A History of the World’s Religions Thirteenth Edition David S. Noss Blake R. Grangaard

Religion in Prehistoric and Primal Cultures Chapter 1 Religion in Prehistoric and Primal Cultures

Religion in Prehistoric Cultures We make conjectures based on Cave paintings Implements Burial customs Artifacts Comparison to more recent primal cultures

The Old Stone Age: Neanderthals Burial customs Crouching position Food and flint implements alongside the body Other less utilitarian offerings such as flowers Treated the cave bear with special reverence Set aside skulls with brain intact Placed the skulls on elevated slabs of stone or niches in caves Possibly used the bear skulls in some type of ritual

The Old Stone Age: Neanderthals Human cadavers may have been used as a food source Human skulls found absent of other bones with the brains removed suggesting the brains were eaten Human long bones found split open to the marrow suggesting the marrow was eaten

The Old Stone Age: Cro-Magnons Appeared 30,000 years ago Members of the species Homo sapiens Hunter-gathers Were nomads who followed game during the warmer months During colder months they used caves and lean-tos under cliffs Accomplished hunters: bones of 100,000 horses found at Solutré in south central France

The Old Stone Age: Cro-Magnons Burial customs similar to Neanderthals Body surrounded with ornaments such as shell bracelets, stone tools, weapons, and food Charred bones found at grave sites possibly signifying that the survivors returned to the grave to feast with the dead Red ochre poured on the body at burial possibly signifying the blood of life

The Old Stone Age: Cro-Magnons Cro-Magnon cave paintings suggest these people sensed a kinship and interaction between human and animal spirits Magic for the hunt Fecund Goddess-Mother Bear cult

The Middle Stone Age The transition from nomadic to village life brought with it changes in religion Mother-goddess idea expanded to include the earth as a fertile mother Relics suggest an awe of nature Magic had grown into a complex system

The Neolithic Age Revolutions in agriculture Great growth in population Expansion of the idea of female divine power to include Birthing Nurturing Watering Tending Protection of all vegetation

Characteristics of Religion in Primal Cultures Awe before the sacred Expression of anxiety in ritual Ritual and expectancy Myth and ritual Types of magic Prayer Divination Belief in mana Animism Veneration and worship of powers Recognition of a supernatural being Taboo Purification rites Sacrifices and gits Attitudes toward the dead Totemism

Methods of Control Fetishism—any resort to the presumed power in inanimate things. Shamanism—spirits are conjured into or out of human beings by one who is similarly spirit possessed. Function can be magical or religious

The Dieri of Southeast Australia Culturally this hunter-gatherer society remains somewhere between Paleolithic and Neolithic From a magico-religious standpoint the medicine man is the outstanding individual in the society and it is believed he can communicate with supernatural beings

The Dieri of Southeast Australia Magico-religious activities and beliefs Rainmaking Totemic food ritual Death rituals A high god or old man of the sky Puberty rites

The BaVenda of South Africa Studied by Stayt in the 1920s Gives us a view of religion at the beginning of the agricultural age Raised crops and herds of cattle Complex social structure

The BaVenda of South Africa Displayed a wide array of religious beliefs and practices Animism and fetishes Shamans and diviners Two types of witchcraft The cult of the dead A supreme spirit

The Cherokees of the Southeastern Woodlands Despite being influenced by the whites, the Cherokee maintained a unique conceptual system. Sequoyah designed and perfected an ingenious syllabary of 86 symbols and the traditions were set down in the Cherokee’s own language

The Cherokees of the Southeastern Woodlands The Cherokee conceptual system does not begin with the story of creation of the cosmos. It is concerned with the order of things and begins with The shaping of the world The sacred ordering of space Categories of space

The Cherokees of the Southeastern Woodlands Other Cherokee myths and traditions Kinship with animals Dimensions of the 3 world The sun and the moon Priests, witches, medicine and conjury Rites of passage Rites of intensification and renewal Myths concerning food sources

The Cherokees of the Southeastern Woodlands The Green Corn Ceremony Includes all of the major elements of the Cherokee world view Took place at the first ripening of the new corn Length varied from 3 to 8 days