By: Aisling Bronach of House Shadow Drake

There are many people who would claim that Wicca is a direct continuation of another religion known as Witchcraft, and then make additional claims that Witchcraft is a 25,000 year old religion. However, when one examines the archaeological record, one finds that this statement is both illogical and inaccurate. So, we must examine what was occurring during this period of time....

The period of 25,000 to 23,000 BP was the time of the Venus figurines in Europe. So far, twenty-seven sites have been discovered to contain these figurines. The data collected about these figurines from both within Europe and the Near-East suggest that the figurines could have been used for a variety of purposes. The most supported theory utilizes the figurines for reasons of trade rather than for any religious or magical use.

This period was also characterized by the prolific amount of cave paintings. There are many theories concerning the paintings. Some proposed that they were used for sympathetic magic, others that they were the product of shamanic hallucinations, or that they represented important information regarding hunting patterns, or that they represented gender composition within a society, and still others maintain that the paintings are solely the product of artistic expression.

However, cave art was not equally distributed across Europe. It existed only in highly populated areas. Thus, if the paintings held any religious or magical association, the practices from which they emerged would be constrained to structured societies and not to individual families or groups.

Neither of these two trademarks of the Upper Paleolithic deal with Witchcraft. They do demonstrate the arrival of culture to humanity. It is at this time that we begin to see things such as ritualistic burials, and even what appears to be a rudimentary calendar.* These burials were accompanied by such things as ivory beads, sea shells, and perforated deer-antler implements.

Another problem arises when examining Witchcraft as a 25,000 year old religion. How does one differentiate the practices of Witchcraft from that of any other possible religion?

Admittedly, archaeologists know very little about the cultural beliefs or practices of Paleolithic Europe. Although there are a wealth of artifacts dating from this period one can only theorize as to the role they played within the minds of the people who utilized them. It is not until the Neolithic period - 16,000 years later - that culture begins to resemble patterns that we can relate to. During the Neolithic, people begin to adapt a more sedentary lifestyle dependant on farming. The seasonal structure within Witchcraft focuses largely on an agricultural year. For this reason, it would be better to say that the first origins of Witchcraft occurred at approximately 9,000 BP (7,000 BC).

As a concluding thought... After reading through several books on Wicca, much of the supporting data which authors used to reached the 25,000 BP date was almost always dependant on Goddess worship. Many areas of the world have practiced religions which included the veneration of a Goddess and were not considered to be a form of Witchcraft. So, when looking at such issues we must be careful to define the base elements of what constitutes Witchcraft.

* Note: Alexander Marschak interpreted a shaped and engraved bone plaque which was found in the early Aurignacian levels of the Blachard rock shelter to be a lunar calendar. The engraved dots are thought to represent the moon phases during a lunar cycle.

Resource

Cunliffe, Barry, ed. "The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe." (NY: Oxford University Press, 1994).