ABSTRACT
This chapter starts by considering the notion of ‘animism’, which is the belief that animals and humans are both equivalent spiritual beings, but with different external bodies. It considers some of the rituals surrounding key points in hunter-gatherer lives, including birth, reaching adulthood and dying. The chapter explores modern hunter-gatherer belief systems and considers if insights are useful for understanding the past. Rites of passage also structure religious life and are connected to other aspects of hunter-gatherer belief systems. A focus on modern hunter-gatherer belief systems also helps us move beyond thinking about the world in simplistic terms, and specifically helps us move beyond the opposition of ritual and domestic in accounts of the past. The chapter considers key points in people’s lives and the kinds of ceremonies that take place to mark out transitions in life including birth, becoming an adult and then death.
