The worshipping of air.

GeraldtheGnome: There have been claims made that there were some other species of Humans and some other subspecies of Homo Sapiens, the species of Humans that we are that were religious. This is what people with religious bias have believed so far and some still do, not just by religious people. There’s also been guesses made by the same people about that in regards to the beliefs of Homo Sapiens Sapiens (the subspecies that we are) of those that were around prior to The Indus Valley Civilization. The earliest possible religion was in what is now Turkey.

Since The Indus Valley Civilization is the first known location of any religion I will start there.

sebtheanimal: If you must.

GeraldtheGnome: Well the claim of the first known location of any religion took some twists and turns. The earliest known evidence as I have found out since eight days ago was from more recent times, before 1,900 BC. The earliest claim of Vedic religion is that it started with the first human in Eurasia and The Indian subcontinent, I have seen nothing to back that up, others have that it was around well over 10,000 years ago, again there's no proof of that, others that it started in 10,000 BC, again no proof that the claim is true and others have it that it started in 3,500 BC by Indo-Aryans in Eurasia, there's no proof of that either. In 1,900 BC is the earliest claim that the Aryans went to Pakistan first and then introduced the religion, again there is no proof and the same with the 1,700 AD claim.

So what is known though is that in 1,500 BC, the latter part of the Harrapan Civilization/The Indus Valley situation the Aryans and other related races appeared first in what is now Pakistan. So I will leave it at that for now and go to see what the case was below The Indian Subcontinent, it's clear after all that there is no confirmed records of religion in Eurasia 90 degrees east or further east than that or even in the south central part of it or The Indian Subcontinent before 1,500 BC. What I mean by Eurasia is all of the former parts of The Soviet Union.

I can't help it, it reminds me of some music I still listen to. I also prefer to name the Harrapans Harrapers. Yo !

GeraldtheGnome: The earliest sign of religion on the planet was not found on land (that I know of) anywhere in The Indian Ocean, so this leaves me with looking at everywhere down to The Equator at between 0 degrees east and 90 degrees east. The Arctic at that time was uninhabited by Humans and since I don’t believe that if there is at least one god around somewhere back then I don’t believe that a god was around then in The Arctic. Though people were in what is now Russia back then I have seen nothing to convince me that anyone believed in religion at all even though it is possible that the Vedic Religion (early Hinduism) started either slightly west of 90 degrees east or on the 90 degrees east point or just east of it in what is now southern Russia. Most other parts of Eurasia east of the Caucasus area (all of which is in what was once The Soviet Union) is just the same as what I mentioned about Eurasia so far, yes though it might have originated in one of those now present countries though. The same too with Afghanistan and with Pakistan. So that’s all there is that I have about religion or the possible lack of it there before 1,500 BC.

This now means that I will concentrate on The Middle East about what happened there with religion before 1,500 BC. The first thing for me to check out is Iran. Iran by way, not Iwalked. Now away from the bad joke and back to it. There are claims that a Vedic like Indo-Aryan religion was introduced to what is now Iran with at least the god Indra introduced. I have not seen any proof of that even though it is possibly true. Just going back slightly everywhere that’s between 90 degrees east and 180 degrees east above the Equator includes parts of India, most of Bhutan, most of South East Asia, most of the rest of Asia, eastern Russia, the eastern Arctic and all of the northern Pacific Ocean with the dry land including the surface and above surface rocks and coral reefs amongst it of course. The same with the northeast Indian Ocean. Back to Iran now.

The thing is of course is that the Indo-Iranians broke off into branches, one Indo-Iranian branch broke off and went to what is now Iran, the other to what is now Afghanistan then they moved southeast, that group eventually moved out from there and moved into what is now India and Pakistan, they are usually referred to as the Indo-Aryans or just as Aryans. The other group moved out of Eurasia, went to what is now Iran and then went into what is now Afghanistan.

There are guesses that there was a fertility goddess that was worshipped by those of the Halaf Culture or by those just after them in 5,000 BC or 4,000 BC in what is now northwest Iraq but I’m not convinced. In Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq some claim that Zoroastrianism was around as far back as 8,000 BC or just slightly more recently than that, I’m going to disregard it all and stick with 2,000 BC as the earliest time of religion in what is now Afghanistan and Iran. I have seen nothing so far to convince me that Zoroastrianism was around before 2,000 BC even though it is possible. Next time I’m going to concentrate on what was the go in Iraq before 2,000 BC.