World’s Oldest Ritual Discovered – Serpent Worship
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Recent research has revealed that mankind’s oldest known advanced rituals were performed in Africa 70,000 years ago, not 40, 000 years ago in Europe, as history has understood up to now. Associate Professor Sheila Coulson, from the University of Oslo made the startling discovery while she was studying the origin of the Sanpeople. A group of the San live in the sparsely inhabited area of north-western Botswana known as Ngamiland.
More than 13,000 artifacts were unearthed in the excavation. Photo Sheila Coulson
Coulson made the discovery while searching for artifacts from the Middle Stone Age in the Kalahari Desert within the peaks known as the Tsodilo Hills — famous for the largest concentration of rock paintings in the world. The Tsodilo Hills remain a sacred area for the San, who call them the “Mountains of the Gods” and the “Rock that Whispers”.
The python is one of the San’s highest revered creatures. The myth cites mankind descended from the python, and the ancient, arid streambeds around the hills are believed to have been created by the python as it circled the hills in its incessant quest for water.
Sheila Coulson discovered that people from the area had a specific ritual location associated with the python in a small cave on the northern side of the Tsodilo Hills, which wasn’t even discovered by archaeologists until the 1990’s due to extreme seclusion and difficult access.
Coulson and her 3 students were struck by the mysterious rock that resembled the head of a massive python as they entered the cave. They found 300 to 400 indentations that could only have been man-made on the 19.7 foot (6 meter) long by 7.2 foot (2 meter) tall rock.
Python Stone. Photo Sheila Coulson
“You could see the mouth and eyes of the snake. It looked like a real python. The play of sunlight over the indentations gave them the appearance of snake skin. At night, the firelight gave one the feeling that the snake was actually moving.”
No evidence that work had recently been done on the rock hand been found on the extensively eroded rock’s surface.
The team of archaeologists were curious as to additional work done to the stone, what the cave had been used for, and how long people had been going there, so a test pit was dug directly in front of the python stone.
They unearthed numerous stones that had been used to make the indentations at the bottom of the pit — some of which were more than 70,000 years old — along with a piece of the wall that had fallen off during the work.
More than 13,000 artifacts were discovered during the excavation — all spearheads and articles that could be connected with ritual use, and tools used in carving the stone.
The spearheads were made up from stones which came from hundreds of miles away, not from the Tsodilo region, which were superiorly crafted and more colorful than those from the same time and area. Oddly, only the red spearheads had been burned.
Spearheads unearthed were brought from hundreds of kilometers away.
Photo Sheila Coulson
“Stone age people took these colorful spearheads, brought them to the cave, and finished carving them there. Only the red spearheads were burned. It was a ritual destruction of artifacts. There was no sign of normal habitation. No ordinary tools were found at the site.” said Coulson.
“Our find means that humans were more organized and had the capacity for abstract thinking at a much earlier point in history than we have previously assumed. All of the indications suggest that Tsodilo has been known to mankind for almost 100,000 years as a very special place in the pre-historic landscape.”
Coulson discovered a small secret chamber behind the python stone. Some areas of the entrance were worn smooth, indicating that many people had passed through it over the years.
“The shaman, who is still a very important person in San culture, could have kept himself hidden in that secret chamber. He would have had a good view of the inside of the cave while remaining hidden himself. When he spoke from his hiding place, it could have seemed as if the voice came from the snake itself. The shaman would have been able to control everything. It was perfect. The shaman could also have ‘disappeared’ from the chamber by crawling out onto the hillside through a small shaft.” added Coulson.
Large cave and wall paintings are numerous throughout the Tsodilo Hills, but there were only 2 small paintings in this cave of an elephant and a giraffe. The images were rendered exactly where water runs down the wall.
Sheila Coulson believes an explanation for this might come from San mythology, for which the python falls into a body of water and cannot get out by itself. The python is pulled from the water by a giraffe. The elephant, with its long trunk, is often used as a metaphor for the python.
“In the cave, we find only the San people’s 3 most important animals: the python, the elephant, and the giraffe. That is unusual. This would appear to be a very special place. They did not burn the spearheads by chance. They brought them from hundreds of kilometers away and intentionally burned them. So many pieces of the puzzle fit together here. It has to represent a ritual.” concluded Sheila Coulson.
A major archaeological find 5 years ago made it possible for Sheila Coulson to date the finds in this little cave in Botswana. Up until the turn of the century, archaeologists believed that human civilization developed in Europe after our ancestors migrated from Africa. This theory was crushed by Archaeologist Christopher Henshilwood when he published his find of traces from a Middle Stone Age dwelling in the Blombos Cave in Southern Cape, South Africa.
Serpent or Snake Worship
The origins of animal worship have been the subject of many theories. The worship of the serpent is found in many parts of the Old World, the Americas, and even Australia, where Aboriginal people worship a gigantic python known by various names, but typically referred to as the Rainbow Serpent. It was said to have created the landscape, embodied the spirit of fresh water and punished lawbreakers. The Aborigines in southwest Australia called the mythical serpent the Waugyl, while the Warramunga of the east coast worshipped the Wollunqua.
Snake worship refers to the high status of snakes in Hindu mythology which appear as vital characters in the Hindu epics. They’re one of the most sacred animals, 2nd only to the cow.
The Snake God Naga and his consort. Photo taken at the cave temples
clusters of Ajanta, Maharastra, India. Photo Pratheepps / Wikipedia
The 8 famous snakes in Hindu mythology include:
1. Shesha (Adisesha, Sheshnaga, or the 1,000 headed snake) which upholds the world on his many heads and said to be used by Lord Vishnu to rest. Shesha also sheltered Lord Krishna from a thunderstorm during his birth.
2. Vasuki allowed himself to be coiled around Mount Mandara by the Devas and Asuras to churn the milky ocean creating the ambrosia of immortality.
3. Kaliya poisoned the Jamuna / Yamuna river where he lived. Krishna subdued Kaliya by dancing on him and compelled him to leave the river.
4. Manasadevi is the queen of the snakes.
5. Ananta is the endless snake who circles the world.
6. Padmanabha (or Padmaka) is the guardian snake of the south.
7. Astika is half Brahmin and half naga.
8. Kulika
Lord Shiva also wears a snake around his neck
Nag Panchami is an important Hindu festival associated with snake worship held on the 5th day of Shravana. Snake idols are offered gifts of milk and incense to help the worshipper to gain knowledge, wealth, and fame.
Krishna dancing over snake Kaliya. Photo Pratheepps / Wikipedia
Various animals’ status is assigned in different religions. In Christianity, snakes have a more dubious role, tempting Adam and Eve to taste the forbidden fruit in the book of Genesis, but in Hinduism, snakes are worshipped with a divine status.
Eva Meyerowitz wrote of an earthenware pot in 1940 that was stored at the Museum of Achimota College in Gold Coast. The base of the neck of the pot is surrounded by the Rainbow Snake. The creature’s legend tells that the snake only emerged from its home when it was thirsty. Keeping its tail on the ground the snake would raise its head to the sky looking for the rain god. As it drank great quantities of water, the snake would spill some which would fall to the earth as rain.
The pot bears 4 other snakes on its sides: Danh – gbi, the life giving snake, Li, for protection, Liwui, which was associated with Wu, god of the sea, and Fa, the messenger of the gods. The first 3 snakes were all worshipped at Whydah, Dahomey where the serpent cult originated. The Dahomeans feared the spirit of the serpent was one that was unforgiving. They believed that the serpent spirit could manifest itself in any long, winding objects such as plant roots and animal nerves. They also believed it could manifest itself as the umbilical cord, making it a symbol of fertility and life.
A motif of snake goddess. Carving on volcanic rock at the Kailash Temple,
Ellora, India. Photo Pratheepps / Wikipedia
The chief centre of serpent worship was Dahomey in Africa, but the cult of the python appears to have been of exotic origin, dating back to the first quarter of the 17th century. By the conquest of Whydah, the Dahomeyans began adoption of serpent worship after contact with a people of serpent worshippers, which they first despised. Some 50 snakes reside at a serpent temple at the chief center Whydah. Each python of the danh-gbi kind must be treated with respect — penalty for killing one, even by accident is certain death.
Danh-gbi took part in a public procession until 1857 in which a python was carried around the town in a hammock possibly as a ceremony to expel evil, from which the wicked were excluded.
The rainbow-god of the Ashanti was said to be a small variety of boa, but only certain individuals — not the entire species — were sacred. The serpent is considered the incarnation of deceased relatives in many parts of Africa. Certain species among the Amazulu and the Betsileo of Madagascar, are assigned as the domicile of certain classes. But the Maasai regard each species as the habitat of a particular family of the tribe.
Some Native American tribes revere the rattlesnake as grandfather and king of snakes, able to give fair winds or cause gale and frightfully horrendous storm. The serpent plays a large part in one of the dances among the Hopi of Arizona. The rattlesnake was worshipped in the Natchez temple of the sun and the Aztec deity Quetzalcoatl was a feathered serpent-god. The serpent was regarded as a portal between 2 worlds in many MesoAmerican cultures. The tribes of Peru are said to have adored great snakes in the pre-Inca days and in Chile the Mapuche made a serpent figure in their deluge beliefs.
Carved representations of cobras (nagas) are offered human food and flowers, and lights are burned before the shrines over a large part of India. A cobra which is accidentally killed is burned like a human being among the Dravidians. The serpent-god’s image is carried in an annual procession by a celibate priestess.
Many prevalent and various renditions of the serpent cult were once located in India. A masculine version of the serpent named Nagaraja — known as the “king of the serpents” was worshipped in northern India, but instead of the renditions, actual live snakes were worshipped in South India. The Manasa-cult in Bengal, India, however, worshipped the human form serpent goddess, Manasa.
The altar where Jory Goddess is worshipped. Photo taken at the main temple
in Belur Karnataka, India. Photo Pratheepps / Wikipedia
Districts of Bengal each celebrated the serpent in various ways, but all celebrated serpent worship each year on the very last day of the Bengali month Sravana (July-August). All families created a clay model of the serpent-deity — usually the serpent-goddess with 2 snakes spreading their hoods on her shoulders. The model was worshipped in their homes, and a goat or a pigeon was sacrificed for the deity’s honor. Before the clay goddess was submerged in water at the end of the festival, the clay snakes were removed from her shoulders. The people believed that the earth these snakes were made from cured illnesses, particularly children’s diseases.
The Bengal districts also worshipped an object known as a Karandi resembling a small house made of cork. The Karandi was decorated with images of snakes, the snake goddess, and snake legends on its walls and roof. The blood of the sacrificed animals was sprinkled on the Karandi and it also was submerged in the river at the end of the festival.
In ancient Europe, Herodotus of the great serpent was said to defend the citadel of Athens. The Roman genius loci took the form of a serpent where a snake was kept and fed with milk in the temple of Potrimpos, an old Slavonic god. Dewi was an Old Welsh god represented by a great red serpent. There is evidence that serpent-worship was part of local religion on the Iberian Peninsula before the introduction of Christianity, and perhaps even before invasions of the Romans.
Numerous counts in popular belief of respect for the snake still carry on today, especially in Germany, which appears to be a survival of ancestor worship, such as what still exists among the Zulus and other tribes. The ‘house-snake’ cares for the cows and the children, and its appearance is an omen of death. The life of a pair of house-snakes is often believed to be bound with the master and mistress themselves. Tradition claims that one of the Gnostic sects, Ophites, caused a tame serpent to coil round the sacramental bread and worshipped it as the representative of the Savior.
Sources: EurekAlert and Wikipedia
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Another fassssscinating article. Thanks!
Very informative and provoking post, I like it
Glad you enjoyed it Nitropuppy and Pearl
I grew up with snakes …not unusual to see one in the back yard more often than not….
fabulous post Deborah and the images make an excellent visual history
Gasp! I don’t think I’ll be visiting you any time soon Kim
Snakes in the yard as a daily routine … shudder! Thanks, glad you enjoyed it 
what a nice article. thanks for posting.
great site, it is knowladge, gnosis, culture, гносис
Great article, cant wait to hear more about it
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