Tsodilo Hills snake rock: first evidence of religion?
Beads and body ornaments: evidence of trade networks?
• Tsodilo Hills of Botswana.
Ritually-modified snake-rock, dated
to around 70,000 ybp 6 meter long by 2 meter
high.
• The python plays an especially
prominent role in San creation
myths and Tsodilo hills are
thought to be sacred.
• Still Bay & Howieson’s Poort
“precocious” industries, “exotic”
microliths. 70-60,000 ybp
• Beads 100,000-70,000 ybp (Blombos
Cave, SA; Skhul, Israel; Oued Djebbana, Algeria
site potential hxaro gifts)
• As societies becoming
increasingly dissimilar greater
policing required to ensure
cooperation
Bruniquel Cave (France) vs. Rhino Cave (Tsodilo Hills, Botswana)
Neanderthal and Homo Sapiens’ Cave Rituals
Tsodilo Hills, central
Botswana, from a
distance
Bruniquel: all materials used
found in the cave
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Rhino: exotic materials brought to the cave and burned and destroyed in ritual
activity
Rhino cave rituals higher “cost”
UP religion
• Les Trois Freres
“Sorcerer” image
• Bird-man image from
shaft at Lascaux
• Both dated to
Magdalenian era
18,000-12,000 ybp
UP Painted Caves
Chauvet Cave
30,000 ybp
Altamira
16,000 ybp
Lascaux
16,000 ybp
• Early UP evidence of religion
– Sungir burial 28,000ybp
– Hohlenstein-Stadel “lion-man” 30,000ybp
– Fumane Cave “shaman” 35,000ybp
Supernatural value monitoring: Gods who care
• Earliest forms of religion represented
supernatural layer to social life
– Animism: personalizing the natural world
– Shamanism: mediating between the natural
and supernatural
– Ancestors: guardians of tradition and taboo
Humans always behave better when being
watched, a supernaturalized social world is
one with constant monitoring.
Human relationships and community “elevated”
by presumed value monitoring
Why “supernaturalize” social life?
• Group benefits
– Supernaturalized rituals more
effective in promoting group
cohesion and trust
– Orthodox kibbutz, religions
communes more cohesive,
enduring, individuals more selfsacrificing compared to secular.
– Group competition likely in
ancestral past (64% engaged in
regular group warfare; only 11%
“peaceful”)
Ritual and norm following
• Following norms of:
- in-group cooperativeness
- self-restraint
- commitment in marriage
- honesty
- charity
All positively correlated in increased ritual activity
Support for extreme form of norm-following, parochial altruism, crossculturally associated with increased ritual participation (Ginges, et
al., 2009).
Experimental study (Wiltermuth & Heath, 2009); those who
participated in group-coordinated; synchronized activities more
cooperative and generous later (“muscular bonding”)
Heeding the message: Creating complex societies through
social norms
• Only humans have social norms
• Chimps are “rational maximizers” in “dictator” games; no third party
punishment among chimps
• Social norms vs. conventions
– Conventions: rules for coordinating activity
– Morally weighty social rules that all are “ought” to follow (character,
reputation, social standing, and social sanctions determined by norms).
– Con: raising hands to be recognized
– Norm: respecting elders, repaying debts etc.
Why did Cro-Magnons replace Neanderthals?
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Cognitive differences alone seem inadequate
Cooperative Hunting (Le Cotte)
Worked beads/pendants (Arcy sur Cure)
Art? (La Roche-Cotard mask)
These finds are relatively rare
Consistent social differences
• Cro-Magnon sites consistently larger, more frequent, more
spatially organized (sometimes), more intensely used and
occupied, higher population densities, greater seasonal
aggregation.
• Evidence of long-distance trading networks
Stronger Social Identity
• First evidence of body ornaments
sometime between 100-70,000 ybp.
• Emergence of durable social marking
• Expansion of Parietal lobe – greater
capacity for social categorization.
• “Troop to tribe” transition
An older generation
• Caspari and Lee (2004) analyzed
tooth samples from Australopiths,
Early Homo, Neanderthals, and
Cro-Magnons.
• Older/Younger adults (Older = 2X
average age of reproduction)
• A=.12; EH=.25; N=.39; C-M=2.08.
• Only among UP modern humans
was there evidence of an older
generation.
Effects of an Older Generation
• Greater security and stability: more eyes to watch children,
more hands to procure resources.
• Cultural continuity: traditions, skills more effectively passed
on, stronger cultural identity.
• Social role specialization: domestic/economic tasks can be
more effectively spread among adult group members. Sexrole specialization.