Given the relative paucity of cognitive, cultural, and intellectual development among Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal and "archaic" humans, and the likelihood that they had not yet acquired modern human speech (Joseph, 1996, 2000b), evidence of spiritual concerns among these peoples demonstrates the great antiquity of belief in an after-life and the soul. Humans began evolving a spiritual consciousness over 100,000 years ago. Seventy thousand years later, this consciousness would give birth to the first cosmologies.

2. MIDDLE PALEOLITHIC SPIRITUALITY

When humans first became aware of a "god" or "gods" cannot be determined. Nevertheless, the antiquity of religious and spiritual belief extends backwards in time to over 100,000 years. It is well established that Neanderthals and other Homo Sapiens of the Middle Paleolithic (e.g. 150,000 to 35,000 B.P.) and Upper Paleolithic (35,000 B.P. to 10,000 B.P.) engaged in complex ritualistic behavior. These rituals are evident from the manner in which they decorated their caves and the symbolism associated with death (Akazawa & Muhesen 2002; Conrad & Richter 2011; Harvati & Harrison 2010; Kurten 1976; Mellars 1996).

Cro-Magnon burial.

Neanderthals (a people who lived in Europe, Russia, Iraq, Africa, and China from around 150,000 to 30,000 B.P.), have been buried in sleeping positions with the body flexed and lying on its side. Some were laid to rest with limestone blocks placed beneath the head like a pillow—as if they were not truly dead but merely asleep (Akazawa & Muhesen 2002; Harvati & Harrison 2010).

Sleep and dreams have long been associated with the spirit world, and it is through dreams that gods including the Lord God worshipped by Jews, Christians, and Muslims, are believed to have communicated their thoughts, warnings, intentions, and commands. Throughout the ages (Campbell 1988; Freud, 1900; Jung 1945, 1964), and as repeatedly stated in the Old Testament and the Koran, dreams have been commonly thought to be the primary medium in which gods and human interact (Joseph 2002). Insofar as the ancients (and many moderns folks) were concerned, dreams served as a doorway, a portal of entry to the spirit world through which "God," His angels, or myriad demons could make their intentions known.

It is through dreams that one is able to come into direct contact with the spirit world and a reality so magical and profoundly different yet as real as anything experienced during waking. It is through dreams that ancient humans came to believe the spiritual world sits at the boundaries of the physical, where day turns to dusk, the hinterland of the imagination where dreams flourish and grow. And it is while dreaming that one’s own soul may transcend the body, to soar like an eagle, or to commune with the spirits of loved ones who reside in heaven along side the gods.

Neanderthals prepared their dead for this great and final journey, by laying their loved ones to rest so that they would sleep with the spirits and dream of heavenly eternity.

Neanderthals have also been buried surrounded by goat horns placed in a circle, with reindeer vertebrae, animal skins, stone tools, red ocher, and in one grave, seven different types of flowers (Solecki 1971). In one cave (unearthed after 60,000 years had passed), a deep chamber was discovered which housed a single skull which was surrounded by a ring of stones (Harvati & Harrison 2010; Mellars 1996). Moreover, Neanderthals buried bears at a number of sites including Regourdou. At Drachenloch they buried stone "cysts" containing bear skulls (Kurten 1976); hence, "the clan of the cave bear."

Yet others were buried with large bovine bones above the head, with limestone blocks placed on top of the head and shoulders, and with heads severed coupled with evidence of ritual decapitation, facial bone removal, and cannibalism (Belfer-Cohen and Hovers 1992; Binford 1968; Harold 1980; Smirnov 1989; Solecki 1971). In one site, dated to over 100,000 years B.P., Neanderthals decapitated eleven of their fellow Neanderthals, and smashed their faces beyond recognition.

It therefore seems apparent that Neanderthals not only engaged in complex rituals, but they believed in spirits, ghosts, and a life after death. Hence the sleeping position, stone pillows, stone tools and food. They were preparing the departing spirit for the journey to the Hereafter and the land of dreams. However, they were also incapacitating their enemies, even after death, to prevent these souls from terrorizing the living or their dreams

3. SPIRITS, SOULS, GHOSTS & THE LAND OF DREAMS

The fact that so many of the Neanderthal dead were buried in a sleeping position implies an association between sleep and dreams. Since all vertebrates so far studied demontrate REM (dream) sleep, it can be assumed that Neanderthals dreamed. Among ancient (and even modern peoples) it was believed that souls and spirits could wonder about while people sleep and dream (Brandon 1967; Frazier 1950; Harris 1993; Jung 1945, 1964; Malinowkski 1990). Some believed the soul could escape the body via the mouth or nostrils while dreaming and that the spirit could leave the body and engage in various purposeful acts or interact with other souls including the soul or spirit of those who had died. The spirit and soul were believed to hover about in human-like, ghostly vestiges, at the fringes of reality, the hinterland where day turns into night (Campbell 1988; Frazier 1950; Jung 1964; Malinowski 1954; Wilson 1951); and it is at night when people dream.

And as is the case with modern day humans, it can be assumed the ancients, including Neanderthals, had dreams by which they were transported or exposed to a world of magic and untold wonders which obeyed its own laws of time, space, and motion. It is through dreams that humans came to believe the spiritual world sits at the boundaries of the physical, where day turns to dusk, the hinterland of the mind where imagination and dreams flourish and grow (Frazier, 1950; Jung, 1945, 1964; Malinowkski, 1954); hence the tendency to bury the dead in a sleeping position even 100,000 years ago.

It is also via dreams that humans came to know that spirits and lost souls populated the night. The dream was real and so too were the ghosts, gods and demons who thundered and condemned and the phantoms that hovered at the edge of night. Although but a dream, like modern humans, our ancient ancestors experienced this through the senses, much as the physical world is experienced. Dreams were real and they were taken seriously. Moreover, during dreams, both the living and the dead may be encountered. Thus, we can surmise that Neanderthals had similar dreams and may have dreamed about ghosts and wondering spirits,

It is also appears that they feared the dead, and were terrified by the prospect that certain souls might haunt the living. They were afraid of ghosts, and frightened by the possibility that just as one might awake from sleep after visiting the land of the dead, the dead might also awake from this deathlike slumber. The dead, or at least their personal souls, had to be prevented from causing mischief among the living; especially dreaded enemies who had been killed. Hence, the ritual decapitation, facial bone removal, the smashing of faces, the removal of arms, hands, and legs, and placement of heavy stones upon the body.

It can be concluded, therefore, that almost 100,000 years ago, primitive humans had already come to believe in ghosts, souls, spirits, and a continuation of "life" after death. And, they also took precautions, in some cases, to prevent certain spirits and souls from being released from a dead body and returning to cause mischief among the living, which is why, in the case or powerful enemies, the Neanderthals would cut off heads and hands. They went to great lengths to obliterate all aspects of that dreaded individual’s personal identity; e.g., smashing the face beyond recognition.

Of course, the fact that these Neanderthals were buried does not necessarily imply that they held a belief in "God." Rather, what the evidence demonstrates is that Neanderthals were capable of very intense emotions and feelings ranging from murderous rage to love to spiritual and superstitious awe. Although no god is implied, Neanderthals held spiritual and mystical beliefs involving the transmigration of the soul and all the horrors, fears, and hopes that accompany such feelings and beliefs. Although the Neanderthals had not discovered god, they stood upon the threshold.

4. THE NEANDERTHALS: A CHARACTER STUDY

Neanderthals were short, brutish, and an exceedingly violent, murderous people, as the remnants of their skeletons preserved for so many eons attests. Many of their fossils still betray the cruel ravages of deliberately and violently inflicted wounds (Conrad & Richter 2011; Harvati & Harrison 2010; Mellars 1996).

They also appear to have systematically engaged in female infanticide, and displayed a willingness to eat almost anything on four or two legs—including other Neanderthals. In one site, dated to over 100,000 years B.P., Neanderthals decapitated eleven of their fellow Neanderthals, and then enlarged the base of each skull (the foramen magnum) so the brains could be scooped out and presumably eaten. Even the skulls of children were treated in this fashion.

In fact, they would throw the bones and carcasses of other Neanderthals into the refuse pile. In one cave, a collection of over 20 Neanderthals were found mixed up with the remains of other animals and garbage. Presumably, these were enemies or just hapless strangers, innocent cave dwellers who were attacked and sometimes eaten after being brutally killed.

Hence, with the obvious exception of "friends," mates, and family, Neanderthals often saw one another as a potential meal, and had almost no regard for a stranger’s innate humanness. These were a violent, murderous, ritualistic people, and strangers were often brutally killed and eaten.

These characteristics are also associated with religious fervor. Among ancient and present day peoples, violence, murder, ritual cannibalism, and the sacrifice of children are common religious practices. The Five Books of Moses, are replete with stories of the mass murder and the genocide of non-Jews who were seen as subhuman, including pregnant women and children.

As is well known, the Spanish and Catholic missionaries, acting at the behest of the Catholic Popes (and their Spanish/Catholic Sovereigns), continued these genocidal practices once they invaded the Americas during the 1500's and up through the 19th century. As the Catholic Dominican Bishop Bartolom de Las Casas reported to the Pope: the Aztec and Indian natives were hung and burnt alive "in groups of 13... thus honoring our Savior and the 12 apostles."

5. The Limbic System: Love, Violence, & Spirituality.

Violence and murder are also under the control of the limbic system, the amygdala in particular (Joseph 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998). And it is the limbic system which mediates religious and spiritual experience and which provides much of the emotion and imagery which appears in dreams (Joseph 1988, 2000a, 2001, 2002).

However, it is also the limbic system which subserves feelings of love and affection, and the ability to form long-term attachments. Thus we see that Neanderthals provided loving care for friends and family who had been injured or maimed, enabling them to live many more years despite their grievous injuries. For example, the skeleton of one Neanderthal male, who was about age 45 when he died, had been nursed for a number of years following profoundly crippling injuries. His right arm had atrophied, and his lower arm and hand had apparently been ripped or bitten off, and his left eye socket, right shoulder, collarbone, and both legs were badly injured. Obviously someone loved and tenderly cared for this man. He was no doubt a father, a husband, a brother, and son, and someone in his family not only provided long term loving care to make him comfortable in this life, but prepared him for the next life as well (Mellars 1996).

The ability to feel love is a function of the limbic system, the amygdala in particular which is buried in the depths of the temporal lobe.

6. THE NEANDERTHAL BRAIN & TEMPORAL LOBES

An examination of Neanderthal skulls and endocasts of the inner skull provides a gross indication of the size and configuration of their brains. Based on physical indices, the temporal lobe was well developed and little different from that of modern humans.

(Right)Neanderthal. (Left) Modern human.

Likewise, given the great antiquity of the limbic system, it can be surmised that the Paleolithic human limbic system was well developed, and similar to the limbic system of modern humans (Joseph 2000a, 2001; 2002).

The Neanderthals were not a very intelligent or tidy people and were unable to fashion complex tools which, along with other indices, suggests they were unable think complex thoughts. Yet they were people of passion who experienced profound emotions and love; made possible by the limbic system and temporal lobe. In fact, it is because they had the limbic capacity to experience love, spiritual awe, and religious concerns, that these expressions of love continued following death of those they loved, as it has been conclusively demonstrated that these brain structures mediate these functions (Joseph 1992, 1994, 1998a, 2001, 2002). Thus the Neanderthals carefully buried their dead, providing them with food and even sprinkling the bodies with seven different types of blooming, blossoming, fragrant flowers (Belfer-Cohen & Hovers, 1992; McCown, 1937; Solecki 1971; Trinkaus, 1986).

In overall size, the posterior portion of the Neanderthal brain, i.e. the occipital and superior parietal lobes, were slightly larger in length and breadth than the modern human brain on average (Joseph 1996, 2000b; Wolpoff, 1980); a reflection of the environment in which they dwelled and the neural capacities their life style required-- the body moving in visual space as Neanderthals spent most of their non-sleeping hours searching for food. The occipital and superior parietal areas are directly concerned with visual analysis and positioning the body in space (Joseph 1986, 1996). As male and female Neanderthals spent a considerable amount of their time engaged in hunting activities, scanning the environment for prey and running and throwing in visual space were more or less ongoing concerns. A large occipital and superior parietal lobe would reflect these activities.

By contrast, concerns about the dead, and attendant mortuary rituals are activities linked to the temporal lobes. The temporal lobes and underlying limbic structures (amygdala, hippocampus), could be likened the seat of the soul and the senior executive of the personality. It is the temporal lobes and the amygdala and hippocampus which have been directly implicated in the generation of religious feelings and supernatural experiences including visions of floating above the body, seeing angels and devils, and what has been described as the after-death and near-death experiences (Joseph 1996, 1998b, 1999a,b, 2000a, 2001, 2002).

The amygdala (which is buried in the depths of the anterior temporal lobe) enables us to hear "sweet sounds," recall "bitter memories," or determine if something is spiritually significant, sexually enticing, or good to eat and makes it possible to experience the spiritually sublime. It is concerned with the most basic animal emotions, and allows us to store affective experiences in memory or even to reexperience them when awake or during the course of a dream in the form of visual, auditory, or religious or spiritual imagery. The amygdala also enables an individual to experience emotions such as love and religious rapture, as well as the ecstasy associated with orgasm and the dread and terror associated with the unknown.

In fact, the amygdala (in conjunction with the hippocampus and overlying temporal lobe) contributes in large part to the production of very bizarre, unusual and fearful mental phenomenon including dissociative states, feelings of depersonalization, and hallucinogenic and dream-like recollections involving threatening men, naked women, the experience of god, as well as demons and ghosts and pigs walking upright dressed as people (Daly 1958; Gloor 1997; Halgren 1992; Horowitz et al. 1968; MacLean 1990; Penfield and Perot 1963; Schenk, and Bear 1981; Slater and Beard 1963; Subirana and Oller-Daurelia 1953; Trimble 1991; Weingarten, et al. 1977; Williams 1956). Moreover, some individuals report communing with spirits or receiving profound knowledge from the Hereafter, following amygdala stimulation or abnormal activation (Penfield and Perot 1963; Subirana and Oller-Daurelia, 1953; Williams 1956).

Intense activation of the temporal lobe, hippocampus, and amygdala has been reported to give rise to a host of sexual, religious and spiritual experiences; and chronic hyperstimulation can induce an individual to become hyper-religious or visualize and experience ghosts, demons, angels, and even "God," as well as claim demonic and angelic possession or the sensation of having left their body (Bear 1979; Gloor 1992; Horowitz et al. 1968; MacLean 1990; Penfield and Perot 1963; Schenk, and Bear 1981; Weingarten, et al. 1977; Williams 1956).

Much of the visual, emotional, and hallucinatory aspects of dream sleep, have their source in the temporal lobe and underlying limbic system structures (Joseph 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2002). It is the evolution of the temporal lobes, this "transmitter to god" which also explains why even primitive humanity likely believed in spirits, souls, and ghosts, and practiced complex mortuary rites for those they feared or loved.

7. THE BIG BANG IN SYMBOLIC THINKING: THE CRO-MAGNON FRONTAL LOBES

There is considerable evidence that over the course of human history, the temporal lobe evolved at a faster and earlier rate than the frontal lobe (Joseph 1996, 2000b, Gloor, 1997). Likewise, the temporal lobes mature more rapidly than the frontal lobes over the course of human ontological development (Joseph, 1982, 1996, 1998b, 1999a, 2000b,c).

The Neanderthals were blessed with a well developed temporal lobe, whereas more anterior regions of the brain, the frontal lobes, remained little different from more ancient ancestral primate species. However, with the evolution of the Cro-Magnon people, the brain mushroomed in size, with much of that development in the frontal lobes.

(Top) Neanderthal skull. (Bottom) Cro-Magnon Skull

As based on cranial comparisons and endocasts of the inside of the skull, and using the temporal and frontal poles as reference points, it has been demonstrated that the brain has tripled in size over the course of human evolution, and that the frontal lobes significantly expanded in length and height during the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition (Blinkov and Glezer 1968; Joseph 1993; MacLean 1990; Tilney 1928; Weil 1929; Wolpoff 1980).

It is obvious that the height of the frontal portion of the skull is greater in the six foot tall, anatomically modern Upper Paleolithic H. sapiens (Cro-Magnon) versus Neanderthal and archaic H. sapiens (Joseph 1996, 2000b; Tilney, 1928; Wolpoff 1980). The evolution and expansion of the frontal lobe is also evident when comparing the skills and creative and technological ingenuity of the Cro-Magnons, vs the Neanderthals (Joseph 1993, 1996, 2000b).

Therefore, whereas the temporal, occipital and parietal lobes were well developed in archaic and Neanderthals, the frontal lobes would increase in size by almost a third in the transition from archaic humans to Cro-Magnon (Joseph 1996, 2000a,b, 2001).

It is the evolution of the frontal lobes which ushered in a cognitive and creative big bang which gave birth to a technological revolution and complex spiritual rituals and beliefs in shamans and goddesses and their relationship to the heavens, and thus the moon and the stars.

Neanderthals died out as a species around 30,000 years ago; but for at least 10,000 years they shared the planet with the Cro-Magnon people. The Cro-Magnon men stood 6ft tall on average and the males and females were very handsome and beautiful, with thin hips, aquiline noses, prominent chins, small even perfect teeth, and high rounded foreheads. There was nothing ape-like or Neanderthal about these people.

The Cro-Magnon cerebrum was also significantly larger than the Neanderthal brain, with volumes ranging from around 1600 to1880 cc on average compared with 1,033 to 1,681 cc for Neanderthals (Blinikov & Glezer 1968; Clark 1967; Day 1996; Holloway 1985; Roginskii & Lewin 1955; Wolpoff 1980). In fact, the Cro-Magnon brain is one third larger than the modern human brain, i.e. 1800 cc vs 1350 ccs. However, a distinguishing characteristic of the Cro-Magnon brain, was the massively developed frontal lobes.

The frontal lobes are the senior executive of the brain and are responsible for initiative, goal formation, long term planning, the generation of multiple alternatives, and the consideration of multiple consequences (Joseph, 1986a, 1999a). The frontal lobes are the source of creativity, imagination, and what has been described as free will (Joseph 1996, 2011). Through interactional pathways maintained with brainstem, limbic system, thalamus and the primary receiving and association areas in the neocortex (Petrides & Pandya 1999, 2001)), the frontal lobes have access to every stage of information analysis, and are able to coordinate and regulate attention, memory, personality, and information processing throughout the brain so as to direct intellectual, creative, artistic, symbolic, and cognitive processes (Joseph, 1986a, 1999a).

It is well established that the frontal lobes enable humans to think symbolically, creatively, imaginatively, to plan for the future, to consider the consequences of certain acts, to formulate secondary goals, and to keep one goal in mind even while engaging in other tasks, so that one may remember and act on those goals at a later time (Joseph 1986, 1990b, 1996, 1999c). Selective attention, planning skills, and the ability to marshal one’s intellectual resources so as to to anticipate the future rather than living in the past, are capacities clearly associated with the frontal lobes.

The frontal lobes are associated with the evolution of "free will" (Joseph 1986, 1996, 1999c, 2011b) and the Cro-Magnon were the first species on this planet to exercise that free will, shattering the bonds of environmental/genetic determinism by doing what had never been done before: After they emerged upon the scene over 35,000 years ago, they created and fashioned tools, weapons, clothing, jewelry, pottery, and musical instruments that had never before been seen. They created underground Cathedrals of artistry and light, adorned with magnificent multi-colored paintings ranging from abstract impressionism to the surreal and equal to that of any modern master (Breuil, 1952; Leroi-Gourhan 1964, 1982). And they used their skills to carve the likeness of their female gods.

Paleolithic Goddess: Venus de Brassempouy.

The drawing or carving often became a harmonious or rather, an organic part of the object, wall, ceiling, or tool upon which it was depicted. The Cro-Magnon drew and painted scenes in which animals mated, defecated, fought, charged, and/or were fleeing and dying from wounds inflicted by hunters. The Cro-Magnon cave painters were exceedingly adept at recreating the scenes of everyday life. Moreover, most of the animals were drawn to scale, that is, they were depicted in their actual size; and all this, 30,000 years ago (e.g. Chauvet, et al., 1997).

They created art that was meant to be looked at, owned and admired, and for trade, as jewelry and household decorations, and as highly prized possessions as well as for religious reverence. Picasso was awestruck by these Paleolithic masterpieces, and complained that although 30,000 years had elapsed, "we have learned nothing new. We have invented nothing."

With the evolution of the Cro-Magnon people, the frontal lobes mushroomed in size and there followed an explosion in creative thought and technological innovation. The Cro-Magnon were intellectual giants. They were accomplished artists, musicians, craftsmen, sorcerers, and extremely talented hunters, fishermen, and highly efficient gatherers and herbalists. And they were the first to contemplate the heavens and the cosmos which they symbolized in art.

From the time of Homo Erectus (1.9 million to 500,000 B.P), humans had utilized fire to keep warm, to provide light, to cook their food, and to ward off animals. However, the Cro-Magnon learned over 30,000 years ago how to make fire using the firestone; iron pyrite which when repeatedly struck with a flint makes sparks which can easily ignite brush. They also created the first rudimentary blast furnaces which were capable of emitting enormous amounts of heat, so as to fire clay. This was accomplished by digging a tiny tunnel into the bottom of the hearth which allowed air to be drawn in. Indeed, 30,000 years ago these people were making fire hardened ceramics and clay figures of animals and females with bulging buttocks and breasts—which are presumed to be the first goddesses and fertility fetishes(Breuil, 1952; Leroi-Gourhan 1964).

Many of these female figurines were shaped so that they tapered into points so they could be stuck into the ground or into some other substance either for ornamental or supernatural purposes, e.g., household goddesses, fertility figures, and earth mothers (Breuil, 1952). In fact, much of the art produced, be it finely crafted "laurel leafs" or other artistic masterpieces, served ritual, spiritual, and esthetic functions.

It is the evolution of the Cro-Magnon and their massive frontal lobes which ushered in a cognitive and creative big bang which gave birth to complex spiritual rituals and beliefs in shamans, goddesses, and the cosmos (Joseph 2001, 2001, 2002).

By contrast, Neanderthals, archaics, and other peoples of the Middle Paleolithic were not very smart, and lived in the "here and now." They had little capacity for creative or abstract thought, and constructed and made and used the same simple stone tools over and over again for perhaps 200,000 years, until around 35,000 B.P., with little variation or consideration of alternatives (Binford, 1982; Gowlett, 1984; Mellars, 1989, 1996).

As neatly summed up by Hayden (1993, p. 139), "as a rule, there is no evidence of private ownership or food storage, no evidence for the use of economic resources for status or political competition.... no ornaments or other status display items, no skin garments requiring intensive labor to produce, no tools requiring high energy investments, no intensive regional exchange for rare items like sea shells or amber, no competition for labor to produce economic surpluses and no corporate art or labor intensive rituals in deep cave recesses to impress onlookers and help attract labor."

Neanderthals greatly lacked in creativity, initiative, imagination, and tended to create simple stone tools that served a single purpose. They tended to live in the immediacy of the present, with little ability to think about or consider the distant future or engage in creative or abstract thought (Binford, 1973, 1982; Dennell, 1985; Mellars, 1989, 1996). These are capacities associated with the frontal lobes.

About one third of the frontal lobe, i.e. the motor areas, are concerned with initiating, planning, and controlling the movement of the body and fine motor functioning (Joseph 1990b, 1999c). It is this part of the "archaic" and Neanderthal frontal lobe that appears to be most extensively developed. However, the more anterior frontal lobes are concerned with wholly different functions ranging from creative thought to analytical and planning skills (Joseph 1986, 1996, 1999c), and it is this region of the brain which exploded in size with the evolution of the Cro-Magnon people.

Thus, whereas mortuary rites and primitive spirituality can be associated with the temporal lobes and the Neanderthals, it was not until the evolutionary expansion of the non-motor regions of the frontal lobes that spirituality and concepts of the soul could be expressed through abstract symbolism. Therefore, the evolution of spirituality preceded abstract concepts which could be associated with religiosity; all of which in turn are directly linked to the differential evolution of the frontal and temporal lobes.

8. CRO-MAGNON UPPER PALEOLITHIC SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS: THE BIRTH OF THE GODS

The Cro-Magnon practiced complex religious rituals and apparently were the first peoples to have arrived at the conception of "god." However, it was not a male god who they worshipped but female goddesses who were attended by animals and shaman.

Beginning over 30,000 years ago the Cro-Magnon were painting, drawing, and etching bear and mammoth, dear and horse, and pregnant females and goddesses in the recesses of dark and dusky caverns (Bandi 1961; Breuil, 1952; Chauvet et al., 1996; Leroi-Gourhan 1964, 1982; Prideaux 1973). The pregnant females include Venus statuettes, many of which were fertility goddesses.

A pregnant woman is a symbol of fertility. However, so to is a slim, big busted female. The Cro-Magnon were able to draw both. In fact, these were the first people to paint and etch what today might be considered Paleolithic porn: slim, shapely, naked and nubile young maidens in various positions of repose.

These naked females were not drawn for the sake of prurient interests. These were fertility gods associated with the heavens and the stars.

The Cro-Magon paid homage to a number of goddesses who was associated with the fertility of the earth, as well as the moon and the stars. One great goddess, linked to the moon was carved in limestone over the entrance to an underground cathedral in Laussel, France, perhaps 20,000 years ago. She was painted in the colors of life and fertility: blood red. Her left hand still rests upon her pregnant belly whereas in her right hand she holds the horned crescent of the moon which is engraved with thirteen lines, the number of new moon cycles in a solar year. She was a goddess of life, linked to the mysteries of the heavens and the magical powers of the moon whose 29 day cycle likely corresponded with the Cro-Magnon menstrual cycle which issues from a woman’s life-giving womb. The Cro-Magnon believed in gods. God was a woman linked to the Moon, and the earth was her womb from which life would spring anew.

These great underground cathedrals may have also served as the Earth-womb of the goddess, where souls were reborn as men, women, and animals. Specific locations within the Earth-womb were of were of ritualistic, mystical, and spiritual significance in that many paintings were in out of the way places where one had to crawl long distances through tiny spaces and along rather tortuous routes to get to them (Leroi-Gourhan 1964). Moreover, for almost 20,000 years, subsequent generations of Cro-Magnon artists crawled to these same difficult to reach locations to repaint or paint over existing drawings which were hidden away in deep recesses of these dark underground caverns that were extremely difficult to find (Leroi-Gourhan 1964). This indicates that the location within the cave was of particular mystical and ritualistic importance. And not just the location but the journey to these hidden recesses may have been of mystical significance perhaps relating to birth, or rebirth following death.

9. SPIRITS, SOULS, AND SORCERERS

As is evident from their cave art and symbolic accomplishments, the nether world of the Cro- Magnon and other peoples of the Upper Paleolithic, was haunted by the spirits and souls of the living, the dead, and those yet to be born (Brandon 1967; Campbell 1988; Prideaux 1973).

Upper Paleolithic peoples apparently believed these souls and spirits could be charmed and controlled by hunting magic, and through the spells of sorcerers and shamans. Hence, in conjunction with the worship of the goddess, the Cro-Magnons also relied on shamans dressed as animals.

Hundreds of feet beneath the earth, the likeness of one ancient shaman attired in animal skins and stag antlers, graces the upper wall directly above the entrance to the 20,000-25,000 year-old grand gallery at Les Trois-Freres in southern France (Breuil, 1952; Leroi-Gourhan 1964). Galloping, running, and swirling about this ancient sorcerer are bison, stag, horse, deer, and presumably their spirits and souls. Images of an almost identical "sorcerer" appear again in ancient Sumerian and Babylonian inscriptions fashioned four to six thousand years ago (Joseph 2000a). The "sorcerer" has a name: "Enki"-the god of the double helix.

10. UNDERGROUND CATHEDRALS: EMBRACED BY THE LIGHT

In order to view these Cro-Magnon paintings, statues and shrines, one has to enter the hidden entrance of an underground cave, and crawl a considerable distance, sometimes hundreds of yards, through a twisting, narrowing, pitch black tunnel before reaching these Upper Paleolithic underground cathedrals which were shrouded in darkness (Breuil, 1952). Here the Cro-Magnon would light candles and lamps, performing magical and spiritual rituals as the painted animals and spirits wavered in the cave light.

The nature and location of the Cro-Magnon cathedrals, which have been found throughout Europe, and the nature of the tortuous routes to get to them, and the effect of cave light bringing these paintings to life, is significant as it embraces features associated with after death experiences as retold by present day (as well as ancient) peoples.

In the ancient Egyptian and Tibetan Books of the Dead, and has been reported among many of those who have undergone a "near death" or "life after death" experience, being enveloped in a dark tunnel is commonly experienced soon after death. It is only as one ascends the tunnel that one will see in the decreasing distance, a light, the "light" of "Heaven" and of paradise. Once embraced by the light "the recently dead" may be greeted by the souls of dead relatives, friends, and/or radiant human or animal-like entities (Eadie, 1992; Rawling 1978; Ring 1980).

However, emerging from the tunnel and mouth of the cave, would also be a symbolic rebirth through the birth canal and womb of the earth....

11. DREAMS, ANIMAL SPIRITS AND LOST SOULS

Across time and culture, people have believed that not just humans but animals, plants and trees were sensitive, sentient, intelligent, and the abode of spirits including the souls of dead ancestors (Campbell 1988; Frazier 1950; Harris, 1993; Jung 1964; Malinowski 1948). Before hunting and killing an animal, its spirit sometimes had to be conjured forth so as to not harm it, or to ask forgiveness (Campbell 1988; Frazier 1950). The great hunters respected and paid homage to the souls and spirits of the animals they killed, and the Cro-Magnon were great hunters.

Be it human, animal or plant, souls were also believed capable of migrating to new abodes, and that souls could migrate from humans, to animals or plants and then back again (Campbell, 1988; Frazier, 1950; Harris, 1993; Jung, 1964; Malinowkski, 1948). The spirit left the body at death, and the body was buried in the womb of the earth, from which new life would emerge. And the liberated soul might ascend to starry vault of heaven, sometimes taking the shape and form of a bird.

Be it following death, or during a dream, sometimes the soul was believed to take on another form, such as a bird, or deer, fox, rabbit, wolf, and so on. The spirit and the soul could also hover about in human- or animal-like, ghostly vestiges, at the fringes of reality, the hinterland where day turns into night (Campbell 1988; Frazier 1950; Jung 1964; Malinowski 1954; Wilson 1951). The souls of animal’s such as a wolf or eagle, could also leave the body and take on various forms including that of a woman or Man. Not just men but animals too had souls that had to be respected.

Even after death souls continued to interact with the living, and every living being possessed a soul. Hence, the ancients believed that these souls could be influenced, their behavior controlled, and, in consequence, a good hunt insured or with the assistance of a soul. And thus, deep within the womb of the Earth, the Cro-Magnon painted and paid homage to the spirits of the animal world.

Souls were also believed by ancient humans to wonder about while people sleep and dream (Brandon 1967; Frazier 1950; Harris 1993; Jung 1945, 1964; Malinowkski 1990). That is, among many different cultures and religions the soul is believed to sometimes wonder away from the body, especially while dreaming, and may engage in certain acts or interact with other souls including those of the dear but long dead and departed. These peoples believed in an afterlife and a spirit world which could be entered through a doorway of dreams. Thus, at death, the soul or spirit would be completely liberated from the body.

According to the ancients, the soul could exit the body following death and thus we see that the peoples of the Paleolithic peoples often buried their dead in sleeping positions. And, because the Cro-Magnons obviously believed in an after-life, they buried their dead with food, weapons, flowers, jewelry, clothing, pendants, rings, necklaces, multifaceted tools, head bands, beads, bracelets and so on. The Cro-Magnon were a profoundly spiritual people and they fully prepared the dead for the journey to the spirit world, equipping them so that they could live for all eternity in the land of the ancestors and the gods.

12. THE COSMOLOGY OF ANCIENT SPIRITUALITY

When humans first turned their eyes to the sun, moon, and stars to ponder the nature of existence and the cosmos, is unknown. The Cro-Magnon people were keen observers of the world around them, which they depicted with artistic majesty. The heavens were part of their world and they searched the skies for signs and observed the moon, the patterns formed by clusters of stars, and perhaps the relationship between the Earth, the sun, and the changing seasons. Although it is impossible to date cave paintings with precision, the first evidence of this awareness of the cosmic connection between Sun, Moon, Woman, Earth and the changing seasons are from the Paleolithic; symbolized in the creations of the Cro-Magnon.

12.1. GODDESS OF THE MOON Among the ancients, the Sun and the Moon were of particular importance and the Cro-Magnon observed the relationship between woman and the lunar cycle. Consider, the pregnant goddess, the Venus of Laussel, who holds the crescent moon in her hand (though others say it is a bison's horn). Although the length of a Cro-Magnon woman's menstrual cycle is unknown, it can be assumed that like modern woman she menstruated once every 28 to 29 days, which corresponds to a lunar month 29 days long, and which averages out to 13 menstrual cycles in a solar year. And not just menstruation, but pregnancy is linked to the phases of the moon.