Before the book

[Confused Ape]

But I, even as a usualy very rational individual draw the conclusion after seeing the Venus of Willendorf that it represents a Ideal.
The ideal that men had for women in that era, that in a time in which foos was scarce a "perfect" woman should be fat and have big tits.

And whereever a sociaty builds concepts of Ideal and perfect things, religious beliefs arent far away.

It's very likely that there was some religious aspect where the Venus of Willendorf was concerned. Not all ideals concerning "perfect" women have religious aspects, though. Here's the definition of buxom with an interesting quote.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/buxom

Healthily plump and ample of figure: "A generation ago, fat babies were considered healthy and buxom actresses were popular, but society has since come to worship thinness" (Robert A. Hamilton)

The modern fad for stick insect figures came in with Twiggy and it had nothing to do with religion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twiggy

That's why I can't be 100% certain that the Venus figures were meant to represent the Mother Goddess.

(I'm still trying to find out who Robert A Hamilton is.)

[NomenMihiNon]

On a more serious note, I recall reading one hypothesis that religion was essential to our survival early on because it was one of the main factors keeping us together in groups (the other being monogamy along with menstruation replacing estrus, but that's a whole other discussion). We humans are weak for our size, with no sharp teeth or claws, so our survival depended upon us banding together. And to keep such groups organized, someone had to be in charge. But why would anyone relinquish power to another who was no more intelligent or capable than they are...unless they were charismatic enough to convincingly claim rule by divine providence?

[Confused Ape]

But why would anyone relinquish power to another who was no more intelligent or capable than they are...unless they were charismatic enough to convincingly claim rule by divine providence?

Group worship of the deities perhaps? Religious rituals are designed to get all participants into a receptive state so they have some kind of subjective experience. This short video recording speaking in tongues illustrates what I mean. The ones who end up speaking in tongues would believe God was moving through them while the others would believe they were witnessing God moving through the tongue speakers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whpHwKlM_8M