What are the beliefs of Neolithic people

Information about the religious beliefs and practices of Neolithicsocieties are derived from the archeological record, as no thereare no written accounts. The elaborate burial mounds, often, likeEgyptian pyramids, containing implements, suggest belief in anafterlife. Marija Gimbutas (1921-1994) who taughtarcheology at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)developed the theory that Neolithic societies in Europe werematriarchal and worshiped the mother-goddess.This fits the archeological record although her theory wasconsidered controversial, since she not only contrasted Neolithicgoddess-worship with the more male-dominated religion of the Bronzeperiod but suggested that the former societies were more peacefuland socially inclusive. She considered Neolithic societies to begoddess-centered and matriarchal (“gynocentric,” or “gylanic”), andthe Bronze Age Indo-European to be patriarchal (“androcratic.”According to her, gynocentric / gylanic societies were peaceful;they honored homosexuals; and they espoused economicequality.She also argued that androcratic people invaded Europe fromoutside, forcing patriarchal systems onto the conquered. Thispattern of early mother or fertility deities yielding to maledeities can be seem in several cultures, such as the Indus Valley Civilization and inancient Nordic society. Some, building on Gimbutas’ work, havedeveloped the theory that all human societies originally reveredthe Mother Goddess, although the eminent anthropologist, James Frazer (1854-1941) also argued thatEuropean and Indian religion was originally mother-goddesscentered. People at this time may have seen themselves more as’one-with-the-land’ (as do Australian Aborigines and many otheraboriginal peoples whose cultures remain ‘neolithic’) than asseparate from and superior to, the natural environment.The building of quite complex henges, such as Stonehenge near Salisbury, England demonstrates a level of sophisticatedknowledge of astronomy, which almost certainly had a religiousassociation possible concerned with the influence of the stars onhuman life or representative of the human life-cycle. That theconstruction was hugely significant is suggested by the mere factthat so much energy and effort was invested in transporting thestones and in building and then in maintaining the monument, usingonly primitive technology. Some, perhaps sympathetic to themother-goddess theory referred to above, see sexual imagery in thehenge.[2]It is generally accepted that the site had a ritual, religioussignificance. The degree of cooperation that would have beenrequired to construct the Henge may suggest a more highly developedsocial system than has sometimes been thought characteristic of theperiod.