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In his book A History of Religious Ideas Volume 1, Mircea Eliade gives his description of the religion of the paleanthropians during the last ice age. The development of religious behavior is associated with the “hominization” of man- that is his development into a vertical posture. Equally important is the development of tools and the domestication of fire. It is true that animals use tools, but the paleanthropians produced tools to make tools. Additionally, their tools are much more complex. The imagination of the paleanthropians is presumed not to have differed much from that found among contemporaries. But it is the development of a hunting civilization that created a unique set of relationships between the hunter and the animal.1
Weapons and Burials
In the main days of evolutionism, when similarities to primates had been shown, it was believed that the paleanthropians were nonreligious. However, their works demonstrate a religious intelligence. It is now generally agreed that the paleanthropians had a religion, but it is difficult to determine to what extent. The historical documents are “opaque” and not very various. In some cases, there is certainty of a religious intention, but the majority of the early documents reveal only utilitarian value. It can be inferred that tools contained a sacrality and inspired a mythology. One can compare this to the primitive hunters of today. The magico-religious value of a weapon can still be found among primitive Europeans. It is above all the projectile weapon which gave rise to myths- for example, lances that pierce the sky or arrows that transfix demons. Moreover, it also seems possible that there were animalistic beliefs among the paleanthropians. Contemporary hunting people, for example, regard animals as being endowed with supernatural powers, that the souls of the dead can enter animals, and that there are special relationships between people and animals. This can be interpolated to a certain extent onto the paleanthropians due to the remains of offering of skulls and long bones.2
It seems that belief in survival after death is confirmed by burials. The paleanthropians would have buried the dead in order to guarantee proper survival into the next world. Additionally, the paleanthropians used red ocher as a symbol of life which is documented among primitive hunters of our time. This survival could be purely spiritual, i.e. simply a postexistence of the soul. However, there are cases in which the corpses are bent which could represent a precaution against the possible return of the deceased or simply hope of rebirth. Among the best examples of burials with magico-religious signification, we mention the one near Teshik Tash in Uzbekistan, the one at Chapelle-aux-saints in Correze and the one in Farassie in Dordogne. During the upper paleolithic, the practice of burial appears to have become more general. Corpses are buried in which a certain number of objects intended for personal adornment (shells, pendants, necklaces) have been found. The prescence of personal objects implies the belief that the deceased will continue his particular activity in the other world. To sum up, the burials confirm belief in survival and furnish some additional details.3
Bone Deposits and Cave Paintings
Deposits of bones of bears- discovered in the alps- are among the most numerous and debated documents concerning the religious behavior of the last interglacial period. These regard deposits of bones of cave bears discovered in niches in caves such as that in Styria in which bear skulls are deposited in cave walls 1.20 meters above the cave floor. These deposits appear to be intentional, so scholars have attempted to decipher their meaning. Some scholars have compared them to offerings made by certain arctic peoples to a supreme being. Several scholars accept this and believe this is proof that the primitive hunters of the last interglacial period believed in a lord of wild beasts. These interpretations were questioned by one scholar who believes these deposits result by chance by bears scratching among the bones. This critique appears to be convincing, but the bones are found in a number of caves all one meter above the ground. In any case, the interpretation of deposits as offering to a supreme being has been discarded. What seems probable is that these deposits are an expression of a magico-religious intentionality. It has been proposed that these deposits have been made in hope that the animals will be reborn in the flesh.4
Some of the most important documents of the paleolithic are cave paintings, which are found mostly between the Urals and the Atlantic. Most of the paintings are confined to Spain, France, and southern Italy with the exception of the painted cave found in the Urals. These paintings are very hard to reach- being necessary to travel for hundreds of meters and journey for several hours. Pictures of bears, lions, and other wild animals riddled with arrows has been interpreted as proof of hunting magic. This seems plausible, but these works could just as well be reactualizations of a primordial hunt. One celebrity painting is the “great magician.” An early sketch shows a figure with the face of an owl, the ears of a wolf, and the beard of a chamois, the arms ending in bear paws, and a horse’s tail, but the limbs of a human. In recent photographs, the picture is less impressive. This figure can be interpreted as a lord of wild beasts. Another painting subject to controversy is a picture of a bison thrusting its horns toward a man who is apparently dead and lies on the ground; near the man is a perched bird. This scene has been interpreted as a hunting accident. However, it has also been proposed as representing a shamanic séance. This has been disputed, but the presence of a certain type of shamanism during the paleolithic seems certain.5
Feminine Statuettes
Feminine representations from the last ice age have been discovered from southwestern France to Siberia and in Italy. The statuettes range from 5 to 25 centimeters in height and are carved in stone, bone, and ivory. They have been called “Venuses” although this is arguably unjustifiable. They come from places of habituation making them related to domestic religion. The ones discovered at Mezine are strongly stylized with geometric elements. It is impossible to determine the religious function of the figurines, however they presumably represent feminine sacrality. One scholar has illuminated the central function of polarities in Paleolithic art, i.e., stone statuettes and slabs and rock paintings. This scholar has concluded that the figures and signs are interchangeable and there is a pairing of male/female values. Leroi-Gourhan’s theory has been criticized in that there is an inconsistency in his reading of figures and signs. However, his contribution is important: he has shown the complementarity of the signs “male” and “female.”6
Conculsion
Recent discoveries have shown the origin of man to be earlier than known. One scholar has shown the existence in the last ice age of a temporal notation based on the moon. The lunar cycle was used for practical purposes. This means the paleolithics made use of periodical ceremonies and mythologies. Pictures engraved on objects or painted on cave walls constituted a system of signs and symbols which refer to certain stories related to the seasons and game. From these images can be extrapolated magico-religious behavior. We can reconstruct to a certain extent the religion of the last ice age by considering the behavior of primitive hunters today and hunting communities today constitute a sort of living fossil of the last ice age. A certain ecstasy of the shamanic type seems to have been known in the last ice age; the “circular dance” was probably known in the last ice age. The paleolithics probably knew multiple myths, i.e., cosmogonic myths and myths of origin; there were probably myths on the origin of fire and relations between the hunter and game. To conclude, the religious formation of the paleolithic already displayed a complexity.7
Idealism Studies 