The beginning:


Ár var alda,
það er ekki var,
var-a sandur né sær
né svalar unnir;
jörð fannst æva
né upphiminn,
gap var ginnunga
en gras hvergi.
 		In ancient times,
when Ymir lived,
there was sand nor sea
nor cold waves;
earth did not exist
nor the heavens above,
only a yawning void
and grass nowhere.

(Voluspá)


The beginning of existence:
Around 20 billion years ago the universe was a yawning void that contained a gigantic amount of energy, there was no time, no matter, no existence, until suddenly the energy reacted and caused an explosion that was so enormous that our human minds cannot possibly comprehend it, this explosion is called the Big Bang.
Whether the Big Bang was just a scientifical coincidence or a divine intervention is something that all humans have different opinions about, Albert Einstein adressed this issue with the following words;
"When this universe in its millionfold order and precision would be the result of a blind coincidence, then that would be just as credible as when a printing-office would explode and all types would fall on the ground in a complete and faultless form of the dictionary."
During the Big Bang the energy was transformed into mass and this mass formed huge clouds of star clusters, most of the stars in this clusters caught matter in their orbits that slowly became planets, the star that our world encircles (the sun) also formed planets, some scientists believe that our earth was created by a collision of two other planets that followed the same orbit (the Hartmann theory) though other theories suggest a slow buildup of matter around a solid core, a bit like a snowball rolling down a hill and slowly getting bigger by the material it absorbs.
On our planet earth (and perhaps on many others too) the first living beings came into existence in the form of one-celled organisms, this organisms slowly evolved into more advanced lifeforms like plants, fish, amphibians, reptiles, and eventually mammals, some mammals evolved into primates and from this group the humans originate.

Þá gengu regin öll
á rökstóla,
ginnheilög goð,
og um það gættust;
nótt og niðjum
nöfn um gáfu,
morgun hétu
og miðjan dag,
undorn og aftan,
árum að telja.
 		Then went the Regin
all to their judgement seats,
the all-holy gods,
thereon held council:
to night and to the waning moon
they gave names;
morning they named,
and mid-day,
afternoon and evening,
whereby to reckon years.

(Voluspá)


The first primates:
Various types of humans Primates can be divided into monkeys (Mandrills, Baboons, etc.) and apes (Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Humans, etc.), the apes (also known as Anthropoids) are more intelligent than monkeys and are very closely related to eachother, even more than many humans wish to admit; for instance the genetical similarities between the human and its closest relative the chimpanzee are 99%.
The early apes lived on the African savannas and were not the skilled hunters that their human descendants are today; they where no match for the giant sabre-toothed tiger (Smilodon) and other dangerous animals they shared their habitat with and mostly relied on scavenging and other ways of obtaining any type of food, however, their omnivorous livestyle made them very versatile and they managed to find food that other animals overlooked, for instance when the big animals had finished eating the apes rushed in to collect the bones that were left behind, they used stone tools to crack open the bones and ate the marrow inside it, which was a healthy and nutricious food, another advantage was that meat also contains much proteins that stimulate brain growth.
Some apes also started walking more upright to oversee more of the endless savanna and spot potential dangers at an earlier time, this small improvements and adaptations slowly brought them more towards our current (human) stage of evolution.
The first ancestor of the modern human is believed to be the Ardipithecus ramidus kaddaba, who lived in Ethiopia 5,2 to 5,8 million years ago, though this can change because recently human-looking remains have been discovered that date from 6 million years ago.

Australopithecus afarensis:
Around 3,5 million years ago the Australopithecus afarensis appeared, who walked upright and had a brainvolume that was similar to that of a chimpanzee (1/3 of a modern human), around 3 million years ago the Australopithecus afarensis evolved into two different versions; a robust type with massive teeth and jaws, and a more lightly built type.

Homo habilis:
From this last lightly built type the Homo habilis is believed to have evolved around 2,4 million years ago, who had a brainvolume that was 1/2 of a modern human.
The Homo habilis is considered to be the first type of human and is therefor referred to with the word "homo" ("human" in Latin).

Although the Homo habilis is officially the first type of human it is difficult to say when we can first speak of "humans" because there was a slow transition from ape to human with many stages in between, but most scientists agree that the use of complex language and making/using advanced tools separates the humans from the apes, for instance apes use sounds as a rudimentary form of language and will use those sounds to transfer messages like; "something big and dangerous is approaching us, run away!" while humans use advanced language that allows them to be more detailed and transfer messages like "a tiger is approaching us from the northwest and will reach this position in 10 minutes, retreat to the nearby hill and send 3 armed men to intercept it", as for making and using advanced tools; apes know how to use a stick as a weapon but will not adapt that stick so that it fits a stone axehead like humans can do.
Physical characteristics that separate apes from humans are that humans have smaller canines and a different skeletal construction that allows walking fully upright.

Homo erectus:
Prehistoric idol from 22.000BC (Willendorf, Austria) Less than 2 million years ago the Homo erectus appeared, its origins are still debated but it is believed to have evolved out of the Homo habilis, the Homo erectus was taller than the modern human but had a smaller brain, it was also the first type of human to migrate out of Africa into the rest of the world; around 1,8 to 1,6 million years ago the Homo erectus migrated from Africa into Arabia and the Middle East and along the coasts of the Indian ocean into tropical Asia, when the Homo erectus discovered how to use fire it also colonized colder parts of the world like northern Asia and Europe.
Around 1 million years ago the Homo erectus developed a larger brain (3/4 of a modern human) and started using wooden throwing spears and stone handaxes more often, they constructed small huts and are also believed to have used animal hides as clothing.

Homo sapiens:
It is believed that 500.000 years ago the Homo erectus developed into several newer types of humans that are nowadays united under the name "Homo sapiens", among this new types were the Homo sapiens neanderthalensis in Europe and the Homo sapiens sapiens in Africa, around 130.000 years ago the Homo sapiens sapiens evolved into the modern type of human that we still are today.
100.000 years ago the Homo sapiens sapiens migrated from Africa towards the Middle East and from there into the rest of the world, in Asia and some other places the Homo sapiens sapiens encountered modernized and developed versions of the Homo erectus, but it is unknown whether this older types of humans where replaced by the Homo sapiens sapiens or absorbed into it, it may even be possible that the Homo sapiens sapiens and the older humans it encountered were so alike that they merged together and formed a population that mainly consisted of older human types and only a small portion of later humans that settled in the area.

There is still much debate about where the modern human population descends from; many scientists believe in the "Out of Africa" theory, which states that all humans already living in various parts of the world were completely replaced by newer modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) migrating from Africa into the rest of the world, though other scientists believe in a local developement of multiple human populations whose differences were so small that they could compete with eachother and interbreed, trade, etc.
It is unlikely that scientists will ever agree about this, and the same goes for the question whether or not they interbred with older types of humans like for instance the Neanderthals, almost every month I read different theories and conclusions about this subject and one month someone proves that modern humans did not interbred with Neanderthals and the next month someone proves they did, personally I have the feeling that there are a lot of personal agendas involved because many scientists are afraid to touch sensitive subjects like ethnicity or don't like to admit that humans may be related to Neanderthals, I have even heard some Christian scientists claiming that there is no such thing as evolution and that humans have been directly created by god, of course they have the right to believe that but if they're not prepared to open themselves to alternative theories they should not have become scientists (at least that's my opinion).

Europe during the last Ice Age


The first humans in Europe:
The first human that appeared in Europe is believed to have been the Homo erectus, during this time northern Europe was still covered by enormous glaciers and icecold tundras so that area remained uninhabited, because of the huge icecaps and glaciers the earth's sea level was also much lower; the Northsea was still land and one could walk to England from the mainland.
When the earth's temperature rose the glaciers started to retreat and some parts of northern Europe became accessible during summer, the first human that entered northern Europe was Homo sapiens neanderthalensis around 500.000 years ago, the Neanderthals did not really settle in northern Europe but visited it to hunt and when it got winter they left again to return in spring.
40.000 years ago the Neanderthals in Europe and most other parts of the world were slowly replaced (or assimilated) by the modern humans, though in some remote areas the Neanderthal survived until 10.000 years ago, which is only 3000 years before the Sumerian civilization came into existence (around 5000BC).
The modern human that replaced the Homo sapiens neanderthalensis in most areas of Europe was the Homo sapiens cro-magnon, the arrival of this fully modern human marks the beginning of the late-Paleolithicum.

Uns þrír kómu
úr því liði
öflgir og ástkir
æsir að húsi,
fundu á landi
lítt megandi
Ask og Emblu
örlöglausa.

Önd þau né áttu,
óð þau né höfðu,
lá né læti
né litu góða;
önd gaf Óðinn,
óð gaf Hænir,
lá gaf Lóður
og litu góða.
 		Until there came
three mighty and benevolent
Æsir to the world
from their houses,
they found on earth,
nearly powerless,
Ask and Embla,
who were without destiny.

They had no Spirit,
no sense,
no blood, no ability to walk,
no good colour.
Spirit gave Odin,
sense gave Hoenir,
blood gave Lodur,
and good colour.

(Voluspá)


Homo sapiens cro-magnon:
Cro-Magnon painting of a bull, above its shoulder the Pleiades star cluster is depicted In many places the Homo sapiens cro-magnon replaced the Homo sapiens neanderthalensis, although the Neanderthal is often considered to have been a modern human belonging to the Homo sapiens branch there is still some debate about that because despite its many similarities with us it was anatomically not entirely the same as the modern humans that inhabit this earth today.
The first fully modern human (mental and anatomical) that settled in Europe was the Homo sapiens cro-magnon, who was a variation of the Homo sapiens sapiens, but what was the difference between the Cro-Magnon and other variations of the modern human? almost none, actually the Cro-Magnon can be considered an ethnic group within the Homo sapiens sapiens and the only difference was that in comparison to most other modern humans they were tall, long-limbed, and had long skulls with angular facial features, in our modern world there are various ethnic groups who share some or all aspects of this fenotype, especially the northern Europeans and their descendants in other parts of the world like America and Australia.
Does that mean that many modern humans may be full or partial descendants of the Cro-Magnons? Italian scientists from the university of Ferrara have performed a research to answer this question and concluded in May 2003 that the DNA of modern Europeans can be directly traced back to the Cro-Magnons, so yes the Cro-Magnons are our direct ancestors.

Paleolithicum:
Prehistoric amber jewel (Egemarke, Denmark) During the end of the Paleolithicum ("Old Stone Age") the Cro-Magnons entered northern Europe and claimed the land for future generations, they are believed to have entered from the west via France but new theories suggest that the northern Europeans are descendants of a different group of Cro-Magnons who came from eastern Europe or the Balkans, but this is still a much debated topic.
In contradiction to the Neanderthals the Cro-Magnons were better able to adapt to the changing world around them and were also more successful hunters; instead of stabbing an animal with spears and finishing them with handaxes they threw their spears instead, for which they used a special "launching-stick" that allowed them to throw spears much harder and more accurate, they also used instruments with sounding boards to imitate the sounds of animals to lure them towards the hunters.
The Cro-Magnons also introduced art and the first forms of advanced culture to Europe; they carried necklaces of pierced animal teeth, shells from sea creatures and snails, and ivory beads, they made beautiful perspective paintings of humans and animals, practiced astronomy, and made music with bone flutes.
They also had their own religion; they buried their dead with gravegifts like weapons and food which points to the belief in an afterlife, they used caves for religious purposes and their paintings depict rituals that could have had no other meaning than a religious one, like for instance a human figure wearing antlers and deerskin who is performing some ritual dance, in a later period this was also done by the early Nordic cultures and various other peoples like the Uralians.

Mesolithicum:
The Mesolithicum ("Middle Stone Age") started around 8000BC with the end of the last Ice Age, this was a period of great changes for northern Europe because from 10.000 to 6.000BC the glaciers rapidly melted and caused the sealevel to rise, creating what is now the Northsea and separating the British isles from the mainland, the temperatures became warmer and northern Europe changed from a dry tundra into a wet, green land with trees, first only fir- and birch trees but later also deciduous trees, eventually most of northern Europe consisted of large woods, swamps, and bogs, around 4000BC the coastline reached its current position.
During this period the people in northern Europe also started to rely more on fishing, near Pesse in the Dutch province of Drenthe a wooden canoe has been found that was made from a hollowed out tree-trunk, it dates from 8000BC and is the oldest boat found in the world.
Because of the climatological changes after the Ice Age many animals (including the mammoth and the woolly rhino) became extinct, the reindeers, horses, and wisents (European bisons) retreated to colder areas and were replaced by forest-animals like elks, deer, roedeer, aurochses, wild boars, and bears, this change stimulated the developement of the bow, which already existed but was improved and used more often.

During the Mesolithic period various hunter-gatherer cultures came into existence in northern Europe, like for instance the Gudenå culture in Jutland and the Maglemose and Kongemose cultures in Sjælland, many of this early Nordic cultures built small stone structures for unknown purposes, though they are believed to have played an important role in their religion.
Most people in that times were still nomadic hunter-gatherers who followed the herds but at some places they settled more permanently because they could find food there during the entire year (game, fish, berries, tubers, turnips, nuts, etc.), this types of food have been eaten throughout the human evolution and our bodies are completely adapted to them, scientists have even proved that this is still the best and healthiest food for humans to consume.
The Mesolithic people also made amber animal figures that they carried on a cord, this figures were sometimes sacrificed in bogs and may have had some religious meaning, the animal figures that were found so far are bears, elks, and birds.

Prehistoric religion:
Wooden idol (Willemstad, the Netherlands) Very few is known about the prehistoric religion of northwestern Europe but most of it has probably been preserved in the later Germanic religion, even today there are many superstitions and rituals that may have very ancient roots, like for instance throwing a coin into a pond or fountain and then making a wish that should be kept secret to make it come true (bog- and water offerings).
Near Willendorf in Austria an idol from 22.000BC has been found that depicts an obese lady with large breasts, in ancient times this was associated with fertility and many similar idols have been found throughout Europe, they were probably buried to fertilize the earth and may have represented an ancient earth- or mothergodess, though it is difficult to say this with certainty.
The hunters from the last Ice Age made small female figures of ivory and other materials, this idols may have represented ancestors or spirits and probably had a protective working, like the later Germanic Disen/Disir.
Another example of idol-worship was found during the building of the Volkerak locks near Willemstad in the Netherlands where a 12,5 cm (5 inches) high oakwood male figure was found that dates from the end of the Mesolithicum, it is believed to have represented an ancestor, fertility symbol, or perhaps a god.

Making offerings to gods is also an ancient ritual and was probably done to give something back to the gods as a sign of gratitude or to show one's dedication by giving up a valuable personal posession, the oldest offerings that have been found in northern Europe are the piles of elk-bones from Lundey in Denmark that date from 10.000BC; four piles of bones that each consist of one elk, after the hunt the bonecrest (crista) of the shoulderblade was removed (for religious purposes?) and the middle-footbones (metatarus) and antlers were used to make speartips and axes, the rest of the bones were (perhaps bundled in the skin of the elk) thrown into a lake as an offering, just like the Saami the northern Europeans may have believed in a "Lord of the Herds" who brought animals back to life when the complete animal was given back, it was probably also a custom to give a part of the hunt back to the god to thank him for it.
Considering this offerings and many other findings it is plausible that our ancestors believed in a hunting-god who offered fertility to humans and animals and had to be called upon for a successful hunt, it is possible that later gods may have been a continuation of this hunting-god like for instance the Germanic god Ingwaz/Frey, other cultures with a similar god are the Celts (Cernunnos) and the Saami (Kied Kie Jumbel).

Mesolithic drawing of a procession (Rymarksgård, Denmark) During the Mesolithic period people buried their dead with red ochre on their bones, a practice that is believed to be very old and continued into the Neolithic period, some time after the burial the skeleton was probably exhumed again and painted with red ochre after which it was laid in its final resting place, this may have had a symbolical meaning in which the body was given "new blood" (red ochre) to allow the deceased person to reincarnate again.
There have also been Mesolithic findings of antlers that were still attached to a piece of skull with artificial holes in it, this antlers were probably carried as masks or headwear in religious ceremonies just like the Cro-Magnons once did, an impression of such a ceremony is given by a Mesolithic bone inscription that was found near Rymarksgård in Denmark; it depicts a procession of humans and a slaughtered wisent that probably played a role in that procession.
This kind of religion is called "shamanism" and is one of the oldest forms of human religion, it was strongly based on hunting and fertility rituals and many aspects of it may have found their way to later religions like that of the Germanic culture.
Shamanism was also based on the belief that there were multiple worlds besides our own and that many of these worlds were inhabited by spirits who could influence our world in a positive or negative way, to influence this spirits a shaman (or however this heathen priests were called) could go into a trance and visit this worlds via a "soul-journey" (something that was also known to the Germanic goði's), to reach this state of trance the shaman probably used narcotics like the berries of the Belladonna plant.
In the later Germanic religion there were still many parallels to this old religion, think about the Goði's who went in trance to communicate with spirits, the belief in 9 worlds, black Elfs (Svartalfar) who hurt people and make them sick, and light Elfs who help humans and fertilize the earth with fertilitydances.

The Ertebolle culture:
Swifterbant man wearing an amber chain as head decoration, buried between 4900BC and 3400BC One of the first large Nordic cultures was the Ertebolle culture (also known as Ertebølle or Ellerbek), this culture came into existence at the end of the Mesolithic period around 6000BC and lasted to 3500BC, though this dates are still debated.
The center of the Ertebolle culture is believed to have been Denmark but this people also lived in southern Scandinavia, Finland, northern Germany and Poland, and the Netherlands, which was roughly the same area as where later the Funnelbeaker people and the Germans lived.
The Ertebolle people mainly lived from hunting, gathering, and fishing, they used stone tools and left large piles of shells at the beaches that are still there today, the shells may have been left there as offerings to a seagod though a more plausible explanation is that they simply used such places to dump their waste.
The Ertebolle culture probably also believed in an afterlife because they buried their dead in cemetaries with gravegifts, in Sweden archeologists have even found dog burials like for instance the one in Skateholm, the Ertebolle people also made woodcarvings and used canoes for fishing.

From hunters to farmers:
From around 3000BC the Ertebolle people also started using polished stone axes, improved flint tools, pottery, and some basic farming techniques, in the Netherlands the Swifterbant culture (a subgroup within the Ertebolle culture) even started using farming as one of their main sources of food, the new technologies and farming techniques of the Ertebolle culture are believed to have been adopted from neighbouring farming cultures in Germany and central Europe, officially the Funnelbeaker culture was the first Nordic farming culture but the Ertebolle culture before them had already taken its first steps towards a farming society.
The transfer to farming marks the beginning of a new period; the Neolithicum ("New Stone Age").