Odinism in the Indo-European religious family tree
Some time between 435,000 years ago and 230,000 years ago, a young woman of modern appearance and brain structure died beside the River Thames. Her religious beliefs, if any, can only be guessed at.
35,000 years ago, her descendants and our ancestors - known as Cro-Magnons - painted unsurpassed artwork on cave walls in northern Europe. Some of their religious beliefs can be inferred from these paintings.
The mythology in which their beliefs were embedded took varying forms as the descendants of Cro-Magnons spread out over the world - not only throughout Europe, as the glaciers retreated, but through the Middle East, northern Africa, India, Asia, and perhaps even beyond, as suggested by recent discoveries in America. Yet the common well-spring of these diverging streams remains obvious despite superficial differences in their courses. Here are some of those streams:
