What are the beliefs of ancient people?

Answer 1

Neolithic people were polytheistic, so they believed in multiple gods or divine forces. Even though there were many different religions, they almost always had a story of creation and an earth-mother type goddess.

Answer 2

Information about the religious beliefs and practices of Neolithic societies are derived from the archeological record, as no there are no written accounts. The elaborate burial mounds, often, like Egyptian pyramids, containing implements, suggest belief in an afterlife. Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994) who taught archeology at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) developed the theory that Neolithic societies in Europe were matriarchal and worshiped the mother-goddess. This fits the archeological record although her theory was considered controversial, since she not only contrasted Neolithic goddess-worship with the more male-dominated religion of the Bronze period but suggested that the former societies were more peaceful and socially inclusive. She considered Neolithic societies to be goddess-centered and matriarchal ("gynocentric," or "gylanic"), and the Bronze Age Indo-European to be patriarchal ("androcratic." According to her, gynocentric / gylanic societies were peaceful; they honored homosexuals; and they espoused economic equality.

She also argued that androcratic people invaded Europe from outside, forcing patriarchal systems onto the conquered. This pattern of early mother or fertility deities yielding to male deities can be seem in several cultures, such as the Indus Valley Civilization and in ancient Nordic society. Some, building on Gimbutas' work, have developed the theory that all human societies originally revered the Mother Goddess, although the eminent anthropologist, James Frazer (1854-1941) also argued that European and Indian religion was originally mother-goddess centered. People at this time may have seen themselves more as 'one-with-the-land' (as do Australian Aborigines and many other aboriginal peoples whose cultures remain 'neolithic') than as separate from and superior to, the natural environment.

The building of quite complex henges, such as Stonehenge near Salisbury, England demonstrates a level of sophisticated knowledge of astronomy, which almost certainly had a religious association possible concerned with the influence of the stars on human life or representative of the human life-cycle. That the construction was hugely significant is suggested by the mere fact that so much energy and effort was invested in transporting the stones and in building and then in maintaining the monument, using only primitive technology. Some, perhaps sympathetic to the mother-goddess theory referred to above, see sexual imagery in the henge.[2]It is generally accepted that the site had a ritual, religious significance. The degree of cooperation that would have been required to construct the Henge may suggest a more highly developed social system than has sometimes been thought characteristic of the period.

Answer 3

They were Pagans, they worshipped the elements of nature, earth, wind ,fire ,sun etc.