What was the First Religion?

To begin with, according to anthropologists Hervey C. People and Frank W. Marlowe, religion can be broadly defined as “a set of beliefs and behaviors based on a shared worldview that separates the sacred, or supernatural, from the profane.”

With that broad interpretation in mind, possible, though not definitive, evidence of early religion, can be found dating back one hundred and fifty thousand years ago with the ancient Neanderthals who buried their dead — although since Neanderthals can be traced back nearly 500,000 years, it’s likely that burial practices existed long before anyone but Dr. Emmett Brown is currently aware of. These early prehistoric peoples also made markings on bones and buried trinkets with the bodies, like feathers, animal claws, shell beads, and pigments. Red ochre, a natural clay earth pigment, has also been commonly found on the bodies and in the graves of these ancient burial sites. Beyond giving a body a proper burial being a sign of respect for a once-living being after they are gone, as noted in archaeologist Paul Pettitt’s book “The palaeolithic origins of burial,” these burials and what we find in them are the earliest indication we have that our cousins, the Neanderthals, may have believed in an afterlife, or at least in some type of spirit that lives on in a person after they’re dead. However, although these findings may lay the groundwork for what would eventually become modern religion, not enough is known about these rituals and beliefs to give this religion or religions a proper name, and this can hardly be called a structured belief system of any kind. Or, at least, we can’t say it was based on the surviving data.

Jumping ahead a few tens of thousands of years, a team at the University of Cambridge, including the aforementioned Anthropologists Frank Marlowe, Hervey Peoples, as well as zoologist Pavel Duda, conducting research on cultural evolution in humankind, in their paper, Hunter-gatherers and the origins of religion, published by the National Library of Medicine in 2016, noted a high likelihood that all hunter-gatherer societies subscribed to animism, or the belief that plants, animals, or inanimate objects have souls or spiritual identities. They also found that roughly 80% of hunter-gatherer societies likely believed in the afterlife, while worshiping ancestors and belief in a supreme God of some form were found in roughly 60% of all hunter-gatherer societies. From animism emerged belief in the afterlife, and then shamanism and ancestor worship, which we will get into in a little bit.
As for more specifics about these first religions of a sort, the word ‘animism’ derives from the Latin ‘anima,’ which means “a current of air, wind, air, or breath, and the vital principle, life, or soul.” Followers of animism believed that spirits inhabited single objects like trees or rocks, or even entire places like a forest or cave. Many believed that these spirits could travel between objects and places, following an individual around if they moved to a new village or traveled long distances. These spirits may also be those of dead ancestors, spirit guides, or guardians.

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The video “What was the First Religion?” walks through the deep prehistory of religious behavior, then narrows to candidates for the earliest “modern” religions like Judaism and Hinduism. The structure is roughly chronological, moving from Neanderthals to contemporary major faiths.

Definition and Earliest Traces

Broad working definition of religion (Peoples & Marlowe): a shared worldview that separates sacred/supernatural from the profane.
Neanderthal burials (~150,000 years ago) as possible early religious behavior: graves with red ochre, beads, claws, feathers, and other grave goods suggesting belief in afterlife or ongoing spirits, though not a clearly structured “religion.”

Animism and Early Hunter‑Gatherer Beliefs

Cambridge team (Marlowe, Peoples, Duda) study of hunter‑gatherers: high likelihood all such societies held animist beliefs that plants, animals, and objects have spiritual identities.
Findings: ~80% believed in an afterlife; ~60% had ancestor worship and/or a supreme god concept; from animism grew belief in afterlife, shamanism, and ancestor worship.
Explanation of animism: from Latin “anima,” spirits inhabiting objects/places, potentially mobile and sometimes identified with ancestors, guides, or guardians.

Shamanism and Structured Prehistoric Religion

Shamanism as the next “stage”: specialists with spiritual connections who heal, guide souls, and communicate with spirits, strengthening explicit belief in afterlife.
No single global definition, but emphasis on a recognized shaman (any gender) as healer/problem‑solver using rituals, altered states (often via hallucinogens/intoxicants), and nature spirits.
Geographic and cultural spread: Siberian origins of the term, but shaman‑like roles and practices across many societies with local variations.

Early Complex Religions (3rd Millennium BCE)

Transition (10,000–5,000 BCE): clearer distinctions among beliefs and emerging structured systems.
Sumerian religion in Mesopotamia as one of the earliest well‑documented complex religions: anthropomorphic polytheism with multiple gods (An/Anu, Enki, Enlil, Inanna, Utu, Sin), temples, priests, and gods managing cosmic order.
Parallel developments around 3000 BCE:
- African traditions with a supreme being and Bantu mythologies rooted in animism, defining religion as an all‑encompassing relationship between God and humans (Olupona’s point about religion as a way of being).
- Dinka spirituality in South Sudan: worship of creator Nhialic, secondary deities viewed more mythologically, and the impact of modern conflict on practice.

Egypt, Greece, and Other Ancient Systems

Early Egypt: burial practices and temples suggest belief in afterlife and spiritual identity; more explicit system around 3000 BCE with Ra, ideas of truth, justice, order, animism, and possible early monotheistic tendencies.
Later Egyptian polytheism and rich pantheon as religion evolves over a millennium or more.
Greek mythology from Bronze Age (~3000 BCE onward) and later Roman religion: many gods without central scripture or priestly caste; religion framed as reciprocal exchange (offerings for divine favor), plus guidance through myths rather than strict doctrine.
Difficulty labeling Greek mythology a “religion” in the strict modern sense due to its narrative and civic character rather than unified theology.

Multiple Origins Rather Than One “First”

Around the third millennium BCE, several more “refined” religions arise independently (Sumerian, African traditions, Egyptian, early Greek), all rooted in older practices like animism and polytheism.
Conclusion for this phase: impossible to identify a single first religion among these; they co‑evolve from earlier, less formal beliefs in different regions.

Modern Major Religions: Judaism and Christianity

Shift to “modern” religions as demographers (Hackett, McClendon) note Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism as the largest today; Judaism becomes central because of its relationship to Christianity and Islam.
Judaism: traces back 4–5,000 years via traditions and texts, but the fully codified form is only slightly older than Christianity; Hebrew Bible codification date is debated and oral traditions are older.
Abraham as a possible earliest monotheist if dated to the third millennium BCE (though dates are uncertain), making him a candidate for the first clearly known monotheistic figure.
Christianity: arising from Judaism in the 1st century CE, centering on Jesus’ life, crucifixion, and promise of eternal life; rapid spread and later diversification.
Great Schism (1054): split between Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, undermining the idea of a single “original” Christian denomination.

Islam and Its Place in the Timeline

Islam: beginning with Muhammad’s revelations from Gabriel starting in 610 CE, recorded in the Quran.
Considered too recent to be “first,” but important for understanding religious evolution and its intertwined history with Judaism and Christianity.

Hinduism, Jainism, and the “Oldest” Surviving Faiths

Hinduism: third most popular religion globally; diverse traditions focused on belief, spirituality, and stories rather than rigid centralized structure.
Roots going back to around 2000 BCE (Neolithic/Vedic periods) with fire sacrifices and multiple gods; later characterized as a faith with many schools, no founder, no central administration, and emphasis on dharma (duty).
Identity in practice: typically by birth and practice, but self‑declaration is also acceptable; includes both monotheistic and polytheistic aspects (Brahman with Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, etc.).
Jainism: possibly contemporaneous with or older than Hinduism; centered on reincarnation, liberation from rebirth through non‑violence and purity, widespread vegetarianism, and shared ideas like karma.
Evidence gaps: insufficient data to definitively declare Jainism older than Hinduism, so their relative primacy remains uncertain.

Final Framing: So What Was the First Religion?

On prehistoric scales, the earliest “religion‑like” behaviors are Neanderthal burials and widespread animism, shamanism, and ancestor worship among hunter‑gatherers.
On ancient historical scales, early structured religions such as Sumerian religion, Egyptian beliefs, African monotheistic traditions, and polytheistic systems like Greek religion emerge roughly in parallel.
Among today’s major faiths, Judaism and Hinduism (alongside possibly Jainism) are leading candidates for the earliest, but dating uncertainties and definitional issues prevent a single, definitive “first religion.”