Knowra Neolithic religion Neolithic religion Neolithic religion comprises beliefs and practices associated with farming-era communities, reconstructed chiefly from burials, monuments, figurines, and other archaeological evidence.
Göbekli Tepe : A monumental site in southeastern Turkey, built by hunter-gatherers around the beginning of the Neolithic. Its carved pillars and enclosures are among the earliest large-scale settings associated with ritual gatherings.
Neolithic burial practices : Funerary customs in Neolithic communities, including burial, cremation, and the later handling of human remains. Mortuary patterns reveal social and ritual choices without directly recording beliefs.
Neolithic : The period of human prehistory associated with the spread of farming, settled communities, and ground-stone tools. Its varied regional timelines define the societies whose religious practices are considered here.
Mother goddess hypothesis : The claim that prehistoric female figurines represent a widespread goddess or a common mother-goddess religion. It is a prominent interpretation of Neolithic figurines, but the objects do not establish a universal goddess cult.
Megalithic architecture : Architecture built from large stones, including tombs, enclosures, and standing stones, especially in later prehistoric societies. Monument building shows how communal ritual could organize labor and shape prominent places.
Çatalhöyük : A large Neolithic settlement in central Anatolia, occupied from about 7100 to 6000 BCE. Household burials, wall paintings, and installations provide evidence often interpreted in religious terms.
Ancestor worship : Religious practices that honor deceased ancestors and treat them as active members of a community. Repeated treatment of skulls and human remains has been interpreted as evidence of continuing relations with the dead.
Prehistoric religion : Religious beliefs and practices in societies without written records, reconstructed mainly from archaeological evidence. Neolithic religion is one regional and chronological part of this broader subject.
Venus figurines : Small prehistoric figurines, often depicting female bodies, found across parts of Europe and Eurasia. Their meanings are disputed, cautioning against assuming that every female image was a deity.
Neolithic Revolution : The long transition in many regions from foraging toward food production and more settled life. Farming and sedentism changed the settings in which ritual, burial, and community life took place.
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