The Spirit Within Us
God is all around us—literally. God is in our currency, television shows, films, books, history, music, politics, and even the United States’ Pledge of Allegiance. Yet, when questioned about our faith or spirituality, many of us doubt and question a spiritual existence. What if religion were more than a sociocultural system constructed by early humans to help them explain the things they didn’t understand? If that were the case, then why are there still many believers who continue to worship, even though science continues to contradict them? Are those who believe in a higher power, just like our ancestors whom we view as barbaric, uneducated and unsophisticated in today’s day and age? Or did they have it right all along? By learning more about the rich archeological history of early human worship, we can understand that the belief in a higher power is a natural instinct exhibited by the most sophisticated living creatures on the planet: humans.
Humans are recognized as the most intelligent species on the planet; they walk on two feet, communicate with complex languages, think about and solve complex problems, write, read, create, and most interestingly of all, believe in and worship a higher power, one that predates the early humans from the Paleolithic periods. Over the past several decades, archeologists have found examples of religious practices dating back 300,000 years through discoveries of burials carried out by Homo sapiens. It is believed that religions began to develop after the advancement of writing, as seen with Egyptian hieroglyphics and the cuneiform writing system of the Sumerians that dates back to around 3000 BCE, over 5,000 years ago.
However, there have been other discoveries that predate the Egyptians and the Sumerians. Discovered in the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave in Germany’s Swabian Alps, the sculpture “Lion Man” is a figurine carved out of mammoth tusks and dates back over 40,000 years. It is one of many early signs of worship and can be compared to numerous religions that use hybrid creatures, including the Ancient Egyptian gods who have human bodies and animal heads like Anubis, the jackal-headed god, and Bastet, the cat-headed goddess. Other hybrid creatures are represented in Hinduism. Ganesh, the God of beginnings, is portrayed with an elephant-head, and Garuda, the God of birth and heaven, is portrayed with the head and wings of an eagle. Even in Judeo-Christian religions, God’s angels are usually depicted with human bodies and bird-like wings on their backs. Such can be seen with the cherubim and seraphim angels from the Bible that depict divine creatures with multiple wings and some with animal faces (Ezekiel 1: 1-14).
In 1994, archeologist Klaus Schmidt traveled to Turkey to further excavate Gobekli Tepe (Turkish for Potbelly Hill) and discovered that the massive, carved stones of the site were 12,000 years old, predating even the well-known ancient site called the Stonehenge, a sophisticated prehistoric stone circle located in Salisbury Plain, England. The design of the pillars of Gobekli Tepe and other structures suggests that early humans built them for religious purposes, as seen with the elaborately carved images and statues of foxes, lions, scorpions, snakes, and vultures. Although the purpose of these animals is not written in stone, their images share religious and symbolic meanings with other cultures throughout the world. Vultures, for example, are known as birds of death and misery because they eat dead or dying animal. Psychopomps, which are defined as creatures or deities responsible for guiding deceased souls to the afterlife, often took the forms of vultures, ravens, owls, and sparrows. This may explain the site's choice to use the vulture as a symbol of the afterlife. The fox is also significant in many cultures, as seen in Japanese and Chinese folklore, and in Celtic tradition, which held the fox to be a guide to the spirit world. Another example, the scorpion, is affiliated with life and death because its venom can either kill, or be used as an antidote to other scorpion stings. In the Bible, the scorpion, as well as the serpent, are portrayed as evil (Luke 10:19). In Ancient Egypt, the goddess of war Sekhmet represented the lion as the patron and protector of the pharaohs and the people. Interestingly, ancient civilizations like Babylon, Persia, Greece, and India also viewed the lion as a symbol of strength, courage, and kingship.
Another religious indicator found in the site was the abundance of skeletal animal remains, which reveal that these early humans lived in a hunter-gatherer society. Based on that evidence, archeologists concluded that early humans hunted their prey, and then carried it to the site, where they feasted and celebrated together. The fact that there were no signs of agriculture showed that these early humans established the temple for religious purposes, and put spirituality first, before farming, contrary to what many learn in school. In Global Studies class, many of us were taught that early civilizations started to succeed in cozy, agricultural landscapes, like the Ancient Egyptians, who thrived by conveniently settling near the Nile River. Although that notion is true, it does not mean that humans only then began to think and form religion; Golbeki Tepe proves that human religion is much older than the Ancient Egyptian pyramids. Knowing this simple fact, we should give early humans, and ourselves, more credit.
Similarly, in the late 1990s, archeologists discovered a huge stone snake that dated back 70,000 years ago in Tsodilo Hills in Botswana, Africa. That is older than all the other archeological sites mentioned previously. The significance was not only in the way it resembled a python, but further excavation of the site revealed that early humans worshipped the snake by performing sacrifices, though not the kind you’d think. They sacrificed red spearheads, gathering hundreds of kilometers away just to be burnt for their God, the python. The San Peoples, an indigenous hunter-gatherer group that is considered the oldest inhabitants of Southern Africa, have considered the site sacred for thousands of years. But why did early humans correlate the divine with animals as we see with Gobekli Tepe and the python? Why do we seem to worship animals when they certainly do not worship us, or God for that matter? Or do they believe in higher powers without our knowledge? The closest mammal to the human species is the chimpanzee and if we compare them to us, a distinguishing factor is intellectual ability. Due to their incapability to understand syntax, they can’t speak languages or communicate with words. Despite understanding body language, chimpanzees don’t know how to contemplate another being’s state of mind, which means chimpanzees don’t have the incentive to communicate with each other because they won’t understand.
The theory of evolution tells us that humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas all evolved from the same ancestor that eventually diverged into the separate groups that we see today. After thousands of years, early humans formed language, religion, and established advanced civilizations, whereas other primates have remained the same, walking on all fours and swinging from trees. Even though it is unclear whether there are other animals that worship or feel the way we do when it comes to spirituality; elephants, apes, and dolphins share in similar ritual behavior when it comes to mourning their dead, and in some way, it shows that Spirituality is instinctive in intelligent, living things. It is this ability to sense and acknowledge something far greater that exists in the world other than oneself. Today we are living in times of increasing technological advancement, but how different are we really than how we were three hundred or a thousand years ago? The more advanced we become, the more we satisfy our natural need for spirituality with hard science, but are we losing ourselves and our connection with other living beings that has been such a driving force in human civilization in the process?
Praying requires a spiritual connection. Although many people have stopped affiliating themselves with a particular religion, it doesn’t mean they don’t believe in something greater (after all, religions are human institutions). Our ancestors’ devotion to a higher being has shaped the world we now live in. Worship and spirituality did not hinder human development. But rather, as seen in the remnants left behind in Germany, a desert in Turkey, and a cave in Botswana, it became a foundation and the incentive to innovate in a tough world. God became the light, the way, and the life. Just like how early humans progressed through spirituality, modern humans should take up their example. Just look at what they left behind; stunning statues and architecture that was all made possible because they believed in God. We no longer have to walk in the same darkness as our ancestors who paved the way for us, but we need to acknowledge the spirituality within ourselves, rather than fight it. If we take that further step, we may be able to discover the meaning or purpose of our existence—or maybe even God.
By Zuzanna Zurek
Illustrations done in collaboration with the New Media Artspace at Baruch College. The New Media Artspace is a teaching exhibition space in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts at Baruch College, CUNY. Housed in the Newman Library, the New Media Artspace showcases curated experimental media and interdisciplinary artworks by international artists, students, alumni, and faculty. Special thanks to docent Maya Hilbert for creating artwork for this piece.
Check the New Media Artspace out at http://www.newmediartspace.info/