Offerings to Stone Snake Show Earliest Evidence of Religion

[ramonmercado]

December 01, 2006

Offerings to a Stone Snake Provide the Earliest Evidence of Religion

70,000-year-old African ritual practices linked to mythology of modern Botswanans

The discovery of carvings on a snake-shaped rock along with 70,000-year-old spearheads nearby has dramatically pushed back the earliest evidence for ritual behavior, or what could be called religion. The finding, which researchers have yet to formally publish, comes from a cave hidden in the Tsodilo Hills of Botswana, a mecca of sorts for the local people, who call it the Mountain of the Gods.

"It's very big news," says Sheila Coulson, an archaeologist at the University of Oslo in Norway and leader of the study. Prior to the discovery, researchers had identified signs of ritual practice going back at most 40,000 years from sites in Europe.

Researchers believe that anatomically modern humans emerged from East Africa perhaps 120,000 years ago. "The difficulty was always this incredible time lag between that occurrence and any more complex aspect of the culture other than just basic survival," Coulson says. Although some carved ornaments and wall markings from another African site are as old as the new find, they seem to have had no obvious ritual significance.

A chief of the local San people invited Coulson and her colleagues to study the cave in Tsodilo Hills. They were unprepared for what they found when they entered: a six-meter-long rock that bore a striking resemblance to a snake, including a mouthlike gash at the end. "My first words I remember saying are, 'My god what is that?'" Coulson says. "I'd never seen anything like it."

Hundreds of small notches, widely spaced in some places and closer together in others, covered the rock. Entrants to the cave apparently made these markings to enhance the snake illusion by creating the impression of scales and movement [see picture below]. "When flickering light hits it, it very much looks like the snake is flexing," Coulson says. Snakes feature prominently in the traditions and the mythology of the San, sometimes called the Bushmen.

Although many of the carvings looked old, more reliable markers of the site's longevity lay buried in rock half a meter beneath the soft cave floor. In a one-meter-wide, two-meter-deep excavation right next to the snake, the researchers uncovered more than 100 multicolored spear points from a total of 13,000 man-made artifacts.

The tips closely resemble those found elsewhere in Africa that researchers have dated at up to 77,000 years old, Coulson says. Judging from the rare colors of the stone points and the pattern of fragments, people from far and wide likely brought them to the cave partially made and finished working them there, she explains.

Some of the stone tips seem to have been burned or smashed in what may have been a type of sacrifice. Of 22 tips made from red stone, all of them show cracks and faults consistent with exposure to high heat, Coulson says, and some were burned white. Other spearheads exhibit chips and marks that suggest someone had struck the finished tips dead-on, something that researchers have observed at sites in Siberia, she notes.

"You put it all together and clearly something very extraordinary is happening," says archaeologist and prehistoric religion specialist Neil Price, also at the University of Oslo, who was not part of the dig. "You have things occurring over a long period of time that do not have a functional explanation. There must be a whole complex of thinking behind these actions, and that in itself is exciting."

Stone Snake

 

[crunchy5]

When I first read this story I was struck by the hidden little hole that the priest would hide in to speak for the snake god, so even 70,000 years ago those in the know knew religion was bunk and only a way to control the masses. :lol: :lol: For the greater good of course.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

When I first read this story I was struck by the hidden little hole that the priest would hide in to speak for the snake god, so even 70,000 years ago those in the know knew religion was bunk and only a way to control the masses.course.

I'm sorry, maybe it's just my failing eyesight, but can you cite the passage which actually says anything like this? All I can find is that the snake-effigy has a slash to indicate a mouth. If that's all, you seem to be drawing a lot of inferences from it.

 

[crunchy5]

I read about the snake elsewhere a few days before the post, pos the daily grail or maybe UFO area or even one of the UK papers, prob Times or Independent, if you want to do a search, the article was quite long and of good quality, the inference I quipped about was the original authors.

Edit, I did the search for you.

The Shaman ’s chamber

Sheila Coulson also noticed a secret chamber behind the python stone. Some areas of the entrance to this small chamber were worn smooth, indicating that many people had passed through it over the years.

“The shaman, who is still a very important person in San culture, could have kept himself hidden in that secret chamber. He would have had a good view of the inside of the cave while remaining hidden himself. When he spoke from his hiding place, it could have seemed as if the voice came from the snake itself. The shaman would have been able to control everything. It was perfect.” The shaman could also have “disappeared” from the chamber by crawling out onto the hillside through a small shaft.

http://www.apollon.uio.no/vis/art/2006_ ... on_english

I had to go back to the 1/12/06 on the Daily Grail site, an excellent site by the way,

http://www.dailygrail.com/

 

[rjmrjmrjm]

Of course this is all supposition. Imagine if some archeologist in 70,000 years time digs up an old christian church and finds an elaborate confessional, he might suppose the prist hid in one side and 'spoke for god'.

 

[crunchy5]

Of course this is all supposition. Imagine if some archeologist in 70,000 years time digs up an old christian church and finds an elaborate confessional, he might suppose the prist hid in one side and 'spoke for god'.

Or interpretation using the interpretive skills earned from years of professional archaeological work, I believe priest speech holes are common in Greek and Roman as well as Egyptian places of religion or divination. Of course I fully accept that the interpretation may be incorrect.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Thanks, Crunchy.

But “The shaman....could have....it could have seemed....The shaman could also have...." is pure speculation.

 

[Dingo667]

Shamans, drugs [or altered states] and snakes are going back a looong way. Apparently when you "go to the other realm" many people see snakes, some as big as houses but always they seem to offer wisdom.
Could it be that the x-tian snake in the garden of eden was offering wisdom or knowledge ["eat from the tree of knowlede"] that the god was trying to hide from us humans to keep us stupid and docile and then when eve [good girl] took the apple and found out how they are kept by god like expensive pets and naked at that, she wanted answers. Hence these "soiled" pets were chucked out like a grown up puppy after x-mas, to fend for themselves or die...

As we managed quite well, god wanted them back but only if the "behaved and did what he wanted. So he tried to ban music, arts, business and many other things [revelation] and threatened us with horriffic punishments if wouldn't oblige. All the time, the serpent tried to fight for our freedom [also revelation].
Guess who gets my vote?

Maybe god should have made himself a german sheppert dog instead, you know what kind of bully owners go for them...

 

[morningstar667]

Maybe god should have made himself a german sheppert dog instead, you know what kind of bully owners go for them...

Or a pit bull :lol:

 

[OldTimeRadio]

"All ancient priests were lying charlatans," the Atheist said to me.

"Okay," I answered. "Now does it follow that Msgr. Gunther down at St. Michael's or the Rev. Smith over at First Baptist are ALSO lying charlatans?"

"By no means," answered the Atheist. "The fact that they believe in God proves they're misguided, but I have no doubt they believe in the doctrines they preach. It's just ANCIENT priests I'm talking about"

My girlfriend, who taught a university logic class, saw where my agument was going and stepped in to finish it.

"Wait a minute," she said. "If ancient priests were liars who didn't believe what they preached but modern priests DO believe, then we MUST assume that at SOME point in human history there was this great big priests' convention where the attendees decided that all those lies they'd told for centuries or millenia, they NOW had to start genuinely believing."

The Atheist had no answer.

 

[Dingo667]

That makes absolutely no sense, sorry.
So ONE very illiteral atheist said that or all of them?
I am an atheist but I would think that logic says that it was the ancient priests that believed what they were preaching and maybe most modern priests. Why should I believe that someone lied?
I'm not telling a child that it is "lying" when it tells me it believes in Santa because it genuinely believes in him. The same goes for x-tians or any other religious followers.
I don't think anyone is LYING. However are they right or wrong in their beliefs is the question?

So the above is a very weak anecdote OTR, you always come up with such good stuff normally, go on get back to your old standards

 

[synchronicity]

Quoting crunchy5 quoting Aristotle:

"A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of ill treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious."

Great quote. Somehow or other it reminds me of a couple of recent "rulers" we Americans have had--including the present one. :mrgreen:

It also reminds me of another quote, not sure of the author here (possibly Benjamin Franklin, he was a great one with the quips--not that I knew him personally of course :lol: ): "Patriotism (or religion) is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

Anyway, back to topic: I'm not one bit surprised to find that very early Homo Sapiens had a well-developed sense of religion. I think it's a "natural" instinct for most people--why should prehistoric humans be any different from modern-day ones???

What I find even more fascinating is some evidence I have read about suggesting that the Neandertals (or Neanderthals, or however you want to spell it ) had some concept of religion and even of an afterlife. For example I have heard of a case of a Neanderthal who was buried in a grave very much like modern people would do--and not only that, someone had apparently carefully gathered a handful of flowers and placed it in the grave with the deceased.

So frankly I think that a sense of religion not only goes back throughout prehistory but also to some other forms of early hominids.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

OTR, you always come up with such good stuff normally, go on get back to your old standards

Gee, thanks, I guess.

But this wasn't an analogy but a true story, accurately recounted.

 

[ramonmercado]

OTR, you always come up with such good stuff normally, go on get back to your old standards

Gee, thanks, I guess.

But this wasn't an analogy but a true story, accurately recounted.

I still say you have been dybbuked. This is just more proof of it.

I'm putting an ecumenical exorcist team together to cleanse you.

 

[crunchy5]

The only thing we can say with any certainty is that the individual priests who spoke through holes while hidden from the audience knew they were lying as would others who just made up divination's based upon the information they had, the position of stars and such.

 

[ramonmercado]

Ok, heres the exorcism team:

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

...

The Shaman ’s chamber

Sheila Coulson also noticed a secret chamber behind the python stone. Some areas of the entrance to this small chamber were worn smooth, indicating that many people had passed through it over the years.

“The shaman, who is still a very important person in San culture, could have kept himself hidden in that secret chamber. He would have had a good view of the inside of the cave while remaining hidden himself. When he spoke from his hiding place, it could have seemed as if the voice came from the snake itself. The shaman would have been able to control everything. It was perfect.” The shaman could also have “disappeared” from the chamber by crawling out onto the hillside through a small shaft.

http://www.apollon.uio.no/vis/art/2006_ ... on_english

I had to go back to the 1/12/06 on the Daily Grail site, an excellent site by the way,

http://www.dailygrail.com/

Well, the big problem with this theory is that it makes a series of tenaciously linked assumptions about the ritual practices of a folk who lived 70,000 thousand years ago.

The hole behind the snake could just as easily have been used as a magical rebirthing place where a young person is ritually consumed by the snake and reborn into the World and the tribe, as a snake-person. Hallucinogenic substances could have been involved, music, rhythmic drumming, chanting etc. A very profound and spiritual experience, for all concerned, including the tribal leaders guiding the whole ceremony. No willful lying, or deceit necessary. Simply a magical and symbolic method to send someone into a place where the initiate comes into contact with the World of the ancestors and spirits.

All supposition, of course, although based on knowledge of other more contemporary ritual practices.

 

[crunchy5]

The hole behind the snake could just as easily have been used as a magical rebirthing place where a young person is ritually consumed by the snake and reborn into the World and the tribe, as a snake-person. Hallucinogenic substances could have been involved, music, rhythmic drumming, chanting etc. A very profound and spiritual experience, for all concerned, including the tribal leaders guiding the whole ceremony. No willful lying, or deceit necessary. Simply a magical and symbolic method to send someone into a place where the initiate comes into contact with the World of the ancestors and spirits.

All supposition, of course, although based on knowledge of other more contemporary ritual practices.

Agreed on all points, in fact I raised some of those points myself, at lunch with an archaeologist, about the issue of whether the hole was used furtively or openly as part of an acknowledged ritual. My mate made the point that all the coulds and maybes were probably used in conversation with a journalist and would be missing from any completed work on this important discovery. Again he made the point that as a professional the theory is based on interpretation rather than conjecture or supposition, because of a presumed broad knowledge base on ritual practice and archaeological forensics.

Imho whether or not priests lie about the truth or not of their religion is neither here or there next to the point that in all probability they are all wrong, honest or not.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

...

Agreed on all points, in fact I raised some of those points myself, at lunch with an archaeologist, about the issue of whether the hole was used furtively or openly as part of an acknowledged ritual. My mate made the point that all the coulds and maybes were probably used in conversation with a journalist and would be missing from any completed work on this important discovery. Again he made the point that as a professional the theory is based on interpretation rather than conjecture or supposition, because of a presumed broad knowledge base on ritual practice and archaeological forensics.

Imho whether or not priests lie about the truth or not of their religion is neither here or there next to the point that in all probability they are all wrong, honest or not.

I may have mentioned elsewhere, I have done a little bit of digging in the past and worked with one, or two, archaeologists, too. Some v.good and some quite imaginative. I also have a little background in cultural anthropology. I have to say that Professor Coulson's 'interpretation' might owe at least a little to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

I still say you have been dybbuked.

No, I've just counted and I still have all my buks.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Ok, heres the exorcism team

Nice try, fella, but I insist on more than eight of
'em! And only one female?

But I like your idea of a singing exorcism.

Put it on CDs and we'll make millions!

Twist with the Exorcists. Dancin' with the Demon Deacons. REALLY Chasin' the Blues Away. Jam Session with the Possession Padres.

If you're not satisfied, double your demons back.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

The only thing we can say with any certainty is that the individual priests who spoke through holes while hidden from the audience knew they were lying as would others who just made up divination's based upon the information they had, the position of stars and such.

Knew they were lying.... Can we really be so certain of that, without knowing the social and cultural mores of 70,000 years ago?

What if everybody knew that it was "just the priest" speaking through the Snake God? That this was simply the way that things were done? That "speaking for the God is the priest's job, Junior, just like mine's being a fisherman"?

Does anybody believe that when a modern priest, minister or lector says "I am the Way, the Truth and the Light" during a sermon that he (she) is proclaiming himself the Messiah?

Moreover, Crunchy maintains that "others who just made up divinations based upon the information they had, the positions of the stars and such....[also] knew they were lying."

Based upon the information they had is the operative phrase here. Why would any sane person bother to learn the position of the stars if all they wanted to do was to "make up" lying prophecies?

Astrology is generally recognized as an early, though erroneous, attempt at natural science. So I fail to see why conscious "lying" would be involved at all.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

The only thing we can say with any certainty is that the individual priests who spoke through holes while hidden from the audience knew they were lying as would others who just made up divination's based upon the information they had, the position of stars and such.

Knew they were lying.... Can we really be so certain of that, without knowing the social and cultural mores of 70,000 years ago?

What if everybody knew that it was "just the priest" speaking through the Snake God? That this was simply the way that things were done? That "speaking for the God is the priest's job, Junior, just like mine's being a fisherman"?

Does anybody believe that when a modern priest, minister or lector says "I am the Way, the Truth and the Light" during a sermon that he (she) is proclaiming himself the Messiah?

Seems like there's an assumption being made that organized religions and shamanism are more, or less the same sort of thing. This is not necessarily the case.

For one thing, the shaman supposedly goes actively into the place of the spirits. Most modern organized religions that i know of, the priest stays resolutely on the spot and is reduced to interpretation.

Now, the shaman may be deceiving fellow members of the tribe, but it's at least equally reasonable to assume that at least some of them genuinely believe in what they do and what they experience.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Now, the shaman may be deceiving fellow members of the tribe, but it's at least equally reasonable to assume that at least some of them genuinely believe in what they do and what they experience.

And it may even be that at least a few of them are right.

 

[crunchy5]

And it may even be that at least a few of them are right.

Of course, that's why I said in all probability they were wrong, based on our 250,000 year history of banging rocks together and the universe being, at the last count I heard thirteen and a half billion years, there is plenty room for the religious minded to have made the odd mistake or two in their interpretation of the divine will.

The knowledge that you are lying while giving your performance possession, or peaking out from under your feather headdress while diving the truth, doesn't invalidate your claims that you are doing the right thing as a shaman. Even though there are many paths to god the disputes and wars we have had over the past quarter mill years implies that many were on the wrong path even though lead up that path by one claiming to speak for god. My own view is that if there is a god or gods it would be impossible and presumtious for us to claim to know them and their motivations. Doing opium in a cave may make you feel like you are communing with god but are you really, any more than I was having eaten a dove or two and dancing in a trance with a couple of thousand like minded souls.

 

[Pietro_Mercurios]

.....

The knowledge that you are lying while giving your performance possession, or peaking out from under your feather headdress while diving the truth, doesn't invalidate your claims that you are doing the right thing as a shaman. Even though there are many paths to god the disputes and wars we have had over the past quarter mill years implies that many were on the wrong path even though lead up that path by one claiming to speak for god. My own view is that if there is a god or gods it would be impossible and presumtious for us to claim to know them and their motivations. Doing opium in a cave may make you feel like you are communing with god but are you really, any more than I was having eaten a dove or two and dancing in a trance with a couple of thousand like minded souls.

But, what makes you think the shaman, or priest was actually lying? Apart from the 'imaginative' speculations of the good professor?

Okay, so for some 250,000 years humans have been trying to get a handle on their place in The Great Scheme of Things. By no means all of them seem to have had any great belief in an overarching 'God' concept. Our monotheistic World view is a relatively modern development. Ancient humans seem to have interacted with the World as if animal, vegetable, mineral, or force of nature, their environment was not only alive, but sentient like themselves. Various ways were discovered and developed by people, in order to be able to interact and communicate with the environment, as well as with each other. Mimicry, music, song, dance, trance, storytelling, painting, sculpture, in fact all the human arts were employed in creating workable models of reality that humans could use to know the World better. Humans need frameworks upon which to build models of reality that they can both understand and live within.

Mistakes may have been made, but if we didn't make mistakes, then we wouldn't learn anything. It's probably only the benefit of hindsight, from a World view blessed with all the 'advantages' of our Victorian imperialist and empiricist inheritance that allows us to shake our heads sadly at the follies and antics of our 'ignorant savage' forbears.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

Doing opium in a cave may make you feel like you are communing with god....

This reminds me of the old story that when Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., (he from whom a certain well-known London consulting detective supposedly derived his surname) experimented with inhaled ether around 1850 he'd see revealed to him the ultimate Secret of the Universe. Alas, he'd entirely forget the Secret by the time he recovered his senses.

So the Good Doctor then ordered his secretary to record the experience, as he dictated from the etheric fog.

The secretary dutifully recorded: "The Universe is permeated with a thick odor of turpentine."

 

[morningstar667]

I'd like to know if there is any rock art associated with the cave as San rock art from the Upper Paleolithic has a lot of Entoptic images, which are proof of other states of conciousness.

As an aside the usage of Ether as an intoxicant in some 19th century drawing room is not the same as the use of psychedelics during ritual behavior.

 

[OldTimeRadio]

As an aside the usage of Ether as an intoxicant in some 19th century drawing room is not the same as the use of psychedelics during ritual behavior.

No, but both the shaman and the savant saw "the Secret of the Universe" revealed through passably similar methods, which is the point I was attempting to make. And so I suspect did the the Delphian pythoness as she sat inhaling mephitic vapors from a crack in the earth.