3-3-0

This course traces the development of spiritual and religious beliefs from the Upper Paleolithic period (Old Stone Age) through the origins of seed agriculture and animal domestication in the Neolithic period, to the rise of cities and civilization about 5,000 years ago. The course will begin by discussing the nature of spiritualism and religion, and then continue with an overview of the evidence for the spiritual and religious practices of our more recent ancient hominid ancestors, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens sapiens. The last part of the course will concentrate on the way religious beliefs changed from the time of Stone Age hunters and gatherers, who lacked writing and worshiped in natural settings, to the first urban dwellers who worshiped in shrines and great temples and were able to record their religious beliefs and practices.