Megafaunal Impact on Paleolithic Spiritualites

Introduction

The Encyclopedia Britannica defines the Paleolithic as a period that “has traditionally coincided with the first evidence of tool construction and use by Homo some 2.58 million years ago.” This long era is divided into three stages, the last of which is known as the Upper Paleolithic Period and began only 40,000 years ago. The Upper Paleolithic is distinguished by the emergence of the oldest known New World cultures and the development of distinctive “regional artistic traditions” and specialized tools (Rafferty et al. 2015). It’s thought that the Upper Paleolithic is when the earliest religions emerged in Africa (Peoples, Duda, and Marlowe 2016, 261-282). Also marking this period was the trailing end of the global Quaternary Extinction— the mass die-off of Earth’s megafauna (terrestrial animals above or around the weight threshold of 44 kg)— which is thought to be largely attributable to human causes (Yong 2018). Although the correlation is rarely made, megafauna were declining just as human civilization— and spirituality— was on the rise, and though Homo sapien never saw megafaunal taxa at their most prolific, humans and the great beasts coexisted for at least 17,000 years, all around the world (Westaway, Olley, and Grün 2017, 206-211). This inverse relationship is underexplored, and poses an interesting question about the potential spiritual and cultural implications of paleolithic coexistence with Earth’s mightiest land mammals. Therefore, the question this paper will seek to answer is to what extent did coexistence with megafauna impact development of spirituality in paleolithic peoples in the Americas and Australia? Given the scope of geographical and cultural areas where megafauna and Homo species coexisted, it was necessary to denote only two regions. Also— and especially— in these regions can the most reliable scientific and anthropological evidence be found. With this evidence, therefore, it will be argued that, for Paleolithic Americans and Australians, coexistence with megafaunal taxa impacted development of spirituality to a great extent. This conclusion will be supported through an analysis of how early hominids interacted with megafauna, the development of spiritual practices and how this impacted the relationship between humans and large terrestrial animals, how the existence (and eventual extinction) of megafaunal taxa in particular both directly and indirectly allowed civilization to develop, and how those extinct animals continue to live on in indigenous stories and mythologies, culminating in a discussion of the ways that these ideas intersect to paint a clearer picture of our shared spiritual ancestry.

Proof of Coexistence

Though previously contended, the idea that megafauna and early humans coexisted is now widely accepted in the archaeozoological and anthropological fields, and many researchers have claimed that the emergence of humanity was directly responsible for the extinction of the megafauna, rather than climate change at the end of the Ice Age (Yong 2018). Proof that human-megafaunal relations were relatively common, particularly in the Americas and Australia, is found in the recent discovery of human-made markings on giant ground sloth bones in Uruguay (Fariña 2007, 31-33) and carbon-dating of megafaunal remains and Aboriginal artifacts in the Willandra Lakes Region of Australia, showing that the two groups coexisted for 17,000 years (Westaway, Olley, and Grün 2017, 206-211). But beyond just indicating coexistence, this fossilized evidence also gives us insight into how humans and megafauna interacted with one another. Focus, for example, on the giant ground sloth of the Americas. The aforementioned incisions on the Uruguayan ground sloth clavicle are consistent with all four varieties of markings made by Paleolithic hominids— which evidences an intelligent and varied approach— and indicate that it was methodically severed from the underlying muscles (Fariña 2007, 31-33). Further evidence that humans interacted with— and preyed upon— ground sloth (Nothrotheriidae) was recently discovered in a salt flat within the United States’ White Sands National Monument in the form of fossilized footprints. The tracks belong to a ground sloth and a number of humans (>10); the sloth’s tracks continue straight for some time before it assumes a “flailing circle”— a defensive position that enables the use of its long claws. The flailing circle is surrounded by a perimeter of human footprints just out of reach of the sloth’s swipes while also hemming it in on the salt flat. Most interestingly, however, is that there are human-made tracks inside the sloth’s; the ground sloth’s stride is significantly wider than that of a human’s, so it can be reasonably inferred that this behavior is purposeful, rather than coincidental (Bustos et al. 2018). Taken together, the scene depicts an early hunt for giant ground sloth using the intelligent strategies that elevated humans above the megafauna they preyed upon. And more than just depicting cleverness, the footprints of Alkali Flat give us further insight into the behavior of early humans. Giant ground sloths were deadly, and not the only available prey for Paleolithic hunters. There must’ve been something that drew them to the sloth— a bravado that is simply not present in other predator species (Bennett, Thompson, and Reynolds 2018). Further supporting this is the lack of a “kill site”, which means the sloth was either tracked and killed at a separate location, or the interaction was an episode of megafaunal harassment. Either way, considerable effort was expended for an uncertain or intangible result. Though there is not enough evidence to conclude a religious or ritualistic significance to the behavior from the footprints of the confrontation alone, we can conclude that there was, in some way, a special relationship between Paleolithic humans and the megafauna around them, a relationship that was widespread throughout the Americas, as proven by the distance between Uruguayan fossils and White Sands trackways. With this established demonstration that hominid-megafaunal relations exceeded pure functionality, we can then explore the nature of that relationship with attention paid towards its spiritual significance.

Forms of Paleolithic Spiritual Expression

In 1871, anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor wrote Primitive Culture. In this book, Tylor proposed that animism is the primary form of religion that all native spiritualities must undergo, and is therefore shared in global, indigenous history. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines animism as the “attribution of conscious life to objects… and phenomena of nature…”, or, more simply put, the belief in a metaphysical soul that is shared not only by humans, but by animals and, in some cases, plants or non-living things. Tylor’s theory was more recently supported by another study that found aminism to be the most commonly shared trait of indigenous spiritualities, and the trait from which other beliefs chronologically evolved (Peoples, Duda, and Marlowe 2016, 261-282). With origins that precede language, the desire to assign consciousness to our animate and inanimate surroundings seems innately human. And so, too, is the desire to express it. Although Paleolithic songs and dances are lost to time, there is still visual evidence left as cave paintings and stone carvings. Some examples of this art include ochre-striped bones, life-sized paintings of animals, and Venus figurines (stylized models of women with heightened female characteristics) carved out of mammoth ivory (Dixson and Dixson 2011). While Venus statuettes are thought to be connected to fertility rituals and unrelated to other forms of art, the choice of material for many figurines is significant; mammoth bone and ivory seemed to be a favorite medium for Paleolithic artists, with evidence of art carved out of mammoth tusks in Eurasia stretching back over 40,000 years (Saplakoglu 2018). Similarly, the oldest known piece of art yet discovered in the Americas is engraved mammoth bone (Dell’Amore 2011). On the other hand, cave art and bone ornamentation, while less obviously related to megafauna, give us more intimate windows into Paleolithic spiritual expression. Most interestingly about these forms of art is their location; cave paintings are often so high on cave walls that artists would have needed to stand on each other’s shoulders, or so deep that the only light would be from primitive grease and oil lamps. Take, for instance, the caves of Ganties-Montespan, famous for over fifty carved and painted figures— including a life-sized statue of a headless bear, in front of which a buried bear skull was found (Europeart n.d.). In order for Paleolithic artists to reach the caverns of Ganties-Montespan, they would have first had to cross an underground river, followed by a harrowing, three-hour journey. The extreme effort that these artists expended to achieve depth— which some anthropologists equate to trying to find “Earth’s womb”— far exceeds any practicality, and there is no contention between experts that these early exhibits of artistry are deeply tied to religious practices (Alen 2015). Most likely, the paintings of Ganties-Montespan (and the many caves like it) represent the development of animism into more specific forms: totemism and fetishism. Following the belief in the life force, belief in special relationships between particular animals, plants, and people— totemism, which Edward Tylor called the earliest attempt to classify the natural world— and in intelligent spiritual powers residing within animals or objects— fetishism— soon emerged (Charles 1998). (It’s worth noting that in places where considerable evidence of human-megafauna interaction has been found, the indigenous spiritualities embrace many of these principles.) This hypothesized progression of Paleolithic belief systems ties early religion undeniably to nature, and the observable world. This world— filled with spirits and powerful forces that Stone Age artists associated with themselves— drove early humans to extreme lengths to immortalize nature. The exact purpose of life-sized bear sculptures, painted ungulate herds, and decorated sloth bones may never be known, but it is telling of how connected our ancestors were to the world that they felt inspired to leave behind such painstakingly large and detailed symbols of their devotion.

So Why Megafauna?

So, with both the spiritual significance of nature and human-megafaunal interaction established, the argument will now focus on how these two facets of Paleolithic life impacted one another. The most obvious reason for humans to interact with megafauna is simple pragmatism. In her book The Invaders: How Humans and their Dogs Drove Neanderthals to Extinction, taphonomist Pat Shipman discusses not only how humans learned to hunt megafauna, but how the ability to hunt megafauna improved quality of life. Simply put, megafauna were great sources of food. Hunting mastodon and giant sloth, Shipman explains, was a group activity that required many hands and teamwork— but the hard work was rewarded with ample meat that could last many days. Rather than move carcasses, rudimentary settlements began to appear around these kill sites, allowing the first quasi-sedentary lifestyles to develop, and alongside the Upper Paleolithic’s booming population and tool specialization there are massive graveyards of fossilized megafaunal remains (Pitulko, Pavlova, and Basilyan 2016, 202-217). For 250,000 years, Neanderthals dominated the global ecosystem, but within a few thousand years of humans hunting megafauna, they had all but disappeared, while Homo sapien’s population increased tenfold (Garber 2012). Megafaunal prey allowed collectivity to flourish; a sedentary lifestyle enabled the development of spirituality, language, culture, and specialization that constant roaming and hunger suppressed. Therefore, it’s easy to understand why those early spiritualities revolved so solidly around the large, terrestrial animals whose existence granted them the time and resources to socially progress. Paleolithic peoples understood how vital mastodon and ground sloth were to their continued survival, and sought to honor these animals, ensuring their abundance. Food was left as appeasing sacrifices to spiritual powers (Alen 2015) and totemic practices— veneration of Paleolithic mammals, such as mammoths and cave bears as protectors of developing clan identities— began to emerge as early humans looked for something to unite them together as tribes (New World Encyclopedia, 2006). Cave paintings enforce this special relationship with depictions of spearthrowers surrounding bison, or ibex with spears in their backs. Along with megafaunal teeth and bones wrapped around spearheads, anthropologists believe that this particular attention paid to depicting successful hunts and adornment of hunting implements represents an early form of ritualism in which spiritual forces could be appeased through pre-hunt illustrations of success and the possession of special, fetishized objects (Alen 2015). From the need to hunt megafauna came the first attempts of humanity to identify sentience in the world around them— and also to interact favorably with these metaphysical powers. These ritual practices, beginning just as Homo sapien began hunting great beasts, likely evolved into more all-encompassing forms of spirituality, like the animism of Tylor’s theory. While nothing about these Paleolithic religions can be said for certain, anthropologists have made educated conjectures about early spiritual belief by analyzing similarities between, and the progression of, indigenous legends, global folklore, and the art left behind from these eras (Peoples, Duda, and Marlowe 2016, 261-282). These studies postulate that from rudimentary drawings and ornamentation evolved a complex relationship between humans and their environment: a belief in spirits, totems, and powers beyond control. And the largest and most uncontrollable of these was megafauna. This is likely the reason that the oldest rock painting in Australia is a 40,000-year-old depiction of the giant bird Genyornis (Masters 2010) and the oldest evidence of art in the Americas is carved from mammoth bone; megafauna— because of both their dangerous size and their increasing necessity to the human lifestyle— represented the first spirits that needed appeasement. This explains megafaunal overrepresentation in Paleolithic art (Taçon and Webb 2017, 145-157), as Aboriginal artists were not just drawing their environment, but powerful symbols of the world with ritual significance, and many of the fundamental figures of Aboriginal “Dreamtime” ideology bear resemblance to both these early illustrations and Australian megafauna (Murray and Chaloupka 1984, 105-116). Similarly, cave bears were feared by Paleolithic Americans, and thus incorporated as simpler versions of modern-indigenous “totems” (as evidenced by rock art and 46,000-year-old carved cave bear pendants) which were thought to grant the strength of the animal upon the worshipping clan (Gibbons 2020), as well as protection from its wrath, if certain rites and respects were given to it (New World Encyclopedia, 2006). While ancient belief systems were undoubtedly much more complex and involved aspects unattributable to megafauna, it cannot be denied that the mere existence of large terrestrial taxa served as both a catalyst and an inspiration for the earliest forms of spiritual development amid late Paleolithic hominid groups.

The Extinction of the Great Beasts

Unfortunately for megafauna, their populations— already destabilized by the waning Ice Age— began to rapidly decline upon the arrival of humanity. One account for this is the “overkill hypothesis”; proposed in 1966 by paleontologist Paul Miller, the overkill hypothesis pins the blame for the mass extinction of megafauna on humanity’s arrival and subsequent environmental upheaval. Though initially met with resistance, the overkill hypothesis is gathering wide-ranging support as further archeological data is collected in places where both human activity and megafauna populations were considered high— especially Australia and the Americas (Boissoneault 2017). Many believe recently discovered evidence of burned Genyornis eggshells in Australia tell the story of how ancient Aboriginals used fire to flush giant animals into kill zones, simultaneously overhunting slow-reproducing animals and destabilizing ecosystems that relied not only the underbrush that was burned away, but the large herbivores that fed on it (Dayton 2012). This pattern of overkill is mirrored in the Americas, where dozens of pieces of evidence of humans preying on mammoths have been recently unearthed, along with earlier-mentioned ground sloth predation. This overhunting— though accidental— was not completely coincidental. As humanity got smarter, faster, and better with tools, the evidence indicates that megafaunal taxa remained a popular prey species (Klein 2016), despite the availability of other, easier prey taxa (Leavesley 2004, 193). Certainly, there was something beyond hunger that drove early humans to overhunt the great beasts of their time: a bravado, perhaps, that is present even today in many methods of indigenous hunting (Leavesley 2004, 24). The likeliest reason for this was the emergence of spiritualism; though many aspects of the discussed Paleolithic spiritualities emphasize oneness with nature, most, along with those more anthropocentric beliefs that evolve from them, also include human exceptionalism. Human exceptionalism— the concept that humans are superior to and separate from other parts of nature, such as animals (Henriques 2013)— is not solely a religious value, but often accompanies religious faiths that teach humans were created apart from or above the rest of the natural world. This idea of moral supremacy absolves humanity of responsibility for ecological damage by suggesting that to do so is divinely permissible; studies done on modern-day religious persons have discovered that those members of society who believe in an afterlife feel less responsibility around environmental degradation (Hope and Jones 2014, 48-59). It is not unbelievable, then, that killing megafauna emboldened early animists to see themselves as more than just another part of the spirit-infused world, but the masters of it. The ability to hunt earth-shaking mastodon and flush ten-foot-tall terror birds with fire— though perhaps not the most efficient— truly made humans exceptional. Simply put, megafauna represented the powers of the Earth to many Paleolithic peoples, and slaying them allowed hunters to put themselves on a spiritual pedestal above nature, paving the way for anthropocentric spiritualities to develop as a result. But what happened to these megafauna-reliant spiritualities when the Quaternary extinction finally happened? Humanity was content to remain as hunter-gatherer bands for 300,000 years— archeological and fossil evidence proves that this way of life was preferential, not necessary— but hunting megafauna was ecologically unsustainable, and eventually the large prey that supported roving hunter families were gone. Evidence suggests that agriculture and farming— which many consider to be the cornerstone of civilization— was not developed until this period, when it became necessary for survival (Longrich 2020). Farming was very different from hunting, and required a fully sedentary lifestyle. Though difficult, however, domestication of crops and the development of agriculture did have one distinct advantage: it could feed more people, and “small egalitarian groups turned into kingdoms sprawling across hundreds of miles” as populations boomed (Zimmer 2016). It was in these early civilizations that spirituality flourished, becoming more like the “organized religion” of today. Religions encouraged prosociality— something that was absolutely crucial to these growing communities— and established moral laws and standards that united people across miles and generations (Norenzayan and Gervais 2012). This era of human development enabled religion to develop and spread as it never had before— and it was the death of the megafauna that brought it about. Though the bulk of this argument has focused on how megafauna encouraged religious ideology, it’s worth noting the ways that coexistence with megafaunal taxa actually hindered complex spiritual development by preventing cooperative farming until after the Quaternary extinction.

How Megafauna Live on in Indigenous Beliefs

Perhaps the most compelling evidence for megafaunal significance is that many indigenous spiritualities and legends immortalize creatures with striking similarities to regional megafauna, while smaller taxa of the time are absent. The American evidence is rather scant, but not dismissable. Take, for instance, the Brazilian Mapinguari, a massive sloth-like monster with a mouth on its stomach that is said to inhabit the Amazon rainforest. While obviously embellished, the descriptions given by the indigenous Karitiana people bear close resemblance to South American giant ground sloth, which the Amazonians once preyed upon (Lamoureux 2019). Also in the Americas, the Alquonian and Inuit indigenous groups have tales of a “great moose” with a fifth leg between its shoulders, a “buffalo” that uproots trees, and Kátcheetohúskw, a big-eared, long-nosed monster that one Naskapi man “recognized” after being shown a drawing of an elephant. Once, investigating an Atakapa legend of a giant creature that had perished in a nearby river, archaeologists discovered the skeleton of a mastodon beneath the water (Strong 1934, 81-87). We can confidently assume that these legends refer to the megafaunal Proboscidea (trunked mammals) that once roamed North America, so impactfully large that their likenesses persist in legend today. On the other side of the world, in Australia, the lasting influence of megafauna is even more evident— found not only in legend, but in artwork, as well. Among these is the Aboriginal cryptid “bunyip”, whose descriptions as being “as tall as gum trees and tearing trees out by their roots” is similar to how paleontologists believe the marsupial tapir— an extinct megafauna species native to the region— would have looked and behaved (Nunn and Ponciano 2019). One Aboriginal Dreamtime monster— a marsh-dweller, giant reptilian called Kadimakara— was so similar in legend to crocodilian fossils later discovered that the species was named Kadimakara australiensis (Monroe 2013). The Aboriginals drew their megafauna, too; rock art of giant, long-beaked echidnas, life-sized, towering Genyornis, and lumbering diprotodon date back over 20,000 years (Murray and Chaloupka 1984, 105-116). Even paintings that cannot be identified as any extinct or extant species— often thought to be representative of spiritual or mythical beings— bear more anatomical resemblance to the megafauna of the time than modern animals (Taçon and Webb 2017, 145-158). The question is, then, why are megafauna so popular in the cultural memories of indigenous peoples? As discussed earlier, it’s likely because megafauna were so distinct that they inspired reverence for nature more so than their smaller cousins, which were preyed upon and lived beside, but never passed down in oral or artistic traditions. And it’s important to note that most of these stories— such as the tale of Kátcheetohúskw— describe the megafaunal character as a monster that must be slain or evaded by the hero. This connects to and reinforces the idea of bravado-inspired spiritualities; megafaunal myths reminded new generations of the dangers of nature, and then immortalized the triumphs of humanity over those perils. These tales were so spiritually influential that they persisted long after the animals themselves had gone extinct, morphing into mythological figures that stayed in cultural memory. Myths— especially those that are long-lasting— influence behavior by teaching us how to interact with and view the world, and evolve to contribute to the canon of a religion. The longevity of megafaunal stories in indigenous memory is a testament to how influential these large taxa were to the development of early spiritualities.

Conclusion

Taken altogether, the evidence for megafaunal influence on spirituality is compelling. We know that early hominids preyed upon and interacted with megafauna in unique ways by the physical clues they left behind, such as cave art and fossils. By further analyzing early spiritual forms (both from anthropological evidence and modern-day indigenous belief systems), we are able to contextualize these remnants, and make well-educated statements about the influence megafauna had on their development. Even the fact that this evidence survived— and in such abundance— is demonstrative of the reverence humans had for megafauna, and the lengths they went to in order to invoke favor with what were perceived as powerful metaphysical forces. Beliefs and arts such as these formed the basis from which other spiritual facets emerged, making their original catalyst— megafauna— crucial to religious progression. The argument is further supported by looking at megafaunal influence pragmatically— hunting large animals required cooperative groups and allowed communities to emerge, through which spirituality could begin to develop in prosocial groups. Later, when the megafauna disappeared, civilizations were forced into existence by necessity, and with these came organized religious systems. In this literal way, the presence of megafauna first spurred the development of spirituality, and then effectively stopped the progression to organized religion until their extinction. With both arguments, there’s a clear relationship that emerges. Of course, we have to acknowledge that there are aspects of this relationship— and topic, especially— that are impossible to say for certain, both because of time, and because spirituality is fluid and difficult to define. Though anthropologists can make educated guesses on the meaning of ancient art, the exact thoughts of the artist who created it will never be known. Nor can we say with complete confidence what the connection between megafauna and early hunters truly was, especially if there are facets that did not survive the passage of time. Because of this uncertainty, we cannot speak in total absolutes, but rather make educated conjectures about the extent to which megafauna affected Paleolithic peoples given the information that is available. And it is with all of this evidence together— legends, paintings, carvings, footprints, agriculture, graveyards, and theories— that this paper concludes that, for Paleolithic Americans and Australians, coexistence with megafaunal taxa impacted development of spirituality to a great extent.

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