giovedì 20 agosto 2015

When Gods are born?

In the previous post I cited an interesting site who discusses the possibility that the Paleolithic cave paintings represent the sky in different season. The author of the sites also states that the paleolitic artists believed in deities. This is less convincing to me. I read times ago a book on African tales (i.e. myths). There was a striking contrasy between the tales of the Khoisan (hunter-gatherer, or in other words Paleolithic), and the other people of Africa (agircultural and pastoralist). The tales of the people culturally after the Neolithic revolution were full of spirits, in the tales of Khoisan were no spirits neither superhuman powers, only animals, men, plants. Also the Australian mythology, which is quite sophisticates, has nonethless no gods, and the creators are in fact animals which can be encountered commonly in the deserts of Australia. It seems in toher words that religion and gods are posterior to the Neolithic revolution and are related in some way to agriculture, or more probably to property. If you have no property, you have no fear of losing it, and there is always some spot of the bush where you can get what you need, if you practice agiricultuer your stocks (your property) can be stolen, destroyed by flood, fire and pests, or even you can fail to accumualte it for the winter in a bad year. So it is rather natural for an agriculturalist to resort to supernatural powers who can protect your property from enemies and dangers.

As further evidence, Palelolithic paintings depicts animals and shamans (more recent hunter-gatheres paintings depicts also hunters), gods (in a human shape or more frequently as a mixture of human and monstrous parts) appear with Sumerans and Egyptians (although it is necessary to remember the Paleolitic statuettes of the so colled "Mother-Goddes", who can represent actually goddesses).



According to Wikipedia, in San religion there is a creator god (Cagn) and his wife  (Cod); but they have veery little in common with historical gods; there are not offering, rites, supernatural powers associated with these gods; it seems mroe a myth explaining the origins, and the term god is - I suspect - a projection of the missionaries.

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