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To: vannrox
the humans would have had religious beliefs

Unless they also found some fossilized "beliefs" this is pure speculation.

How long ago did humans develop the abstract thinking ability which led
to supernatural beliefs, then to one of it's subsets "religion?"

14 posted on 03/10/2004 6:48:16 AM PST by ASA Vet ("Anyone who signed up after 11/28/97 is a newbie")
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To: ASA Vet
Unless they also found some fossilized "beliefs" this is pure speculation. How long ago did humans develop the abstract thinking ability which led to supernatural beliefs, then to one of it's subsets "religion?"

No, it's more than simple speculation. Archaeologists have found multiple grave sites from this period, and the grave goods solidly point to a system of religious beliefs. These goods include statues of (what are believed to be) gods and goddesses, and other more daily items. Food remnants, hunting equipment, and elaborate decorations have been found in these graves, indicating that their friends and family were preparing them for some kind of afterlife.

Heck, the very fact that they were BURIED indicates religious belief. If you didn't believe in souls, then a dead body would just be a useless pile of meat and there would be no reason to go through the trouble of burying and protecting it. Burial indicates respect for the dead, and respect for the dead is directly derived from religion.

What their religion was, of course, is a completely seperate issue. With no written record and nothing more than a few bone statuettes to guide us, I doubt that we'll ever know whether they worshipped God, or Woof the Dog Lord.
63 posted on 03/10/2004 10:46:37 AM PST by Arthalion
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To: ASA Vet
Don't you know that according to anthropologists, everything our ancestors did was either a religious or fertility rite?
78 posted on 03/10/2004 12:01:16 PM PST by tertiary01 (Corporate Greed is overlooked by Dems when it contributes to DNC coffers)
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