Humanity 25,000 years ago... what do you think their religious beliefs are?

Question

I'm now in the realm of the imagination here, as artefacts can reveal a lot about life 25,000 years ago, but what about things that leave little or no trace? I'm picking religion as a starting point. (More questions about life of that period from me later on) Jean M. Auel has a very good idea of what religion would be like then, in her wonderful series of books.
I'm interested in what you think. Thanks.

Answer 1

What a fun question and right up my alley.

Spirituality 25,000 years ago would have been concerned with the immediate influences on the survival of the clan or tribe, whatever you prefer to call it. Seasons, sun, moon, stars, animals, disease; the list goes on. At this point in time, the capacity for abstract thought is fully in place. Human kind has developed their "6th sense" in a manner of speaking. We were striving to grasp what is invisible and intangible. We look for connections, cause and effect, and patterns in the world around us.

Many rituals are an extension or projection of a practical need. For example, it's now known that Neanderthal buried their dead, and with flowers. It's nice to think that this was a gesture of love and reverence (which it was no doubt), but more than likely a host of fragrant flowers would have disguised the smell of decay so that animals would not disturb the grave. Taboos arise in the same manner. The classic example is that of the !Kung and Kurus Disease. It was a tradition to consume the flesh of your dead relative in order to take their essence into yourself and preserve their memory in a sense. The connection was eventually made that this practice was detrimental to the survival of the tribe and it then became established in the !Kung belief system as forbidden or "taboo". I would think that a significant part of belief can be traced back to common everyday needs.

Of course the great leaders in the quest for the unknown would be the friendly, neighborhood medicine men. They possess the special ability and charisma to connect their fellow tribes people to the spirit realm and help calm uncertainties. The shaman played a pivotal role in making sure the needs of his people were met, and his practices included healing sickness, family relationships, inter-tribal disputes, and relations with influential deities.

One of the clues to our spiritual heritage is prehistoric forms of art. I feel that it's most important, actually, even if it subject to interpretation. It’s very much like a window into the past.

Well, that's my version in a nut shell. Maybe it will prove helpful!

Answer 2

The complexity of believes depends on how well language had evolved in communicating. If you cannot speak the same language how do you explain what a god is. Religion probably started as a way of explaining why things happened a certain way, it also evolved into a tool of power quickly. If you believed you had the skill to influence spirits, you where valuable to the community. That is why still the healers are also the religious authorities in primitive cultures. If the illness was caused by a malevolent or dissatisfied spirit, the person healing with the herbs seemed to have power over the spirit. The healer could enforce the illusion of power by doing a ritual around it, hence creating the seedlings of complex belief systems.

Answer 3

We may never know what religion was like that long ago since we would need a written record to tell us, but some form of religion did exist. It was most likely a simple way of explaining the world and the things that happen in their lives.

As far as I know, there is some proof that Neanderthals had some form of religion. There was a Neanderthal grave found with some flowers buried with the body which some anthropologists think suggests their belief in some sort of afterlife.

Answer 4

There is no evidence of true religion prior to the advent of agriculture!

Hunters & Gatherers may have occasionally experienced spiritual feelings, however organized religions are associated with the first cultures that stored grain for food, at the same location, for at least one year, though usually longer...

Religion was established when farmers had the luxory of a reliable food source, as well as having discovered fermented beverages, made from grain...

Evidence shows, that all ancient religious temples were founded on the sites of granaries, the earliest dating to around 10-12,000 years ago...

Answer 5

First, religion requires culture to bear it. In order to have culture, you need the means to share it (common language, written or spoken) and a need to enforce a way of believing.

Prior to the advent of human groups larger than about 150, there was no real need for religion nor the population density to try and pass on a religion or set of behavioral norms associated with a religion.

So, the simple answer is there was probably no real organized religion as we think of it.

Now, humans with enough imagination and rational thinking will probably start viewing the world with an eye on the spiritual explanation. Given that, common difficult to explain phenomenon would probably lend themselves to spiritual explanations and might end up forming some relatively common spiritual beliefs, especially about weather phenomena and childbirth...

Answer 6

25,000 years ago the religious beliefs would have resembled the same as it was 70,000 years ago.
Superstitious, paganistic, unforgiving, and very frightening. It would have evolved around the seasons, night and day, with the animal world involvled. It would have been an oral tradition having just a few major individuals of shamanistic stature.
It would have involved some cruelties, as well as some mercies, but mostly it would centre around the basics of temporal life. Food, shelter, clothing. Then status and wealth with the greed of the controlling parties would enter the rites and passages they would have formed.
All through the seasons an imaginary deity would have to be attended to in order to garauntee a life of plenty.
That would be a strong shelter from the elements, food, and the clothing keep oneself warm or protected.
There would be many mythical creatures involved in the daily lives of those people then. One for health, one dark, one for the day. Planets would be involved as well like the satalite we know as the moon. The night skys would play a role as they would notice bright stars coming and going in a regular pattern ( what we know as Venus, Mars, Saturn, etc ) whereas most of them would stand still night after night.
Fear would fuel the pagan religions, fear of pain, sorrow, hunger, death. All these natural aspects of the planets, our solar system, the universe and of course our own planets force would drive the religions.
Stories would be made to explain the autumn, how the spring would defeat the miserable cold winter, and stories would speak of the sun and how it leaves us to come back year after year after year.
There would be as many gods, and stories as there were tribes that lived about the continents. None the very same, but all similar. Not monotheistic, and all having more than one myth to contend with. The gods of the winds, and waters would wash and dry the stories after every generation.
This would have continued had God not taken Abram from Ur and shown Himself to us four or five thousand years ago.
But He did. Soon He had the Hebrews telling all and anyone who would listen about the one and only God of all things created.
It took about 800 years for God to drive His point home to the Hebrews but eventually they listened up enough for Him to send us His Son.
Someone else asked me this some time ago and then called me arrogant for my answer. Their response was less than amuseing. They assumed I was telling them that the pagans before Abraham were doomed to hell. On the contrary. Despite the ignorance of the pagans 25,000 years ago you can bet the Christ knows the good from the evil. He knows them from HItler's camps, and He knows them from eons ago, long before the written word.
I have to say that there will be pagans from 70,000 or 25,000 thousand years ago that will dance at the feet of God come judgement day, while some "so called Christians" will cry in disbelief when the Christ will not acknowledge them. The men and women who fake thier Christianity will be known, as the pagans who were evil; from the pagans who did the best they could with what they had.
Those who did the best they could with what they had are known to the Christ. He will speak for them. Despite the religious beleifs of 25,000 years ago.

Answer 7

I suspect that many believed people had a spiritual being or ghost and there were spirits that inhabit the Earth. They probably believed that they could see other worlds when they dream or take drugs. An afterlife similar to this life where the dead go is also likely. They probably believed there were spirits in animals as well and spirits that moved the sky and planets.

Answer 8

It was similar now, answers to life's unexplained situations, like death. A lot of symbolism. Someone said that religion began with death, that is when archaeologist figured that people believed in an afterlife, that's true too. Someone else said something about spirits, and that's true too. But the proof that humans believed in an afterlife, is when you start to find pots and other everyday items in graves of everyday laymen.

Answer 9

The most common religious system was the worship of the Godess of Fertility, or Mother Earth, or various kinds of maternal deities related to the earth and fertility. Little statueses of fat female figures have been found here and there supporting this theory. The worship of Sun-God came later on in more organized societies.

Answer 10

One simple thing that fascinates me. The moment a human being left a pot in a grave is the first physical evidence of religion. A pot is no good to a dead man so whoever put it in must have believed it would be useful.