<P> Vincent W. Fallio writes that ancestor cults first emerged in complex Upper Paleolithic societies . He argues that the elites of these societies (like the elites of many more contemporary complex hunter - gatherers such as the Tlingit) may have used special rituals and ancestor worship to solidify control over their societies, by convincing their subjects that they possess a link to the spirit world that also gives them control over the earthly realm . Secret societies may have served a similar function in these complex quasi-theocratic societies, by dividing the religious practices of these cultures into the separate spheres of folk religion and elite religion . </P> <P> Religion was possibly apotropaic; specifically, it may have involved sympathetic magic . The Venus figurines, which are abundant in the Upper Paleolithic archaeological record, provide an example of possible Paleolithic sympathetic magic, as they may have been used for ensuring success in hunting and to bring about fertility of the land and women . The Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines have sometimes been explained as depictions of an earth goddess similar to Gaia, or as representations of a goddess who is the ruler or mother of the animals . James Harrod has described them as representative of female (and male) shamanistic spiritual transformation processes . </P> <P> Paleolithic hunting and gathering people ate varying proportions of vegetables (including tubers and roots), fruit, seeds (including nuts and wild grass seeds) and insects, meat, fish, and shellfish . However, there is little direct evidence of the relative proportions of plant and animal foods . Although the term "paleolithic diet", without references to a specific timeframe or locale, is sometimes used with an implication that most humans shared a certain diet during the entire era, that is not entirely accurate . The Paleolithic was an extended period of time, during which multiple technological advances were made, many of which had impact on human dietary structure . For example, humans probably did not possess the control of fire until the Middle Paleolithic, or tools necessary to engage in extensive fishing . On the other hand, both these technologies are generally agreed to have been widely available to humans by the end of the Paleolithic (consequently, allowing humans in some regions of the planet to rely heavily on fishing and hunting). In addition, the Paleolithic involved a substantial geographical expansion of human populations . During the Lower Paleolithic, ancestors of modern humans are thought to have been constrained to Africa east of the Great Rift Valley . During the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, humans greatly expanded their area of settlement, reaching ecosystems as diverse as New Guinea and Alaska, and adapting their diets to whatever local resources were available . </P> <P> Another view is that until the Upper Paleolithic, humans were frugivores (fruit eaters) who supplemented their meals with carrion, eggs, and small prey such as baby birds and mussels, and only on rare occasions managed to kill and consume big game such as antelopes . This view is supported by studies of higher apes, particularly chimpanzees . Chimpanzees are the closest to humans genetically, sharing more than 96% of their DNA code with humans, and their digestive tract is functionally very similar to that of humans . Chimpanzees are primarily frugivores, but they could and would consume and digest animal flesh, given the opportunity . In general, their actual diet in the wild is about 95% plant - based, with the remaining 5% filled with insects, eggs, and baby animals . In some ecosystems, however, chimpanzees are predatory, forming parties to hunt monkeys . Some comparative studies of human and higher primate digestive tracts do suggest that humans have evolved to obtain greater amounts of calories from sources such as animal foods, allowing them to shrink the size of the gastrointestinal tract relative to body mass and to increase the brain mass instead . </P>

During the neolithic period after the paleolithic period and the ice-age ended