a rare fish- or reptile-headed pommel-scepter, which would be natural in a variable period of expansion of the horse and horse-related symbolism, a cultural trait rooted in the Samara culture attested in Syezzhe before the unification of the symbol of power under the ubiquitous Khvalynsk-Suvorovo horse-headed scepters and related materials.” ref
The Khvalynsk chieftain
“If the reported lineages from Yekaterinovsky Cape are within the R1b-P297 tree, but without further clades, as Yleaf comparisons may suggest, there is not much change to what we have, and R1b-M269 could actually represent a part of the local population, but also incomers from the south (e.g. the north Caspian steppe hunter-gatherers like Kairshak), the east (with hunter-gatherer pottery), or the west near the Don River (in contact with Mariupol-related cultures, as the authors inferred initially from material culture). Just like R1a-M417 became incorporated into the Sredni Stog groups after the Novodanilovka-Suvorovo expansion, probably as incoming hunter-gatherer pottery groups from the north admixing with peoples of “Steppe ancestry”, R1b-M269 lineages might have expanded explosively only during the Repin expansion, and maybe (like R1b-L51 later) they formed just a tiny part of the clans that dominated the steppe during the Khvalynsk-Novodanilovka community.” ref
“On the other hand, the potential finding of various R1b-M269/L23 samples in Yekaterinovsky Cape (including an elite individual) would suggest now, as it was supported in the original report by Mathieson et al. (2015), that these ancient R1b lineages found in the Volga – Ural region are in fact most likely all R1b-M269 without enough coverage to obtain proper SNP calls, which would simplify the picture of Neolithic expansions (yet again). From the supplementary materials:
10122 / SVP35 (grave 12). Male (confirmed genetically), age 20-30, positioned on his back with raised knees, with 293 copper artifacts, mostly beads, amounting to80% of the copper objects in the combined cemeteries of Khvalynsk I and II.Probably a high-status individual, his Y-chromosome haplotype, R1b1, also characterized the high-status individuals buried under kurgans in later Yamnaya graves in this region, so he could be regarded as a founder of an elite group of patrilineally related families.His MtDNA haplotype H2a1 is unique in the Samara series.” ref
“This remarkable Khvalynsk chieftain, whose rich assemblage may correspond to the period of domination of the culture all over the Pontic-Caspian steppes, has been consistently reported as of hg. R1b-L754 in all publications, including Wang et al. (2018/2019) tentative SNP calls in the supplementary materials (obtained with Yleaf, as the infamous Narasimhan et al. 2018 samples), but has been variously reported by amateurs as within the R1b-M73, R1b-V88, or (lately) R1b-V1636 trees, which makes it unlikely that quality of the sample is allowing for a proper SNP call. The fact that Mathieson et al. (2015) considered it a member of the R1b-M269 clans appearing later in Yamna seems on point right now, especially if samples from Yekaterinovka are all within this tree. The relevance of R1b-L23 in the expansion of Repin and Yamna is reminiscent of the influence of successful clans among Yamna offshoots, such as Bell Beakers, and among Bell Beaker offshoots during the Bronze Age all over Europe.” ref
“Taking these younger expansions as example, it seems quite likely based on cultural links that (at least part of) the main clans of Khvalynsk were of R1b-M269 lineage, stemming from a R1b-dominated Samara culture, in line with the known succeeding expansions and the expected strictly patriarcal and patrilineal society of Proto-Indo-Europeans, which would have exacerbated the usual reduction in Y-chromosome haplogroup variability that happens during population expansions, and the aversion towards foreign groups while the culture lasted. The finding of R1b-L23 in Yekaterinovka, associated with the Samara culture, before or during the Khvalynsk expansion, and close to the Khvalynsk site, would make this Khvalynsk chieftain most likely a member of the M269 tree (paradoxically, the only R1b-L754 branch amateurs have not yet reported for it).” ref
“Similarly, the sample of a “Samara hunter-gatherer” of Lebyazhinka, of hg. R1b-P297, could also be under this tree, just like most R1b-M269 from Yamna are downstream from R1b-L23, and most reported R1b-M269 or R1b-L23 from Bell Beakers are under R1b-L151. On the other hand, we know of the shortcomings of attributing a haplogroup expansion to the best known rulers, such as the famous lineages previously wrongly attributed to Niall of the Nine Hostages or Genghis Khan. The known presence of R1b-V1636 up to modern Greeks would be in line with an ancient steppe expansion that we know will show up during the Neolithic, although it could also be a sign of a more recent migration from the Caucasus. The presence of a sister clade of R1b-L23, R1b-PF7562, among modern Balkan populations, may also be attributed to a pre-Yamna steppe expansion.” ref
Domesticated sheep and goats in the steppe cultures
“Despite later gene exchange between different regions, modern goats in Europe, Africa, and Asia still show genetic similarities to the samples from western, southern, and eastern Neolithic sites respectively. This indicates that goats migrated across Europe from Turkey, to Asia from Iran, and to Africa from the Levant. Migrations occurred gradually as pastoralists settled into new regions. Goats and farming spread northwards along the Danube to reach western Europe and Scandinavia by 4000–5000 years ago. A Mediterranean route brought goats to Italy and Spain around 7500 years ago. Goats from the Levant migrated to Africa, crossing the Sinai to North Africa 7000 years ago. Mediterranean travelers also brought goats to the northern African coast. The grasslands of the Sahara allowed pastoralism to thrive before desertification drove herders south, reaching South Africa by 2000 years ago. Goats from the eastern Fertile Crescent crossed the Khyber Pass into the Indian subcontinent, then traveled over land and by sea to southeast Asia. Migrants over the Eurasian Steppe brought goats to Mongolia and China by 4500 years ago.” ref
“The Samara (Copper Age) culture, dating to the turn of the 5th millennium BCE, is characterized by the remains of animal sacrifice, which occur over most of the sites. There is no indisputable evidence of riding, but there were horse burials, the earliest in the Old World. Typically, the head and hooves of cattle, sheep, and horses are placed in shallow bowls over the human grave, smothered with ochre. Some have seen the beginning of the horse sacrifice in these remains, but this interpretation has not been more definitely substantiated. It is known that the Indo-Europeans sacrificed both animals and people, like many other cultures.” ref
“Not enough Samara culture dates and sites exist to settle the question. After c. 4,500 BCE, Khvalynsk culture united the lower and middle Volga sites, keeping domesticated sheep, goats, cattle, and maybe horses.” ref
“A brief comment about the fauna is required. A separate international archaeological project studied sites dated to the mid — 6th millennium BCE in the Severskiy Donets basin (Starobelsk I, Novoselovka III) northeast of Razdolnoe, and found that they had hunting and gathering economies that made use of Unio shellfish, fish, and turtles, like the Neolithic occupation at Razdolnoe. But the Donets sites had no domesticated animal species. The author argued that the cultures of the Donets and lower Don basins in the 6th millennium BC probably had no domesticated animals, and that the domesticated sheep-goat bones identified at Semenovka, west of Razdolnoe, and dated to 5500 calBCE, probably were mis-identified and actually came from wild saiga antelope (Motuzaite- Matuzeviciute 2012: 14). This suggestion was made on the basis of a single bone identified as sheep-goat at Semenovka by O.P. Zhuravlev (not N.S. Kotova as Motuzaite-Matuzeviciute wrote) and sent out for radiocarbon dating, that was re-examined by Cambridge University archaeozoologists.” ref
“Regardless of which identification is correct,a single bone is insufficient to cast doubt on sheep-goat bones identified at Sredni Stog 1, Sobachki, and other Neolithic sites in the Dnieper valley. Nevertheless, yet another international collaboration that studied the economy of Dereivka in the Dnieper valley argued thatthe economy of Eneolithic Dereivka site, which they dated to about 3500 calBC (ignoring 10 radiocarbon dates between 4200—3700 calBC), was still at an «initial phase of animal domestication» and that the Dereivka occupants of 3500 calBC were still largely dependent on hunting and fishing(Mileto et al. 2017: 67—68).” ref
“The dated Bos calf in the lower occupation level at Razdolnoe shows thatdomesticated animals were present in the Kalmius river valley in the Azov steppes in 5500 calBCE, at a time when the cultures of the Donets valley were still hunters and gatherers just 200 km to the northeast of Razdolnoe. Sheep-goat and Bos bones were found in all Neolithic and Eneolithic levels at Razdolnoe.Because it was a small excavation, this evidence should not be over-interpreted. We cannot say how important domesticated animals were in the daily diet. But domesticated sheep-goat and cows had reached the Azov steppes by 5500 calBCE. The appearance of cattle and sheep-goat as sacrificial animals in graves of the Khvalynsk Culture on the Volga by the early 5th millennium BCE probably was a continuation of the spread of animal herding eastward from the Azov steppes.” ref
Kurgan Hypothesis
“The Kurgan hypothesis (also known as the Kurgan theory or Kurgan model) or Steppe theory is the most widely accepted proposal to identify the Proto-Indo-European homeland from which the Indo-European languages spread out throughout Europe and parts of Asia. It postulates that the people of a Kurgan culture in the Pontic steppe north of the Black Sea were the most likely speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE). The term is derived from the Russian kurgan (курга́н), meaning tumulus or burial mound. The Steppe theory was first formulated by Otto Schrader (1883) and V. Gordon Childe (1926), then systematized in the 1950s by Marija Gimbutas, who used the term to group various prehistoric cultures, including the Yamnaya (or Pit Grave) culture and its predecessors. In the 2000s, David Anthony instead used the core Yamnaya culture and its relationship with other cultures as a point of reference.” ref
“Gimbutas defined the Kurgan culture as composed of four successive periods, with the earliest (Kurgan I) including the Samara and Seroglazovo cultures of the Dnieper–Volga region in the Copper Age (early 4th millennium BCE). The people of these cultures were nomadic pastoralists, who, according to the model, by the early 3rd millennium BCE had expanded throughout the Pontic–Caspian steppe and into Eastern Europe. Recent genetics studies have demonstrated that populations bearing specific Y-DNA haplogroups and a distinct genetic signature expanded into Europe and South Asia from the Pontic-Caspian steppe during the third and second millennia BCE. These migrations provide a plausible explanation for the spread of at least some of the Indo-European languages, and suggest that the alternative Anatolian hypothesis, which places the Proto-Indo-European homeland in Neolithic Anatolia, is less likely to be correct.” ref
“Cultures that Gimbutas considered as part of the “Kurgan culture”:
- Bug–Dniester (6th millennium)
- Samara (5th millennium)
- Khvalynsk (5th millennium)
- Dnieper–Donets (5th to 4th millennia)
- Sredny Stog (mid-5th to mid-4th millennia)
- Maikop–Dereivka (mid-4th to mid-3rd millennia)
- Yamnaya (Pit Grave): This is itself a varied cultural horizon, spanning the entire Pontic–Caspian steppe from the mid-4th to the 3rd millennium.
- Usatovo culture (late 4th millennium)” ref
Horse Burial and Elite Hierarchy 7,000 years ago
“Samara culture was contemporaneous with its successor culture in the region, the early Khvalynsk culture (4700–3800 BCE), while the archaeological findings seem related to those of the Dniepr-Donets II culture (5200/5000–4400/4200 BCE). Samara culture had animal sacrifice, which occurred at most of the sites. There is no indisputable evidence of riding, but there were horse burials, the earliest in the Old World. Horse sacrifice is known to be a practice among the Indo-Europeans, who sacrificed both animals and people, as is common in many other cultures. The history of horse breeding goes back millennia. Though the precise date is in dispute, humans could have domesticated the horse as far back as approximately 4500 BCE. However, evidence of planned breeding has a more blurry history. Khvalynsk Eneolithic in the Volga steppes: 5200-4000 BCE (95.4% confidence). Bones of domesticated cattle, sheep, goat, and horses of uncertain status were included in 28 human graves and in 10 sacrificial deposits. The 367 copper artifacts in the graves, mostly beads and rings, are the oldest copper objects in the Volga-Ural steppes, and trace elements and manufacturing methods in a few objects suggest trade with southeastern Europe, which increased in SE Europe after 4700 BCE. Male age 20-30, with 293
copper artifacts, mostly beads, amounting to 80% of the copper objects in the combined cemeteries of Khvalynsk I and II. Probably a high-status individual, R1b1, also characterized the high-status individuals buried under kurgans in later Yamnaya graves in this region, so he could be regarded as a founder of an elite group of
patrilineally related families.”
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Proto-Indo-European Society was Hierarchical
I surmise that the first Proto-king originated in the Balkans, as evidenced by the Varna culture’s Bulgarian cemetery, which dates back approximately 6,500 years. Alternatively, it may have begun with the apparent connections between Varna culture and the Khvalynsk culture, as well as the Samara culture, which seem to express a patriarchal, patrilocal, and patrilineal social fabric.
“Starting around 8,500 years ago, agriculture spread into Europe from the southeast, accompanied by a movement of people from Anatolia. “In some places, hunter-gatherers and incoming farmers seem to have mixed very quickly,” says first author Iain Mathieson, a geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania, “but mostly the two groups remained isolated. sampling of forty hunter-gatherers and early farmers from six archaeological sites from the Iron Gates region, which straddles the border of present-day Romania and Serbia. The genetic results show that the region witnessed intensive interaction between hunter-gatherers and farmers. Out of four individuals from the site of Lepenski Vir, for example, two had entirely Anatolian farmer-related ancestry, fitting with isotope evidence that they were migrants from outside the Iron Gates region, while a third individual had a mixture of ancestries and consumed aquatic resources, as expected if farmers were being integrated into hunter-gatherer groups or were adopting a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. These results reveal the relationship between migrations, admixture, and subsistence in the this key region and show that even within early European farmers, individuals differed in their ancestry, reflecting a dynamic mosaic of hunter-farmer interbreeding. ancient DNA from the people who lived at iconic archaeological sites such as Varna, one of the first places in the world where there is evidence of extreme wealth inequality, with one individual from whom the study obtained data buried with more gold than all other known burials of the period. The DNA from the famous Varna burial is genetically similar to that of other early European farmers. However, we also find one individual from Varna and several individuals at neighboring sites in Bulgaria who had ancestry from the eastern European steppe. This is the earliest evidence of steppe ancestry this far west—two thousand years before the mass migration from the steppe that replaced more than half of the population of northern Europe.”
“According to a 2015 study, a hunter-gatherer from Samara (dated 5640-5555 cal BCE) belonging to haplogroup R1b1(*) was ancestral for both haplogroups R-M269 and R-M478. R1b-M269 with the appearance of the Dnieper-Donets culture (c. 5100-4300 BCE). This was the first truly Neolithic society in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe. Domesticated animals (cattle, sheep, and goats) were herded throughout the steppes, and funeral rituals were elaborate. Dnieper-Donets culture with the previous Mesolithic hunter-gatherers, and at the same time an influence from the Balkans and Carpathians, with regular imports of pottery and copper objects. It is therefore more likely that Dnieper-Donets marked the transition of indigenous R1a and/or I2a1b people to early agriculture, perhaps with an influx of Near Eastern farmers from ‘Old Europe’. The first clearly Proto-Indo-European cultures were the Khvalynsk (5200-4500 BCE) and Sredny Stog (4600-3900 BCE) cultures in the Pontic-Caspian Steppe. Towards the end of the 5th millennium, an elite started to develop with cattle, horses, and copper used as status symbols. It is at the turn of the Khvalynsk and Sredny Stog periods that R1b-M269’s main subclade, L23, is thought to have appeared, around 4,500 BCE. 99% of Indo-European R1b descends from this L23 clade. The other branch descended from M269 is PF7562, which is found mostly in the Balkans, Turkey, and Armenia today, and may represent an early Steppe migration to the Balkans dating from the Sredny Stog period.”
“T1 (T-L206) – the numerically dominant primary branch of T-M184 – appears to have originated in Western Asia, and spread from there into East Africa, South Asia, Europe, Egypt, and adjoining regions. T1* may have expanded with the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B culture (PPNB), which originated in West Asia. The elite male from Grave 43 (c. 4495 BCE) belonged to the paternal (Y-DNA) haplogroup T-M184, and other male samples from the Varna necropolis belonged to the Y-DNA haplogroups I2a1, I2a2, G2a, T1a, E1b1b, and R1b-V88.”
“The Varna culture had sophisticated religious beliefs about the afterlife and developed hierarchical status differences. It has the oldest known burial evidence of an elite male (Grave 43). Some authors have described the Varna elite males as ‘kings’. The end of the fifth millennium BCE is the time that Marija Gimbutas, founder of the Kurgan hypothesis, claims the cultural advance to male dominance began in Europe. The high status male was buried with remarkable amounts of gold, held a war axe or mace and wore a gold penis sheath or possibly a decorative (gold) belt tip. The bull-shaped gold platelets perhaps also venerated virility, instinctive force, warfare, and a proto-castle cult.”
My map of how Mace heads that start in Turkey at Körtik Tepe 12,000 years ago go into Egypt and Ukraine at around 8,000 years ago, also taking the mace, ideas of male elites, Supreme god/high god/sun god/sky god, and several mythologies similar to proto-Indo-European mythology, (seeming to confirm it started in the area of East Turkey/South of the Caucasus Mountains as many think related to the Anatolian hypothesis 9,000 years ago or so).
These ideas went east to Siberia, then China, around 5,000 years ago, the time sun symbols show up in Siberia and Mongolia, and the mace gets to China, with ideas of kings too. These new cultural ideas went to North America around 5,000 years ago, seen in Q DNA, but also ideas of elites and the labrets, first seen 11,000 years ago at Boncuklu Höyük. There were two intersections of ideas in pre-Egypt 8,000 R1b-v88 DNA, and then ideas related to Iraq and the Caucasus Mountain cultures 6,000 years ago. As the Mace heads in Egypt seem to start 6,000 years ago, Amratian/Naqada I culture, the mace must have gone to Egypt around 6,000 years ago, and likely some evolved mythology as well.
Also, Early European Farmers, a group of Anatolian Neolithic Farmers, brought agriculture to Europe and then Northwest Africa. In northwestern Africa, lifestyle transitioned from foraging to food production around 7,400 years ago, but what sparked that change remains unclear. The earliest basal R1b-V88 haplogroups were found in several Eastern European hunter-gatherers approximately 11,000 years ago; this DNA then migrated into Ukraine around 8,000 years ago. The haplogroup then seemingly spread with the expansion of Neolithic farmers, who established agriculture in the Western Mediterranean by around 7500 years ago.
I will add that R1b-v88 also came into North Africa through southern Europe, and moved to Chad, but I think it could have been both, as I see ideas moving a lot. I am open to it being just from the Northwest, it is still expressing that R1b-v88 brought more than just agriculture and pottery, it brought ideas of elites and the Supreme God, too. What I am saying. Elites and High Gods were invented in the Middle East, with or around the time of agriculture, is my reasoned speculation. Anatolian Neolithic farmers is a better word choice than Early European Farmers; calling them ANF, as EEF implies admixture to some extent. But both are used interchangeably.
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Mistress of Wild Animals
“The Mistress of Wild Animals is similar to the Master of Animals motif seen in ancient art commonly showing a human between and grasping two confronted animals. There are other versions of animal domination or companionship. It is very widespread in the art of the Ancient Near East and Egypt. The Mistress/Master figure is commonly shown as human or half-human, the animals may be realistic or fantastical, and the figure may have animal elements such as horns, or an animal’s upper body. Unless he is shown with specific divine attributes, he is typically described as a hero, although what the motif represented to the cultures which created the works probably varies greatly.” ref
“The Mistress of the Wild Animals (Potnia theron) or Queen of the Wild Bees appears under many names. Her Minoan name was Britomartis or Sweet Virgin and she was related to Dictynna. The name Potnia is known from the Linear script B tablets and was used for the principal Mycenaean female deity. The type of goddess who — in iconography — was surrounded by animals, and who appeared in archaic Greek art, was usually called Potnia theron, or sometimes Artemis.” ref
“The Potnia Theron (Ancient Greek: Ἡ Πότνια Θηρῶν, “The Animal Mistress”) or Mistress of Animals is a widespread motif in ancient art from the Mediterranean world and the ancient Near East, showing a central human, or human-like, female figure who grasps two animals, one to each side. Although the connections between images and concepts in the various ancient cultures concerned remain very unclear, such images are often referred to by the Greek term Potnia Theron regardless of the culture of origin. The term is first used once by Homer as a descriptor of Artemis and often used to describe female divinities associated with animals. The word Potnia, meaning mistress or lady, was a Mycenaean Greek word inherited by Classical Greek, with the same meaning, cognate to Sanskrit patnī. The oldest such depiction, the Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük, is a clay sculpture from Çatalhöyük in modern Turkey, made c 6,000 BC. This motif is more common in later Near Eastern and Mesopotamian art with a male figure, called the Master of Animals.” ref
“During the fifteenth century BCE, the Mycenaeans, heavily influenced by Minoan culture, presented the Mistress of Animals in a Minoan manner and with her usual sacred symbols. However, by the Late Mycenaean period, the old type of deity flanked by animals was forgotten. On wall-paintings, the goddess is sometimes accompanied by a griffin, but generally, new iconographical religious themes and types were applied. The Mistress of Animals, a counterpart of the Master of Animals, is usually described as a hunting deity, but some authors associate her not only with wild animals, snakes, and birds, but further with a sacred tree and pillar, with poppy and some lily, and eventually, she looked like a Mistress of Trees and Mountains. M.P. Nilsson believed that she was an earlier form of the Minoan Mother of Mountains. The Mycenaeans adopted the iconographical type of the Mistress of Animals and applied it to the goddess of nature, who was represented with vegetation — mainly palms and papyrus flowers. The archaic Greeks, following the tradition, used the old iconographical scheme with their own aesthetic program, but over time the name of Potnia Theron and her attributes and functions were integrated into Artemis.” ref
“Minoan seal reliefs depict the Mistress of Animals in frontal position with raised hands, turning the lower part of her body, and dressed in a Minoan skirt. She is flanked by animals, a double ax, and snakes, which are evidence of her divinity. Her close relationship with nature and her domination over animals is illustrated on the relief — one of the griffins, accompanying the deity, is suckling her breast. Another representation on a golden ring shows the deity with a galloping griffin. The griffins, the same as the beasts, became followers of the divinity and also function as her guardians. Occasionally, the mythical animals and the wild animals are depicted on their own, or with some religious equipment (such as an altar or a column), which provides information about the presence of the deity or about her sacred places. In early archaic Greek art, the Mistress of Animals emerges again. The relief on the pithos of Thebes shows her in a frontal position with raised hands, accompanied by lions and two small human figures, while a Boeotian vase illustrates her domination over many kinds of animals. Necklace plaques, decorated with the Mistress of Animals, and dating from the second half of the seventh century BCE, present her with wings in a daedalic style, surrounded by lions, or with a body of bees without the company of animals. Finally, the vase by the François painter depicts the type of deity with wings again, holding a lion and a deer, but in this situation, she is sometimes Potnia Theron and sometimes Artemis.” ref
“Homer’s mention of Potnia Theron refers to Artemis; Walter Burkert describes this mention as “a well-established formula”. An Artemis-type deity, a “Mistress of the Animals”, is often assumed to have existed in prehistoric religion and often referred to as Potnia Theron with some scholars positing a relationship between Artemis and goddesses depicted in Minoan art. An early example of Italian Potnia theròn is in the Museo civico archeologico di Monte Rinaldo in Italy: a plate illustrates a goddess that wears a long dress and holds hands with two lionesses. In the Aeneid, Virgil mentions that inside of Psychro’s Cave, in Crete, lived the goddess Cybele whose chariot was drawn by two lions.” ref
“No contemporary text or myth survives to attest the original character and nature of Cybele’s Phrygian cult. She may have evolved from a statuary type found at Çatalhöyük in Anatolia, dated to the 6th millennium BC and identified by some as a mother goddess. In Phrygian art of the 8th century BC, the cult attributes of the Phrygian mother-goddess include attendant lions, a bird of prey, and a small vase for her libations or other offerings. The inscription Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya at a Phrygian rock-cut shrine, dated to the first half of the 6th century BC, is usually read as “Mother of the mountain”, a reading supported by ancient classical sources, and consistent with Cybele as any of several similar tutelary goddesses, each known as “mother” and associated with specific Anatolian mountains or other localities: a goddess thus “born from stone”. She is ancient Phrygia’s only known goddess, the divine companion or consort of its mortal rulers, and was probably the highest deity of the Phrygian state. Her name, and the development of religious practices associated with her, may have been influenced by cult to the deified Sumerian queen Kubaba.” ref
“In the 2nd century AD, the geographer Pausanias attests to a Magnesian (Lydian) cult to “the mother of the gods”, whose image was carved into a rock-spur of Mount Sipylus. This was believed to be the oldest image of the goddess, and was attributed to the legendary Broteas. At Pessinos in Phrygia, the mother goddess—identified by the Greeks as Cybele—took the form of an unshaped stone of black meteoric iron, and may have been associated with or identical to Agdistis, Pessinos’ mountain deity. This was the aniconic stone that was removed to Rome in 204 BC. Images and iconography in funerary contexts, and the ubiquity of her Phrygian name Matar (“Mother”), suggest that she was a mediator between the “boundaries of the known and unknown”: the civilized and the wild, the worlds of the living and the dead. Her association with hawks, lions, and the stone of the mountainous landscape of the Anatolian wilderness, seem to characterize her as mother of the land in its untrammeled natural state, with power to rule, moderate or soften its latent ferocity, and to control its potential threats to a settled, civilized life. Anatolian elites sought to harness her protective power to forms of ruler-cult; in Lydia, her cult had possible connections to the semi-legendary king Midas, as her sponsor, consort, or co-divinity. As protector of cities, or city states, she was sometimes shown wearing a mural crown, representing the city walls. At the same time, her power “transcended any purely political usage and spoke directly to the goddess’ followers from all walks of life”.” ref
Some Phrygian shaft monuments are thought to have been used for libations and blood offerings to Cybele, perhaps anticipating by several centuries the pit used in her taurobolium and criobolium sacrifices during the Roman imperial era. Over time, her Phrygian cults and iconography were transformed, and eventually subsumed, by the influences and interpretations of her foreign devotees, at first Greek and later Roman. From around the 6th century BC, cults to the Anatolian mother-goddess were introduced from Phrygia into the ethnically Greek colonies of western Anatolia, mainland Greece, the Aegean islands, and the westerly colonies of Magna Graecia. The Greeks called her Mātēr or Mētēr (“Mother”), or from the early 5th century Kubelē; in Pindar, she is “Mistress Cybele the Mother”. In Homeric Hymn 14 she is “the Mother of all gods and all human beings.” Walter Burkert places her among the “foreign gods” of Greek religion, a complex figure combining the Minoan-Mycenaean tradition with the Phrygian cult imported directly from Asia Minor. In Greece, as in Phrygia, she was a “Mistress of animals” (Potnia Therōn), with her mastery of the natural world expressed by the lions that flank her, sit in her lap or draw her chariot. She was readily assimilated to the Minoan-Greek earth-mother Rhea, “Mother of the gods”, whose raucous, ecstatic rites she may have acquired. As an exemplar of devoted motherhood, she was partly assimilated to the grain-goddess Demeter, whose torchlight procession recalled her search for her lost daughter, Persephone; but she also remained a Phrygian and outsider, “Mother of the Mountains” as well as “Mother of all”.” ref
“As with other deities viewed as foreign introductions, the spread of Cybele’s cult was attended by conflict and crisis. Herodotus says that when Anacharsis returned to Scythia after traveling and acquiring knowledge among the Greeks in the 6th century BC, his brother, the Scythian king, put him to death for joining the cult. In Athenian tradition, the city’s metroon was founded around 500 BC to placate Cybele, who had visited a plague on Athens when one of her wandering priests was killed for his attempt to introduce her cult. The account may have been a later invention to explain why a public building was dedicated to an imported deity, as the earliest source is the Hymn To The Mother Of The Gods (362 AD) by the Roman emperor Julian. Her cults most often were funded privately, rather than by the polis. Her “vivid and forceful character” and association with the wild set her apart from the Olympian gods. Cybele’s early Greek images are small votive representations of her monumental rock-cut images in the Phrygian highlands. She stands alone within a naiskos, which represents her temple or its doorway, and is crowned with a polos, a high, cylindrical hat. A long, flowing chiton covers her shoulders and back. She is sometimes shown with lion attendants. Around the 5th century BC, Agoracritos created a fully Hellenised and influential image of Cybele that was set up in the Athenian agora. It showed her enthroned, with a lion attendant, and a tympanon, the hand drum that was a Greek introduction to her cult and a salient feature in its later developments.” ref
“For the Greeks, the tympanon was a marker of foreign cults, suitable for rites to Cybele, her close equivalent Rhea, and Dionysus; of these, only Cybele holds the tympanon herself. She appears with Dionysus, as a secondary deity in Euripides‘ Bacchae, 64 – 186, and Pindar‘s Dithyramb II.6 – 9. In the Bibliotheca formerly attributed to Apollodorus, Cybele is said to have cured Dionysus of his madness. Their cults shared several characteristics: the foreigner-deity arrived in a chariot, drawn by exotic big cats (Dionysus by tigers, Cybele by lions), accompanied by wild music and an ecstatic entourage of exotic foreigners and people from the lower classes. At the end of the 1st century BC Strabo notes that Rhea-Cybele’s popular rites in Athens were sometimes held in conjunction with Dionysus’ procession. Both were regarded with caution by the Greeks, as having distinctly un-Hellenic temperaments, to be simultaneously embraced and “held at arm’s length”.” ref
“In contrast to her public role as a protector of cities, Cybele was also the focus of mystery cult, private rites with a chthonic aspect connected to hero cult and exclusive to those who had undergone initiation, though it is unclear who Cybele’s initiates were. Reliefs show her alongside young female and male attendants with torches, and vessels for purification. Literary sources describe joyous abandonment to the loud, percussive music of tympanon, castanets, clashing cymbals and flutes, and to the frenzied “Phrygian dancing”, perhaps a form of circle-dancing by women, to the roar of “wise and healing music of the gods”. Conflation with Rhea led to Cybele’s association with various male demigods who served Rhea as attendants, or as guardians of her son, the infant Zeus, as he lay in the cave of his birth. In cult terms, they seem to have functioned as intercessors or intermediaries between goddess and mortal devotees, through dreams, waking trance, or ecstatic dance and song. They include the armed Kouretes, who danced around Zeus and clashed their shields to amuse him; their supposedly Phrygian equivalents, the youthful Corybantes, who provided similarly wild and martial music, dance, and song; and the dactyls and Telchines, magicians associated with metalworking.” ref
Cybele’s major mythographic narratives attach to her relationship with Attis, who is described by ancient Greek and Roman sources and cults as her youthful consort, and as a Phrygian deity. In Phrygia, “Attis” was not a deity, but both a commonplace and priestly name, found alike in casual graffiti, the dedications of personal monuments and several of Cybele’s Phrygian shrines and monuments. His divinity may therefore have begun as a Greek invention based on what was known of Cybele’s Phrygian cult. His earliest certain image as deity appears on a 4th-century BC Greek stele from Piraeus, near Athens. It shows him as the Hellenised stereotype of a rustic, eastern barbarian; he sits at ease, sporting the Phrygian cap and shepherd’s crook of his later Greek and Roman cults. Before him stands a Phrygian goddess (identified by the inscription as Agdistis) who carries a tympanon in her left hand. With her right, she hands him a jug, as if to welcome him into her cult with a share of her own libation. Later images of Attis show him as a shepherd, in similar relaxed attitudes, holding or playing the syrinx (panpipes). In Demosthenes‘ On the Crown (330 BC), attes is “a ritual cry shouted by followers of mystic rites”. Attis seems to have accompanied the diffusion of Cybele’s cult through Magna Graecia; there is evidence of their joint cult at the Greek colonies of Marseilles (Gaul) and Lokroi (southern Italy) from the 6th and 7th centuries BC. After Alexander the Great‘s conquests, “wandering devotees of the goddess became an increasingly common presence in Greek literature and social life; depictions of Attis have been found at numerous Greek sites”. When shown with Cybele, he is always the younger, lesser deity, or perhaps her priestly attendant; the difference is one of relative degree, rather than essence, as priests were sacred in their own right and were closely identified with their gods. In the mid 2nd century, letters from the king of Pergamum to Cybele’s shrine at Pessinos consistently address its chief priest as “Attis”.” ref
Roman Cybele
Romans knew Cybele as Magna Mater (“Great Mother”), or as Magna Mater deorum Idaea (“great Idaean mother of the gods”), equivalent to the Greek title Meter Theon Idaia (“Mother of the Gods, from Mount Ida”). Rome officially adopted her cult during the Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC), after dire prodigies, including a meteor shower, a failed harvest and famine, seemed to warn of Rome’s imminent defeat. The Roman Senate and its religious advisers consulted the Sibylline oracle and decided that Carthage might be defeated if Rome imported the Magna Mater (“Great Mother”) of Phrygian Pessinos. As this cult object belonged to a Roman ally, the Kingdom of Pergamum, the Roman Senate sent ambassadors to seek the king’s consent; en route, a consultation with the Greek oracle at Delphi confirmed that the goddess should be brought to Rome. The goddess arrived in Rome in the form of Pessinos’ black meteoric stone. Roman legend connects this voyage, or its end, to the matron Claudia Quinta, who was accused of unchastity but proved her innocence with a miraculous feat on behalf of the goddess. Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica, supposedly the “best man” in Rome, was chosen to meet the goddess at Ostia; and Rome’s most virtuous matrons (including Claudia Quinta) conducted her to the temple of Victoria, to await the completion of her temple on the Palatine Hill. Pessinos’ stone was later used as the face of the goddess’ statue. In due course, the famine ended and Hannibal was defeated.” ref
“Most modern scholarship agrees that Cybele’s consort,Attis, and her eunuch Phrygian priests (Galli) would have arrived with the goddess, along with at least some of the wild, ecstatic features of her Greek and Phrygian cults. The histories of her arrival deal with the piety, purity, and status of the Romans involved, the success of their religious stratagem, and the power of the goddess herself; she has no consort or priesthood, and seems fully Romanised from the first. Some modern scholars assume that Attis must have followed much later; or that the Galli, described in later sources as shockingly effeminate and flamboyantly “un-Roman”, must have been an unexpected consequence of bringing the goddess in blind obedience to the Sibyl; a case of “biting off more than one can chew”. Others note that Rome was well versed in the adoption (or sometimes, the “calling forth”, or seizure) of foreign deities, and the diplomats who negotiated Cybele’s move to Rome would have been well-educated, and well-informed. Romans believed that Cybele, considered a Phrygian outsider even within her Greek cults, was the mother-goddess of ancient Troy (Ilium). Some of Rome’s leading patrician families claimed Trojan ancestry; so the “return” of the Mother of all Gods to her once-exiled people would have been particularly welcome, even if her spouse and priesthood were not; its accomplishment would have reflected well on the principals involved and, in turn, on their descendants. The upper classes who sponsored the Magna Mater’s festivals delegated their organization to the plebeian aediles, and honored her and each other with lavish, private festival banquets from which her Galli would have been conspicuously absent. Whereas in most of her Greek cults she dwelt outside the polis, in Rome she was the city’s protector, contained within her Palatine precinct, along with her priesthood, at the geographical heart of Rome’s most ancient religious traditions. She was promoted as patrician property; a Roman matron – albeit a strange one, “with a stone for a face” – who acted for the clear benefit of the Roman state.” ref
“Augustan ideology identified Magna Mater with Imperial order and Rome’s religious authority throughout the empire. Augustus claimed a Trojan ancestry through his adoption by Julius Caesar and the divine favor of Venus; in the iconography of Imperial cult, the empress Livia was Magna Mater’s earthly equivalent, Rome’s protector and symbolic “Great Mother”; the goddess is portrayed with Livia’s face on cameos and statuary. By this time, Rome had absorbed the goddess’s Greek and Phrygian homelands, and the Roman version of Cybele as Imperial Rome’s protector was introduced there. Imperial Magna Mater protected the empire’s cities and agriculture — Ovid “stresses the barrenness of the earth before the Mother’s arrival. Virgil’s Aeneid (written between 29 and 19 BC) embellishes her “Trojan” features; she is Berecyntian Cybele, mother of Jupiter himself, and protector of the Trojan prince Aeneas in his flight from the destruction of Troy. She gives the Trojans her sacred tree for shipbuilding, and begs Jupiter to make the ships indestructible. These ships become the means of escape for Aeneas and his men, guided towards Italy and a destiny as ancestors of the Roman people by Venus Genetrix. Once arrived in Italy, these ships have served their purpose and are transformed into sea nymphs. Stories of Magna Mater’s arrival were used to promote the fame of its principals, and thus their descendants. Claudia Quinta‘s role as Rome’s castissima femina (purest or most virtuous woman) became “increasingly glorified and fantastic”; she was shown in the costume of a Vestal Virgin, and Augustan ideology represented her as the ideal of virtuous Roman womanhood. The emperor Claudius claimed her among his ancestors. Claudius promoted Attis to the Roman pantheon and placed his cult under the supervision of the quindecimviri (one of Rome’s priestly colleges).” ref
Kubaba Queen and (Goddess)
“Kubaba, Sumerian: ????????????????, kug-Dba-u₂, is the only queen on the Sumerian King List, which states she reigned for 100 years – roughly in the Early Dynastic III period (ca. 2500–2330 BC) of Sumerian history. In the early Hittite period, she was worshipped as a goddess. Kubaba is one of the very few women to have ever ruled in their own right in Mesopotamian history. Most versions of the king list place her alone in her own dynasty, the 3rd Dynasty of Kish, following the defeat of Sharrumiter of Mari, but other versions combine her with the 4th dynasty, which followed the primacy of the king of Akshak. Before becoming monarch, the king list says she was an alewife.” ref
“The Weidner Chronicle is a propagandistic letter, attempting to date the shrine of Marduk at Babylon to an early period, and purporting to show that each of the kings who had neglected its proper rites had lost the primacy of Sumer. It contains a brief account of the rise of “the house of Kubaba” occurring in the reign of Puzur-Nirah of Akshak:
“In the reign of Puzur-Nirah, king of Akšak, the freshwater fishermen of Esagila were catching fish for the meal of the great lord Marduk; the officers of the king took away the fish. The fisherman was fishing when 7 (or 8) days had passed […] in the house of Kubaba, the tavern-keeper […] they brought to Esagila. At that time BROKEN[4] anew for Esagila […] Kubaba gave bread to the fisherman and gave water, she made him offer the fish to Esagila. Marduk, the king, the prince of the Apsû, favored her and said: “Let it be so!” He entrusted to Kubaba, the tavern-keeper, sovereignty over the whole world.” ref
“Her son Puzur-Suen and grandson Ur-Zababa followed her on the throne of Sumer as the fourth Kish dynasty on the king list, in some copies as her direct successors, in others with the Akshak dynasty intervening. Ur-Zababa is also known as the king said to be reigning in Sumer during the youth of Sargon the Great of Akkad, who militarily brought much of the Near East under his control shortly afterward. Shrines in honor of Kubaba spread throughout Mesopotamia. In the Hurrian area, she may be identified with Kebat, or Hepat, one title of the Hurrian Mother goddess Hannahannah (from Hurrian hannah, “mother”). Abdi-Heba was the palace mayor, ruling Jerusalem at the time of the Amarna letters (1350 BC).” ref
“Kubaba became the tutelary goddess who protected the ancient city of Carchemish on the upper Euphrates, in the late Hurrian/early Hittite period. Relief carvings, now at the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi), Ankara, show her seated, wearing a cylindrical headdress like the polos and holding probably a tympanum (hand drum) or possibly a mirror in one hand and a poppy capsule (or perhaps pomegranate) in the other. She plays a role in Luwian texts and a minor role in Hittite texts, mainly in Hurrian rituals. According to Emanuel Laroche, Maarten J. Vermaseren, and Mark Munn, her cult later spread, and her name was adapted for the main goddess of the Hittite successor kingdoms in Anatolia. This deity later developed into the Phrygian matar kubileya (“mother Cybele”), who was depicted in petroglyphs and mentioned in accompanying inscriptions. The Phrygian goddess otherwise bears little resemblance to Kubaba, who – according to Herodotus – was a sovereign deity at Sardis. Her Lydian name was Kuvav or Kufav which Ionian Greeks initially transcribed Kybêbê, rather than Kybele; Jan Bremmer notes in this context the 7th-century Semonides of Amorgos, who calls one of her Hellene followers a kybêbos. Bremmer observes that in the following century she was further Hellenized by Hipponax, as “Kybêbê, daughter of Zeus”.” ref
Inanna (Goddess)
“Inanna is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess associated with love, beauty, sex, war, justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Sumer under the name “Inanna”, and was later worshipped by the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians under the name Ishtar. She was known as the “Queen of Heaven” and was the patron goddess of the Eanna temple at the city of Uruk, which was her main cult center. She was associated with the planet Venus and her most prominent symbols included the lion and the eight-pointed star. Her husband was the god Dumuzid (later known as Tammuz) and her sukkal, or personal attendant, was the goddess Ninshubur (who later became the male deity Papsukkal). Inanna was worshiped in Sumer at least as early as the Uruk period (c. 4000 BC – c. 3100 BC), but she had little cult before the conquest of Sargon of Akkad. During the post-Sargonic era, she became one of the most widely venerated deities in the Sumerian pantheon, with temples across Mesopotamia. The cult of Inanna/Ishtar, which may have been associated with a variety of sexual rites, was continued by the East Semitic-speaking people (Akkadians, Assyrians and Babylonians) who succeeded and absorbed the Sumerians in the region. She was especially beloved by the Assyrians, who elevated her to become the highest deity in their pantheon, ranking above their own national god Ashur. Inanna/Ishtar is alluded to in the Hebrew Bible and she greatly influenced the Phoenician goddess Astoreth, who later influenced the development of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Her cult continued to flourish until its gradual decline between the first and sixth centuries AD in the wake of Christianity, though it survived in parts of Upper Mesopotamia among Assyrian communities as late as the eighteenth century.” ref
“Inanna appears in more myths than any other Sumerian deity. Many of her myths involve her taking over the domains of other deities. She was believed to have stolen the mes, which represented all positive and negative aspects of civilization, from Enki, the god of wisdom. She was also believed to have taken over the Eanna temple from An, the god of the sky. Alongside her twin brother Utu (later known as Shamash), Inanna was the enforcer of divine justice; she destroyed Mount Ebih for having challenged her authority, unleashed her fury upon the gardener Shukaletuda after he raped her in her sleep, and tracked down the bandit woman Bilulu and killed her in divine retribution for having murdered Dumuzid. In the standard Akkadian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, Ishtar asks Gilgamesh to become her consort. When he refuses, she unleashes the Bull of Heaven, resulting in the death of Enkidu and Gilgamesh’s subsequent grapple with his mortality. Inanna/Ishtar’s most famous myth is the story of her descent into and return from Kur, the ancient Sumerian Underworld, a myth in which she attempts to conquer the domain of her older sister Ereshkigal, the queen of the Underworld, but is instead deemed guilty of hubris by the seven judges of the Underworld and struck dead. Three days later, Ninshubur pleads with all the gods to bring Inanna back, but all of them refuse her except Enki, who sends two sexless beings to rescue Inanna. They escort Inanna out of the Underworld, but the galla, the guardians of the Underworld, drag her husband Dumuzid down to the Underworld as her replacement. Dumuzid is eventually permitted to return to heaven for half the year while his sister Geshtinanna remains in the Underworld for the other half, resulting in the cycle of the seasons.” ref
Cybele (Goddess)
“Cybele, Phrygian: Matar Kubileya/Kubeleya “Kubileya/Kubeleya Mother”, perhaps “Mountain Mother”; Lydian Kuvava; Greek: Κυβέλη Kybele, Κυβήβη Kybebe, Κύβελις Kybelis) is an Anatolian mother goddess; she may have a possible forerunner in the earliest neolithic at Çatalhöyük, where statues of plump women, sometimes sitting, have been found in excavations. Phrygia‘s only known goddess, she was probably its national deity. Greek colonists in Asia Minor adopted and adapted her Phrygian cult and spread it to mainland Greece and to the more distant western Greek colonies around the 6th century BC. In Greece, Cybele met with a mixed reception. She became partially assimilated to aspects of the Earth-goddess Gaia, of her possibly Minoan equivalent Rhea, and of the harvest–mother goddess Demeter. Some city-states, notably Athens, evoked her as a protector, but her most celebrated Greek rites and processions show her as an essentially foreign, exotic mystery-goddess who arrives in a lion-drawn chariot to the accompaniment of wild music, wine, and a disorderly, ecstatic following. Uniquely in Greek religion, she had a eunuch mendicant priesthood.” ref
“Many of her Greek cults included rites to a divine Phrygian castrate shepherd-consort Attis, who was probably a Greek invention. In Greece, Cybele became associated with mountains, town and city walls, fertile nature, and wild animals, especially lions. In Rome, Cybele became known as Magna Mater (“Great Mother”). The Roman State adopted and developed a particular form of her cult after the Sibylline oracle in 205 BC recommended her conscription as a key religious ally in Rome’s second war against Carthage (218 to 201 BC). Roman mythographers reinvented her as a Trojan goddess, and thus an ancestral goddess of the Roman people by way of the Trojan prince Aeneas. As Rome eventually established hegemony over the Mediterranean world, Romanized forms of Cybele’s cults spread throughout Rome’s empire. Greek and Roman writers debated and disputed the meaning and morality of her cults and priesthoods, which remain controversial subjects in modern scholarship.” ref
Inara (Goddess)
“Inara, in Hittite–Hurrian mythology, was the goddess of the wild animals of the steppe and daughter of the Storm-god Teshub/Tarhunt. She corresponds to the “potnia theron” of Greek mythology, better known as Artemis. Inara’s mother is probably Hebat and her brother is Sarruma. After the dragon Illuyanka wins an encounter with the storm god, the latter asks Inara to give a feast, most probably the Purulli festival. Inara decides to use the feast to lure and defeat Illuyanka, who was her father’s archenemy and enlists the aid of a mortal named Hupasiyas of Zigaratta by becoming his lover. The dragon and his family gorge themselves on the fare at the feast, becoming quite drunk, which allows Hupasiyas to tie a rope around them. Inara’s father can then kill Illuyanka, thereby preserving creation.” ref
“Inara built a house on a cliff and gave it to Hupasiyas. She left one day with instructions that he was not to look out the window, as he might see his family. But he looked and the sight of his family made him beg to be allowed to return home. It is not known what happened next, but there is speculation that Inara killed Hupasiyas for disobeying her, or for hubris, or that he was allowed to return to his family. The mother goddess Hannahanna promises Inara land and a man during a consultation by Inara. Inara then disappears. Her father looks for her, joined by Hannahanna with a bee. The story resembles that of Demeter and her daughter Persephone, in Greek myth.” ref
Around 8,000-year-old Shared Idea of the Mistress of Animals, “Ritual” Motif
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
1. Kebaran culture 23,022-16,522 Years Ago, 2. Kortik Tepe 12,422-11,722 Years Ago, 3. Jerf el-Ahmar 11,222 -10,722 Years Ago, 4. Gobekli Tepe 11,152-9,392 Years Ago, 5. Tell Al-‘abrUbaid and Uruk Periods, 6. Nevali Cori 10,422 -10,122 Years Ago, 7. Catal Hoyuk 9,522-7,722 Years Ago
Sifting through the relation of Bird spirits/deities of the sky (20,000 to 5,000 years ago)
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Divine Birds?
“The logic is pretty simple: the gods, as everyone knows, live somewhere up in the sky. Birds also inhabit the sky, or at least spend more time there than any other creature in common experience. Therefore, birds have a special connection with the divine. Many cultures see birds as bearers of omens, whether good or bad depending on the type of bird, and some go even farther, with myths and tales depicting them as messengers proffering instructions and advice to mortals, or even providing services of some sort. Angels, additionally, are often depicted as winged and are seen mainly as messengers of God in scripture. Specific species of bird can be associated with certain gods. Eagles are particular favorites and often serve the Top God of a particular pantheon; however, note that eagles are also used to represent mundane values and so are not always part of this trope. If the writer is feeling more fantastically-inclined, mythical birds such as phoenixes might get used. Gods of death or the underworld have their own preferred representatives which would best be avoided: see Creepy Crows and Owl Be Damned. Vultures are another popular choice. Other flighted creatures are sometimes seen in the same way: see Butterfly of Death and Rebirth and Macabre Moth Motif. Birds being seen as sinister in general are Feathered Fiends.” ref
Double-headed eagle
“In heraldry and vexillology, the double-headed eagle (or double-eagle) is a charge associated with the concept of Empire. Most modern uses of the symbol are directly or indirectly associated with its use by the Byzantine Empire, whose use of it represented the Empire’s dominion over the Near East and the West. The symbol is much older, and its original meaning is debated among scholars. The eagle has long been a symbol of power and dominion. The double-headed eagle or double-eagle is a motif that appears in Mycenaean Greece and in the Ancient Near East, especially in Hittite iconography. It re-appeared during the High Middle Ages, from around the 10th or 11th centuries, and was notably used by the Byzantine Empire, but 11th or 12th century representations have also been found originating from Islamic Spain, France, and the Serbian principality of Raška. From the 13th century onward, it became even more widespread, and was used by the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum and the Mamluk Sultanate within the Islamic world, and within the Christian world by the Holy Roman Empire, Serbia, several medieval Albanian noble families, and Russia. Used in the Byzantine Empire as a dynastic emblem of the Palaiologoi, it was adopted during the Late Medieval to Early Modern period in the Holy Roman Empire on the one hand, and in Orthodox principalities (Serbia and Russia) on the other, representing an augmentation of the (single-headed) eagle or Aquila associated with the Roman Empire. In a few places, among them the Holy Roman Empire and Russia, the motif was further augmented to create the less prominent triple-headed eagle.” ref
Ancient Near East and Anatolia
“Polycephalous mythological beasts are very frequent in the Bronze Age and Iron Age pictorial legacy of the Ancient Near East, especially in the Assyrian sphere. These latter were adopted by the Hittites. Use of the double-headed eagle in Hittite imagery has been interpreted as “royal insignia”. A monumental Hittite relief of a double-headed eagle grasping two hares is found at the eastern pier of the Sphinx Gate at Alaca Hüyük. For more examples of double-headed eagles in the Hittite context see Jesse David Chariton, “The Function of the Double-Headed Eagle at Yazılıkaya.” ref
Mycenaean Greece
“In Mycenaean Greece, evidence of the double-eagle motif was discovered in Grave Circle A, an elite Mycenaean cemetery; the motif was part of a series of gold jewelry, possibly a necklace with a repeating design.” ref
Middle Ages
“After the Bronze Age collapse, there is a gap of more than two millennia before the re-appearance of the double-headed eagle motif. The earliest occurrence in the context of the Byzantine Empire appears to be on a silk brocade dated to the 10th century, which was, however, likely manufactured in Islamic Spain; similarly, early examples, from the 10th or 11th century, are from Bulgaria and from France.” ref
Byzantine Empire
“The early Byzantine Empire continued to use the (single-headed) imperial eagle motif. The double-headed eagle appears only in the medieval period, by about the 10th century in Byzantine art, but as an imperial emblem only much later, during the final century of the Palaiologos dynasty. In Western European sources, it appears as a Byzantine state emblem since at least the 15th century. A modern theory, forwarded by Zapheiriou (1947), connected the introduction of the motif to Byzantine Emperor Isaac I Komnenos (1057–1059), whose family originated in Paphlagonia. Zapheiriou supposed that the Hittite motif of the double-headed bird, associated with the Paphlagonian city of Gangra (where it was known as Haga, Χάγκα) might have been brought to the Byzantine Empire by the Komnenoi.” ref
Adoption in the Muslim world
“The double-headed eagle motif was adopted in the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm and the Turkic beyliks of medieval Anatolia in the early 13th century. A royal association of the motif is suggested by its appearance on the keystone of an arch of the citadel built at Konya (former Ikonion) under Kayqubad I (r. 1220–1237). The motif appears on Turkomen coins of this era, notably on coins minted under Artuqid ruler Nasir al-Din Mahmud of Hasankeyf (r. 1200–1222). It is also found on some stone reliefs on the towers of Diyarbakır Fortress. Later in the 13th century, the motif was also adopted in Mamluk Egypt; it is notably found on the pierced-globe handwarmer made for Mamluk amir Badr al-Din Baysari (c. 1270), and in a stone relief on the walls of the Cairo Citadel.” ref
Adoption in Christian Europe
“Adoption of the double-headed eagle in Albania, Serbia, Russia, and in the Holy Roman Empire begins still in the medieval period, possibly as early as the 12th century, but widespread use begins after the fall of Constantinople, in the late 15th century. The oldest preserved depiction of a double-headed eagle in Serbia is the one found in the donor portrait of Miroslav of Hum in the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Bijelo Polje, dating to 1190. The double-headed eagle in the Serbian royal coat of arms is well attested in the 13th and 14th centuries. An exceptional medieval depiction of a double-headed eagle in the West, attributed to Otto IV, is found in a copy of the Chronica Majora of Matthew of Paris (Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Parker MS 16 fol. 18, 13th century).” ref
Early Modern use
“In Serbia, the Nemanjić dynasty adopted a double-headed eagle by the 14th century (recorded by Angelino Dulcert 1339). The double-headed eagle was used in several coats of arms found in the Illyrian Armorials, compiled in the early modern period. The white double-headed eagle on a red shield was used for the Nemanjić dynasty, and the Despot Stefan Lazarević. A “Nemanjić eagle” was used at the crest of the Hrebeljanović (Lazarević dynasty), while a half-white half-red eagle was used at the crest of the Mrnjavčević. The use of the white eagle was continued by the modern Karađorđević, Obrenović, and Petrović-Njegoš ruling houses.” ref
Russia
“After the fall of Constantinople, the use of two-headed eagle symbols spread to Grand Duchy of Moscow after Ivan III‘s second marriage (1472) to Zoe Palaiologina (a niece of the last Byzantine emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos, who reigned 1449–1453),[17] The last prince of Tver, Mikhail III of Tver (1453–1505), was stamping his coins with two-headed eagle symbol. The double-headed eagle remained an important motif in the heraldry of the imperial families of Russia (the House of Romanov (1613-1762)). The double-headed eagle was a main element of the coat of arms of the Russian Empire (1721–1917), modified in various ways from the reign of Ivan III (1462–1505) onwards, with the shape of the eagle getting its definite Russian form during the reign of Peter the Great (1682–1725). It continued in Russian use until abolished (being identified with Tsarist rule) with the Russian Revolution in 1917; it was restored in 1993 after that year’s constitutional crisis and remains in use up to the present, although the eagle charge on the present coat of arms is golden rather than the traditional, imperial black.” ref
Holy Roman Empire
“The use of a double-headed Imperial Eagle, improved from the single-headed Imperial Eagle used in the high medieval period, became current in the 15th to 16th centuries. The double-headed Reichsadler was in the coats of arms of many German cities and aristocratic families in the early modern period. A distinguishing feature of the Holy Roman eagle was that it was often depicted with haloes. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the double-headed eagle was retained by the Austrian Empire, and served also as the coat of arms of the German Confederation. The German states of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen continued to use the double-headed eagle as well until they were abolished shortly after the First World War, and so did the Free City of Lübeck until it was abolished by the Nazi government in 1937. Austria, which switched to a single-headed eagle after the end of the monarchy, briefly used a double-headed eagle – with haloes – once again when it was a one-party state 1934–1938; this, too, was ended by the Nazi government. Since then, Germany and Austria, and their respective states, have not used double-headed eagles.” ref
Mysore
“The Gandabherunda is a bicephalous bird, not necessarily an eagle but very similar in design to the double-headed eagle used in Western heraldry, used as a symbol by the Wadiyar dynasty of the Kingdom of Mysore from the 16th century. Coins (gold pagoda or gadyana) from the rule of Achyuta Deva Raya (reigned 1529–1542) are thought[by whom?] to be the first to use the Gandabherunda on currency. An early instance of the design is found on a sculpture on the roof of the Rameshwara temple in the temple town of Keladi in Shivamogga. The symbol was in continued use by the Maharaja of Mysore into the modern period, and was adopted as the state symbol of the State of Mysore (now Karnataka) after Indian independence.” ref
Albania
“The Kastrioti family in Albania had a double-headed eagle as their emblem in the 14th and 15th centuries. Some members of the Dukagjini family and the Arianiti family also used double-headed eagles, and a coalition of Albanian states in the 15th century, later called the League of Lezhë, also used the Kastrioti eagle as its flag. The current flag of Albania features a black two-headed eagle with a crimson background. During John Hunyadi’s campaign in Niš in 1443, Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg and a few hundred Albanians defected from the Turkish ranks and used the double-headed eagle flag. The eagle was used for heraldic purposes in the Middle Ages by a number of Albanian noble families in Albania and became the symbol of the Albanians. The Kastrioti‘s coat of arms, depicting a black double-headed eagle on a red field, became famous when he led a revolt against the Ottoman Empire resulting in the independence of Albania from 1443 to 1479. This was the flag of the League of Lezhë, which was the first unified Albanian state in the Middle Ages and the oldest Parliament with extant records.” ref
Modern use
“Albania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Russia have a double-headed eagle in their coat of arms. In 1912, Ismail Qemali raised a similar version of that flag. The flag has gone through many alterations, until 1992 when the current flag of Albania was introduced. The double-headed eagle is now used as an emblem by a number of Orthodox Christian churches, including the Greek Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania. In modern Greece, it appears in official use in the Hellenic Army (Coat of Arms of Hellenic Army General Staff) and the Hellenic Army XVI Infantry Division, The two-headed eagle appears, often as a supporter, on the modern and historical arms and flags of Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Austria (1934–1938), Albania, Armenia, Montenegro, the Russian Federation, Serbia. It was also used as a charge on the Greek coat of arms for a brief period in 1925–1926. It is also used in the municipal arms of a number of cities in Germany, Netherlands, and Serbia, the arms and flag of the city and Province of Toledo, Spain, and the arms of the town of Velletri, Italy. An English heraldic tradition, apparently going back to the 17th century, attributes coats of arms with double-headed eagles to the Anglo-Saxon earls of Mercia, Leofwine, and Leofric. The design was introduced in a number of British municipal coats of arms in the 20th century, such as the Municipal Borough of Wimbledon in London, the supporters in the coat of arms of the city and burgh of Perth, and hence in that of the district of Perth and Kinross (1975). The motif is also found in a number of British family coats of arms. In Turkey, General Directorate of Security and the municipality of Diyarbakır have a double-headed eagle in their coat of arms. The Double-Headed Eagle is used as an emblem by the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. It was introduced in France in the early 1760s as the emblem of the Kadosh degree. In 2021, Alexei Navalny revealed in a documentary that many double-headed eagles appear in the gigantic palace secretly built for Vladimir Putin on the Russian coast of the Black Sea, especially on the front portal, using the same design as used in the Winter Palace.” ref
“The Master of Animals or Lord of Animals is a motif in ancient art showing a human between and grasping two confronted animals. It is very widespread in the art of the Ancient Near East and Egypt. The figure is normally male, but not always, the animals may be realistic or fantastical, and the figure may have animal elements such as horns, or an animal’s upper body. Unless he is shown with specific divine attributes, he is typically described as a hero, although what the motif represented to the cultures which created the works probably varies greatly. The motif is so widespread and visually effective that many depictions were probably conceived as decoration with only a vague meaning attached to them. The Master of Animals is the “favorite motif of Achaemenian official seals“, but the figures in these cases should be understood as the king.” ref
“The human figure may be standing, found from the 4th millennium BC, or kneeling on one knee, these latter found from the 3rd millennium BC. They are usually shown looking frontally, but in Assyrian pieces typically shown from the side. Sometimes the animals are clearly alive, whether fairly passive and tamed, or still struggling or attacking. In other pieces, they may represent dead hunter’s prey. Other associated representations show a figure controlling or “taming” a single animal, usually to the right of the figure. But the many representations of heroes or kings killing an animal are distinguished from these. One of the earliest known depictions of the Master of Animals appears on stamp seals of the Ubaid period in Mesopotamia. The motif appears on a terracotta stamp seal from Tell Telloh, ancient Girsu, at the end of the prehistoric Ubaid period of Mesopotamia, c. 4000 BCE or 6,020 years ago.” ref
“The motif also takes pride of place at the top of the famous Gebel el-Arak Knife in the Louvre, an ivory and flint knife dating from the Naqada II d period of Egyptian prehistory, which began c. 3450 BC. Here a figure in the Mesopotamian dress, often taken to be a god, grapples with two lions. It has been connected to the famous Pashupati seal from the Indus Valley Civilization (2500-1500 BC), showing a figure seated in a yoga-like posture, with a horned headdress (or horns), and surrounded by animals. This in turn is related to a figure on the Gundestrup cauldron, who sits with legs part-crossed, has antlers, is surrounded by animals, and grasps a snake in one hand and a torc in the other. This famous and puzzling object probably dates to 200 BC, or possibly as late as 300 AD, and though found in Denmark was perhaps made in Thrace. A form of the master of animals motif appears on an Early Medieval belt buckle from Kanton Wallis, Switzerland, which depicts the biblical figure of Daniel between two lions.” ref
“The purse-lid from the Sutton Hoo burial of about 620 AD has two plaques with a man between two wolves, and the motif is common in Anglo-Saxon art and related Early Medieval styles, where the animals generally remain aggressive. Other notable examples of the motif in Germanic art include one of the Torslunda plates, and helmets from Vendel and Valsgärde. In the art of Mesopotamia the motif appears very early, usually with a “naked hero”, for example at Uruk in the Uruk period (c. 4000 to 3100 BC), but was “outmoded in Mesopotamia by the seventh century BC”. In Luristan bronzes the motif is extremely common, and often highly stylized. In terms of its composition, the Master of Animals motif compares with another very common motif in the art of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean, that of two confronted animals flanking and grazing on a Tree of Life.” ref
Master of Animals: Deity figures
“Although such figures are not all, or even usually, deities, the term can also be a generic name for a number of deities from a variety of cultures with close relationships to the animal kingdom or in part animal form (in cultures where that is not the norm). These figures control animals, usually wild ones, and are responsible for their continued reproduction and availability for hunters. They sometimes also have female equivalents, the so-called Mistress of the Animals. Many Mesopotamian examples may represent Enkidu, a central figure in the Ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh. They may all have a Stone Age precursor who was probably a hunter’s deity. Many relate to the horned deity of the hunt, another common type, typified by Cernunnos, and a variety of stag, bull, ram, and goat gods. Horned gods are not universal, however, and in some cultures bear gods, like Arktos might take the role, or even the more anthropomorphic deities who lead the Wild Hunt. Such figures are also often referred to as ‘Lord of the forest’* or ‘Lord of the mountain’. The Greek god seen as a “Master of Animals” is usually Apollo, the god of hunting. Shiva has the epithet Pashupati meaning the “Lord of animals”, and these figures may derive from an archetype. Chapter 39 of the Book of Job has been interpreted as an assertion of the God of the Hebrew Bible as Master of Animals.” ref
“Master of the animals, is generally a supernatural figure regarded as the protector of game in the traditions of foraging peoples. The name was devised by Western scholars who have studied such hunting and gathering societies. In some traditions, the master of the animals is believed to be the ruler of the forest and guardian of all animals; in others, he is the ruler of only one species, usually a large animal of economic or social importance to the tribe. Thus, among Eurasian peoples the animal most frequently is the bear; among the reindeer cultures of the tundra, the reindeer; among the northern coastal peoples of Eurasia and America, the whale, the seal, or the walrus; among the North American Indians, the bear, the beaver, or the caribou; and among Mesoamerican and South American Indians, the wild pig, jaguar, deer, or tapir. In some traditions he is pictured in human form, at times having animal attributes or riding an animal; in other traditions, he is a giant animal or can assume animal form at will.” ref
“A complex system of customs governs the relationship between the master of the animals, the game animal, and the hunter. The master controls the game animals or their spirits (in many myths, by penning them). He releases a certain number to humans as food. Only the allotted number may be killed, and the slain animals must be treated with respect. The master of the animals, if properly invoked, will also guide the hunter to the kill. The souls of the animals, when slain, return to the master’s pens and give him a report of their treatment. If this system is violated, the master will avenge an animal improperly slain, usually by withholding game. A ceremony then must be held to remove the offense or a shaman (a religious personage with healing and psychic transformation powers) sent to placate the master.” ref
“In Minoan and Mycenaean mythological and religious iconography appears a male deity, called later by the Greeks, Master of Animals. He is a counterpart of the Mistress of Wild Animals (Potnia theron) portrayed with wild animals, mainly lions, and exerting his power over them. Some authors suppose that the Master of Animals could represent a hunting deity and protector of nature, or even a nature god. But sometimes this deity, accompanied by a lion, is armed with a spear and a shield and at other times he is again armed, but without the company of animals. M.P. Nilsson posed an interesting observation about the close relationship between the Master of Animals and the armed god, as a hunter and war god. He believed, that the spear and the shield became a religious symbol of this god.” ref
“The Master of Animals could represent, at least, from the beginning of the Late Helladic period, a nature god who is related to hunting. The Mycenaeans took this type from the Minoan belief system, which was the origin of this deity. After 1500 BCE and during the fourteenth century BCE the nature of this figure changed. The warlike tendency of the Mycenaean society was growing, and this could be the reason why their male god had to assume another responsibility. His attributes, mainly the shield, became frequent decorative motives in Mycenaean art and pottery production. Thus it is possible that the male god, depicted from the beginning primarily with animals, and later on with a spear and a shield, could be Enyalius (Enualios), known from Linear B script, and who is equated in Greek literature with Ares, the god of war.” ref
“On seals and ring-reliefs, the Master of Animals is depicted in the Minoan manner, wearing only a small cloth around his slim waist and turning his body to show his muscular torso in a frontal position. The head, usually with a beard and rich hair, has a strong facial expression. A gem from Kydonia and the Mycenaean seal ring illustrates him as such, while the well-known Aegina Treasure-pendant represents the Master of Animals with an Egyptian influence. The motif is created in a completely different way. The deity looks like an Egyptian, holding waterbirds in his hands and his surroundings consists of double snakes and papyrus flowers. Oriental seals from the Palace of Cadmus in Thiva show the Master of Animals with goats, some vegetation, and various symbols from Syrian and Mesopotamian mythology.” ref
Paganism 12,000 years old: related to (Pre-Capitalism): LINK
Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite & their slaves: LINK
Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to (Kings and the Rise of the State): LINK
Paganism 4,000 years old: related to (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism): LINK
· Bible God El in ancient pictographic Hebrew then in modern-day Hebrew.
· God El is seen 250 times in the Hebrew bible primarily describing the God of Israel (Isra-El).
· Bible God YHWH or Yahweh in ancient pictographic Hebrew, with upraised arms like “KA” an Egyptian (life-force or spirit after death) hieroglyph of upraised arms relating to the bull.
· Egyptian with upraised arms means High, Rejoice, or Support, which to me, is similar to both the hieroglyph KA with upraised arms and the people pictographic Hebrew symbols (meaning Lo, Behold, “The”) for Yahweh with upraised arms.
· The KA statue, on the statue of pharaoh Awibre Hor, provided a physical place for the KA to manifest of the hieroglyph representing KA’s upraised arms. KA was sometimes depicted on top of the head of the statue to reinforce its intended purpose.
· Egyptian meaning “High, Rejoice, or Support” which to me, is similar to both the hieroglyph KA with upraised arms and the people in the pictograph Hebrew symbols for Yahewh with upraised arms.
· Sinai 357 reflects an Egyptian name to a Hurrian god “Teshub” using an inherited Northwest Semitic formula and a sacred bull was Teshub’s animal. So Canaanites payers to gods such as El in their own Proto-Sinaitic / Proto-Canaanite scripts that later inspired ancient pictographic Hebrew followed by Paleo-Hebrew.
· 1. Egyptian Hieroglyphs 5,200 years ago 2. Proto-Sinaitic 3,850 years ago to Proto-Canaanite / Pictograph Hebrew 3,550 years ago 3. Phoenician 3,200 years ago to Paleo-Hebrew 3,000 years ago 4. Greek 2,800 years ago 5. Latin 2,700 years ago. ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Here is my quick evolution of the Bible God’s names:
A Sky god, later named EL, was turned into El-Shaddai and El-ohim, then Yahweh, and later, the New Testament claimed Jesus.
“The sky often has important religious significance. Many polytheistic religions have deities associated with the sky. Daytime gods and nighttime gods are frequently deities of an “upper world” or “celestial world” as opposed to the earth and a “netherworld” (gods of the underworld are sometimes called “chthonic” deities). 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.” ref
“There is evidence that the Canaanite/Phoenician and Aramaic conception of El is essentially the same as the Amorite conception of El, which was popularized in the 18th century BCE but has origins in the pre-Sargonic period.” ref
“The Amorites are regarded as one of the ancient Semitic-speaking peoples. The Amorites were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking Bronze Age people from the Levant. Initially appearing in Sumerian records c. 2500 BCE, they expanded and ruled most of the Levant, Mesopotamia, and parts of Egypt from the 21st century BC to the late 17th century BCE.” ref
“Amurru, Amorite deity, occasionally called “lord of the steppe” or “lord of the mountain.” ref
“The term “El Shaddai” may mean “god of the mountains,” referring to the Mesopotamian divine mountain.” ref
“Elohim, morphologically, is the plural form of the word אֱלוֹהַּ[a] (eloah) and is related to El. It is cognate to the word ‘l-h-m, which is found in Ugaritic, where it is used as the pantheon for Canaanite gods, the children of El, and conventionally vocalized as “Elohim.” Rabbinic scholar Maimonides wrote that Elohim “Divinity” and elohim “gods” are commonly understood to be homonyms. One modern theory suggests that the notion of divinity underwent radical changes in the early period of Israelite identity and the development of Ancient Hebrew religion. In this view, the ambiguity of the term elohim is the result of such changes, cast in terms of “vertical translatability”, i.e. the re-interpretation of the gods of the earliest recalled period as the national god of monolatrism as it emerged in the 7th to 6th century BCE in the Kingdom of Judah and during the Babylonian captivity, and further in terms of monotheism by the emergence of Rabbinical Judaism in the 2nd century CE.” ref
“Yahweh[a] was an ancient Levantine deity worshiped in Israel and Judah as the primary deity and the head of the pantheon of the polytheistic religion of Yahwism. In later centuries, El and Yahweh became conflated, and El-linked epithets, such as ʾĒl Šadday (אֵל שַׁדַּי), came to be applied to Yahweh alone. Characteristics of other deities, such as Asherah and Baal, were also selectively “absorbed” in conceptions of Yahweh. In monotheistic Judaism the existence of other deities was denied outright, and Yahweh was proclaimed the creator deity and the sole deity to be worthy of worship. During the Second Temple period, Judaism began to substitute other Hebrew words, primarily ăḏōnāy (אֲדֹנָי, lit. ’My Lords’). By the time of the Jewish–Roman wars—namely following the Roman siege of Jerusalem and the concomitant destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE—the original pronunciation of Yahweh’s name was forgotten entirely.” ref
“Yahwism is the name given by modern scholars to the religion of ancient Israel and Judah. An ancient Semitic religion of the Iron Age, Yahwism was essentially polytheistic and had a pantheon, with various gods and goddesses being worshipped by the Israelites. At the head of this pantheon was Yahweh, held in an especially high regard as the two Israelite kingdoms’ national god. Some scholars hold that the goddess Asherah was worshipped as Yahweh’s consort, though other scholars disagree. Following this duo were second-tier gods and goddesses, such as Baal, Shamash, Yarikh, Mot, and Astarte, each of whom had their own priests and prophets and numbered royalty among their devotees.” ref
To have faith is to make a presumption of faith towards something, and the most common use of faith is toward things that relate to concepts of gods, such as their names. Another way to have faith would mean to understand why a god would change their name. In the Jewish and Christian religions, their god’s name was changed. In the beginning, god’s eternal name is El, Near East god is the most holy and the father of all gods. El is a Semitic word meaning “god” or may relate to multiple ancient Near Eastern deities such as Hebrew: el, Amorite: il, Arabic ilah, Akkadian and Ugaritic: ilu, Aramaic and Phoenician: l, and is the known name of the original god to the Abrahamic religions. ref, ref, ref
In Judaism, the later Hebrew and Aramaic texts, as well as the Dead Sea Scrolls, dating around 2,408 to 1,700 years ago, used El or Elohim for the names of God and sometimes were in written paleo-Hebrew script dating about 3,000 years ago, and used in the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which shows that El was still treated as special. ref, ref
In the first statement of the Muslim confession of faith in the Quran, it states that “There is no god (ilah) except God (al-Lah or Allah).” And al-ilah, “the god” relates to El and Elah, the Hebrew and Aramaic words for God. ref, ref
Also what is interesting is that Hebrew is a Semitic language and according to a popular Israeli news source the Haaretz, the country Isra-El (Israel) expresses the relationship with the 3,300 years old Canaanite deity El who was the head of the Canaanite pantheon. ref
However, El’s name changed in the human-made Bible to El Shaddai. El Shaddai was the Bible-God’s name as first seen in Genesis 17:1, “God appeared to Abram, saying I am El Shaddai.” Similarly, in Genesis 35:11, Bible-God says to Jacob, “I am El Shaddai.” And seen in Exodus 6:2–3, El Shaddai was God’s name known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All must follow El and Baal whose features were absorbed into the Yahweh religion. ref
God El, the Semitic god, and the creator have a son named Baal “The Lord,” who is the governor of all adversaries to the fake god of the Jews, Yahweh or his other name El Shaddai. Bible-God, the Abrahamic god and the creator have a son named Jesus “The Lord.” It is interesting how people say that Jesus is “Lord” because Jesus is the son of Bible-God and without realizing they seem to be referencing Baal, which can mean “Lord” and is the son of El. No? Okay, let me try again! Why would a god go and change its name anyway? Some religious scholars have stated that the early Hebrews used the names Baʿal (“Lord”) and Baʿali (“My Lord”) to refer to the Lord of Israel, who is El and Yahweh. This use of Baʿal and Baʿali occurred both directly and as the divine element of some Hebrew theophoric names, which means consisting of the name of a deity and a verb. A few names that included the element Baʿal and presumably referring to Yahweh, including Saul’s son Eshbaʿal (“The Lord is Great”), and David’s son Beeliada (“The Lord Knows”). The name Bealiah is the combination of Baal and Yahweh (“The Lord is Jah” + “Yahweh is Baʿal” = “Yahweh is Lord”). ref
To have faith would mean you would have to believe that you already know all of your god’s different names and believe you have the right god and not some other religions’ god or a combination of gods.
Evolution of the Bible God’s names: Was the Bull Head a Symbol of God? Yes!
Cannabis and Religion
“Cannabis, commonly known as marijuana, weed, pot, and ganja, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the Cannabis plant. Cannabis is indigenous to Central or South Asia, and its uses for fabric and rope date back to the Neolithic age in China and Japan. Cannabis has an ancient history of ritual use and has been used by religions around the world. One of the earliest evidence of cannabis smoking has been found in the 2,500-year-old tombs of Jirzankal Cemetery in the Pamir Mountains in Western China, where cannabis residue was found in burners with charred pebbles, possibly used during funeral rituals. Cannabis has been used as a drug for both recreational and entheogenic purposes and in various traditional medicines for centuries. Cannabis is a Scythian word. The ancient Greeks learned of the use of cannabis by observing Scythian funerals, during which cannabis was consumed. In Akkadian, cannabis was known as qunubu (𐎯𐎫𐎠𐎭𐏂). The word was adopted into the Hebrew as qaneh bosem (קָנֶה בֹּשׂם). Cannabis has held sacred status in several religions and has served as an entheogen – a chemical substance used in religious, shamanic, or spiritual contexts – in the Indian subcontinent since the Vedic period. The earliest known reports regarding the sacred status of cannabis in the Indian subcontinent come from the Atharva Veda. The Hindu god Shiva is described as a cannabis user, known as the “Lord of bhang.” ref
“It is unclear when cannabis first became known for its psychoactive properties. The oldest archeological evidence for the burning of cannabis was found in Romanian kurgans dated 3,500 BCE, and scholars suggest that the drug was first used in ritual ceremonies by Proto-Indo-European tribes living in the Pontic-Caspian steppe during the Chalcolithic period, a custom they eventually spread throughout Western Eurasia during the Indo-European migrations. Some research suggests that the ancient Indo-Iranian drug soma, mentioned in the Vedas, sometimes contained cannabis. This is based on the discovery of a basin containing cannabis in a shrine of the second millennium BCE in Turkmenistan. Cannabis was known to the ancient Assyrians, who discovered its psychoactive properties through the Iranians. Using it in some religious ceremonies, they called it qunubu (meaning “way to produce smoke”), a probable origin of the modern word cannabis. The Iranians also introduced cannabis to the Scythians, Thracians, and Dacians, whose shamans (the kapnobatai – “those who walk on smoke/clouds”) burned cannabis infructescences to induce trance. The plant was used in China before 2800 BCE, and found therapeutic use in India by 1000 BCE, where it was used in food and drink, including bhang.” ref
“Different religions have varying stances on the use of cannabis, historically and presently. In ancient history, some religions used cannabis as an entheogen, particularly in the Indian subcontinent, where the tradition continues on a more limited basis. In Ancient India The earliest known reports regarding the sacred status of cannabis in the Indian subcontinent come from the Atharva Veda, estimated to have been written sometime around 2000–1400 BCE, which mentions cannabis as one of the “five sacred plants… which release us from anxiety” and that a guardian angel resides in its leaves. The Vedas also refer to it as a “source of happiness,” “joy-giver” and “liberator,” and in the Raja Valabba, the gods send hemp to the human race so that they might attain delight, lose fear and have sexual desires- It is most often with the God Shiva known as the “Lord of Bhang“. In Ancient Egypt there is a written record of the medicinal use of hemp. Thus the Ebers papyrus (written 1500 BCE) mentions the use of oil from hempseed to treat vaginal inflammation. Cannabis pollen was recovered from the tomb of Ramses II, who governed for sixty-seven years during the 19th dynasty, and several mummies contain trace cannabinoids. The Assyrians, Egyptians, and Hebrews, among other Semitic cultures of the Middle East, mostly acquired cannabis from Aryan cultures and have burned it as an incense as early as 1000 BCE. Cannabis oil was likely used throughout the Middle East for centuries before and after the birth of Jesus.” ref
“Cannabis has been used by shamanic and pagan cultures to ponder deeply religious and philosophical subjects related to their tribe or society, to achieve a form of enlightenment, to unravel unknown facts and realms of the human mind and subconscious, and also as an aphrodisiac during rituals or orgies. There are several references in Greek mythology to a powerful drug that eliminated anguish and sorrow. Herodotus wrote about early ceremonial practices by the Scythians, thought to have occurred from the 5th to 2nd century BCE. In addition, according to Herodotus, the Dacians and Scythians had a tradition where a fire was made in an enclosed space and cannabis seeds were burned and the resulting smoke ingested. In ancient Germanic paganism, cannabis was possibly associated with the Norse love goddess, Freya. Linguistics offers further evidence of prehistoric use of cannabis by Germanic peoples: The word hemp derives from Old English hænep, from Proto-Germanic *hanapiz. While *hanapiz has an unknown origin, some scholars believe it is a unreconstructed loanword of Scythian origin. The Greek word κάνναβις, which that cannabis derives from, is also thought to be a loanword of the same Scythian origin. While a loanword, *hanapiz was borrowed early enough to be affected by Grimm’s Law, by which Proto-Indo-European initial *k- becomes *h- in Germanic. The shift of *k→h indicates it was a loanword into the Germanic parent language at a time depth no later than the separation of Common Germanic from Proto-Indo-European, about 500 BCE or 2,500 years ago.” ref
Funerary cannabis rituals in ancient China
“Marijuana chemical residue has been found in incense burners apparently used during funerary rites at a mountainous site in western China in about 500 BCE or 2,500 years ago. The evidence was found on 10 wooden braziers containing stones with burn marks that were discovered in eight tombs at the Jirzankal Cemetery site in the Pamir Mountains in China’s Xinjiang region, scientists said on Wednesday. The tombs also bore human skeletons and artifacts including a type of angular harp used in ancient funerals and sacrificial ceremonies. They found a higher level of THC, the plant’s main psychoactive constituent, than the low levels typically seen in wild cannabis plants, indicating it was chosen for its mind-altering qualities.” ref
Proto-Indo Europeans and Indo-European Cannabis Cult
“There is a belief that proto-Indo-europeans were ritually using cannabis — a technique of worship that continued for thousands of years and spread throughout the ancient world, leading to its continued use in various religions. Proto-Indo-Europeans likely lived during the late Neolithic, or roughly the 4th millennium BCE. Mainstream scholarship places them in the Pontic–Caspian steppe zone in Eastern Europe (present-day Ukraine and southern Russia). It is in these same regions that we find the earliest evidence of the ritual use of cannabis, dating back to this same period. This was a technique of religious ecstasy still found at Indo-European sites thousands of years later at diverse locations. 5,000-Year-Old Cannabis Trade: Eurasian Steppe Nomads; from a multi-authored academic Paper, Cannabis in Eurasia: origin of human use and Bronze Age trans-continental connections. Proto-Indo-European Yamnaya culture brought cannabis into Europe. Ritual use of cannabis in funerary rites in the region inhabited by the Yamnaya goes back at least 5,000 years, as evidenced by a find of skeletal remains and burnt cannabis seeds recovered at a burial mound.” ref
“Similar evidence that Proto-Indo Europeans burned cannabis in a cave in Ukraine 5,500 years ago was suggested by the late British archaeologist Andrew Sherratt, who has also suggested that the corded ware culture was evidence of a cannabis beverage in use during the Neolithic period. The Corded Ware culture spanned a broad archaeological horizon in Europe between approximately 3100 BCE and circa 2350 BCE, concluding in the early Bronze Age. Sherratt suggested that, like poppy-shaped vessels used to hold opium preparations, corded ware had hemp cords pressed into the clay, not only for a design but to indicate the contents, and a cannabis based beverage was widely in use throughout Europe. The use of tripod bowls, which he suggested were used to burn cannabis in the Ukraine region from 3,500 BCE, as evidenced by carbonized seeds. The authors of The Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture note that “Hemp has not only been recovered from sites in Romania but also from a Yamma burial at Gurbanesti (Maldova) where traces were found in a ‘censer’ (a shallow footed bowl believed to have been used in the burning of some aromatic substance).” ref
“It has been found in a similar context from an early Bronze Age burial in the north Caucasus…. Ceramics were more elaborate than those of the Yamma culture and included, especially in female burials, low-footed vessels interpreted as ‘censers’, presumed to be used in rituals involving some narcotic substance such as hemp”. “It seems, therefore, that the practice of burning cannabis as a narcotic is a tradition which goes back in this area some five or six thousand years and was the focus of the social and religious rituals of the pastoral peoples of central Eurasia in prehistoric and early historic times. The cannabis burning braziers referred to above eventually went to the wayside and were replaced by a beverage, although he believes that cannabis use continued through this cultural shift. The “disappearance of ceramic braziers in northern and western Europe” was followed by the appearance… of prominent forms of pottery drinking vessels. Corded-ware beakers and early bell-beakers are ornamented with impressions of twisted cord: if these are hemp fibres, then the decoration may indicate that their contents were connected with cannabis.” A view shared by other researchers: “As cannabis can also be infused, i.e., served as a component in a drink, it has also been suggested that the spread of cord-(hemp?) decorated pottery from the steppe westward may also have been part of this same complex.” ref
“Evidence of cannabis in a grave where the body was laid over flowers has been discovered in Hattemerbroek in Gelderland, Amsterdam, at a tomb that showed characteristics of Corded Ware culture. Drinking cups were also found at the site, which dated to 2459 – 2203 BCE. There are… at least three chronological horizons to which the spread of hemp might be ascribed: the early distribution of hemp across Europe; during the Neolithic around 5000 BCE or earlier; a later spread of hemp for presumably narcotic purposes around 3000 BCE; a still later spread, or, at least, re-emergence of hemp in the context of textiles during the first millennium BCE, in regard to an association with burial rites. Celtic use of cannabis has also been identified through pollen analysis of a bowl from a rich woman’s grave of the late Hallstatt Period at Niedererlbach, Bavaria. Likewise, “hemp has… been discovered in an Iron Age context in western Europe, e.g., a Hallstatt burial, presumably Celtic, at Hochdorf in Germany, and cannabis was also found in later Viking burial sites.” ref
“It was this sort of high mobility that led to the spread of cannabis throughout the ancient world, and in fact, the development of hemp rope has been attributed to the harnessing and domestication of the horse. It is unclear that archeologist Sergei Malyutin, was basing his research on the work of Prof. Victor Sarianidi at BMAC, where claimed 4,000 year old archeological evidence of cannabis and ephedra, and in some case opium poppies, at a t temple site were suggested to indicate the plants were used in the preparation of soma/haoma. Or he may have came to his theories about the drink of the Indo-Iranians, based on another group known for both burning and drinking cannabis preparations, that came out of the Russian steppes, and spread across much of the ancient world, Western Europe, Persian, Israel, Egypt, India and even deep into central China, a series of Indo European tribes, now known to us collectively as the Scythians. Cannabis was also part of the earliest trade routes we know of as well, as noted in ‘Cannabis in Eurasia: origin of human use and Bronze Age trans-continental connections’, indicating it would have been part and parcel of any “Indo-Iranians” migration.” ref
“A marked increase in cannabis achene records from East Asia between ca. 5,000 and 4,000 years ago might be associated with the establishment of a trans-Eurasian exchange/migration network”. (Eurasia is the largest continent on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia). Descendants of the cannabis burners in the Ukraine region, the Scythians, would later spread the cultic use of cannabis, both burned as an incense and drank, and the root word kana, throughout much of the ancient world. One of the names of the Scythians was “Haomavarga” the Haoma gatherers, and ancient texts indicate they also burnt the haoma as well as drank it. A Scythian wineskin that had evidence of cannabis infusion, as well as gold cups, described by the Russian archeologists involved with the find as ritual vessels for drinking “haoma,” has also been discovered, and these contained residues of both cannabis and opium. Indo-Europeans in China, known as Gushi, likewise burnt cannabis in funerary rites similar to the Scythians 2,800 years ago, a ritual act that can be traced back to the Proto-Indo-European homeland in Romania 5,000 years ago.” ref
“Evidence shows that the mind-altering substance Cannabis was part of religious life in the ancient kingdom of Judah. Tel Arad contains the remains of a Canaanite city from the third millennium BCE, as well as Israelite fortresses from between the 10th and 6th centuries BCE. Excavations in the 1960s identified a pair of citadels that guarded the southern border of the kingdom of Judah during that time, as well as a well-preserved shrine dated to roughly 760-715 BCE. It was within this shrine that the two stone altars were discovered with the remains of what appeared to be burnt plant material. The stone altars were found at the entrance of the shrine’s inner sanctum, known as the “holy of holies.” The chemical analysis conducted by researchers helps provide a window into the rituals and spiritual life of the Judahites. This is the first time that cannabis has been identified in Israel; its use in the shrine must have played a central role in the cultic rituals performed there,” says Eran Arie, an archaeologist with the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.” ref
“Scientists discover 2,700-year-old remains of cannabis on a Tel Arad incense altar, paralleling details of the reign of King Ahaz. But does the ritual cannabis use reflect standard worship practices at Jerusalem’s temple, as the researchers suggest?” ref
Asherah
“Asherah was a goddess in ancient Semitic religions. She also appears in Hittite writings as Ašerdu(š) or Ašertu(š) and as Athirat in Ugarit. Some scholars hold that Asherah was venerated as Yahweh‘s consort in ancient Israel and Judah, while other scholars oppose this. Asherah was an important Goddess recognized across Northwest Semitic cultures. However, particularly in the Hebrew Bible, the term asherah and sometimes asherot, came to be identified with cultic wooden objects, sometimes referred to as asherah poles. In this context, in regard to certain attestations of Asherah, there is controversy about whether the inscriptions referring to Asherah indicate the deity, a “cultic object“, or both (de Vaux). Winter says the goddess and her symbol should not be distinguished.” ref
“A variety of symbols have been associated with Asherah. The most common by far is that of the tree, an equivalence seen as early as Neolithic times. Cultic objects dedicated to Asherah frequently depict trees, and the terms asherim and asheroth, regularly invoked by the Hebrew Bible in the context of Asherah worship, are traditionally understood to refer to sacred trees called “Asherah poles“. An especially common Asherah tree in visual art is the date palm, a reliable producer of nutrition throughout the year. Some expect living trees, but Olyan sees a stylized, non-living palm or pole. The remains of a juniper tree discovered in a 7,500-year-old gravesite in Eilat have been considered an Asherah tree by some.” ref
“Asherah’s association with fertility was not limited to her association with trees; she was often depicted with pronounced sexual features. Idols of Asherah, often called ’Astarte figurines’, are representative of Asherah as a tree in that they have bodies which resemble tree trunks, while also further extenuating the goddess’ connection to fertility in line with her status as a “mother goddess”. The “Judean pillar figures” universally depict Asherah with protruding breasts. Likewise, the so-called Revadim Asherah is rife with potent, striking sexual imagery, depicting Asherah suckling two smaller figures and using both of her hands to fully expose her vagina. Many times, Asherah’s pubis area was marked by a concentration of dots, indicating pubic hair, though this figure is sometimes polysemically understood as a grape cluster. The womb was also sometimes used as a nutrix symbol, as animals are often shown feeding directly (if a bit abstractly) from the pubic triangle.” ref
“Remarking on the Lachish ewer, Hestrin noted that in a group of other pottery vessels found in situ, the usual depiction of the sacred tree flanked by ibexes or birds is in one goblet replaced by a pubic triangle flanked by ibexes. The interchange between the tree and the pubic triangle proves, according to Hestrin, that the tree symbolizes the fertility goddess Asherah. Hestrin draws parallels between this and representations of Hathor as the sycamore tree goddess in Egypt, and suggests that during the period of Egyptian rule in Palestine, the Hathor cult penetrated the region so extensively that Hathor became identified with Asherah. Other motifs in the ewer, such as a lion, fallow deer, and ibexes, seem to have a close relationship with the iconography associated with her. Asherah may also have been associated with the ancient pan-Near Eastern “Master of animals” motif, which depicted a person or deity betwixt two confronted animals.” ref
“According to Beaulieu, depictions of a divine “mistress of lions” motif are “almost undoubtedly depictions of the goddess Asherah.” The lioness made a ubiquitous symbol for goddesses of the ancient Middle East that was similar to the dove and the tree. Lionesses figure prominently in Asherah’s iconography, including the tenth-century BCE Ta’anach cult stand, which also includes the tree motif. A Hebrew arrowhead from the eleventh century BCE bears the inscription “Servant of the Lion Lady”. The symbols around Asherah are so many (8+ pointed star, caprids and the like, along with lunisolar, arboreal, florid, serpentine) that a listing would approach meaninglessness as it neared exhaustiveness. Frevel’s 1000-page dissertation ends enigmatically with the pronouncement “There is no genuine Asherah iconography”. There is significant debate on whether Asherah was worshipped in ancient Israelite religion. Some scholars argue that Asherah was venerated as Yahweh‘s consort, while others oppose this arguing that the relevant Hebrew epigraphic evidence actually refers to some cultic place or object rather than a goddess.” ref
“Possible evidence for her worship includes an iconography and inscriptions at two locations in use circa the 9th century. The first was in a cave at Khirbet el-Qom. The second was at Kuntillet Ajrud. In the latter, a jar shows bovid-anthropomorphic figures and several inscriptions that refer to “Yahweh of Samaria and his Asherah” and “Yahweh of Teman and his Asherah.” However, a number of scholars hold that the “asherah” mentioned in the inscriptions refers to some kind of cultic object or symbol, rather than a goddess. Some scholars have argued that since cognate forms of “asherah” are used with the meaning of “sanctuary” in Phoenician and Aramaic inscriptions from the same period, this may also be the meaning of the term in the two Hebrew inscriptions. Others argue that the term “asherah” may refer to a sacred tree used for the worship of Yahweh as this is the meaning that the Hebrew term has in the Hebrew Bible and in the Mishnah. In one potsherd there appear a large and small bovine. This “oral fixation” motif has diverse examples, see figs 413–419 in Winter. In fact, already Flinders Petrie in the 1930s was referring to Davies on the memorable stereotype. It’s such a common motif in Syrian and Phoenician ivories that the Arslan Tash horde had at least four.” ref
“There are references to the worship of numerous deities throughout the Books of Kings: Solomon builds temples to many deities and Josiah is reported as cutting down the statues of Asherah in the temple Solomon built for Yahweh (2 Kings 23:14). Josiah’s grandfather Manasseh had erected one such statue (2 Kings 21:7). The name Asherah appears forty times in the Hebrew Bible, but it is much reduced in English translations. The word ʾăšērâ is translated in Greek as Greek: ἄλσος (grove; plural: ἄλση) in every instance apart from Isaiah 17:8; 27:9 and 2 Chronicles 15:16; 24:18, with Greek: δένδρα (trees) being used for the former, and, peculiarly, Ἀστάρτη (Astarte) for the latter.” ref
“The Vulgate in Latin provided lucus or nemus, a grove or a wood. From the Vulgate, the King James translation of the Bible uses grove or groves instead of Asherah’s name. Non-scholarly English language readers of the Bible would not have read her name for more than 400 years afterward. The association of Asherah with trees in the Hebrew Bible is very strong. For example, she is found under trees (1 Kings 14:23; 2 Kings 17:10) and is made of wood by human beings (1 Kings 14:15, 2 Kings 16:3–4). The farther from the time of Josiah’s reforms, the broader the perception of an Asherah became. Trees described in later Jewish texts as being an asherah or part of an asherah include grapevines, pomegranates, walnuts, myrtles, and willows.” ref
“Eventually, monotheistic leaders would suppress the tree due to its association with Asherah. Deuteronomy 12 has Yahweh commanding the destruction of her shrines so as to maintain purity of his worship. Jezebel brought hundreds of prophets for Baal and Asherah with her into the Israelite court. William Dever’s book discusses female pillar figurines, the queen of heaven name, and the cakes. Dever also points to the temple at Tel Arad, the famous archaeological site with cannabinoids and massebot. Dever notes: “The only goddess whose name is well attested in the Hebrew Bible (or in ancient Israel generally) is Asherah.” ref
“Some scholars have found an early link between Asherah and Eve, based upon the coincidence of their common title as “the mother of all living” in Genesis 3:20 through the identification with the Hurrian mother goddess, Hebat. Olyan notes that Eve’s original Hebrew name, ḥawwāh, is cognate to ḥawwat, an attested epithet of Tanit in the first millennium BCE, though other scholars dispute a connection between Tanit and Asherah, and between Asherah and Eve. A Phoenician deity, Ḥawwat, is attested in the Punica tabella defixionis. There is further speculation that the Shekhinah, as a feminine aspect of Yahweh, may be a cultural memory or devolution of Asherah. Another such aspect is seen in the feminine treatment (grammatically or otherwise) of the Holy Spirit or Sophia. This transference of feminine aspects and attributes, some argue, can also be seen to be applied to male figures like Jacob or Jesus.” ref
The Asherah Altar
“Asherah, untangling the threads of her complex story. We’ll explore her roles as mother goddess, fierce protector, and consort to the sky, revealing the fascinating world of Canaanite religion and its contribution to our understanding of the divine feminine.” ref
Her Epithets: Queenly Titles:
- Qrt hšmym: Queen of Heaven
- Elath: Goddess (feminine form of El, the chief god, and Yahweh god of the bible)
- Gbtrt tbnwt ʼlm: Mistress of All Lands
- **Gbtrt kl tpt: ** Mistress of All Ends (possibly referring to her influence over all aspects of life) ref
Motherly and Fertility Titles:
- **ʼm ʼlm: ** Mother of Gods
- **ʼmt špš: ** Mother of the Sun
- **ʼmt yrm: ** Mother of the Sea (connected to her association with Yam, the god of the sea)
- **qny t ilm: ** Creatress of Gods ref
Protective and Warrior Titles:
- **gbtrt hlmh: ** Mistress of War
- **ʼaṯirat gpn: ** Asherah of the Vine (representing both fertility and potential wrath)
- **ʼaṯirat yam: ** Asherah of the Sea (possibly highlighting her association with storms and power) ref
Other Interesting Titles:
- **qdš: ** Holiness (linking her to sacredness and purity)
- **rbt ʼṯrt ym: ** Lady Asherah of the Sea (a particularly potent epithet showcasing her dominion over the sea) ref
“Who was King Hezekiah? What was he cleaning up? When looking into the several passages of II Kings and II Chronicles, we find a young king who was ready to work to eradicate the changes his father had made in worship in the cities of Judah. King Ahaz, his father, had brought Baal and Asherah worship to the streets of Jerusalem, which included child sacrifice. From II Kings chapter 16— A sketch of the Baal and Asherah Altar was taken during a visit to the King of Damascus in the eighth century BCE by King Ahaz of Judah. Ahaz was the twelfth king of Judah, and fell into jealousy after seeing how well his neighbors were doing. He sent his sketch of the altar to his priest Uriah, with the command to create these new altars and install them on the street corners of Jerusalem. They would serve the people as the new form of worship, borrowed from the Canaanite religion of Baal worship, with his consort Asherah as the focus of praise, the burning of incense, and the sacrifice of children. Author Ronald Hendel argues the Asherah pole is a symbol of the goddess and is believed to be the mediator between the worshipper and Yahweh, where she becomes the “effective bestower of blessing.”
Canaanite Culture and Its Pantheon of Gods:
In the land of ancient Canaan between the Bronze and Iron Age, where the Canaanites and Israelites both worshiped a pantheon of gods and goddesses. The land of Canaan is an ancient designation for that area in the Levant that is currently occupied by: Lebanon, Israel, Syria, and Jordan. Despite what many people have assumed, the Israelites, too, worshiped many gods outright until Yahweh was transitioned into the role of “head” god in charge.” ref
“The Canaanites and Israelites believed the universe was ruled by gods and goddesses, and they worshiped them. The popular gods Baal, El, and Asherah, and a couple of other female goddesses. Baal was an important Canaanite god. We find him mentioned in the Old Testament. In Canaanite mythology, he is the son of the chief god El and his consort Asherah and the ruler of Heaven as well as a god of the sun, rain, thunder, fertility, and agriculture. Baal’s worship was prevalent in Canaan even prior to the Israelite exodus from Egypt. The God El was the name of the chief deity of the West Semites, including the Canaanites. In the ancient texts from ancient Ugarit (or now Ras Shamra) in Syria, El was described as the “titular head” of the pantheon, husband of Asherah, and father of all the other gods. The god El was viewed as the elder with gray hair and a gray beard. Despite his status as the supreme deity, he was not nearly as popular as the god, Baal. There is a figurine of a Canaanite fertility goddess that depicts the goddess from both the interior and the exterior perspectives, as she prepares herself for the delivery of twins. The twins, seen within her womb, clutch at her breasts. The figurine may represent Asherah, called the “sacred prostitute” or the “one of the womb.” According to myth, Asherah gave birth to the twin gods Shahar and Shalem. Symbols of Asherah, the sacred tree and ibex, appear on the goddess’s thighs. The figurine was probably an amulet for women in childbirth.” ref
“In the bible, scriptures provide a clear example of the believed result of worshiping other gods in II Chronicles 28:22:
In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the LORD. He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me,” But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.” ref
“And Israel and Judah’s downfall did come through conquering armies that took over two hundred thousand into captivity, for seventy years, until Darius, King of Persia, was moved by God to release the people and rebuild God’s Temple in Jerusalem.” ref
“The goddess Asherah is a primordial mother goddess or creatress of the gods, and mother of 70 gods. She is considered the matriarch (Creatress), and El was the Patriarch (Creator). She was the female consort to the Hebrew God Yahweh and was widely worshiped by Israelites, Canaanites, and many others. There is archaeological and textual evidence that in the early history of Israel, she may have been seen not only as the consort of El but also as the wife of the Israelite God Yahweh. El was recognized by the Canaanites as the supreme deity and by the Israelites as synonymous with Yahweh. Asherah was mentioned as a wet nurse in the Ugaritic myth. She is also associated with serpents (representing healing), lions (representing power), and trees (representing fertility). The goddess Asherah is further mentioned in Hittite mythology, where she has 77 and 88 children. The goddesses Astarte and Anath were also great goddesses of the Canaanite pantheon, but they are considered separate goddesses.” ref
The Challenges in Reconstructing Asherah’s History
“Exactly how do we actually know about the goddess Asherah? We know this from not only the Old Testament, where Asherah is mentioned 40 times, and we will get to that shortly, but she is also mentioned in ancient Ugaritic texts (before 1200 BCE.. Let’s talk about the Ugaritic texts/tablets first, which she’s mentioned, given that they predate the Bible (Old Testament). In northwest Syria, an ancient tomb was accidentally discovered. The tomb was part of a cemetery located in the area of the ancient city of Ugarit. French excavators discovered the remains of two libraries of ancient clay tablets written mainly in alphabetic Ugaritic. Ugarit was a port at the entrance of the inland trade route to the Euphrates and Tigris lands. Ugarit is now known as Ras Sharma. It is near modern-day Cyprus, and it was the capital of a prominent city-state in modern-day Syria. Several texts were discovered once it was excavated, and these include the “Legend of Keret,” the “Aqhat Epic” (or “Legend of Danel”), the “Myth of Baal-Aliyan,” and the “Death of Baal”. Among the Ugaritic texts is a tablet that names the Ugaritic pantheon with Babylonian equivalents; El, Asherah of the Sea, and Baal were the main deities. In these texts, she is referenced as “ATRT” or “Athirat,” and “Ilit,” which simply means goddess. She is also referenced as the consort of the god, “El.” In Sumerian documents dating to 1750 BCE, she is referred to as Ashratum and the bride of Anu (Martin- Gardner 2020:9). In the Ugaritic texts, Asherah is known as the “creator of all the deities.” ref
“A number of potsherds that contained the following inscriptions: “I bless you to Yahweh of Samaria and to his Asherah,” and “I bless you to Yaweh of Teman and to his Asheah.” This does indicate that she was a partner to Yahweh. From another excavated site of Khirbet El-Qom, dating to the 700s BCE, reveals similar inscriptions “Uriyahu the Rich wrote it., Blessed be Uriyahu by Yahweh, for from his enemies by his Asherah he has saved him by Oniyahu, by his asherah and by his a[she]rah.” ref
THE FIRE SHALL BURN CONTINUALLY AT THE ALTAR
“Leviticus 6:12-13: 12 And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not be put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order on it; and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. 13 A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out.
Why is it so important that we keep this fire burning?
“An altar represents a place of consecration, a place of sacrifice, a place upon which an offering is made. The instructions to the priest were – And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning. This was meant to be every morning stoking of the fire; the fire was to burn 365 days a year.” ref
Hebrews 1:7: 7 And of the angels He says: “Who makes His angels spirits, And His ministers a flame of fire.”
Leviticus 9:24: “Fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted for joy and fell facedown.”
Exodus 24:17: And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the eyes of the Israelites.
“An Asherah pole is a sacred tree (stone pillar, ceramic altar) or pole that stood near Canaanite religious locations to honor the goddess Asherah. The relation of the literary references to an asherah and archaeological finds of Judaean pillar-figurines has engendered a literature of debate. The asherim were also cult objects related to the worship of Asherah, the consort of either Ba’al or, as inscriptions from Kuntillet ‘Ajrud and Khirbet el-Qom attest, Yahweh, and thus objects of contention among competing cults. Most English translations of the Hebrew Bible translate the Hebrew words asherim (אֲשֵׁרִים ’ăšērīm) or asheroth (אֲשֵׁרוֹת ’ăšērōṯ) to “Asherah poles.” ref
“Asherim are mentioned in the Hebrew Bible in the books of Exodus, Deuteronomy, Judges, the Books of Kings, the second Book of Chronicles, and the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micah. The term often appears as merely אשרה, (Asherah) referred to as “groves” in the King James Version, which follows the Septuagint rendering as ἄλσος (alsos), pl. ἄλση (alsē) and the Vulgate lucus, and “poles” in the New Revised Standard Version; no word that may be translated as “poles” appears in the text. Scholars have indicated, however, that the plural use of the term (English “Asherahs”, translating Hebrew Asherim or Asherot) provides ample evidence that reference is being made to objects of worship rather than a transcendent figure. Asherah’s association with fertility was not limited to her association with trees; she was often depicted with pronounced sexual features. Idols of Asherah, often called ’Astarte figurines’, are representative of Asherah as a tree in that they have bodies which resemble tree trunks, while also further extenuating the goddess’ connection to fertility in line with her status as a “mother goddess”. The “Judean pillar figures” universally depict Asherah with protruding breasts. Likewise, the so-called Revadim Asherah is rife with potent, striking sexual imagery, depicting Asherah suckling two smaller figures and using both of her hands to fully expose her vagina. Many times, Asherah’s pubis area was marked by a concentration of dots, indicating pubic hair, though this figure is sometimes polysemically understood as a grape cluster. The womb was also sometimes used as a nutrix symbol, as animals are often shown feeding directly (if a bit abstractly) from the pubic triangle.” ref, ref
“The Hebrew Bible suggests that the poles were made of wood. In the sixth chapter of the Book of Judges, God is recorded as instructing the Israelite judge Gideon to cut down an Asherah pole that was next to an altar to Baal. The wood was to be used for a burnt offering. Deuteronomy 16:21 states that YHWH (rendered as “the LORD“) hated Asherim whether rendered as poles: “Do not set up any [wooden] Asherah [pole] beside the altar you build to the LORD your God” or as living trees: “You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God which you shall make”. That Asherahs were not always living trees is shown in 1 Kings 14:23: “their asherim, beside every luxuriant tree”. However, the record indicates that the Jewish people often departed from this ideal. For example, King Manasseh placed an Asherah pole in the Holy Temple (2 Kings 21:7). King Josiah’s reforms in the late 7th century BC included the destruction of many Asherah poles (2 Kings 23:14). Exodus 34:13 states: “Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherim [Asherah poles].” ref
“The Pyramid of Capitalist System is a common name of a 1911 American cartoon caricature critical of capitalism, based on older similar pictures. In 1900, the Belgian Labour Party used a picture called “Pyramide à renverser” (lit. ’a pyramid that has to be overthrown’) during its electoral campaign. The basic message of the image is a critique of the capitalist system, depicting a hierarchy of power and wealth. It illustrates a working class supporting all others, and if it would withdraw their support from the system it could topple the existing social order.” ref
“Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economic system, such as socialism or communism. Socialism advocates public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals, with an egalitarian method of compensation. Karl Marx saw capitalism as a historical stage, once progressive but which would eventually stagnate due to internal contradictions and would eventually be followed by socialism. Marx claimed that capitalism was nothing more than a necessary stepping stone for the progression of man, which would then face a political revolution before embracing the classless society.” ref
“In addition to individualist anarchist Benjamin Tucker‘s “big four” monopolies (land, money, tariffs, and patents), Kevin Carson argues that the state has also transferred wealth to the wealthy by subsidizing organizational centralization, in the form of transportation and communication subsidies. He believes that Tucker overlooked this issue due to Tucker’s focus on individual market transactions, whereas Carson also focuses on organizational issues. Carson holds that “capitalism, arising as a new class society directly from the old class society of the Middle Ages, was founded on an act of robbery as massive as the earlier feudal conquest of the land. It has been sustained to the present by continual state intervention to protect its system of privilege without which its survival is unimaginable.” ref
“Within anarchism there emerged a critique of wage slavery, which refers to a situation perceived as quasi-voluntary slavery, where a person’s livelihood depends on wages, especially when the dependence is total and immediate. It is a negatively connoted term used to draw an analogy between slavery and wage labor by focusing on similarities between owning and renting a person. The term wage slavery has been used to criticize economic exploitation and social stratification, with the former seen primarily as unequal bargaining power between labor and capital (particularly when workers are paid comparatively low wages, e.g. in sweatshops), and the latter as a lack of workers’ self-management, fulfilling job choices and leisure in an economy. Libertarian socialists believe if freedom is valued, then society must work towards a system in which individuals have the power to decide economic issues along with political issues. Libertarian socialists seek to replace unjustified authority with direct democracy, voluntary federation, and popular autonomy in all aspects of life, including physical communities and economic enterprises.” ref
- “Atheist-Humanist-Leftists”12 video series: Organized Oppression: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of power (9,000-4,000 years ago)
- “Atheist-Humanist-Leftist” World Prehistory (with relations of anarchism and socialism) Series, 10 videos, with associated blog posts
- “Atheist-Humanist-Leftists” World Mythology Series, 20 videos, with associated blog posts
Power to the people is an anarchist rallying cry from its earliest formations. Centralized power threatens the power of the people. Hierarchy has always been the problem; equality of all, not the power of the few.
No gods, and no masters; hierarchy is a disaster!
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.
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!
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
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.
My thoughts on Religion Evolution with external links for more info:
- (Pre-Animism Africa mainly, but also Europe, and Asia at least 300,000 years ago), (Pre-Animism – Oxford Dictionaries)
- (Animism Africa around 100,000 years ago), (Animism – Britannica.com)
- (Totemism Europe around 50,000 years ago), (Totemism – Anthropology)
- (Shamanism Siberia around 30,000 years ago), (Shamanism – Britannica.com)
- (Paganism Turkey around 12,000 years ago), (Paganism – BBC Religion)
- (Progressed Organized Religion “Institutional Religion” Egypt around 5,000 years ago), (Ancient Egyptian Religion – Britannica.com)
- (CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS after 4,000 years ago) (Origin of Major Religions – Sacred Texts)
- (Early Atheistic Doubting at least by 2,600 years ago) (History of Atheism – Wikipedia)
“Religion is an Evolved Product” and Yes, Religion is Like Fear Given Wings…
Atheists talk about gods and religions for the same reason doctors talk about cancer, they are looking for a cure, or a firefighter talks about fires because they burn people and they care to stop them. We atheists too often feel a need to help the victims of mental slavery, held in the bondage that is the false beliefs of gods and the conspiracy theories of reality found in religions.
Understanding Religion Evolution:
- Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago)
- Animism (Africa: 100,000 years ago)
- Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago)
- Shamanism (Siberia: 30,000 years ago)
- Paganism (Turkey: 12,000 years ago)
- Progressed organized religion (Egypt: 5,000 years ago), (Egypt, the First Dynasty 5,150 years ago)
- CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS (after 4,000 years ago)
- Early Atheistic Doubting (at least by 2,600 years ago)
“An Archaeological/Anthropological Understanding of Religion Evolution”
It seems ancient peoples had to survived amazing threats in a “dangerous universe (by superstition perceived as good and evil),” and human “immorality or imperfection of the soul” which was thought to affect the still living, leading to ancestor worship. This ancestor worship presumably led to the belief in supernatural beings, and then some of these were turned into the belief in gods. This feeble myth called gods were just a human conceived “made from nothing into something over and over, changing, again and again, taking on more as they evolve, all the while they are thought to be special,” but it is just supernatural animistic spirit-belief perceived as sacred.
Quick Evolution of Religion?
Pre-Animism (at least 300,000 years ago) pre-religion is a beginning that evolves into later Animism. So, Religion as we think of it, to me, all starts in a general way with Animism (Africa: 100,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in supernatural powers/spirits), then this is physically expressed in or with Totemism (Europe: 50,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in mythical relationship with powers/spirits through a totem item), which then enlists a full-time specific person to do this worship and believed interacting Shamanism (Siberia/Russia: 30,000 years ago) (theoretical belief in access and influence with spirits through ritual), and then there is the further employment of myths and gods added to all the above giving you Paganism (Turkey: 12,000 years ago) (often a lot more nature-based than most current top world religions, thus hinting to their close link to more ancient religious thinking it stems from). My hypothesis is expressed with an explanation of the building of a theatrical house (modern religions development). Progressed organized religion (Egypt: 5,000 years ago) with CURRENT “World” RELIGIONS (after 4,000 years ago).
Historically, in large city-state societies (such as Egypt or Iraq) starting around 5,000 years ago culminated to make religion something kind of new, a sociocultural-governmental-religious monarchy, where all or at least many of the people of such large city-state societies seem familiar with and committed to the existence of “religion” as the integrated life identity package of control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine, but this juggernaut integrated religion identity package of Dogmatic-Propaganda certainly did not exist or if developed to an extent it was highly limited in most smaller prehistoric societies as they seem to lack most of the strong control dynamics with a fixed closed magical doctrine (magical beliefs could be at times be added or removed). Many people just want to see developed religious dynamics everywhere even if it is not. Instead, all that is found is largely fragments until the domestication of religion.
Religions, as we think of them today, are a new fad, even if they go back to around 6,000 years in the timeline of human existence, this amounts to almost nothing when seen in the long slow evolution of religion at least around 70,000 years ago with one of the oldest ritual worship. Stone Snake of South Africa: “first human worship” 70,000 years ago. This message of how religion and gods among them are clearly a man-made thing that was developed slowly as it was invented and then implemented peace by peace discrediting them all. Which seems to be a simple point some are just not grasping how devastating to any claims of truth when we can see the lie clearly in the archeological sites.
I wish people fought as hard for the actual values as they fight for the group/clan names political or otherwise they think support values. Every amount spent on war is theft to children in need of food or the homeless kept from shelter.
Here are several of my blog posts on history:
- To Find Truth You Must First Look
- (Magdalenian/Iberomaurusian) Connections to the First Paganists of the early Neolithic Near East Dating from around 17,000 to 12,000 Years Ago
- Natufians: an Ancient People at the Origins of Agriculture and Sedentary Life
- Possible Clan Leader/Special “MALE” Ancestor Totem Poles At Least 13,500 years ago?
- Jewish People with DNA at least 13,200 years old, Judaism, and the Origins of Some of its Ideas
- Baltic Reindeer Hunters: Swiderian, Lyngby, Ahrensburgian, and Krasnosillya cultures 12,020 to 11,020 years ago are evidence of powerful migratory waves during the last 13,000 years and a genetic link to Saami and the Finno-Ugric peoples.
- The Rise of Inequality: patriarchy and state hierarchy inequality
- Fertile Crescent 12,500 – 9,500 Years Ago: fertility and death cult belief system?
- 12,400 – 11,700 Years Ago – Kortik Tepe (Turkey) Pre/early-Agriculture Cultic Ritualism
- Ritualistic Bird Symbolism at Gobekli Tepe and its “Ancestor Cult”
- Male-Homosexual (female-like) / Trans-woman (female) Seated Figurine from Gobekli Tepe
- Could a 12,000-year-old Bull Geoglyph at Göbekli Tepe relate to older Bull and Female Art 25,000 years ago and Later Goddess and the Bull cults like Catal Huyuk?
- Sedentism and the Creation of goddesses around 12,000 years ago as well as male gods after 7,000 years ago.
- Alcohol, where Agriculture and Religion Become one? Such as Gobekli Tepe’s Ritualistic use of Grain as Food and Ritual Drink
- Neolithic Ritual Sites with T-Pillars and other Cultic Pillars
- Paganism: Goddesses around 12,000 years ago then Male Gods after 7,000 years ago
- First Patriarchy: Split of Women’s Status around 12,000 years ago & First Hierarchy: fall of Women’s Status around 5,000 years ago.
- Natufians: an Ancient People at the Origins of Agriculture and Sedentary Life
- J DNA and the Spread of Agricultural Religion (paganism)
- Paganism: an approximately 12,000-year-old belief system
- Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism)
- Shaman burial in Israel 12,000 years ago and the Shamanism Phenomena
- Need to Mythicized: gods and goddesses
- 12,000 – 7,000 Years Ago – Paleo-Indian Culture (The Americas)
- 12,000 – 2,000 Years Ago – Indigenous-Scandinavians (Nordic)
- Norse did not wear helmets with horns?
- Pre-Pottery Neolithic Skull Cult around 11,500 to 8,400 Years Ago?
- 10,400 – 10,100 Years Ago, in Turkey the Nevail Cori Religious Settlement
- 9,000-6,500 Years Old Submerged Pre-Pottery/Pottery Neolithic Ritual Settlements off Israel’s Coast
- Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city” around 9,500 to 7,700 years ago (Turkey)
- Cultic Hunting at Catal Huyuk “first religious designed city”
- Special Items and Art as well as Special Elite Burials at Catal Huyuk
- New Rituals and Violence with the appearance of Pottery and People?
- Haplogroup N and its related Uralic Languages and Cultures
- Ainu people, Sámi people, Native Americans, the Ancient North Eurasians, and Paganistic-Shamanism with Totemism
- Ideas, Technology and People from Turkey, Europe, to China and Back again 9,000 to 5,000 years ago?
- First Pottery of Europe and the Related Cultures
- 9,000 years old Neolithic Artifacts Judean Desert and Hills Israel
- 9,000-7,000 years-old Sex and Death Rituals: Cult Sites in Israel, Jordan, and the Sinai
- 9,000-8500 year old Horned Female shaman Bad Dürrenberg Germany
- Neolithic Jewelry and the Spread of Farming in Europe Emerging out of West Turkey
- 8,600-year-old Tortoise Shells in Neolithic graves in central China have Early Writing and Shamanism
- Swing of the Mace: the rise of Elite, Forced Authority, and Inequality begin to Emerge 8,500 years ago?
- Migrations and Changing Europeans Beginning around 8,000 Years Ago
- My “Steppe-Anatolian-Kurgan hypothesis” 8,000/7,000 years ago
- Around 8,000-year-old Shared Idea of the Mistress of Animals, “Ritual” Motif
- Pre-Columbian Red-Paint (red ochre) Maritime Archaic Culture 8,000-3,000 years ago
- 7,522-6,522 years ago Linear Pottery culture which I think relates to Arcane Capitalism’s origins
- Arcane Capitalism: Primitive socialism, Primitive capital, Private ownership, Means of production, Market capitalism, Class discrimination, and Petite bourgeoisie (smaller capitalists)
- 7,500-4,750 years old Ritualistic Cucuteni-Trypillian culture of Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine
- Roots of a changing early society 7,200-6,700 years ago Jordan and Israel
- Agriculture religion (Paganism) with farming reached Britain between about 7,000 to 6,500 or so years ago and seemingly expressed in things like Western Europe’s Long Barrows
- My Thoughts on Possible Migrations of “R” DNA and Proto-Indo-European?
- “Millet” Spreading from China 7,022 years ago to Europe and related Language may have Spread with it leading to Proto-Indo-European
- Proto-Indo-European (PIE), ancestor of Indo-European languages: DNA, Society, Language, and Mythology
- The Dnieper–Donets culture and Asian varieties of Millet from China to the Black Sea region of Europe by 7,022 years ago
- Kurgan 6,000 years ago/dolmens 7,000 years ago: funeral, ritual, and other?
- 7,020 to 6,020-year-old Proto-Indo-European Homeland of Urheimat or proposed home of their Language and Religion
- Ancient Megaliths: Kurgan, Ziggurat, Pyramid, Menhir, Trilithon, Dolman, Kromlech, and Kromlech of Trilithons
- The Mytheme of Ancient North Eurasian Sacred-Dog belief and similar motifs are found in Indo-European, Native American, and Siberian comparative mythology
- Elite Power Accumulation: Ancient Trade, Tokens, Writing, Wealth, Merchants, and Priest-Kings
- Sacred Mounds, Mountains, Kurgans, and Pyramids may hold deep connections?
- Between 7,000-5,000 Years ago, rise of unequal hierarchy elite, leading to a “birth of the State” or worship of power, strong new sexism, oppression of non-elites, and the fall of Women’s equal status
- Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite & their slaves
- Hell and Underworld mythologies starting maybe as far back as 7,000 to 5,000 years ago with the Proto-Indo-Europeans?
- The First Expression of the Male God around 7,000 years ago?
- White (light complexion skin) Bigotry and Sexism started 7,000 years ago?
- Around 7,000-year-old Shared Idea of the Divine Bird (Tutelary and/or Trickster spirit/deity), “Ritual” Motif
- Nekhbet an Ancient Egyptian Vulture Goddess and Tutelary Deity
- 6,720 to 4,920 years old Ritualistic Hongshan Culture of Inner Mongolia with 5,000-year-old Pyramid Mounds and Temples
- First proto-king in the Balkans, Varna culture around 6,500 years ago?
- 6,500–5,800 years ago in Israel Late Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Period in the Southern Levant Seems to Express Northern Levant Migrations, Cultural and Religious Transfer
- KING OF BEASTS: Master of Animals “Ritual” Motif, around 6,000 years old or older…
- Around 6000-year-old Shared Idea of the Solid Wheel & the Spoked Wheel-Shaped Ritual Motif
- “The Ghassulian Star,” a mysterious 6,000-year-old mural from Jordan; a Proto-Star of Ishtar, Star of Inanna or Star of Venus?
- Religious/Ritual Ideas, including goddesses and gods as well as ritual mounds or pyramids from Northeastern Asia at least 6,000 years old, seemingly filtering to Iran, Iraq, the Mediterranean, Europe, Egypt, and the Americas?
- Maykop (5,720–5,020 years ago) Caucasus region Bronze Age culture-related to Copper Age farmers from the south, influenced by the Ubaid period and Leyla-Tepe culture, as well as influencing the Kura-Araxes culture
- 5-600-year-old Tomb, Mummy, and First Bearded Male Figurine in a Grave
- Kura-Araxes Cultural 5,520 to 4,470 years old DNA traces to the Canaanites, Arabs, and Jews
- Minoan/Cretan (Keftiu) Civilization and Religion around 5,520 to 3,120 years ago
- Evolution Of Science at least by 5,500 years ago
- 5,500 Years old birth of the State, the rise of Hierarchy, and the fall of Women’s status
- “Jiroft culture” 5,100 – 4,200 years ago and the History of Iran
- Stonehenge: Paganistic Burial and Astrological Ritual Complex, England (5,100-3,600 years ago)
- Around 5,000-year-old Shared Idea of the “Tree of Life” Ritual Motif
- Complex rituals for elite, seen from China to Egypt, at least by 5,000 years ago
- Around 5,000 years ago: “Birth of the State” where Religion gets Military Power and Influence
- The Center of the World “Axis Mundi” and/or “Sacred Mountains” Mythology Could Relate to the Altai Mountains, Heart of the Steppe
- Progressed organized religion starts, an approximately 5,000-year-old belief system
- China’s Civilization between 5,000-3,000 years ago, was a time of war and class struggle, violent transition from free clans to a Slave or Elite society
- Origin of Logics is Naturalistic Observation at least by around 5,000 years ago.
- Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State)
- Ziggurats (multi-platform temples: 4,900 years old) to Pyramids (multi-platform tombs: 4,700 years old)
- Did a 4,520–4,420-year-old Volcano In Turkey Inspire the Bible God?
- Finland’s Horned Shaman and Pre-Horned-God at least 4,500 years ago?
- 4,000-year-Old Dolmens in Israel: A Connected Dolmen Religious Phenomenon?
- Creation myths: From chaos, Ex nihilo, Earth-diver, Emergence, World egg, and World parent
- Bronze Age “Ritual” connections of the Bell Beaker culture with the Corded Ware/Single Grave culture, which were related to the Yamnaya culture and Proto-Indo-European Languages/Religions
- Low Gods (Earth/ Tutelary deity), High Gods (Sky/Supreme deity), and Moralistic Gods (Deity enforcement/divine order)
- The exchange of people, ideas, and material-culture including, to me, the new god (Sky Father) and goddess (Earth Mother) religion between the Cucuteni-Trypillians and others which is then spread far and wide
- Koryaks: Indigenous People of the Russian Far East and Big Raven myths also found in Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, and other Indigenous People of North America
- 42 Principles Of Maat (Egyptian Goddess of the justice) around 4,400 years ago, 2000 Years Before Ten Commandments
- “Happy Easter” Well Happy Eostre/Ishter
- 4,320-3,820 years old “Shimao” (North China) site with Totemistic-Shamanistic Paganism and a Stepped Pyramid
- 4,250 to 3,400 Year old Stonehenge from Russia: Arkaim?
- 4,100-year-old beaker with medicinal & flowering plants in a grave of a woman in Scotland
- Early European Farmer ancestry, Kelif el Boroud people with the Cardial Ware culture, and the Bell Beaker culture Paganists too, spread into North Africa, then to the Canary Islands off West Africa
- Flood Accounts: Gilgamesh epic (4,100 years ago) Noah in Genesis (2,600 years ago)
- Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism)
- When was the beginning: TIMELINE OF CURRENT RELIGIONS, which start around 4,000 years ago.
- Early Religions Thought to Express Proto-Monotheistic Systems around 4,000 years ago
- Kultepe? An archaeological site with a 4,000 years old women’s rights document.
- Single God Religions (Monotheism) = “Man-o-theism” started around 4,000 years ago with the Great Sky Spirit/God Tiān (天)?
- Confucianism’s Tiān (Shangdi god 4,000 years old): Supernaturalism, Pantheism or Theism?
- Yes, Your Male God is Ridiculous
- Mythology, a Lunar Deity is a Goddess or God of the Moon
- Sacred Land, Hills, and Mountains: Sami Mythology (Paganistic Shamanism)
- Horse Worship/Sacrifice: mythical union of Ruling Elite/Kingship and the Horse
- The Amorite/Amurru people’s God Amurru “Lord of the Steppe”, relates to the Origins of the Bible God?
- Bronze Age Exotic Trade Routes Spread Quite Far as well as Spread Religious Ideas with Them
- Sami and the Northern Indigenous Peoples Landscape, Language, and its Connection to Religion
- Prototype of Ancient Analemmatic Sundials around 3,900-3,150 years ago and a Possible Solar Connection to gods?
- Judaism is around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (“Paleo-Hebrew” 3,000 years ago and Torah 2,500 years ago)
- The Weakening of Ancient Trade and the Strengthening of Religions around 3000 years ago?
- Are you aware that there are religions that worship women gods, explain now religion tears women down?
- Animistic, Totemistic, and Paganistic Superstition Origins of bible god and the bible’s Religion.
- Myths and Folklore: “Trickster gods and goddesses”
- Jews, Judaism, and the Origins of Some of its Ideas
- An Old Branch of Religion Still Giving Fruit: Sacred Trees
- Dating the BIBLE: naming names and telling times (written less than 3,000 years ago, provable to 2,200 years ago)
- Did a Volcano Inspire the bible god?
- Dené–Yeniseian language, Old Copper Complex, and Pre-Columbian Mound Builders?
- No “dinosaurs and humans didn’t exist together just because some think they are in the bible itself”
- Sacred Shit and Sacred Animals?
- Everyone Killed in the Bible Flood? “Nephilim” (giants)?
- Hey, Damien dude, I have a question for you regarding “the bible” Exodus.
- Archaeology Disproves the Bible
- Bible Battle, Just More, Bible Babble
- The Jericho Conquest lie?
- Canaanites and Israelites?
- Accurate Account on how did Christianity Began?
- Let’s talk about Christianity.
- So the 10 commandments isn’t anything to go by either right?
- Misinformed christian
- Debunking Jesus?
- Paulism vs Jesus
- Ok, you seem confused so let’s talk about Buddhism.
- Unacknowledged Buddhism: Gods, Savior, Demons, Rebirth, Heavens, Hells, and Terrorism
- His Foolishness The Dalai Lama
- Yin and Yang is sexist with an ORIGIN around 2,300 years ago?
- I Believe Archaeology, not Myths & Why Not, as the Religious Myths Already Violate Reason!
- Archaeological, Scientific, & Philosophic evidence shows the god myth is man-made nonsense.
- Aquatic Ape Theory/Hypothesis? As Always, Just Pseudoscience.
- Ancient Aliens Conspiracy Theorists are Pseudohistorians
- The Pseudohistoric and Pseudoscientific claims about “Bakoni Ruins” of South Africa
- Why do people think Religion is much more than supernaturalism and superstitionism?
- Religion is an Evolved Product
- Was the Value of Ancient Women Different?
- 1000 to 1100 CE, human sacrifice Cahokia Mounds a pre-Columbian Native American site
- Feminist atheists as far back as the 1800s?
- Promoting Religion as Real is Mentally Harmful to a Flourishing Humanity
- Screw All Religions and Their Toxic lies, they are all fraud
- Forget Religions’ Unfounded Myths, I Have Substantiated “Archaeology Facts.”
- Religion Dispersal throughout the World
- I Hate Religion Just as I Hate all Pseudoscience
- Exposing Scientology, Eckankar, Wicca and Other Nonsense?
- Main deity or religious belief systems
- Quit Trying to Invent Your God From the Scraps of Science.
- Archaeological, Scientific, & Philosophic evidence shows the god myth is man-made nonsense.
- Ancient Alien Conspiracy Theorists: Misunderstanding, Rhetoric, Misinformation, Fabrications, and Lies
- Misinformation, Distortion, and Pseudoscience in Talking with a Christian Creationist
- Judging the Lack of Goodness in Gods, Even the Norse God Odin
- Challenging the Belief in God-like Aliens and Gods in General
- A Challenge to Christian use of Torture Devices?
- Yes, Hinduism is a Religion
- Trump is One of the Most Reactionary Forces of Far-right Christian Extremism
- Was the Bull Head a Symbol of God? Yes!
- Primate Death Rituals
- Christian – “God and Christianity are objectively true”
- Australopithecus afarensis Death Ritual?
- You Claim Global Warming is a Hoax?
- Doubter of Science and Defamer of Atheists?
- I think that sounds like the Bible?
- History of the Antifa (“anti-fascist”) Movements
- Indianapolis Anti-Blasphemy Laws #Free Soheil Rally
- Damien, you repeat the golden rule in so many forms then you say religion is dogmatic?
- Science is a Trustable Methodology whereas Faith is not Trustable at all!
- Was I ever a believer, before I was an atheist?
- Atheists rise in reason
- Mistrust of science?
- Open to Talking About the Definition of ‘God’? But first, we address Faith.
- ‘United Monarchy’ full of splendor and power – Saul, David, and Solomon? Most likely not.
- Is there EXODUS ARCHAEOLOGY? The short answer is “no.”
- Lacking Proof of Bigfoots, Unicorns, and Gods is Just a Lack of Research?
- Religion and Politics: Faith Beliefs vs. Rational Thinking
- Hammer of Truth that lying pig RELIGION: challenged by an archaeologist
- “The Hammer of Truth” -ontology question- What do You Mean by That?
- Navigation of a bad argument: Ad Hominem vs. Attack
- Why is it Often Claimed that Gods have a Gender?
- Why are basically all monotheistic religions ones that have a male god?
- Shifting through the Claims in support of Faith
- Dear Mr. AtHope, The 20th Century is an Indictment of Secularism and a Failed Atheist Century
- An Understanding of the Worldwide Statistics and Dynamics of Terrorist Incidents and Suicide Attacks
- Intoxication and Evolution? Addressing and Assessing the “Stoned Ape” or “Drunken Monkey” Theories as Catalysts in Human Evolution
- Sacred Menstrual cloth? Inanna’s knot, Isis knot, and maybe Ma’at’s feather?
- Damien, why don’t the Hebrews accept the bible stories?
- Dealing with a Troll and Arguing Over Word Meaning
- Knowledge without Belief? Justified beliefs or disbeliefs worthy of Knowledge?
- Afrocentrism and African Religions
- Crecganford @crecganford offers history & stories of the people, places, gods, & culture
- Empiricism-Denier?
I am not an academic. I am a revolutionary that teaches in public, in places like social media, and in the streets. I am not a leader by some title given but from my commanding leadership style of simply to start teaching everywhere to everyone, all manner of positive education.
To me, Animism starts in Southern Africa, then to West Europe, and becomes Totemism. Another split goes near the Russia and Siberia border becoming Shamanism, which heads into Central Europe meeting up with Totemism, which also had moved there, mixing the two which then heads to Lake Baikal in Siberia. From there this Shamanism-Totemism heads to Turkey where it becomes Paganism.
.png%20){kind=link}
,_Uruk_Period,_c._3300_BC.jpg){kind=link}
.png){kind=link}
.png){kind=link}
.PNG){kind=link}
.png){kind=link}
Not all “Religions” or “Religious Persuasions” have a god(s) but
All can be said to believe in some imaginary beings or imaginary things like spirits, afterlives, etc.
Paganism 12,000-4,000 years old
12,000-7,000 years old: related to (Pre-Capitalism)
7,000-5,000 years old: related to (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves!
5,000 years old: related to (Kings and the Rise of the State)
4,000 years old: related to (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism)
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
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
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
“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*
ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref
Hinduism around 3,700 to 3,500 years old. ref
Judaism around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (The first writing in the bible was “Paleo-Hebrew” dated to around 3,000 years ago Khirbet Qeiyafa is the site of an ancient fortress city overlooking the Elah Valley. And many believe the religious Jewish texts were completed around 2,500) ref, ref
Judaism is around 3,450 or 3,250 years old. (“Paleo-Hebrew” 3,000 years ago and Torah 2,500 years ago)
“Judaism is an Abrahamic, its roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age. Some scholars argue that modern Judaism evolved from Yahwism, the religion of ancient Israel and Judah, by the late 6th century BCE, and is thus considered to be one of the oldest monotheistic religions.” ref
“Yahwism is the name given by modern scholars to the religion of ancient Israel, essentially polytheistic, with a plethora of gods and goddesses. Heading the pantheon was Yahweh, the national god of the Israelite kingdoms of Israel and Judah, with his consort, the goddess Asherah; below them were second-tier gods and goddesses such as Baal, Shamash, Yarikh, Mot, and Astarte, all of whom had their own priests and prophets and numbered royalty among their devotees, and a third and fourth tier of minor divine beings, including the mal’ak, the messengers of the higher gods, who in later times became the angels of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Yahweh, however, was not the ‘original’ god of Israel “Isra-El”; it is El, the head of the Canaanite pantheon, whose name forms the basis of the name “Israel”, and none of the Old Testament patriarchs, the tribes of Israel, the Judges, or the earliest monarchs, have a Yahwistic theophoric name (i.e., one incorporating the name of Yahweh).” ref
“El is a Northwest Semitic word meaning “god” or “deity“, or referring (as a proper name) to any one of multiple major ancient Near Eastern deities. A rarer form, ‘ila, represents the predicate form in Old Akkadian and in Amorite. The word is derived from the Proto-Semitic *ʔil-, meaning “god”. Specific deities known as ‘El or ‘Il include the supreme god of the ancient Canaanite religion and the supreme god of East Semitic speakers in Mesopotamia’s Early Dynastic Period. ʼĒl is listed at the head of many pantheons. In some Canaanite and Ugaritic sources, ʼĒl played a role as father of the gods, of creation, or both. For example, in the Ugaritic texts, ʾil mlk is understood to mean “ʼĒl the King” but ʾil hd as “the god Hadad“. The Semitic root ʾlh (Arabic ʾilāh, Aramaic ʾAlāh, ʾElāh, Hebrew ʾelōah) may be ʾl with a parasitic h, and ʾl may be an abbreviated form of ʾlh. In Ugaritic the plural form meaning “gods” is ʾilhm, equivalent to Hebrew ʾelōhîm “powers”. In the Hebrew texts this word is interpreted as being semantically singular for “god” by biblical commentators. However the documentary hypothesis for the Old Testament (corresponds to the Jewish Torah) developed originally in the 1870s, identifies these that different authors – the Jahwist, Elohist, Deuteronomist, and the Priestly source – were responsible for editing stories from a polytheistic religion into those of a monotheistic religion. Inconsistencies that arise between monotheism and polytheism in the texts are reflective of this hypothesis.” ref
Jainism around 2,599 – 2,527 years old. ref
Confucianism around 2,600 – 2,551 years old. ref
Buddhism around 2,563/2,480 – 2,483/2,400 years old. ref
Christianity around 2,o00 years old. ref
Shinto around 1,305 years old. ref
Islam around 1407–1385 years old. ref
Knowledge to Ponder:
Stars/Astrology:
- Possibly, around 30,000 years ago (in simpler form) to 6,000 years ago, Stars/Astrology are connected to Ancestors, Spirit Animals, and Deities.
- The star also seems to be a possible proto-star for Star of Ishtar, Star of Inanna, or Star of Venus.
- Around 7,000 to 6,000 years ago, Star Constellations/Astrology have connections to the “Kurgan phenomenon” of below-ground “mound” stone/wood burial structures and “Dolmen phenomenon” of above-ground stone burial structures.
- Around 6,500–5,800 years ago, The Northern Levant migrations into Jordon and Israel in the Southern Levant brought new cultural and religious transfer from Turkey and Iran.
- “The Ghassulian Star,” a mysterious 6,000-year-old mural from Jordan may have connections to the European paganstic kurgan/dolmens phenomenon.
“Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindus, Chinese, and the Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the Islamicate world and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person’s personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems.” ref
Around 5,500 years ago, Science evolves, The first evidence of science was 5,500 years ago and was demonstrated by a body of empirical, theoretical, and practical knowledge about the natural world. ref
Around 5,000 years ago, Origin of Logics is a Naturalistic Observation (principles of valid reasoning, inference, & demonstration) ref
Around 4,150 to 4,000 years ago: The earliest surviving versions of the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh, which was originally titled “He who Saw the Deep” (Sha naqba īmuru) or “Surpassing All Other Kings” (Shūtur eli sharrī) were written. ref
Hinduism:
- 3,700 years ago or so, the oldest of the Hindu Vedas (scriptures), the Rig Veda was composed.
- 3,500 years ago or so, the Vedic Age began in India after the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilization.
Judaism:
- around 3,000 years ago, the first writing in the bible was “Paleo-Hebrew”
- around 2,500 years ago, many believe the religious Jewish texts were completed
Myths: The bible inspired religion is not just one religion or one myth but a grouping of several religions and myths
- Around 3,450 or 3,250 years ago, according to legend, is the traditionally accepted period in which the Israelite lawgiver, Moses, provided the Ten Commandments.
- Around 2,500 to 2,400 years ago, a collection of ancient religious writings by the Israelites based primarily upon the Hebrew Bible, Tanakh, or Old Testament is the first part of Christianity’s bible.
- Around 2,400 years ago, the most accepted hypothesis is that the canon was formed in stages, first the Pentateuch (Torah).
- Around 2,140 to 2,116 years ago, the Prophets was written during the Hasmonean dynasty, and finally the remaining books.
- Christians traditionally divide the Old Testament into four sections:
- The first five books or Pentateuch (Torah).
- The proposed history books telling the history of the Israelites from their conquest of Canaan to their defeat and exile in Babylon.
- The poetic and proposed “Wisdom books” dealing, in various forms, with questions of good and evil in the world.
- The books of the biblical prophets, warning of the consequences of turning away from God:
- Henotheism:
- Exodus 20:23 “You shall not make other gods besides Me (not saying there are no other gods just not to worship them); gods of silver or gods of gold, you shall not make for yourselves.”
- Polytheism:
- Judges 10:6 “Then the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the sons of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.”
- 1 Corinthians 8:5 “For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords.”
- Monotheism:
- Isaiah 43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.
Around 2,570 to 2,270 Years Ago, there is a confirmation of atheistic doubting as well as atheistic thinking, mainly by Greek philosophers. However, doubting gods is likely as old as the invention of gods and should destroy the thinking that belief in god(s) is the “default belief”. The Greek word is apistos (a “not” and pistos “faithful,”), thus not faithful or faithless because one is unpersuaded and unconvinced by a god(s) claim. Short Definition: unbelieving, unbeliever, or unbelief.
Expressions of Atheistic Thinking:
- Around 2,600 years ago, Ajita Kesakambali, ancient Indian philosopher, who is the first known proponent of Indian materialism. ref
- Around 2,535 to 2,475 years ago, Heraclitus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor or modern Turkey. ref
- Around 2,500 to 2,400 years ago, according to The Story of Civilization book series certain African pygmy tribes have no identifiable gods, spirits, or religious beliefs or rituals, and even what burials accrue are without ceremony. ref
- Around 2,490 to 2,430 years ago, Empedocles, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. ref
- Around 2,460 to 2,370 years ago, Democritus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher considered to be the “father of modern science” possibly had some disbelief amounting to atheism. ref
- Around 2,399 years ago or so, Socrates, a famous Greek philosopher was tried for sinfulness by teaching doubt of state gods. ref
- Around 2,341 to 2,270 years ago, Epicurus, a Greek philosopher known for composing atheistic critics and famously stated, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?” ref
This last expression by Epicurus, seems to be an expression of Axiological Atheism. To understand and utilize value or actually possess “Value Conscious/Consciousness” to both give a strong moral “axiological” argument (the problem of evil) as well as use it to fortify humanism and positive ethical persuasion of human helping and care responsibilities. Because value-blindness gives rise to sociopathic/psychopathic evil.
“Theists, there has to be a god, as something can not come from nothing.”
Well, thus something (unknown) happened and then there was something. This does not tell us what the something that may have been involved with something coming from nothing. A supposed first cause, thus something (unknown) happened and then there was something is not an open invitation to claim it as known, neither is it justified to call or label such an unknown as anything, especially an unsubstantiated magical thinking belief born of mythology and religious storytelling.
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
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
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.
To me, animal gods were likely first related to totemism animals around 13,000 to 12,000 years ago or older. Female as goddesses was next to me, 11,000 to 10,000 years ago or so with the emergence of agriculture. Then male gods come about 8,000 to 7,000 years ago with clan wars. Many monotheism-themed religions started in henotheism, emerging out of polytheism/paganism.
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