By: Aisling Bronach of House Shadow Drake

The big question is whether or not there were Goddess worshiping warlike societies during the Neolithic period. At this time, most everyone was still egalitarian, and tribes as such were just beginning to come about. It was only until the Late Neolithic that we begin to see a shift in status between people (well, as far as the archaeological record goes).

There were several different cultures of people at this time: LBK (Linear Band Keramics 8,000-7,500 BP) which inhabited central Europe, the Ertebolle (5,000 BP) in Northern Europe, and the Cardial in the Mediterranean portions of Europe.

During the Late Neolithic, two cultures emerge that are of importance to this discussion: The Beaker People, and the Battle Axe People. The Beaker people are attributed with introducing the use of metallurgy to Europe, which is acclaimed to have been brought in from the Middle East. They are named the Beaker People because when they died, they were buried with beakers (jars) that are thought to have been used for drinking. It is speculated that these beakers might have been used for drinking of some kind of alcoholic beverage, although what that could of been in unknown (it is just a theory supported by many archaeologists today).

The second culture is that of the Battle Axe people which are very similar to the Beaker people except that they were buried with stone axes. But, were these axes tools or implements of war?

The axes were purely ceremonial in their function, and could not be used for actual battle application. In fact, if we take a closer look, the axes were fashioned to resemble the moon. However, there is a split between the moon and sun associations with masculine and feminine. In many early European cultures, the sun was often seen as being feminine and the moon as being masculine. So whether the moon in this case was associated with the God or Goddess still remains to be seen.

We know that later, many cultures which still engaged in Goddess worship were warlike. Just look at the legends and stories of the Celtic peoples to see an excellent example of this. Also, contrary to popular belief, there were a great many cultures during the Late Neolithic and into the Copper Age and later that were warriors. Just look at the Queen of Vix. But, to go back to the initially subject, were war-like tendencies a product of the Battle Axe people, or were early European cultures like that originally?

The reason I bring all these issues to light is because this theory purposed by Marija Gimbutas is quoted almost as gospel by many modern Pagan authors, and is reflected heavily in their books. To say that these cultures were entirely docile I think lacks validity. The influences of Middle Eastern societies would very likely have been constant, as we can see from trade evidence in the archaeological record.