Part Eight VIII › Division II II › Section 821 821

Prehistoric Religion and Primitive Religion

Subject Outline

APrehistoric religion
- 1The study of prehistoric religion: nature, scope, methods of interpretation, problems special to the subject [see also 10/41.B.]
- 2Inferred prehistoric religious beliefs and practices
  - aBurial customs and cults of the dead
  - bCannibalism
  - cSacrifices: human, animal, and other offerings
  - dHunting rites and animal cults
  - eFemale fertility deities
  - fShamanism, sorcery, and magic
- 3Religions attributed to various prehistoric cultural stages and regions
BPrimitive religion
- 1The nature and significance of primitive religion
- 2Primitive views of reality
  - aThe distinction between the sacred and the profane
  - bDynamistic, daemonistic, and theistic views of the sacred: the concept of mana
  - cAnimism: external reality viewed as living presence
  - dSacred time and times, sacred space and places, and man's nature, origin, and destiny: primitive cosmogonies, cosmologies, eschatologies
- 3The nature and function of myth and symbol in primitive religion: their role in ritual, the iconographic character of primitive art
- 4Primitive religious practices and institutions
  - aSacrifice, purification, passage rites
  - bWorship or veneration centred on natural objects or forces
  - cTotemism: the socioreligious system in which men are intimately related to plants, animals, or other natural phenomena
  - dWorship of ancestors, kings, and heroes
  - eThe roles of asceticism, shamanism, divination, and spiritualistic practices
- 5The primitive religions of the major world areas
  - aAfrica: traditional religions of the indigenous African peoples
  - bAustralia and Oceania: religions of the Pacific Island peoples
  - cThe Americas: religions of the indigenous peoples of North, Central, and South America [see also 822.I.]
  - dAsia: aboriginal religions of Asian peoples