: Rituals involving dance, rhythmic sound, or hallucinogens allowed people to enter trances. The authors suggest that common "entoptic phenomena" (geometric patterns seen during trances) influenced the spirals and zigzags found in megalithic art.
: The book argues that because all human brains are wired similarly, people naturally developed tiered cosmologies and visionary religions as they transition from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies. Inside the neolithic mind : consciousness, cosm...
The authors bridge two distinct regions to show how these neurological patterns manifested: : Rituals involving dance, rhythmic sound, or hallucinogens
: Focuses on early mud-brick settlements, plastered skulls, and the transition to social complexity. The authors bridge two distinct regions to show
: The authors propose that Neolithic people perceived the cosmos in three layers: an underworld (realm of the dead), the surface (realm of the living), and a sky world (realm of the gods).