Prehistoric religion and r ritual a

This paper-based on ancient depicted sign language focuses primarily on Gobekli Tepe's Pillar 18. This is a heavily visual approach to translating the Pillar and is coupled with compositions from other cultures and times that adhered to a similar cosmology. The reason for this is that the Goberkli Tepe depicted signs can be rather brief thus seeming somewhat cryptic to a modern reader. Some compositions from other cultures are more detailed and helpful in filling in the gaps of what was  probably assumed knowledge

Funerary rites have long been considered a sign of human uniqueness. However, recent research has established that attention to the death of conspecifics seems to be present, at different stages of development, at many other species and with particular emphasis on the eusocial and prosocial ones. In this work I try to adopt the perspective of Evolutionary Thanatology as well as the most recent theories in the Cognitive Sciences of Religion, studying Neanderthalian burials, with the aim of identifying the origins of mortuary behavior and the differentiation in this area between human and non-human animals. We conclude by hypothesizing coevolution between technical skills (toolmaking) and funerary rites (deadmaking), thus laying the foundations for future research.

In the coastal heaths of Agder, there are a number of sacrificial sites in conjunction with topographically defined marshlands. The finds and sites are scattered across a belt in the heaths 7-10 km inland from the Agder coast, and situated at a height of 160-180 meters above sea level. The locations are neither coastal, typical inland nor high mountain locations. Comparing the data gathered from finds, the sacrificial objects so far found appear to have a chronological center in the Neolithic and Bronze Age, between 3800 and 500 BC.
The sacrificial marshes are topographically quite similar, and often in the form of concave recesses in the landscape. The recesses are shielded from the outside by elevations in the landscape, usually in all directions. Centrally located on the sacrificial sites are marshes, or small bodies of water enclosed by marshes. The places are perceived as closed, hidden and shielded from the outside world. Common to the majority of the locations are single deposited objects on the edge of the marsh. In some locations, there are also grave mounds at a higher elevation overlooking the marsh; these are so far without the discovery of sacrificial objects.
The objects found are usually not a result of archaeological investigations, but found due to landowners work with the cultivation of the areas or drainage of marshland. Much of the data gathered does thus come from randomly submitted findings. It was not until 2018 that the Vest-Agder county council had the opportunity to investigate one of these sacrificial sites.
In this presentation, we will focus on the results from the archaeological investigations of Gullmyra (“Gold marsh”) at Hageland in the municipality of Mandal.

There have been mutiferious and copious publications
on various aspects of the cults and beliefs of Prehistoric
Cyprus including, among other things, works dealing with
stone and teracotta figurines, temples and the iconography
of seals and sealings. When we take a look at periods
before the Late Bronze Age, a period with well established
temples, sanctuaries, the cult of horned gods,
and the beginigs of Aphrodite, then probably the most
widely recognised sacred space in Cypriot culture is the
realm of the dead. This includes all aspects connected
with funerary rituals and ancestor cult; and, remarcably,
sometimes quite the opposite, rituals connected with
birth and fecundity. Thus, it seems that Prehistoric Cypriots
were mostly preoccupied with the matters of life and
death. However, as ethnography often illustrates, besides
these two grand subjects, systems of beliefs usually also
include many other aspects, and especially the forces of
nature. The most impressive context where such forces
are manifested is the sky. In this paper I will present
several ways in which we can argue that this high lying
space, was indeed a sacred space in Prehistoric Cyprus.

A short paper on the meaning of the Mayan glyph, Manik 9. Ancient depicted sign language was used to interpret the signs. Basically, the signs all relate to the "star" --Venus. The signs involve the transformation of a great warrior-priest, in his afterlife,  merging with the Wasp-star (the warrior-star).

This paper, based on the ancient depicted sign language system, attempts to explain how the concept of anthropomorphism has a negative effect on interpreting the Imagery found in ancient compositions. The "T" Pillars at Gobekli Tepe are used to explain the issue. 4-17-19 Corrected for errors and some minor additions.

This paper is a tedious read due to the detailing of each sign used by the Moche in the artifacts covered. On the other hand, the reader is rewarded by gaining insight into the rationale for the repetitive use of the signs. 4-9-19 Formatting and Illustration numbering errors corrected.

Updated March 20, 2019

This drawing is based on a depiction found on a Moche vessel that has been described as a mythological creation theme. The results of a translation based on the ancient depicted sign language system provides a somewhat different theme that is mainly metaphorical and cosmological in nature. Pictorially, see a couple disengaging from an embrace. The couple is not necessarily male and female but rather an embrace between the Nocturnal Sun and the Earth, Their embrace takes place under a large tree in which monkeys are collecting fruit. The fruit is the result of the successful completion of an activity. The theme of this composition might be called, A Prophecy, The Great Fruition,  (the point at which a plan, read the prophecy, begins to happen, or be successful). It also appears that the Tree is a Moche version of the Spirit Tree or “Tree of Life" that uses the concept of transpiration as the basis for the ascension of spirits of the deceased.

A one page paper about the meaning of a Moche vessel. The composition is translated by the ancient depicted sign language system. The overlaid text not only provides the message but also demonstrates the non-linear, multidimensional, organization of the system.

Este trabajo expone datos y materiales inéditos sobre dos yacimientos arqueológicos funerarios fundamentales para entender los procesos de cambio cultural sucedidos entre mediados del IV y mediados del I milenios cal AC en el sur de la Meseta: el abrigo del Cerro Ortega y los túmulos de Castillejo del Bonete. La presencia de componentes tales como ídolos, cerámicas del tipo Dornajos, adornos personales de variscita, marfil, concha o hueso, así como su orientación a eventos astronómicos, aporta información acerca de los aspectos simbólicos de las primeras comunidades productoras de La Mancha y Campo de Montiel. También de los procesos que derivarán en la organización de las primeras sociedades complejas de la región, que en modo alguno fue ‘un vacío’ en estas épocas. El estudio permite observar cómo han
evolucionado las pautas funerarias durante la Prehistoria reciente en la cuenca alta del río Guadiana hasta la Cultura de las Motillas, también conocida como Bronce de La Mancha.

Abstract
This work presents unpublished data and materials on two fundamental archaeological funerary sites to understand the processes of cultural change between the middle of the IVth and the middle of the Ist millennium BC to the South of the Iberian Plateau: the shelter of Cerro Ortega and the tumuli of Castillejo del Bonete. The presence in both sites of pieces such as idols, pottery of the Dornajos type, personal adornments of variscite, ivory, shell or bone, as well as their orientation to astronomical events, provides information about the symbolic aspects of the first producing communities of La Mancha and Campo de Montiel. The data provided also gives information about the processes that will result in the organization of the first complex societies of the region, which in no way was ‘a vacuum’ in these times. The study allows us to observe how funerary patterns have evolved during the recent Prehistory in the upper basin of the Guadiana River, until culminating in the formation of the Culture of the Motillas, also known as Bronze Age of La Mancha.