User talk:Muntuwandi/The evolutionary theories on the origin of religion

Religion is a cultural universal that is found in all human populations including the most isolated populations. When European sailors first "discovered" Tasmania, they found that the Tasmanians already practiced several forms of religion. The Tasmanians may have been isolated from the rest of the world since settling from Australia 40,000 years ago. Hence scientists use the principal of a cultural homology to explain the ubiquity of cultural universals such as religious behaviour.

Recent single origin hypothesis
Scientists currently believe that anatomically modern humans evolved in Africa between 200,000 and 100,000 years ago. Between 55,000 and 60,000 years ago humans began migrating out of Africa. It is at this stage that the fossil record begins to abundantly yield clues of human behavior that most consistently resembles the behavior of modern humans. Collectively, these behaviors are sometimes referred to as modern human behavior. From 50,000 years ago the fossil record provides evidence of abstract thought. The presence of abstract thinking can be inferred from the use of symbolism, art and advanced tools. Abstract thinking is necessary for the presence of religion.

Language and religion
A number of scholars have suggested that the evolution of language was a necessary prerequisite for the evolution of religion. Philip Lieberman states "[h]uman religious thought and moral sense clearly rest on a cognitive-linguistic base," and that the presence of burial and grave artifacts indicate that early humans had distinctive cognitive abilities different from chimpanzees. From this premise science writer Nicholas Wade hypothesizes that "religion must have been present in the ancestral human population before the dispersal from Africa 50,000 years ago."

Paleolithic
Philip Lieberman states "burials with grave goods clearly signify religious practices and concern for the dead that transcends daily life".

Evidence suggests to some that the Neanderthals were the first homonids to intentionally bury the dead. They may have placed corpses into shallow graves along with stone tools and animal bones. The presence of these grave goods may indicate an emotional connection with the deceased and possibly a belief in the afterlife. Neanderthal burial sites include Shanidar in Iraq and Krapina in Croatia and Kebara Cave in Israel. Yet, these burials have been disputed by other scholars who argue that the bodies may have been disposed of for other reasons other than intentional burial.

The earliest evidence of human burial comes from the Skhul cave at the Qafzeh paleoanthropological site and has been dated to between 90,000 and 100,000 years ago. Human skeletons were found stained with red ochre. A variety of grave goods were found at the burial site. The mandible of a wild boar was found placed in the arms of one of the skeletons. Philip Lieberman states:
 * Burial rituals incorporating grave goods may have been invented by the anatomically modern hominids who emigrated from Africa to the Middle East 100,000 years ago.

According to Lieberman, the religious mind has thus been in existence for at least 100,000 years. Other evidence of this is found at middle stone age sites in Africa, increased use of the pigment, red ochre, by homo sapiens is noted around 100,000 years ago. Red ochre is of little practical value to hunter gatherers and is thus thought to have symbolic meaning. Some argue that red has symbolic meaning in all cultures, symbolizing blood, sex, life and death. However other scholars believe that religion in its modern form only appeared after 50,000 years during the transition from the middle paleolithic to the upper paleolithic.


 * "Many of the new behaviors I have been describing such as the anthropomorphic images, cave paintings and the burial of people with grave goods, suggest that these Upper Paleolithic people were the first to have beliefs in supernatural beings and possibly an afterlife. We are indeed seeing the first appearance of religious ideology"
 * "We cannot reconstruct the religious ideologies of the earliest Upper Paleolithic societies. But we can be confident that religious ideologies as complex as those of modern hunter gatherers came into being at the time of the Middle/Upper Paleolithic transition and have remained with us ever since."

The cave paintings of Chauvet have been dated to 32,000 and those at lascaux have been dated to 17,000 years ago. At Lascaux the anthropomorphic paintings show depictions of strange beasts such as ones that are half human and half bird. Consequently some have suggested that these are indications of shaministic beliefs.

Neolithic religions
The shift in culture following the invention of agriculture during the Neolithic revolution 11,000 years ago brought dramatic social changes to humans around the world. As people abandoned the hunter gatherer lifestyles and adopted agriculture, population densities increased significantly. The first settled societies came into existence that would later develop into the first states. Very early in the neolothic period religious expression was already highly developed and complex and there is evadance that religion was the main function of some villages and small cities. ancestor worship and shamanism to the religious institution characteristic of state societies. Writing was used 4000 BCE. Some of the oldest known texts include the Sumerian Cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphs, and the first religious texts were written shortly after. Some scientists regard the Pyramid Texts from ancient Egypt as the oldest know religious texts in the world dating to between 3300 to 3150 BCE. In fact, we know as little about the origin and evolution of religious representations as we know about the origin and evolution of symbolic representation in terms of material culture....Positivist, unilinear evolutionary accounts of the development of religious ideas are now out of fashion; rather, we live in a global, multicultural world, in a post-modern era of religious multi-vocality. In short, there is no single, convincing account of the nature of religion and religious experience...and there certainly isn’t an account of the evolution of religious representations.

Timeline

 * 300,000- first evidence of intentional burial of the dead. Sites such as at Atapuerca in Spain, bones of over 32 individuals are found in pit within a cave.
 * 130,000 ya, - Neanderthals are burying their dead at sites such as Krapina in Croatia.
 * 100,000 ya- The oldest ritual burial of modern humans is thought to be from a Qafzeh in Israel. There is a double burial of what is thought to be a mother and child. The bones have been stained with red ochre. By 100,000 years ago anatomically modern humans migrated to the middle east from Africa. However the fossil record of these humans ends after 100kya, leading scholars to believe that population either died out or returned to Africa.
 * 100,000 to 50,000 ya- Increased use of red ochre at several Middle Stone Age sites. Red Ochre is thought to have played an important role in ritual.
 * 50,000- Humans have evolved the traits associated with modern human behavior. Much of the evidence is from Late Stone Age sites in Africa. Modern human behavior includes abilities such as modern language, abstract thought, symbolism and religion.
 * 42,000 ya- Ritual burial of Man at Lake Mungo in Australia. The body is sprinkled with copious amounts of red ochre. this is seen as evidence that the Australians had brought along with them religious rituals from Africa.
 * 40,000 ya-Upper Paleolithic begins in Europe. There is an abundance of fossil evidence including elaborate burials of the dead, venus figurines and cave art. Venus figurines are thought to represent fertility goddesses. The cave paintings at chauvet and Lascaux are believed to represent religious thought.
 * 11,000 ya- The Neolithic Revolution begins.

Genetics
Some scholars have suggested that religion is hardwired into the human condition. Dean Hamer, has put forward the God gene hypothesis. Hamer proposes that some human beings bear a gene which gives them a predisposition to episodes interpreted by some as religious revelation. One gene identified is VMAT2. A number of scientists and researcher though are highly critical of this theory; Carl Zimmer, writing in Scientific American, points out that Hamer rushed into print with this book before publishing his results in a credible scientific journal. In his book, Hamer backs away from the title and main hypotheses of his book by saying "Just because spirituality is partly genetic doesn't mean it is hardwired,"