Edward Conklin Ph.d.

In the Beginning: a New Theory of the First Religion Edward Conklin Ph.d.

Based on three types of artifact remains circa 100,000-6,000 BP, there is evidence of religious thinking and behavior that suggests a concern by early humans for the origin of their existence as well as that of animal and plant life. These areas of evidence are Neanderthal burial, European Paleolithic cave art, and female figures. All three areas are conjoined by a single developed and long lasting geocentric (earth-centered) and gynocentric (female-centered) religious view. While both religion and art surely had a long covert background, the two phenomena both appeared nearly simultaneously and overtly in Paleolithic Europe. Therefore in reality they are the same creative impulse, art as the external visual craft of engraving, painting, and sculpture, and religion as an internal artistic and conceptual creative way to identify and relate to where life came from by utilizing human-like attributes.