RELIGION 311 



As compared to the worship of the fetish, the worship of 

 idols stands on an obviously higher plane; although in the 

 former the objects of adoration are regarded as alive they are 

 not represented by any tangible articles ; the latter system, on 

 the other hand, has reached the point at which the gods or 

 spirits are endowed with human form. The worship of idols is 

 found at the present time among many savage races, the notable 

 exceptions being the Australian and Tasmanian hunter-tribes, 

 the Veddahs and Mintopis. 



It was long thought that no idols could be ascribed to the 

 palaeolithic age, but in 1891 a rough ivory idol having a human 

 form was dug up in the town of Briinn (Figs. 136 and 137), 

 close to a skeleton and some bones of animals which undoubtedly 

 belonged to the quaternary period. The idols of the neolithic 



FIG. 135. Grave in South Bulgaria. 



age are much more numerous, but they are only small, rough 

 figures of a conventional character. They are usually naked or 

 stiffly draped female forms (Fig. 138) ; animals such as cattle or 

 birds are less common. According to Waitz, savage races at 

 the present day do not regard their idols as images of the gods, 

 but as objects in which the gods prefer to dwell, and by 

 which they manifest their presence to man in a sensible form. 

 It is certain, however, that the older idols were not merely used 

 for this purpose, but were also regarded as the means of exor- 

 cising spirits, for the most certain protection against the spirits 

 or souls of the dead was secured by making the image of wood 

 or stone the actual god into which those souls had been received. 

 Later on, therefore, they were placed not only on the graves 

 but also in the houses, and were more reverenced than any other 

 spirits. 



