Prehistoric gods

Animism was (and still is) a popular god concept among primitive tribes and ancient indigenous people. Our modern understanding of this phenomenon comes from James Frazer's The Golden Bough, which communicated to wide audiences how superstition and magic influenced most aspects of life in primitive cultures. Animism encompasses the spiritual belief that everything has a spirit or soul - animals, plants, rocks, geographic features (rivers, mountains, seas), storms and other weather patterns, the sun, moon, planets, and other parts of nature. It persists in a more modern version in Shinto, some forms of Hinduism, the Sikhs, Buddhism, Pantheism, and Paganism. One of the primary goals in living in an animistic universe is appeasing these many gods and convincing them to move events into configurations that will favor our endeavors, or at least not harm us.

Fetishism is a related early form of worship in which a statuette, figurine, puppet, or other metaphoric representation was fabricated (French - "fétiche", from a latin word meaning "fabricate") and worshipped as either a god itself or a representative of a god. Modern religions have fetishes - the Christian cross, holy relics, etc. James Frazer popularized the term, "sympathetic magic", specifically the types of magic based on "similarity" and "contagion" as the basis for this type of practice. If the object of worship bore some physical resemblance to, or even contained parts of (blood, hair, bone, spit) the thing it represents, then in some mysterious way that object becomes the thing it resembles.

Some anthropologists and students of religion, such as E. B. Tylor, believe that these primitive (i.e., ancient, original, non-derivative) religions were the basis and foundation for later more "sophisticated" religions. He and others theorized that early humans conceived of the soul as being the same as the figures which would appear in dreams and visions. These early human cultures later interpreted these spirits to be present in animals, the living plant world, and even in inanimate natural objects. Eventually, these early humans grew to believe that the spirits were invested and interested in human life, and performed rituals to propitiate them. These rituals and beliefs eventually evolved over time into the vast array of “developed” religions. According to Tylor, the more scientifically advanced the society, the less that society believed in Animism. However, any remnant ideologies of souls or spirits, to Tylor, represented “survivals” of the original animism of early humanity.

Robert Wright outlines categories of "Hunter Gatherer Gods" in The Evolution of God.

Supernatural being type 1: elemental spirits

Parts of nature that modern scientists know to be inanimate appear to be alive, possessing intelligence and personality and a soul. When clouds obscure the moon, it could mean that the god of the south wind was trying to kill the moon. The flow of nature became an anthropomorphic drama being played out.

Supernatural being type 2: puppeteers

Parts of nature may be controlled by beings who themselves are distinct from nature. For example, In Greek mythology, the Anemoi were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction, from which their respective winds came, and were each associated with various seasons and weather conditions. They were sometimes represented as mere gusts of wind, at other times were personified as winged men, and at still other times were depicted as horses kept in the stables of the storm god Aeolus.

Supernatural being type 3: organic spirits

Natural phenomena that even we consider alive may have supernatural powers. The coyote, for example, may house evil spirits. A species of bird could make snow, and another make fog.

Supernatural being type 4: ancestral spirits

Hunter-gathers societies almost always feature spirits of the deceased, and typically these spirits do at least as much bad as good. They can be both objects of affection and love, or of dread and abomination. Modern-day ancestor veneration in Japan and China, for instance, descends from primitive ancestor worship. Offerings set out for the ancestors in ceremonies is an attempt to convince the deceased to intervene in behalf of the living. A social rationale for the continuation of this practice, as with most religious ceremonies, is to cement important traditions, cultivate family and tribal unity, and to reaffirm loyalty.

Supernatural being type 5: the high god

Some hunter-gatherer societies (though not all) have a "high god". This does not necessarily involve a hierarchical pantheon with a single "king god" reigning over all the lesser gods. Instead it reflects a belief that, among the various gods, one has more power and influence than the others, and may often be a "creator god". Among the Klamath indians, this would have been Kmukamtch who inhabited the sun. Among the ancient polytheistic people who became the Jews, Yahweh emerged from a small pantheon of gods to become the high god, and eventually the only god.