Can we now comprehend the earliest forms of religion? What gods or spirits did people pray to in the vast expanses of all the inhabited continents of the Earth? After all, archaeological data irrefutably testifies that religious ideas already existed in the era of the Neanderthals. The most difficult task of such reconstruction is brilliantly solved by the author of this book, the world-famous British scientist Edwin Oliver James. Thanks to the encyclopedic breadth of coverage of the topic, the book arouses continued interest among various categories of readers. For example, the author’s study of the funeral rites of the Paleolithic, so far from us, helps to understand the origins of some beliefs and rituals that have been preserved to this day among the peoples of the Russian North. Therefore, in the appendix to the book, a work by Tyumen local historian Arkady Petrovich Zakharov, supplementing it with unique Russian materials, is published, dedicated to the search for the statue of the legendary Golden Goddess. Sign of information products 16+