Introduction In 2008, archaeologists in Germany made a startling discovery. In Swabian Jura, where caves in limestone cliffs sheltered ancient humans, a figurine was unearthed from rubble. Carved from mammoth ivory, the figure showed a naked woman. Such figures have been found before where this "Venus" emerged, for the figure found in Hohle Fels Cave was named fora Roman goddess, as has been common since these figures were first discovered more than a century ago. In Austria (Willendorf and Galgenberg), France (Brassempouy, Laussel) and other European sites (Dolní Vûstonice in the Czech Republic, Moravany in Slovakia, Monruz in Switzerland, Mal''ta in Russia), archaeologists have found tiny figures of naked women. They are among the most ancient artworks of humanity, carved from stone or bone or molded from clay between twenty and thirty thousand years ago. That long ago, during the Paleolithic Era, humans lived in small groups hunting and gathering foods. Recent studies suggest a large proportion, up to 80%, of their diet came from plant foods like berries, fruits and roots, which scholars assume were gathered by women.

Meat, while providing necessary nutrients, was less readily available and required significant strength and skill to acquire, and it is presumed hunting was a predominantly male occupation, although women may have trapped small mammals and caught fish. What distinguishes this period of human history from earlier ones is, for the first time, humans began to use stone tools. This revolution led to others, such as the establishment of year-round villages and the invention of art. What knowledge we have of these ancestors comes from scanty traces of their daily lives. Only material resistant to decay survives the millennia: bone, stone, fired clay. We have no way of knowing how ancient humans dressed or what footwear they favored. We have no Paleolithic fishing nets or traps, no spears, no baskets. We do not know how they organized their societies or traced their descent lines.

We have no idea what languages they used. But, because they carved bone and painted on stone, we can see and appreciate their art. The cave paintings at Lascaux and Pech-Merle in France show these ancient humans had a sophisticated sense of beauty and a command of painterly techniques. In Lascaux, animals leap and prance around the walls and roof of a series of interlocking caves. At Pech-Merle, spotted horses and wooly mammoths adorn the walls, and the outline of a hand suggests the presence of the artist. In addition to such painted galleries, we have dozens of examples of Paleolithic portable art in the form of expressive incised drawings of animals on bone and delicate carvings of "Venus" figurines. Before 2008, experts dated these figures to between 28,000 and 24,000 years ago. Despite the span of time involved and despite the stylistic diversity in the figures, the Venuses share an emphasis on female sexual characteristics.

Breasts and pubic triangle are always exaggerated; thighs and buttocks can be disproportionately large as well. This emphasis seems to have been so important that many Venuses have no facial features and only sketchy arms and legs. They are never clothed, although some wear what appear to be woven belts, and most have elaborate hairstyles. Contemporaneous cave paintings, with their highly realistic depiction of prey animals, show these artists did not lack pictoralability. Rather, the artists appear to have selectively exaggerated certain aspects of female anatomy. Although we cannot know whether men or women (or both) made the carvings, or what they meant, interpretations abound. Among these is the idea the images represent the first known deity: a goddess. This theory is supported by the fact that virtually the only human images found in such ancient art are these full-bodied naked females, with the artists otherwise focusing their energies on animals.

But this idea is a controversial one, especially among male scholars, some of whom prefer to label the figures as "Paleolithic pornography," projecting today''s sexual behavior into the distant past. Because for nearly 2,000 years, male monotheism has been the dominant religious pattern, the idea that ancient humans honored a goddess as their primary divinity is unsettling to many, scholars and non-scholars alike. Mesoamerica Mesoamerica''s mythology has drawn little attention from scholars of women''s spirituality. A possible reason is human sacrifice offered to goddesses as well as gods, a practice that runs counter to essentialist gender presumptions. This was not the predominant form of worship but was practiced in urban cultures. Elsewhere, decentralized cultures survived until modern times despite colonization, first by regional cultures, then by European invaders. Myths of interest to scholars of women''s spirituality can be found in these cultures and among the Maya and Aztec. Mesoamerican religion presents multiplicity rather than uniformity throughout its development.

The centralized and literate cultures of central Mexico are the best known. The Mayan, thrived for hundreds of years then declined, possibly because of drought. Much of what''s known of Mayan religion derives from a document called the Popol Vuh, in which the Maya described the world as moving through various stages ("suns"), each ending with a cataclysmic event, hence the Mayan attention to eclipses, comets and other celestial events over sometimes thousands of years. In the 12th century CE, the Huaxtec were dominant in central Mexico. The names of a few of their goddesses remain, usually due to conflation with later divinities. Then came the Aztecs, who were flourishing when the Spanish arrived in the early 16th century. In 1299, the Aztecs had settled in Toltec territory but when, in 1323, the Aztecs sacrificed the Toltec king''s daughter, the group was expelled. They drained swamps to create their city of Tenochtitlan.

In 1426 the Aztec empire began, controlling much of Mexico for a century until Cortés arrived. Two generations of war led to the control of the region by Spain. Epidemics of diseases brought by the conquerors and previously unknown in Mesoamerica, killed as much as 50% of the population. Some survivors adapted to the new regime and left invaluable records. Christian missionaries recorded information about Aztec religion, although generally with the aim of destroying rather than preserving it. Beyond the literate centralized societies, ethnographers and anthropologists have recorded myths from oral sources, which represent a fraction of what were rich traditions. Indigenous religious revivals have not been widespread in Central America, in part because some religious ways were absorbed into Catholic rituals and in part because of the extirpation of tribal people. North Americans'' interest in the region often focuses on shamanic aspects, an interest not entirely welcomed by native Central Americans.

Revival of ritualized goddess religion has not been prominent, although feminists have recently worked to claim the image of Guadalupe as a symbol of indigenous feminine power. Central American Pantheon Chalchihuitlicue This jade skirted goddess ruled streams and rain. Lake waters were also under her command, for her people lived in flood areas. Chalchihuitlicue ruled salt water, controlling the sea and those who traveled on it. In her honor, the Aztecs called the Gulf of Mexico Chalchiuhcueyécat, "water of Chalchihuitlicue." Chalchihuitlicue was depicted in jade necklace, turquoise earrings, a crown of iridescent blue feathers and a skirt trimmed with lilies. Her headdress featured large tassels that hung on each side of her face. She may have been honored at Teotihuacán in the cave under the Pyramid of the Sun, where a statue of her was found.

After Christianization, Chalchihuitlicue appeared as Doña María Matlacoya, invoked in prayers for rain. Chicomecóatl "Seven Serpent," an Aztec agricultural goddess who promoted human as well as vegetative reproduction, had many forms: a maiden decked with water flowers, a young woman whose embrace brought death, a mother carrying the sun as a shield. Chicomecóatl had several festivals. On April 5, homes were decorated with herbs sprinkled with blood. Everyone marched to the fields where they offered corn-sprouts decked with flowers and bundles of the previous year''s harvest, with petitions for abundance. Every family offered a basket of food, topped with a cooked frog to remind the goddess of her need to work with Chalchihuitlicue to produce a good crop. Another festival lasted from late June to mid-July, when wind pollinated corn. Women wore hair loose to encourage corn-silk to gather pollen.

Corn pudding was eaten; people made merry. In the goddess''s temple, a slave danced, adorned with face-paint. On the final night of the festival, the woman danced all night, meeting her death at daybreak when she was sacrificed. It was important her heart be beating when it was offered to Chicomecóatl with prayers for an abundant harvest. (Caso; Clendinnen; Durán; Léon-Portilla; Sahagún I; Weigle.) Cihuacóatl The Aztec goddess of life''s trials has been considered a form of Coatlicue. Her alternative names include Quauhciuatl ("eagle woman"), Yoaciuatl ("warrior woman") and Tzitziminciuatl ("devil woman"), perhaps each a separate aspect of the goddess. Cihuacóatl wandered decked in jewels, moaning about coming disasters.

In Tenochtitlan, she had a temple before which a perpetual fire burned. Within it, effigies of captured gods were imprisoned. She was depicted with an open mouth, eager for victims, wearing obsidian earplugs but otherwise dressed in white. Mo.