The Lion-Man figurine from Hohlenstein-Stadel cave in southwestern Germany is one of the oldest and most spectacular Paleolithic figurines. It is approximately 33,000 years old and was carved from mammoth tusk. When discovered in 1939, it was in hundreds of small pieces which fit together with this result:
This is a splendid example of therianthropy, a [...]
Tags:Elisabeth Schmid·Hohlenstein-Stadel·Joachim Hahn·Lion-Man·Paleolithic art·Paleolithic figurines·ritual object·shamanic·symbolism·therianthrope
In religious studies and popular usage, the term “universal” is used to describe religions which are open to all and transcend ethnic, geographic, political, and cultural boundaries. Three religions are usually cited as universal: Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Some newer religions, such as Mormonism and Bahá’í, would also qualify. But if we take a longer [...]
Tags:Bahai·Buddhism·Carmen Blacker·Christianity·Islam·Japan·Jason Josephson·Jomon·kami·Lori Meeks·Meiji period·miko·Mormon·neo-shamanism·premodern Japan·Robert Bellah·shamanic·shamanism·superstitition·The Catalpa Bow·Tokugawa·universal religion
There can be little doubt that fluctuations in consciousness are a major contributing factor to beliefs in the supernatural. Although there are other aspects of mind that are also contributing factors (such as agency detection, theory of mind, causal sequencing, and pattern imposition), one thing that surely would have mystified or perplexed early modern humans [...]
Tags:Aborigines·altered states of consciousness·ASC·Bushmen·dreams·Dreamtime·hallucinations·Iroquois·Jesuit Relations·Plains Indians·psychotropics·San·trance·trance dance·visions
In the series introduction, I asked whether Göbekli Tepe was (as the excavator Klaus Schmidt suggests) an archaeological or metaphorical Stairway to Heaven. Continuing the Led Zeppelin riff, a better question for today might be whether Göbekli’s megalithic structures were Houses of the Holy.
E.B. Banning suggests something along these lines in “So Fair a House: [...]
Tags:E.B. Banning·Gobekli Tepe·Klaus Schmidt·So Fair a House
In 1994 Klaus Schmidt discovered Göbekli Tepe and in 1995 he began the ongoing excavations. In 1998 Schmidt published his first site report. To date, Schmidt has published close to 20 articles or reports (about half of which are in German) and others working with Schmidt have published more. For this Schmidt deserves considerable praise. [...]
Tags:Edward Banning·Emile Durkheim·Gobekli Tepe·Gordon Childe·Jacques Cauvin·Klaus Schmidt·Neolithic Revolution·Neolithicization·profane·sacred
Göbekli Tepe has received more press coverage in recent years than perhaps any other archaeological site, including Stonehenge. Some of this coverage is due to the simple fact that Göbekli is the oldest megalithic site in the world. For this reason alone, it deserves our attention. It seems, however, that much of this attention has [...]
Tags:Catalhoyuk·cathedral·earliest religion·first religion·Garden of Eden·Gobekli Tepe·Gordon Childe·Ian Hodder·Klaus Schmidt·megaliths·Neolithic Revolution·Neolithicization·paradise·ritual center·shrine·Stonehenge·temple·Turkey
The 11,000 year old archaeological site of Göbekli Tepe in southern Turkey is undoubtedly one of the most important in the world. German archaeologist Klaus Schmidt began the ongoing excavations at Göbekli in 1994. Besides being a huge undertaking (less than 5% of the site has been uncovered), the finds — and claims associated with [...]
Tags:agriculture·earliest religion·Edward Banning·farming·foraging·Garden of Eden·Gobekli Tepe·Klaus Schmidt·megalithic·Neolithic Revolution·Neolithic transition·oldest church·pilgrimage center·ritual site·So Fair a House·temples·Turkey
A person of many astute observations, one of Robert Bellah’s most astute is his refrain (when talking about the history of religions) that “nothing is ever lost.” By this I take Bellah to mean that at any given point in time, an existing religion will contain elements from earlier religions. There is continuity in religious [...]
Tags:aleatory·augurs·auspices·axial·bone dice·chance·control·divination·El Juyo·explanation·fortune·Gonzalez Echegaray·Magdalenian·magic·neolithic·omens·oracles·Paleolithic·prediction·prophecy·prophets·randomness·Robert Bellah·scapulimancy·superstition
As regular readers of the blog know, there are profound differences in supernatural beliefs and practices before and after the Neolithic transition. This cleavage is so substantial that I do not use the term “religion” to describe pre-Neolithic or Paleolithic beliefs and practices. Instead, I use the word “supernaturalism” to indicate that Paleolithic peoples were [...]
Tags:agriculture·domestication·farming·foraging·gathering·hunting·Neolithic Revolution·Neolithicization·nomadic·Paleolithic·sedentary·shamanic
The notion of binaries or opposites is deeply entrenched in Western culture and thought. Although it seems perfectly natural to perceive and categorize the world in terms of dichotomies (black-white, either-or), what seems natural is actually learned. Our teacher in this regard is Aristotle, who was so impressed by the Pythagorean Table of Opposites that [...]
Tags:Aborigines·Aristotle·binary·consciousness·David Lewis-Williams·dichotomy·dreams·Dreamtime·hypnagogia·Inside the Neolithic Mind·Lee Irwin·logic·Native American·Plains Indians·rationalism·Table of Opposites·unconsciousness·vision quest·visions
