http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=3FE89A86-E7F2-99DF-366D045A5BF3EAB1&ref=rssThe 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.
"It's very big news," says Sheila Coulson, an archaeologist at the University of Oslo in Norway and leader of the study. Prior to the discovery, researchers had identified signs of ritual practice going back at most 40,000 years from sites in Europe.
This is interesting. Previously discovered evidence for religious things like ceremonial burial had been linked to contact with Neandertals, who performed these rituals as well.
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