<P> The "Venus" figurines have been theorized, not universally, as representing a mother goddess; the abundance of such female imagery has inspired the theory that Paleolithic (and later Neolithic) societies centered their religion and societies around women . Adherents of the theory include archaeologist Marija Gimbutas and feminist scholar Merlin Stone, the author of the 1976 book When God Was a Woman . Other explanations for the purpose of the figurines have been proposed, such as Catherine McCoid and LeRoy McDermott's hypothesis that they were self - portraits of woman artists and R. Dale Gutrie's hypothesis that served as "stone age pornography". </P> <P> The origins of music during the Paleolithic are unknown . The earliest forms of music probably did not use musical instruments other than the human voice and / or natural objects such as rocks . This early music would not have left an archaeological footprint . Music may have developed from rhythmic sounds produced by daily chores, for example, cracking open nuts with stones . Maintaining a rhythm while working may have helped people to become more efficient at daily activities . An alternative theory originally proposed by Charles Darwin explains that music may have begun as a hominin mating strategy . Bird and other animal species produce music such as calls to attract mates . This hypothesis is generally less accepted than the previous hypothesis, but nonetheless provides a possible alternative . Another explanation is that humans began to make music simply because it pleased them . </P> <P> Upper Paleolithic (and possibly Middle Paleolithic) humans used flute - like bone pipes as musical instruments, and music may have played a large role in the religious lives of Upper Paleolithic hunter - gatherers . As with modern hunter - gatherer societies, music may have been used in ritual or to help induce trances . In particular, it appears that animal skin drums may have been used in religious events by Upper Paleolithic shamans, as shown by the remains of drum - like instruments from some Upper Paleolithic graves of shamans and the ethnographic record of contemporary hunter - gatherer shamanic and ritual practices . </P> <P> According to James B. Harrod humankind first developed religious and spiritual beliefs during the Middle Paleolithic or Upper Paleolithic . Controversial scholars of prehistoric religion and anthropology, James Harrod and Vincent W. Fallio, have recently proposed that religion and spirituality (and art) may have first arisen in Pre-Paleolithic chimpanzees or Early Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan) societies . According to Fallio, the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans experienced altered states of consciousness and partook in ritual, and ritual was used in their societies to strengthen social bonding and group cohesion . </P>

What evidence has been found suggesting that music was part of life in the paleolithic period