How old is religion?
According to many anthropologists, humans have been engaging in various types of religious practices for nearly 100,000 years (Lieberman). During this time religion has undergone significant changes, but many characteristics have remained constant.
Primed for Religion
So how did religion come about? Well, there are three factors that anthropologists generally agree upon that account for the creation of religious thought. They are:
- Increased brain size
- Tool use
- Development of language
Increased Brain Size
Through human evolution the size of the human brain increased substantially. Specifically, it tripled in size, peaking approximately 500,000 years ago. A large part of the growth took place in the neocortex. This part of the brain is involved in processing higher order cognitive functions and presumably allowed for the capability for humans to have self-consciousness, and to formulate philosophical and religion ideas (Ehrlich).
Use of Tools
A 2.5 million year old Oldowan (Ethiopian) flake
To build a tool requires the builder to have a mental image of what that tool can do before it is actually built. While we may take this type of thinking for granted now, it was a fundamental step in creating humans' capacity for belief of the unseen. One must be able to make conscious decisions about cause and effect if one is going to predict how a tool can be used once it is actually built. For example, one must be able to think:
"if I sharpen this rock it will be able to cut through material that it couldn't otherwise cut through...therefore this rock would make a good spear".
This person is creating a mental image of something that doesn't naturally exist. In this case, he or she is picturing a spear before it actually exists. Like the sphere before it is made, religion deals with many characteristics that one can't physically touch. These can include a higher power, prayer, enlightenment and thousands of others.
"if I sharpen this rock it will be able to cut through material that it couldn't otherwise cut through...therefore this rock would make a good spear".
This person is creating a mental image of something that doesn't naturally exist. In this case, he or she is picturing a spear before it actually exists. Like the sphere before it is made, religion deals with many characteristics that one can't physically touch. These can include a higher power, prayer, enlightenment and thousands of others.
Development of Language
Language isn't absolutely necessary for religion to exist, but it sure helps! Sacred truths can be conveyed non-verbally through dance and music, but verbal language allows people to express complicated ideas relatively easily. Language, both verbal and written (which came along much later) also helped religion to spread quickly.
Paleolithic Burials
90,000 year old burial of Homo sapiens in Israel
The earliest evidence of religious tendencies can be traced back to the Paleolithic Era.
The picture on the right is a good example of how the majority the earliest evidence of religion focuses on the ritual treatment of the dead. Most animals show slight interest in the dead of their own species (Bhattacharya). When humans began burying their dead 90,000 years ago it was a sign of a progression in human thought. Why would someone bury their relative or friend if he or she doesn't have an awareness of life and death? More importantly, what caused humans to begin to bury their fellow humans?
The picture on the right is a good example of how the majority the earliest evidence of religion focuses on the ritual treatment of the dead. Most animals show slight interest in the dead of their own species (Bhattacharya). When humans began burying their dead 90,000 years ago it was a sign of a progression in human thought. Why would someone bury their relative or friend if he or she doesn't have an awareness of life and death? More importantly, what caused humans to begin to bury their fellow humans?
Organized Religion Begins
Organized religion can trace its roots back to the Neolithic Revolution, which was approximately 10,000 years ago. During this revolution (don't be fooled by the term "revolution", this was a slow moving process that took a long time) agriculture was invented. This led to a fundamental change in the way people lived. Before the Neolithic revolution humans were primarily hunters and gatherers. Afterward, instead of constantly moving around, they lived in year-round settlements. Humans discovered how to domesticate animals which greatly helped their ability to stay in one area for years on end.
The Neolithic Revolution spawned a huge population explosion. With any humans now living in villages, states and eventually empires came several challenges. Perhaps the most prominent was: where will a source of social and economic stability come from? Prior to this period, humans had always been nomadic and had lived in relatively small communities where the actions of everyone could be monitored closely. It has been argued that because every single person in a small community is essential to the survival of the entire group, that people either behaved or were left behind. The Neolithic Revolution changed this. Now, humans were living in large states and eventually empires. The overall well-being of the state or empire wasn't dependent on every last person behaving appropriately. Because of this, people who misbehaved were now still a part of their communities, whereas prior to the Neolithic Revolution they would have been deserted. Therefore, organized religion emerged as a way create stability in their regions.
Religion did this in the following ways:
The Neolithic Revolution spawned a huge population explosion. With any humans now living in villages, states and eventually empires came several challenges. Perhaps the most prominent was: where will a source of social and economic stability come from? Prior to this period, humans had always been nomadic and had lived in relatively small communities where the actions of everyone could be monitored closely. It has been argued that because every single person in a small community is essential to the survival of the entire group, that people either behaved or were left behind. The Neolithic Revolution changed this. Now, humans were living in large states and eventually empires. The overall well-being of the state or empire wasn't dependent on every last person behaving appropriately. Because of this, people who misbehaved were now still a part of their communities, whereas prior to the Neolithic Revolution they would have been deserted. Therefore, organized religion emerged as a way create stability in their regions.
Religion did this in the following ways:
- Religion served to bond people together that otherwise would probably not get along. States and empires contained vast populations of diverse people with diverse interests. Therefore, in order to successfully exist, these states and empires needed something to dissolve their differences and bring them together.
- Rulers used religion to justify their authority. Anthropologists have found that leaders from nearly all early states from around the world had used divine authority to justify their power.