THE EMERGENCE OF RELIGION

Where did religious belief come from? Need to explain natural phenomenon & the ____________________ Increased complexity of the ________________ leads to more abstract thoughts around spiritual issues __________________ more aware of the seasons, the heavens & the natural world, which form a basis for spiritual belief Secure _______________ frees some to become priests Need to organize people for important projects (e.g. grain storage) Shared beliefs contribute to spirit of _________________ needed for major building projects Priests could have lead these projects Some early granaries contain spaces for __________________ Please note, these are all theories as to what may have motivated our earliest spiritual beliefs. There is no definitive answer because, as you are probably used to at this point, there are no written records to tell us exactly what they thought and felt.

Evidence of early religious beliefs Venus figurines: Possibly fertility idols or _____________________ Some worn as amulets Cave art: “Bear Skull __________” in Chauvet with 45 other skulls placed nearby ______________ stuck in the floors and crevices of caves “Chapel of the Lioness” in Trois-Frères “_____________/shaman” images IMAGES: Venus of Malta (Malta), Venus of Dolni Vestonice (Czech), Venus of Willendorf (Germany), Bear Skull Altar (France), tracing of engraving from Chapel of Lioness (France) Bear skull altar possible sign that cave bears were ritualistically worshipped in the cave Objects penetrating cave services suggest a desire to connect with the spirit world Lioness engraving has markings that show it may have been ritualistically killed perhaps to promote a successful hunt Shaman images are anthropomorphic suggesting possible images from spiritual visions, human/animal gods, etc.

EVIDENCE OF EARLY RELIGIOUS BELIEFS Burials: Presence of ____________ Individual burial or ossuaries Ancestor worship Death _______ from skulls Evidence of ___________ at grave sites (e.g. tokens) Statues and carvings of mythical _____________ ________________ sites: Göbekli Tepe (Turkey) _________________ (UK) Megaliths (Europe) Burials in and of themselves suggest a possible belief in the afterlife or at least a veneration of the dead seen with ancestor worship Presence of grave goods suggests a belief that people would need things from this life in the next world Ancestor worship is considered a form of religion as it suggests a belief in a spiritual world that can effect the physical world These ceremonial sites would have required great organization to construct. Evidence that food was plentiful as workers could be spared for the task Effort needed to construct them shows some unifying belief in their importance Some ceremonial sites also served as granaries, but others, like Stonehenge, clearly have a more abstract purpose PLAY VIDEO CLIPS