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The emergence of religious behavior by the Neolithic period has been discussed in terms of evolutionary psychology, the origin of language and mythology, cross-cultural comparison of the anthropology of religion, as well as evidence for spirituality or cultic behaviour in the Upper Paleolitic, and parallels in great ape behaviour. ==Nonhuman religious behaviour== Humanity’s closest living relatives are common chimpanzees and bonobos. These primates share a common ancestor with humans who lived between six and eight million years ago. It is for this reason that chimpanzees and bonobos are viewed as the best available surrogate for this common ancestor. Barbara King argues that while non-human primates are not religious, they do exhibit some traits that would have been necessary for the evolution of religion. These traits include high intelligence, a capacity for symbolic communication, a sense of social norms, realization of "self" and a concept of continuity.〔(Gods and Gorillas )〕〔King, Barbara (2007). Evolving God: A Provocative View on the Origins of Religion. Doubleday Publishing." ISBN 0-385-52155-3.〕〔( Excerpted from Evolving God by Barbara J. King )〕 There is inconclusive evidence that ''Homo neanderthalensis'' may have buried their dead which is evidence of the use of ritual. The use of burial rituals is thought to be evidence of religious activity, and there is no other evidence that religion existed in human culture before humans reached behavioral modernity.〔Palmer, Douglas, Simon Lamb, Guerrero Angeles. Gavira, and Peter Frances. Prehistoric Life: the Definitive Visual History of Life on Earth. New York, N.Y.: DK Pub., 2009.〕 Elephants, however, actually demonstrate rituals around their deceased, which includes long periods of silence and mourning at the point of death and a process of returning to grave sites and caressing the remains.〔http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8209 〕 Marc Bekoff, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, argues that many species grieve death and loss.〔http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/200910/grief-in-animals-its-arrogant-think-were-the-only-animals-who-mourn 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Evolutionary origin of religions」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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