Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Offerings to a Stone Snake Provide the Earliest Evidence of Religion -- 70,000-year-old African ritua

Science & Technology at Scientific American.com: Offerings to a Stone Snake Provide the Earliest Evidence of Religion -- 70,000-year-old African ritual practices linked to mythology of modern Botswanans: "Offerings to a Stone Snake Provide the Earliest Evidence of Religion
70,000-year-old African ritual practices linked to mythology of modern Botswanans
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Science Image: rock
Image: SHEILA COULSON
SSSTONE SSSNAKE: An elongated rock, carved to enhance its resemblance to a snake, offers evidence of ritualistic or religious behavior 70,000 years ago in Africa.
The discovery of carvings on a snake-shaped rock along with 70,000-year-old spearheads nearby has dramatically pushed back the earliest evidence for ritual behavior, or what could be called religion. The finding, which researchers have yet to formally publish, comes from a cave hidden in the Tsodilo Hills of Botswana, a mecca of sorts for the local people, who call it the Mountain of the Gods."